Chapter 138 Spring and autumn fruits

Ma Cheng smiled and said, "It's a good name. Let me ask you, are your grandparents and grandchildren hereditary lieutenants?"

Both grandparents and grandsons were confused, and Zhang Shan asked boldly: "I dare to ask the general, what official position is the lieutenant of the Jinjin, and what rank he is?"

Ma Cheng was ashamed and cursed the unofficial history in his heart to harm others, which made me feel embarrassed. He had to cough and fool him: "Zhang Shan, do you know how to prospect."

Zhang Shan was stunned and answered in a hurry: "I understand, I understand, the jade is in the mountain, the grass and trees are moist, there are onions on the mountain, silver on the mountain, scallions on the mountain, gold on the mountain, ginger on the mountain, copper tin on the mountain, mountain

If there is precious jade, the branches beside the wood will droop."

Ma Cheng saw him whispering like a kowtower, and he opened his eyes a lot. This is really a master among the people. The Ming version of geological exploration workers was very happy and ordered his personal soldiers to take their grandparents and grandchildren down to serve them very well.

As for the thief who knows how to prospect, this is a rare talent from Huangming. Macheng is not a geology student, and he has never heard of any large mines in Kaiyuan, but he has studied geography in high school.

Kaiyuan has no mines, but Mongolia has one. Mongolia is one of the countries with the richest mineral resources in the world. This is written in high school textbooks. I vaguely remember Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia is the region with the richest copper mineral resources in the world. Copper

In this era, mines mean the same as gold mines. Copper can be minted, and the most important thing is to make cannons. If you can find a copper-rich ore that is easy to mine, it can solve the embarrassment of Kaiyuan's copper-free cannon building cannons.

Macheng would never dare to build cast iron cannons, and the rate of blowing up the chamber with Kaiyuan's iron smelting technology is too high.

It seems that most Western artillery of the same era were mainly cast in bronze, and Macheng still knows this. In short, bronze cannons are better than cast iron cannons.

Three days later, Jing'an Fort Married House Camp.

In the craftsman camp protected by the squad, more than 600 craftsmen performed their duties, most of whom were blacksmiths. They opened the furnace and smelted iron every day, making abandoned weapons and iron materials brought back by the caravan.

The most secure armor, mail, chain armor and cotton armor are all being made in large quantities. The one with the most serious guard is a separate courtyard guarded by heavy troops in the deep northwest corner of Jing'an Fortress. Outside the clean courtyard, Admiral Marinma's handwritten letter "Chun"

The three big characters "Huayuan" are used to mean spring flowers and autumn fruits.

This Chunhuayuan is the most important place in the Kaiyuan Army to manufacture new-style gunpowder.

Sigh, a blacksmith with a big and round waist put a fine iron armor-breaking spear head into the pool, and the water mist was filled with water.

Ma Cheng looked at the already-formed armor-breaking spear head and said happily: "Good gun, reward five taels of silver."

The blacksmith bowed and kowtowed three times in a ecstatic way, and was quite proud of her big belly. The iron hammer was swinging and the tiger was even more vigorous. Ma Cheng walked around the craftsman camp and finally moved to an open space.

A team of guards brought over a dozen craftsmen, some who had worked in the mines, some could smel the copper mines, and Zhang Shan and his grandson set out to explore under the protection of a battalion of elite cavalry. The location had been selected long ago.

Chifeng.

No matter how ignorant Macheng is, he knows Chifeng and Inner Mongolia smelting base. Whether it is gold, silver, copper and iron, you can always find something.

Chifeng was Lin Dankhan's territory at this time. The last Mongolian Khan was also a person with a higher ambition and a thinner life than paper. The Mongolian soldiers and horses in his army were close to the Ming Dynasty, and they were quite fence-bearing.

After a long discussion, Ma Cheng decided to go to Chifeng in person to meet the Mongolian Khan for a while.

Tieling has a steady guard, and the original father Malin is in charge. Jing'an Fortress still has the 12th Battalion of troops, and its own territory should be foolproof. Therefore, the number of accompanying cavalry has increased to two battalions, and they are all selected. Elite. A few days later, the two battalions of elite cavalry set out with the caravan, left the Great Wall in the North and entered Mongolia in the south of the desert, and headed west.

Late autumn, on the outer Mongolian grassland of the Great Wall in Ming Dynasty.

Several good rains in autumn have been falling, which restored the Mongolian grasslands to life. The grass grew wildly, but no one was seen. It must be because of the escort of the merchant regiment that killed them too hard. Ma Cheng narrowed his eyes and looked at them. The boundless Mongolian grassland was filled with awesomeness. In the future, this would be the battlefield for Kaiyuan and Jiannu to compete. At this time, the Jiannu cavalry had not yet penetrated the south of the desert. The Mongolian troops were still in a mess, and Lin Dankhan was still the nominal Mongolian Khan.

Lin Danhan was roughly aware of the anti-Jin period and was a natural ally that could be won over.

With Lin Dankhan's conceit, no matter what, the great Khan of the Mongol Empire would not be able to surrender to the barbarians of Jianzhou. The Mongolian army, Kaiyuan army, and Eight Banners soldiers will have a series of battles on the grasslands in the south of the desert in the future. The premise is, Macheng could make Lin Danhan devote himself to the Ming Dynasty and give up his fantasy of the heir to the Mongol Empire.

The huge merchant group walked along the Great Wall, not only transporting goods but also transporting people. The Shenliao fell and the road to western Liaoning was cut off. The Han people entering and leaving Liaodong had to pay a lot of money and follow the merchant group to detour Shanxi to pass the pass. Therefore, the merchant group was In addition to goods, there are also a large number of wealthy families and families who have entered the pass to take refuge. Due to the collapse of the situation in Liaodong Town, a large number of Han people crossed mountains and rivers to Kaiyuan every day. The rich took their families to visit their relatives in the pass, but they had no money. The only one who could stay in Kaiyuan and become refugees. Kaiyuan organized these refugees to farm and dig land or dig ginseng into the mountains.

In Kaiyuan, the most edible people were craftsmen, craftsmen, and most skilled craftsmen served in the army and ate imperial grain.

Even a woman who is good at weaving can make the family live a stable life by knitting the wool produced in Mongolia into blankets and seating. Some smart wealthy families have long purchased land and built a wool processing workshop in Kaiyuan New City. , so much so that Kaiyuan New City is expanding at an extremely terrifying speed, and the woman's status at home is subtly improving, because a woman who works in a wool workshop has a higher income than an adult coolie.

So much so that refugees who lost their farmland learned their skills. Whether it was a bricklayer or a blacksmith, or a straw sandal, they could support a family of people. Some adult men even had to put down their airs due to life. I learned weaving and embroidery from my wife at home. There are many big men in the workshops in Xincheng.

Kaiyuan New City is rapidly becoming a workshop processing industry center, which was unexpected by Ma Cheng. This should be the prototype of capitalism. A large number of war refugees are becoming handicraftsmen. At present, Kaiyuan has the most lacking people. There is no shortage of trade routes, what is lacking is the increasingly expensive raw materials. The amount of wool and cowhide collected from Mongolia is decreasing every day, which also makes Macheng decide to win over Lin Danhan and do his best to keep Kaiyuan New City. This holy place where capitalism was born.
Chapter completed!