Yulin Town is more than 1,200 miles from east to west and more than 300 miles from north to south. Within this range, there are more than 180 large and small military forts.
Among the many military forts, if you ask which one is the richest, I am afraid it will cause some controversy, but if you ask which one is the poorest, you will definitely get a unanimous answer: Shenmu Fort!
The sacred tree is located in the southeast corner of Yulin Youwei, adjacent to Kuye River to the west, Yansui Prefecture to the south, and Wangbao Dezhou to the east... The geographical location is very important, and it is a battleground for military strategists. In the sixth year of Hongwu, the imperial court ordered that a temple be set up here. A military fort, named after the place, is called Shenmu Fort.
The geographical location of Shenmu Castle is very important, but the geographical environment is terrible. It is surrounded by mountains, ravines, rocks and thin soil. There is very little land that can be cultivated. Therefore, the food output is extremely low and it is impossible to be self-sufficient. Energy continuously transports food from the outside world to feed the military households stationed here.
During the Hongwu and Yongle periods, the Ming Dynasty's national power was at its peak and the border troops were well supplied, so there was no problem.
However, with the passage of time, the rule of the Ming Dynasty gradually decayed, the national strength became less and less, and the supply of the border army became less and less. It was somewhat difficult to support such a military fortress, and as the border defense situation changed, Shenmu Fort Its military value is no longer as important as before.
Therefore, in order to save border defense expenses, in the 33rd year of Jiajing period, the imperial court ordered the Shenmu Fort to be abandoned, and all the military households in the fort were moved away, leaving only an empty fortress, exposed to wind, rain, snow, humiliation and frost.
Unexpectedly, more than sixty years later, the Shenmu Castle, which had been dormant for a long time, suddenly became lively again, and it was Qin Feng who gave it a second spring of life!
After leaving Yulin City, Qin Feng took Mouzi, Dong Tianbao and others to the Yulin Right Guards-Wei Command Post, and then used the token from the Trilateral Governor's Mansion to recruit a thousand soldiers and some supplies to start the attack on Shenmu Fort. Extensive renovations...
At the same time, Qin Feng sent out twenty-seven invitations in the name of the Trilateral Governor's Office.
Half a month later, all the guests who had received the invitations came to Shenmu Castle, and Qin Feng personally greeted them.
"Shopkeeper Wang, please come inside!"
"Shopkeeper Song, please come inside!"
…
"Jin Yu, you're here too. Please come inside and sit next to me later."
There were a total of twenty-seven guests, all of whom were big businessmen in the Suide area, and all of them were worth a lot of money.
The female young master, Xue Jinyu, was also among them. She was still dressed in men's clothes, her face was still as beautiful, and she looked a little more calm when she raised her hands and feet.
It seems that the last time her father was poisoned had a great mental stimulation on her. It is said that chewing is painful and can make a man mature quickly. Now it seems that this sentence also applies to women.
The house in the Shenmu Castle had not been built yet, so a large tent had to be set up in the open space. The inside was cleaned very clean, and tables, chairs and benches had been placed.
Next, Qin Feng sat in the middle, Xue Jinyu sat sideways to accompany him, and the other merchants sat on both sides... Some soldiers served sumptuous dishes, most of which were game, all hunted from the nearby mountains.
"Everyone has come a long way and thanked you for your hard work. Come and have a drink!"
"cheers!"
…
After the banquet began, Qin Feng frequently raised his glass and toasted, chatting and laughing with the big businessmen, and the atmosphere was very harmonious.
Of course, harmony is just a superficial phenomenon, everyone has their own plans secretly!
All the businessmen already knew that Qin Feng was the governor-general of the three sides - the military officer next to Yang He. This time he invited the big man here in the name of the governor-general's palace, it must be to borrow money.
If it were anyone else, the merchants would definitely not lend it. They would suffer too much from the government, and all the money they borrowed would be wasted. This is a profound lesson.
But Qin Feng is different. He is a great benefactor of Suide City, and even more so a great benefactor of the merchants here. When the benefactor speaks, he must give some face.
Therefore, on the way here, a group of businessmen secretly discussed that they could lend 200,000 taels of silver to the Governor's Mansion. It doesn't matter if they don't pay it back in the future. They would regard it as repaying Qin Feng's kindness.
But there is one thing that the businessmen can't understand!
The matter of borrowing money is not a trivial matter. Why not discuss it in Guyuan City or Yulin City instead of coming to this barren mountain?
Enough chatter, let’s get back to the main story!
After eating and drinking, I took away the leftovers and drank a cup of after-dinner tea. It was time to get down to business.
"You are all smart people, so Mr. Qin will not pretend to be mysterious. Let's get straight to the point. Now there is a severe drought in the northwest and bandits are everywhere. They are attacking cities and plundering land everywhere. The situation has become a mess. In order to calm down the chaos, the Governor decided to implement the policy of appeasement. Policy, as long as the rogues are willing to put down their swords and guns, let the past be forgotten!
Then again, if you want the bandits to put down their swords and guns obediently, you have to let them have food to eat, clothes to wear, fields to farm, and houses to live in... This requires a lot of money. I invite you here today. , is to discuss a major matter - doing business! "
"Doing business?"
A group of businessmen looked at each other. They thought they were borrowing money, but how did it turn into doing business?
Besides, Qin Feng is a soldier and not a businessman. How can he do business with big guys? Does Qin Feng want to change his career?
At the moment of doubt, a group of soldiers came in, carrying several large baskets filled with dark and shiny coals with some moist soil on them, as if they had just been dug out of the ground.
What does it mean?
"Brother Feng, you mean that there is a coal mine in Shenmu, and you want to discuss this business with the big guy?"
Xue Jinyu was really smart and guessed the answer right away.
Qin Feng nodded approvingly.
The world only knows that the land in the northwest is barren, droughty and rainless, so food production has always been very low. It is far from being compared with the land of plenty like the south of the Yangtze River, and is regarded as a bitter and cold place!
The world doesn't know that the northwest area is actually very rich, but the 'wealth' has not been discovered, that is, the rich underground minerals, reserves of gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, mineral salt, jade, oil... They are all very large, among which coal mines have the largest number.
Qin Feng is not a geography major, so he is not very clear about the specific distribution of minerals. However, Qin Feng knows one thing. There must be coal mines in Shenmu.
Because in a few hundred years, there will be a well-known giant coal mine here, ranking first among the top ten coal mines in China. Not only does it have an amazing reserve, but the coal ore is of good quality, shallowly buried, and easy to mine. In some places, it can even be directly mined. Open pit mining.
With such a huge resource in front of us, if we don’t know how to make good use of it, we would be really stupid!
"Haha, yes, there is indeed a coal mine in this place, and it is a big coal mine. If you have any doubts, you can come with me and have a look, and you will understand everything." As he spoke, Qin Feng led everyone out of the Shenmu Castle. , walked towards a nearby mountain peak, and soon arrived at the foot of the mountain.
There is a hole here, about eight feet in diameter, which leads diagonally deep underground. For safety reasons, a large number of log shelves are supported in the hole, the thinnest of which are as thick as an adult's thigh, to ensure that they will not collapse.
Soldiers kept coming in and out, carrying out baskets of newly dug coal ore, which piled up into a hill nearby, and the person in charge was Mouse's father, Wang Banshan!
The Wang family have been natives for generations. They are proficient in the art of "dividing gold and fixing holes". They can see the trend of mountains and changes in terrain at a glance... Since you can rob tombs, you can also look for minerals. The two are originally connected, but they are just the same. Just an evil thing.
So, Qin Feng sent two soldiers back to the Seven Kills Fort, invited Wang Bishan, and asked him to be responsible for searching for coal mines. In order to speed up the search, he was also equipped with an artifact - Luoyang Shovel. !
The Luoyang shovel consists of a semicircular shovel head and multiple iron pipes. After being connected together, it can bring out the soil deep underground to check the situation. Coupled with the technique of 'dividing gold and fixing acupoints', Wang moved Shan quickly found dozens of mining sites and led his men to successfully dig a mine, which produced thousands of kilograms of coal every day, and the output was still increasing.
"Coal mine, it's really a coal mine. I didn't expect that there is such a good thing in these barren mountains and mountains!"
"Haha, if you are interested, you can go down and take a look for yourself. Don't worry, it's only a few feet deep. It's a diagonal hole, and it's reinforced with logs inside. There's no danger!"
"Okay, go down and take a look, seeing is believing!"
For businessmen, as long as it is profitable, they would dare to go to the Palace of Hell, let alone coal mines.
More than 20 big businessmen took turns going down to the coal mine to take a look. When they came up, everyone was smiling and their eyes were filled with golden light!
As early as the Han Dynasty, Chinese people began to use coal as fuel.
In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, mining technology was further improved, and coal wells more than eight feet deep could be dug, allowing more than a hundred people to work at the same time.
…
In the Yuan and Ming dynasties, the use of coal became more common. Not only among the people, but also in royal palaces and palaces, coal was used for heating.
For example, the eight major Shanxi merchants own a large number of coal mines in Shanxi and earn a lot of profits every year, which makes the Qin merchants jealous, but there is nothing they can do about it. Now, a large coal mine has been discovered in the Shenmu area. From now on, the Qin merchants will We can also make a lot of money.
Next, Qin Feng led a group of businessmen to inspect other mining sites, and then climbed up a hillside to observe the surrounding mountains and terrain: how to mine, how to build roads, how to transport, how to sell... everything Detailed planning was carried out, and the businessmen who listened were excited and full of beautiful longings for the future.
Next, the group returned to Shenmu Castle and started the most important issue, which was how to distribute these coal mines?
Qin Feng took out a map of mountains and rivers, which was densely covered with red dots. Each red dot represented a coal mine point, a total of eighty-six places.
If you want to dig coal, if you want to make money, then contract these coal mines. You are fair and honest, and the price is fair. One coal mine costs 5,000 taels of silver, and the contract period is fifteen years!
