In fact, according to the agreement between Qinghe and Cambodia, Qinghe only obtained the mining rights of Gantang Copper Mine for five years.
In the eyes of the Khmer court, signing such an agreement was actually a disguised victory.
After all, the copper was still underground in Cambodia. How much could you mine in five years? The entire Khmer Empire had mined this copper mine for over two hundred years, and it was still far from depleted. Five years was no big deal for a mine with such huge reserves.
As for reducing Qinghe's copper mining efficiency through other means, that was even simpler. "No one is allowed to work at the Gantang copper mine. Violators will be charged with treason!" This was the Cambodian Left Prime Minister Cao Thang Thai's approach to the matter.
Indeed, according to the agreement, Cambodia handed over the copper mine to Thanh Ha, allowed Thanh Ha to build a road from Gantang to Mengyang, and even allowed Thanh Ha to station troops around the mine and road for protection. However, the key issue here was whether Thanh Ha could recoup its investment in the copper within five years. Otherwise, it would be like helping Cambodia build a high-quality road for free.
"Maybe they can transfer miners from Qinghe, but the cost will rise to a level they can't afford. Besides, how much can they mine in five years?" Gao Shengtai said proudly in the court.
This is probably what the civil officials often say "subdue the enemy without fighting". Tens of thousands of troops could not defeat the people of Qinghe, but we did it with just a few strokes of the pen. To be honest, if the right prime minister Yang Yizhen had not been in a very good condition, which would have easily provoked him and led to his death, Gao Shengtai would have wanted to go to Yang Yizhen's house to talk about his "glorious deeds".
"Khmers are absolutely not allowed to work inside the copper mine. The secrets of explosives must not be exposed at any time. The most extreme confidentiality measures can be taken for this!" This was the death order that Lin Hai gave to Ling Yang at the time.
"If you use explosives, won't there be no copper mine in Gantang in five years?" Ling Yang couldn't help but mutter.
"How is that possible!" Lin Hai knew mining very well. At least in his previous life, he was used to seeing mines being mined by countless huge machines. Not to mention that only explosives were used now, even transportation relied on human and animal power to pull the ore to the dock, and then go upstream against the Jinjiang River to reach Qinghe.
Even the RH400 large hydraulic excavator, which was like a prehistoric beast in the past, could dig out 85 tons of ore with one bucket, but I have never heard of this machine being able to completely dig out any mine.
Of course, even if Lin Hai was given the RH400, he wouldn't need it. Otherwise, the excavator would have to dig a bucket and then carry it on his back for three days...
"Of course we can't dig out all the mines. Even if we improve the load-bearing structure of animal-powered vehicles, use rail transportation inside the mines, and provide an inexhaustible supply of explosives, we won't be able to dig out any mine within five years, or even fifty or five hundred years." Lin Hai shook his head.
"I just hope to resolve the copper shortage in a short period of time. Although iron tickets are gradually gaining public acceptance, private transactions and our foreign trade still require a large amount of copper. As for the needs of Laboratories One and Two, they are simply not enough, so our demand for copper is basically endless."
Lin Hai said to Ling Yang, "At the same time, we must also be prepared for both scenarios. If we lose the war against Cambodia, no matter what agreement we have reached now, it will be a piece of waste paper. Therefore, we must mine enough copper ore in advance to at least meet our needs in the short term."
Ling Yang fell into deep thought after hearing this. After a long pause, he asked a question that even Lin Hai hadn't thought of: "With such aggressive mining, wouldn't a mine that used to take a thousand years to mine be completely mined in less than three hundred years? What will happen when future generations need copper?"
Lin Hai looked at Ling Yang and didn't know what to say for a moment. Wasn't this idea a bit ahead of its time? Could it be that people really just start to daydream after a full meal?
Lin Hai sighed and said, "It's an interesting idea. But you have to remember that copper won't disappear out of thin air. If future generations need copper, they can use what we've already mined, saving them the trouble of opening new mines. If the amount we've mined isn't enough for them, then there's no point in saving it now. They'll have to mine it all themselves."
"Then there's only one last problem," Ling Yang said. "We're short on manpower. If the entire copper mine doesn't require local workers, we'll have to send more than ten thousand people to Gantang."
"We've got news from Wang Zuo that Gao Shengtai's decree forbids locals from working in the copper mines. Of course, we don't want them in either. But we can hire locals to transport the ore and build the roads. Gao Shengtai can't stop this. After all, the number of landless Khmer peasants has reached a terrifying level, and the Gantang Copper Mine originally had thousands of miners, but now they're all unemployed."
Lin Hai smiled indifferently. Nonsense. Government orders are one thing, but how to implement them is another. In Gantang, if local officials don't want to be hanged at the gate of the government office in the middle of the night, they must find a livelihood for the landless farmers and unemployed miners in their jurisdiction.
After all, it was not the Left Prime Minister who was hungry, and the hungry crowd could not find the Left Prime Minister's residence in Taijing City, but they were very familiar with the way to their own government office.
Midnight, Cambodia, Gantang, copper mine.
In a small village outside Gantang City, a few dilapidated thatched houses stood on the easternmost edge of the village. One of them looked a little different from the others. Judging from the house itself, its owner must have been one of the more affluent families in the area. The thatch on the roof was the thickest, and although the walls were made of mud mixed with straw, traces of whitewash could be seen on the outside.
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