Chaotic Frontier: I Picked Up a Peerless Little Wife at the Start

Su Yuanzhou carefully examined the golden stone in his hand.

Question: "If it's not gold, then what is it? This thing looks so much like gold."

"General, this thing looks like gold, but I don't know what kind of ore it is. It can be used to smelt iron, but the iron produced is too soft to be usable."

"If you increase the heat during the refining process, the resulting iron will be very hard and will break when it comes into contact with a hard object, so it's not very useful and can only be thrown away."

Su Yuanzhou looked disappointed and immediately threw it away as if it were trash.

But just then, Lin Hui arrived. He glanced at the yellow ore on the ground and picked up a piece.

I held it in my hand and examined it carefully for a long time.

Upon closer inspection, it is indeed different in color from gold, as this ore is dark yellow, while gold is very bright.

However, it is definitely a metallic mineral.

He examined the ore carefully in his hand, then pinched it hard. It was quite hard, and Lin Hui's strength only left some marks on the surface of the ore.

At this point, Lin Hui was almost certain what it was.

This mine was definitely worth it; I've made a fortune from this trip to Changyuan County.

He had already recognized that the iron ore in his hand was not ordinary iron ore, but pyrite containing a large amount of sulfur.

Pyrite is not pure iron ore; it is a by-product of large iron ore veins. In general iron smelting, it has little use and can only be discarded as waste.

However, this thing has a great use for Lin Hui. In the new era, this thing would be a rare metal ore with an immeasurable value.

Now, in his hands, what others see as fertilizer has become an important strategic resource.

Because this stuff contains sulfur.

With sulfur, what could Lin Hui do? Make gunpowder, of course. He had long wanted to further enhance the Ningyuan Army's combat capabilities.

However, the main reason for the lack of access was the absence of key mineral raw materials.

Now that's great! With sulfur and saltpeter, which is a byproduct of salt mining, we can refine them and then mix them with a certain proportion of charcoal to make gunpowder.

We live in the age of cold weapons; cannons and the like don't exist anymore.

No one even knows what gunpowder is. Under such circumstances, if Lin Hui were to produce gunpowder, what would the effect be? It would be a devastating blow to the enemy.

Lin Hui immediately handed the ore to Su Yuanzhou and then ordered, "Pass down the word that from now on, every single piece of this yellow ore that is mined must be stored away; I have a very important use for it."

Su Yuanzhou looked completely bewildered, wondering what treasure the General had discovered this time.

However, he simply did whatever Lin Hui told him to do, without asking any questions, and immediately summoned the mine manager to give him instructions.

Ling Ziyi and Song Qingyan were busy doing other things, while Lin Hui stayed at the mine.

They stayed there for three days.

These past few days, Lin Hui hasn't been wandering around the mine; instead, he's been researching how to extract sulfur.

He ordered the mine to collect all the pyrite it had mined, including pyrite mined previously, and pile it up into a mountain.

Then, Lin Hui selected a dozen or so honest and loyal miners from among the miners, gathered them all together, chose a good location below, and then directed these dozen or so people to build a blast furnace for refining sulfur.

Refining sulfur can seem simple, but it involves many steps. After the kiln was built, a condensation device was made using existing materials from the mine.

Of course, none of the miners at the mine understood these devices; they just did whatever Lin Hui told them to do.

So, they dug soil and broke rocks, and it took them three days to build the sulfur refining equipment.

After lighting the fire, Lin Hui led the miners to throw pieces of pyrite into the furnace.

Then, after the kiln was filled, the opening was completely sealed, leaving only one opening for adding fuel.

As the temperature of the kiln rose higher and higher, a pungent smell soon filled the kiln, and thick smoke rose up all around.

Lin Hui was prepared. Seeing the thick smoke, he directed everyone to cover their mouths and noses with damp cloths.

She covered her own mouth and nose and just watched from the side.

Several miners adding firewood were so intoxicated that their eyes were watering, but they endured the nausea and continued to add fuel.

Su Yuanzhou stood on high ground, looking down at the thick smoke billowing from the mountainside below, his brows furrowed. He simply couldn't understand what the General was doing.

Standing beside Su Yuanzhou were several of his trusted henchmen, who were also watching Lin Hui.

One of Ironclad's henchmen covered his nose, his brow furrowed.

Looking down, he said, "General, what is the Great General doing? What's that strange smell? It's even worse than rotten eggs!"

Another of Ironclad's confidants chimed in, then chuckled, "The general is good at fighting, could it be that he knows some kind of sorcery? I've heard that many Taoist priests use ores to refine elixirs, and after consuming them, one can gain superhuman strength."

Su Yuanzhou glared at his subordinate: "The General is a man who has fought his way up from the battlefield. If you talk nonsense and the General finds out, don't blame me for not warning you."

"The general has his reasons for doing things, and I have no right to criticize him."

The man immediately shook his head, indicating that he would never dare to say such things again.

Su Yuanzhou continued to look in the direction of the kiln. Although he scolded his subordinates, he was actually unsure of himself.

What if the general is really refining some kind of elixir, and we make him eat it?

Because he had seen the process of refining iron ore, and it wasn't like that.

Moreover, the experienced miners here have said that the yellow stuff is just waste material and can't be refined into anything useful.

However, the general collected these things as treasures.

Moreover, this kiln is also very strange, completely different from the blast furnace used for refining pig iron.

The most difficult thing for people to understand is this flavor.

It's really unbearable.

What exactly are they doing?

On the fourth day, Lin Hui felt that it was about time, so he carried a basin over from one side of the stove.

This is the result of the refining process. Inside the spray nozzle are yellow crystals, some of which are larger particles and some are smaller particles, but they all have one thing in common.

The colors were very bright, and although the smell wasn't as unpleasant as the thick smoke, it wasn't much better.

Before Lin Hui even appeared, the stench arrived first. Su Yuanzhou felt nauseous upon smelling it and covered his nose, taking a few steps back.

As for his close cronies, they kept their distance.

Lin Hui put the basin down and pointed to the yellow crystals inside, saying to Su Yuanzhou, "Look, I succeeded."

His voice was filled with barely concealed excitement.

Since the general had already shown it to him, Su Yuanzhou could only hold his nose and take a few steps closer, glancing reluctantly at the contents of the basin, but ultimately didn't dare to reach out and touch it.

He frowned and asked, "General, you've been busy for so many days, what exactly is this thing you've made?"

One of his trusted confidants stepped forward, looking quite puzzled, and said, "Yes, General, why does it smell so bad?"

Lin Hui chuckled.

"This stuff is called sulfur."

Lin Hui continued his explanation: "This is something extracted from those yellow ores. You might find it smelly now, but when you combine it with other things, it becomes valuable."

"Its value is greater than that of gold."

Su Yuanzhou simply couldn't believe that something like this could be more valuable than gold.

However, he didn't say anything.

Then, Lin Hui ordered Su Yuanzhou: "General Su, I need you to send someone to do something right now."

"Please give your orders, General."

"Send someone to Ningyuan Town to find General Fan Wujiu and ask him to bring some of the saltpeter prepared at the salt mine directly here."

"Also, have someone bring me wood ash and charcoal. The charcoal must be of the highest quality hardwood, and the wood ash must be clean."

Su Yuanzhou was completely dumbfounded.

What does the general need these things for?

Also, what exactly is this saltpeter?

"Get it done right away."

Lin Hui added another sentence.

Su Yuanzhou had just received the order and was about to carry it out when Lin Hui stopped him again: "In that case, going to Ningyuan Town is too far. Even if you go by fast horse, it will take several days to go back and forth."

"I'm not going. Have someone dig up a bag of that soil from the latrine that's been corroded by feces for so long."

During the salt mining process, Lin Hui collected some saltpeter, but it would take too much time to get it. He was only trying to concoct gunpowder, not producing it on a large scale, so he gave up the idea of ​​going to Ningyuan Town to get it.

Although the soil in the latrine contains little saltpeter, it is still present. As long as you boil it in water and filter it repeatedly, the crystals that remain are saltpeter.

Then, by boiling the saltpeter together with the wood ash, we can make the saltpeter used to make gunpowder.

However, Su Yuanzhou had no idea about these things.

When Lin Hui told him to take his men to dig soil in the latrine, his expression was extremely unnatural.

He had been a garrison commander in this area for seven or eight years, and he had seen many strange things and many eccentric generals, but this was the first time a great general had ordered him to dig soil in a latrine.

This is truly a first for a young woman getting married.

However, Su Yuanzhou ultimately chose not to ask anything and turned to lead his trusted henchmen to assign tasks.

One person led a group to collect clean wood ash, another led a group to select the best charcoal from the military camp, and the rest led the soldiers to clean the latrines.

The people who clean out the latrines suffer the most.

The new outhouse didn't yet have the white, hard-shell type that Lin Hui wanted, so in the end, a group of people started searching for old toilets throughout Changyuan County.

They dug up almost every toilet, big and small, in the entire Changyuan County, and transported all the soil with a white, hard crust that they dug up to the mine by horse-drawn cart.

Seeing the border troops digging toilets everywhere, the locals thought they had all gone mad.

Finally, the villagers saw that they had taken away all the soil from the toilets, and then they were certain that the border troops had truly gone mad.

As the items Lin Hui requested were delivered to the mine one after another, Lin Hui's next plan began.

He had all these things moved into a small house.

Of course, this small house wasn't found randomly. He found a house halfway up the mountain that was quite far from the mine and the miners' dormitories, and it was very open on all sides.

After everything was placed in the small house, Lin Hui ordered Su Yuanzhou, "Remember this: from now on, no one is allowed to appear within three miles of this house."

"Yes, General, I obey your command."

"Of course, you're not allowed to come near either."

Su Yuanzhou was taken aback, but still nodded.

Then Su Yuanzhou relayed Lin Hui's orders, and all the soldiers Su Yuanzhou brought with him retreated to a position three miles away. At the same time, he conveyed Lin Hui's message to every miner.

Then, Lin Hui locked himself in the room and began making saltpeter.

This stuff smells awful, especially the soil from these latrines, which has an extreme stench of urine. It gets even worse when it's heated and boiled. Lin Hui wrapped himself in a thick cotton towel, and even wet the area around his lips and nose to filter out tiny particles in the air.

Next, all you have to do is focus on boiling the saltpeter. After it boils, add wood ash and wait for it to crystallize.

After repeating this process several times, Lin Hui obtained the saltpeter he wanted.

"It's done. Next, prepare the gunpowder."

Lin Hui muttered to himself for a moment, then continued with his actions.