Daming heir

Chapter 514

Luoyang City, Henan Province, is eighty miles south.

This place is under the jurisdiction of Yanshi County, Henan Province.

Because it is under Songshan Mountain and Shaolin Temple sits on the top of the mountain, it is famous outside.

However, the incense on the mountain is prosperous all year round, but it has nothing to do with the people down the mountain.

In fact, in Fudian Township under the jurisdiction of Yanshi County, half of the fields have been transferred to the Shaolin Temple on the mountain one after another over the years, becoming temple fields.

The straight line distance from Songshan Shaolin Temple is less than [-] miles. At the northwest corner of Songshan and Huanglongdong Mountain, where the three mountain ranges sandwich the remaining veins of Sichuan, there are several villages at the foot of the mountain.

Foguang Village and Anle Village, there is only a mountain tail between the two villages.

And on the mountains around the two villages, among countless green forests, there are mining areas exposed like scars.

The blue-gray mountain rocks can be seen at a glance even if they are more than ten miles away.

Especially the mountain on the north side of Anle Village extends from the northwest mountain pass all the way to the northeast side. On the entire mountain slope, there are bluestone strip mines that have been mined for an unknown number of years.

In the entire Fudian town, especially the villages such as Foguang Village and Anle Village, which are close to Songsong Mountain, there are hardly many fields that can be cultivated.

quarrying.

It has become the main source of income for these villages.

The government is also happy with this. The imperial court or the government always repairs various cities and forts every year. With people like Foguang Village and Anle Village, they are constantly mining stones from the mountains, and the court and the government can save a lot of trouble.

Niuyao Village, ten miles south of Fudian Town, is surrounded by mountains and is a mountain pass.

After passing Niuyao Village, there are several villages surrounded by several mountains.

Quietly, the troops were divided into three groups, and Sun Cheng, the governor of Jinyiwei North Town Fusi, who led the way himself, led more than a dozen subordinates, disguised as a group of merchants and thugs.

Sun Cheng rode a shaggy and thin horse, and his subordinates behind him drove several carts, and walked slowly along the dirt road into the mountain.

A subordinate who was also riding a horse glanced around and said in a low voice: "Zhenfu, further in, you will reach the place. The bluestone strips and graystone bricks used in the rivers in Henan Prefecture are all taken from this place. At the beginning of the year, His Royal Highness decided to control the river. The Ministry of Industry also built a cement factory here. The Ministry of Industry and Henan Prefecture will send people to sit in the town and call the surrounding people to work."

Sun Cheng frowned. He had checked the sources of various materials on the river for the past two days, and there were no problems.

Now only the verification of the source of cement and stone in Henan Province is left.

but.

Can stones quarried from mountains be problematic?
Or is there a problem with the cement supervised by the imperial court?
Sun Cheng was a little hard to guess for a while, the two places are absolutely impossible to go wrong.

After thinking about it, Sun Cheng still said in a deep voice: "Check the cement factory first. If there is a problem, it is most likely that there is something wrong with the cement."

How did the cement come out.

Sun Cheng recalled what he saw and heard when he went to the cement factory with His Royal Highness in Yingtian.

It seems that the mountain rocks are to be mined and then calcined?

Among them, there are many things to add.

It's just that he doesn't understand.

But since so many steps have been added in the middle, there must be places that are falsified.

After a while, everyone had already passed the mountain pass.

The cement factory, which occupies a vast area, can be seen from a distance.

The chimneys that kept spewing thick smoke seemed to never stop.

Sitting on his horseback, Sun Cheng forgot to glance at the mountains to the southeast.

I don't know what the masters on the hilltop over there will look like now when they look up at the sky.

soon.

A group of people went outside the cement factory.

The officials sent here by the magistrate's yamen of Henan Province immediately came out from behind the Nagato.

"Who are you waiting for?"

The official inspected Sun Cheng and the others carefully. The cement plant is now used by the government and is not sold to the outside world.

Nowadays, the cement factories built by the entire imperial court are not enough for the imperial court and the local government. As much as they produce can be used up, it is simply not enough to meet the needs of the outside world.

Sun Cheng looked calm and drove forward.

I saw his palm retracted into the sleeve, and then it was displayed in front of the official.

The official's face suddenly changed.

He was about to clasp his fists and make a bow.

Sun Cheng on the horseback said lightly: "Forget it, I don't want to attract the attention of outsiders."

The officer nodded again and again: "What Shangguan said is very true! Shangguan wants to go into the factory to have a look? The factory is full of cement dust. For the small ones, take a few mouth and nose masks, so that Shangguan can wear them and enter the factory."

Sun Cheng nodded, and got off his horse in front of the door.

"Let's say we came from Kaifeng City to work for the palace."

When the officer thought of the card he saw just now, he didn't dare to put his beak on it, so he just nodded vigorously.

Sun Cheng and others entered the factory gate.

The official has also taken several mouth and nose masks sewn with thick cloth.

Sun Cheng held it in his hand, and for a moment he didn't understand how to use it, but he saw that the official was also a clever person, and demonstrated how to put it on in front of him, so he remembered it in his heart, but he didn't put it on immediately.

And his subordinates put on mouth and nose masks one by one.

Get into the factory.

The official sent sideways in front of the head to lead the way.

Sun Cheng stared at the surroundings cautiously, just entered the factory, and within a few steps, the air was filled with floating ash, with a little excitement.

There was no need for an official to remind him, Sun Cheng had already quietly put on the mouth and nose mask.

At this time, the official said: "I didn't know it at first, but after a long time, many people began to cough for no reason. Then I realized that I have to wear this mouth and nose mask to reduce coughing. However, many people who work here still cough up black ash in the thick phlegm."

Sun Cheng's eyes moved involuntarily when he heard the officer's introduction.

However, just as Sun Cheng led the people to the depths of the cement factory.

At the foot of a mountain outside the factory, far away, several people who seemed to be from the mountain had already discovered the whereabouts of Sun Cheng and his party.

"See clearly, the man just showed his hand to the officials in the factory, and then entered the factory."

A leader, squinting his eyes, looked thoughtfully at the empty factory gate.

The other person beside him had nervous eyes, and said in a low voice: "Except for our people, only people from the government can enter the factory on weekdays..."

The leader turned his head, with a gloomy face: "Then why do these people who are obviously government officials put on the clothes of merchants?"

"Brother Zhicheng! Could it be that the government found out about us!"

The youngest person here immediately asked nervously.

The leader, a villager in Anle Village named Li Zhicheng, couldn't help glaring at the young guy: "Sanshi! If the court finds out what we did, do you think they can keep us until now? Can they go to the factory instead of going straight to our Anle Village?"

Li Sanshi thought for a while, nodded but still worried: "Brother Zhicheng, I'm just worried."

Li Zhicheng got a little impatient, waved his hand and twitched Li Sanshi's head, staring and said: "How many years have we been using this method! Who has discovered it? Who can find out?"

After being beaten, the young man didn't dare to speak anymore. He just stared at the horses and carriages tied outside the cement factory in the distance, and he still felt anxious after all.

Li Zhicheng looked at his brothers who grew up in the village, and said in a low voice, "Go up the mountain two of you, and tell them that people from the government may pass by, and the others stay here. Sanshi and I will go back to the village."

Several people nodded.

Li Zhicheng took Li Sanshi along the path at the foot of the mountain, hiding his whereabouts and rushing to the village.

The mountain pass is not far from Anle Village, less than a quarter of an hour away.

Walking up a section of the road, you can see Anle Village located in the mountains from a distance.

A small amount of land cannot feed the entire village.

The mining areas on the north side are the guarantee for Anle Village to support their families.

Come to the entrance of the village.

Li Zhicheng slowed down his steps: "Three stones."

Li Sanshi, who was called out, came up from behind: "What's wrong, brother Zhicheng?"

Li Zhicheng stared at Li Sanshi for a while, and then said: "You have to remember, everything we do is for our Anle Village, for our Li family!"

Li Sanshi didn't know why Brother Zhicheng suddenly said this to himself.

It's just that the uneasiness in his heart recently made him very uncomfortable.

Li Sanshi nodded heavily: "I see, Brother Zhicheng."

Li Zhicheng looked at Li Sanshi for a long time, then turned his head and continued walking towards the village.

When the two entered the village, there were not many people in the village who had nothing to do at this time, and most of them were mining bluestone strips in the northern mine.

Li Zhicheng didn't go back home either, and took Li Sanshi to the ancestral hall in the center of the village.

When the two arrived in front of the ancestral hall, they didn't go in first, but bowed respectfully outside the door.

After entering the very simple ancestral hall, the confession case in the middle and the two sides are full of memorial tablets.

Li Zhicheng and Li Sanshi kowtowed respectfully three more times.

After that, he looked back at Li Sanshi: "Your father died early, you still remember how he died."

Li Sanshi was a little dazed, and looked sideways at the confession, one of the tablets belonged to his father.

He nodded: "I remember, he was killed by a stone falling from the mountain while quarrying."

Li Zhicheng hummed: "Do you know why your father was stoned to death?"

Li Sanshi shook his head: "If you don't tell me, I don't know."

In the ancestral hall, Li Zhicheng sighed, with resentment and grief on his face: "It's the government that increased the amount of mining, urging us to mine bluestone in Anle Village, so that the gang of officials can build a big house! Your father was smashed to death, and the government didn't give you a single grain of rice!"

Li Sanshi's eyes turned red.

Li Zhicheng continued: "Since people in our Anle village started digging stones on this mountain, the mountain is empty, but we don't have any money in our pockets. Don't look at the government's yelling for benevolence from the court every day, but in the hands of us people, it's just a living."

Li Sanshi suddenly became a little scared, he hesitated and said: "Brother Zhicheng, I don't understand these things."

Li Zhicheng glanced at Li Sanshi, shook his head and sighed, "When you come to see the patriarch with me, don't say anything, just listen to us. At that time, you will understand why we did this."

Li Sanshi nodded obediently.

Mother died very early, and father was stoned to death in the mine when he could not remember.

I was raised by uncles in the whole village.

Brother Zhicheng, on the other hand, regards himself as his own younger brother.

When I was young, I protected myself from being beaten by others, and when I grew up, I let myself do those effortless things.

In Li Sanshi's heart, what Brother Zhicheng said was right and never wrong.

The two walked around the front of the ancestral hall and went to the back.

Entering the house, there was already an old man with white hair waiting here.

Seeing the two people coming in, the old man closed a thick account book in front of him, raised his head and showed a smile on his face: "It's Zhicheng and Sanshi, why did you come back so early today? The government has issued another order, you have to do things well these days, and send all the stones over early."

After speaking, the old man lowered his head again and began to scroll through the account book that seemed to be endless, but he couldn't make much profit.

Li Zhicheng entered the room, but he didn't speak first, but walked up to the old man, sat aside, poured himself a bowl of tea, and poured it into his stomach with his head raised.

Only then did his eyes show fierceness, and he said, "Someone from the government took off his skin and went into the cement factory."

The old man who was scrolling through the account books immediately raised his head, a flash of panic flashed in his eyes, but he quickly calmed down: "Will you go to the mountains?"

Li Zhicheng shook his head, but then nodded again: "If they are really people from the government, they will definitely go to the mountain. I have already asked them to go to the mountain first, and told people from the government that there might be people from the government to go there."

The old man hummed, and said in a low voice: "Pick it up for the next few days, and don't do anything else. Wait until later, and then talk about other things."

Li Zhicheng turned his eyes, leaned forward and moved the stool closer to the old man: "Uncle, you are the patriarch, so you are the one to decide these matters."

Li Youfu snorted, looked at Li Sanshi who was standing aside, and then glanced at Li Zhicheng.

"We've been doing that in Anle Village all the time, but it's just a matter of looking at it. But you, no matter where you send it over the years, you've always done it like this."

Li Youfu sighed and said: "If you do too much, you will be in trouble."

Li Zhicheng frowned, put his hands on the table, and said in a deep voice: "Uncle, today is different! The court wants to control the river, no problem! The river can be repaired, but they must not let them build the dam!"

Li Youfu closed the account book in his hand, leaned on the chair, and looked at Li Zhicheng.

This kid is getting bigger and bigger now, and all the big and small things in Anle Village are in his hands.

Speaking of which, life in Anle Village has been much better in the past two years, and it is also thanks to this kid.

But ah...

Li Youfu sighed: "Be careful what you do, only our Anle Village knows the way. Right now, keep an eye on everyone. If anyone dares to speak nonsense, please ask the family law, and I will nod."

A smile appeared on Li Zhicheng's face: "I am relieved to have my uncle's words. As long as the imperial court doesn't build the dam, everything will be fine.

I have heard the government explain clearly that once the dam is built and the embankment is done, the Yellow River will be safe.

The river is safe, who are we selling our bluestone strips to?Where do you earn your wages? "

………………

Monthly ticket recommendation ticket

(End of this chapter)