The Heavens: A Qing, the Yue Girl at the beginning

Blue smoke was rising from the gunpowder warehouse on the mountainside as military craftsmen loaded the prepared nitrate gunpowder into iron cylinders.

The walls of these blasting devices are engraved with the seal script "Supervised by the Gongzaosi in the third year of Yuanwu", and the inner layer is sealed with fish glue to make it waterproof.

The engineer on duty held a bronze ruler and carefully measured the depth of the blasthole - according to the "Mining and Metallurgical Regulations", three blasting points must be set up for every ten feet of excavation, and the spacing error must not exceed half an inch.

"put--!"

As the flag waved, the prisoners covered their ears and retreated to the safe stone chamber. The shock wave was transmitted along the rock layer, and the entire mine tunnel was shaking.

As soon as the smoke cleared, Zhao Sanlang and others were immediately driven into the blasting area and cleaned up the rubble with a bamboo dustpan.

Experienced veterans would deliberately slow down their pace and let the newly arrived Qiang slaves rush ahead - the rock tops loosened by gunpowder could cause thousands of pounds of rocks to fall at any time.

Near noon, the explosions deep in the mine suddenly became more frequent. The military craftsmen were testing a new type of "mother-and-child mine" to try to increase the ore crushing rate by 40%. Amid the frequent mountain tremors, Zhao Sanlang's mattock suddenly broke through the rock wall, and dark red spring water gushed out.

According to the "Essentials of Mining and Metallurgy", this was an ominous sign that the underground Yin River had been opened. However, the supervisor whipped the people forward, and only when the three prisoners were swept away by the rapids did he hurriedly call it a day.

Zhao Sanlang took the opportunity to hide the bronze crossbow in the rattan basket used to transport the ore. He remembered what a fellow stonemason from his hometown had said: the drainage gate at the end of the culvert was equipped with a fine iron gear. If the crossbow could be used to jam the shaft...

……

Almost at the same time, the sound of Wang Xu, a clerk in the warehouse, could be heard in the palace. He was comparing three sets of account books: the "Granary Food Book" presented to Changling, the "Supplementary Service Record" for the inspection of the censor, and the "Black Book" hidden in the secret compartment between the walls.

The first snow falling outside the window made the red-ink words "died of illness and removed from the register" particularly dazzling.

"Sir, the border brokerage has sent us the October exchange bill." The confidant lowered his voice and handed over the wooden box, which contained fifty neatly stacked gold horseshoes, each with the mark of "Hexi Horse Gang". According to the black market price of private slaves, a strong Qiang slave was worth thirty strings of cash each, and the ironware reported damaged by the armory...

The sound of hurried horse hooves suddenly rang out in the mountains, startling the jackdaws perched on the top of the watchtower.

Twenty black-armored cavalrymen stepped through the smoke of the metallurgy. On the military post road outside the three hills, several four-wheeled carriages with copper wheels came galloping over the thin ice. The black flags hung on the roofs of the carriages indicated their identities as the "envoys of promotion and demotion" sent by the Ministry of Personnel. The talismans inlaid with gold and silver made crisp sounds in the bumps.

When he heard the warehouse clerk's distorted shouts outside the window, Wang Xu felt a chill on the back of his neck and the ivory cutter in his hand fell to the ground with a clang. He rushed to the window and saw the fox fur coat of mine supervisor Li Chongtai fluttering on the viewing platform. Even if the other party was a practitioner of the fifth realm of divine consciousness, it would be difficult for him to fall into sudden panic.

"Inspect the mines in Hexi according to the imperial order!"

The voice of Inspector Wei Meng Yan was wrapped in the north wind and hit the government office. The "Qin Law: Xiaolu" stipulates: "At the end of the year, performance appraisals must be conducted suddenly, and the granaries must be inspected." However, this year's major plan should be in the twelfth month!

Wang Xu grabbed the "Black Book" on the desk and was about to throw it into the charcoal basin, but he saw a strange layer of green frost on the surface of the bamboo slips - this was the "Yin Fu Jian" specially made by the Gongzao Division, which would reveal the secret text when exposed to fire. There was no doubt that he had been targeted and had sufficient evidence.

He slumped down on the table, the thought of "leaving Didao, crossing Yanzhi Mountain, and escaping from Qin territory" flashed through his mind. Thirty miles away, there were fast horses that he had asked the slave-catching team to prepare in advance, but could that group of barbarians really be trusted when the conspiracy was exposed and there was no benefit for them?

Zhao Sanlang in the tunnel felt that the ground was inexplicably quiet. At this time in the past, it would have been the node for the fifth batch of gunpowder blasting. Several alert prisoners began to move towards the culvert, but were forced back to the mining surface by the sudden influx of crossbow-wielding soldiers.

"Inspect according to the imperial order! Anyone who moves without permission will be executed along with their entire clan!"

Amid the clanging sound of the black iron armor, Meng Yan stepped into the government office wearing deerskin shoes that miners would never see in their lives. On the bronze edict board held in his left hand, nine gold-inlaid tiger talismans made Wang Xu's eyes ache - this meant that all the garrison troops in Longxi County could be mobilized, a total of 170,000.

"Official Wang Xu." Meng Yan's voice was like a sword tempered by ice. "The Xiao Lv says 'If a household hides and does not perform labor service, it is worth two armors of silver'. Are the nineteen falsely reported persons worth ten thousand silver coins to atone for their sins?"

The warehouse official forced himself to smile insincerely and was about to bring out the prepared excuse of "recruiting civilians", but he saw that in the lacquer box presented by the other party's entourage, there lay the deed from the pawnshop that had just been delivered to the border market this morning.

The cinnabar seal on the end of the indenture was not yet dry, and it was written: "On September Dinghai, thirty strong Persian slaves were sent to Dayuezhi in exchange for three hu of coral, five Persian dancers in exchange for twenty strong slaves..."

Meng Yan's fingertips stroked the signature of "Daxia Merchant Zhi Qian" on the contract, and suddenly changed to elegant words:
"Since you have a long history with Seleucus' Red Sea Chamber of Commerce, do you know the most recent long-distance selling prices for slaves such as pygmies, Kushites, and Nubians before the war among the Western Sea countries?"

Wang Xu's blood almost completely solidified when he heard the three words "僬嗷奴". These intelligence about the Western Yi Kingdom transmitted by the Saizhong and Dingling merchants should have been a top-secret transnational trade network, but now it was calmly spoken from the mouth of the Imperial Inspector.

He crawled on his knees and tried to grab the hem of the inspector's clothes, but was hit in the face by a copy of the "Black Book" thrown by the other party.

"The Stables and Gardens Law stipulates that anyone who smuggles more than 100 people will be torn to pieces." Meng Yan leaned over and pulled out the jade pendant from Wang Xu's waist. This ornament, engraved with the totem of the Sai people, was the token of the leader of the Hexi horse caravan. "But if you reveal the smuggling route of the Dingling royal court in Mobei, you may be able to save the lives of your entire clan."

There was an explosion sounded from the weapons depot on the mountainside, and Meng Yan's pupils shrank slightly - the loud noise did not come from the gunpowder, but the sound of Li Chongtai sneaking into the mine from the secret passage and trying to destroy the privately cast weapons.

He turned around and gestured to his adjutant, and immediately a soldier brought in a whole set of torture instruments: from the "tiger claw comb" used specifically to deal with corrupt officials to the "camel nails" used to extract confessions from secret agents in the Western Regions, each one was a dark brown color that could not be washed clean.

"I'll give you half a minute." The sixth-level expert from the Menghou Mansion threw the secret account scroll on the table. "In addition to the intelligence network of Yuezhi and Dingling, write down all the middlemen of the Sai ethnic group who handled the slave trade, especially the ship owners who traveled between Tiaozhi and Lixuan."

……

In the smelting area on the southeast side of the mine, thirty-six blast furnaces for smelting copper and tin spew out blue smoke day and night. The outer wall of each furnace is embedded with a hydraulic blower specified by the company. The rapids brought by the Yellow River tributaries drive the gear set, precisely controlling the wind pressure to the standard value of "three inches of water column".

Zhao Sanlang, who was deep in the tunnel, clenched the bronze crossbow in his crotch. He noticed that the sound of the supervisors' whips became less frequent, replaced by the dense sound of armor colliding at the end of the mine.

Several tattooed prisoners exchanged glances, and the gurgling sound of water from the drainage outlet of the culvert seemed to suddenly become clearly audible.

"The damn Qin officials are rioting!" The old laborer spat out blood foam and used a mattock and a steel chisel to pry open the cracks in the rock. The secret code passed down from generation to generation lingered in the alley: "At the beginning of the hour of Wei, the sluice wheel turned."

Zhao Sanlang reached for the rattan basket filled with sharp ores, and his fingertips felt a cold touch like an iron arrow.

……

A sweet and fishy taste rolled in Wang Xu's throat. He caught a glimpse of the black-armored cavalrymen surrounding the granary outside the window.

He knew Meng Yan's methods too well - when he was investigating the poison pill case in Yunzhong three years ago, he tied up several former members of the Chen royal family in a steam car and forced them to confess, and they remained conscious even after their flesh and blood were torn apart.

"The camel caravans of the Dingling people...pass through the western entrance of the Juyan Sea on the first day of every month..."

He trembled as he took out a bone cipher cylinder from his sleeve pocket. The spiral pattern engraved on the cylinder was the secret code used by the Great Yuezhi Merchants. "This is the communication key between me and the shaman of the Dingling and Chile tribe. It can be used to mobilize the thirteen supply points in Mobei."

"As for the smuggling routes, there are three that extend to the Hexi Corridor: the North Sea Line, the Golden Mountain Line, and the Inferno Line. The goods are divided into five grades and eighteen levels, including Thracian gladiators, Ural reindeer keeper, Massagetae witches, Gallic blacksmiths, Nubian pearl divers, etc. Grade A goods must be imprisoned with soul-locking chains refined by the Ptolemaic Dynasty..."

When Meng Yan took the bone tube, he tapped the secret compartment at the bottom of the tube with his fingertips, and three blood-marrow jades rolled into his palm. This kind of gem, which is produced west of the Pamir Mountains, is a common token of trust among Dingling nobles.

He raised his foot and crushed Wang Xu's knee. Listening to the sound of bones breaking, he laughed, "Doctor Gong is indeed well versed in the Qin Law. Those who have secret dealings with foreigners should be boiled to death. However, I need you to finish the Hexi Road alive."

Suddenly, the clear sound of camel bells could be heard outside the government office. Twelve white-humped camels trampled through the dust from the mine. When the yak felt curtain of the leading camel sedan was lifted, the flying snow in the area of ​​several hundred feet froze in mid-air.

Surrounded by dozens of Yuezhi and Sai-type Hu merchants, the old Dingling shaman Zhijia Luo was wearing a sable cloak. The cat's eye stones in his eye sockets changed depth with the light. The golden wolf femur hanging around his neck and the Qin army's talisman that was looted from somewhere collided with each other, making a sound of metal and stone.

"Lord Meng is here faster than an eagle. Since this chess piece is useless, why not give it to our clan to offer sacrifice to the heavens..."

His elegant words were in the accent of the grassland. His fingers, like dead branches, brushed across Wang Xu's limp body, but his eyes were looking at an inconspicuous middle-aged imperial guard behind Meng Yan: "Speaking of which, the real person in charge of this trip should be you, right?"

Meng Yan waved his sleeves to scare away the Dingling warriors who were trying to snatch Wang Xu, and strode forward to make way for the queen's envoy who casually took off his black armor, revealing a khaki robe.

A master who has entered the seventh realm and can move mountains, even if he is just an outsider, needs to be talked to by a strong man of the same level.

Zheng Liren, who had long been "possessed" by Zhao Qing and specially assigned to oversee the development of a new slave trade route and who also used this matter as a test of his loyalty, will undoubtedly become the leader of the next negotiations.

To be more specific, this was the most common method used by Zheng Xiu to recruit and train high-level subordinates. Although the nearby inspector Meng Yan seemed to be from the faction of Meng Hou Mansion, he was actually a spy bought by the Queen.

The Thirteen Marquises of the Great Qin Dynasty, who seemed to have some independent powers, naturally had to accept some of the people planted by Yuan Wu and Zheng Xiu while gaining these powers, and made many of their own family members devote themselves to their service.

Therefore, in the eyes of those in the know, Meng Yan should be regarded as the bright line in the surveillance of this trip. The real hidden line is probably a master whose strength has surpassed that of the initial seventh realm, but he has never appeared from beginning to end.

It must be mentioned that after being possessed by the God of Gallbladder for a while, "Zheng Liren" did successfully enter the seventh realm, but a certain relative dilemma arose: since the cultivation was purely maintained by the law of Zhao Qing's life energy, once it was separated from it, it would semi-permanently fall in realm. It seemed that this was also an interesting state, which gave her a more fundamental understanding of the characteristics of this stage.

……

When the Dingling shaman's camel caravan was confronting Meng Yan's subordinates, the rock wall of the mine at the foot of the mountain exploded, and the Yin River water rushing in the underground channel poured back into the tunnel, merging with the steaming sulfur-smelling mist.

In the chaotic shoveling, the bronze crossbow in Zhao Sanlang's arms accidentally slipped off. Just as he was about to bend down to pick it up, it was stepped on by a pair of turquoise-inlaid cowhide boots the moment it touched the ground.

Looking up, he saw a Hu merchant with deep eyes and a high nose. The gold rings on his earlobes were engraved with the same Sai people totem as the one on Wang Xu's jade pendant, with a winding pattern of snake heads and deer antlers, exactly the same as the fake tripod pattern that Zhao Sanlang had seen in the black market in Hedong six years ago.

On the winter solstice of that year, he took the risk of melting the official half-liang coins just to exchange half a pound of rhinoceros horn powder for his daughter who had a high fever.

"Warrior with the shadow of the lone wolf in the Gobi Desert in his eyes, do you want to use this to buy your freedom?"

Hu Shang whispered in stiff Qin language, and slipped out an ancient gold coin minted during the reign of Darius I from his sleeve, fluttering between his fingers like a butterfly: "Do you know? In Persepolis, there are two kinds of shackles hanging in the slave market - iron ones that lock hands and feet, and gold ones that bind people's hearts."

"Follow my Anmoko cavalry to Media, and you will become a guest of honor of General Arsaces of the Parthian province. The guards formed by the Crescent Alliance are recruiting weapon designers who can penetrate the Seleucid armored vehicles. They need talents who know how to transform the Qin crossbow."

In the distance, he heard the shouts of soldiers searching. Zhao Sanlang stared at the ruby-studded scimitar on Hu Shang's waist and suddenly remembered what the old jailer had said: In this damn place, living people are cheaper than ore.

But what he didn't say is that the ore will eventually be melted into weapons, and the hand holding the knife can change a person's life.

When Meng Yan's subordinates finally shot and killed Li Chongtai, who was no longer able to maintain his flying sword, and rushed into the alley with a crossbow in hand, they saw only strange symbols painted in blood on the rock wall - this was the code used by the Hexi caravan to mark "tradable goods".

……

The strong wind in the mountains blew up the sable fur trim of Meng Yan's black cloak. He raised his hand to signal his followers to drag Wang Xu to the viewing platform. The commotion coming from the mine in the distance was deliberately ignored - this patrol officer had obviously made plans in advance, and three teams of heavily armored warriors had already guarded the key roads.

"The Dingling people's strength is limited after all. Even if they cooperate with the Scythian Kingdom and the Chu nobles, they still cannot control such a long trade route. They should seek real strong support..."

"The Yue clan has been subservient to the Qin for decades, but you are still unwilling to change your patrons. This makes His Majesty and the Queen very dissatisfied!"

Several sharp-toothed whale sharks leaped out from Zheng Liren's sleeves. They looked only five or six inches long, but the aura they exuded seemed to devour the heavens and the earth. The old shaman was so frightened that the cat's eye in his eye socket suddenly shrank into a vertical pupil shape, and was forced to mobilize the power of his natal object:
"Have you forgotten how the camel caravan at Gaoque Pass was destroyed three years ago? The Qin Empire will take 70% of the trade route from Loulan to Bactria... 30,000 men will be transported via the Jinshan line every month, and the court can purchase them at 80% off the market price. The source of goods west of the Yuezhi must be expanded to the west of Tiaozhihai."

The bone flute in the Dingling shaman's sleeve whistled, and the twelve white camels knelt in response. He took off the wolf thigh bone from his neck and threw it into the air. The bone fragments turned into a holographic map composed of sand particles of different colors, outlining the long trade route extending from the Nile Delta to the Altai Pass:
"30,000 per month, are you kidding? Where can we get so many prisoners of war? Even if we conquer all the Greek city-states along the Black Sea, I'm afraid we can't get that many."

Zheng Liren sneered: "If it doesn't reach 30,000, then we'll use the cheapest slaves to make up the number. Otherwise, we won't trade. Or, we'll have to lower the price... For example, if only 20,000 people are traded, the unit price will drop to two-thirds of the original price. If 10,000 people are traded, it will drop to one-third..."

"Are you asking us to prioritize numbers? No longer have strict quality requirements? But the number of 30,000 is even more than the total population of some small countries. If it continues like this, it will almost hollow out the foundation of a powerful dynasty - if it can really be bought and sold."

The golden ring on Zhijia Luo's earlobe glowed with a holy light, and he thought secretly in his heart that the Qin Dynasty's craftsmanship was far superior to that of the West, so there was no need for ordinary high-value-added slaves.

But in this case, the Dinglings' supply channels would lose their advantage compared to directly contacting the Seleucid and Scythian countries.

After all, taming the newly captured prisoners of war who still had a rebellious heart and packaging them as talented people was the specialty of the Dingling royal court in accumulating wealth over the years.

He was well aware of the danger behind this number - 30,000 people were enough to drain the men of three medium-sized oases, not to mention the continuous supply month after month. There was no doubt that the other party was using word games to pry open the pricing system of the entire slave trade.

The whale shark swimming at Zheng Liren's fingertips suddenly swelled to ten feet, tearing half of the sand table map into pieces. The snowflakes falling from the mine condensed into ice ridges between the whale's teeth. The broken sand condensed into dozens of gray short swords hanging between the Dingling Shaman's eyebrows. The Yinming seal characters flowing on the swords were as extinguished as stars:
“It’s not about quantity first, it’s about quantity only.”

"From the ice sheet of the North Sea to the shore of the Red Sea, from the far west to the southern barbarian elephant county, anything that can walk on two feet can be used - the lame can add firewood to the blast furnace, the blind can wind the thread for the weaving room, and even a dying slave can be thrown into the alchemy furnace and refined into two ounces of blood."

Exaggerated numerical demands and aggressive price-cutting methods are ostensibly for the pursuit of maximum benefits and are psychological tactics during negotiations, but it is hard to say what the real intention is.

The cat's eye in the old shaman's eye sockets cracked into spider web-like lines, and the femoral bones in his neck creaked under the heavy load. Twelve white camels suddenly stood up, and blue flames rose between their humps, burning out mysterious Sak runes on the snow.

"Thirty thousand per month..." He repeated, his tongue tip slowly scraping the number between his teeth, as if he was chewing some raw bloody meat.

Then, the shaman inserted his withered fingers into his chest, pulled out his bloody patella and threw it on the sand table. This was an ancient secret method to establish a life essence and blood contract: "It's not impossible, but the Qin Empire needs to open up the black iron trade in Yunzhong County and grant the Gongzaosi a hundred volumes of smelting atlases."

Zheng Liren shook his head: "The trade of black iron needs to be discussed by the Shaofu Jianting, but if Dingling can offer the Karakoram Ice Soul Mine, plus the pass tokens of the thirteen secret post stations in Mobei..."

……

At the entrance to the culvert deep in the mine, Zhao Sanlang's bronze crossbow failed to get stuck on the fine iron gear.

When Anmoke's scimitar cut off his shackles, the remaining blade light actually created a crack about ten feet wide in the rock wall - this was originally a secret passage dug privately by Li Chongtai, and it was filled with standard crossbow machines engraved with "Produced by Yiqu Town".

"It seems that the Qin officials need rebels more than we do." Hu Shang picked up the crossbow and examined it. There were scale lines on the sightline that were secretly improved by Western craftsmen. "The equipment that should have been stored in the Longxi armory is enough to arm half of the Scythian cavalry regiment."

Zhao Sanlang grabbed the blood-stained rock and carved a warning in Qin seal script on the secret passage. The minter who had been tattooed suddenly realized that he could survive by fleeing to Persia, but his wife and children would still be registered as official slaves in Hedong County.

But when he turned and rushed towards the alarm bell, Anmoko's scimitar had easily pierced his shoulder blade, stopping his movement.

"Do you think Meng Yan really cares about the miners' rebellion?" Hu Shangan Mo Ke pulled out the bloody blade, revealing the silver plate with black bird pattern flashing on his waist, and a meaningful smile appeared on his face: "From the moment you picked up the crossbow, you were the 'spark' chosen by Lord Zheng."

……

The mine was like a crawling beast in the twilight, and the soldiers lit torches surrounding the camp.

According to the "Garrison Order", each barracks must be guarded by three layers: the outermost layer is a trench covered with caltrops, the middle layer is set up with crossbow carts that can fire poison arrows, and the inner layer is patrolled by scouts with mastiffs.

The viewing platform, where Li Chongtai, the fifth-rank official, loved to spend a long time, is brightly lit tonight. On the table are displayed mining models inlaid with gold and silver: a miniature keel-turning vehicle can actually operate, the cross-section of the bamboo reinforced concrete tunnel is inlaid with crystal slices, and even the iron tongs on the hands of the prisoner figurines can be disassembled and played with.

The entire negotiation lasted until the moon reached its zenith.

Meng Yan's Tiqi had already controlled this mining area. Li Chongtai's head was hung on the top of the watchtower, and solidified blood beads fell on the tail of Xiangfengwu, dyeing the bronze bell dark red.

Wang Xu was dragged into the interrogation room like a torn sack. The "camel nails" embedded in the cracks of his fingernails were slowly releasing paralyzing toxins - this was to make him stay awake and feel the pain of his limbs being peeled by the "tiger claw comb".

However, the prisoners who participated in the mine riot did not receive any formal punishment, and were even exempted from labor. This is what "Zheng Liren" said. In the next experiment with exotic bird air cavalry, they need to have a healthy body to provide valid data.

At the same time, he finally used meteorite sand to draft terms that shocked the Western Regions on the contract board made of black iron, and agreed to the request of the old shaman Zhijia Luo to let Meng Yan return to Changling to report the gains of this trip.

Zheng Liren himself will represent the Qin Dynasty and go deep into the Western Regions as an envoy. He will meet and talk with the Dingling King Heba Xuangao and the leaders of the twelve tribes.

Considering the importance of this matter, the grandmaster who is hiding somewhere unknown must come out at the critical moment.

According to the information Zhao Qing has learned so far, the current strength of the Dingling Royal Court is extraordinary. Its influence spans many places in Europe and Asia, and it has monopolized many trades. The reason for its rise is probably that its current ruler is a descendant of the Eastern Patrol King of the You Dynasty.

Perhaps it was because the place where Emperor You rose to power in his early years was in the Youyan area, adjacent to the Hu people outside the Great Wall, and because the traditional sect forces in Central Earth were difficult to be penetrated or won over, three of the four patrol kings he later appointed had very obvious Hu surnames: Heba, Yuwen, and Tuoba.

Although these Hu surnames may not be without blood ties with Yan and Huang, generally speaking, they do not seem to be authentic Chinese. Therefore, after the fall of the You Dynasty, they basically fled to remote, cold and bitter places, hibernated for a long time, and lived together with the barbarians.

However, taking into account the records left by these three clans in normal history, we can barely find some traces of their hiding places and estimate the approximate range of their current location.

If her guess was correct, apart from the Heba clan who was the actual ruler of the Dingling tribes, the Yuwen clan was most likely lurking in the Donghu and Yan Dynasty to cause trouble, and the Tuoba clan was very likely to have held power in the Tianliang Empire in its early years, and perhaps had produced a Tuoba Wuchou who reached the eighth level of Qitian.

Therefore, this long-planned contact is actually extremely dangerous. Whether it is the remnants of the You Dynasty, the dignitaries in Chu, or Zheng Xiu's secret agents, it is difficult to give timely warnings, and their strength is far superior to that of "Zheng Liren". It can be called a great adventure in the desert.

"Speaking of which, the place where Emperor Han Chen was in seclusion to make pills should be in a remote place in Mobei. I wonder if he received the message sent by the main body?"

...(End of chapter)