Fenghou

Wu Hongwei was stunned, "Of course the humble job refers to Dangchuan County, doesn't the Jiedushi know?"

Chen Qing shook his head. At this moment, he already understood that the Xixia reinforcements had changed their strategy after failing to support Didao. They must have gone to take over Yingchuan County's silver mine. Yang Zaixing's army might be in danger.

Chen Qing pondered for a moment, and he really said to his soldiers: "Quickly pass on my order, immediately assemble three thousand cavalry!"

A quarter of an hour later, Chen Qing personally led [-] cavalry to leave Didao County, and rushed towards Dangchuan County along the Xinguan Road.

Chapter 437 Silver Mine

Dangchuan County is located in a mountainous area, and its status in Lintao Prefecture is almost negligible. Its existence is only a small county specially established for the need to accommodate the family members of the army. With the disappearance of the Song Army in Lintao Prefecture, a large number of people in Dangchuan County also left. Go, there are only a few hundred families left, with a population of 3000.

The reason why Dangchuan County became the focus of attention of the Song and Xia armies was because of a large silver mine thirty miles away in the northwest of Dangchuan County. Of course, it was not called a silver mine before, but a lead mine in Dangchuan County. All the local people thought it was a lead mine.

It wasn't until the Xixia people took over the mine and resumed mining and smelting that news gradually spread that it was not a lead mine, but a silver mine.

At present, silver mines have been mined for nearly 20 years. Before that, due to lack of manpower, the output has not been large. In the past two years, due to the one-time transfer of 20 mining slaves from Xixia by the Xixia Army, the output of silver ore has increased suddenly, from an annual output of [-] taels. Silver has produced tens of thousands of catties of crude silver annually.

Although the mine is far away from the county seat, its population is much larger than that of the county seat. Seven thousand mine slaves and thousands of family members live in endless shacks around the mine.

Mining slaves come from complicated sources. Some are captured soldiers of the Song Army, some are captured slaves of Song Dynasty Han people, and many are Qiang and Tubo people. They were originally slaves in the salt mines. Transferred to Dangchuan County.

Of the 7000 people, 6000 worked in the mines and the other 1000 were smelters, responsible for smelting ores.

When the Xixia people occupied the mine, they discovered a large amount of ore mined by the Song army, without smelting. These ores were cheap for the Xixia people. The Xixia people were overjoyed. jin of crude silver, plus the ore they mined by themselves, in just over a year, the Xixia people's crude silver inventory exceeded [-] jin.

Not long after the Battle of Gongzhou ended, Cao Baozong sent a thousand camels to Lintao Prefecture to transport back the [-] catties of crude silver stranded in Dangzhou County. Unexpectedly, the camel team had just arrived in Didao County and was about to rest for two days. Entered Lintao Mansion.

The chief general Xia Jin had to send a thousand troops to escort the camel team to Dangzhou County to transport the heavy silver.

The silver mine temporarily stopped mining. At the foot of the mountain, in front of a warehouse made of big stones, wooden boxes were brought out one by one. A thousand camels were transported away.

Chief Steward Ren Zhongqun came out following the last few wooden boxes, and said with a smile, "General Tuoba won't leave without a drink?"

The main guard is called Tuobaji, he is a general, he shoulders the important task of escorting the silver ingots, he is really a little nervous.

Tuobaji shook his head and said: "The Song army has already entered Lintao, so we can't delay for a moment. Let's have a chance in the future!"

Ren Zhongqun squinted his eyes and said with a smile: "That's good! I wish the general a smooth journey."

A thousand Xixia guard cavalry mounted their horses one after another, and dozens of camel slaves finally checked whether the boxes were tightly bound.

At this moment, a low-pitched horn sounded faintly from a distance, and then a soldier on the mountainside shouted: "A cavalry is coming from a distance!"

Tuoba Ji hurriedly put up the curtain and looked into the distance, only to see the yellow dust billowing on the official road in the distance, the dust was flying, and the thunderous sound of horseshoes came from a distance, probably more than ten miles away.

Ren Zhongqun's complexion changed drastically, and he shouted: "General Tuoba, hurry up, I will restrain the opponent!"

Tuobaji was full of hatred and anxiety in his heart, he angrily scolded dozens of camel slaves, "Don't check, let's go!"

The camel slaves set off with the long camel team, and walked quickly along the official road to the north. They kept lashing and whipping the camels to speed up, and a thousand cavalry followed closely on both sides of the camel team.

Tuobaji was extremely anxious, he wished the camel team would gallop, and he didn't know if he could escape the pursuit of the Song army this time.

It was Yang Zaixing's [-] cavalry who came from a distance. Although they were a day behind the opponent, they continued to speed up and catch up with each other.

Yang Zaixing led the army to the mine. He reined in his horse and looked around. From a distance, he saw that there seemed to be an army on the mine, but that army was halfway up the mountain. Where did the camels go?

Yang Zaixing saw that the army was the guardian army of the mine, also a thousand soldiers. They were responsible for supervising the mining and smelting of the miners. The army was timid.

They didn't dare to fight the Song army head-on, so they fled to the halfway up the mountain looming, attracting the attention of the Song army, trying to buy time for the camel transport team.

Yang Zaixing glanced, and saw a dozen barefoot children hiding behind a big rock on the side of the road. Their clothes were torn and dirty, and they were probably children of miners.

Yang Zaixing grabbed a handful of money and asked, "Have you seen a caravan of camels? There are about a thousand camels."

More than a dozen children pointed to the north and shouted: "The camels are going that way, there are so many camels!"

"Follow me!"

Yang Zaixing threw the copper coin to the child, turned around and shouted, the cavalry troop galloped northward and rushed up a low hillside, Yang Zaixing saw a caravan of camels several miles away, each camel was carrying two wooden boxes, A Xixia cavalry of more than a thousand men looked back nervously from time to time.

"Brothers, except camels, no one will be spared!"

When the order was issued, the cavalrymen of the Song Army drew out their sabers and brandished their spears one after another, roaring and chasing and killing the camel team several miles away...

When Tuobaji saw Song Jun chasing him, he raised his knife in despair and shouted: "Brothers, fight Song Jun!"

A thousand Xixia cavalry shouted and quickly formed a formation in the fields on both sides of the official road.

The cavalry of the Song Army arrived in an instant and collided violently with a thousand Xixia cavalry, and the crowd of cavalry from both sides quickly drowned together...

This was a battle without any suspense. Both sides were well-trained, but the Song army had an overwhelming force. In five battles, the Xixia army was completely unable to resist. After less than half an hour, the Xixia army cavalry More than half of them were killed, and the remaining [-] soldiers turned their horses and ran away.

They passed by the camel team like a gust of wind, but they didn't stop, they ran away and quickly ran away.

Yang Zaixing stopped the army from chasing with a wave of his hand, and the army immediately took control of the camel team.

"Open the box and have a look!" Yang Zaixing ordered the soldiers.

The soldiers unloaded more than a dozen wooden boxes and pried open the first box. Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay. Inside was a heavy stone slab, rough in texture, but everyone could recognize it as a piece of rock on the mountain.

Yang Zaixing was taken aback, and said urgently: "Open the box again, they opened more than 300 wooden boxes in a row, all of which were stone slabs, without exception."

"General, it couldn't be that the cavalry just temporarily changed the boxes!"

Yang Zaixing had already calmed down from his fury. If the cavalry had known it was a stone box, they wouldn't have fought desperately with him. They should have been deceived as well.

"Back to the mine!"

Yang Zaixing gave an order, and the soldiers of the Song Army led the camels and turned back to the mine, but the thousand guard soldiers disappeared.

Song Jun searched everywhere, and not long after, he caught a Han man in charge and brought him to Yang Zaixing.

The steward was so frightened that he knelt down and kowtowed and begged for mercy, "General, I'm just a small steward of the warehouse, I haven't done any evil, I beg the general to spare my life!"

"I won't kill you, get up and tell me, where did the army I saw on the mountainside go?"

"The chief steward took them and fled westward."

"Where is Xiangxi going?"

"It's very close to Hezhou. Thirty miles to the west is Hezhou Dingxi City Walled City, and then another [-] miles to Ninghe County. It's just over two mountains."

"Let me ask you again, where did the silver go? Why is there a slate in the box?"

"The villain doesn't know..."

Before he finished speaking, Yang Zaixing's sharp sword was already against his neck, Yang Zaixing said coldly: "If you dare to say that you don't know, I will cut off your head and ask someone else."

Song Jun caught another warehouse steward, and the little steward in front of him collapsed, slumped on the ground and cried, "All the money was taken away by the chief steward Ren, a few months ago, I really don't know where he hid it." where it goes."

Chapter 438 Accident

Yang Zaixing gritted his teeth with hatred, and asked, "Who is this Chief Steward Ren?"

"His full name is Ren Zhongqun. He was sent by Wen Siyuan from Xixia, and he was in charge of smelting gold and silver in Xixia."

"Is he a party member?"

The little steward shook his head quickly, "He is Han, one of the few Han officials in the Western Xia court."

At this time, Yang Zaixing had vaguely understood that this batch of silver should not have been transported to Xixia, otherwise Cao Baozong would not have sent someone to transport the silver, and it must have been embezzled by Ren Zhongqun.

"Where is Wang Lun?"

A commander stepped forward and said: "Humble post!"

"Lead a thousand soldiers to chase westward, don't ride a horse, chase to Dingxi Walled City, if you don't find the enemy, immediately withdraw!"

"Humble post obeys orders!"

Commander Wang Lun chased westward with two thousand soldiers...

Yang Zaixing was really frustrated, his first mission failed, how could he explain to Du Tong when he went back?

But he still had a task ahead of him, and he had to force himself to order the steward to find the leader of the miners.

……

Yang Zaixing used an empty warehouse as the meeting hall. Not long after, more than a dozen mining slave leaders walked into the warehouse. There were Han, Qiang, and Tubo people in the warehouse, almost all of whom were middle-aged.

These people have been miners since they were young, and they have been miners for almost 20 years. They have been infected with diseases, so their life expectancy is not too long, and they are about [-] years old.

It is precisely because they have accepted their fate and stopped fighting that the Xixia people let them be the leaders of the mine slaves and implement self-government management. As long as they don't run away, Xixia people generally don't care about their daily life.

The dozen or so people were very calm, completely devoid of the joy and excitement of being liberated, and there was no difference between attending the discussion as usual.

"Everyone, please sit down!"

More than a dozen people sat down expressionlessly, looking at Yang Zaixing blankly.

"We are not the Xixia army, but the Song army. The Xixia army has already run away. From now on, you will no longer be slaves."

More than a dozen mine slave leaders finally responded. They discussed in low voices for a while, and an older man asked, "Is Song Jun going to let us go back?"

Yang Zaixing heard what he said awkwardly, frowned and said: "Why do you want to go back, aren't you from Song Dynasty?"

"We have nowhere to go in the Song Dynasty, and we still have at least one home in Xixia."

The leader of another miner, who was a little younger, was afraid of angering the Song general, so he quickly explained: "The general doesn't know, we have lived in Xixia for more than 20 years, and we are actually free. We have contacted the family members of the Song Dynasty, but they have disappeared for a long time, and the village has been destroyed, so we decided to spend the rest of our lives in Xixia."

Yang Zaixing nodded, "Okay! I'll give you two choices. The first choice is to let you be free. You can go wherever you want, whether you go back to your hometown in the Song Dynasty or go back to Xixia for the elderly. Everything is up to you. Two options, you stay and continue mining, and change your status from miner slaves to miners."

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, and the leader of the younger miners asked, "Is there any difference between the two?"

"Of course there is a difference. Miners are slaves, and miners are civilians. Miners sign a three-year agreement. You get wages, one hundred yuan a day, and one day off every ten days. If you are sick, you will see a doctor. Your family will move to Guichuan County. You can still read."

"What about food? Although Xixia people don't pay wages, they give us food."

"How much food do the Xixia people give you a day?" Yang Zaixing asked.

"One liter per day for adults, half a liter per child."

"Okay! Even if a family of three, two and a half liters of grain per day, 75 liters a month, less than eight buckets of rice, now thirty yuan for a bucket of rice, and only 240 yuan for eight buckets of rice, and you can earn it in less than three days. Let me tell you, we are in Gongzhou recruits miners to open iron mines, and it only costs [-] yuan a day, which is only half of your wages. You should think about it carefully, do you want money or rice?"

More than a dozen people discussed for a long time, and said one after another: "General, let us go back and tell everyone, let them decide for themselves, whether they want to go or stay?"

"Okay, I'll give you two days to make a decision!"

……

Two days later, Chen Qing led two thousand supporting cavalry to the silver mine, and Yang Zaixing came to plead guilty.

After listening to Yang Zaixing's report, Chen Qing was also speechless for a while. He waved his hands and said, "The contract was dropped a few months ago. This matter has nothing to do with you. How is the situation of the mine?"

"They have been allowed to choose by themselves according to the will of the government. Most of them are willing to stay and be miners. Only a few want to find their families. The humble job gave them a little travel expenses and food, and let them go. There are about four hundred miners. The remaining people are all Qiang and Tubo people, and they can start working tomorrow.”

Chen Qing nodded, turned his thoughts back, and asked, "I believe you are also investigating the situation of Ren Zhongqun these two days. Don't you have any clues?"

"There is one clue. It is the warehouse manager in Didao County. He is a fellow of Ren Zhongqun. He may know the details of this person."

"You mean Li Hua, who is in charge?"

"It's him. I heard that he has been to the mine several times, and Ren Zhongqun warmly entertained him every time."

Li Hua was the warehouse steward who first revealed to Chen Qing that there was [-] catties of crude silver in the silver mine, and now Chen Qing continues to let him be the steward.

Chen Qing frowned. It was this person who told him the news, so he sent Yang Zaixing to the silver mine. In the end, he intercepted two thousand boxes of 'coarse silver' in time. Got it, they had no idea it was two thousand boxes of stones.

Could it be that this Li Hua is from Ren Zhongqun, and he deliberately leaked the news of Yinzi to himself?

Chen Qing was also suspicious, he had to rush back to find this Li Hua as soon as possible.

"What else is there? Didn't you send Wang Lun to lead the army to the Dingxi Walled City? What happened?"

"We couldn't catch up with the retreating army. They should have retreated to Fanghan County, Hezhou."

Chen Qing got up and said: "I came to the silver mine this time because [-] Xixia troops came here from the abandoned official road in the north. I was afraid that you would suffer, so I came to support you, but it was strange. I sent scouts to I searched on the abandoned official road, but didn't see any traces of the Xixia army, I don't know if they walked too slowly, or they got some news."

"Should have gotten the news!"

Yang Zaixing said: "Half of the cavalry guards were wiped out by the humble officials, and the other half ran away. Their route back to Lanzhou had to take a section of the abolished official road that everyone said, and then fled north. They must have encountered this Xixia army, and There are [-] cavalry in the humble position, enough to deal with the [-] Xixia army."

Chen Qing took two steps with his hands behind his back, and his eyes became more puzzled, "This is even more unreasonable. The opponent has seven thousand troops. Even if they don't participate in the robbing of silver, as long as you shoot down a thousand camels with random arrows, your transportation will be huge. The problem is, this is one hundred thousand catties of crude silver, and neither side will give up easily."

"Is it because they are worried that they will turn around and intercept our team on the way?"

Chen Qing shook his head, "I'm worried that the other party just made a feint and never left Didao County at all. Their goal is still Didao County."

"But... Didao County has Niu Gao and Liu Cui, and [-] troops. It shouldn't be so easy for the other party to take back Didao County!"

"That's the way it is said, once the inside and outside cooperate, even if Didao County is kept, there will be heavy casualties."

Chen Qing's worries deepened, and he said to Yang Zaixing: "Although your cavalry is strong, you still can't be careless. I will lead the army back first, and you can wait a few days to make sure there are no Xixia troops before returning. Arrange for the army to take over, and you don't have to worry about it."