Traveling through the sword to engage in military industry.

Chapter 159 Win-win
"This is it!" After riding a horse for nearly 20 kilometers on the rugged mountains in the target area, the detector in Ren Zhong's hand kept beeping. Looking at the terrain and some scattered exposed stones, Ren Zhong said to Wang Jingwen beside him with some excitement.

"Mr. Wang, we must be able to dig out iron ore nearby. Let's dig some stones and bring them back. I will study how high the grade of the iron ore here is."

Wang Jingwen looked around and saw that the mountain was bare and bare, with only black and gray stones showing from time to time. It seemed that there were a lot of reserves. Could these stones really be iron ore?
"Mr. Ren, are you sure there is iron mine here?" Wang Jingwen asked hesitantly.

"Yes, I confirm it!" Ren Zhong said very affirmatively.

"Let's get off the horse and find some ore to test it."

After saying this, Ren Zhong dismounted. He was no stranger to iron ore, and after rummaging around in the mountains for a while, he found more than ten pieces of iron ore, which he put into a cloth bag.

Wang Jingwen also dismounted and picked up a few stones. He looked left and right but couldn't see any clues. They didn't seem to be much different from the stones outside.

However, he was a water conservancy expert, not a mineral expert. Seeing that Ren Zhong was sure about this matter, Wang Jingwen said nothing more. He ordered his men to take note of this place, and everyone mounted their horses and returned to Wuyuan.

"Brother Haoran, has Mr. Ren confirmed that he has found the iron mine?" After listening to Wang Jingwen's report, Qiluban suddenly stood up and stared at Wang Jingwen closely.

"That's what Mr. Ren said, but I am not very knowledgeable and can't recognize what kind of mineral this is." Wang Jingwen took out the stones he had picked up and put them on the table. "Commander, what's the difference between these stones and other stones? Mr. Ren picked up more than a dozen such stones and said he wanted to test them. We'll know the results tomorrow."

"These" seven and a half people were so stimulated that they paced back and forth in the hall, like ants on hot pot, but they were excited.

The other party was indeed well prepared, without any pretense at all, and I had no choice but to accept this gift.

Otherwise, I would be letting down all my hard work in the frontier area for more than ten years!
I originally thought that I should be thankful if I could have enough to eat in such a bitter and cold environment outside the Great Wall. I didn't expect that God would give me such a good opportunity. If I can solve the problem of independent production of ammunition, I will have more capital to refuse the orders from the temporary capital in the future.

"Haoran, today Chief of Staff Ye has already offered a price. He is ready to exchange the iron shell bullet processing equipment for our 10,000 tons of food. How should we respond next to get both the iron ore smelting and bullet processing at the lowest cost?" Qiluban walked around for a while, calmed down, and asked Wang Jingwen.

"The border area is short of food, and we are short of ammunition. Now that we both have needs, Commander, let's cut the other party's price in half and see if it's feasible to exchange a set of iron ore smelting and bullet processing equipment for 5,000 tons of food. As for the bullets, the commander has tried it himself and there are no problems. We only need to process the ammunition produced by the equipment as the delivery condition, so there will definitely be no problem."

Wang Jingwen thought about it and responded cautiously.

The initiative in this matter is actually in their hands, and there is really no room for tricks in the border areas.

"That's right. We will make the construction of the production line the condition for delivery. I don't think they can play any tricks on us." After hearing what Wang Jingwen said, Qiluban began to feel at ease and his mood of being worried about gains and losses returned to normal.

Early the next morning.

"What are the results of the ore analysis?" Staff Officer Ye asked nervously. "The iron ore here is of average quality, about 26%. The quality is not good, but it can be used." After a day of tossing and turning in the main world, Ren Zhong figured out the composition of the iron ore. It was indeed iron ore, but it was a very poor ore. It was basically impossible to use this kind of poor ore for smelting in the main world.

After all, the price/performance ratio is too low.

But in this era, it’s good enough to be able to smelt iron, who would think about bicycles?

Now, in addition to the cooperation with Hu Rentao in the main world, Ren Zhong has also found a geological laboratory in Jincheng Institute of Technology to cooperate in testing the composition of minerals. After all, Jiangcheng is a bit far from where he lives in the main world, and the travel takes time.

However, the main technical cooperation for steel smelting was still in charge of Hu Rentao. So when Jincheng Geological Laboratory took out the composition analysis, Ren Zhong directly sent the results to Hu Rentao to do a simulation analysis of the smelting component ratio. At the same time, he also express-delivered several pieces of iron ore for field testing to verify.

This part of the work may last for a week, but for Ren Zhong, it is no big deal. After all, building a blast furnace here will take at least a month.

"It's good that it can be used. Now our bargaining chips are very strong." Staff Officer Ye said happily. "I will try my best to negotiate and finalize this matter as soon as possible. Since there is no problem with the iron ore, Minister Jiang can discuss the construction of the blast furnace with their Councilor Wang. Brother Ren, try not to reveal your identity and just keep your current identity as a mineral exploration expert. Next, we will confirm the exact address of the copper mine and we will also negotiate the exchange of copper and explosives this time."

Seeing that things had made significant progress, Staff Officer Ye was obviously finally relieved.

"No problem. I'll set off tomorrow. The copper mine is to the west of Wuyuan and there's no danger." Ren nodded to show his understanding.

"We can't take it lightly. In addition to bringing all our guards, I will ask the Seventh Route and a Half for a platoon of cavalry to follow. We will say that prospecting requires crossing mountains and hills, and it is inevitable to encounter horse bandits. I think the Seventh Route and a Half will not refuse such a small task."

Sure enough, Staff Officer Ye quickly settled the Suiyuan cavalry issue, and Ren Zhong set off immediately. This time, his main task for the delegation to go north was to give advice and explore mineral resources behind the scenes, and he was not needed for the negotiations.

Seeing that Ren Zhong was young, the Seventh Route Army did not think about anything else. He was also anxious to get the bullet processing and smelting equipment in the border area, so he put aside all the things at hand and began to formally negotiate with Staff Officer Ye.

After the two sides entered into formal negotiations, they were no longer friendly as usual over the wine table. After all, every tiny detail might be a trap set by the other party. In this chaotic world, no one who can sit at the negotiating table is a fool.

After some intense bargaining, the two sides basically reached an agreement.

The border region assisted Suiyuan in building a steel plant with a daily output of 30 tons of wrought iron. The location was determined by Suiyuan itself, and experts from the border region confirmed whether it met the construction conditions. Then, an arsenal was built that could mainly produce 7.92 and 6.5 bullets at a daily output of rounds.

For this purpose, Suiyuan paid 2000 tons of grain, and immediately delivered tons through the border of Wuhai and Yanchi.

In addition, if the Suiyuan copper mine is confirmed, the smelted copper will be divided equally between the two parties. At the same time, for every 3 tons of copper taken by the border area, 1 ton of bullet charge (propellant and explosive) must be provided.

Second update
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(End of this chapter)