Baiyu River, also known as the Yulong River in Kashgar in later generations, Zhang Zhao took Fanshun, Qiongre Duojin and more than 20 people on horseback, all the way up the river. There was also a team sent by the governor of Donghe Prefecture beside him.
A team of fifty guards.
Zhang Zhao originally saw the large amount of coal used in Khotan City and thought that the coal mine was not far from Donghe Prefecture.
After asking Cui, the governor of Donghe Prefecture, I found out that the coal mine is more than seventy miles away from Donghe Prefecture, and it would take half a day to ride a horse.
Walking, walking, there were more and more boats of various sizes in the Baiyu River, many of which were simply wooden rafts. They were floating on the Yulong River, which was not flowing slowly, and drifted towards Donghe Prefecture with the river water.
It is already winter, and under the biting cold wind, the thinly-clad crew members are shivering on the Yulong River.
Zhang Zhao has no doubt that if these broken boats and rafts capsize, the crew members will be frozen as soon as they enter the water, and they will have no strength to get up.
"Lord Lieutenant, the coal plant has arrived!" The speaker was a short, fat Scythian Khotanese. This was a small rural lord whom the governor of Donghe Prefecture assigned his guards to capture somewhere to lead the way.<
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Zhang Zhao nodded and rode forward. This was a coal plant located in the middle of the mountain. It was quite large. The surrounding trees and sheds were covered with a thick layer of coal ash, and the ground was also covered with a thick layer of coal ash.
Black mud is everywhere.
Everyone Zhang Zhao saw along the way was all black, and some small traders drove their horses to carry coal and passed by him.
There were also some women and children, big and small, who cut off the branches from the branches and made something like a sled, pulling a pile of coal down the mountain.
"Lame horse! Lame horse! The lieutenant of the royal city is here. Have your people gathered together?"
As soon as they entered the mine, the little lord who was found rode forward on his donkey.
The guards shivering with cold at the door saw the bright robes of Zhang Zhao and the others, and knelt on the ground with a loud cheer. The people holding horses and dragging sleds around them also knelt on the ground as if they had just woken up from a dream.
The cold and wet ground covered with ice flowers.
Zhang Zhao did not ask these people to get up. This was the rule of this era. He could only rein in his horse and walk quickly for a few steps, so as to save them from kneeling on the cold ground for a while.
As the name suggests, Lame Horseman has a long horse face and one leg is a bit lame. However, he does not look like a Scythian, but looks like a Han Chinese.
He limped to Zhang Zhao's horse and knelt down, while Zhang Zhao threw a leather bag from his arms, which contained corn wine, a good repellent for the cold.
"As a reward, wipe your nose and find someone quickly. I don't have much time, sir!"
The lame horse raised his head in surprise. He held the leather bag and trembled his lips twice, but said nothing. The short, fat little lord quickly ran over to please him.
"Sir Lieutenant, the lame horse is not Tang'er, he is a Tubo barbarian on the mountain!"
It turns out that the Chinese spoken by Zhang Zhao just now was no wonder Lame Ma couldn’t understand it.
Tubo people! Zhang Zhao nodded. After all, Tubo ruled Khotan for almost seventy or eighty years. It is normal to leave some descendants of Tubo people. Tibetan people, except for Plateau Red, all look similar to Han people.
"Dear Sir! Please give the lame horse some time, the miners will gather soon!"
The lame horse kowtowed to Zhang Zhao, and after getting Zhang Zhao's permission, he limped back with the leather bag.
Under his loud shouts, some foremen-like people with swords on their waists began to disperse around.
After a while, the entire mid-mountain col was like a hornet's nest that had been stabbed. The miners, who were wearing thin clothes and were so dark that they could not identify their race, were driven out from various underground dens and crowded together.
, shivering in the cold wind and kneeling all over the floor.
Zhang Zhao jumped off his horse and bared his teeth as he looked at the miners in front of him. Most of them were pitifully thin and looked frightened.
As soon as Zhang Zhao walked over, they were like frightened little local dogs, squeezing tighter in panic, as if Zhang Zhao was some kind of man-eating beast.
"How many people are here?" Zhang Zhao asked the lame horse that had just limped over in Khotanese.
"Go back to Lieutenant! There are about five hundred people. Last night, I gathered them from the surrounding mines. I will choose three hundred people from here!"
Zhang Zhao smiled softly, thinking that he was a young boy from the King of Khotan!
Although miners have a hard job, they will never look like the timid ones in front of you. Those who are timid are slave workers, not miners.
If he is really so worthless, the shura field of the lowest society can swallow him up directly. It is not an exaggeration to say that this is the cruelest society for workers.
Being shrewd and strong are both neither, and people like these are simply unable to survive.
And although they may not necessarily be very strong, they are definitely lean and powerful. But in front of them, most people's vitality is almost drained.
Such people are not miners at all. To put it cruelly, they are just disposable consumables. Real miners must be organized.
And there will be leaders among them, otherwise they will not be able to negotiate terms with foremen like Lame Ma. Those who cannot negotiate terms with foremen will die within a few months of coming to the mine.
In a Shura field like a mine, miners who can survive and have enough money to go home are definitely quite a group.
They have rich experience in underground operations and are in better health. The miners in front of them, who are almost consumables, are not what Zhang Zhao wants.
However, he looked at the foreman with the hedgehogs gathered together and the lame horse with a slightly uneasy face, and he quickly understood.
Putting these miners at the lowest level and in poor health out there for them to choose is definitely not the intention of any one individual, but rather the intention of the collective.
Because coal mining is one of the most profitable businesses in Khotan, those who have the right to mine here are the powerful factions in Khotan.
Three hundred organized elite miners are three hundred money-printing machines. How could they be willing to do so?
Perhaps in their hearts, the newly arrived son of Princess Fengtian must be trying to steal food from their bowls. Now that he is willing to let Zhang Zhao choose from these five hundred people, they must feel that they have made a lot of concessions.
Thinking of this, Zhang Zhao took a deep breath and looked at the lame horse beside him.
"I will choose 150 of the people here to leave, but! For the remaining 150 people, you have to give me something real. Don't treat me like a fool who doesn't know anything!"
Choose one hundred and fifty! A strong dragon will not overwhelm local snakes. As long as there are one hundred and fifty elite miners, and the rest can be fed and drank for ten and a half months, and the elite miners can lead the area, it will be useful.
Consider yourself a virtuous person, and you’ve got one hundred and fifty lives!
The lame horse's expression changed, and he couldn't help but look at the short, fat little lord next to Zhang Zhao. When the little lord saw Zhang Zhao's gaze, he turned pale, but he still shook his head slowly, indicating that he was not
Talk nonsense.
"I'll give you a quarter of an hour. I want to see someone, otherwise I want you to look good!" Zhang Zhao snorted coldly.
‘Poof!’ The lame horse knelt down directly, but did not say a word or show any expression. The surrounding foremen also crowded together and looked at the ground collectively. The scene was terrifyingly silent.
"Master Lieutenant! The miners are really here. Don't look at them thin, sir, they will become strong men once you raise them!" The short and fat little lord took two trembling steps and said dryly.
'Choke!' Zhang Zhao slowly drew out the horizontal knife. Damn it, I cut down half of the people in one fell swoop, and you're still pretending to me! Do you really think I'm easy to fool? He doesn't have time to delay any longer!
***The author has something to say***
Thanks to book friend ming_94 for the 500-point reward
This chapter has been completed!