Fenghou

Chapter 414 Mine
After defeating the Xixia army's southward raid, Chen Qing immediately ordered Zhao Xiaoyi to lead the scout battalion northward to check the movement of the Xixia army in Dingxi County.

The Song army that captured Longxi County was not in a hurry to advance westward towards Tao, and the top priority was to stabilize control of Gongzhou.

Especially when the city wall of Chengji County in Qinzhou has not been repaired, the rush to the west will cause the front line to be stretched too long, and the Xixia army will break it one by one, and even the puppet Qi army will sneak attack the rear of Qinzhou.

The war did not affect Longxi County, and Longxi County still maintained peace and prosperity. The two mule and horse shops that were looted in the east of the city reopened, and the Song army returned the captured mules and horses to the two shops.

This morning, Chen Qing, accompanied by Cao Jingde, the deputy mine supervisor, came to the saltpeter mine about eighty miles south of Longxi County. Produced in Sichuan and Longxi.

The saltpeter mine has been out of production for several years. The mine supervisor is an official sent by Bianliang, Tokyo, and his whereabouts have long been unknown. The deputy mine supervisor Cao Jingde is from Longxi County. Ore is shipped out of the mine.

When Chen Qing came to a big mountain, he saw more than a dozen large and small mines scattered on the rock wall. The original plank road was still there, wooden carts on the ground were also piled up together, and dozens of crowbars were scattered all over the place. Drop on the ground.

"Jiedushi, this is our No. [-] mine, which belongs to the new mine. We have a total of five mines. This is the smallest one. There are only more than [-] people working here. The largest No. [-] mine is prosperous. There are thousands of people mining at the same time.”

Cao Jingde pointed to a huge concave surface about two feet away from the ground and said to Chen Qing: "That is, a saltpeter vein has just been discovered, and the outer rock is peeled off to reveal it. It is estimated that this vein can produce more than [-] catties of saltpeter ore. There are tens of thousands of catties of purified fire nitrate powder, but it is a pity that the mining was stopped when it was about to be mined."

"Where did the miners come from?" Chen Qing asked.

"In fact, most of them are young and strong from Longxi County. More than half of the [-] troops newly recruited by the Jiedushi used to be our miners. The puppet Qi army is also preparing to resume mining. They also brought money and cloth just to recruit miners. , and was snatched away by puppet Qi soldiers.”

Only then did Chen Qing understand that the more than [-] coins and [-] pieces of cloth they seized were originally used to recruit miners, but this was only part of the money they seized. They also seized a large amount of property from Xixia soldiers, mainly gold. Silver, more than [-] taels of silver and [-] taels of gold are all the personal property of Xixia soldiers.

"What do you need cloth for?" Chen Qing asked puzzled.

"Cloth is also money. In some remote places, even if you have money, you can't buy anything. You have to exchange it with cloth."

Chen Qing nodded, and asked again: "How many miners can we recruit now?"

"There is no problem with two or three thousand people. Three mines can be restored, but money is needed. Without money, miners cannot be recruited."

Chen Qing thought for a while and asked, "How much does a miner earn a month?"

"Food and lodging are included for sixty renminbi a day, less than two pennies a month, disability and death will be counted separately."

Chen Qing was taken aback, "So low?"

Cao Jingde said with a wry smile: "The wages in the Northwest region are very low, but this is still a very high wage. As a clerk in the county town, you can only earn [-] Wen a day, as a maid, you can earn [-] Wen a day. Chengji County recruits people to repair We have all heard about the city wall, which includes food and lodging at fifty renminbi a day, which is very good, and has attracted many people from Longxi County to go.”

Chen Qing smiled slightly and said: "Mine Supervisor Cao, let's restore the mine! I will allocate all the money and cloth you need, and there is no problem with the cooperation of the government and the army. If Mine Supervisor Cao can let my army get [-] yuan a year Jin of pure nitrate powder, I will reward you with two thousand coins every year alone."

Cao Jingde's eyes lit up, "Jie Dushi's words are serious?"

"I keep my promises, and I never lie!"

Cao Jingde said without hesitation: "Well, I will start recruiting workers when I go back. Please ask the Jiedushi to allocate [-] guan, [-] pieces of cloth and [-] shi of grain first. You don't need to give me the money and food. The Jiedushi can send someone To manage the money and food, but the money, food and cloth must be in place,"

"What are you going to do?" Chen Qing asked curiously.

Cao Jingde said with a smile: "I'm actually looking for the mine head. I can find ten mine heads, and each mine head can find [-] miners. That's [-] people. Then all the mining iron tools are sealed in the county warehouse. .”

"How do you calculate the money from the mine?"

"This... They mainly draw from the miners. The miners earn [-] yuan a day, and each person has to give [-] yuan to the mine head. People find trucks to transport the ore to the Weihe River, but the mine owner can only earn three hundred Wen a day."

"You mean to say that the mine head makes money by exploiting the miners?"

Cao Jingde quickly explained: "Jiedushi is not exploitative. It has been like this for decades. It is a kind of agreement and a rule recognized by everyone. These mine heads are passed down from generation to generation. They also opened mines at the earliest. Later, after the imperial court forbade them to mine, they became mine bosses. If Jiedu made them feel troublesome, they could change the way. They recruited people to mine, and then sold the ore to Jiedu's government. In fact, it would not take more than a year. Thousands of coins."

Of course, Chen Qing also understands this contracting method. This is the monopoly system of the Song Dynasty. This method is used for boiling salt and mining. Camp is better,

Chen Qing said lightly: "Salt mines are fine, but fire nitrate is not. Let's follow the previous method! You go to the mine head."

"Humble job understands!"

Although Cao Jingde's personal interests in the government-run mine are not many, Cao Jingde's heart is excited when he thinks of the promise of two thousand guan. Thousands of catties of pure nitrate powder ore.

He can't wait to find the mine head now and start working immediately.

Chen Qing appointed Niu Gao as the military envoy of Gongzhou, commanding [-] recruits and [-] infantry to guard Longxi County.

He stayed in Gongzhou for a few more days, until the saltpeter mine began to operate, Wang Huai, the magistrate of the state, took office and reopened the state government. Chen Qing led the army back to Qinzhou.

Three years after entering Shaoxing, great changes have taken place in the court of Lin'an. Zhu Shengfei paid homage to the prime minister as he wished, was granted the title of minister of political affairs, and became the spokesperson of Empress Dowager Wei in the court.

Less than half a year after Liu Ziyu took office in Xiangyang, he was transferred to the Guangnan West Road Jiedu Envoy to lead the army to quell the intensifying barbarian rebellion there.

Li Heng, the governor of the capital, served as the deputy envoy of Huguang Xuanfu Department and the envoy of Jingxiang soldiers and horses.

At this time, due to the serious illness of the Emperor of the Kingdom of Jin, the power struggle within the Kingdom of Jin was extremely fierce. Wanyan Nianhan led a [-] right-hand army back to Hebei. In addition, the Kingdom of Jin consumed too many resources in Sichuan and Shaanxi, and the Jurchen troops were too depleted. , Jin Guo began to show a temporary trend of strategic contraction.

Jianghuai filled the vacancy after the Jin soldiers retreated northward by hundreds of thousands of puppet Qi troops.

At this time, Yue Fei, the governor of the capital, proposed to recapture the Jianghuai River and establish a strategic buffer zone, which was supported by Zhang Jun and Han Shizhong, the governor of the capital, and even the emperor Zhao Gou was quite moved.

Xiangguo Zhang Jun and Zhao Ding firmly supported sending troops to Jianghuai, but Xiangguo Qin Hui and Zhu Shengfei opposed sending troops to Jianghuai under the pretext that the Song-Jin armistice agreement had not yet expired. The court fell into a sharp situation of war and peace confrontation.

This afternoon, a very important guest came to Lu Yihao's mansion.

In the past two days, the Lu Mansion was decorated with lanterns and festoons, and all the staff mobilized to clean the mansion. The gates were black and shiny, and every stone slab on the path had to be wiped clean.

"I'm coming!"

Lu Jinfei ran into the mansion and shouted: "Father, the official motorcade will arrive soon."

Naturally, the emperor Zhao Gou came to visit the veteran Lu Yihao.

"What are you excited about?"

Lu Yihao glared at the eldest son in dissatisfaction, "At such an old age, you are not stable at all!"

Lu Jin hurriedly lowered his hand and said, "Yes! I know my mistake."

"Help me to the gate to meet the official's house!"

Lu Jin supported his father and walked towards the gate.

"Father, is the arrival of the official family related to Qing'er?"

Lu Jin had an intuition that the official's visit to his father in person had something to do with his son-in-law.

Lu Yihao nodded, "The official's attitude may have something to do with Qing'er, but he didn't come to me for the northwest affairs."

Lu Yihao knew well that the emperor was willing to bow down to his house instead of summoning him to the palace for an audience. This attitude must have something to do with Chen Qing's performance in the northwest.

(End of this chapter)