The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 83 There is a mine in the mountain behind his house

Twenty miles southeast of Kaiyuan City, at the border with Tieling, there is a continuous stretch of low hills, which the locals call Songshan Fort.

South of Songshan Fort lies Yingchengzi Mountain, a barren, sandy soil covered in thorns. The slopes between the valleys are covered with wild grasses like bitter hemp and asparagus, leaving the area untouched by humans. Occasionally, lost shepherds would stumble upon this spot. The cattle and sheep, chowing down on the bitter hemp, would become toxic and run away, with the shepherds chasing after them. Over time, even the shepherds stopped coming here.

However, one day in mid-June of the 47th year of the Wanli reign, an unkempt old man came from Kaiyuan City. He brought a large group of refugees with him to Yingchengzi Mountain.

The master stood on the top of the mountain and gave some instructions with a compass. Then about a thousand people settled down in Yingchengzi Mountain.

In the next ten days or so, this group of suspicious people mined the mountains, chiseled rocks, cut trees, dug soil, and made fires to cook every day, causing chaos in the surrounding area and angering both humans and gods, turning this paradise into a Shura field.

If someone in the know hadn't explained that this old man was General Liu's chief Yin-Yang master, whose daily business was to read the land and divination, and that he had come to Songshan Fort to choose a tomb for General Liu, the people nearby would have thought that this old man had lost his mind, had too much money to spend, and so brought a group of refugees to mess around in this desolate wilderness.

"Please look, everyone. Come, look closer at this layer of soil. Its color is different from the surroundings, it's reddish-brown. Look, there's granite greenstone exposed here. Look, my compass is floating up and down, turning north for two quarters of an hour. I guess there must be iron ore under the soil. It's said in the Guanzi Dishu that if there's ochre on the mountain, there's iron underneath..."

Xu Xiake put away the ancient bronze seven-star compass passed down from his ancestors, turned around and took out a thick ancient book from his backpack and began to read it. This ancient book was the Kaiyuan Prefecture Chronicle during the Jiajing period.

He was surrounded by miners, who were whispering to each other like a colony of ants looking for food, and all looked at the brown land that Mr. Xu had pointed out.

These people were holding pickaxes and shovels. Some burly miners were holding spears and bows and arrows, standing on the top of the hill to keep watch.

A tall and thin young man handed over a coconut ladle filled with clear water. Xu Xiake took it and drank it without even looking at it. He wiped his beard and said to the young man:

"Sanguang, this county annals says there are no mines in Kaiyuan. We've only spent a month discovering copper and sulfur mines to the east and south of the city. They're both of excellent quality. Add to that the iron mine we discovered today, and Lord Liu now has three major mines. It's better to have no books than to believe blindly in them. This county annals from the Jiajing period should be replaced. Sanguang, you need to travel more often in the future. You need to visit everything firsthand to uncover the truth."

After listening to Xu Xiake's profound talk, Li Sanguang could not help but say:
"Master, Kaiyuan is about to be surrounded by the Tartars. They have tens of thousands of troops. Where can I go? When will Lord Liu send troops? We can't rely on miners to fight the Jiannu every day. Two miners died in the copper mine the day before yesterday. It is said that it was done by the Bordered Blue Banner Bayara."

After hearing this, Xu Xiake put the book back into his backpack, looked up into the distance, where miners were digging the earth. He turned to look at Li Sanguang and said earnestly:

"Sanguang, the Jiannu aren't supernatural beings, so why should we be afraid of them? Just kill them if we see them. Back when I was traveling in eastern Guangdong, I encountered a group of bandits with muskets. Three of them fought against me, but I still managed to drive them away. In the 42nd year of the Wanli reign, I encountered a bear in Shennongjia. I was hungry, so I punched and kicked him..."

As a veteran outdoor adventurer, Xu Xiake was energetic and strong, and his conversation style was quite similar to Qiao Yiqi. Once he started talking, he would talk like a torrent of water and would not stop until he had convinced the other person.

The man at the top of the food chain finally finished recounting his experience of eating a bear in Shennongjia. He looked up at his deputy and saw that Li Sanguang still had a worried look on his face. He continued:
"Lord Liu, you have too few soldiers. Now you can't even defend the city. You have to guard the fields against the Jiannu every day. How can you take care of the mines? The miners are strong and sturdy, much stronger than I was in my time. I can kill a bear. You are a young man, so tall and strong, what are you afraid of?"

After saying this, Xu Xiake went towards the miners.

Li Sanguang was originally a hunter in Liaodong, his hometown was Qinghe. After the Battle of Sarhu, he was separated from his family and later followed General Liu to Kaiyuan.

Because he was familiar with the mountains and forests and was an honest person, Liu Zhaosun arranged for Li Sanguang to be with Xu Xiake and serve as his deputy, and part-time protector of Mr. Xu.

Hearing that Mr. Xu was so brave, Li Sanguang had nothing to say and followed him with a shovel in hand.

Ever since Liu Zhaosun mentioned mining that day, Xu Xiake immediately left the city the next day for an on-site survey. In just a few days, he traveled all over the mountains around Kaiyuan. Five days later, Mr. Xu, who looked like a beggar, finally returned to the city and told Liu Zhaosun that he had found three mineral veins.

"Great! With the mine, my flintlock rifles and red cannons are secure. Mr. Xu, you haven't eaten yet, right? Here, I'll give you a chicken drumstick!"

Liu Zhaosun quickly recruited refugees, asked them to bring their equipment, and follow Xu Xiake out of the city to mine.

These refugees were all old men who had followed Liu Zhaosun since Hunjiang. As the soul-hunters of Hunjiang, they had long regarded General Liu as a god. These fanatics did not want the monthly salary given to them, but just mined madly, hoping to dig out the ore as soon as possible to make guns and cannons for General Liu.

Another equally dedicated worker was Xu Xiake, who spent years outdoors, sleeping in the open air, and working under the stars. He was exceptionally hardy. He was only in his early thirties, yet he looked like an elderly man, with a graying beard and an untidy appearance. So much so that the miners mistook Xu for an old tracker, believing it was his hard work that earned him the promotion brought back from Tianjin by General Liu.

In fact, Mr. Xu used to be a dandy who was even richer than Qiao Yiqi.

For more than a month, the dark-skinned mining leader took his miners to search for minerals around Kaiyuan.

As more and more miners joined in, Xu Xiake's mining of Kaiyuan's mineral deposits became more and more crazy.

The vast Songliao Plain was dug into a pockmarked face with gullies and ravines, and the Songshanbao hills surrounded by green trees turned into bare barren mountains.

The Jiannu would soon threaten Kaiyuan again. The workshop was currently short of copper and iron materials and was facing shutdown. These loyal miners exploded their inner world for Liu Zhaosun's great cause.

Every time they discovered a mineral vein, they would swarm over it like vultures discovering a corpse, and then, with amazing physical strength and willpower, they would wield pickaxes and dig frantically in the mine day and night.

Even the most dangerous landslides and water seepage during mining cannot stop the miners' enthusiasm for mining.

By the end of June, ox-drawn carts laden with iron and copper ore began arriving in Kaiyuan City from various mines. After rough processing in workshops, the ore was sent to the forges, where it became the raw material for firearms, where it was hammered and tempered by the forge masters Lei and Yan.

All the ores that were pulled back would eventually be turned into muskets and cannons, playing a great role in changing history in the decisive battle of Kaiyuan.

It was said that in recent days, the workshop had already developed a combat-ready flintlock rifle with astonishing power, and the craftsmen were currently conducting final adjustments. If nothing unexpected happened, large-scale production would begin soon.

Xu Xiake's passion for exploring nature was far beyond the reach of ordinary people. Many years later, when he recalled his years of mining in Kaiyuan, he would always say that it was the most beautiful and unforgettable memory of his life.

However, good times are always short-lived.

When the total number of miners under Xu Xiake reached one thousand, it finally attracted the attention of the Later Jin.

It is possible that a lieutenant general stationed in Tieling informed Jirgalang, or it is possible that the Later Jin scouts changed their thinking after figuring it out.

In short, the Bordered Blue Banner gave up on destroying Kaiyuan's crops. It was said that this was because destroying farmland was not worth the cost, and the Later Jin scouts needed to deal with the wolf soldiers and white-pole soldiers lurking on the roadside.

It is extremely stupid to exchange the life of a white-armored soldier for one or two acres of grain for Liu Zhaosun.

Therefore, the Later Jin turned its attack target to Liu Zhaosun's mine.

Perhaps out of the need for ecological protection, Jirgalang, the leader of the Bordered Blue Banner, sent a large number of soldiers to try to stop Xu Xiake and others from illegally mining and their crazy exploitation, determined to teach these ignorant and fearless Han people a lesson.

At the end of May, a Zhenyi warrior from Niulu suddenly attacked a copper mine thirty miles east of Kaiyuan City.

The Intelligence Department learned of the raid in advance, and five hundred miners were prepared, lying in ambush around the mine with heavy swords and clubs, waiting for the Jiannu to enter the ambush circle.

As a result, the sneak attack designed by Jirgalang himself eventually turned into an arduous breakout battle for the Niulu warriors.

The Later Jin soldiers failed to steal the chicken and ended up losing the rice. After leaving behind dozens of corpses, they fled in panic.

After this incident, Liu Zhaosun strengthened the protection of the mine and dispatched additional cavalry to scout the surrounding area.

However, the mines were too far from Kaiyuan City, with the nearest being over ten miles away. Furthermore, they were scattered, and with only 300 cavalry, they were completely unable to protect them. They would have to abandon Kaiyuan City and bring in infantry as well.

In this situation, the only option was to organize the miners, give them weapons such as rifles, heavy swords, and clubs, and let them protect themselves.

However, this is certainly not a long-term solution. When faced with a sneak attack by the Jiannu, the miners will have to pay a greater price to repel it.

Although the miners were strong, they were not professional soldiers after all. They suffered a great loss in the battle with the Jurchen hunters and were in urgent need of assistance.

The Jiannu spies in the city were constantly being killed, the trade routes became blocked, and the training of new recruits was slow. All the problems broke out at once, and Liu Zhaosun felt overwhelmed.

With the help of Yang Qing'er, Liu Zhaosun decided to grasp the key points of the problem:

Expand the cavalry team.

If we lose our cavalry advantage in a battle on a plain like Kaiyuan, we will be at a great disadvantage, unable to attack or defend.

If an army is weak in manpower and is at a disadvantage in scouting and raiding, it will eventually be killed by the enemy little by little.

The Mongols would not sell horses to Kaiyuan, let alone Liaozhen.

So, there is only one hope.

Liu Zhaosun continued to send people to investigate and search for the Yehe cavalry that had disappeared for many days.

After stumbling all the way to where he is now, he hopes that he will have better luck this time.

Doing good deeds without asking for reward.

Liu Zhaosun's good luck will come soon.

(End of this chapter)