Chapter 267 Gold Mine
With the help of Jiang Xuan, Shi Chan successfully inherited the position of the leader of the Giant Claw Tribe.
Although he was not strong and had little ability, under the pressure from the Vine Tribe, especially with the terrifying divine vine still floating in the air, no one from the Giant Claw Tribe dared to object.
After Shi Chan took office, the first thing he did was to send people into the underground caves to find all the tribesmen who had been knocked unconscious or were still hiding.
The second thing was to move all the gold collected in the tribe and give it to the Teng tribe.
“Dang!”
Shishao put half a bag of gold on the ground, opened the bag, and said to Jiang Xuan: "All the golden stones we found underground are here."
Until now, Shi Chan still believes that the gold is just golden stone, not much different from other stones.
Jiang Xuan picked up the bag and saw that it was full of natural gold. The amount was staggering. Among them, a small part of the gold had been forged into the shape of knife coins.
Jiang Xuan picked up a golden knife coin, looked at it carefully, and said, "Nice craftsmanship, who polished it?"
Shishao became nervous and said helplessly, "I polished it together with the tribesmen in the tribe."
Jiang Xuan nodded. He knew that Shichan was afraid that the Teng tribe would continue to pursue the matter of making fake knife coins, so he turned to ask something else.
"Where did you get these golden stones?"
"From a cave underground."
"Can you take me to the place where the golden stone was dug out?"
"Yes, but the cave is quite deep. If you want to go in, you need some torches that are more durable."
"Then go get it."
"Okay, I'll go right away."
Stone Shovel turned and entered the living area of the Giant Claw tribe to get a torch.
Because they often dig holes, the people of the Giant Claw tribe are very good at making torches, and the tribe will always prepare various torches.
After a while, Shishao came over carrying a bundle of torches. There were seven or eight torches in the bundle, all of which were carefully made and fire-resistant torches.
"Let's go and take a look underground."
Jiang Xuan was very interested in the origin of gold. He believed that the Giant Claw Tribe must have dug up a gold mine underground, and it was a rich mine, otherwise it would be impossible to produce so many large pieces of natural gold.
Shishao lit a torch and then took the lead in entering a cave. Jiang Xuan, Uncaria, Shiqiu, and several warriors from the Teng tribe followed one after another.
At this time, the fire in the cave at the foot of the mountain had long been stopped, but there was still some smoke and a pungent smell in the cave.
Fortunately, the smoke and smell have been diluted by fresh air to a bearable level.
The Giant Claw Tribe's underground caves are crisscrossed and have many ventilation holes. There is wind inside, and if you encounter a crack in the rock, the wind will be even stronger.
As Jiang Xuan moved forward, he looked curiously at the underground world excavated by the Giant Claw Tribe.
The underground cave is oval in shape. Thanks to the large size of the giant clawed beasts and the fact that the tribesmen often go in and out, the cave is dug relatively spacious, and ordinary people can walk in it with their backs straight.
Some places with loose soil and prone to landslides will be supported by wood. Some places with more stones will be bypassed or widened.
The narrow and claustrophobic space gives people a feeling of extreme insecurity.
Be it Jiang Xuan, Uncaria, Shiqiu and others, they all felt extremely depressed, their vigilance was raised to the extreme, and they had an indescribable fear of this environment.
However, there are some surprises in the cave, such as the huge high-quality stones that are like walls, which are like a huge treasure for the warriors of the Vine Tribe.
Of course, this kind of treasure is buried deep underground and is difficult to move out, so it can only be chiseled out bit by bit.
After walking for a long time, Jiang Xuan finally couldn't help but ask, "How far is it?"
Shishao replied hastily, "Just turn two more corners and we'll be there soon."
Jiang Xuan could only patiently continue moving forward while paying attention to the burning of the torch.
In this kind of underground cave, there are too many uncertain factors. Floods, landslides, lack of oxygen, getting lost, etc. may all lead to death.
Jiang Xuan didn't want to stay here too long.
“Clatter…”
As he walked, Jiang Xuan vaguely heard the sound of flowing water coming from the front. He guessed that there should be an underground river ahead.
As they continued to move forward, the sound of the water continued to grow louder.
After the shovel took them around two corners, they entered a natural cave.
This cave is very beautiful, with a large number of stalactites sparkling under the firelight.
There are many puddles on the ground. The water in these puddles drips from the stalactites above and is very clean.
What surprised Jiang Xuan the most was that there were actually some transparent insects living in these puddles. These insects had a lot of legs and looked a bit like centipedes, but their whole bodies were transparent.
The eyesight of these strange insects has almost completely degenerated, and even firelight cannot attract their attention.
Jiang Xuan curiously asked Shi Chan: "What do these insects eat in the cave?"
Shishovel said, "He who eats stones."
"Eat rocks?"
"Yes, they eat these white stones. We in the Giant Claw tribe call them stoneworms."
"Stoneworms? Interesting. Can they be eaten?"
Shishao shook his head and said, "Stoneworms cannot be eaten. Eating them will give you a stomachache. Someone in the tribe has eaten them before. It is said that they taste like stone powder."
It seems that the people of the Giant Claw Tribe had tasted this kind of insect before and learned a tragic lesson.
The group continued to move forward, and not long after they walked, they saw an underground river. The water was not deep and was relatively clear, flowing "gurglingly".
At the same time, a large number of white crystals appeared on the rock wall next to the underground river.
Under the light of the fire, the crystals in the cave were reflecting light, which was breathtakingly beautiful.
After walking a short distance along the underground river, Stone Shovel led them into another cave.
The walls of this cave are almost entirely made of white crystals, and people walking in it feel very dreamy.
After walking about fifty meters, Shishovel said with a little excitement: "This is it."
Jiang Xuan looked up and saw a large amount of gold spread all over the white crystals on the wall of the cave, shining brightly under the light of the fire.
He finally saw what he wanted - a gold mine! "I'm rich, I'm rich!"
Jiang Xuan looked at the cave shining with golden light, and the surprise in his heart was simply beyond words.
If it were in the previous life, even if a gold mine was discovered, there would be a high probability that one would not get much benefit, and it might even bring about a catastrophic disaster.
But in this world, the tribesmen have not yet realized the value of gold, and even regard gold as an inferior stone because it is too soft.
Jiang Xuan was so excited that he could hardly control himself when he thought that all these gold mines would soon belong to him and the Teng tribe.
Shi Chan only knew that this gold could be made into fake knife coins, so he couldn't understand why Jiang Xuan was so excited.
However, since Jiang Xuan likes this thing, the Giant Claw Tribe will be useful to it, and Shi Shovel feels a little relieved.
As long as they are useful, they will be valued and the Giant Claw Tribe will survive.
If it is useless, the Giant Claw Tribe might be easily wiped out by the Vine Tribe one day.
Jiang Xuan walked to the rock wall and stroked a fist-sized ball of natural gold on it.
This world is incredibly rich in flora, fauna, and minerals.
If it was the world in the previous life, natural gold was generally small particles of gold sand, or fused with rocks, forming a thin layer. Large chunks of natural gold were extremely rare.
But the gold mine in front of Jiang Xuan had pieces of gold embedded in the crystals. The small ones were the size of a fist, and the big ones were even as big as millstones. It was quite amazing.
Jiang Xuan saw a stone hammer and several stone chisels on the ground, so he picked them up and used them to chisel a piece of gold out of the crystal stone wall.
“Ding ding ding…”
The materials of the stone hammer and stone chisel are both very good, and the sound they make is very crisp.
Because the crystals were in pieces and had a relatively loose structure, Jiang Xuan chiseled them a few times and square-shaped crystals kept falling down.
He continued to chisel, and soon he had chiseled out a fist-sized piece of gold.
"nice one!"
Jiang Xuan held the piece of gold and looked at it repeatedly. The more he looked at it, the more he liked it.
He put the natural gold into a leather backpack and planned to take it back as a decoration.
Then he said to the shovel, "I will give this golden stone a name, gold."
"From now on, the Giant Claw Tribe will send a batch of gold to the Vine Tribe every thirty days until all the gold in this cave is mined. Do you understand?"
Shi Chan nodded hurriedly, and then asked cautiously: "Besides gold, do we need to send anything else?"
What Shichan feared most was that Jiang Xuan would ask them to send food and animal skins, because these two things were the most consumed and were also the most needed by each tribe.
The Giant Claw Tribe is good at digging holes, but their hunting ability is average. The food and animal skins are not enough for their own tribe, and if they have to give them to the Vine Tribe, it would be even worse.
Jiang Xuan thought for a moment and said, "In addition to gold, you can just send some high-quality stones each time. Other things are not needed for the time being."
"Don't worry, Chief Xuan. We will definitely deliver it on time."
Shi Chan breathed a sigh of relief and was secretly delighted.
The Giant Claw Tribe has no need for gold and does not think it has much value.
High-quality stone is very precious to other tribes, but it is not that scarce to the Giant Claw Tribe.
Shi Chan was satisfied, and Jiang Xuan was also satisfied. Everyone was happy.
Afterwards, Jiang Xuan worked hard to chisel out some natural gold and asked Gou Teng and others to take some out.
It was not until Shishao reminded him that there were not enough torches that Jiang Xuan left with Gou Teng and others reluctantly.
Before leaving, Shiqiu picked up some crystals and put them into a animal skin bag.
Uncaria asked curiously, "What are you doing with this?"
Shi Qiu said, "The broken end looks quite sharp. Take it back and polish it to see if it can be used to make arrowheads."
"For arrowheads?"
Uncaria thought about it, and then followed the example of the stone loach, picking up some crystals and taking them back.
He didn't intend to make arrowheads, but wanted to see if he could polish it into a stone ball and give it to his son to play with.
(End of this chapter)
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