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

Chapter 65 Preparations
Lu Xiangsheng left, but Yang Menglong left a thousand men, all of whom were young and strong fighters. As long as they were trained properly, these thousand men would definitely become a quite powerful army.But he doesn't have this time now, he is busy strengthening the city defense, treating the wounded, burying the corpses, he is too busy.

After this battle, the Ming army suffered heavy casualties, more than 2000 people, and nearly a thousand wounded. The doctors in the city were too busy to even take care of drinking water, and they still couldn't take care of them.Due to the lack of medicine and effective medical treatment, many wounded died one after another, especially those who were shot by arrows. The sharp arrows used by Jiannu were soaked in feces. Even if the people who were shot did not die on the spot, their wounds would soon be infected. , with the medical technology at that time, once the wound was infected, the wounded person was almost sentenced to death. There is no penicillin these days, not even Yunnan Baiyao, and no doctor can do anything.Yang Menglong was helpless and could only watch the wounded die one by one, feeling a sense of frustration spontaneously.

It turns out that the traversers from hundreds of years later are not omnipotent.

Fortunately, Jianu seemed to be terrified of being beaten, and Jianu was not found again for a long time.At the beginning, everyone didn't dare to relax their vigilance, and they still waited until the news came that Jiannu had retreated from several neighboring counties. They didn't know that Jiannu's troops were shrinking to the center of the capital, and they were safe.

All the soldiers and civilians in the county breathed a sigh of relief, seeing the tragic scene of dead bodies all over the neighboring counties, they were all very grateful, and those with a little money even set off firecrackers to celebrate.

During this period of time, Yang Menglong was stuck in the barracks, repeatedly asking the soldiers of the Wuyang Thousand Households Office about the situation in Wuyang County, from the population distribution to the division of various forces, in every detail. It seems that he really cares about the affairs there.The soldiers were very happy to see that he was so caring and tried his best to answer his questions. Zhang Qianhu died, and the Zhang family was completely finished in Wuyang County, but Wuyang Qianhu was still there, so someone had to be the Qianhu. household.They even hope that Yang Menglong will be the Qianhu, because he keeps his promise and dares to act, which is much better than Zhang Qianhu's bastard who can do nothing but make money.From the mouth of the soldiers, Yang Menglong learned that Wuyang County is very poor, with a population of only tens of thousands, and the land is not fertile. In addition to years of drought, many fields cannot be cultivated, and the farmers have fled to other places.The fields under Wuyang Qianhu are not much better. The better military fields are occupied by Zhang Qianhu. The fields cultivated by military households are all the thin fields where wheat grows like dogtail grass. Working hard all year round, I can't even eat enough.There are several iron mines under Zhang Qianhu's name, and they produce a lot of iron ore every year, which brings him huge profits. It is precisely through the money earned from iron mines that Zhang Qianhu has the ability to support more than 100 families. Man.However, military households are not qualified to share the wealth brought by these iron mines. It is not bad if they are not caught in the mines as free laborers.

The life of Wuyang people represents the suffering of Henan people in the late Ming Dynasty.For thousands of years, the Central Plains has always been a battlefield where heroes compete for the throne. Wars one after another have brought huge disasters to the Central Plains. At the end of each dynasty, the Central Plains will always be severely damaged. From the Eighteen Routes of the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty The blood reward of the last Uyghur is without exception.The people struggling in that land may not know that the haze of doomsday has enveloped the Central Plains. In the next ten years, drought, locust plagues, military disasters, and plagues will follow one after another, driving them to a desperate situation.

Yang Menglong didn't think that far, he just wanted to find out the situation in Wuyang County, so that his eyes would not be darkened when he got there.The situation in Wuyang County is neither good nor bad. There are few people, and naturally there is little influence. The best thing is that no one knows that there is a big salt mine there that can feed hundreds of millions of people for hundreds of years and thousands of years. It is difficult not to make a fortune by digging out the underground salt mines.However, it is not easy to mine salt mines. The burial depth of salt mines is generally more than 2000 meters. The burial depth of Wuyang Salt Mine is relatively shallow, but it is also close to 500 meters. With the technical conditions of the Ming Dynasty, it is simply a task to dig so deep. impossible things.Fortunately, his ancestors left him enough wisdom and wealth. In Zigong, Sichuan, the workers of the salt well dug a salt well more than 1000 meters deep with simple tools, and there was still room to deepen it. Therefore, the Wuyang Salt Mine was exploited. Although it is difficult, it is not impossible. If it is not possible, there is iron ore there, which is also very valuable. Can a living person be suffocated to death by urine?
After clarifying the situation, Yang Menglong began to plan ahead and make advance preparations.

If you want to mine salt mines, you must know how to dig mines. You don't need to know everything, at least you must know it well, and don't let the craftsmen play around like fools.He ransacked Fang Yizhi's collection of books and found ancient scientists who were frantically searching for information about mining.To his disappointment, there were many scientific works in ancient China, but agricultural books accounted for the vast majority, and others were mostly about arithmetic and medical skills, and there were relatively few about mining.This is also related to the national conditions in ancient China. China has been a large agricultural country since ancient times. Food is the most important thing for the people. If the people have no food to eat, the entire empire will be ruined. As long as the emperor is not too stupid, he dare not underestimate agriculture.In ancient times, the vast majority of scientific research revolved around agriculture, even astronomy was no exception.Every dynasty will gather the most outstanding astronomical talents to set up Qin Tianjian, study astronomy and geography, and compile almanacs. The almanacs used by the ancient people are much richer than the current ones. For knowledge related to agriculture, ordinary people just follow the almanac.Compiling such an almanac is very costly and time-consuming, and the imperial court usually distributes almanacs to the common people for free or at a very low price. If it is not issued in a year, the common people will feel dissatisfied and think that the emperor is not good. Even agriculture is no longer taken seriously.Because of this, ancient China’s agriculture was very developed. Barley, wheat, buckwheat, rice, millet, corn, red beans, black beans, soybeans, and mung beans were grown with great joy. The population is the largest in the world. Correspondingly, the culture is rich and colorful, scientific research The number of achievements was also beyond the reach of the whole world before the Qing Dynasty.There is no way, say a thousand words and ten thousand. The stability and prosperity of a country are all based on the fact that the people can eat enough. This is a prerequisite. was overturned.Agriculture has always been in the first place, and it is the most important thing related to the survival of the empire. Its position is unshakable.Relatively speaking, in terms of mining, the imperial court did not pay enough attention to it. Although the metallurgy industry in ancient China was also developed, and the Bingjia coins were well-made, far surpassing others, the attention was far from enough.Especially in the Ming Dynasty, civil officials believed that a large number of aggressive miners Xiaoju mines were completely powder kegs that could be fired at one point. Based on the principle that more things are worse than less things, they vigorously opposed wanton mining.The most important minerals for the rulers of the empire have always been gold, silver, copper, and iron. There has been no systematic research on the mining industry, so there is relatively little information about mining.

With so little information to be found, Yang Menglong endured it. What made him unbearable the most was the obscure and profound classical Chinese. He saw that he was one head and two big, and he often couldn't understand those short six or seven characters after pondering for a long time. The true meaning expressed deeply understands how important it is for a traveler to learn ancient Chinese well.He looked at the lines of vigorous and powerful calligraphy on the yellowed paper, his eyes were straightened, and he persisted for a few days, and finally couldn't hold it anymore, and let out a scream of collapse: "Mom, I know I was wrong... I want to Go home! I'm going to study! I'm going to study Chinese culture!!!"

I used to be distracted when learning classical Chinese in Chinese class, but now I finally understand the importance of classical Chinese, unfortunately it is too late.Little General Yang had no choice but to ask Xiao Yufang for advice with a pair of panda eyes.She is a talented woman, these damn classical Chinese can't help her.

It's a pity that a talented woman is only a talented woman after all, not a miner. She knows every word above, and she can understand every sentence, but she doesn't know the specific meaning.Xiao Yufang also felt a headache after tossing around for a long time, so she frowned and asked, "It's nothing, why are you thinking about these things?"

Yang Menglong said: "I want to open mines! I want to mine salt mines! The salt mines are not easy to find, and you have to dig four or five hundred feet down. If I don't understand these things, I'm a fart."

Xiao Yufang couldn't close her mouth: "Dig four or five hundred feet deep? My God, this is simply impossible!"

Yang Menglong gritted his teeth: "It's definitely possible! The Zigong salt wells have been drilled so deep, why can't I do it!" He shook his fist vigorously and said, "Don't say that those salt mines are hidden underground at a depth of four to five hundred feet. Even if it is hidden in the eighteen layers of hell, I will dig it out!"

It seems that he has made up his mind after eating the weighing mound.Xiao Yufang had no choice but to give him some advice: "I don't understand these things either. I suggest you go to a craftsman with experience in this field, or simply go to Zigong Salt Well to have a look. Maybe you will gain something!"

Yang Menglong froze for a moment, patted the back of his head, and smiled openly: "Yes, why didn't I think of such a simple solution? Haha, why bother me, just go to Zigong to dig a group of craftsmen and come here, and all problems will be solved ? Haha, I’m so smart, woo ho——” With a swish of his big hand, he threw all the information he had collected so hard, and rushed out in a gust of wind. Even strangers could hear his cheers. General Yang is in a very good mood now, very happy!
Xiao Yufang looked at the materials scattered all over the floor, pursed her lips, shook her head, picked up the materials one by one, arranged them on the table, and pressed them with something to prevent them from being blown away.That big horse monkey, when will he change his frizzy temper.

(End of this chapter)