Chapter 441 Expanding the Scale of Copper Smelting
In the afternoon, Xu Chen led a group of people along Wushui into the copper mine area.
After more than a year of development, the river valley has changed beyond recognition.
The large amount of sediment that was previously washed away and deposited in the river has been excavated, leaving large pits everywhere, and almost half of the river has been hollowed out.
On the slopes on both sides of the valley where copper ore was washed out, many large and small mine pits were dug out. A large amount of gravel flowed or rolled down and piled up in the valley, making it look messy.
More than twenty men were digging hard with copper or stone pickaxes. Once the basket was full, they would be carried to a row of arbors on the river beach at the foot of the mountain and stacked.
These are the prisoners of the Yu Gong clan who are undergoing labor reform here.
Not far away, near the station built on the hillside, there were women and children collecting firewood.
There were Uzbek hunters around to look after him, and an officer wearing leather armor and carrying a sword was walking back and forth scolding him.
The whole scene seemed lively, but it was very chaotic. The excavations were unplanned. Each one was digging randomly, and the gravel and soil were rolling down the hillside. The whole hillside looked like an earthquake.
Like collapse.
This is Xu Chen’s third visit here for inspection.
The last time I came here was last fall, and a year passed in the blink of an eye.
Of course, with the mining and smelting of copper mines, the place has changed so much that it is almost unrecognizable, and the original appearance is almost lost.
But the chaotic situation made his face darken.
If we continue digging in such a messy manner, I'm afraid this copper mine will soon be abandoned.
In another three to five years, as the difficulty of mining gradually increases, copper production will not only not increase, but may also decline.
In addition, the Uzbek people currently conduct mining and smelting in separate areas. The mined ore must be transported to the vicinity of their residence two or three miles away. Although the slow smelting speed will not affect the transportation, it also consumes a lot of manpower and time.
A lot of unnecessary consumption.
Therefore, the best way is to smelt directly in the production area. This was his original suggestion, but I don't know why the Uzbek people didn't adopt it.
Maybe they think it’s convenient to live and take care of themselves near where they live.
But this is definitely not a long-term arrangement, especially when transportation is very difficult.
After Xu Chen inspected all sides of the valley, he found a gentle slope with good terrain a few hundred meters upstream of the valley, and asked Long to arrange for people to build a new smelting plant here as soon as possible, and at the same time build a road that could pass carriages.
Direct access to the valley mining area.
"Your Majesty the Witch King, this kind of cultivation manpower is even more insufficient!" Long reminded helplessly.
"This is indeed the case at the moment, but this is for the long-term development of the mine. Extracting and smelting nearby is the most convenient way to save time and effort. Later I will discuss with Wu and the clan leader to try to relocate some people from outside.
Live and build houses nearby the mining area, so as to provide enough manpower for mining and smelting management. Their main tasks in the future will be mining and smelting."
The group of people accompanying him were stunned for a moment, and Long couldn't help but ask: "These people live here and eat moga? It's not easy to farm here, and it's not convenient to fish and hunt!"
Xu Chen shook his head and said: "There is no need to specialize in farming and hunting. When the time comes, you can exchange copper and Ba tribe for food, wild beasts, fish, wheat beans, bacon, salted fish, pickled vegetables and even wine!"
"Wow!"
A group of Uzbek hunters were stunned for a moment, and some even started drooling.
However, despite the temptation Xu Chen said, some people were still very clear-headed, so they wiped their saliva and asked: "How much copper can be exchanged for food? Can it only be exchanged with the Ba people?"
Xu Chen shook his head and said: "Copper can be exchanged for food with any tribe. It would be better if you Uzbek tribe are willing to bear the food of these people. You all know that all kinds of copper weapons and tools are very good. The small quantity is mainly due to the insufficient copper production. Right now
The tribes are preparing to build roads on a large scale. Tools such as knives, axes, picks and hoes are not enough. I need more copper to make these tools. Therefore, the Uzbek people must increase the mining and smelting of copper mines. These people in the copper mining areas must concentrate on
Mining and smelting, there is not much energy to participate in farming and hunting labor."
"Your Majesty the Witch King, if we exchange copper for food, what should we do if we exchange it for weapons and tools?" Long came to his senses and asked his biggest worry.
"Haha, don't worry. In fact, you Uzbekistan people will develop better this way. Some people specialize in mining and smelting, and the output of copper will only be more, and only a small part of it will be used in exchange for food. The rest will still be your wealth.
We, the Ba tribe, will make purchases in accordance with the previous agreement to ensure that you will not suffer losses. In addition, the grain harvests planted by other tribes this year are good, and some of them can be traded. The hunters of several nearby tribes also harvested a lot of hunting and fishing.
I can use part of it to trade with you. As long as the Uzbek tribe is willing, I believe that dozens of people in the smelter will not go hungry. In fact, this is something that is beneficial to all tribes. After all, the copper mine belongs to you, the Uzbek tribe, not other tribes.
Let’s make some money too.”
"Sigh!" Almost all the hunters understood it.
"It's not a problem to exchange copper for food, but what is the appropriate way to exchange it? For example, how many kilograms of copper can be exchanged for a wild sheep?" Gu asked cautiously from the side.
"Yes, how can I change Mr. Yu?"
"Copper is heavy. How much copper should a basket of grain be exchanged for?"
A group of hunters started discussing and asking each other.
"Well, this is indeed a problem..."
Xu Chen held his chin and pondered for a moment, then his eyes lit up and he remembered something, and then said with a smile: "Don't worry about this problem, as long as you agree to exchange like this, I will help solve the exchange method to ensure that it is not easy for everyone to make mistakes!"
Long and a group of Uzbek hunters instantly relaxed their expressions.
Everyone knew that Xu Chen was incredibly smart, and they also had great awe and respect for him. Therefore, Xu Chen said that there was a way, and everyone doubted that he was there. A group of people began to discuss how to build a house here and which families to arrange.
People come to live, mine, smelt, etc.
There was a lot of discussion, but Xu Chen didn't understand much, but none of it was important. He just needed the Uzbek people to follow his plan, and arrange a group of people to live here specifically to mine and smelt, becoming the first group of professionals in mankind.
Miners and smelting workers are completely off-duty.
As for food, a team of dozens of people can actually be fed by the Uzbek people themselves, but the pressure is relatively high. If they spread out to purchase food from various tribes, it will not only be the Uzbek Ba people, but also the nearby Hu people and even those farther away.
The Muya tribe, the Ji Cang tribe, and even the Qia tribe Gonghuo tribe can also come to trade with a small portion of their grain if they are willing.
Although all tribes except the Ba people have not reached the stage of complete food abundance, after all, gathering and hunting are still the main means of survival. The extra food from planting and breeding can actually be regarded as reserve food, which can be completely used for gathering and hunting in winter and spring.
As supplementary food when there is not enough, in fact, after each tribe has completed one or two rounds of house building and land reclamation, it will enter a relatively peaceful development period from this year on. There will no longer be the need for so many people to participate in house building and land reclamation, and each tribe will
With more people free to continue hunting and gathering, the possibility of a food crisis is very small.
Due to lack of wealth, various tribes are unable to obtain more advanced production and living tools such as bronzes and horse-drawn carriages and wheelbarrows from the Ba people. If they can exchange for these things by selling some reserved grains, I believe many tribes will be tempted. After all, reducing some reserved grains will be a good idea.
At most, it just makes men and women work harder, and it won't have much impact on their lives.
In addition, the Ba people are not short of food, not to mention animal skins. Therefore, the Ba people now need to further replace their wealth with high-value items and improve the quality of the Ba people's wealth, instead of looking at warehouses full of smelly and moldy animals.
The skin is proud of itself.
Xu Chen stayed in the valley for half a day and gave detailed instructions on the specific construction plan of the smelting plant. Then he called several leaders who supervised the mining and made very severe criticisms of the chaotic mining and asked everyone to follow the instructions in the future.
We cannot excavate randomly, but develop it in an orderly manner according to the area. At the same time, we must deal with and pile up useless gravel in fixed areas. We cannot continue the messy and random dumping situation before us.
In order to make the copper mining more orderly, extend the mining time, and avoid waste as much as possible, Xu Chen spent most of his time on the survey and guidance on both sides of the valley. It was not until the sun turned west that he took Long and a group of hunters back out of the mountain.
To the habitat of the Uzbek people.
Here, he convened a meeting with the little witch sister, the head of the Wu tribe and a group of family leaders to discuss how to further expand and speed up copper mining and smelting arrangements.
The content was naturally the same as what he planned in the valley, and the Uzbek people were required to fully cooperate with the arrangements.
The entire Uzbek leadership did not refuse Xu Chen's arrangement, nor did they have much resistance to Xu Chen's proposal for all the smelter owners to take off work. They said that as long as Xu Chen could really find a way to solve the food problem, all the Uzbek people would be willing to do so.
You can go mining and smelting.
After all, farming and hunting are so hard, and digging ore and smelting copper every day can be exchanged for all kinds of food, delicious salted fish, bacon, and even fine wine. Where can I find such a happy life?
The idea is beautiful, but the reality is cruel. This beautiful idea of the Uzbek people is destined to fail.
Xu Chen refused immediately.
Because he was completely unsatisfied.
Then the Uzbek people who participated in the meeting sighed. Of course, they instantly understood the importance of the copper mine to the Uzbek people. As long as they guard this copper mine, the Uzbek people will be very wealthy in the future.
Because right now the Wu tribe is the richest and most powerful tribe among all tribes except the Ba tribe.
Almost all the wealth of the entire tribe, except for its huge population, farmland and houses, comes from the development of copper mines.
They could exchange copper for hundreds of pottery that was extremely scarce two years ago.
Nowadays, precious bronzes are still extremely scarce in all tribes. The Uzbek tribe already has hundreds of them. Together with a batch of swords and daggers distributed by hunter and officer team Xu Chen, the number is close to 200. Almost everyone has bronzes.
The weapons are comparable to those of the Ba people.
Although there is still a need for a large number of bronze swords and axes and copper hoes and picks, at least they are no longer scarce.
These bronze wares were obtained from the Ba people in exchange for copper.
Even at this witchcraft conference, they used some pottery and some bronzes of poor quality to exchange a lot of high-quality animal skins with the Yu Gong clan of the Gonghuo clan.
Because the Ba people don't buy animal skins very much now, and even if they do, they always choose high-end leather goods such as wolves, bears, tigers, leopards, or bison and wild boars, which are either soft, thick, or strong and wear-resistant. The Uzbek people can seize this good opportunity and exchange them for many winters.
Animal skins to keep out the cold.
In fact, the Wu people can exchange copper for everything they want from the Ba people, including carriages, wheelbarrows, linen, salt, and even grain and wine.
It's just that copper production has been unable to increase at the moment, so we can only exchange for the most urgently needed things.