Chapter 196: Could there be a heavenly mandate?

【What's wrong?】

Although Chen Weifang kept asking about Chinu, her eyes never blinked, fixed on Du Shanü.

This clearly should have been a simple question.

For Du Shanü, it was extremely difficult to answer, and in fact impossible to answer.

Thus, she remained silent for a few breaths, and in the end only asked:

"Why are you in such a hurry? Where are you going?"

Du Shanü remained silent, and Chinu also remained silent.

Chen Weifang received no answer; her eyes, like those of an ancient pool, swept over the two of them, and after a few breaths, it seemed she understood something.

He did not speak again to ask; merely, when he spoke once more, his voice was a bit colder:

"Not long ago, the female lead once set fire to Ju Cheng; do you still remember?"

Du Shanü pretended not to hear Chen Weifang's change in how she addressed him, and simply nodded:

"This matter is important; of course I remember."

"If it weren't for this, the Imperial Envoy wouldn't have been summoned......"

Du Shanü's words paused slightly, and she barely managed to recall this matter——

What about the Imperial Envoy?

Earlier, Ruansizong had sent a message, saying that an Imperial Envoy would soon visit to investigate the burning of Ju Cheng.

But earlier, she and Chinu had stayed at Zhoufu for several days, waiting until Zhoufu fell into chaos, yet they seemed not to have seen any Imperial Envoy arrive?

Du Shanü was somewhat doubtful, but Chen Weifang had already spoken again:

"The Cold Food Festival is approaching; not long after will come the year's end; after the year passes, spring will soon arrive."

"The female lead's earlier burning of Ju Cheng somewhat implicated the surrounding lands; if the land is harmed, I fear there will be no hope for spring plowing."

"I have been concerned about farming; these past few days I happened to send people to dig mud from the riverbank to fill and fertilize the fields, yet those washing artisans, however, discovered...... in the riverbank."

Chen Weifang paused slightly, flicked her sleeve, as if trying to produce something, but after probing with her fingertips for several breaths, she found nothing.

This scholar, reminiscent of an ancient moon, furrowed his brows slightly; Du Shanü's mood was already not good, seeing he could not produce anything, she simply got straight to the point and asked:

"What did you discover? Sunken objects from the riverbed? Or silted-up shattered ore washed by the river flow?"

Cassia Land is naturally mountainous; the riverbed is constantly scoured, and it's not unusual for the river to carry unknown debris from somewhere.

Even if luck is good, occasionally picking up sesame‑sized flecks of gold sand is not strange.

And the reason no one has ever carried out large‑scale prospecting——

First, many people do not understand geomancy, nor the rises and falls of the riverbed, nor where silt accumulates.

Second, these things are all dragged by water from unknown sources; they are not a concentrated vein, so one might only encounter them by chance every few decades or centuries, not constantly.

If ordinary folk abandon their livelihood to prospect, the lucky might change their fate in a day or two; the unlucky would gain nothing and still waste their livelihood?

Therefore, although Du Shanü understood the principle of river scouring, she had never truly considered going to 'pan for gold'.

But today......

"It's shattered ore."

Chen Weifang sighed and replied:

"The female lead's excellent calculation. This morning a report came: the mud‑diggers, while digging in the creek, happened upon a stretch paved with black, gleaming stone fragments......"

"Since the last time Cang Cheng burned, I have been carefully overseeing the wardens; thus they are fairly upright, not concealing anything, they reported this and even brought me a sample. But just now I rushed out and carelessly left the item in the study."

"Black, gleaming stone fragments?"

"That probably has nothing to do with gold or silver."

"As for copper and iron, these ores are invariably heavy and do not drift with the water, so they could not possibly be found in the creek bed."

Du Shanü secretly thought, and also sighed aloud:

"Heaven does not favor me."

"If we had discovered gold or silver mines, we wouldn't have to be so hard‑pressed......"

"Chinu wouldn't have to follow me through all these hardships any longer."

Finally, Du Shanü did not utter these words.

She also did not know why she thought this way; perhaps she had always thought so, but the more she loved, the more she hated, making it ever harder to conceal.

Chen Weifang gave her a deep look, then said:

"No, the female lead perhaps truly bears some heavenly mandate."

"Although this is not gold or silver, it is just as renowned—this thing is 【tin】."

"Tin?"

"Tin??"

Du Shanü's eyes widened inch by inch; for a moment she could hardly react to what she had heard——

"That's right."

"That's right."

How could she have forgotten? This place belongs to Cassia Land, which has always been rich in tin!

And tin, this thing, can truly be considered a genuine good!

Small‑scale, it can be used to make tin vessels, store water to keep fresh, preserve food, and repair objects.

Large‑scale, it can be used to seal boat seams, cast bullets, forge arrowheads, and weld weapons and armor......

Coating copper and iron ware with tin prevents rust, greatly extending their lifespan—this is indeed one of the important functions of tin ore!

Du Shanü stared blankly for a moment, then turned and ran toward the study.

She ran anxiously, thereby fully understanding why Afang had been so urgent earlier......

Who wouldn't be anxious if this happened to them?

We need to know —

Tin ore is divided into two types: water tin and mountain tin (chicken-nest mine).

As for tin, it is by nature somewhat more 'honest' than other ores.

It will be washed away, but because of the presence of associated ore, it always stays not far off; as long as one follows the river upstream, larger 'ore sand' can be found, at which point the mountain tin vein is not far.

In other words, finding a piece of water tin usually means a tin vein can be found!

Although mining this, the profit is certainly inferior to finding a gold or silver vein.

But tin also has its advantages: ordinary private gold mining, self-smelting, yields uneven quality, and it surely differs from the official standardized gold and silver; selling large quantities of 'stolen goods' would certainly cause problems.

But tin is different; the good thing about tin is that it can fetch a little money, yet its price is not high enough to attract attention.

If they truly find a tin vein, they can first smelt some tinware and try to sell it to neighboring prefectures and counties; as long as they sell in multiple batches, there will be no problem.

Even if there are problems, should others discover that they have too much of this, but various places in Guangxi have precedents of tin production!

By then they could simply say they found a deposit of water tin accumulated near the official tin mine...

Isn't that settled then?

Du Shanü's heart burned hot at this thought; she hurried into the study, glanced around, and soon spotted a piece of water tin lying on the desk.

But Du Shanü only glanced at it, then quickly had her attention drawn to something else in the study——

This time the discovered water tin was obviously abundant; the runners actually sent a basket straight to Afang!

Du Shanü tipped the bamboo basket, spilling its contents onto the study floor——

(Attached tin ore map, mixed with associated ore edition)

In the full basket of crushed ore sand, shiny black tin predominates, mixed with a few grains of lustrous dark "heavy stones" (black tungsten), dark red fine sand (titanium iron), and a few tiny, pale yellow, extremely hard crystals (zircon)……

Du Shanü painstakingly identified every ore she could recognize.

Chinu hurried over, knelt beside her, wanting to help her count.

However, just as he placed his hand on the black stone, another hand covered his.

That touch of tenderness was intoxicating; Chinu stiffened, and Du Shanü only smiled and said:

"Good slave, you are truly my great fortune star. If I truly have a mandate of heaven...... I will surely share half with you."

?? Guangxi is one of China's most important tin-producing regions since ancient times; the northwest, northeast, east, and south of Guangxi all have mining sites; records of exploitation date back to the pre-Qin period, tin ore is abundant and of high grade—Nandan can even vie year-round with Gejiu for the title of "China's Tin Capital".

? These are all historical facts, dear ones~

? My writing is quite rigorous, including why the Imperial Envoy was supposed to come but didn't; why the heroine's identity hasn't been exposed to her face, and why no one (including Ruansizong et al.) has gone to Jinling to verify it—actually all of that exists! It really does!!!

? However, the journey is truly far, the reply is delayed... there are also some 'other' reasons! This is not a mindless point; everything will be explained later!

? Today is also a real-time release...... next chapter will be a bit later~