The reason why Zheng Yinhong was willing to fully assist Li Zexuan in establishing the tea garden was not only driven by profit, but also because he felt Li Zexuan's sincerity.
He had come into contact with many officials in Jiangnan Road and Chang'an City, but Li Zexuan was the first official to talk business with him on an equal footing. This moved Zheng Yinhong and at the same time developed a lot of affection for Li Zexuan!
Looking at the sincere attitude of Cao Wendong and others towards Li Zexuan, it is not difficult to understand that he finally issued the oath of loyalty to the death and never betrayal!
You treat me as a nobleman of the country, and I will repay you as a nobleman of the country! A scholar-official can die for his confidant, and Zheng Yinhong, who always keeps his word, can also swear loyalty to Li Zexuan, who treats him like a scholar!
It is true that businessmen value profits, but businessmen in this era are also very eager to be recognized! Li Zexuan's sincerity and Li Zexuan's equal treatment were the most critical factors that impressed Zheng Yinhong!
Being loyal to such a superior person, Zheng Yinhong felt that as long as Li Zexuan did not fall, the Zheng family would be prosperous forever!
At the same time, the news that Li Zexuan possessed a magical tea and a magical method of making tea spread silently. After all, there is no airtight wall in the world!
Some civil servants and generals who were close to Li Zexuan took a break from their busy schedules and went to Yunshan to have tea with Li Zexuan!
Fang Xuanling, Changsun Wuji, Qin Qiong, Cheng Yaojin, Li Jing, Li Ji, Yuchi Jingde, etc. basically all go together. The euphemistic name is visiting Yanhuang Academy, but the real purpose is to have tea. In the end, Mr. Li Gang saw that his tea was getting less and less, and finally couldn't help scolding these "shameless" old guys. Only then was the wave of civil servants and military generals visiting Yunshan slightly curbed. .
However, Li Zexuan was "hemorrhaging a lot". After tasting the delicious taste of Dao Shenxian Tea, the old guys came to him one after another to beg for tea leaves, but he didn't have much in stock, but these old ministers treated him well on weekdays and refused to give him anything. No, in the end he could only deliver a small box of tea from door to door!
Well, it’s just a small box, a small wooden box specially customized by Li Zexuan. One box can probably be drunk about ten times. Although he is a bit petty, this is the limit of what he can do. If he is to blame, he can only blame the taste of the fairy tea. Great!
Just imagine, even old drunkards like Wang Ji and Cheng Yaojin like to drink tea. Can it taste bad?
It's a pity that Wei Zheng is far away in Henan Province, otherwise this old troll would definitely come to ask for tea!
Li Zexuan, who had little inventory, only hoped that Zheng Yinhong could quickly deliver a batch of fried fairy tea to Chang'an!
Yes, he also taught Zheng Yinhong the frying method of fairy tea. Jiangnan Road is nearly a thousand miles away from Chang'an. If the fresh tea leaves are transported to Chang'an for processing, the transportation cost will be too high, so Li Zexuan asked Zheng Yinhong to make it. Pick it locally, fry and process it on the spot, and then just transport the finished product directly to Chang'an City!
……………………
In the early morning of this day, Li Zexuan had just finished sword practice and was about to go to Yanhuang Academy, but he met someone he never expected at the gate!
"Sambo?"
Li Zexuan looked at the unkempt and ragged "beggar" in front of him, and saw that his face was very familiar. After thinking about it seriously, he suddenly exclaimed!
"Master! Sanbao is back! Sanbao is finally back! Woohoo~!"
Sanbao looked at Li Zexuan blankly, and when he saw that Li Zexuan recognized him, he immediately knelt down on his knees, hugged Li Zexuan's thigh, and cried loudly.
The few sergeants following him also knelt down quickly. These people were originally sent by Li Zexuan to follow Sanbao to prospect for mines.
"Get up! Get up quickly! What's going on with you? Didn't I ask you to go to Shu to search for minerals? Why are you in such a mess?"
Sanbao's "miserable" cry alarmed the people in the other courtyard. Han Yuxi and Lan'er walked out one after another. The guards Pang Feiji, Liu Feng, Liu Yun and others outside the courtyard also turned their attention. Li Zexuan quickly pulled Sanbao up from the ground and asked.
It was okay if I didn't ask, but when I asked Sanbao, he cried even more. He burst into tears and said, "Master, Sanbao is back. Sanbao almost didn't come back, but Sanbao found vanadium mine for the master!"
Li Zexuan could feel the sadness of this journey from Sanbao's words, so he hurriedly asked: "Why can't you almost come back? Is it possible that someone in Shu is making things difficult for you?"
At this point, Li Zexuan's tone became very unkind. Some of the people he sent out dared to bully him. Isn't this a slap in his face?
Sanbao controlled his emotions a little and replied: "Master, we found the vanadium mine you mentioned on a mountain in Yizhou, but we were caught by a group of Qiang people. They said that we had offended their sacred mountain. , wanted to kill us. Later, we revealed our identities and met the leader of the Qiang people, who seemed to be named Qiao Feng. He asked us why we were digging rocks on the sacred mountain. I told the truth and said that I was helping the young master to find them. About vanadium mines, but he didn’t believe it. He said he had never heard of vanadium mines on that mountain, and he wanted someone to kill us.
Later, the local county magistrate arrived in time and saved our lives. However, the Qiang people refused to allow us to take away the ore from the mountain. We then went to the mountain to throw some ore in the dark, but we were killed by the Qiang people. We found that they sent people to chase them all the way, and we didn't get rid of them completely until we left Yueqi County. However, by that time, all the coils, fish charms and other things we had on us were lost, so we could only beg along the way, relying on a few people on the way. Thanks to the help of kind-hearted people, I finally came back~! "
Li Zexuan was silent for a while after hearing this. He had expected that this trip might have some twists and turns, because although the Bashu region had been included in the political system of the Central Plains Dynasty very early, due to the geographical isolation and distance from the political center, in addition to the situation in Bashu and around the basin There have always been a large number of Di, Qiang, Man, Liao and other ethnic groups distributed in the area, making the Bashu land actually a "marginal" area of the dynasty. There are many powerful families and tribes, and the forces of all parties are complicated!
So he had told Sanbao before to try not to conflict with the local forces, but he didn't expect that Sanbao would be so miserable and almost starved to death on the road!
After a moment of silence, Li Zexuan patted Sanbao on the shoulder and said: "Sambo, you have suffered! Don't worry, I will help you get back the injustice you suffered from the Qiang people, young master!"
"Uh-huh!"
Sanbao nodded sharply, then scratched his head again and said: "Young...Master, is there anything to eat? Sanbao is hungry..."
The sergeants behind him also rubbed their bellies and looked at Li Zexuan with embarrassed expressions.
Li Zexuan quickly ordered: "Xiaohe, hurry up! Go get some food and drink for Sanbao and the others!"
"Yes! Master~!"
Xiao He quickly ran into the house.
Li Zexuan said to Sanbao: "Sanbao, you all come in, sit down, eat slowly, and drink slowly! You have all worked hard this way!"
"Yes! Master!"
"Yes! Mr. Hou!"
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After a while, Xiao He and Xiao Xi brought a pot of freshly cooked noodles and a large pot of green onion and egg soup. This is commonly known as sauerkraut noodles!
One person filled a bowl of noodles, poured some sauce on top, and Sanbao and the others started gobbling it up on the stone table in the yard!
"Ah! Sanbao, please eat slowly. No one will fight with you? Don't choke!"
It was the first time that Lan'er saw someone wolfing down food like this. She was shocked and quickly gave a rare advice from the side.
"Well! Thank you for your concern, Miss. Sanbao won't choke!"
Sanbao was eating and replying to Lan'er's words. He was thinking in his heart that it was better to choke to death than to starve to death. He hadn't eaten such delicious noodles for a long time!
"Lan'er, don't disturb their meal!"
Li Zexuan touched Lan'er's little head and said softly.
Although he had many questions to ask San Bao, he knew that now was not the time to ask questions. It was more serious to let San Bao and the others eat first.
"oh!"
Lan'er nodded, then stood for a while, and then went out to play. This little girl is not the kind of person who can sit idle!
It took more than a quarter of an hour before Sanbao and the others finally put down their bowls and chopsticks, but they actually finished the whole bowl of noodles and a bowl of savory seeds, as if they were reincarnated by starving ghosts!
"Hiccup~!"
Sanbao and others burped, stood up from the stone bench, bowed to Li Zexuan and said:
"Thank you, Master!"
"Thank you, Lord Marquis!"
Li Zexuan waved his hand and said: "Well, you all go back, wash up, and have a good rest. I will give you a big reward later! The three treasures stay!"
The sergeants quickly bowed and said: "Yes! Lord Marquis!"
After that, they left.
Li Zexuan looked at Sanbao and asked: "Sambo, the local Qiang people say that the mine is a sacred mountain. Why is this?"
Sanbao thought for a while and replied: "Master, I think I heard this from a farmer. That mountain is called Lanjia volcano. It is said that this mountain can attract soldiers from all over the world. As long as someone passes by with a sword, he will feel It seemed as if the sword was being pulled by some force, and people later felt that this mountain had the power of gods, and people were not allowed to go up the mountain at will!"
"Lanjia volcano?"
Li Zexuan frowned and suddenly felt that the name was familiar. He quickly searched for relevant information in his mind. After a moment, his eyes widened and he said in disbelief: "You mean that mountain is called Lanjia Volcano? There is a mountain next to it. There is another mountain called Jianshan?"
Sanbao was stunned for a moment. He looked at Li Zexuan like a god and said, "Master, how do you know there is a sharp mountain next to it? You are so amazing! There is indeed a sharp mountain next to the Lanjia volcano, but Sanbao has not been up there yet!"
Li Zexuan's face suddenly filled with excitement and said: "That's great! That's great!"
He can now basically conclude that the place where Sanbao and the others are going is Panzhihua, modern Sichuan, and Lanjia Volcano and Jianshan are the largest natural vanadium-titanium magnet mines in modern China! In the 21st century, except for the United States, which extracts vanadium from potash-vanadium-uranium ore, other major vanadium-producing countries in the world extract vanadium from vanadium-titanium magnetite!
Sanbao and the others really found a treasure this time!
The local Qiang people mistakenly believe that this mountain is a sacred mountain, which is really ridiculous in Li Zexuan's view, because the magnetite in vanadium-titanium magnetite is highly magnetic and can attract iron swords, which have nothing to do with such illusory things as divine power. relation!
"Oh, Master, these are the ores we stole from over there. Many of them were lost while escaping, and only these two pieces are left!"
At this time, Sanbao took out two fist-sized black and gray stones from his clothes, handed them to Li Zexuan, and said.
Li Zexuan took the stone. Judging from its appearance, it looked similar to iron ore. However, if you observe it carefully, you can find that the color of this stone is slightly lighter than iron ore, and it is slightly lighter than iron ore.
After observing for a long time, Li Zexuan looked at Sanbao and said, "If I let you lead the way, take the young master and I will go there again. Do you still know the way?"
San Bao nodded and said: "I know! I do! Don't worry, young master, San Bao definitely knows the way!"
Li Zexuan nodded and said: "Well! Then you can go down and rest first! You did a good job this time. Master, I will definitely reward you heavily!"
At this time, Sanbao exposed his "dog-licking nature" and said flatteringly: "Hey! It's Sanbao's honor to be able to help the young master. Sanbao doesn't dare to ask for rewards~!"
Li Zexuan said with a smile: "Oh? In that case, I will fulfill your wish and not give you any reward!"
"Gah?"
The smile on Sanbao's face suddenly stopped and turned into a sad face. He said pitifully: "Master... Sanbao just..."
"Haha! Okay, okay! You kid, go back and rest quickly! Master, I will definitely not give you a penny less than the reward that should be given to you!"
Li Zexuan laughed loudly.
Han Yuxi and others also smiled.
Sanbao scratched his head and realized that Li Zexuan was teasing him. He was not angry, but bowed with a smile and said, "Thank you, Master, Sanbao!"
Li Zexuan nodded, spoke to his wife, and walked out with the vanadium-titanium magnetite.
............................
"Mr. Wang, come out with me for a moment~!"
Arriving at the academy, Li Zexuan came to the office of the Chemistry Department, found Wang Ji, and whispered.
"Oh! Chief! I'm coming right now!"
Wang Ji was memorizing the "Yanhuang Academy Confidentiality Regulations" at the moment. Hearing this, he quickly put down the pamphlet and followed Li Zexuan out of the office.
It is said that now, whether students or teachers in the academy, whenever they have free time, they will take out the "Confidentiality Regulations" issued by the academy and start to memorize it crazily. After all, this week's confidentiality exam is of great importance to everyone, and no one will not. Take it to heart.
"Chief, what do you want to do with Wang?"
Wang Ji followed Li Zexuan to the conference room and asked impatiently.
He is in a hurry!
Li Zexuan took out the vanadium-titanium magnetite ore, smiled slightly and said: "Mr. Wang, the people I sent out seem to have found the vanadium ore. The top priority is that we must seize the time to verify whether there is vanadium in it~!"
"What? We found vanadium ore? Then, Chief, what are we waiting for? Let's go directly to the workshop!"
When Wang Ji heard this, his face was filled with surprise. Li Zexuan had told him that vanadium pentoxide was an important catalyst necessary in the process of making sulfuric acid. Now that there is vanadium ore, it means that the workshop finally has the conditions to produce it on a large scale. Get the sulfuric acid!
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First update!
Two chapters in one!
Thank you to the leader Hei Hongmeifang for the 10,000 rewards (March 8)
Thank you to the leader of the alliance, Heihongmeifang, for the two rewards (today’s, the boss said it was for the hard work of the knights, no need to add more, thank you, thank you!)
There will be another update tonight!
(End of chapter)
