There is a space for passenger planes in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 135 Planning for Hequ Minerals
  Fudong Courtyard Group Headquarters, now the Zhenming Army Governor's Palace.

Lin Feng was staring at Hequ County on the simple map around northern Shaanxi. He took out the "China Mineral Distribution Atlas" (Shanxi Branch) from the cabin space and carefully checked the surrounding mineral deposits.

Lin Feng's focus is on finding iron ore that can be mined nearby. The demand for iron is huge, and it is difficult to purchase it through normal channels. It must be mined on its own.

As he read, he also marked it with symbols that only he could understand, looking for the next location for Zhenming Mining to mine.

Hequ County faces Shaanxi Fugu County and Mongolia's Ordos Right Banner across the Yellow River to the west and north; it borders Pianguan County to the northeast; Wuzhai County to the east; and Baode and Kelan Counties to the south. It is known as "Chicken "Ming three provinces".

In the third year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1370), Hequ County was restored to Hequ County, and in the sixth year of the reign of Emperor Hongwu (1373) to the province, it was restored to Taiyuan Prefecture in the fourteenth year of the reign of Emperor Hongwu (1381).

During the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty, the number of households in Hequ was spread over ten miles.

In the Ming Dynasty, Li Jia was organized in such a way that every 110 households were divided into one li. The 1 households with the most Dingliang served as the li chiefs, and the remaining 10 households were called Jia heads.

Therefore, there are only 1100 households within ten miles of Hequ, plus some individual households with a small population, and some military households that are not included in the household registration, and the population is only about .

However, since large households in the Ming Dynasty always liked to hide their population, in order to avoid taxes, many people in the mansion did not register their households, so the actual population should be a little higher.

Hequ County is very rich in minerals. According to the "China Mineral Distribution Manual", Hequ is a "treasure land" rich in coal, aluminum and iron resources.

Among them, coal reserves are 120 billion tons, iron ore reserves are 15.6 billion tons, limestone reserves are 601 billion tons, and bauxite reserves are 1.79 million tons. They are widely distributed, and many are open-pit mines, which are convenient for mining.

Lin Feng checked the Shanxi branch of the mineral distribution, and finally chose Duishi Village, Liujiata Town, Hequ County as the first choice to send people to Hequ to mine. The coal and iron reserves there are large, and it is not far from the Yellow River. Far.

Cross the Yellow River from Fugu County and walk about ten miles east to get there. Just one day is enough. Moreover, the vast area and sparse population there are very conducive to Zhenming Mining's activities.

After checking the map, Lin Feng asked Lin Jiakang to notify Li Wanxiang and Fang Dashan to come over.

Soon, Lin Jiakang walked in with the two of them.

"Join the Governor!" the two men saluted.

Lin Feng asked the two of them to sit down and said: "We are going to rebel. It is very important to solve the iron shortage problem in Fugu. Without enough iron, weapons and armor cannot be made.

At the last meeting to establish the Zhenming Army, we made it clear that we would go to Hequ County to mine iron ore, and we came to you today to arrange this. "

"Sir, I have already arranged the manpower of Zhenming Mining, and the masters for prospecting are also ready and ready to go at any time." Li Wanxiang replied.

Lin Feng pointed to the location on the map and said: "Uncle Li, this mission is very important. This time you will take people there in person. First go to this place, Duishi Village, Liujiata Town, Hequ County. There are large iron ore and coal mines here. As long as an experienced miner looks for it, he will surely find it.”

There were very few people today, so Lin Feng didn't use a formal address. He would rather call him Uncle Li to be more affectionate. After all, he would marry Li Rushi in the future.

"What if someone is already mining in the local area? Mining is a hugely profitable industry, and many rural tycoons will occupy the mines to make money. Moreover, these people are usually protected by the government, and they are very difficult to deal with." Li Wanxiang was very clear about the virtues of big households, and then asked road.

"So we called Dashan here today. Dashan, please arrange for a team of about 100 guards to follow you. If there are local powerful people who are already mining, just destroy them directly. It will also save us time in digging." Lin Feng explained. road.

The rebellion is imminent, so Lin Feng doesn't have to worry too much. If there is any obstacle, he will just push forward. Anyway, these country gentry may have been unjustly beheaded, but killing every other one must have slipped through the net.

In a small county with a population of about 20,000, it is estimated that the armed forces such as Zhuangban will not exceed 100 people. The powerful people in the countryside do not have formal armed forces. They can send a hundred well-equipped escorts to fight. gone.

"Yes!" Fang Dashan said. "Uncle Li, in the past, if there was a ready-made mine, you would occupy it. If there was no ready-made mine, you would organize mining immediately. Don't pay attention to the people in the Hequ government office. Anyway, we will raise troops soon. Of course, if you can hide it for a while, it is better to hide it." Lin Feng commanded.

"I understand, it's relatively desolate over there. How about I take some of the people from Li's Construction there and build some place to live." Li Wanxiang added.

"Okay, you can just build a fort. This place is an important place for mining, and it must be able to defend it. Try not to leak any news when building the fort at the beginning. The local village can bribe it with some money and recruit their people to come and work. , to speed up the construction progress." Lin Feng said.

"Understood, we are building a fort while mining, and strive to smelt iron and transport it to Fugu as soon as possible." Li Wanxiang replied.

"Leave this matter to Uncle Li so you can rest assured. Hurry up and report back if there is any situation. It's also very close to Fugu."

"Yes!" The two responded and left.

The next day, a mining team of more than 150 people set out from Fugu, crossed the Yellow River and headed east to Liujiata Town in Hequ.

Li Wanxiang led the Li family's housekeeper Li Boxen, prospector Zhang Sidao and others in the middle of the team. It turned out that the reconnaissance team leader Zhou Zhiwei was walking in front with his troops. This time he was responsible for escorting the mining.

This was the first time that Lin Feng asked Li Wanxiang to lead his team out to do something, and it was a major event like mining iron ore that would affect the success or failure of the future rebellion. He was very excited and was very careful along the way, for fear of making mistakes.

When they arrived near Duishi Village in Liujiata Town, Li Wanxiang ordered the whole team to rest and asked Zhou Zhiwei to take a few people to check the situation first.

There are mineral deposits underground near Duishi Village, so nothing grown on the ground survives. There are only some sparse weeds, and the surrounding area is very desolate.

However, the iron ore here is buried very shallowly, and many of them are exposed on the surface, so they have been discovered by some local people. Of course, ordinary people are not qualified to mine, and they are controlled by rural tyrants.

When Zhou Zhiwei led two people to the mining point marked on the map, they found that a large-scale mining farm had been built there.

The mine covers an area of ​​about four or five acres, and has an earthen kiln for ironmaking, which is emitting smoke from calcined ore. There are piles of ore piled next to the earthen kiln.

A little closer to the outside is a row of mud houses, and miserable wailing sounds are coming from inside.

Zhou Zhiwei went around to the back of the earthen house and opened the window. He saw a few strong men inside frantically beating two ragged miners on the ground with whips.

A fat middle-aged man in silk sat at the top of the room. He was shouting: "Quick move, who started instigating the miners to escape? If you don't recruit them, we will be beaten to death."

"Housekeeper Miao, spare your life, it's not that we instigated the escape, it's that the mining work is too heavy, the foreman is pressing too hard, and the food they eat is like pig food, everyone just can't stand it and wants to run away." A worker on the ground was hiding. Whip begged for mercy.

"You are eating the same pig food. You despicable people, why do you still want to eat white rice? I have already given the task for the first half of the year. If you don't work harder, what will I do to support you? Do you want to be an uncle?" The man named Miao the butler scolded.

"Steward Miao, we really can't do anything these days. Please be merciful and let us have a full meal and have a rest." The man on the ground continued to beg for mercy.

"You still want to have a full meal and have a rest. You think so beautifully, Black Head. You take someone to drag him to the back of the mine and do it so that he can have a complete rest." Butler Miao said without any emotion.

"Ah... Butler Miao, please be kind and spare your life. I don't dare to do it anymore." Upon hearing this, the man on the ground immediately stepped forward and hugged his legs, begging.

"I don't dare to do it now. It's too late. Drag it down quickly so as not to dirty the ground here. I'll cut off this bitch's head later and bring it back to the miners to see. Whoever dares to resist is this End." Butler Miao ordered.

The strong man called Blackhead immediately took another person with him, covered the miner who was shouting for mercy with his hands, and dragged him out.

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  (End of this chapter)