Fenghou

Chapter 945 Mengzhou
Mengzhou is the southernmost state of Hedong Road, a state close to the Yellow River. It used to be a part of Shanzhou. Because it was inconvenient to manage Shanzhou across the Yellow River, the Sichuan-Shaanxi Xuanfu envoy made it an independent state, called Mengzhou. The next door to Mengzhou is Huaizhou, which belongs to Hebei and the territory of the Kingdom of Jin. The two states are bounded by Qinshui and do not communicate with each other.

However, the price of salt in Mengzhou is only [-] Wen a catty, which has increased by [-] Wen to [-] Wen this year, but it is still much lower than the salt price of [-] Wen a catty in Huaizhou. Not only the price of salt, but also other The price of food and cloth is several times lower than that in Huaizhou, and there is also a huge gap in taxes between the two places. Mengzhou was exempted from tax for a year the year before last, and it started to collect taxes last year, but the tax burden is only less than [-]% of that in Huaizhou .

With the same [-]-year income, people in Mengzhou will live countless times better than people in Huaizhou. People in Mengzhou can eat and wear clothes, and they can kill a sheep during the New Year. People in Huaizhou just eat their last meal without eating. pause.

Such a huge gap in life has caused Huaizhou people to lose their balance. Since last year, many people have secretly swam across Qinshui to buy salt, grain and cloth in Mengzhou. Mengzhou people also discovered this business opportunity. Many villagers So he squatted on the bank and sold salt, grain and cloth to people who came from the other side. With a little extra money, the villagers had an income from the difference, and the people on the other side were also much more convenient. Everyone was happy.

It's a pity that the good times don't last long. Since June last year, the Huaizhou garrison has deployed three patrol teams on the east bank of Qinshui. Once they go to the opposite bank to buy things and are caught, they will be killed in severe cases, or fined for going bankrupt. Fewer and fewer, and soon disappeared.

The garrison thought it had curbed this smuggling, and the general of the garrison even asked Wan Yanchang for credit, but in August, it was time to collect the summer tax, and half of the wheat harvested by the people in Huaizhou would be taxed away by the government.

The tide of fleeing broke out suddenly, and the people, old and young, went to Mengzhou with food and meager property. At this time, Mengzhou's [-] troops killed Qinshui in time and wiped out all three patrol teams. Hundreds of ships were organized on Qinshui to transport the fleeing people day and night. Seventy percent of the people in Huaizhou, about a hundred thousand people, fled to Mengzhou.

This is the Mengzhou incident that happened in August last year. After it was published in the "Beijing News", it caused a great sensation.

At this time, hundreds of thousands of fugitives from Huaizhou were placed in a large camp outside Heyang County. Since September last year, people in Huaizhou have implemented the method of providing relief with work. In Jincheng County, Zezhou, north of Wangwu Mountain, , found a shallow buried open-pit coal mine, dug a thin layer of soil, and underneath was high-quality coal up to seven feet thick.

The army organized [-] Huaizhou young and strong to come to Jincheng County to mine coal mines. Some of them were used to smelt iron, but most of them were used to make briquettes.

Thousands of people set up three briquette workshops. After brief training, they began to produce a large amount of briquette. In this way, the daily hard work of [-] young people can not only support themselves, but also feed the whole family in Heyang County.

The miners earn one hundred yuan a day, three yuan a month. According to the lowest price in Mengzhou, they can ensure that the whole family is fed and clothed, and they can save a consistent amount of money every month without paying taxes. This is not Huaizhou The life people dream of?
Although it is work relief, many people have moved their minds. Even after returning to their hometown in Huaizhou, can they continue to dig coal to make briquettes and earn money to support their families? I can earn less than two rounds of money, but now I earn three rounds of money every month.

Moreover, when they become official miners, their income will increase to [-] yuan per month. How can the miners not be excited when they think that they can earn [-] yuan a month, including food and lodging?

This is actually what Chen Qing meant. At present, coal digging and briquette making are all done by the army. This is very unreasonable. Chen Qing had long wanted to hand it over to the local government. The event, the right time, the right place, and the harmony of people were all in order, and the [-] refugee miners took over the task of digging coal for the army.

That afternoon, Hu Yanlei, the scout commander, brought a dozen scouts to the refugee camp in Huaizhou. The officials led them to a large tent. The officials shouted: "Uncle Meng! Uncle Meng!"

"Who is it!"

A burly and tall middle-aged man walked out of the big tent, about fifty years old, with dark skin and half white beard and hair.

"Ah! It's Lieutenant Wang, what's the matter with looking for a villain?" The middle-aged man surnamed Meng was all smiles.

County Captain Wang pointed to Hu Yanlei next to him and said, "This is the commander of the army, Hu Yan. He has important matters with you."

"Everyone, come in and sit down! There are blankets inside, so you can sit directly on the ground."

"no need!"

Hu Yanlei asked: "Are you Meng Xiaoguang who is known as the Yellow River buffalo?"

The middle-aged man smiled and waved his hands and said, "The Yellow River buffalo is the favor of my friends, it's really not worth mentioning, but I am indeed Meng Xiaoguang."

Hu Yanlei said indifferently: "The few of us want to go to the other side of the Yellow River to have a look, and we want to invite Senior Meng to drive the boat. After that, I will pay you ten pennies a day, how about it?"

"Ten pennies!"

The middle-aged man smiled so hard that his eyes narrowed into slits, ten pennies!sure.

In the afternoon, a thousand-stone cargo ship left the Yellow River Wharf in Heyang County and sailed slowly towards the opposite bank. The Yellow River in this area is very gentle, which is very suitable for crossing the river. Went to the most famous ferry on the Yellow River: Mengjin Ferry.

Mengjin Ferry is actually at the foot of Beiman Mountain, but the foot of the mountain is still more than ten miles away from the Yellow River, which is suitable for the army to station, making this the best ferry. When King Wu defeated Zhou, he crossed the Yellow River from here.

To the south of Beiman Mountain is Luoyang City. There are several valleys about a dozen miles east of the ferry, one of which can pass through the mountain, and a pass was built in front of the valley, called Mengjin Pass. Arrived in the northeast of Luoyang City.

Hu Yanlei asked: "Does the opponent have a fleet of warships on the Yellow River?"

Meng Xiaoguang said with a smile: "There must be no more warships. I heard that there are some sentry ships at the Daming Mansion, and there is also a fleet of grain transport ships. I have seen them. There are no more than five hundred stones, and there are probably hundreds of them. There are officials on them. flag, and there are soldiers on board."

"Are the guard ships and grain ships you mentioned from the south bank or the north bank?"

"Of course it's on the north bank. There's nothing on the south bank."

Hu Yanlei nodded. At this time, their boat gradually approached the south bank, which was still one mile away. They found that the terrain in the south was quite complicated. It seemed to be flat on the sand table, but when they arrived on the ground, they found that it was a piece of low hills. Compared with the tall Beiman Mountain in the distance, they are indeed flat.

"Are there enemy soldiers on the shore?" Hu Yanlei asked again.

Meng Xiaoguang nodded, "There should be, but not many. There are patrols and the like. If the general wants to go ashore, I will take you to a place where the enemy will not find you."

The cargo ship turned around and headed eastward. After traveling for seven or eight miles, it crossed a low hill, and a large forest appeared in front of it. Hu Yanlei was overjoyed.

Meng Xiaoguang parked the boat on the shore, "Call my name when you come back, and I will appear!"

Hu Yanlei waved his hands and laughed, "We have our own way to communicate!"

Meng Xiaoguang realized that he was thinking too much. Only half of the other party's dozen or so people went ashore, and the other half stayed on the boat.

Hu Yanlei led a few soldiers ashore and left. A soldier smiled and said to Meng Xiaoguang: "Don't think too much, it's not that you don't believe me. Today is not a special investigation of the enemy's situation, but I just came here to have a general look."

Meng Xiaoguang laughed dryly, "I don't care, just give me the money!"

Sure enough, after only half an hour, Huyanlei and the others came back. The boat did not go far, and immediately sailed over, taking Huyanlei back to the east.

Next, Huyanlei's subordinates hired Meng Xiaoguang for ten consecutive days, went to Baimadu, then turned around and went to Fenglingdu.
Observe the number of ships on the Yellow River and the conditions of various docks along the way.

(End of this chapter)