"Right, didn't we have an elder in the manor who was skilled at identifying ore veins?"
Halfway there, Han Mo suddenly turned his head and asked Jiang Yan.
"You mean Uncle Liu, Master's son-in-law? I'll send someone to find him at once!"
"Yes, and have him bring his tools. We can test the quality together."
"Yes!"
Jiang Yan acknowledged and quickly hurried towards the front courtyard.
"My Lord!"
"Did you bring all these things back?"
When Han Mo arrived at the front courtyard, it was already piled high with several large chests.
"Answering my lord, Mr. Yuan asked us to bring these back!"
"Open them!"
At Han Mo's command, the servants of the manor stepped forward and opened all the chests.
As the chests were opened, what appeared before Han Mo were piles of glittering ore.
"Master's son-in-law, this is Liu Mingyuan!"
Just as Han Mo was feeling a bit dazzled, Jiang Yan, holding a large wooden chest, followed by several household guards pushing two small carts, brought in an old man who looked to be in his sixties, with white hair.
"Uncle Liu, I heard you're skilled at identifying ore quality. What do you think of these gold and silver ores?"
Han Mo always adhered to the principle of entrusting professional matters to professionals.
"Please allow me to examine them, my lord!"
Upon hearing Han Mo's words, Liu Mingyuan's face turned flushed with excitement.
"Please!"
Han Mo spoke as he gestured for him to proceed.
"Fetch some water!"
After taking out several glittering pieces of ore from the wooden chest, Liu Mingyuan immediately looked at the two servants behind him.
Without delay, they quickly fetched large buckets and drew several buckets of water from the nearby well.
"Please bear with me for a moment, my lord!"
While speaking, Liu Mingyuan excused himself to Han Mo again. He then took his tools from the wooden chest, first breaking the larger pieces of ore into smaller ones, then using a small hammer to further crush the smaller pieces into finer fragments. Finally, he placed them into a nearby stone mill and began to grind them carefully.
After grinding all the ore into powder, he took out something resembling a gold panning tool from later times and began to wash it in the large wooden basin.
Even Han Mo became interested, standing by and carefully watching his every move.
The entire process took nearly an hour, yet Han Mo watched with great enjoyment.
It wasn't until Liu Mingyuan placed the roughly panned ore sand into a pottery mortar and instructed the servants to start a charcoal fire that Han Mo curiously leaned closer.
"Can the quality be determined at this stage?"
Han Mo asked as he earnestly looked at Liu Mingyuan. Although he knew that Japan produced gold and silver ore, veins were hidden underground after all.
With the current production technology, Han Mo was not sure about the quality of the gold and silver ore they could mine from near the surface.
"Although no crude silver has been refined yet, judging by the amount of ore sand, if there isn't a significant difference, I estimate that the ore veins where these came from are excellent gold and silver deposits!"
Although he was still continuously pumping the bellows, Liu Mingyuan's eyes lit up considerably as he spoke.
He didn't know where these materials came from, but he had spent his life prospecting, and analyzing ore quality was naturally his forte.
"It's alright, no need to rush. Just do your work, I'll wait here!"
Not only was Han Mo watching with great interest, but the servants of the manor, after finishing their tasks, also quietly gathered around, wanting to watch the spectacle.
Once Liu Mingyuan got into his element, he seemed like a different person, exuding strong confidence.
It was as if the clothes he wore were not simple coarse hemp, but a silken official robe.
As his pumping of the bellows became faster, the hardwood charcoal began to burn more rapidly.
In the small red mud stove, the pottery mortar turned red-hot, but there was no sign of the ore powder melting.
Just as everyone was curious, Liu Mingyuan grabbed a handful of white substance from a nearby cart and threw it directly into the pottery mortar in the flame.
With his action, the ore powder in the pottery mortar finally began to melt.
His hands were also busy, continuously throwing in various strange substances, cooling and melting them repeatedly. After nearly another two hours of work, a small gold ingot and a silver ingot finally appeared before Han Mo.
"Is this gold and silver?"
Feeling the heavy weight, Jiang Yan's eyes lit up.
This was truly the first time he had witnessed the entire process of melting gold and silver.
"My lord, these ores are of the highest quality. I've never seen such pure gold and silver ore in my life!"
Jiang Yan was excited, but Liu Mingyuan was even more so.
And of course, the most excited were those who escorted these items back!
"Elder, this is for you. Please help them melt all this ore."
Although these items were indeed dazzling, Han Mo's mind was not so easily swayed.
He took out a few gold leaves from his sleeve and turned back to his study.
"Yes!"
Upon hearing Han Mo's words, Liu Mingyuan did not delay. He led his household guards and began to busy himself.
"Master's son-in-law, the shopkeepers and stewards from the major families have arrived!"
Not long after the gold and silver were refined, the shopkeepers and stewards of the major families began to gather.
"Please invite them in!"
Han Mo had no intention of hiding this matter.
Wasn't this precisely why he had let all the servants witness it?
He wanted to bind these people to his chariot, not just share temporary profits.
Gold and silver were indeed good things, but if Han Mo were to swallow them all himself, they would become deadly poison.
Only when everyone smelled the scent and tasted the benefits would they loyally follow him.
"Yes!"
Jiang Yan acknowledged and turned to leave.
"My Lord!"
"My Lord!"
Not long after Jiang Yan left, Qian Lang led a group of people inside.