Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning
Chapter 499 Fusang Gold and Silver Mine
Chapter 499 Fusang Gold and Silver Mine (Special thanks to my friend Brother Fu Yuan for his 2 monthly tickets!)
After more than a month of preparation, the first batch of 3,000 craftsmen and officials sent by the Royal Commercial Group to Fuso to build gold and silver mines arrived in Yangzhou on September 28, the 37th year of Kaixi, boarded the Royal Navy warship waiting there, and set off for Fuso.
In order to boost the Fuso economy, which had suffered from the trauma of war and the decline of people's livelihood, Chai Zongxun established a system in which all miners were employed by local Fuso people and their monthly salary was 1,500 wen.
Given the current backward economy in Fuso and low prices, one tael, five hundred wen is enough to support a family of ten.
More than ten days later, officials and craftsmen in charge of mining affairs arrived in Kyushu, Kanto and other counties where large reserves of gold and silver mines had been discovered. After agreeing on the mining plan, they issued an imperial edict to recruit Fuso people as miners.
After the news spread, local people talked about it:
"The Great Zhou is actually going to exploit the gold and silver mines of Fusang! Is there really no hope for the revival of our thousand-year-old imperial court?"
"Alas! Not only have all the emperor's family been taken abducted to Bianjing, but even the daimyo who rebelled in various places have now been suppressed by the Great Zhou government. It is clear that in the face of the Great Zhou's magic weapons, there is no hope of restoring the country at all!"
“Don’t be so pessimistic!
The Great Zhou is the Celestial Empire of China, the successor of the Great Tang Dynasty, and is the suzerain state of Fuso.
Moreover, since the Great Zhou government took over, taxes have been reduced by nearly half compared to the previous emperor's time! Yao labor service has been completely exempted!
There’s nothing wrong with that.”
"That's true. As long as you don't rebel against the Great Zhou court, the government will never kill people indiscriminately. The Great Zhou emperor deserves the title of a benevolent ruler!"
"That's right! As long as we ordinary people can live a better life, why should we care who the emperor is?
Weren't the Emperor, the court, and the daimyo extremely cruel and ruthless to us in the past?"
Most of the Fuso people agreed and gradually started talking about the government's recruitment of miners.
"You said the government offered a monthly salary of 1 tael and coins. Can you believe it?
This is much higher than the 500 or 600 wen wages that the daimyo used to pay!"
"I don't think it's false. It's an imperial decree. Your Majesty has spoken the truth and it's the final word."
"Will the government trick us into working and then not pay us when the time comes? Then we won't have any recourse!"
“I don’t think so.
You see, in the past, when the great powers fought each other, which one did not plunder the property of our people? It was considered good if they did not kill the people indiscriminately.
But you see, after the establishment of the Great Zhou government, it has never robbed a single citizen, but instead provided food relief to the poor! It is worthy of being called the Celestial Empire.
I heard from my cousin who is a yamen runner that His Majesty the Emperor has created the "system of local celebrities", and the court will soon allow people from all over the country to elect local celebrities to supervise officials.
If there is any injustice or oppression, the local people can write a memorial to report it directly to the emperor, and the emperor will not ignore it! "
"Is this true? That would be great!
In this case, the government offers such a high salary, I decided to become a miner for the Royal Business Group. If they really offer such a high salary, my family will never have to worry about food and drink! "
Every day, more and more Fuso people went to the government office to apply to be miners, and many strong men who had done hard labor were selected.
After recruiting enough people, they started mining after a few days of training by the Royal Business Group's head craftsman. After working for a few days, the miners from all over the country saw that the food provided by the government was quite good. Not only did they have all-you-can-eat rice, but they also had vegetables for every meal, and they could even eat large pieces of fat meat for one or two days. Many miners were moved to tears.
Although they worked five hours a day in the mine, which was one hour longer than the local workers in the Great Zhou, it was still much better than being captured by the emperor, the court, and the daimyo to do forced labor or receiving low wages of a few hundred coins.
A month later, the wages were paid in full to every miner, making many people feel like they were in a dream.
Many miners carefully took the "huge sums" and rushed back home. The first thing they did was to take their wives and children to the streets to buy good and affordable rice from the newly established Da Zhou Royal Granary.
Most of this rice came from Annan, a rice-producing country with three harvests a year, and was transported to Fuso by large merchant ships of the Royal Commercial Group.
The cost price was only three hundred coins per stone, and when sold to the Fuso people it was only six hundred coins per stone, which was only 20% higher than the grain price of one five hundred coins per stone of the Great Zhou people.
After the miners bought enough food for their families to eat for a month, they found that they had a lot of money left over from their wages. Many of them went to the market to buy piglets, chickens and ducklings, and took them home to be raised by their wives or the elderly. Their lives got better day by day.
For a time, in contrast, more and more Fuso people realized the brutality of the previous emperor's rule, and that the people of the Great Zhou Empire were living a life that real people should live.
After more than two months of mining, many mines in Fuso with shallow strata and easy to develop have successfully produced gold or silver and started mass production.
On November 5, the 37th year of Kaixi, the memorial from Wei Feng, the pacification envoy of Longxiang Guard, was presented to the Emperor Chai Zongxun of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
At the beginning of last year, Wei Feng led 10,000 Longxiang Guards from Bian Jing and headed north along the shortest and easiest route to the "Weifeng Peninsula" that was discovered that year.
Each journey took about ten days and covered a distance of about 1,200 miles. Wei Feng discussed with his brothers to select the best terrain nearby to build a military settlement.
The soldiers of the Dragon Guard are all physically strong and proficient in almost all skills. Their construction speed is 1 to 2 times faster than that of ordinary civilians.
By May of this year, Wei Feng and his 10,000-man Longxiang Guards had arrived at the Weifeng Peninsula, and had built twelve large wooden military settlements along the nearly 16,000 miles route. They had handed them over to the local government, which organized civilians to transport food and military supplies to the settlements.
After setting up camp at the edge of the strait of Weifeng Peninsula, it was summer now. Weifeng was well prepared for this trip and brought with him thousands of Longxiang Guards who were skilled in shipbuilding and sailing.
Wei Feng led his brothers to cut down trees in the forest. In half a month, they had built more than 20 large ships. On July 17, the 37th year of Kaixi, they successfully crossed the strait of dozens of miles and landed on the other side of the continent.
After traveling south for more than a month, they soon confirmed from the local indigenous tribes that Yelu Xian had indeed led hundreds of thousands of Liao people to migrate here.
In order to avoid alerting the enemy and starting a war with the New Liao Kingdom, whose current strength was unknown, Wei Feng led only a thousand Longxiang Guards to split up and continue southward to gather intelligence on the Liao Kingdom.
After several days of inquiry, they learned that the Liao ruler Yelu Xian had been dead for ten years. The current emperor of Liao was his eldest son Yelu Longxu, and the Empress Dowager Xiao Chuo was in charge of the government behind the scenes. Prime Minister Han Derang and Grand Marshal Yelu Xizhen were in charge of civil and military affairs respectively.
In the 30th year of Kaixi (989 AD), after several years of diligent internal affairs, the country became increasingly powerful and its population exceeded two million. Among the Liao monarchs and ministers, the call for the unification of the Mayan continent was growing louder, and finally in August of that year, a war was launched against the city-states of the Mayan dynasty.
(End of this chapter)
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