Li Ling nodded, said goodbye to the miner, and walked straight to the south. Along the way, all Li Ling saw were miners setting up stalls, or miners entering the mines to dig for ore.
The miners who mine here are divided into three levels: low-level miners, medium-level miners, and upper-level farm owners, who are the bosses of the mine.
Generally, in these mining areas, sites rarely appear. Those who supervise the miners are all mine heads. One mine head manages about thirty people, etc. There are about fifty mine heads in one mine, and there are about one mine in one mine.
More than a thousand scattered miners.
And these miners are the cheapest labor force. They often work hard for only two or three ink crystals for a day. Sometimes, the effort and reward are really not equal.
Li Ling saw these inequalities in his eyes, and actually understood deeply that this was reality.
After walking more than ten miles in, Li Ling saw a huge pile of waste rocks. It looked like the collapse of a hundred-meter-high mine. All the stones were piled together, and you could also see the scattered rocks from the outside.
Stones, and some wooden piles used when the mine was not collapsed.
When Li Ling saw these rubbles, he could restore the scene in his mind. At that time, the miners may have dug to the center of the mine and dug out the mountain spirit. The mountain spirit glowed brightly, which aroused everyone's surprise. This
The news quickly reached the ears of the owner of the farm. When the owner saw it with his own eyes, he ordered people to take out the mountain spirit.
The moment the mountain spirit was taken out, the mine lost the source of the mountain spirit's power and collapsed in an instant, killing and injuring the miners who were still in the mine.
"The tragic situation at that time can be roughly seen clearly from these ruins. There are blood stains and thick bones." Li Ling glanced at the collapsed mine. There were still miners' corpses that had not been dug out. At this moment, they were already there.
Over the course of more than two months, he gradually turned into white bones.
Li Ling walked around the mine and vaguely felt that the rocks under his feet were very different from the rocks in other mines. There was no mineral at all in the rocks under his feet, and it was just a kind of clay. This made Li Ling feel
It's strange, because this is a mining area. Even if a mine collapses, there should still be a certain amount of metal elements in the ore. However, there is no trace of metal elements in this ore.
Could it be that... Li Ling had a bold idea in his mind, could it be because of the loss of the mountain spirit? Could it be that the mountain spirit sucked away all the metal elements in the mine as soon as it left the mine?
If this is the case, then it is clearly explained why the mine collapsed. The rocks in the mine rely on the large amount of metal elements in them to support the weight of the entire mountain. Once those metal elements are lost, the rocks in the mine will collapse.
If it turns into clay in an instant, the clay will not have the ability to support the weight of a mine, let alone a mine with a hollow cave, so the mine will collapse even faster.
Li Ling threw away the bit of clay he had just pinched in his hand. After walking a few miles ahead, he saw another mine. The ores in this mine were all a little golden. Li Ling couldn't help but be curious, and stepped forward to ask a man holding a
He whipped the miner's head and asked, "Brother, does this mine produce gold?"
Seeing that Li Ling was dressed in fine clothes and elegant manners, the mine head thought he was a wealthy businessman, so he said angrily: "My lord, you have really good eyesight. However, this mine produces more than just gold."
The ore is so simple and contains trace amounts of gold essence.”
"Gold essence? What is gold essence?" Li Ling asked the mine head.
"My lord, don't you even know the gold spirit? Sir, what kind of business are you in?" said the mine manager.
Li Ling casually said: "I am in the fur business."
"Oh... no wonder adults don't know about this. Simply put, gold essence is a kind of gold with higher purity than gold. If a load of ordinary gold weighs one thousand kilograms, then gold essence is three thousand to
Four thousand kilograms." said the mine manager.
Li Ling was shocked. Gold itself is a very dense metal. He didn't expect that the density of gold would be three to four times that of gold. Li Ling knew that the higher the density of a metal, the harder it would be.
Increase the size.
"What's the yield of this gold essence?" Li Ling asked.
"Hey, the output is very low. We have dug out 5,000 tons of gold ore so far, of which there is only less than five kilograms of gold essence. Moreover, those relatively loose ores will contain a little bit of gold essence. This kind of gold essence is
The real gold essence that needs to be refined is very popular in the market." The mine manager said.
"Are they available in the market?" Li Ling asked in surprise.
"Yes, but it's not available in ordinary markets." As the mine leader said, he picked up the whip and whipped the miners. All the miners were shirtless, and their skin was covered with bloody marks from the whip.
Although Li Ling couldn't stand this kind of mistreatment of miners, there was nothing he could do about it. This was the cruel reality that no one could change. It was already a rule that the weak were bullied.
"Then what kind of market can I go to to buy the gold essence you mentioned?" Li Ling wanted to find out. If he could buy the gold essence, he would naturally use the gold essence to refine a pill plate.
After all, the density of gold essence is three to four times that of gold, and Li Ling's alchemy plate is made of a mixture of gold and silver. According to theory, the hardness of the alchemy plate made of gold essence will be as hard as Li Ling's current elixir.
Four to five times the amount of the dish, that is enough for Li Ling to refine the middle-grade Tiandan.
"I'm not sure. In short, I haven't seen any market selling gold essence." The mine manager explained.
From the words of the mine head, it was not difficult for Li Ling to analyze that this gold essence should have been acquired, and it had been acquired centrally. Since it would not be sold in the general market, only the ruling class had the ability to monopolize the gold essence and not allow it to be sold.
Gold essence, a rare mineral element, flows into the general market.
"Do you sell the gold essence here to ordinary people?" Li Ling asked.
"I'm sorry, sir, our gold essence has been reserved. Every time we put out a thousand kilograms of gold essence, it will all be bought, and they are also purchased in batches," the mine manager said.
"It seems that the 'government' has indeed monopolized it." Li Ling thought in his mind.
"Can you sell me some gold essence?" Li Ling asked tentatively.
"No, the owner of the farm once strictly ordered that the gold essence is not sold for takeout. If we sell a gram, we miners can't even think about staying in Baiyun County anymore. We might even be pulled out of the county and buried alive."
The mine head said in horror.
"The regulations are so strict." Li Ling let out a slight sigh, knowing that sometimes good things have been monopolized for a long time. It seems that it doesn't matter, it is really difficult to take the first step. After all, in this world, except for
Except for good herbs, no one cares about them. Others, such as minerals and exotic animals, have been controlled by the so-called rulers.
"Yes, gold essence itself is an extremely rare thing. Except for those powerful people who can use it, ordinary people have no chance to get it." The mine leader also sighed and sighed, but the whip in his hand was
He hit the miners who were lower level than him without any mercy, but little did he know that this sentence could also be applied to him.
Li Ling knew that if he continued to ask, he would not get any valuable information, so he gave up the idea of buying gold essence and turned to the nearby miner and asked: "Hello, sir, may I ask, what is the output of your mine?"
What’s the price of gold mine?”
The miner, who was about fifty years old, glanced at Li Ling and said with a smile: "Little brother, the purity of the gold mine produced here is higher than that of other places, so I bought fifty black crystals per kilogram.
"
"It's so expensive, can it be cheaper? I can buy more." Li Ling knew that no matter how high the gold content in the ore was, there would be at most three or four taels in a pound of ore.
The old miner shook his finger and said: "It can't be cheaper, it can't be cheaper. The gold mines I sell here are already the cheapest."
Li Ling didn't quite believe it, so he walked towards another miner, a young and strong miner. The miner had clearly marked the price. It said sixty black crystals per pound. As expected, the old man just now didn't.
To lie, his mine is already very cheap.
Li Ling went back to the old miner and asked, "I want to buy ten kilograms of gold ore, can you give me a 30% discount?"
"Thirty percent off is too harsh, 10% off at most." The old miner waved his hands repeatedly.
Li Ling sighed slightly, knowing that no matter how hard he bargained, he couldn't get any lower, so he had no choice but to agree: "Okay, I'll buy ten kilograms of gold ore, and you'll give me a 10% discount."
The old miner stroked his beard and smiled slightly: "Little brother, why did you buy so many gold mines? Very few people buy gold mines for private use. They are all bought by big businessmen for smelting and then made into gold tools.
Sell it externally at a higher price.”
"I...I bought it for my own use." Li Ling didn't say anything to the old miner, so he took out four hundred and fifty black crystals and handed them to the old miner, who then handed them over one by one.
The gold ore is weighed on a scale.
"It's exactly ten pounds. Well, I'll give you a piece of silver ore as well." With that said, the old miner put a piece of silver ore on the scale.
"Thank you, uncle." Although Li Ling has no use for the silver mine, why don't he want it as a gift? You can eat whatever you want, as long as you don't suffer a loss.
After wrapping the gold ore and the silver ore, Li Ling weighed them in his hands, smiled at the old miner and said, "It's a good use, I will buy them next time."
"Haha, okay, come and patronize me more." The old miner said with a hearty smile.
Li Ling put the package containing the ore into the space magic weapon and prepared to go home. However, it was a pity that the gold essence was not for sale to the outside world. This was a pity for Li Ling. However, these gold mines were enough for the time being.
After all, Li Ling's pill disk has cracked and needs some gold ore to repair it, or simply re-refining a pure gold pill disk. (To be continued...)
