How can I bow my head and serve the powerful officials?

"I heard that this black gold grows in clusters! If there is black gold underground in Qiantai Mountain, there must be black gold under the nearby mountains as well!"

Upon hearing the news, the bandits excitedly picked up their chisels and began to dig their own hilltops.

If there is also black gold under their mountain, then wouldn't they also make a fortune? !

But after digging for a while, they found that digging was a time-consuming and laborious job. With their manpower, they didn't know how long it would take to find black gold.

So, they turned their attention to the common people.

They captured able-bodied men from nearby villages and threatened them with force to stay and dig the mountain. When the number of captured able-bodied men began to exceed the number of bandits and they could no longer control the situation, they selected some smart and strong men from among them and hired them as coal mining supervisors with money or food, and then continued to capture able-bodied men from other villages to dig the mountain.

As it turned out, someone actually dug out coal from underground and sent it to the county town to sell. Lots of people were willing to buy it at high prices, and the money they got was hot. It was much faster to make money than robbery, and they didn't have to risk their lives!

Having tasted the sweetness of success, the bandits began to set their sights on other hills.

Now, whoever can discover Coal Hill first is equivalent to having absolute development rights. Of course, you also have to be able to defend Coal Hill, otherwise the principle of holding a treasure will come and give you a hammer to wake you up.

The clever bandits counted the silver and money in their hands and began to think that the captured men could no longer be sent to dig coal, but had to be recruited into their own mountain defense team to guard the coal mines.

Then who will mine the coal?

The bandits set their sights on women again.

The women of Liaozhou were tough and strong, and they were good enough to be used in coal mining. However, the women were generally of higher status here, and their men would definitely not agree to kidnap them to work for free. If they were forced to resist, the bandits would suffer.

Fortunately, the labor cost in Liaozhou was very cheap. In order to make more money, the bandits no longer cared about this little money and began to pay women in the village to dig coal.

It was winter, and everyone was in the off-farm season with nothing to do. Since coal mining could make money, the women were naturally willing to go out and earn some money to prepare for a good meal during the New Year and to buy new clothes for their family.

Besides, coal is a good thing. When you have spare money, you can buy some coal and burn it at home for heating. Then this winter will not be so difficult to endure!

As a result, more and more people started digging on the hills. Some smart people even dug out coal seams under their own homes, which made others jealous.

Gradually, coal mines were dug out on many hills.

They all kept the news to themselves and were unwilling to let anyone know. In order to avoid being targeted by other bandits, they even paid hush money, and the hired workers kept their mouths shut in order to keep their jobs.

However, the news still spread. If coal was discovered on a hill, other hills would know about it the next day.

As for how the news spread?

Because brothers from Qianjinzhai have infiltrated every hill.

They disguised themselves as ordinary people and successfully joined the mountain protection army with their tall and advantageous stature. They monitored the situation on each mountaintop, and as soon as they found a coal seam being dug out, they would immediately report the news to Qiantai Mountain.

In other words, Xie Chengze now controls the locations of all coal mines.

He just opened his mouth and effortlessly made the bandits rack their brains and spend their efforts to set up a coal mining team that could function normally. He mobilized more and more people to know about coal and work for it, laying a solid foundation for the future development of coal in Liaozhou!

Ah! What a perfect workforce!

They are not afraid of losing their conscience when taking advantage of others!

Xie Chengze, in a cheerful mood, was playing with a secret letter in his hand nonchalantly. That was the power to execute first and report later that he had requested from Emperor Jian over an urgent journey of 800 miles.

"Alas..." He looked up at the sky and sighed, "I have a son like him who is so worry-free. Every time he wakes up in the middle of the night, he has to kowtow three times towards the north and say: You are my father, you are my real father!"

By now, he had almost squandered the money he had earned from buying coal at high prices. The one hundred cavalrymen and three hundred family soldiers from the capital had arrived in Liaozhou, and the county magistrates from all over the country had also been bribed and extorted.

All is ready except for the opportunity.

The beautiful and noble Second Prince sat cross-legged on the top of Qiantai Mountain, a sinister and treacherous smile slowly rising from the corner of his lips.

"It's time to close the net, my lovely and charming slave darlings."

A national law came into being out of nowhere.

[The land is owned by the imperial court, and all coal mines discovered are under the control of the imperial court. Anyone who mines coal privately will be killed without mercy.

However, if they are willing to serve the court, they can temporarily take charge of the coal mining rights. The leader can hand over 100 shi of coal to the local government, and then they can redeem their sins with merit, be rewarded with military registration, build their own standing army, enjoy the monthly salary of the court, and obey the orders of the court. 】

As soon as this method was used, the bandits started cursing their fathers.

"Isn't the imperial court too shameless? They spent my time and money digging coal, and in the end, it opened its mouth and turned it into a coal mountain for the imperial court?"

"This is too immoral! In order to find people to dig the mountain, I went to the next county to ask for help, and even provided them with houses, land and shops. I was about to start making a lot of money, but in the end, the imperial court took advantage of it?"

"Boss! These officials are too treacherous. They are forcing us to death!"

The bandits who dug out the coal mine were so angry that their faces turned red. They secretly wondered which wicked and shameless official had played them around!

Some people calmed down and began to analyze the content of the national law.

"It's not certain death. Isn't it possible to become an official? If the boss can become the leader of a standing army, and then take us with him as soldiers, hey, wouldn't that be more impressive than being a bandit?"

"Indeed! It's better than being beheaded!"

"I don't think so. Being a soldier only earns a few coins. It's not as free and refreshing as being a bandit! Besides, you know how many yamen runners and soldiers there are in Black Tiger City. Are you trying to surround us? You probably just want to scare us!" said a bandit disdainfully.

The bandit who said this was soon slapped in the face.

The bandits in one village clearly thought so, and shouted directly to the government: "I own this mountain, and I own these trees. If you want to take the coal away, you'll have to pay with your life!"

That night, three hundred soldiers climbed up the mountain in the dark and directly massacred the arrogant and conceited village. A river of bright red blood flowed across the entire mountain, and the compacted snow melted, showing how tragic and magnificent that night was.

Beat the mountain to scare the tiger; kill the chicken to frighten the monkey.

The howling bandits suddenly became quiet.

As long as they are alive, they will not be afraid of running out of coal. The government only said that they should hand over 100 shi of coal, but did not say when to hand it over. So they could delay the time and sell the coal secretly while digging. In this way, the coal mine still belongs to them.

As for whether anyone will buy it?

There will always be people who are willing to take risks. The bandits know very well the character of those county magistrates. As long as they pay enough money, they are not afraid that the county magistrates will not give them leniency.

The bandits had beautiful thoughts, but they didn't know that this was just the bait deliberately scattered by some villain, waiting for them to take advantage of it!