CHAPTER 227: CHAPTER 222 IRON ORE

Zhao Ming frowned, "Is it really within Xiping County? How come I’ve never heard of an iron mine in the county?"

"There are so many minerals in the world, do you think you can know each one?"

Zhao Ming thought it made sense and asked, "Where is the iron mine located?"

"It’s in a wasteland. The land there has been abandoned for several years, and it’s somewhat barren. If there wasn’t a possibility of enemy troops coming down from there, I wouldn’t have thought of setting up a base there."

"After all that, you still haven’t told me where it is."

"Well, because it’s a wasteland, there’s no official name for it, and the mountain doesn’t have a name either. I named the settlement Wushan because the sunlight there is particularly good at noon..."

Zhao Ming squinted and whispered the name ’Wushan’ to himself twice. Realizing it’s in the north, he pressed his lips together, "Is this Wushan close to Wuyang?"

Zhao Hanzhang pinched her fingers and said, "A little closer than I thought."

Zhao Ming’s face darkened, "The iron mine wouldn’t be over in Wuyang County, would it?"

Zhao Hanzhang gave him a cheeky smile.

Zhao Ming turned around to leave, feeling a bit foolish for stopping to listen to her.

Zhao Hanzhang quickly followed, chattering behind him, "Uncle, that mountain isn’t entirely on their side; part of it is on our side, really. I’ve inquired before, there used to be villages there, and people’s lands were at the foot of that mountain..."

"The boundaries between counties are generally vague, except for the stone markers. I’ve had people check it out; the land there has also been abandoned by Wuyang County." Zhao Hanzhang said, "If we go to mine it, no one will know."

Zhao Ming stopped in his tracks, frowning, "Then why are you telling me?"

If she wants to mine, why not do it secretly? Why tell him?

Is she asking him to stop her or not to stop her?

Zhao Hanzhang said, "But iron smelting requires graphite."

She looked at Zhao Ming expectantly.

So, it turns out she was eyeing the family’s graphite mine.

Of course, this graphite is not the same graphite.

In ancient times, coal was called graphite, but what later generations consider graphite is called ’black lead’ here.

So the Zhao family’s graphite mine is actually a coal mine.

Zhao Ming was straightforward, "You want to buy graphite from the family? I’ll call the person in charge, and you can talk to him."

"Can it be cheaper?" Zhao Hanzhang said, "When I smelt the iron, I’ll sell it to the family at a cheaper price."

Zhao Ming pondered for a moment, and Zhao Hanzhang, seeing hope, pressed on, "Besides, Uncle, we’ve developed a new type of better-quality iron, which we call steel. Although the production is low, the weapons crafted from it are considered Divine Weapons. This unique item will only be sold to the clan."

Zhao Ming pondered, glanced at her, and said, "Alright, let’s go home and talk."

Zhao Hanzhang followed happily.

Discussing with Zhao Ming was far more straightforward than with others.

They both knew what kind of person they were, and Zhao Hanzhang could shamelessly bargain down the price.

The coal mine didn’t belong to Zhao Ming but to the Zhao family clan. It was his father managing these things, which allowed him to make some decisions.

It’s unclear what Zhao Ming was thinking, but he agreed to lower the price without much effort from Zhao Hanzhang, selling coal to her at a favorable price.

Zhao Ming also wanted to see how far Zhao Hanzhang could go.

If she truly mastered the entire Yu State, then Zhao’s Fortress, located in Yu State’s heart, would be the safest, as long as Yu State remained unbroken.

Based on this, Zhao Ming was willing to help her where he could.

Ji Yuan knew Zhao Hanzhang had bought coal and was overjoyed, "With this, our weapons won’t be dependent on others."

Zhao Hanzhang had taken in many refugees, and while not all became soldiers, many worked like long-term laborers.

She trained only 1,200 people as soldiers, but they needed many weapons too.

The rest also underwent some military training during their leisure time, serving as militia, farming when busy and going to war when needed.

They also needed some weapons.

Moreover, she now needed a large number of farming tools.

All of these required iron, and the iron mines in Yu State were either in the hands of the government or Inspector He.

Actually, they were all under Inspector He’s nose. Buying iron from him would mean exposing her situation and ambitions.

So Ji Yuan wanted to bypass Inspector He and buy iron implements outside Yu State; Zhao Hanzhang was more direct, wanting to find an iron mine herself.

Yu State had many mineral resources. Although she couldn’t remember the exact locations, if Xiping County had a coal mine, there should be an iron mine nearby.

If not in Xiping, it would be in the neighboring county.

So Zhao Hanzhang kept people on the lookout.

Discovering the iron mine at Wushan was purely by accident. Zhao Hanzhang had previously bought a batch of iron ore and distributed it to team leaders and centurions to identify. If they noticed similar stones in the wild, they were to report immediately.

A team leader and his portion of soldiers went to the settlement. Due to the cold, the stored firewood was insufficient, so they wandered further to cut wood and accidentally discovered Wushan.

It was an extremely low hill with a few trees growing on its edges, but sheltered from the wind. They hid there during breaks, feeling less cold.

Then they stumbled upon a rock. With a bit of force, the rock crumbled into a pile of sandlike stones, its color closely resembling the iron ore Zhao Hanzhang had shown the centurions.

So the centurion collected a pocketful and brought it back to the county town to report the situation during their return from the Wushan settlement point.

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t expect things to work out so conveniently, feeling somewhat like a child of destiny.

Fortunately, things weren’t so smooth, which dampened her feelings. They found after much research that the unnamed mountain Zhao named Wushan had extended beyond Xiping County’s borders and belonged to neighboring Wuyang County.

Because of this, Zhao Hanzhang was displeased, staying gloomy for a night before deciding to dispatch another team to the Wushan settlement, quietly moving both teams nearer to the mountain’s base.

Fortunately, Wuyang County also faced severe population loss, and the trees were denser there than in their area, meaning there were no nearby villages or even farmland near Wushan.

They could quietly occupy it for now, deciding what to do when discovered later.

Oh, and there was another issue; privately mining iron was illegal.

But with Inspector He’s precedent, Zhao Hanzhang didn’t much care. However, since she was still weak and helpless, she had to keep it a secret.

Therefore, only Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan’s trusted confidants knew about this.