Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 160 The Shoushan Treasure Hunt
At the same time that Fan Ning and his party left Yangzhou and continued to go north, brothers Mingren and Mingli also arrived in Minxian County, Fuzhou by boat. Fuzhou and Jianzhou are today's Fujian. In the Song Dynasty, this was the most important silver and tea producing area in the Song Dynasty.

In addition, the ceramics, crops, and port shipbuilding industries are also very developed. Quanzhou in the south is the most developed ocean port in the Song Dynasty. Merchant ships from Nanyang, Tianzhu, even Persia and Dashi will come to Quanzhou to berth and trade.

In addition to rich products and developed shipping, Fuzhou's humanities imperial examinations were also very famous in the Song Dynasty, so that talents came out in large numbers, such as the famous Cai's father and son in the middle and late Northern Song Dynasty, Cai Xiang, Cai Bian, Cai Jing, Xiangguo Zhangdun, Yu Shen, etc. They are all Fujianese.

In addition to government-run silver mines in Fuzhou and Jianzhou, many dignitaries have obtained mining rights, but the silver they mined and smelted is generally required to be sold to the government, but it is not so strict, otherwise there will be no such thing as "official silver". A special title.

A large number of privately minted silver ingots also circulated throughout the Song Dynasty.

The Zhu family also has a mine in Fuzhou. The Zhu family bought lead ore, but there is also a lot of silver associated with the lead ore. In addition, there is a roasted tea factory, which has been operating in Fuzhou for more than ten years, and is headed by a senior manager.

In addition to the mine, the Zhu family also opened a Zhu's money shop in Fuzhou and Quanzhou.

The steward who received Mingren and Mingli brothers was surnamed Wang, and he was the supervisor of Zhu's roasted tea workshop, which happened to be located in Lianjiang County.

The second day after Ming Ren and Ming Li arrived in Min County, they drove to Lianjiang County in a bullock cart.

"I specifically inquired about the kind of stone you were looking for two days ago, and someone really knows it."

Mingren and Mingli glanced at each other, they were overjoyed, there was news so soon, Mingren asked quickly: "Is the mine in Lianjiang County?"

"It seems to be between Lianjiang County and Luoyuan County, on both sides of a river. I haven't had time to see where it is. You can ask about it after the tea factory. He is a baker in my workshop. told me."

The carriage bumped northward on the official road with poor road conditions. Lianjiang County was very close to Min County. The ox cart arrived at Zhu's tea roasting factory in Lianjiang County that night.

Eighty percent of the tea in the Song Dynasty came from Fuzhou and Jianzhou. The quality of the tea here was good and the output was large, which could meet the huge demand for tea in the Song Dynasty. All over the Song Dynasty.

There are hundreds of tea roasting workshops in Fuzhou and Jianzhou, Zhu's workshop is relatively large, with more than [-] artisans, and several rows of houses were built in a tea farm.

Fermentation, cake making, and baking are all carried out here. The high-quality tea cakes produced are mainly supplied to the capital. In addition, there is also a tea house in the workshop, which specializes in raising a small amount of high-end tea cakes, like the ones Zhu Pei gave to Fan Ning. It took ten years to develop Fengcha here.

In a roasted tea room, where wood was burning in the stove, an old craftsman squinted at the Phoenix Nuanyu in his hand. This was a sample brought by Mingren and Mingli, and Fan Ning found it from Qishi Lane back then.

"That's right, this is the phoenix egg from my hometown. I didn't expect it to be so beautiful. It's really like honey solidified. And it's usually not so big. It's about the size of a fist."

"Are there many such stones?" Ming Li asked.

"We have a lot of hometowns, and there are more on both sides of the Shoushan River, but I haven't heard of it in other places."

Ming Ren hesitated for a moment and asked again: "You mean, the stone is buried in the soil, not on the mountain?"

"Of course they are in the soil. In fact, they are buried deep in the rice fields on both sides of the Shoushan River. Many people call them Tianhuangshi."

"Yes! It's Tian Huangshi."

Ming Ren and Ming Li immediately became excited, Fan Ning called it like this, Tian Huangshi.

"But this kind of stone is not worth much. Farmers pick it out from the field and throw it into the Shoushan River, or take it home and use it to build a house or build a pigsty. You might as well buy Shoushan stones if you buy them. It is more valuable, a large stone can be worth hundreds of Wen."

"Our old man wants to use this kind of Tianhuang stone to build towers, so let our brothers buy it in large quantities." The two brothers started talking nonsense.

Steward Wang said from the side: "Old Guan, let you take three days off. You can take them to the place of production to see, and I will go with you. I will pay you [-] Wen a day later."

"Yo! Thank you so much steward."

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Shoushan Mountain is located at the junction of Luoyuan County and Lianjiang County. There are several temples and a large population here. There are also two mines dedicated to mining Shoushan Stone. Shoushan Stone was relatively famous in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. It was mainly used for carving. It is not an ornamental stone. The Buddha statues in many temples are carved from large pieces of Shoushan stone.

At the foot of Shoushan Mountain, a long stream meanders to the south. This is Shoushan River. Tianhuangshi is produced in the underground sand layer several miles long on both sides of the middle reaches, and there are rice fields above it.

Manager Wang who accompanied Ming Li and Ming Ren could speak the local dialect, otherwise the two brothers would not understand what they were talking about?
In addition, the local Lizheng also accompanied them. Lizheng's surname was Yang, he was dark-skinned and thin, and he could speak some poor Mandarin.

Yang Lizheng pointed to the paddy fields on both sides of the stream and said, "The little official said that Tianhuangshi is under the paddy fields. If you dig out the soil, there will be a layer of sand, and Tianhuangshi is in the sand."

"Can these rice fields be bought?"

Yang Lizheng chuckled, "Of course you can buy it, as long as your bid satisfies everyone."

At this moment, Steward Wang pulled Mingren aside and said in a low voice, "Young official, the land price here is very cheap. Don't buy it directly from the peasants. You have to buy it through the government, otherwise you will be cheated."

Mingren frowned, "But we don't know the government."

"Don't worry about this. The Zhu family still has a bit of face here. Tomorrow, I will ask Mr. Liu to come forward to the Luoyuan county magistrate. He has a good relationship with the government. The land price here is only two yuan, and at most three yuan can make the land worthless." They're happy to sell."

Mingren made a calculation in his mind, they brought [-] guan, the first phase of buying a thousand acres of land would cost [-] guan, plus hiring people, building a few rows of houses, chartering a boat for transportation, about [-] to [-] guan enough.

"Second child!" Ming Li was calling him.

Mingren stepped forward, Mingli pointed to Lizheng and said, "Just now Yang Lizheng said that many people have this kind of stone, we can buy it, and there are many in the river, the river is so shallow that children can feel it out, what do you think?" Sample?"

Ming Ren nodded and smiled, "Yes, I'll bid a hundred coins for the purchase, and I'll give Lizheng three pennies to help us find a place to buy it and then promote it."

Yang Lizheng smiled and said: "I don't need money to help you promote, but I guess you need a guide who can speak the local dialect. My son is 17 years old this year. He has studied in the county school in Min County. He can speak official dialect and is very capable. Why don't you let him Come to help you."

Of course, this kind favor can be done, Mingren immediately said: "I will pay you six pennies a month to hire your son, and if you use it well, I will hire you for a long time."

The price was three times the local labor fee. Yang Lizheng was overjoyed. He was a local snake, and quickly helped them rent a few houses in the nearby Ciming Temple, and asked his son Yang Qing to help the two brothers.

Everyone split up and acted immediately. Steward Wang went back to find Steward Liu to contact the government. The three attendants followed Mingren and Mingli and stayed with them. They brought five hundred guan in cash, which was specially used to buy Tianhuangshi from farmers.

The news quickly spread that someone wanted to buy Tian Huangshi for a piece of money. The bigger the stone, the higher the price. This news immediately caused a sensation in the four villages.

Beginning in the afternoon of that day, for five or six days in a row, farmers carrying loads came to Ciming Temple from all directions.

Children from various villages also jumped into the stream one after another, looking for Tian Huangshi in the stream.

The harvest was unexpectedly rich. On the first day that Mingren and Mingli brothers arrived at Shoushan Creek, they harvested more than 1000 pieces of large and small Tianhuang stones.

The two brothers immediately wrote a letter back to Pingjiang Mansion to report the situation here to their father.

(End of this chapter)