Daming Military Empire

Chapter 593
Only a few days after the officials from the Ministry of Industry left, the area under the jurisdiction of the [-] Households has undergone new changes. Several circular "blockhouses" more than ten feet high have been erected beside the small river outside the gathering place, and "blockhouses" "There is still green smoke on the ground, just like a beacon fire is lit.

These round buildings, which are similar to bunkers, are about one foot wide, surrounded by a layer of earth bricks, sealed tightly with mud, and tied round and round with finger-thick hemp ropes, looking like an extra-large No. [-] earthen chimney is average.

Naturally, these are not real bunkers, but brick enclosures made of burnt bricks. The inside is not hollow, but filled with small sun-dried earth bricks, briquettes, fine firewood and hay.

This is the most rustic method of burning bricks in the countryside. It is to build a hollow round bottom that can be filled with firewood, and then put the small clay bricks that are dried to be fired, dried thin briquettes, fine firewood, and hay into a sandwich. In the shape of biscuits, put them up layer by layer. After a layer is placed, large earthen bricks are piled up on the periphery, and tied with hemp rope to prevent collapse, and then continue to place another layer.

At the moment, Luo Zongshan is learning how to arrange sandwich biscuits from a teacher who has experience in firing bricks. The mine deposits in the jurisdiction are over after a short exploration. According to professionals from the Ministry of Industry, places with dense coal mines are basically There would be no more mineral deposits, so Luo Zongshan simply stopped prospecting and started burning red bricks with three hundred strong men.

Regarding the issue of coal mining, Wailang Lu Nanfeng, a member of the Ministry of Industry, also said that they don’t care about small-scale mining. If large-scale mining is to be carried out, all the surveys in the areas under the jurisdiction of each capital must be completed, and the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War will negotiate and coordinate and repair the railway. , otherwise, if you harvest too much, you won't be able to transport it out, and you won't be able to turn it into money. Wouldn't it be a waste of effort.

Luo Zongshan was not in a hurry, since he had nothing to do anyway, he simply took them to burn red bricks. Thousands of families will build red brick houses in the coming year. Squeeze some time out to build a house, everyone is busy, he can't let the three hundred men under him be idle.

It was almost noon that day, and he was fiddling with on the brick fence, when there was a sudden sound of horse hooves in the distance, and more than ten Ming soldiers came from the direction of Bastion No. [-] and went straight to the gathering place of the [-] guards .

Luo Zongshan stood up, put his hand on his forehead, and saw that the leader was Zhang Yue. He quickly jumped down from the brick fence and went to meet him.

He trotted all the way, and finally met Zhang Yue and others at the entrance of the gathering place. There, he built a wooden archway with a sign hanging on it, which read, Xibo Fifth Capital, No.20 Yiwei, No. [-] Zero one thousand households, there are two garrison guards standing guard under the archway.

Zhang Yue and the others didn't seem to intend to drive through the archway and enter the residence of [-] Households, but slowly slowed down and stopped in front of the archway.

Luo Zongshan went up to meet him and said enthusiastically, "Xiaoyue, why are you here?"

Zhang Yue clasped his hands on the horse and said, "Lord Luo, the command envoy, Master Qiao Lieqiao, has arrived and ordered all households to rush to the No. [-] bastion for a meeting tomorrow."

When Luo Zongshan heard the words, he nodded quickly and said, "Okay, I'll be there tomorrow. When will the meeting be held?"

Zhang Yue pulled the rein and said: "The meeting will be held on time at noon tomorrow afternoon. Also, Mr. Ma asked me to tell you that Mr. Qiao should personally give you the reward for finding a large coal mine. You should bring a few more people there."

When Luo Zongshan heard this, he trembled with joy. His final appraisal result was a large coal mine, and the reward was 1 taels of silver!

He was excited, but when he looked up, he found that Zhang Yue had started to turn around, as if he was about to leave, he rushed up quickly, grabbed Zhang Yue's rein, and said: "Hey, hey, Xiao Yue , don't go, it's time for dinner soon, at least have a meal before leaving, I haven't seen you for so many days, let's have a few drinks."

But Zhang Yue cupped his hands and said: "Lord Luo, next time, I have to inform the other Qianhu adults that I want to have dinner with you, and I'm afraid I won't be able to go back at night."

Luo Zongshan had no choice but to give up when he heard the words. He had heard that there were two thousand-household offices that had also moved here on 21, but they were separated by tens of hundreds of miles. He didn't know the exact location, so he didn't visit them. However, This meeting is a good opportunity to get close to them.

Since he wanted to receive a reward of 1 taels, and had to arrive at Bastion No. [-] for a meeting before midnight, Luo Zongshan deliberately selected a hundred strong young men from his group, and they were fully armed the next morning. set off with ten carriages.

This, at any rate, is Bailai No. Tunwei, fully armed and wearing formal attire, looks similar to the regular legion of the Ming army, and it seems a bit nondescript to drive in a carriage, but there is no way, he only has ten war horses in total .

If you don't take a carriage, you can only take nine people with you, and nine people can protect 1 taels of silver. He always feels a little unsafe.

If you walk all the time, you will not be able to reach the place in half a day. If you are late for the first meeting, the consequences will be more serious than losing money.

He had no choice but to set off in a carriage with the people below, so that he could not only bring enough people, but also ensure that he would arrive at Bastion No. [-] before noon.

Naturally, the speed of the carriage cannot be compared with that of war horses. Although they got up early, they still arrived outside the No. [-] bastion around [-]:[-] p.m. The accompanying Tunwei guarded the carriage outside the city, while he brought another hundred households into the city outside the bastion with a handful of bacon each.

He was going to visit Commander Ma Kai first to inquire about the situation, so that he could have a good idea. After all, he had never heard of the new Commander Qiao Lie, so he had no idea who it was.

Logically speaking, a thousand households can be regarded as a senior official of the fifth rank, and a hundred households are the positions of the sixth rank. However, in the Ming Dynasty, especially in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, civil servants were called officials, and military commanders were no more. Gaodu has to listen to the civil officials, especially the thousands and hundreds of households like them in the Tunwei, who have to nod and bow in front of a seventh-rank county magistrate, and can't judge their status by rank at all.

Therefore, civil officials will pay attention to their status. Even a county magistrate of seventh rank will not do rough work by himself. Military generals are different. Like Luo Zongshan, a thousand households of fifth rank and a hundred households of sixth rank are in one hand. Carrying a lot of bacon and walking on the street, no one thinks it is strange, if a county magistrate of Qipin walks on the street carrying a pile of meat, it will definitely cause a sensation!
Bastion No. [-] is the base camp of the Commander of the Fifth Capital of Xibo. Luo Zongshan has come here more than once. Even the guards at the gate of the bastion on the first floor know him. , went straight to Commander Ma Kai's study, not only was no one stopping him, but someone even saluted him.

It made him have to change the meat to his left hand, which was not very strong, and kept returning the salute.

(End of this chapter)