Optimus One Pillar of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 152: No more brave than Ma Fang

Having formed a profound friendship with Zhou Shangwen, the boss of Datong, the next matter of selecting soldiers is easy to talk about.

Zhou Shangwen recommended to Wang Daoqiu: "To be honest with Mr. Wang, I have a fierce general in Datong, named Ma Fang. This son is 29 years old and is one of my subordinates. He was born in a border farmer's family and could not bear the abuse of his stepmother when he was young. , ran away from home when he was ten years old, and was taken captive by the Tartar cavalry who invaded the south, and became a slave of the Tartars, raising horses for them."

"Ma Fang learned his skills from the Tartars. Once while hunting with the Tartar Altan Khan, a colorful tiger suddenly appeared and rushed towards Altan. Everyone panicked and fled, but Ma Fang remained calm. , bent his bow and set an arrow, and killed the tiger on the spot. After this incident, Altan admired Ma Fang very much, gave him a good bow and a horse, and ordered him to serve around him."

"Although this Ma Fang was liked by Altan, his heart was open to me. So ten years ago, when he followed Altan to the outskirts of Datong for hunting, he stole a horse and escaped at night, and went to my Datong military camp. At that time, the general asked him to perform martial arts, and his strength surprised the general, so he was made the captain. After Ma Fang became the captain, he would fight bravely in every battle, and his bravery was extraordinary. The general also promoted him to the rank of a hundred households step by step. When there is a shortage, the general will consider upgrading it to a thousand households."

No braver than Ma Fang!This was Emperor Jiajing's later evaluation of Ma Fang.Fang joined the army and became a general for more than ten years. He fought with hundreds of people, suffered dozens of wounds on his body, and defeated many with a small number. He was not without great success. He captured dozens of ministers. He was unlucky. His reputation was known in the border areas. He was crowned the highest general for a while. .This is the evaluation of Ma Fang by Zhang Tingyu, the famous prime minister of the Qing Dynasty.

Ma Fang, Ma Fang, it can be said that this Ma Fang was the number one general of the Jiajing Dynasty, such a talent, Zhou Shangwen was willing to give it away to make friends with Wang Daoqiu, Wang Daoqiu naturally had no reason not to accept it.

Therefore, Wang Daoqiu also showed his kindness to Zhou Shangwen and said: "To be honest with General Zhou, I am good at prospecting. The Hongshishan iron mine in Xuanhua was found by me for the emperor. .”

"What, you found the Hongshishan Iron Mine for His Majesty, my lord? Could you be a little tired and help me find mines in Datong too? Our Datong frontier army is really too poor."

When he heard that Wang Daoqiu was good at prospecting, Zhou Shangwen immediately got excited. The area under the jurisdiction of his Datong General Military Mansion was vast. If there was an iron ore like Hongshi Mountain in it, then Zhou Shangwen would have no worries about food and salary!So when he heard that Wang Daoqiu was good at prospecting, Zhou Shangwen immediately felt a little embarrassed and hoped that Wang Daoqiu would also help them prospect for gold in Datong.

Seeing the desire in Zhou Shangwen's eyes, Wang Daoqiu said leisurely: "Just now I made it clear to General Zhou that I will look for minerals, and that's exactly what I meant. To be honest with General Zhou, I once heard from one of my subordinates The prospecting expert said that there are gold mines in Yanggao County, Datong."

"What, a gold mine? Sir, are you serious about this?"

The most troublesome problem for the Daming Frontier Army is the arrears of wages, and the wages cannot be paid. How can this team lead?Just like in a factory in the future, if you always default on the wages of employees, how do you think this factory will operate?And if you can have a gold mine in your hands, what kind of salary do you have to worry about?

So now when he heard Wang Daoqiu say that there was a gold mine in Yanggao County under his jurisdiction, 73-year-old Zhou Shangwen immediately turned into a three-year-old child waiting for a lollipop, staring at Wang Daoqiu expectantly.

Old kid, old kid, looking at Zhou Shangwen's cute look, Wang Daoqiu was also amused. He smiled and said: "Old general, you choose ten soldiers who are familiar with the terrain of Yanggao for me. I will go to Yanggao." Gao will look for mines for you. After you send the food and salary to Datong, ask Ma Fang, whom you recommended, to select a thousand brave cavalry from the army and join me at Yanggao."

"Okay, okay, okay, thank you for your hard work, sir. If we can find a gold mine, then I, Sergeant Datong, will never have to owe pay again. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir."

"Okay, okay, General Zhou, you're welcome. But after you find the gold mine, you can only say to the outside world that you discovered it accidentally while on patrol, but you can't say that I helped you find it."

"I see."

…………

In this way, Zhou Shangwen found ten local soldiers from Yanggao for Wang Daoqiu and asked them to lead Wang Daoqiu.Then Wang Daoqiu took these ten soldiers and four of his own guards, left the large group of people escorting food and wages, and went to Yanggao County.

Wang Daoqiu's goal of looking for gold this time is the gold mine in Baoziwan, Yanggao County.Although this gold mine has medium-sized reserves, the ore is of high grade and is easily mined, leached and sorted. It is the only open-pit mined gold deposit in Shanxi Province in later generations.

With the accurate information in the library and the local army as a guide, Wang Daoqiu quickly found this gold deposit in Baoziwan, Yanggao County.After finding the gold mine, he sent someone to inform Zhou Shangwen, and at the same time organized local military households to dig.

Three days after the gold mine was excavated, Zhou Shangwen, after distributing food and wages to the team, led a team of more than [-] people to Baozi Bay in Yanggao County.Looking at the busy construction site, Zhou Shangwen came to Wang Daoqiu. He looked unconvinced and asked Wang Daoqiu in a low voice: "Sir, there is really a gold mine here!" "Hahaha, old general, you still don't believe it? Come, come, old general, I will take you to have a look."

After saying this, Wang Daoqiu took Zhou Shangwen to the gold mining site and pointed out the obviously golden veins to Zhou Shangwen on the spot.As soon as he saw this mineral vein, Zhou Shangwen, a seventy-year-old man, went crazy as a teenager. He went down to the mine and grabbed a guy who was digging for gold beside him, and started digging for gold himself.

After digging out a large piece of gold ore with his own hands, Zhou Shangwen raised the piece of gold ore above his head and looked at it against the sun.Looking at the sparkling golden light illuminated by the sun, Zhou Shangwen laughed happily "Hahaha".

After being happy for a while, Zhou Shangwen climbed up from the mine, pulled Wang Daoqiu and said happily: "Come on, sir, I have brought a goldsmith and an alchemist here this time. Let's go refine it first." A pot of gold comes out."

With specialized craftsmen and professional tools, the next thing will be no surprise.When he saw the gold water being refined from the ore, and finally poured into the mold to cool into gold nuggets, Zhou Shangwen smiled happily while holding the gold.

To be honest, Zhou Shangwen wanted to give this piece of gold to Wang Daoqiu, but Wang Daoqiu had something to say first, so he didn't dare.So he took the gold nugget and stared at Wang Daoqiu pitifully, whether he wanted to give it away or not.

Wang Daoqiu understood that Zhou Shangwen was in a dilemma at this time, so he said to Zhou Shangwen: "Old General Zhou, I still say what I said, there are no gold, silver, yellow and white things between you and me, so everything can be discussed. And you Once you give me gold and silver, there will be no friendship between you and me."

"Yes, yes, my lord is very righteous, I will remember it in the end."

After saying this, Zhou Shangwen called his three sons and introduced them to Wang Daoqiu.After everyone was polite, Wang Daoqiu asked Zhou Shangwen about Ma Fang.

When Wang Daoqiu asked about Ma Fang, Zhou Shangwen hurriedly smiled and explained: "Sir, don't be anxious. If you want to pick a thousand strong soldiers from one place at once, how can you defend that place? So I asked Ma Fang to go to me It will take some time to go to the various Qianhu Offices under Datong to pick them up. Your Excellency, please wait here for ten days and they should arrive."

Waiting for ten days felt like a long time for Wang Daoqiu, but considering the traffic in this era, Wang Daoqiu had nothing to do.So during the next ten days of waiting for Ma Fang, Wang Daoqiu took the Zhou family and his son to help them find the Yinyaogou gold mine in Yanggao based on the information in the library.

There were two gold mines at the first shot, which made Zhou Shangwen look at Ma Fang full of complaints when Ma Fang arrived ten days later with a thousand cavalry.You can't come a few days later, maybe Master Wang can help us find another gold mine?

Zhou Shangwen couldn't bear to leave Wang Daoqiu. Ever since he found two gold mines in Yanggao County, Zhou Shangwen wanted Wang Daoqiu to help him search the entire Datong.He always felt that there should be a lot of gold buried underground in Datong under his jurisdiction, waiting for him to dig.

Zhou Shangwen was extremely reluctant to leave, but Wang Daoqiu, a first-rank minister, was not someone Zhou Shangwen and his commander-in-chief dared to keep.So in the eyes of Zhou Shangwen, who had been robbed of millions, Wang Daoqiu took Ma Fang and a thousand Datong cavalry and left Datong for the capital Beijing.

After leaving Zhou Shangwen, Wang Daoqiu kept close contact with Ma Fang all the way, asking Ma Fang for advice on matters in Mongolia, and learning to ride horses and fight on horseback from Ma Fang.

Wang Daoqiu passed the sixth grade in the imperial examination, became famous all over the world, and now holds a first-class official position.When we first came into contact with him, Ma Fang was a poor boy from the countryside who had been a Mongolian slave. He had a natural self-esteem when facing Wang Daoqiu.When Wang Daoqiu asked him something, he always lowered his head, clasped his fists and answered with honorifics.

But along the way Wang Daoqiu chatted and laughed with everyone without any pretense, and in the evening there was a bonfire barbecue party. Wang Daoqiu took off his official uniform, sang and danced for everyone, told cross talk and performed skits.Like the thousand cavalrymen, Ma Fang gradually came to regard Wang Daoqiu as one of his own, and began to talk to him heart to heart, and he did not hold back when teaching Wang Daoqiu his skills.

The group of people happily arrived at the gates of Beijing. Wang Daoqiu arranged for them to stay near Tongzhou Trade City, and all the food was provided by Tongzhou Trade City.He also asked Ma Fang to give a share of the 1 taels of silver notes Yan Song gave him last time to his brothers.

He himself went to Emperor Jiajing to deliver the order, and went to the Ministry of War to complete the procedures for Ma Fang to be promoted to Qianhu, and received two thousand sets of brand new mandarin duck uniforms from the Ministry of War for the thousand cavalry.

(End of this chapter)