At the banquet, Di Qing greatly admired and admired Su Jin's victory over the Xia army's 100,000 cavalry in the Battle of Weizhou. Heroes are valued. For civil servants and people who do not understand military affairs, defeating the enemy is naturally gratifying, but in their eyes
But there is only a concept of victory or defeat in my mind. Only generals who actually go to the battlefield will understand how difficult it is for the weak to defeat the strong.
The two chatted and the atmosphere was pleasant. When Su Jin mentioned that his trip was to Gaonu County, northeast of Yanzhou and east of Yinzhou, to see what value the oil emerging from the ground had, Di Qing disagreed.
.
"Mr. Su, in my opinion, that thing has no effect, but there is black oil mixed with sand and stone spring water flowing out of the valley. The local Qiang people collect it from pheasant tails. It can indeed be burned, but the smoke is thick, making it smoky, and the smell is difficult.
It smells very good, it’s useless to ask the emperor for this place.”
Su Jin smiled and said: "The court owes me money, Su Ji, and now I am really in financial difficulty. I can't force you to pay for the debt, right? The emperor giving me a piece of land can be regarded as compensation. I heard that collecting smoke from oil burning can be used
I make ink, and the quality is high, so I want to set up an ink-making workshop, which can more or less make up for my shortfall. You must know that the money that I, Su Ji, misappropriated are all people's deposits in Huitong Bank. If I
If I don't think of a way to make some money, then the people won't eat me."
Di Qing said in astonishment: "I see, but how much money can you make by making ink? My lord, if your bank has difficulties in turning over money, please inform me. I have saved fifty or sixty thousand yuan in these years."
, you can borrow it from adults for turnover.”[
Su Jin burst out laughing, and quickly raised his hands to express his thanks: "Thank you, General Di, for your kind words. I am determined to be your friend, but what I embezzled was three million guan. I'm afraid 50,000 to 60,000 guan is not enough."
It can't solve my dilemma; but the general's sincere treatment really moved Su very much."
Di Qing was shocked and said: "Three million? What have you done? You actually spent so much money?"
Su Jin didn't want to hide it from Di Qing, so he quietly informed Di Qing about the horse trade with Xixia, and finally said: "Some people from the Ministry of War are counting the horses, and they will be assigned to garrisons in various places in the near future. You, Yanzhou, are in a critical place."
, there will definitely be a large number of horses, General Di, you will have a cavalry team soon."
Di Qing was overjoyed, looked around and lowered his voice: "Is this true? Mr. Su is really so powerful that he can cover the sky with one hand. I'm afraid everyone in the court is kept in the dark about such a big thing. The two countries are negotiating for peace and opening up trade.
How could the Xia people agree to the terms, not to mention the transaction of war horses? You can also accomplish this kind of thing. I am really humbled. If I have five thousand cavalry, why should I worry about the Xia people being arrogant and domineering? After all, the court also
It’s so unethical. Mr. Su used private money to buy horses for the imperial court, and the imperial court actually put you in a difficult situation, and you won’t be afraid of people laughing at you if you tell me.”
Su Jin looked at the anger on Di Qing Yingwu's face and said with a smile: "You can't say that. The imperial court also has difficulties. The emperor also said that in the future, when the finance and taxation improves, he will pay in full. Even if he doesn't give it to me, just
When I spend these three million to serve the country, I am not afraid of losing my head in a war, so do I still care about this money?"
Di Qing couldn't help but admired Su Jin even more. He also knew that there were only a limited number of people who knew about this matter, and Su Jin was able to tell the truth frankly, so naturally he had to keep his mouth shut so that he would not be exposed to outsiders; Di Qing
He immediately promised that if Su Jin needs anything in Gaonu County, manpower and material resources will be fully available to help him.
Seeing that Di Qing was indeed a good friend, Su Jin thought for a while and said: "General Di, actually I wanted that place to see if there was a simple way to refine kerosene. I thought of a way and I hope I can give it a try. If
If it is successful, the kerosene used by the Song Dynasty military and civilians will be in danger from now on. The kerosene is too precious. In the battle of Weizhou, if the kerosene helped the battle, it would not last more than ten days."
Di Qing suddenly realized, and then he understood Su Jin's true intention of wanting that barren mountain. However, he did not believe that there was an easy way to refine kerosene. The imperial court's kerosene reserve was almost zero, because refining it was extremely expensive.
After all, having the money to refine kerosene is not as practical as building one more pair of armor and forging one more bow and arrow; but Di Qing has been fighting on the battlefield for a long time, so he naturally knows the benefits of kerosene, but he just suffers from insufficient quantity.
Su Jin told Di Qing the secret in his heart, which was actually based on certain considerations; Di Qing was based in Yanzhou, and Gaonu County, the land of Yindong, was not far from Yanzhou, and as a road between Qinfeng and Jingyuan, Su Jin
Yes, it’s impossible to stay here every day
Supervise in Yanzhou; this Di Qing is really not a cunning person. By recruiting him into the group, he can be nearby to take care of him. Secondly, as the magistrate of Yanzhou, he will sooner or later hide it from his eyes. It is better to tell the truth.
of frankness.
Di Qing readily agreed to Su Jin's request, and early the next morning, he led hundreds of soldiers carrying the list of items listed by Su Jin all the way to Gaonu County in the northeast.
Gaonu County is a border county. In fact, it has long existed in name only. During the war between the two countries, the county offices were destroyed, and the local residents were scattered and living in unknown barren mountains. Most of them were Qiang mountain people; in fact, this place
It is the borderland between Song and Xia countries, but it has barren mountains and barren mountains.
Due to the bitter cold, both countries looked down on this area, which is why Zhao Zhen agreed to reward Su Jin with a fifty-mile radius of mountainous land. Because of this, the war only extended to Gaonu County and never developed further east.
The state is actually in peace under the protection of this barren mountain.
After walking for nearly a hundred miles for two days, they finally arrived at this area. Su Jin had no concept of territory. He didn't know how big a fifty-mile radius was. Anyway, it seemed that the stretching mountains in front of him were all his own.
Everyone dismounted and entered the mountain, looking for a valley to set up camp. Su Jin ordered people to look around for the mountain people, but there were no traces of them. After working for a long time, they found a mountain man who was chopping firewood on a hillside and dragged him over.
Mahan took out a big bucket of money and dangled it in front of his eyes and said, "Take us to the valley where the oil is produced. This bucket of money will be yours."
The mountain man was a shrewd boy in his twenties, but he remained unmoved when faced with the temptation of a huge sum of money. He hesitated for a long time and refused to agree.
Ma Han said angrily: "Why would you hesitate to pay me a big sum of money for showing you the way? I'm not asking you to die."
The young Qiang mountain man frowned and said, "Money is not easy to use here. Even if we have money, we can't buy anything here. If you really want me to lead the way, you might as well give me something practical."
Su Jinxiao asked: "What do you want?"
The young man pointed to a donkey in the requesting team and said: "This donkey is quite useful. My parents have to carry the plow on their shoulders when plowing the mountains. Having this donkey will save them a lot of trouble."
Ma Han shouted: "You have such a loud voice. This literary website is worth three or five points. You lead the way and open your mouth like a lion. General Di, you have a lot of unscrupulous people on Yanyan Road."
Di Qing was a little embarrassed, and just about to scold the young man, Su Jin quickly laughed and said: "It's not wrong for him to be filial. Besides, people here don't have the concept of money, so how can he know the value of donkeys? For his filial piety,
Just give him the donkey as a reward."
/
The young mountain man was overjoyed and kowtowed repeatedly. During the conversation, Su Jin and others learned that the young man's name was Danmuji, which meant that the white clouds were "drifting", which was somewhat poetic. Danmuji led the donkey back, and everyone was surprised.
A large group of mountain people gathered together. They looked at Dan Muji with envy and regretted not taking this job. Originally, the officers and soldiers were afraid of being hurt when they entered the mountain, so they hid early.
I regret it. If I had known this, instead of hiding, I would have climbed up on the pole.
Su Jin smiled and greeted the mountain people, and ordered the accompanying officers and soldiers to distribute some food to them. This group of people were all dark and skinny. From Su Jin's point of view, they obviously didn't have enough to eat. Food should be the most practical thing for them.
something.
Zhamuji led the way, and everyone climbed several hills. In the evening, they arrived at a quiet valley. As soon as they stepped into the valley, everyone felt soft and sticky under their feet, and the grass was yellow and wet. Su Jin pushed aside the weeds and stretched out his hand on the ground.
As soon as I "touched" it, my hands were suddenly filled with dark stuff, and when I smelled it, it seemed to smell like petroleum.
Su Jin was overjoyed. It turned out to be oil seeping out in the open air, but there was no way to collect it. Zhamuji told Su Jin that there was a large sand pit in front of him, which was where a large amount of black oil came out. Originally, the local mountain people thought it was oil.
They blasphemed the gods and turned the mountain spring into a poisonous black spring. Later, someone accidentally took some to light a fire, and then they realized that these things could be burned; because it was an oily substance emerging from the cracks in the rocks, the locals called it petroleum.
.
After walking hard for a few miles, everyone's boots and pants were covered with dirt, and finally they saw a huge black puddle. Su Jin stood at the edge of the pit and was shocked, but saw that there was a huge puddle in the pit.
Thick black bubbles, a small piece of liquid in the middle slowly rolling, it is obvious that something is coming out from the ground; the black water in the pit overflows over the edge of the pit, soaking in all directions, which is why the entire
This is why there is soft black oil under the meadows in the valley.
Stunned, Su Jin yelled in his heart: "Oh my god, this is oil, one of the most important energy sources in future generations. For these things, countries will not hesitate to go to war with each other. In this era, everyone actually regards it as...