Chapter 407: Broken Leaf Silver Mine

In the north of the Qing pond, several mountains that run southeast to northwest lie in the vast sky. These mountains stretch for thousands of miles and contain extremely rich natural resources, various rare medicinal materials, thousands of years of wood, and huge minerals such as gold, silver, and copper. Between these mountains are several empty valley corridors. Some are deserted and people, and the arid valleys are endless Gobi and deserts, but some are rich and lush. The lush trees seem to be huge green carpets spread among the mountains and the bottom of the valley. The magical magician who created these two extreme landforms in the same area is water, and water is the source of life on this semi-arid land.

At the southeast end of these mountains is the vast Daqing Pond, and a branch river that injects into the Daqing Pond winds from the northwest. It is this river that nurtures the green life in a valley, and this river is the Broken Leaf River.

But the life in the Saiye River Valley in July was not easy. The scorching sun burned the semi-wet land. The terrain of the canyon added a bit of stuffiness to the Saiye River Valley. Especially in the mountains and grass mats that the Saiye River flowed through, it made people feel like they were in a huge steamer. On this day, a cavalry team of hundreds of people was slowly heading south along the Saiye River. This team was the special envoy of Dashi who had just returned from the Uighurs. The special envoy was about forty years old and had swollen eyes. It seemed that he would never sleep enough. He was the confidant of the Saiye Caliph, named Ibrahim.

Xin, this time the Eastern envoy of the Uighurs, he lived up to the trust of the Caliph and successfully mediated the conflict between the Gelulu people and the Uighurs. The Gelulu people would give up 30% of the land and allow the Uighurs to expand west to Yibohai (now Balkash Lake). However, the south of the Gelulu people had been occupied by the Tang army, so Dashi decided to let the Gelulu people move south to the Yili River Basin south of the Yibohai. This place turned out to be the territory of the Tuqi Shiren. It was precisely because of the concessions of the Dashi people that Dashi and the Uighurs reached an Eastern agreement, and the two sides formed a strategic alliance to jointly curb the western expansion of the Tang Dynasty.

With the migration of the Gelulu people southward, the danger of conflict between the Dashi and the Tang Dynasty was quietly increasing. The territory where the Gelulu people moved south was north of the Daqing Pond. On this vast land, the Daqing Pond Basin was the richest and most fertile land among them. It seemed like a shining pearl. Moreover, after the Battle of Talas, it was once controlled by the Gelulu people. But now that the Tang army occupied the Saiye City, the Daqing Pond Basin was also included in the sphere of influence of the Tang Dynasty. How could the Gelu people, who had new and old hatreds with the Tang Dynasty, look forward to the Daqing Pond without getting it?

Abdullah entered the Saiye Valley from a mountain pass in the north. The Saiye Valley was actually a narrow basin with a widest place of more than 100 miles and a narrowest place of more than 100 miles. The entire valley was about 700 miles long. Saiye City was located at the easternmost part of the valley, close to the Qing Pond. After walking for five days, it was almost time to Saiye City. Ibrahim came to Saiye City to visit the captured 30,000 Dashi Army. This was a heart-wrenching problem of the new caliph Hadi. Due to Prince Agush, Hadi tore up the agreement between the former Caliph and the envoy of the Tang Dynasty. However, in this way, the 30,000 Dashi soldiers captured by the Tang Dynasty during the Battle of Anxi were hopeless to return to their country. For this reason, Hadi was also criticized by some domestic forces. Since Hadi had just ascended the throne and his throne was not stable, the Egyptian army had not yet expressed allegiance to him. For this reason, Hadi was not ready to start a war against the Tang Dynasty.

"Special envoy, if you move forward a hundred miles apart, you will be Saiye City. There are many roaming sentries in this area, so we must be more careful."

The person who spoke was the youngest son of King Gelu, named Atni, who was the younger brother of Atlu, the apprentice of the Uighur national teacher Surman. He was ordered to represent the Gelu people on behalf of the Gelu people to send a mission to Dashi. He thanked Dashi for his gift to the Gelu people. He was very familiar with this area. He pointed to a protruding ridge about ten miles away, which looked like a fish mouth and said, "The special envoy, that ridge is called Yulongzui, and there is a military fortress below, called Yulongzui. We have to explain our purpose to them in order to get through."

Ibrahim wiped the sweat from her neck and gasped slightly, "Okay! I can't speak with them, so you can inform me."

As soon as he finished speaking, his guards suddenly retreated one after another, raised their spears and shields, and looked nervously at the front and back of the team. Thousands of Tang soldiers suddenly appeared, holding steel crossbows in their hands, and they were coldly aimed at them. They could shoot them all to death on the spot with just a command.

"Who are you?" A Tang army general rushed out and pointed at them with a sword, saying, "This is the military restricted area of ​​the Tang Dynasty. You can break in without authorization and dismount me."

The general of the Tang army was Yan Yun, the deputy general of the governor of the Thunder Ye, Cao Hanchen. He received a report from the Feige who was patrolling the post three days ago. An army of unknown origin was coming to Thunder Ye City. There were only three or five hundred people on the other side, and there was no large enemy situation three hundred miles away. Yan Yun knew that this was not the invading enemy army, but the governor of Anxi, General Wang Siyu, happened to be in Yulong Fortress today. Out of caution, he led his army to surround them.

"Don't do it, we are the special envoys of the Caliphate Caliph." Atney knew a little Chinese, and he hurriedly urged him to report immediately.

"The Special Envoy of Dashi?" Yan Yun was a little confused, 'The Special Envoy of Dashi should not leave here when he went to Chang'an. Do they actually know that Dashi Wang is here?'

"Are you going to Chang'an?" Yan Yun slowly put away his sword and asked.

"The general misunderstood." Atney quickly explained: "We are the envoys to the Uighurs. On the way back to China, we are entrusted by the Caliph. The envoy specially transferred to visit the general of Saiye. Please convey it to the general."

Yan Yun was a cautious person. He did not dare to make decisions without authorization, so he shouted to the Dashi Mission: "Put down your weapons, I will report it for you."

Atney hurriedly returned to his horse and whispered to Ibrahim. Ibrahim nodded and shouted to the guards. The guards all left behind their conflicts, untied their scimitars, and piled up all the weapons together. Seeing this, Yan Yun gave a few instructions to a commander Guoyi, and turned around to gallop towards Yulong Castle.

Yulong Fort was ten miles away and was built by the Tang army stationed in Saiye during the Tianbao period. It guarded the narrowest part of the Saiye Valley. It consisted of a castle and a ten-mile-long city wall. There was originally a thousand soldiers stationed. However, since the beginning of this year, the Tang army used 3,000 Dashi prisoners to start mining a silver mine near Yulong Fort. There was originally a small silver mine here, which had been mined by the Turks before. The original idea was not to let Dashi prisoners eat idle food, but as the mining deepened, it was found that this was a silver mine with extremely large reserves, and it was distributed in a flake shape and had a high grade. There were also gold mines. Cao Hanchen immediately applied to Wang Siyu and transferred 10,000 Dashi prisoners to mine and smel. He had achieved extremely good results in just a few months. Even Wang Siyu, who had just returned to Shule, could not sit still and came to Saiye to inspect the silver mine in person.

The silver mine is about two miles away from Yulong Castle, and it can be clearly seen from the castle. At this moment, Wang Siyu was standing on the castle accompanied by Cao Hanchen, the governor of Shattered Ye, silently watching thousands of naked upper-body prisoners of war in the open-pit mine, mining ore. The low sound of horns was faintly heard. A huge smelting workshop was built between the mine and the castle. The reserves of carbohydrate near Shattered Ye were also very rich. The Tang army directly used carbide as fuel for refining. In just three months, it refined 300,000 kilograms of coarse silver and 10,000 kilograms of gold. This was just the beginning, and the output in the future will become larger and larger.

Wang Siyu had sent someone to Chang'an to report the matter of the discovery of the silver mine by Saiye a month ago. Now he began to consider the future development of Saiye City. After two days of thinking, a clear three-step vein diagram has formed in his mind. First, he wanted to build an official road from Saiye to Toyun Mountain Pass, so that the silver ingots of Saiye could be transported into Anxi and to Chang'an in time. He also had 20,000 prisoners of war in his hands, and the Tang army was controlled by the Tang army, which took a year to complete.

Secondly, he wanted to write to the court. If the court allowed it, he hoped to immigrate from the Central Plains to the scattered leaves. The land here is fertile, the water source is sufficient, and the climate is suitable for living. He could give immigrants the best conditions. In this way, the scattered leaves can not only develop mining on a large scale, but also conduct transit trade, and gradually develop the scattered leaves into the largest city in the Zhaowu area. If it goes well, this plan can be completed within three to five years.

Finally, the governor's ambition was to move the Anxi Protectorate to Saiye, making Saiye a bridgehead for the Tang Dynasty to move westward and rebuild the heroic spirit of Tiankang Khan of the Tang Dynasty. For a moment, Wang Siyu's heart was ups and downs. He was only 30 years old this year. Perhaps he could see the day when the Tang Dynasty dragon flag was planted on the top of Baghdad.

Just as Wang Siyu was thinking thousands of miles away, a rapid sound of horse hooves interrupted his thoughts. Deputy General Yan Yun was galloping towards this side. Cao Hanchen next to him was slightly surprised. Yan Yun had always been mature and steadfast. He was so anxious today. Could something happen? "Master, I'll go and take a look."

Cao Hanchen immediately turned around and got down the city wall. After a moment, Yan Yun hurried up to the city under Cao Hanchen's leadership. He half-kneeled and saluted to report: "Report to the general, the envoy of the Great Food of the Uighurs who were on the way here, and he asked to see the supreme general of Shuye."

Wang Siyu smiled slightly, "Since that's the case, bring him here!"

"Master General, is it appropriate for these prisoners of war to let them see?" Cao Hanchen hesitated and pointed to the prisoners of war in the distance.
Chapter completed!