The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 524 Secret Weapon
The April winds cannot melt the snow on the summit of Kunlun Mountain.

On the Kunlun Mountains, at an altitude of over 3,000 meters.

In the winding mine tunnels on the cliff face, hundreds of ragged miners are using iron chisels to strike the rock.

During this time, sparks flew everywhere.

The miners in this mine haven't left the tunnel for nearly a month since they received their assignments.

Being far from the city, they naturally had no idea that the world outside had changed.

In addition, the Mishan jade mine has been mined for over a thousand years, and the mining area has sufficient reserves of food and all kinds of living supplies, so it is not a problem to stay in the mountains for a year or two.

"My lord, the jade materials for this month have been prepared."

The mining foreman pointed to a huge object and reported to the Uyghur overseer, "The largest piece we've dug out these past few days weighs at least 10,000 jin (5,000 kg)."

When the foreman saw the size of the stone, his pupils contracted sharply.

Grandpa Mountain God!

This piece of jade is as green as distant mountains, and its cross-section reveals a warm, lustrous sheen like mutton fat, as if the frozen moonlight of Kunlun is imprisoned within it.

The jade is covered with natural cracks.

This is precisely the unique mark of the Mishan jade mine.

"Start the fire!" the foreman suddenly shouted, unable to contain himself.

Immediately, people piled firewood on both sides of the crack in the jade.

Amidst the rising black smoke from the flames, dozens of miners whispered an ancient folk song about jade mining in Khotan:
"On the summit of Kunlun, snow turns into smoke"
Crescent sickle, cutting jade fields

Camel bells, ringing for a thousand years

Imperial pendants, beautiful women's hair ornaments

A single tear, frozen on the riverbed.
The fire on the hillside illuminates the sleepless night.

Stones do not speak, yet their bones remain steadfast.
"Jade miners, buried in glaciers."

One hour.
Two hours
The fire burned for twelve hours straight.

The jade rock layer was heated until it turned bright red.

When the melting snow and ice from the summit of Kunlun splashed onto the jade layer, it immediately produced a sharp roar like a dragon awakening.

After that.

A shower of pebbles fell.

A jade blank the size of a house shattered with a crash.

After witnessing the fire-water method of splitting jade veins hundreds of times, the foreman still couldn't help but admire the wonder of this stone-cutting method.

In the end, what remained of this piece of jade was an irregularly shaped sphere, about the height of a person and weighing over a thousand kilograms, of first-grade bluish-white color, resembling mutton fat jade, with a golden line on its surface.

This is a unique "caramel color" bestowed by the Kunlun Mountain God.

The miners were cleaning up the jade and waste on the ground, while the miner's foreman and supervisor were circling around the piece of sugar-colored green jade.

The miners' foreman kept spitting out saliva from the corner of his mouth.

"With such a rich and perfectly shaped caramel color, a master sculptor could carve it into the mythical Penglai Mountain, and then sell it to Han Chinese nobles at a high price."

Not 300,000 taels, not even 200,000 taels, but at the very least, it can fetch 180,000 taels of silver! It's even acceptable as tribute!

The foreman nodded repeatedly: "This quality and the first-grade bluish-white color of this piece, even disregarding the carving, make it a priceless gem!"

Just as the two were making various plans and arrangements for the giant jade stone, a gunshot rang out outside the mine tunnel.

Gunshots?

Who dares to seize the jade mine in Mishan?

The mastermind behind this mine is none other than Black Hat and Zhuo!

After listening for a while, the foreman quickly gave his judgment:

"Fighting has broken out! The gunfire sounds strange! Foreign enemies are attacking our mine!"

The Mishan mine has thousands of miners, hundreds of foremen, and about a dozen supervisors.

In addition, there were more than a thousand armed guards.

For decades, no one has ever been known to be so foolish as to try and seize a jade mine.

Firstly, the terrain here is very steep.

Secondly, the mine entrance is protected by obstacles, making it difficult to forcefully breach.

At this moment, all the garrison troops had retreated into the mine tunnels, with only a few hundred men firing indiscriminately at the outside of the mine.

They hid behind the rocks, with no part of their bodies exposed.

Even the best marksmen, who never miss a shot, are helpless against these positions.

The steep mountainside, over 3,000 meters above sea level, made it impossible to carry the heavy cannon, weighing several hundred kilograms, up there.

It lasted for fifteen minutes.

The western expeditionary force was unable to advance any further.

Seeing this scene, Gan Minglan's personal guards became anxious.

"Tiger Head, what should we do? These barbarians are too cunning. If they guard the cave entrance tightly, it won't be easy to take it down in a short time."

"Luye, have you forgotten? We each brought two secret weapons recently developed by the military academy's laboratory. It's a good opportunity to let these barbarians have a taste!"

"Hehe, sure! It's my first time using it, so I don't know if it will work well!"

"Brothers, make sure you aim for that mine when you throw them. We brought a total of five hundred of these secret weapons. Every one we use is one less!"

Fifty guards shouted in unison, "Understood!"

They love playing with the new weapons developed by the military academy.

Today, let's use the Hu people in this mine to bless our new weapon!
After more than ten breaths.

"Sizzle."

"Sizzle."

"Sizzle."

Fifty guys with smoking butts, as loud as thunderclaps, were thrown into the mine one after another.

As these creatures landed, thick smoke filled the entire mine tunnel.

The Hu (non-Han) defenders scattered in terror.

They dared not gather together, for they had heard that there was a kind of explosive thunderclap in Kansai.

Those who were bombed were either killed or injured.

But why didn't this lightning bolt explode when it fell to the ground today?

Smoke, what's the use of smoke!

In less than a breath, they knew just how powerful this non-explosive thunderclap bomb really was.

When the eyes come into contact with smoke, there is a severe burning sensation, an uncontrollable urge to tear up, and eyelid spasms.

It is also accompanied by symptoms such as coughing, chest tightness, and runny nose.

The Hu people were terrified:

These Han Chinese are utterly inhuman!

How insidious!

Who can endure this inhuman torture that causes temporary incapacitation by irritating the body's mucous membranes (eyes, respiratory tract, skin)?

"cough cough"

"Oh, my eyes! My eyes are going blind!"

Some of those who couldn't bear the pain started rolling around on the ground.

Some people desperately covered their mouths and noses with their sleeves and held their breath.

Those who reacted quickly turned around and fled into the mine tunnels.

How wide can a mine tunnel be?

It's so crowded, it's killing people!
Some panicked and lost their way, even bumping into rock walls and suffering head injuries.

The tear gas canisters seemed to have eyes, pressing deeper and deeper into the mine tunnels following the wind direction.

Someone let out a faint, urgent cry: "Help!"

Where did this savior come from?

These tear gas canisters release acrid, thick smoke; one can last for at least two hundred breaths.

Fifty men carried one hundred coins, and in no time at all, they had spent them all.

Good things are hard to save up!
"Perfect!"

"I never expected that this tear gas smoke grenade would be even more effective than a detonator in such a confined environment."

It's really easy to use.

A group of several hundred people, without losing a single soldier, took over the largest jade mine in the entire Western Regions, which had a history of mining for a thousand years and was located at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters.

Not only that.

They also seized several piles of jade, as high as small mountains.

Mutton fat jade, green jade, greenish-white jade, sugar jade, black jade—they have it all.