Zhou Ao was struggling until the next day. When he arrived at the yamen, the first thing he encountered was Gongcao Shilanluo's joke.

"Master Zhou, didn't I go back very early yesterday? I didn't work in the yamen, why did I stay up late? Look at your eyes, bloodshot, which is harmful to the body, so be careful."

After hearing this, Zhou Ao smiled bitterly and said vaguely: "I went back yesterday and thought about the recent incident until late at night, because I was not energetic."

Lan Luo smiled and said, "It's not a shame that he is close to the prefect. This is just about doing things. When I went back yesterday, I drank with my inner friend, but I was not as upset as you."

Zhou Ao praised him for being quite comfortable, so that he was yearning for his generation.

Lan Luo was also proud, nodded and left.

As soon as the others left, Zhou Ao looked at his colleagues and subordinates around him and noticed the tension in the yamen. Before he knew it, it actually dissipated a lot.

Take Lan Luo as an example. When Chen Zhi first came, this person had a small word, and later there were some twists and turns. The integration with Chen Zhi's team has always been separated. Later, the war in the northern border was affected. The entire Dai County was almost frightened from top to bottom. Lan Luo was no exception and had long become a frightened bird. If he met Zhou Ao before, both sides nodded at most, how could such relaxed words be there?

"After defeating the Xianbei people, the prefect had many other means to calm down several conflicts in the city, and even warned several families, shocked the clans and made the city more peaceful. Therefore, the scholars of these aristocratic families felt that the prefect was enough to defend Dai County, so they were not as worried as before, and they were even more willing to go home."

Zhou Ao naturally understood the reason, so it became even more difficult to make a decision in his heart.

The four previous letters, including warnings from former colleagues, advice from close friends, and even Shangguan, a large clan who had only had ordinary friends in the past, threw an olive branch to him, which was inevitable that he was a little shaken.

In fact, just looking at the current situation in Dai County, Zhou Ao would be full of confidence and motivation, but the letters from yesterday just confirmed that a new crisis was brewing in the court behind it.

This crisis is also centered on Chen Zhi and has far-reaching impact. Compared with the battle situation in the northern border, it seems that there is no bloody storm or iron horse, but it is actually even more dangerous. One is bad, it is a thousand-foot-foot-sized abyss, and it will never be restored.

In this case, even Zhou Ao couldn't help but wonder, but since he dared to give up the foundation of Luoyang and came here with Chen Zhi, his will was extraordinary. As he walked, he gradually had an idea.

At this time, the county magistrate Liu Bao walked from the front. When he saw Zhou Ao, he walked away and said, "Master Zhou, the prefect is looking for you."

"It just so happens that I have something to report to the prefect." Zhou Ao heard this and followed Liu Bao.

Chen Zhi was not in the place where he handled official duties normally, but in a wing room behind the yamen.

After the two arrived, Liu Bao knocked on the door first, and after going in and informing him, Zhou Ao followed him in.

The decorations in the room are ordinary, but you can smell a faint fragrance, with green smoke floating in it. Looking at it, you can see a small incense burner on the table.

There were two people sitting on both sides of the table, which were Chen Zhi and Ge Hong's disciple, nephew Ge Lu.

Seeing Zhou Ao come in, Chen Zhi nodded slightly, pointed to a Hu chair next to him, and asked Zhou Ao to sit down first and listen to the two of them. Liu Bao left after greetings, and he had a lot of things to deal with.

Zhou Ao sat down, said nothing, held his breath and listened quietly to Chen Zhi and Ge Lu's conversation.

Zhou Ao actually didn't know much about Ge Lu, but he had been famous for Ge Hong behind Ge Lu for a long time, so he also respected Ge Lu quite well. At the same time, he also knew that not long ago, Chen Zhi gave Ge Lu a task, asking him to take a few people out to explore the mines.

Chen Zhi did not deliberately block this news, but the person who first investigated it knew the court's salt and iron policy, so he was quite careful when acting and did not spread on a large scale.

However, since it is a prospecting and within the scope of Dai County, sometimes it is inevitable to use manpower and material resources, or even mobilize some equipment. Over time, it is no longer a secret in the bureaucratic circle.

However, due to the war and the invasion of the Xianbei tribe a while ago, there was no need to care about anything inside and outside the city, so no one paid too much attention. Zhou Ao was the same, but now when he heard it, he realized that Chen Zhi seemed to attach great importance to this.

Ge Lu was not polite. After drinking a sip of tea, he went straight to the topic: "Prince, this Dai County does have many minerals buried, mainly coal mines, and many iron ores are also accompanied by them. If you base yourself on this and mine them, it will be enough to become a large mine, but the problem is also here."

Chen Zhi said, "Master, it's okay. When I asked several people to go to prospect, I said it very clearly. If you have any needs, I will arrange it one by one if I want it."

"Then I'm not polite," Ge Lu smiled and said, but according to his meaning, he didn't intend to be polite from the beginning. "I heard that the prefect has a descendant of the Mozhe in his hands. It would be better to divide one person to come and let him follow the mineral veins, draw a circle diagram below, and measure it."

Chen Zhi nodded and said directly: "This is a matter of course, I will arrange it later."

Ge Lu smiled and said, "That's good. The few people who were handed over to me before were among them, there were people who were good at measuring and had drawn pictures, but they were not accurate. If he measured them next to him and let the ink record them, there would be no worries!"

The New Han Dynasty inherited the accuracy of the measurements of the Han Dynasty. The "Lu Lizhi" records: "The millet in Zigu is as wide as the millet, the length is ninety, and the length of the yellow clock. One is ten, ten is inch, and ten inch is a ruler."

In the Han Dynasty, after more than a thousand years of development, there was naturally a mature system, and measurement was the top priority. In "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic", there are examples of mountain height and logging depth. Moreover, at this time, people were able to use the equality and proportions of similar triangles to conduct indirect measurements to assist in the construction of wells.

A mine, topographic map, structural map and distribution map that want to operate for a long time and are relatively safe are essential. Who is better at this than the Mohist substitution?

After receiving Chen Zhi's promise, Ge Lu was very satisfied. He was also very interested in this exploration. He could not only put it into practice, but also help Chen Zhi and reflect his own value. Therefore, this is a very pleasant task. The process is a bit painful, but it is always painful only in the years when he served as the boy guarding the furnace for Ge Hong.

Don’t accept it. The unique talisman that Chen Zhi gave them was even more mysterious and made Ge Lu care very much.

In fact, this exploration will not go very smoothly. Even if Chen Zhi has memories of later generations, he does not know the specific location and how deep the mine was buried. It will naturally take time and effort to find it through experience.

According to what Ge Lu learned, in his opinion, if what Chen Zhi said was true, there were really minerals around Dai County, and it would take two or three years to follow their manpower and find ways. If the luck was a little bad, it would not be surprising for three or five years.

But this speed is already fast in Ge Lu's opinion. After all, no one has noticed the mineral deposits here in the past few hundred years and thousands of years. You can find them within ten years. How can it be said that it is slow?

However, it turned out that after using the talisman handed over to him by Chen Zhi, the whole process was quickly compressed. With the guidance of the talisman, traces of minerals were found in just a few days.

When the whole country of Dai County was panicked by the invasion of the Xianbei people, the exploration team led by Ge Lu made rapid progress and achieved important results one after another, which eventually led to this meeting between Ge Lu and Chen Zhi.

But what really brought Ge Lu together was actually the talisman that guided them. In his opinion, this thing was too magical. If he could learn the secrets, Taoist alchemy would be able to shine in the future!

However, although he was determined to ask, he also knew that this kind of thing might involve the inheritance of Taoism. It was not close to people or disciples who entered the house, so he was afraid that it would be difficult to ask, otherwise it would be a violation of the rules of the world. So he kept holding it over and didn't ask even when he saw Chen Zhi.

So after thinking about it, he decided to put aside his thoughts, first handle the current situation, get closer to Chen Zhi, and then try it out. In addition, he also told Ge Hong in the south about this matter and see if his teacher has any suggestions.

So he briefly described his thoughts next.

According to Ge Lu's meaning, the mines in Dai County can be excavated by using the well-driving method to speed up the construction progress by passing water underground, and can also improve ventilation and lighting conditions.

"However, this method was not proposed by me, but the conclusion drawn by those helpers with mining experience who found a river passing by and after discussion."

After Ge Lu finished speaking, Chen Zhi nodded and said, "Okay, let experts discuss this aspect, but it must be ensured to be feasible."

Ge Lu said again: "There is another major problem. Whether it is to build a mine or to officially dig it in the future, there must be someone to handle it. Is the prefect ready to recruit the miners? Or to select it from Wu Ding? I heard that you have summoned Wu Ding from the Daijun family."

"Miners are dangerous, and they work in deep and underground. When they are with the dampness, they often leave roots of illness. How can they use Wu Ding?" Chen Zhi shook his head and then said, "However, you don't have to worry about the staff. I have prepared more than a thousand people, and the number of people will increase in the future, so there will be no need to worry about not enough."

When Ge Lu heard this, his heart moved, and then nodded and said, "That's good."

Chen Zhi then looked at Zhou Ao and smiled and said, "Wu Qu, I have been waiting for you for a long time. I have called you to come over. I asked you to arrange some people and follow Master Ge to protect their safety. At the same time, if you have the strength to work, you should take the lead first. Of course, the premise is to pay attention to safety."

Zhou Ao naturally responded.
Chapter completed!