We have fought to the Arctic Circle, and you want me to inherit the throne?

Now that the news about the iron mine had been confirmed, Li Che did not delay for a moment and immediately began to prepare.

After all, the blast furnaces at the iron smelter have been idle for a long time, just waiting for the iron ore to be put into the furnace for smelting.

First, let Wang Liu settle the camp of 20,000 slaves and select a group of miners.

Then he ordered the Gongzheng Institute to make a batch of tools such as pickaxes, shovels, and hoes as soon as possible, and to sew a batch of simple masks.

He also sent someone to notify the Ninggu Army and sent out a battalion of soldiers to protect the safety of the mine.

Li Che is now the political hub of Ninggu County. As soon as his order is issued, the whole city will take action immediately.

Chaoyang Iron Mine is not far from Chaoyang City, but it is still outside the city. The barbarian cavalry comes and goes like the wind, so it is still a bit dangerous without an army stationed there.

After Li Che gave the order at the government office, he thought for a while and decided to go to the scene to take a look in person.

After all, it was my career in my previous life. I always feel itchy if I don’t go there, and no one knows more about mining than me.

Li Che left without delay, handing over daily government affairs to Zhuge Zhe and defense affairs to He Conglong.

Everyone has long been accustomed to Li Che's decisive character, and there is nothing they can do but let him do whatever he wants.

After packing his luggage, Li Che led his personal guards to the outside of the city to meet up with Wang Liu.

After seeing Li Che, Wang Liu's eyes widened: "Your Highness, what are you doing..."

Li Che smiled slightly: "I will go mining with you, watch carefully, learn well, I will only teach you this time."

The team set out from Chaoyang City and headed towards the iron mine.

Li Che sat in the carriage. The scenery outside the window changed from the farmland outside the city to the endless green hills. The breath of spring came to his face with the breeze.

In my previous life, I had been to Chaoyang Iron Mine, not to work, but to communicate and learn.

But he didn't know what the undeveloped Chaoyang Iron Mine looked like, so he couldn't help but feel a little excited.

After just an hour, the carriage stopped.

"Your Highness, we're here." Wang Liu's voice came from outside the carriage.

Li Che opened the curtain and got off the carriage. What came into view was a narrow and distinct rift valley.

Not at the same time, but at the same place, looking at the familiar mountain range in front of him, Li Che suddenly wanted to shout:

Hey, hey, hey!

For the next few days, Li Che stayed at this mining site.

He first used the engineering knowledge he learned in his previous life to design a simple mining plan suitable for local conditions.

The outline of the mountain range was drawn and the preliminary mining area was determined.

Wooden pulleys and tracks were built to transport the mined ore.

Adopt open-pit mining method, dig downward from the surface and gradually approach the ore body.

Among the miners selected by Wang Liu, only one-tenth had mining experience, and the others still needed basic training.

It took seven days before the miners who had completed the training started production and the mine was barely operational.

. . . . . .

At this time, on the other side of the mountains, a carriage was slowly driving along the mountain road.

"Cough cough cough..." A suppressed cough came from the carriage.

The young horseman on the side of the carriage looked over worriedly and said, "Second brother, are you okay?"

"Ahem, I'm fine." Huo Duanxiao replied.

The young man frowned, feeling that his second brother's voice was obviously much weaker.

My second brother already has lung disease. Not only did he have to travel a long distance to the border to convey the order to Prince Ninggu, but he also had to stay in that bitter and cold place. It would be strange if his condition did not worsen.

I don’t know what my father was thinking. Why did he insist on sending my second brother to this hellhole place and making him serve a vassal king with no future?

"Second brother, let's find a place to camp and rest before going to Chaoyang City, right?"

"No need, I can still hold on." Huo Duanxiao said in a gentle voice, "Chaoyang City is not far away, let's hurry on."

Huo Duanli had no choice but to ask the coachman to slow down and try to make the carriage more stable.

Suddenly, there was a rapid sound of horse hooves.

Huo Duanli immediately became alert and looked in the direction where the sound came from. He saw dust flying in the distance and a group of barbarian cavalry sweeping towards them like a gust of wind.

"Second brother, the barbarian cavalry!"

Huo Duanli took the spear from the victory hook on the saddle, his eyes sharp.

The imperial guards who were accompanying the team acted quickly, with shield soldiers in front and spear soldiers in the back, forming a temporary defensive line.

The carriage curtain was lifted, and Huo Duanxiao looked into the distance with a hint of scholarly air between his brows.

After taking a look at the other party's clothing and weapons, Huo Duanxiao recognized them at a glance: "It's a Khitan."

The Khitan cavalry seemed to have just discovered them. The leading cavalry leader hesitated for a moment and said something to the people beside him.

Then dozens of riders turned their horses around and charged straight towards the convoy.

The original target of these Khitan cavalry did not seem to be Huo Duanxiao and his men.

But when they met on a narrow road, and seeing that they were few in number and had the envoys' procession, they attacked them.

Seeing his brother was a little nervous, Huo Duanxiao gently comforted him: "Stay calm, I'm here."

Huo Duanli nodded, wiped his sweaty hands on his robe, and then grasped the spear again.

The Khitan troops were fast and were on an uphill slope, so in a very short time, the distance between the two groups of troops suddenly shortened.

Whoosh whoosh—

A small rain of arrows consisting of dozens of wolf-tooth arrows fell, and the soldiers hurriedly huddled behind the shield wall. The arrowheads made dull sounds when they hit the bottom cards.

As soon as one round of arrow rain passed, the second round of arrow rain followed.

The Khitans were different from the Mohe peoples, who strictly adhered to the nomadic warfare methods:

The arrow arrives before the person arrives!

After five or six rounds of arrow rain, the imperial guards' formation became disorganized.

Although the soldiers' shields were thick, there were still gaps in them, and there were always a few unlucky ones who were shot by arrows and fell to the ground.

The Khitan cavalry saw the flaw and suddenly let out a strange cry like a wolf's howl, and the entire cavalry dispersed and charged down the hillside.

Her long hair fluttered in the wind, the scimitar in her hand flashed coldly in the sunlight, and she instantly crashed into the imperial guards' line.

"Kill!" Huo Duanli roared, and the spear in his hand flew up and down.

Although he was a little immature and clumsy, it was obvious that he had some spear skills. Two or three Khitan cavalrymen surrounded him but were unable to defeat him.

However, the Khitans didn't care about him at all.

The Khitans were not stupid either. That carriage was the most luxurious in the entire convoy, and there must be some heavy goods inside!

While the other Khitan cavalrymen were fighting with the imperial guards, the leader had already rushed towards the carriage, jumped off his horse with a grin, reached out to pull open the curtain and got in.

"Sir!" The surrounding imperial guards were furious, but they were unable to do anything.

Huo Duanli heard the sound and turned around.

When he saw a barbarian getting into his second brother's carriage, he suddenly paused.

He didn't move forward to rescue, but his expression became strange.

The Khitan leader leaned half of his body into the carriage and smelled a strong scent of Chinese medicine.

The young man in front of him was wearing a white robe, was thin, and had an abnormally rosy face.

"I thought he was a high-ranking official of the Qing Dynasty, but he turned out to be just a weak and sickly person."

The leader grinned grimly and reached out to grab Huo Duanxiao.