Chapter 64 Black Gold Furnace (Part 2) Update
This area of the mountain has been pushed out to form a vast plain.
The wooden racks were deeply inserted into the vertically exposed mountain as a support, extending outwards. Each joint of the wooden sticks was tightly tied with a hemp rope as thick as two fingers.
In this way, the building was built up to five or six floors.
Each floor has a crude construction platform. Although it is called a platform, the wooden strips are actually too thin for people to walk on steadily.
The distance between the two pieces of wood was at least the width of a palm. If you weren't careful, your legs or feet would get stuck in there, but you wouldn't fall through directly.
Each level is connected by ropes.
The servants, with bare arms and soles and dirty turbans, ran quickly on such a flat surface as if they were walking on flat ground, as if they had long been accustomed to such a scene.
Of course, if we ignore the whip-wielding soldiers who were closely watching their every move.
Every servant knew that today, thanks to the presence of a distinguished guest, they had been temporarily spared the whipping that followed them everywhere. However, if any of them dared to make a mistake, be lazy, or procrastinate in front of the distinguished guest, they would be punished tenfold or eightfold.
Cui Rui introduced the palace to Crown Prince Liu Ziling: "This main hall faces east, nestled between a sea of clouds and a forest of wind. The main body of the palace winds its way up the mountain, blending perfectly with the terrain. From a distance, it looks like a celestial realm."
Liu Ziling nodded when he heard this: "Master Cui is indeed an expert in elixir. The speed of construction progress is beyond my expectation."
Cui Rui said humbly, "Thank you for your praise, Your Highness. This is something I should have done before!"
Liu Ziling walked in the mountains for another half day, and in the autumn weather, he actually broke out in a sweat.
Before going down the mountain, Cui Rui said, "Your Highness, I have prepared a carriage for you. Please get on and go down the mountain."
After that, four drivers came with a light cart on their shoulders, half-knelt on the ground, waiting for Liu Ziye to get on the cart.
Liu Ziye often saw this kind of car in the palace, so it was naturally not new to him at all.
Indeed, after a full day, Dongwang Mountain was indeed one of the mountains in the Great Zhou Dynasty renowned for its beautiful scenery. Although I had been wandering through the mountains for a whole day, the scenery was pleasant, the peaks were cool, and the springs were gurgling, yet I never felt tired at all.
Liu Ziling waved his hand: "No need. I can go down the mountain on my own."
"I heard that the red maples and sunset on the west slope of Dongwang Mountain in autumn are one of the four most beautiful sights on Dongwang Mountain. Let's go down the west slope."
After Liu Ziling finished speaking, the palace maids accompanying him began to make preparations.
However, Cui Rui's expression suddenly changed after hearing the Crown Prince's words. He knew the sunset over the western hills was a breathtaking sight. But right now, no matter what, he couldn't let the Crown Prince go like this...
"Your Highness!"
Cui Rui said, "I'm afraid we won't be able to see the sunset over the western mountains now."
Liu Ziling looked over and asked, "How is it?"
"Right now, everyone on Dongwang Mountain is busy building the Liang Palace, hoping to have it completed sooner rather than later. Our soldiers are the civilians who came to help build the palace, so naturally, they need to stay close to the mountain. We'll build the palace on the East Mountain and camp on the West Mountain. The sunset viewing path on the West Mountain has been a bit blocked these past few days..."
"I see."
Liu Ziling nodded, agreeing with Cui Ling's statement, and said, "I understand. Building the Xiyan Liang Palace is the top priority. That's fine, I can just go down the mountain the same way I came."
Cui Ling secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
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Fu Zhen'er had no choice but to turn around and say to him, "There's something in the stream. I want to go take a look!"
But the man pulled him hard and refused to let go: "No, young chief! The water is too fast, it's dangerous for you to cross like this! Fasten the rope again!"
Fu Zhen'er struggled but failed, and at the same time she calmed down a little, then she followed the man's strength and returned to a slightly farther position.
Xiying and others had heard the noise from a distance, so they stopped digging and gathered towards Fu Zhener.
After refastening the rope around her waist, Fu Zhen'er once again approached the stream. The black water lines were still there!
He loosened the rope a little and simply sank his feet into the grass and mud on the bank, observing the source of the black water more closely. Fu Zhen'er followed the trail and walked upstream along the river bank. The others just pulled his rope and followed him upstream.
Fu Zhen'er didn't stop until she discovered that the black water pattern was washed out by the rising river water from the lower layer of grass and mud on the river bank.
He picked up the shovel in his hand and dug into the mud where the rain and stream water had washed out black water.
The soft soil mixed with grass leaves and roots was dug up.
Fu Zhen'er was delighted to discover that amidst the yellow mud, there was pure black soil! This black mud was the source of the black water patterns in the stream!
He immediately dug up a larger area of land, and was surprised to find more and more traces of black soil.
Even through the rain, Xiying and others could see the black soil that could not be ignored.
"Black soil!! Black soil!! Have we found it? Have we found it?"
The group cheered repeatedly.
Xiying was so happy that she even took off her rain hat, waved the shovel in her hand, and walked towards Fu Zhener's position.
Fu Zhen'er raised her head, trying to remain calm as she spoke to the others, "Xiying, put on the leash! Fu Si, leave two people to hold the leash. Everyone else, buckle up the ropes and bring your shovels."
Fu Si, who was standing high on the river bank, heard this and nodded in agreement.
Several of them were a little impatient. They fastened the ropes around their waists quickly and slid down the slope of the river bank one after another.
Three or four people worked together to expand the area and continue digging deeper into the ground based on the location where Fu Zhener dug out the black soil.
The yellowish-brown soil on the surface was turned over mixed with grass roots, revealing more and more black soil mixed with gravel particles.
Fu Zhener tightened the strings and asked everyone to dig a little more.
If it is just a small piece of black soil, they may face the result that it is not the black gold mine they are looking for.
It was not until everyone had dug up a few feet square of land and saw that there was nothing but dark black soil underneath, and that the black color even had a clear tendency to spread infinitely from the river bank to the depths of the mountain, that Fu Zhener asked everyone to stop.
He took out the storage bag he was carrying, grabbed as much relatively dry material as possible from deep in the black soil, and divided it into three bags.
After collecting it, he said to the others, "Everyone, seal the excavated soil back and leave our mark. Return to the camp. I need tools to test the composition of this black soil."
Xiying said, "Little Clan Leader Fu, you go first. I'll stay here."
Everyone acted separately, and Fu Zhen'er was pulled to a high place on the river bank by the rope.
The rain seemed to be slowing down, but after Fu Zhen'er looked at the sky, he said to Xiying, "Leave a good mark, and let's all return to the camp to rest."
Although Xiying was a little reluctant to leave, this place was very likely to be the mine that the young marquis was looking for. He wanted to keep an eye on it all the time! He was afraid that if he didn't see it, the mine and the mountain would disappear without a trace.
But they were a team, and Fu Zhener was the captain, and what Fu Zhener said made sense.
They had been waiting outdoors for so long in the heavy rain of late autumn, even with rain hats and waterproof raincoats. Xiying knew that everyone was already soaked from head to toe, and only by constantly running around and exerting themselves could they keep a trace of warmth in their bodies.
If we were to stop and delay in the wilderness in the heavy rain, even if we had the tall and strong private guard Jin Jie, he would probably not be able to handle it.
"become!"
Several people quickened their hands' movements, and finally, in a conspicuous area high up on the dug river bank, they broke off a maple tree branch with fiery red leaves and buried it firmly in the ground as a mark.
The muddy mountain road makes going downhill no easier than going up.
When we returned to the camp, everyone was extremely tired.
Fortunately, the people they left behind had anticipated the situation of several people, and they lit a portable charcoal stove in the tent and boiled a large pot of ginger soup.
I changed into dry clothes, dried my hair and the raindrops, drank a big bowl of ginger soup in front of the charcoal stove, and suddenly came back to life.
Fu Zhen'er felt the blood flowing back into his limbs, and with the warmth of the stove, he opened the several storage bags he had brought back one by one. Then he carefully took out Liu Ziye's notebook and opened the page where Liu Ziye wrote "Black Gold Mine Skiing Detection Method."
The black granular soil in the three storage bags was divided into three parts and put into three jars respectively.
In the first jar, add salt water, stir and let it sit.
The second one took a copper net, placed it on the charcoal stove, and placed the black soil on the copper net to burn.
The third one added a little vinegar to the jar.
After doing all this, he sat quietly there, waiting for the moment when the answer would be revealed.
A moment later, Fu Zhen'er saw the black soil in the first jar begin to separate. Purer black debris floated to the surface, while some broken rock and slag sank to the bottom. As the black soil on the copper mesh dried, reddish-orange flames began to emerge from the bottom. Seeing this, he had no doubt that a large number of bubbles must have appeared in the third jar.
Fu Zhen'er's eyes sparkled as he said to Xiying, who was closely following his every move, "It's done, this is it!"
In an instant, the sunset rose from its original place.
"It's done! It's done! We found it!"
If the space in the tent wasn't limited, Xiying would have wanted to do countless somersaults to vent her excitement.
"When the rain stops, we'll split into two teams. One team will stay here, and the other will go back and inform Ziye!"
Fu Zhen'er couldn't hide her excitement either.
He really wanted to go back in person right now to tell Liu Ziye the good news and see the joy on his face.
But he knew that he needed to be the one to stay with the team.
After witnessing the process and experience of Liu Ziye's previous development of the mine, as well as the series of events after the discovery of the mineral deposit recorded in the booklet Liu Ziye wrote to him, he knew that this was just the beginning.
Fu Zhen'er withdrew her gaze from the void outside the tent and said, "Xiying, go back and find Ziye and bring back his ideas and plans."
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