The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 300 How did he know?
The people looked at each other for a while, and before long, more than 400 people said they were willing to stay and not return to Qingzhou. Anyway, their whole families had been brought here by the puppet Qi army and were all together, without any worries about their families. They could stay as they pleased.

Now that the people have been settled, it's time to study the surrendered soldiers.

When Yue Wenxuan last recruited soldiers from Yan'an, he learned about a problem: soldiers also had elderly mothers and loved ones at home. They couldn't just be kept there. There were always some people who had attachments. Forcing them to stay and work in labor camps would only cause the death of their orphans and widows.

That's absolutely inhumane!

He simply put on a benevolent appearance and said, "I will also give you a choice, just like the choice for the civilians. If you are willing to stay, you can stay and join my army to serve the Song Dynasty again. If you are not willing to stay, you can go back after you are discharged from the army. I will not force you to stay."

Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked, even Wu Jialiang was taken aback: "Brother Ip Man, prisoners of war are not the same as civilians. If we release them, it would be like releasing a tiger back into the mountains."

“It’s alright! This is called letting sheep return to the mountains, not releasing tigers.” Yue Wenxuan said, “My young master also dealt with surrendered soldiers in Yizhou in the same way.”

Wu Jialiang: "Huh?"

He was a little confused. Wasn't Brother Ip Man always standing behind me? He hadn't seen him contact anyone outside the city. How did he know about what happened in Yizhou?

But for some reason, he knew that what Ip Man said must be true.

Now that Young Master Yue had set an example in Yizhou, Wu Jialiang didn't waste any more words. He waved his hand, and the Song soldiers surrounding him dispersed, giving the impression that they could leave at will.

The surrendered soldiers of Northern Qi were completely bewildered; they never expected to be let go like this.

The opponent's magnanimity and kindness far exceeded his expectations.

Once this was confirmed, many people no longer wanted to leave. Those who had no family ties immediately knelt down and said, "We are willing to return to the Song Dynasty and serve the Great Song."

"The Song Dynasty is still the best to us."

"The Song Dynasty was the true Celestial Empire, with a benevolent and virtuous national character."

One-third of the surrendered soldiers stayed behind, while the other two-thirds still planned to go home. However, what they were thinking was that after they went home, they would pick up their wives, children, and elderly parents and then rush to Weizhou overnight to join the Song Dynasty.
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A large convoy of vehicles, swaying and rattling, arrived at Tiebao City in Yizhou.

The convoy was escorted by a cavalry unit, and accompanied by a large number of technical personnel.

The highest-ranking technical official among them was Li Tiezhu, an assistant minister in the Ministry of Works.

Li Tiezhu was a typical semi-literate man. In the last examination for the Ministry of Works, he only scored five points in the cultural subjects. However, the Ministry of Works of the Northern Song Dynasty was newly established and was short of people, desperately short of people.

In this situation, even the illiterate have to step up.

Thus, Li Tiezhu, a semi-literate man, was appointed to the position of Assistant Minister of Works, a sixth-rank official.

When Li Tiezhu's parents learned that their son had become a sixth-rank official, their jaws nearly dropped. They were overjoyed and lit incense at their ancestral graves, set off a string of firecrackers, and kowtowed more than a hundred times to thank their ancestors for their blessings. They wondered if his commotion had woken up their ancestors.

Li Tiezhu was tall and strong, with a somewhat rustic air, and looked quite out of place in his civil official robes.

But he didn't think so. He only felt that his official robes exuded an imposing aura, making him incredibly handsome. Accompanying him was a mining foreman named Pangolin, who had just been appointed as a ninth-rank official in charge of industrial education.

The two were transferred to Yizhou this time; one was responsible for teaching the miners new mining methods, and the other was responsible for teaching the blacksmiths new blacksmithing techniques.

Li Tiezhu was carefree, but Pangolin was very cautious. He looked left and right as he walked: "We just conquered Tiebao City. Is it safe now? I feel uneasy walking outside. I really want to dig a hole and hide in a mine."

Li Tiezhu was both amused and exasperated: "Are you a rat? Do you need to dig a hole to hide in?"

"I'm not a rat, I'm a pangolin."

Li Tiezhu: "..."

As the two were talking, they had already entered Tiebao City. Gong Erniangzi was still leading her troops to guard the city. Upon seeing the two arrive, she couldn't help but laugh and say, "Alright, now that the people from the Ministry of Works have arrived, this city can be handed over to you. I'm about to lead my troops away."

Li Tiezhu and the pangolin quickly bowed deeply: "Greetings, Privy Councilor! You can rest assured and leave this place to us."

Pangolin immediately led his men to infiltrate the group of miners.

After chatting with the local miners for a while, he learned that the mining technology here was the same as his previous level. The miners relied entirely on physical strength to break through the mountains and rocks, which was not only inefficient but also prone to accidents. There was always the possibility of a "mine collapse that could bury and kill several people".

Without further ado, he waved his hand, and the technicians who had come with him entered the mine and began to build scaffolding. In no time, they had the mine shaft securely in place, leaving the local miners in awe: "So there are such methods."

The pangolin said smugly, "There are even more impressive methods. When we mine over there, we don't rely entirely on manpower anymore; we can use gunpowder..."

He had intended to show off, but to his surprise, the local miners exclaimed, "We know, we know! That thing that made that loud bang, right? Oh my, it's incredible! A few days ago during the battle, our Song army's cannons fired huge iron shells that hit the mine, sending ore flying everywhere... Did you also use cannons to bombard ore down there?"

Pangolin: "Who the hell is crazy enough to use a cannon to bomb a mine? Just use gunpowder and blast it... Damn it, stop talking nonsense, watch my performance in a bit."

While he was having a great time showing off, Li Tiezhu was mingling with the blacksmiths. The number of blacksmiths in Tiebao Town was once the largest in the Song Dynasty, but half of them were wiped out after the last attack by the Jin invaders...

Even with only half remaining, it can still rank among the top four in the country.

There are many master blacksmiths here, whose exquisite skills are breathtaking. After watching them work, Li Tiezhu couldn't help but feel ashamed: he thought to himself, if we disregard the new skills I have learned, and only talk about the fineness of their work, I am completely no match for the master blacksmiths here.

His expression caught the eye of the veteran workers, who immediately understood that their skills had impressed the newcomer...

The Song Dynasty also had a long tradition of laymen managing experts. They sent some official who was neither literate nor rustic, thinking he could manage us old craftsmen? Dream on!
Just as they were thinking this, they heard Li Tiezhu say, "Someone, bring our machine tools over here."

Several craftsmen, with a series of heaves, carried over a semi-automatic machine tool.

Why is it prefixed with "semi-automatic"?
Because it is human-powered, it requires constantly stepping on a mechanism to make it turn... just like early sewing machines.

(End of this chapter)