Chapter 750: Copper, Perhaps?

When the group of Soldiers thought of those bees flying everywhere, with nowhere to hide, they couldn't help but shiver.

Huaxia's beekeeping industry was proceeding very smoothly; ever since they caught a queen bee while collecting wild honey, Huaxia began its own beekeeping enterprise. However, for the safety of others and to ensure the bees had enough flower sources, the location was kept relatively far from the city center, and most people only knew that Huaxia was keeping bees but had never actually seen them.

Only when Huaxia's orchards bloomed could one see a large number of bees; perhaps there were wild bees, and perhaps there were Huaxia's own bees, but most people could not tell the difference between the bees. They did not know how to distinguish between nectar-gathering bees and meat-eating bees.

Baifeng couldn't really tell them apart either, and the variety of wild bees in this era seemed to be even greater. Some dug holes in the ground to build nests, some were in tree hollows, and some even built nests under the eaves of parts of Huaxia. The Huaxia people's attitude toward this was that as soon as a bee was found, it had to be killed. For those under the eaves, they would use tongs to hold a piece of red-hot charcoal to burn them. After the bees were all burned to death, they would remove the honeycomb. Fortunately, the honeycombs they could see were all very small, not circular, and only had one side, so they were easy to manage.

Based on his own experience of being stung, Baifeng roughly divided the bees into honeybees, yellow jackets, and hornets. Honeybees were relatively safer; yellow jackets looked extremely terrifying, were large in size, and not only stung people but also bit them, though their toxicity was slightly lower. Hornets were brown, small in stature, but extremely toxic. Baifeng had the experience of being poisoned by a sting in his previous life; he took a few Bezoar Detoxification Pills and it took him a long time to recover.

As for how to prevent and control bees in the wilderness, Baifeng had no solution at all; he could only say to hide when encountering them, or put on Bee-proof Clothing and set them on fire directly.

At night, everyone was supposed to rest. Before entering the Tents, the leader still reminded the Soldiers that they should check the Tents first and press them down tightly, otherwise it would be very uncomfortable if they were really stung by a scorpion.

The Soldiers were very obedient, and they didn't expect to actually find one; their desire to go back and seek help became even stronger.

The next day, the leader watched this team set off, and then they gradually moved away, leaving their field of vision. Everything returned to calm, the construction continued, and the danger remained in the wilderness.

Just like that, Shaoyin and his team, carrying a very small amount of harvest, slowly returned to Huaxia City. Things like wolfberry could just be handed over to the Ministry of Revenue for them to handle, as well as the skins obtained after hunting wild beasts along the way; they were all to be processed and put into storage. However, a list would still be made, and Baifeng had to take a look so he would know that Xiao Town also had some specialties.

The Soldiers all received leave after reporting in, and Shaoyin was no exception. The first thing he wanted to do was to go home and see his wife and children; the bond of family was still quite deep for him.

At the same time, the Company Commander also met Baifeng and handed over the few bags of stones he had brought for Baifeng to see. Hearing that there were stones he had never seen before, Baifeng also became interested. He walked down from his desk, went to the main hall, and asked the Company Commander to open the bags for him to see.

Changle, who had just happened to come over, discovered there was excitement to watch and also crowded over. When the Company Commander saw Changle arrive, he immediately greeted him, then moved his position to make room for Changle.

The few of them squatted down regardless of their image. As soon as the first bag was opened, Baifeng immediately said the name: "Oh, it's mica."

"Mica?" the Company Commander and Changle asked in unison.

Baifeng picked up a piece and then very easily peeled off a complete sheet. Facing the light, the mica sheet was still very sparkly.

"This thing, if you say it's useless, it has some uses, but if you say it's useful, it seems to be just like that." The reason Baifeng said this was because mica was mainly used in industry, which he didn't understand, and Huaxia did not have the corresponding industrial technology to use this thing.

"The use I can think of now is for medicine; it is also a medicinal material that can stop bleeding and heal sores, but our Huaxia's usage is too small. Having it is fine, and not having it has no impact."

"Oh, is that so." The Company Commander's expression dimmed a little; he thought it would be some good thing, but it turned out to have no great use.

Afterward, Baifeng put the bag containing the mica to one side and then opened another one.

Just as it was opened, the green color inside attracted Baifeng: "Eh?"

Then Baifeng picked up a piece and studied it carefully. Changle and the Company Commander were also a little nervous. It looked like this thing was better than mica?

Baifeng felt he couldn't judge from one piece, so he picked and chose in the bag and found a relatively large one, but the hardness didn't seem to be enough.

"Father, what is this thing?" Changle couldn't help but ask first.

Baifeng was also a little puzzled: "Tsk, I can't say for sure either. It looks a bit like malachite, but the hardness is a bit low."

"What is malachite, and why is it called that name?"

Baifeng picked up a stone with a more vivid color and said: "Do you remember I told you that there is a large bird in the south with very gorgeous colors? That is the peacock. The color of their feathers is similar to this stone. Only that kind of green stone is called malachite. The color of this stone matches, but I see the pattern and hardness don't match much. The malachite I have seen has patterns, but this one does not."

Changle and the Company Commander's just-excited mood vanished again, because Baifeng basically judged now that this was not malachite; except for the color, nothing else matched.

"Then that means this stone is useless?"

Baifeng shook his head: "No, no, it must be useful, it should have great use. Anything that is green inside a stone basically means it is likely to have a high copper content. Something this green should be a very good copper ore. Let's do this: send some to the Blacksmith department first, let them melt it, and see if copper can be extracted."

"Copper ore?" Changle and the Company Commander stood up from the ground in excitement at the same time. This was a surprise they had never expected. If Huaxia could find another copper mine, that would be a great happy event. Huaxia's Iron Ore was limited, the output was not very high, and refining was very difficult. If there could be another copper mine, and it was in Xiao Town, then Xiao Town might be even more important than Bilema City.

Baifeng was quite calm: "This is just my guess. Whether it can be extracted is not certain. I am also just theorizing. After all, among natural green minerals, only copper exists. Copper has this color after rusting. Whether it can be extracted, let's try it first and then talk."

The Company Commander was very excited and was ready to go to work immediately, but he was suddenly called back by Baifeng: "Hey, leave a few pieces for me first. I'll see if I can make it into pigment."