The lead-scented mine boats of the Ting River in Tingzhou Prefecture were heavy with ore. Xiao Heng used the tip of his Xiuchun Saber to pry open the reed mat of one of the vessels. Bundles of the "Record of Fujian and Jiangxi Mining Taxes" were blurred by a sudden downpour—beside the ink marks dated "Sixth Year of Tianqi," a Polish cipher read "Krakow Silver Mine Tunnel Support Technique," and eighteen ore veins were marked with Carpathian mountain blasting parameters!
"Look at the snowflake cold-forged patterns on this sand-washing pan!" She scraped her armor against the spiral marks on the pig-iron pan. "This 'Seven-Star Mercury Separation' method for ore dressing was improved during the Deng Maoqi Uprising in the Chenghua years. How could it be engraved with the knightly crest of the Jagiellonian dynasty?"
A blast suddenly erupted in the middle of the river. Five official ships flying flags marked with the character "Lai" emerged from the mist. Once splashed with river water, the statue of Ouyezi on the prow revealed the rifling survey markings of the Vilnius Cannon Foundry. Shen Xitang’s crossbow bolt snapped a mining cable, and a torn page from the "Vistula River Secret Treaty" fell out—beside an official document stipulating an "annual loan of eighty mining ships," a notation in Lithuanian read "to be converted into ballast for Gdansk warships"!
Chapter 201