While Emperor Haojing was discussing many matters regarding the second expedition with Jiexuan, one of the spoils of the previous expedition, the former Governor of Peru Guzman, and tens of thousands of his men were mining in Monan Jinshan!
Although the wind is biting and snowflakes are flying, the mining work cannot be stopped, otherwise he will be whipped, even if Guzman is a former governor.
The yellow-skinned monkeys that he had previously regarded as livestock have now become a group of superior managers who can boss around any miner.
Guzman was very unwilling to be reduced to this miserable situation, but he had to accept his fate, because the whip was so painful that he could feel it through his cotton clothes.
Every yellow-skinned monkey looks like a guard with a live ammunition. The slave miners have no chance to fight back. If they want to resist, they will be whipped continuously, or even shot directly. There is no possibility of being hanged.
He saw with his own eyes a very strong Spanish man who defeated a yellow-skinned monkey and tried to seize its weapon, but was killed immediately.
The other two helpers also died. Although the remaining people were very angry, they did not take any action and could only choose to swallow their anger.
But soon, more and more Spanish miners chose to abandon this ghost place.
After repeated discussions, we initially decided on the festival of those yellow-skinned monkeys. I heard it was called "Spring Festival", an inexplicable word!
On the day of the operation, there seemed to be a snowstorm outside, and many people felt that the operation should be postponed.
But only today will the guards relax their vigilance and concentrate on celebrating the festival. This is the reason why many people are unwilling to give up.
So those who are willing to stay can stay, but the density cannot be high. Those who are willing to escape immediately take action, running out of the simple house where they live in the middle of the night, dodging sentries and patrols, climbing over fences, and running outside.
However, the blizzard was so heavy that it was impossible to see the direction. Even the homemade sextant lost its function. Everyone could only wrap up their clothes and head towards the south they guessed.
Through the previous frugality, everyone has accumulated a lot of food. If you save some food, you should be able to eat for seven days. In other words, within seven days, you must escape and find a reliable place to stay.
Everyone couldn't estimate the speed of the train when taking the train before. They could only estimate it based on their feelings. Based on the time spent on the road, it was probably about five or six hundred miles north from the capital.
So everyone thought that as long as they could walk about fifty miles south, they should be able to see some villages, and then they would have a chance to completely escape the pursuit of the guards.
However, the arrival of the blizzard created great difficulties for everyone. The outdoor temperature was extremely low. Before long, many people's hands and feet suffered frostbite due to improper protection.
But now that I have escaped, there is no turning back. I can only bite the bullet and move forward. If I go back, I will be executed.
Of the more than 700 people who escaped, only about 500 remained after daybreak and the storm passed.
The rest were left behind and froze to death on the road. The living had no time to sympathize with the dead and could only continue on their way.
But suddenly I found myself entering a world of white. Even if I climbed over a mountain, I would still see the same scene.
In other places, this may be a nice scenery, but here, it means disorientation and possible death!
There were no people in front, but pursuers appeared behind them, and those pursuers didn't seem to be in a hurry to capture or kill them alive.
He followed slowly, less than a thousand feet away, but compared to these fugitives, the pursuers' protection measures were quite in place.
Everyone wears leather clothes, their heads are wrapped tightly, only two eyes are exposed, and they carry revolvers. Their mounts are also adapted to the cold climate and can gallop in the ice and snow.
"Let's go back!"
"There is no hope at all!"
"It will be the same if you continue walking!"
"Bullshit escape plan!"
The fugitives were shivering with cold, their teeth were knocking against each other disobediently, and their will was on the verge of collapse.
Even people with strong beliefs have no confidence or reason to convince their companions to continue running away.
The ghost place in front of me was even scarier than the mine. It was simply a white hell.
Occasionally, the howling of wolves could be heard at night. Without weapons, they would have been eaten alive by the wolves.
It didn't take long before many people started to turn around, and then met the pursuers who were slowly walking up.
“Many miners have escaped before, but very few have succeeded, rarely meaning tens of thousands of miners have escaped. But according to our statistics, less than ten people have successfully escaped. This is because in very far away places, such as Three hundred miles away, someone has discovered traces of their activities!”
What surprised the fugitives was that the pursuer could actually speak Spanish, and the accent sounded very familiar. After some thinking, some people guessed that it was Spanish with a German regional accent.
"Why do you speak Spanish?"
The fugitives automatically ignored most of it and asked about another thing.
"Because I fought with your army in Europe, but I didn't expect to meet you here in another form!"
One of the guys in the lead briefly introduced the reason to the other party. It was really a memorable past event, but compared to the current day, it is completely worth mentioning.
"Are you German? Why are you helping those yellow-skinned monkeys?"
"Yellow-skinned monkey? You really know how to come up with names! The yellow-skinned monkey you call has turned you into a monkey in a cage!"
"That was an accident! Those yellow-skinned monkeys launched a shameful sneak attack on us!"
"Sneak attack? Come on! How many of the 'good things' you did in South America are shameful? Now you feel unbalanced? In this case, then keep running! I won't let my people chase you. See if you have the strength to escape from here! Just walk two hundred miles south to the hinterland of the Ming Empire. If you think you can do it, then go ahead! Everyone has dreams, maybe this is you Hurry up and realize your dream now!”
"Then you have to provide us with horses, food, weapons..."
"A bunch of idiots! Do I need to provide you with a few angels to guide you?"
"Ha ha ha ha……"
The guards behind the leader burst into laughter. No wonder these guys were caught as miners. It’s not because of their lack of strength, but because of their lack of intelligence!
"If you want to leave, just leave. If you don't want to die, then go back honestly. As long as you work for ten years, even if no one pays to ransom you, you can still be free!"
"Those are just lies. You are a German, how can you believe the lies of the yellow-skinned monkey?"
"You smart idiot! Let me tell you, many years before you, there were people working as miners here with the same status as you, but after working for enough time, they were free. But many people chose to stay and continue. Because there is a lot of money here, the working hours are arbitrary, and you can make money according to the weight of your mining. You can also work as a supervisor and get promoted. Compared with fighting in Europe and not having enough to eat, it is undoubtedly much better here, every week There are also free movies to watch. You think it’s not good here because your strength doesn’t allow you to experience a better life, that’s all!”
"You...you idiot must have been deceived by the yellow-skinned monkey's words!"
"Whatever you want! Let's go!"
The leader stopped paying attention to these guys who still had illusions, and led his men back to the mine along the original route.
The black-backed wolfdog in this man's arms barked twice, then turned his head and glanced, as if these people were really like idiots.
Each search team is equipped with wolf dogs to prevent the pursuit target from being lost. In special circumstances, polar bears will be dispatched.
The polar bear was a tribute paid by the northern vassal king of the Ming Empire. It was domesticated since childhood, so it is very obedient.
Many sheep are slaughtered every day in the mine, so the adult polar bears don't have to worry about food. They are often taken to the nearby river to bathe and catch hundreds of fish for tooth sacrifices.
Polar bears can easily smell the scent of people thirty or forty miles away, which is very helpful for chasing targets, although the cost of raising them is also very high.
To deal with this group of idiots who lived in the tropics before, there is no need for "Big Baby" at all. A wolf dog is enough, and this time even a dog is not needed.
The fugitives didn't run far at all. They rode over a mountain and saw them. If nothing else happened, they should have frozen to death on the escape route.
Captain Westermann was a native German whose hometown was Thuringia. However, he was injured during the Northern Expedition. After recovering, his body was no longer as flexible as before, so he applied for discharge.
But Emperor Haojing would not treat every veteran badly, whether they were local soldiers or mercenaries. Westerman chose to work as a patrol in the mine because this job offered the best treatment.
First, the salary is high. You can earn fifteen silver coins a month, plus more than five hundred kilograms of rice.
Second, the food is good and there is meat for every meal. It is simply an ideal place for carnivores.
Third, except for winter patrols, there is basically no risk. The usual job is just to ride in circles.
Westerman reached the level of squadron leader and could lead thirty people out to chase fugitives.
Because he spoke Spanish, he was specially assigned to help supervise the Spanish miners.
Most of the Spanish miners had the idea of escape. Westerman knew this well, but did not take any action.
They felt they would rather die on the way to escape than go back to work as miners.
But if it really comes to that point, how many people are willing to die?
If you die on the grassland, your body will be eaten by wild wolves!
Since there are no weapons in hand, even living people will be attacked by wolves.
The patrol team is equipped with a large number of revolvers, but it is not actually to collect fugitives...
On the third day of the operation, Guzman was surprised to see many returning companions.
After personally asking them about their situation in the past two days, those who did not run away fell silent.
If what the German said was true, that was the main reason why the mine had no walls, because there was no way to escape.
The mine is adjacent to a town, but that is where the patrols gather, and in the past they would have fallen into a trap.
Unless you kill a guard, wearing the clothes of a slave miner will identify you at a glance.
There are many kinds of clothes in the mines, one kind of clothes for slave miners and another kind of clothes for free miners.
The former must earn redemption fees for themselves through mining every day, while the latter makes money for themselves and has no fixed working hours.
In his capacity as governor, Guzman had requested that he be granted complete exemption from mining, but his request was rejected.
Then he tried to become a free miner, but was still rejected.
Hearing that the ransom fee set for him was 200,000 silver coins, Guzman was very angry and thought it was extortion, because all his previous belongings had been plundered by savage yellow-skinned monkeys in Lima.
The mine's explanation for this is that this is the proceeds captured by the Ming Dynasty King's Master, not taken out by Guzman on his own initiative, and cannot be used as ransom money.
In desperation, Guzman could only write letters to relatives in Spain, hoping to find a blood relationship to get him out, otherwise he would have to stay in this ghost place for ten years.
It is easy to stay for ten years, but if you mine for ten years, you may not be able to live to see the light of day again...
The ransom for ordinary Spaniards was five hundred silver coins, for soldiers it was one thousand silver coins, and for officers it started at two thousand silver coins.
If you cannot pay the ransom in one go, you will have to work in the mine for ten years.
Specifically, it is enough to dig two thousand pounds of ore every day for 3,300 days. The remaining 300 days can be used as rest days to ask for leave.
People with integrity can choose not to dig, but they will not be able to obtain food and will starve to death. Others will not sympathize and use their own food to help.
The so-called food is rice, pickles and dried meat. There will be more vegetables in summer. In order to avoid some diseases, the guards will also regularly distribute some medicines to the miners.
It seems that the treatment is pretty good, but no one can save money because there is no salary at all, and everything is done to make profits for the yellow-skinned monkey emperor.
Some people have even calculated that if you earn ten silver coins a month, it will be 1,200 silver coins in ten years, and 10,000 people will be 12 million silver coins.
Relatively speaking, the better thing is that Spanish women can make money while lying down...
Guzman's wife got a good relationship with a German guard. Not only did she have food and drink, but she also had new clothes to wear, and she didn't have to live in a cold house.
This was all approved by a certain new emperor. His attitude towards Spanish men could be completely different from that of women, and there was no need to embarrass those women. After all, the leading force in all wars was men.
Venting anger on women only shows that men are incompetent.
Therefore, Spanish women have begun to take advantage of the situation and maximize their charm...
"Don't run away?"
"Run? With all due respect, we measured it with a sextant on the road. It is about five hundred miles away from the capital of the Ming Empire. Even if we want to escape to a place where there are people, we have to walk more than two hundred miles!"
"Is there no man's land around here?"
"Of course there are people, but they are all Tatars, and this is the territory of the Tatars!"
"Why can Germans come and go as they please?"
"They all have personal identification, the kind of identification where their faces can be seen!"
"Avatar? Oh my god! Why are the Germans willing to serve the yellow-skinned monkey? It turns out they must have been possessed by the yellow-skinned monkey's magic!"
"I heard that thing is called a camera, and France has already introduced it!"
"So France will also be controlled by yellow-skinned monkeys in the future!"
"That's right! Only we can counterattack the invasion of yellow-skinned monkeys in the future!"
"Gentlemen, shouldn't we discuss how to get out of here?"
"By what means?"
"Trance or hypnosis?"
"What's the difference?"
"..."
