"There is a spirit stone mine here, but the output should not be large, and the content should not be high either. Otherwise, this person would not have become rich so slowly."
"There should be a treasure here. If nothing unexpected happens, it's the one buried three hundred years ago when the Qin family was destroyed."
"The head of the Liu family is so old, yet he still engages in incestuous relationships. He's truly an old codger!"
"The Xu family is no good either. On the surface, they are a family that accumulates good deeds, but in reality, they have long been colluding with the Temple of War."
...
Soon, night was high in the sky. At this point, the more Guo Jia analyzed, the more secrets he discovered. Simultaneously, his confidence grew stronger. With these secrets, the difficulty of controlling Jiangdong was reduced by more than a fraction.
...
"The Duke of Wu said that any citizen who is willing to join the State of Wu and become a citizen of Wu can enjoy the benefits of the vast territory of Wu."
"Now, to show our sincerity, we are opening up the mountains and rivers within the territory of Wu. As long as you are a citizen of Wu, you can go in to mine for silver, pan for gold, and look for spirit stones for free. Even if you discover a blessed land, you can keep it for free for a period of time. Within three years, the benefits of the mountains and rivers will be shared with the people."
"In addition, to show our sincerity, we are presenting you with a silver mine. This silver mine is located three hundred li east of Kuaiji County, next to a stone mountain. The reserves of this silver mine are average, and if all of it is smelted, it will probably yield several hundred thousand taels."
"Although the amount is small, it's safe. Even ordinary people without cultivation can bring tools and go dig for silver. (One must be in good health; it's not recommended for the elderly, the weak, women, or children.)"
"Furthermore, this is the territory of the Duke of Wu, and it is now specially opened to all citizens of Wu. Simply register here in Lujiang County, and you can mine freely. Non-Wu citizens are not allowed to mine. If anyone starts mining, Wu will take necessary action at any time."
As the storyteller read today's Great Han Daily, the once bustling area around the restaurant gradually quieted down.
After a long while, the storyteller finished reading the newspaper, and with a bang, the crowd began to discuss it.
"Really!?"
"Hundreds of thousands of taels of silver! Even though it's a silver mine, they just gave it to us like that?"
"Whether this is true or false is actually quite simple. We can just go there. After all, it's a silver mine worth hundreds of thousands of taels. We can easily get several thousand catties of silver ore. After a little smelting, we can easily get several hundred taels of silver."
"Yes, we can just go there."
"Go, go, go! Go quickly, go quickly!"
As time passed and news of the silver mine spread, the entire Jiangdong region was abuzz with excitement. More than 80% of the innate masters arrived at the place mentioned in the newspapers.
Xiaohuangshan was not a famous place, and there were no hidden spiritual veins or anything like that. The spiritual energy was average, and the scenery was also average.
But today, right now, hundreds of innate masters have suddenly appeared. These hundreds of people have varying levels of cultivation and auras, and include men, women, young and old.
"This is Xiaohuangshan. It's all rocky mountains, but where exactly is the silver mine?" a burly man asked impatiently.
"Hey, look around, it seems like someone's been here before," a keen-eyed woman suddenly remarked.
“Indeed, there are traces of life here, which means that the silver mine is probably already owned!” a man said somewhat dejectedly.
The silver mine is real, but it's already taken. We rushed over here with great difficulty, only to find this situation. This is truly a terrible mess!
Upon hearing this, many people also became depressed. The whole scene suddenly became awkward.
"No, this is outside Kuaiji Commandery, and belongs to the fiefdom of the Duke of Wu. No matter who the previous owner was, the current owner is the Duke of Wu!" Suddenly, an old man shouted.
“That’s right, who cares whose it was before, it belongs to the Duke of Wu now. It’s just that the Duke of Wu is very generous and gave us this silver mine. At worst, I’ll just go to Lujiang to register it in a few days.” Suddenly, someone added.
"Yeah, who cares whose it is, it's all ours now."
Soon, following the trail, the group arrived at the silver mine. At a glance, they easily spotted hundreds of miners, in addition to a commander's private army (fifty men).
"What do you want? This is the Wang family's silver mine!" Wang Hong said excitedly.
What exactly happened? We've always kept things very private at home, haven't we? And there hasn't been any leak.
You should know that the hundreds of people mining here are all Yue people captured from the mountains. As for this private army, they are all made up of hereditary sons; there's no reason for them to betray them!
Besides, even if the news were leaked, it's impossible for it to attract hundreds of innate masters all at once. It's just a silver mine; its output is limited. Is it really worth the fuss?
"Haha, this silver mine doesn't belong to your Wang family. This is the fiefdom of the Duke of Wu, so the silver mine here naturally belongs to the Duke of Wu."
"If I were you, I would go home and tell the clan chief about this, then go to the Duke of Wu to apologize. How dare you steal from the Duke's silver mine? Are you trying to rebel?"
Listening to the whispers of the crowd, Wang Hong felt utterly disoriented. How could the Wang family's wealth have suddenly become the property of the Duke of Wu?
However, hundreds of innate masters are not someone he can afford to offend, not even the Wang family.
That day, the entire Jiangdong region was abuzz with excitement. Later, many local residents of Kuaiji County also rushed over with hoes in hand. Even several third-tier Grandmaster experts came from afar to watch the spectacle.
On this day, people truly understood what it meant to have strength in numbers and what it meant to be united in purpose, capable of moving mountains. Although Mount Tai itself didn't move, the entire silver mine was completely mined out in a single day.
In short, by the end, tens of thousands of ordinary people almost all had a piece of silver ore. Even ordinary people without cultivation could probably get one or two taels of silver after smelting. Those who were lucky and arrived early even directly obtained more than ten taels of silver.
As for the innate masters, they received at least tens or even hundreds of taels of silver. Of course, in the end, even the grandmasters had to swallow their pride and personally participate. Otherwise, they would have received even more.
As for the original owners of the silver mine, the Wang family, they were simply ignored by everyone.
But today, the one who reaps the greatest reward is not them, but Lin Yang, the Duke of Wu!
------------
Chapter 61: King Xiang, this blame is yours.
"My lord, it has now been five days. On the first day, we issued a notice soliciting information. On the second day, we issued a notice about a silver mine. On the third day, we issued a notice about a small gold mine."
"Yesterday, news of a century-old Zhuguo tree was announced. Today, news of a large copper mine was announced. It can be said that, although it has been a short time, in the minds of the people of Jiangdong, an impression of a wealthy, reliable, and generous company has already been formed."
"Moreover, in the past few days, in addition to the local wandering knights of Jiangdong, groups of wandering knights from Jingzhou, Qingzhou, Yuzhou, and Xuzhou have also come to Jiangdong, waiting for the news to be published in the newspapers every day."