Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 190 Start of Salt Mining

"My lord, my lord, I have seen you!"

A long way away, Mr. Feng Shui, whom he had not seen for half a year, burst into kelp tears and rushed over to him crying. He looked miserable, as if he had been greatly wronged. Yang Menglong rolled his eyes, should he? Was he crying so sadly because he was kidnapped by bandits on the way?No matter what, Mr. Feng Shui rushed in front of him, hugged his legs and cried loudly, unable to shake him off.Yang Menglong had no choice but to say: "Okay, okay, I know you have worked hard, get up quickly, there are so many people watching, do you have the nerve to cry?"

Mr. Feng Shui cried even more sadly: "My lord... I almost lost sight of you..."

Yang Menglong sighed: "I will reward you with an extra 20 taels of silver, so that you can replenish your body."

Mr. Feng Shui cried until his vocal cords were torn apart: "My lord... this time, I have completely eaten through the hardships of the next life, the next life..."

Yang Menglong said: "Then I'll pick a house for you in the Thousand Households Office, give you a piece of land, and let you settle here, how about it?"

Mr. Feng Shui's crying stopped abruptly, he jumped up at the speed of light, and raised his palms: "A word from a gentleman——"

Yang Menglong slapped him in the face: "Hurry up and whip your horse!"

The large group of unkempt and strong people in the back seemed to have their jaws almost dislocated. Such live treasures are really rare. Mr. Feng Shui's performance made them deeply understand what it means for a crying child to have milk!

After receiving the reward, Mr. Feng Shui was overjoyed, pointed to the group of strong men and said to Yang Menglong: "My lord, let me introduce you. These men are Zigong salt workers. They are all from a family of salt workers. They have been dealing with well salt since they were young." , I am very familiar with how to mine salt and how to make salt!" Pulling a middle-aged man in his forties over, "This is the foreman of this salt worker, surnamed Yang Mingchen, who has been working since he was 13 years old." I started working as a salt worker and have been doing it for 30 years now!"

Yang Menglong grabbed Yang Chen's hand before bowing down, and said enthusiastically, "Your surname is Yang, right? My surname is also Yang. We were one family 500 years ago!"

Yang Chen said with a thick Sichuan accent: "The villain has heard Mr. Jin talk about Mr. Yang's deeds for a long time, and he admires Mr. Yang's actions and character very much! Apart from mining salt and making salt, the villain and his brothers also I don’t understand anything, because my strength is too weak, I have struggled in Zigong for more than ten years, but I still can’t gain a foothold in the end, so I have to come here and go to my lord, please give me a meal!”

Yang Menglong smiled and said: "It's easy to say, easy to say! You are right to come to Wuyang. We have a big salt mine here. Even if you mine the salt at the end of the world, you won't be able to mine it all... You have traveled for so long. You must be exhausted, right? Stop standing here, go, go into the guard, I will let you arrange for you to eat and drink!"

The salt workers seemed a little unhappy when they heard that they were going to enter the health center.They didn't have a good impression of the guardhouse. It was messy and dirty, just like the headquarters of the Beggar Clan. It would bring bad luck if you came near it. Who would be willing to go in?However, we have already arrived at someone else’s territory. It seems unreasonable not to go in, so we might as well just follow along!But when they entered, they were surprised to find that the streets in the health center were so clean and tidy, with many shops and everyone was neatly dressed. The faces, hands and feet of the children running around in the streets and alleys were also clean. Clean... Where is this health center?It is clearly a city that is constantly expanding!Yang Chen asked in surprise: "How could it be like this? Where are the officers and soldiers?"

Yang Menglong curled his lips: "There are no more officers and soldiers. They are only responsible for farming and maintaining law and order now, not for fighting. As far as their virtues are concerned, if I take them to fight, I'm afraid I will be arrested before the enemy's shadow is seen. They're so pissed off!"

Yang Chen asked: "Then who will fight?"

Yang Menglong said: "I have to leave it to professional people to do the fighting! The barracks have long since moved out of the guard, and it is several miles away from here. What if the soldiers continue to be stationed in the guard? One month If you don't, you'll all be bastards!"

Seeing the endless stream of merchants, Yang Chen nodded secretly.There is so much life here, so much to do!When he learned that Wuyang Guard actually had 10,000+ stones of food, he almost lost his temper. My mother, how long will it take to eat so much food?It seems that it is the right time to come to Henan with Mr. Feng Shui. Even if there are no salt mines, you can still survive by finding a job here.

Wuyang Qianhu Station has become the center of Wuyang Guard, so housing is naturally quite tight. Yang Menglong spent a lot of effort to barely free up a few houses to let the salt workers live in first.In order to entertain the salt workers, he personally ordered them to cook boiled fish with the fish fished from the river. He also peeled a basket of radishes, cut back ten kilograms of beef, and made a pot of radish and beef stew.Of course, he will never forget to use chili peppers. This stuff was also introduced to China along with Western missionaries and is grown sporadically in various places. However, because it is too spicy, not many people dare to eat it.This idiot was so bored that he planted an acre of it. When he asked people to fry the dried chili peppers and grind them into powder, most of the people in the Qianhufu were suffering from the smoke, and their coughs were loud.Don’t Sichuan people like spicy food very much?It was a rare opportunity, and of course he would not miss it. Whether it was beef stew with radish or boiled fish, a large packet of chili powder was added to it, so that the soup was red and covered with a thick layer of chili oil.Xiao Yufang asked worriedly: "Do they dare to eat such food?"

Yang Menglong said: "Don't worry, I guarantee they will swallow all their tongues!" After that, he took it up.Those salt workers probably hadn’t seen meat in a few days, so of course they wouldn’t let it go when they saw such delicious food. They picked it up and stuffed it into their mouths, and then————

"Wow!!!"

"Cough cough cough..."

"What the hell, it's so spicy!"

"Damn it, my throat is on fire... no, my stomach is on fire too!"

There were screams at the dining table one after another, and the salt workers turned on their backs, their tongues stretched out, they kept panting, coughed into a bow after eating, and even tears came out.Yang Chen was also coughing, and the cough was so severe that he could hardly breathe.Yang Menglong was stunned, right? Sichuan people, who are known as "hot girls are not afraid of spicy food and most afraid of not being spicy", actually let these two classic Sichuan dishes be treated so miserably?This is too surprising, right?

Yang Chen took a breath of relief after drinking three glasses of water in a row, and asked pantingly, "My lord, what kind of condiment did you add to the dish? It almost killed me!"

Yang Menglong said: "Chilli! I heard that Sichuan people like spicy food very much, so I added a little more..."

Yang Chen roared angrily: "Which bastard made up this rumor! We're not out of our minds, who would like to eat this stuff!"

Yang Menglong looked at Yang Chen's face that was as red as Guan Gong, and was taken aback for a moment, then realized that he had made another low-level mistake... Chili peppers had not been introduced to Sichuan in this era, and people from Sichuan, Hubei, and Hunan were right The ability to resist spicy food is naturally scumbag, and the "spicy girl" will not be born until another century.He laughed dryly and said, "Mistake, mistake, I made a mistake!"

Yang Chen stared at the delicious food on the table, swallowed, hesitantly picked up a piece of beef and put it into his mouth, chewing and said: "Not to mention, the beef with this Laoshizi pepper seems to taste different... Damn, water! Give me water!" Before he could taste the difference in taste, his mouth was on fire again.

The salt workers are also like birds, eating and drinking water, screaming so spicy, the meal is quite painful.

I have to mention that Sichuan people seem to be born with chili. Although the first time they ate it, they were overwhelmed by the spiciness, but they quickly fell in love with the taste. After a month, they could not live without chili!

After a few days, the salt workers have recovered.Yang Menglong took them to Mazhai Township, pointed to the land under their feet, and said in a very sure tone: "The salt mine I mentioned is here!"

The salt workers looked left and right, looked up and down, and saw green wheat seedlings and alfalfa seedlings growing in stretches of wheat fields in the fields of Mazhai Township. look!Where there are salt mines, the land is so alkaline that even grass cannot grow. Here...

Yang Menglong stomped the ground: "Down here! This salt mine is hidden very deep, and you have to drill all the way down, three or four hundred feet to find it."

Qian Chen gasped: "Three... three or four hundred feet!?"

Yang Menglong said: "Yes, if you drill down three or four hundred feet, you will encounter a thick layer of salt, and then the salty brine will gushe out from it, bringing us white flowers. Silver! Why, don’t you have the confidence to drill so deep?”

Yang Chen smiled wryly: "My lord, do you know how long it takes to dig a salt well three or four hundred feet deep?"

Yang Menglong asked: "How long?"

Yang Chen said: "It can take as little as a few years, or as long as more than ten years!"

Yang Menglong rubbed his palms and said, "That...it's okay, anyway, I don't expect to see fontanel water in three or two years, as long as you don't be lazy." Pointing to a piece of wasteland: "Let's start from that piece of land Let's start, I will cover your monthly board and lodging, and your monthly salary is two taels of silver per month, how about it?"

Yang Chen was still not sure: "My lord, do you really want to collect salt here?"

Yang Menglong scolded angrily: "Nonsense, I don't collect salt here, why should I bring you here? Are you free?"

Yang Chen had no choice but to say, "The villain had no choice but to obey... I wonder how many salt wells my lord plans to dig?"

Yang Menglong said: "Ten hits, ten hits first, you have the final say on where to hit, you have more experience than me."

The matter of mining salt was settled in this way. Yang Menglong provided money and equipment, and the salt workers dug a salt well for him. There were many rewards for digging a salt well.After signing the contract, Yang Menglong was overjoyed, as if he had seen extremely high-concentration brine bubbling out from the ground, and mountains of salt beckoning to him... He cheered loudly: "Lovely salt mine, I love you!" Coming!"

He soon discovered that the salt mine wasn't cute anymore.

In the four years of Chongzhen, the salt workers dug out nothing except mountains of soil and stones.

In the fifth year of Chongzhen, the salt workers dug out a lot of soil and stones.

In the sixth year of Chongzhen, the salt workers dug out a lot of stones and soil.

In the seventh year of Chongzhen, the salt workers dug out a lot of soil and stones.

……

(End of this chapter)