Chapter 005: Eliminating Smoke
The massive Rio Tinto ore vein was not just a single vein; above it, in a character-shaped pattern, three veins were connected together. The common starting point of these three veins was right where the Bilu tribe had stopped. Although three veins were identified, due to the limitations in manpower and technology in the Ohio Province at that time, only the origins of these three huge veins were developed.
“Duke Du Fan, we dwarves have traveled all the way here. There are definitely more than three veins in these mountains!” Leader Li said to Du Fan, who had just put away his green shuttle.
“Oh, so there are other veins in these 800-li of mountains?” Hearing this, Du Fan immediately asked.
“That’s right, Duke Du Fan. I’ve already discovered two more significant veins along the way,” Leader Li said with a smile.
“Good! Leader Li, as long as these lands remain under the rule of me or my descendants, your Bilu tribe of dwarves will forever enjoy the right to live and use these 800-li of mountains!” Du Fan declared firmly.
“Thank you very much, Duke Du Fan!” Leader Li said excitedly upon hearing this.
“Of course, Leader Li. The weapons and armor crafted by your people must be supplied to us first. Moreover, in times of crisis—such as war—we will impose controls on weapons in these mountains. At such times, you must ensure a steady supply of weapons for us!” Du Fan said.
“Rest assured, Your Duke! If such a time comes, our Bilu tribe will surely share fate with your family!” Leader Li replied firmly.
“Good! First, establish your homes. During this time, I will be responsible for all materials and food. Of course, once you can start mining and crafting items, I will convert these resources into items and settle the account with you,” Du Fan said with a smile.
Hearing this, Leader Li also smiled.
“In a few days, I’ll have someone bring a new substance that will be extremely useful for digging mines. It will greatly speed up your mining progress,” Du Fan said.
At this point, Du Fan began to feel intense physical pain. If it weren’t for his desire to develop the mineral deposits here as soon as possible and get weapon production on track, he wouldn’t have used so much Water of Life to make those explosives. If that Water of Life were auctioned off, it would be worth at least tens of millions of gold coins!
When the dwarves started crafting tools, Du Fan thought viciously, “When the time comes, I’ll make you pay dearly!”
“Well then, we’ll just wait for that new substance from the Duke,” the leader replied immediately upon hearing Du Fan’s words.
“Haha, don’t just wait idly—do whatever you need to do,” Du Fan said with a laugh.
Back at the Lituo mineral deposits, the governor of the Ohio Province had also carried out some construction. Although technical limitations prevented efficient extraction of ore to produce pig iron, the basic facilities needed for mining were still intact. After a short rest, the dwarves could immediately put these facilities to use.
However, for the already developed mines, just a thousand dwarves were sufficient. Given this, while a thousand dwarves remained to operate the existing mines, the rest began building homes.
As soon as the dwarves got to work, Du Fan realized why they were suited for mining—even a woman among them had several times the strength of a strong human man! With such strength, their mining speed was naturally much faster than that of humans. Their small stature meant that the tunnels they dug only needed to be large enough for them to pass through, reducing the amount of work required.
Moreover, finding ore with high iron content and good quality was also crucial. These dwarven miners seemed naturally sensitive to minerals, using skills unique to them to easily locate rich deposits.
Watching the dwarves of the Bilu tribe—men, women, and children—all swinging axes or hammers to dig holes in the mountains for living spaces, Du Fan saw how astonishingly fast they could dig due to their strength and superior tools.
Watching the progress, Du Fan kept estimating in his mind that if these dwarves resolved their housing issues on their own, it would take only about three days for them to settle down. Eight days later, looking at the territory of the Bilu tribe, Du Fan wore a surprised expression. The Bilu tribe was now scattered across the three massive ore veins in the Lituo Mountains; caves could be seen everywhere, like countless windows, directly carved into the mountains of the Lituo ore veins.
“Duke Du Fan, what exactly is this amazing thing?” asked the tribal leader curiously as he saw Du Fan leading his group toward the cave.
“Don’t worry, you’ll find out once we get there,” Du Fan replied with a smile.
Du Fan had great confidence in using explosives to mine ore. From what he had learned in his past life, those who mined iron ore used explosives to blast large areas of the ore, making it easier for people to carry away the debris.
Soon, guided by a dwarf, Du Fan arrived at an active mine where work was underway to dig deeper into the ore vein. The group soon reached a section of rock that required further excavation. Here, the rock was solid. Just imagine how difficult it must be to carve out a deep cave using only axes and iron chisels.
“Everyone, step back,” Du Fan said, taking out a pack of explosives.
Hearing this, the others stepped back. Holding the pack of explosives, Du Fan looked at the relatively flat rock surface ahead, feeling frustrated. He really didn’t know what to do after detonating the explosives there.
Although he knew explosives could be used for mining, facing such a situation, he didn’t know where to start for a moment. The explosives in his hands felt like a hot potato!
After thinking hard, Du Fan suddenly chuckled. He remembered that in his past life, he had seen people first drill a hole in the area to be blown up before placing the explosives inside and detonating them.
Drill a hole, right? Simple, Du Fan thought.
With a swift motion of his wrist, the Thunder Sword appeared in his hand. Quickly, he pointed the sword, and a fierce wind energy surged out from it!
After thrusting the Thunder Sword deep into the stone surface, Du Fan controlled wind energy to stir the interior of the rock. Soon, a hole large enough to fit explosives appeared. For extra safety, Du Fan expanded this hole to ten meters deep. With a flick of his hand, he threw the pack of explosives five meters into the cavity. Immediately afterward, a dull explosion was heard, and the stone wall in front of them shattered into pieces! The explosives Du Fan had used were specially made, weighing a full three pounds! Not only was the stone wall blown apart, but many small stones also flew toward Du Fan and his group! Among the dwarves behind him, quite a few lacked combat skills, and if those stones hit them, they would surely get injured! Seeing this, Du Fan activated his protective barrier to block all the flying stones. However, a new problem arose. After the explosion, thick smoke spread everywhere. The pungent smell of gunpowder filled the air immediately. With another wave of his hand, the smoke in the mine gathered around his hand as if commanded by soldiers—this was thanks to Du Fan’s wind magic, which gathered the smoke together. Once all the smoke was collected, Du Fan tossed it aside, and a dark sphere appeared on the ground. This dark sphere was the result of highly compressing the smoke. After the smoke was cleared, what remained before them was a completely destroyed stone surface, covered only in scattered rocks. “That’s truly impressive!” said an experienced old miner who had been mining for over two thousand years. “Even a dwarf miner working hard all day wouldn’t achieve such results!” “Yes, indeed! If we used something like this for mining, we could save a lot of time,” added another dwarf. “But I think explosives are only useful for creating shockwaves. Using them in actual mining isn’t going to be easy,” said another dwarf, squinting. “Oh? What do you think are the drawbacks of explosives?” Du Fan asked immediately upon hearing dissenting opinions.
“First, I think these explosives are quite good—the better they’re embedded in stones or ores, the more effective the explosion will be.”
“If I’m not mistaken, to achieve good results with these explosives, deeper holes need to be dug. Once all these holes are prepared, a problem arises: who will be responsible for those holes where the explosives are placed?”
Hearing what the dwarf said, Du Fan also found it reasonable. After all, among the dwarves, they simply used axes to chop and hammers to strike, so creating deep holes in stone was a very laborious task for them.
“Second, the smoke from the explosions,” the dwarf continued. “In the mines, this smoke is hard to disperse. If we can’t effectively solve this smoke problem, using a large amount of explosives might also be difficult.”
Hearing this, Du Fan suddenly realized that using explosives on a large scale for mining couldn’t be done right away.
“Drilling holes isn’t a big problem; that’s easy to solve,” the leader Li said after hearing the dwarf’s analysis.
“It’s the issue of how to quickly eliminate the smoke—that’s the real problem,” Leader Li said.