It was almost evening when they arrived at Fushui Pass. Wan Jun and others rested at Fushui Pass for the night, discussed with Wang Lihui, He Chuyi and others, and finalized the specific matters of mining pyrite. On the next day, they headed southeast from Fushui Pass.

Set off and went to Jiangjiacun again.

Inside the Lucheng County Prison, in a small courtyard that was not very spacious, a man covered in scars was hanging on a shelf by his hands. The height was just right for the man to stand on his toes with difficulty. Several people kneeling next to him were trembling with fear.

Shrinking his head.

Opposite the hanging man, there was a bench beside the wall. Zhang Sheng was leaning on it, looking at the hanging man with his eyes.

The entire small courtyard was deathly silent, and the air was extremely depressing. Only the hanging man was gritting his teeth and gasping for breath, and occasionally letting out short, suppressed moans.

Several Zhuang Bans accompanied him nervously on both sides. After a long time, Zhang Sheng picked up the tea cup on the small table next to him and took a sip. He said, "When my family was in Nanzhao, everyone in the family believed in Buddhism. My mother has always said that Buddhism has been around since she was a child.

As they say, 'Sow good causes and reap good results', I have always been cautious, fearing that I might accidentally create bad karma, and for a period of time I even ate in the temple."

"At that time, everyone seemed to be obsessed with eating fast and chanting Buddha's name."

Zhang Sheng's voice was slightly hollow, and he spoke slowly, as if he was telling a story about an unrelated person.

"The more careful I am to be a good person, the more afraid I feel and the more I am afraid of causing bad karma."

"I have been thinking, how could this happen? Shouldn't it make me feel calmer if I believe in Buddhism and be a good person? Later, Li Zicheng went to Henan and attacked the county town everywhere. When he stationed troops in the south, my family handed over most of the property and kept it.

My father said that the lives of the whole family are obtained by practicing good deeds and accumulating merit. Isn’t this obtained by using property?”

"Later on, the court and the bandits came back and forth, and whoever came would kill and set fire to steal money. In addition, the famine years were frequent and the family was in decline. When the bandits came to Nanzhao again, the family had no money to pay, so my father was killed by the thieves.

Now, can the thief see the merits my family has accumulated by eating fast and chanting Buddha’s name?”

"In the end, the whole family was ruined, and they had no choice but to flee to the south. My mother fasted all her life, and finally died on the road. Everyone in the family either starved to death or were killed by thieves. If you have ever escaped, you will understand the fear.

"

"Later, when I was about to starve to death, I met Mr. Wan, who saved my father's life. Oh, Wang Heizi!"

Zhang Sheng looked at the hanging man and said, "The things you tortured me to say that day are all true. I saw flying stars falling from the sky with my own eyes. It doesn't matter if you don't believe it, you will become a dead person soon anyway."

Got it!"

After that, he ignored Wang Heizi and continued, "I have been thinking, why are good people full of fear? Shouldn't it be the bad people who are afraid? Li Zicheng's soldiers killed people and set fires during the Nanzhao, but they also went to Fayun Temple to burn incense.

, the great masters still greeted me respectfully, even more respectfully than when I donated two thousand taels of incense money in the temple."

"I'm afraid of Li Zicheng and his soldiers with swords! When we were at Chuanyundiao Village, your third brother molested my daughter. I didn't even dare to have the slightest resistance. I just thought about how to save my life. I'm afraid of the lust.

Ghosts, and you bandits! When my wife Xiangyun was snatched away by bandits, I was also scared!"

"Why am I always full of fear!"

Zhang Sheng stopped and turned to look at Wang Heizi.

Wang Heizi looked at Zhang Sheng's eyes and suddenly shuddered in his heart. They were a pair of cold eyes, eyes without any human emotion.

"I want to hear the screams." Zhang Sheng turned to look at the few surrendered soldiers, "His, or yours!"

Upon hearing this, several strong men immediately rushed forward, using knives, nails, and fists. Wang Heizi immediately let out an inhuman scream.

Zhang Sheng listened with his eyes closed for a while, then waved his hand to stop Zhuang Ban's abusive behavior, "You guys, please take it easy, if you kill him too quickly, I will

No more fun."

After saying that, he paused for a while and then said softly, "Why should I be afraid? How scared I was when I was caught by you. I was afraid of pain, and I was even more afraid of death."

"But when you tied me up and tortured me, when the pain hit me, I suddenly felt no fear in my heart. You broke my legs and sent me to this county jail. Finally, I no longer feared at all. I felt so incomparable.

Frankly, it turns out that pain and death are nothing more than this, and life is nothing more than this."

Zhang Sheng became excited and asked the strongman next to him to help him up. Holding a knife in his right hand, he limped slowly and slowly approached Wang Heizi step by step.

When Wang Heizi saw Zhang Sheng approaching, he felt as if a man-eating devil was rushing toward him, and screamed in horror.

"Why should I be afraid? Only pain can make people feel alive!"

Zhang Sheng approached Wang Heizi and scratched Wang Heizi's right chest bit by bit with a knife. The knife did not penetrate half an inch into the flesh. The blade scratched several inches and then cut into a new wound.

Finally, Zhang Sheng cut off the bulge on Wang Heizi's chest. As Wang Heizi groaned and gasped in pain, Zhang Sheng squinted his eyes and said, "You are nothing to me except living to taste my torture."

Useful, I will let you slowly experience fear before you die!"

"Ah-", the small courtyard seemed to have become a Shura field, with only the screams of Wang Heizi and the chattering teeth of the people on the side.

Wan Jun and others rushed to Jiangjiacun, where Jiang Laosi was bending down and looking around a big earthen fence.

As I got closer, I saw that there was an opening at the bottom of the big earth fence, and there was dark red water flowing down from a piece of tile hanging at the opening into a pool.

Wanjun stood by and watched, and no one called him.

After a while, Jiang Laosi stood up and shouted, "Okay, let's change the mud!" When he turned around and saw Wan Jun, he hurriedly came over to greet him.

Wan Jun smiled and said, "Master Jiang is working hard, but I don't know what the output of saltpeter is?"

Jiang Laosi smiled naively and said, "Thank you for your consideration, sir. The saltpetre produced during this period is more than what I usually produce in half a year."

Wan Jun walked to Tuweizi and took a look. He saw an egg floating in the crimson water and asked, "What were you doing just now?"

Jiang Laosi said, "Sir, this is water leached from the nitrate soil. When it flows into this basin, if the nitrate content is sufficient, the eggs will float on the water. If the nitrate is completely drained, the eggs in the basin will

It will sink. I can tell when it’s time to replace the sludge just by looking at the eggs.”

Wan Jun, under the leadership of Jiang Laosi, arrived at a large earthen stove. A pot of salt water was boiling in the pot. Jiang Laosi dipped something in it, looked at it and shook his head, "No, more."

cook!"

He turned around and explained to Wan Jun, "This is to boil the saltwater. The water for draining the saltwater must be put here to boil."

Then he raised his hand and said, "My lord, please come this way."

Jiang Laosi led everyone into a room. There were pieces of crystal clear white bricks hanging on the ground.

"These are the prepared saltpetres. After they are cooled and ground, they can be used to make gunpowder."

This was the first time for Wan Jun to see pure saltpeter. He bent down and looked at the white saltpeter bricks, feeling happy in his heart and said, "Master Jiang is really good. I wonder what happened to the saltpeter field I hired someone to build for you?"

Jiang Laosi said, "There is not enough time to build the saltpeter fields, so we are still using the old method of scraping the saltpeter fields."

Wan Jun took another look around Jiangjiacun and saw that the crops in the fields had begun to be harvested, and the harvest was better than in previous years.

With the food harvested in the summer, the people can finally breathe a sigh of relief, and the food problem of the Chinese army can be considered solved.

After visiting Jiangjia Village, Wan Jun went to Sangshuping to look for Yin Shi. It was already evening when he arrived at Sangshuping, so he could only stay overnight at the Yin clan chief's house.

Early the next morning, Yin Shi was waiting at the gate of Wanjun.

Wan Jun ate some porridge hastily and then went to see Yin Zhi's salt-making house.

It was similar to Jiang Laosi's saltpeter making process. Yin Zhi took Wan Jun to look at it, but the amount of saltpeter left to dry was obviously more than Jiang Laosi's.

Wan Jun went to see the saltpeter field again. Yin Zhi built the saltpeter field behind his house. The smell of the saltpeter field made people unable to open their eyes. Wan Jun said, "Why did you build the saltpeter field here?"

Yin Shi said, "I live far away from the village. I feel more at ease if the saltpeter field is built behind the house."

Wang Lihui smiled and said, "Are you still afraid that people will come to the salt field and steal your feces?"

Everyone burst out laughing.

Yin Shi said, "I'm not afraid of stealing excrement, I'm afraid of someone stealing my saltpetre!"

"I think it will take a few months for the saltpeter field to produce saltpeter."

Wan Jun took a few glances and found that he couldn't stand the smell of the salt fields, so he hurriedly left with everyone and went to see the people's harvests.

Chief Yin was very happy and said, "There is a severe drought everywhere this year. Fortunately, Sangshuping is close to the Chisong River, and there are adults helping to dig canals to fight the drought. This year's harvest in the village is as good as the harvest in the previous two years!"

Wan Jun nodded and said, "With the abundant grain harvested in the summer, the people will have enough to eat. The Chinese army needs the help of the clan chiefs to collect the grain. With the food supply, the soldiers can have the strength to protect the country and the people."

Chief Yin said, "Don't worry, sir, the food collected by the Chinese army is much lighter than the heavy taxes and miscellaneous taxes in the past. We will definitely pay the land tax in full, and we can't let our sons go hungry!"

After everyone talked, Wan Jun wanted to go back to the county immediately, but the Yin clan chief held Wan Jun back, "I have to stay at noon anyway to have a taste of this year's new grain."

Unable to refuse the warm hospitality, Wan Jun and others stayed and had lunch at the Yin clan chief's home.

When Wan Jun and others set off in the afternoon, Yin Zhi led a donkey over and pulled two large bags on his back, which was so heavy that all four legs of the donkey were trembling.

Yin Shi said, "Sir, this is six hundred kilograms of saltpeter prepared."

Wan Jun patted Yin Shi's shoulder and was so moved that he asked someone to leave him a few coins.

Yin Shi took the money and weighed it, "What should I do with so much money?"

Wan Jun smiled and said, "With this silver, you can hire more people to help. The more saltpeter you make, the more silver you can get! Then you can build factories and develop an industrial chain.

It's possible to go public or something."

Yin Shi was stunned for a moment as he said it, and just nodded and said, "My lord is right, my lord is right."

It's getting late, and if it gets dark later, we still have to worry about tigers.

Everyone put some saltpeter on the donkey's back onto the horse's back, said goodbye to the Yin clan leader and Yin Shishi, and ran west towards the county seat.

Two or three miles away from Fushui Pass, there was a post station called Yangcheng Post. Wan Jun and others were resting in the open space in front of the post station. One side of the post house had collapsed, and weeds half as tall as a man were growing everywhere.

Wang Lihui said, "There used to be a large family living here, relying on the post station. In the second year of Chongzhen's reign, the post stations were abolished across the country, and Yangcheng Post Station was abandoned at that time."

Wanjun knew about Emperor Chongzhen's dismantling of post stations. According to historical records, the Ming Dynasty's treasury was empty at that time and many armies could not pay their salaries. Someone gave Emperor Chongzhen an idea to dismantle post stations across the country to save financial expenses.

Who would have known that a large number of post station personnel were laid off, which actually increased social instability. Li Zicheng, who was laid off at the post station, joined the peasant army at that time and began to rebel against the Ming Dynasty.

Everyone was resting when suddenly a knight rushed over from the west, reined in his horse and stopped nearby, "But Master Wan is here?"

Wan Jun responded, "It's me!"
Chapter completed!