Chapter 270: Enter Mine Tunnel
Outside the city, an exquisitely beautiful horse carriage slowly traveled toward the increasingly narrow road deep in the mountain forest!
The exquisite wheels were carved with intricate patterns, and the badge and logo on the horse carriage also appeared exceptionally refined.
The window curtains were made of luxurious silk, adorned with jewels and embroidered patterns. Li Xi’er, dressed in plain clothes, looked at the flowers, plants, and trees close to the horse carriage on the road, her mood improving a bit.
She casually picked up a copy of “Mi Ru Cheng Collection” from the small table and began reading it carefully.
This book was written by a man named Mi Ru Cheng, about road construction and economic matters in Feng Lan and surrounding countries.
As a prince, it couldn’t help but make her feel respectful. What she usually paid attention to were books related to national economics.
“Hua Shidi, are you still angry?”
Feng Qingcheng cautiously looked at the woman with a puffed-up face across from him and tentatively asked.
“What? Senior Brother, what are you talking about?”
With innocent big eyes and a bewildered little expression, she had completely forgotten about that morning’s incident!
“Woo… Shidi, your Senior Brother got beaten by someone. What do you say we do? Look, there’s a big bump on my head, and my back hurts especially!” Feng Qingcheng pointed to the bump on his head and turned his back to show her!
Li Xi’er sighed inwardly. Damn it, a dignified prince, how old was he?
“Sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose. How was I supposed to know what happened last night? Maybe Bu Wei was talking nonsense. He’s your man, so of course he’s biased toward you!”
Bu Wei was following outside the horse carriage when a gust of chilling cold wind blew over.
These two were equally matched, playing the pig to eat the tiger. Young Woman Xi’er was still playing innocent, but she had beaten someone—why should he take the blame? As a five-foot man, he couldn’t very well say more.
“Alright, I was kidding. There’s no bump, and my back doesn’t hurt anymore!”
He, on the other hand, got angry instead.
Li Xi’er raised her eyebrows.
“Senior Brother, is the place we’re going to now the mine tunnel?”
“Mm, first we’ll find a Master Yang. He’s familiar with the conditions inside the mine tunnel and has studied the common ores!”
They had never seen this tungsten ore that his junior brother mentioned with their own eyes. If they went looking themselves, they might not find it or identify it correctly!
Moreover, the mine tunnel was dangerous. The mine shafts he had seen before were supported underground with wood and some things. The passages were narrow and small, and entering the mine shafts below required experienced people.
This mine shaft was operated by one of his friends. He had greeted him in advance before bringing her, but they needed a professional to guide them inside for safety.
“Got it.”
In the afternoon, halfway up the mountain, they found Master Yang living in a simple house in the mountains. He had already prepared the equipment and was waiting. Upon seeing them, he said nothing more, just told them to put on the clothes for going down the mine shaft. They would need to light torches to go down.
When Master Yang led them to the mine tunnel entrance, she glanced down and nearly fainted. This mine shaft was in hard rock, a vertical shaft about sixty to seventy meters deep, artificially chiseled out. Below the vertical shaft was a slant shaft, a passage slanted through the rock. Hundreds of meters through the passage led to a pitch-black horizontal tunnel.
Fortunately, the mine was on holiday today. Master Yang tied on the well rope they used before, and using tools, he lowered them one by one along the well rope. He went down last!
After going down, they entered the narrow passage into the slant shaft. After a few steps, it was pitch black. Master Yang lit a torch, and in the enclosed environment, Li Xi’er felt somewhat suffocated.
She reached out and touched these rock walls—they were all chiseled out bit by bit by hand. Not easy! Those copper, iron, and lead ores must have been drilled out from these caves, right?
After walking nearly a thousand meters, she saw the spacious mining caverns inside, connected to each other, quite spectacular!
At this point, they no longer needed the torch for lighting because they saw various sparkling ores on the rock cliff face, enough to vaguely make out the situation inside the cave!
“Your Highness, the tungsten stone you mentioned should be tungsten iron ore, probably around this position. Please wait a moment, I’ll look for it right away!”
“Good!”
Master Yang crouched nearby, groping with an iron hammer and striking for a while, then shook his head and moved to another spot to continue chiseling!
“I remember it’s here… why isn’t it…”
“Is there a problem?”
“Maybe I misidentified it. The ore here is copper ore!”
“Mm, Master Yang, no need to rush. Look carefully!”
Master Yang worked diligently, chiseling at that black, smooth stone. Inside it was all rock. In Li Xi’er’s memory, black tungsten ore grew in high-temperature hydrothermal quartz veins. The ground here was pitch black, and the ore was also black. Seeing Master Yang chisel out pieces, pick them up, look at them, and shake his head, “Iron ore!”
So much effort!
Li Xi’er thought for a moment, looked up at the rock walls overhead and to the sides—sparkling. Suddenly, she spotted a crystalline stone embedded in the rock, emitting pale blue to yellow fluorescence.
“Master Yang, is that ore it?”
Master Yang looked up and firmly shook his head. “Young man, you might not know—tungsten ore, as the name implies, is black! That glowing one isn’t!”
In this era, tungsten ore hadn’t been effectively utilized yet—such a waste. In the modern era, it was an important material for military weapons: tanks, knives that could cut metal, drill bits, filaments, and more…
It was normal not to recognize it, but for this Master Yang to know it at all was not simple!
“Bu Wei, go up and see if you can chisel down that thing!”
“Yes!”
Bu Wei leaped up, straddled the rock wall with his legs apart, and began chiseling with the iron hammer and dagger in his hand. Soon, there was a crisp thud, and he caught it as it came down!
“Master!”
“Xiao Xi, take a look. Is it?”
Li Xi’er took it and examined it carefully: white with yellow, tetragonal granular crystals, greasy luster. When heated with the torch, it showed purple!
Her eyes lit up.
“That’s right, it’s tungsten ore!”
Master Yang, unconvinced, handed her a freshly chiseled black piece of ore: “Young man, this is the real tungsten ore. Don’t mistake it!”
Li Xi’er took it and looked at it seriously, nodding. “That’s right, this is too. Thank you, Master Yang!”
Master Yang was dumbfounded but still stubborn: “Your tungsten ore isn’t right!”
Feng Qingcheng didn’t expect this Master Yang to be so obstinate. “Master Yang, since we’ve found it, that’s it. Let’s head out!”
“Your Highness, I don’t know what you want the tungsten stone for, but if it’s the wrong one, it might affect the things you’re making!”
He had mined ore for so long, and he felt this tungsten ore was very hard. Did the God of War Prince want it for some use?
If someone could develop it into a powerful weapon, the God of War Prince would surely be invincible on the battlefield.
The prince paused—this Master Yang had quite a sense of responsibility.
He glanced at Li Xi’er to see what she would say!
“Master Yang, mine is white tungsten ore, yours is black tungsten ore. Both are tungsten ore, so it’s correct!”
“Oh?” Master Yang paused. There was such a thing as white tungsten ore? He had been narrow-minded.
