Chapter 64: A female mate chooses to farm (13)

　　Yes, you will know after you try it!

 Exploring any county will be rewarded with the map of that county, right? Let’s start from Baigui County.

Xu Yin immediately asked someone to find a local map.

　　I didn’t bother to eat lunch, so I immersed myself in research.

The maps at this time were not as detailed as those marked in later generations. The silk-embroidered maps were slightly yellowed, and only briefly marked the locations of several major cities that could be reached by official roads, as well as the mountains, rivers and lakes and other obvious mountains and waters.

 At present, she has only been to Yunshan Village and Fucheng, and marked these two places with a charcoal pen.

But Baigui County has a vast territory, and there are still many remaining cities. If we want to explore them one by one, it will be time-consuming and laborious. The key is, will King Jinnan allow it?

 She is going to marry him soon. Once she is married, she will ride around in a carriage. This is... not very realistic!

This task is a bit difficult!

Xu Yin pinched her eyebrows with a headache.

 “Girl, it’s time to eat.”

 Eating is the most important thing for an emperor, so Xu Yin put aside her worries and ate first.

Not long after she finished eating, the kid selling her iron ore came.

 Xu Yin had already heard about his family’s situation from the guards:

This child's name is Shanwa. His father is a mountain farmer. He accidentally broke his leg when he went into the mountains a while ago. The family's savings are not enough for him to treat his leg. Two days ago, his mother walked all night on the mountain road to return to her parents' house to borrow money, but she couldn't borrow it. My sister-in-law scolded her and fell ill when she returned home.

 “Has everything been arranged at home?” Xu Yin asked him.

"It's all done!" Shanwa grinned happily, "The money I brought back has been used to ask the doctor to treat my father's leg. My mother heard that you can use this stone, so she asked me to come over after eating."

“Is that place far away?” Xu Yin poured him a cup of hawthorn water, which is good for digestion and contains some honey. It tastes sour and sweet, and children will definitely like it.

 “Not that far.”

Shanwa took a sip of hawthorn water and narrowed her eyes happily. It was sweet but sour, so delicious!

"If it's not far away, then we should set off now? Mammy, send someone back to the palace to talk to the housekeeper, so as not to worry the prince if you come back late."

After giving the instructions, she turned around and saw Shanba still holding hawthorn water to drink. Xu Yin couldn't help but smile:

“Don’t drink so much at once, take it with you if you like it, and drink it when you are thirsty later.”

She didn’t even need to give instructions. Mammy and Dongxue had already prepared the tea, fruits and snacks they would bring for the trip.

 In addition, he thoughtfully packed a box of melon seeds and peanuts for the girl to pass the time on the way.

This was Shanwa's first time riding a carriage. The only means of transportation he had ever ridden was an open ox cart. After getting on the carriage, he touched and looked around, and was very curious.

 Xu Yin grabbed a handful of melon seeds for him and chatted while eating them. She also placed in front of him the peach cakes, cloud cakes and other snacks that Dong Xue had brought out from the royal chef of the mansion: "Let's eat and chat."

Shanwa ate a piece of fragrant and crispy peach cake, and then a piece of soft and glutinous walnut cloud cake. She felt that she couldn't eat the noble man's food in vain, so she knew that she could talk about everything, and she said everything she knew:

"My family used to live near that place. Many of the mountains there were bare. In some places, grass couldn't grow, let alone crops, so we called it Bald Mountain. Later, there was a flood there, and many people's homes were flooded. The same goes for my family, so I had to move out.

 But there is a treasure from my childhood hidden there, so every time my father goes back to worship his ancestors, I will go with him. This red stone was dug from the cliff behind the ancestral grave. There are many more stones like this over there..."

Xu Yin ate melon seeds and listened to Shanba's chatter. She would give him a snack from time to time. The child was sensible. Although he was very greedy, he did not dare to eat more.

 We drank tea and chatted in the car, but we didn’t realize how far the journey was.

 But in fact, they set out from Fucheng and arrived at the Bald Mountain mentioned by Shanwa, which took them at least an hour and a half.

Xu Yin: Isn’t that far?

Shanwa scratched his head: "It's not far. It's much closer than going to my grandma's house."

　　　…”

There was still a mountain to climb next. Xu Yin lowered her head and glanced at her embroidered shoes, wishing she could take out a pair of sneakers from the space.

Finally, the guard brother went up and found the red stone cliff Shanwa mentioned. He used a dagger to dig out several stones of the same color, and said that the cliff seemed to be full of stones of this color. Xu Yin nodded secretly: It’s hematite. I just don’t know whether the reserves are large or not. If not, there won’t be much development value.

As evening approached, she was debating whether to find a place to stay and continue exploring the bald mountain the next day, or to rush back to Fucheng, go to the stream to get water for tea, and bring back a group of people.

 “Girl, the prince is here.”

Facing the familiar, handsome and gentle face, Xu Yin couldn't help but stood up: "Why are you here?"

"The steward said you came to Tushan Mountain. What's the matter? This place is sparsely populated and not suitable for traveling."

Yan Kejin looked at her without any trace as he spoke. Except for the fact that her skirt was stained with dust and her headdress was a little crooked, she looked fine.

He took a step forward and straightened the hair accessories on her head.

 “The hairpin is crooked.”

"…Oh, thank you."

Xu Yin held up her hair, a little uncomfortable with him being so close.

 “By the way, I’m here to find this.”

 She knelt down and handed a few pieces of iron ore at her feet to Yan Kejin.

 “Ocher?”

Yan Kejin paused and looked surprised.

 Xu Yin asked in surprise: "You know?"

Yan Kejin glanced at her with complicated expressions. This was the right question for him to ask.

 How did she know it was ocher?

Which miscellaneous book did you get it from?

"I just asked the guards to go up and take a look. The cliff is covered with rocks. I don't know how deep it is. If it's just the surface, it won't be enough to smelt much iron."

Seeing that he knew about it and that he had turned away the others, Xu Yin simply spoke up.

“I think this way, if iron ore can be mined, not only can the bent-hull plow be widely promoted, but also ships can be built, and large ships wrapped in iron sheets can be built, so that we can go to sea without fear of strong winds and waves.

I heard that the people in the southern barbarian coastal towns are not only poor, but also often harassed by pirates. If we can build strong ships and send soldiers to patrol the offshore day and night, we can be on guard against pirates..."

As soon as Xu Yin started talking, she couldn't stop talking.

 Subconsciously, she desperately hoped that Yan Kejin's fiefdom would become rich and powerful as soon as possible, firstly to lift the people out of poverty and become rich, and secondly, to slap the faces of those in the capital.

Yan Kejin thought further.

 The uses of iron go far beyond making farm tools and building ships. The reason why it was controlled by the imperial court was precisely because it could forge weapons.

However, she did think of one thing with him, and that was - there was iron ore in Tushan, so she should not report it and mine it herself.

 Despite the risks, this is his fief, his territory, and he has the final say.

 Early the next morning, Yan Kejin sent someone to buy Tushan.

 The entire mountain, including the land at its foot, came under the name of the royal family.

 (End of this chapter)