In the countryside of Boshu, groups of uninvited guests appeared. They were in groups of more than a dozen, carrying heavy luggage. They would occasionally stay at inns in small towns, buy food for more than ten days, and then hurried out before dawn.
Disappeared among the vast mountains.
The local natives of Bozhou don't care much about these foreigners who speak with southeastern accents, because they think these people are not much different from ordinary traveling traders. No one knows where these foreigners come from or where they go.
I know that after they settle down, they always ask the shopkeepers about the direction of the surrounding mountains and rivers, the distribution of villages, etc. In fact, this is nothing new. As traveling merchants, they always have to visit villages to sell goods. These situations are not
What kind of secret is it? The store owner is happy to show his knowledge in this aspect.
The third small flag led by He Benzheng was assigned to the northeast of Bozhou. This area is locally called Dalou Mountain. Like other places in Bozhou, the Dalou Mountain area has steep mountains and crisscrossed ravines. It seems that they are not far apart.
Halfway through the two places, you will find a vertical steep wall in front of you like it has been cut by a knife. At the bottom is a surging river, which is completely impassable. To cross it, you can only take a detour, and this detour is often dozens of miles long.
.
The survey camp has a natural advantage in finding roads. They conduct surveying and mapping along the way and have a clear understanding of the places they have passed. Therefore, even if they have to take a detour, they will usually not take the wrong path, let alone end up in the wrong place.
Lost in the mountains. He Benzheng had a complete map of the local area in his hand. After each area was surveyed, he would fill in a piece, and then lead the team towards the blank areas.
Su Hao spent his own money to provide the soldiers with white rice and large fish and meat, and now he saw the results. Such high-intensity mountain work, if replaced by an ordinary Ming army, would have been exhausted, but the soldiers of Kanyu Camp
But he was able to persevere and maintain good physical condition.
"Brothers, what did you grow up on, and why are you so strong?" Wang Gui, a soldier sent by Chongqing Guards to do auxiliary work, asked with emotion. He walked empty-handed, while the soldiers from Kanyu Camp had to carry
Tripods, tents, etc., but they still walked faster than him, which made him, a local soldier, feel very humiliated.
"Eat more meat." Xiong Minfan replied angrily, "If you don't eat meat, how can you have any strength?"
"Who doesn't want to eat meat, but we soldiers, how can we afford meat with only a little military pay?" Wang Gui muttered.
He Benzheng smiled and patted Wang Gui on the shoulder and said: "If you want to eat meat, just follow our Su Baihu. I will ensure that you have meat to eat every day."
"Hey, He Xiaoqi, who are you Su Baihu? Why do I feel that even our Commander Fu is quite polite to him? You don't know that our Qianhu are too arrogant in front of Commander Fu.
That Su Baihu of yours talks so casually to Commander Fu that we are all sweating for him, but Commander Fu doesn't care at all. Is there someone in his family who is a high official?" Wang Guipou said.
Bagua asked spiritedly.
Before they set off, Fu Zhong did come to give everyone a lecture. Su Hao behaved quite calmly at that time, which shocked the soldiers sent from Chongqing Guard.
Hearing Wang Gui praising his Baihu, Xiong Minfan became proud. He curled his lips and said, "We, Su Baihu, are a famous earth master. Even the father-in-law in the palace is convinced by him. I will tell you
Let me tell you, when he was in Fengcheng, he just looked at the scenery to the west and knew that there was a gold mine in a place called Tonggushi a few hundred miles to the west. He took someone to take a look, and sure enough he found a big gold mine.
Have you ever heard of such a thing?"
"Are you bragging?" Wang Gui shook his head, "Listening to what you said, doesn't he surpass the gods?"
"That's right. He is the Wenqu star from the sky who has descended to earth." Xiong Minfan said, "If you don't believe it, come with me to Fengcheng sometime and ask. I don't know that there are many people in Su Baihu, but I don't know about Su Dishi."
, but there is none.”
"You know it's impossible for me to go to Jiangxi with you, and you're trying to block me by saying something like this." Wang Gui said disdainfully.
"Attention, there is someone in front." The third child of the Xiong family, who was walking in front of the team, suddenly shouted to warn everyone.
Everyone stopped quickly. He Benzheng took two quick steps and came to the front. He looked up and saw a few hundred steps away. A group of local natives with their heads wrapped in cloths were approaching. There seemed to be about fifty or sixty people.
They were young and strong men. They all held weapons such as swords, guns, and sticks in their hands, and their targets were pointed at the location where He Benzheng and others were staying.
"Who is in front of you?"
Before He Benzheng and others could dodge, the natives had already arrived close to them. One of them took a few steps forward and shouted loudly to He Benzheng and others in unskilled Chinese.
"Oh, we are passing businessmen." He Benzheng came out of his hiding place and replied respectfully.
"Businessman?" The native turned back and muttered a few words to a native who looked like a rich leader. The leader said something, and the previous native turned back and faced He Benzheng.
Shouted: "Come here, our Buwen Chieftain wants to ask you something."
He Benzheng winked at his men, and they all quietly grasped the short blades hidden in their arms, preparing to deal with any eventuality. He Benzheng pulled off his clothes, put a smile on his face, and quickly came to Bu Wen Tusi.
Chongqing Bing Wanggui was also following closely behind He Benzheng. He was familiar with the local dialect and prepared to act as a translator for He Benzheng when necessary.
"Where are you a businessman from?" Chief Buwen also asked He Benzheng in Chinese. His Chinese was even harder to understand than the man in front of him. It took a lot of effort for He Benzheng to understand what he was saying.
"Little He Benzheng pays his respects to Chief Bu Wen." He Benzheng said with a flattering expression, and at the same time gave a big gift to Bu Wen. There are countless chieftains on the ground in Bozhou. The small chieftains are equivalent to the landlords of the Han people, and the big chieftains are like Yang Yinglong.
This kind of person is equivalent to a prince. Since He Benzheng was disguised as a businessman, he naturally had to be extremely respectful when meeting the local chieftain.
"The younger one came from Jiangxi and sold some groceries locally." He Benzheng continued.
"Bring me your goods and show them to me," said Bouwin.
He Benzheng turned around and said hello, and Xiong Minfan came over carrying a cloth bag. He Benzheng opened the cloth bag and let Bu Wen take a look. Inside was nothing more than some ironware, fabrics, salt, tea and other commodities. Businessmen wandering in this area
, all these goods are brought.
"Well, put it away." Bu Wen nodded. Although he was in a barren mountain, he had no intention of plundering. This was a tacit understanding formed between the locals and traveling merchants. Everyone could only make transactions, but
Don't rob by force. The mountain people need traveling merchants to bring them various goods. If these traveling merchants are robbed and the supply of goods is interrupted, people from other tribes will not agree.
"This is a little token of appreciation for Bu Wen Tusi." He Benzheng took out a bag of tea and held it in his hand. This was the high-end tea that Su Hao specially ordered to purchase before they set off. The packaging alone looked quite elegant.
Exquisite, perfect for gift giving.
Sure enough, a smile appeared on Chief Buwen's face. He was just a little chieftain. He could be arrogant and domineering in his own territory, but outside of this territory, he would be nothing like shit. A bag of tea like this would be carried to the mountains by traveling merchants to sell.
, it costs several taels of silver, which is a very considerable expenditure for Bu Wen's small tribe, so he is reluctant to buy this kind of tea. Seeing that He Benzheng gave such a generous gift, Bu Wen naturally
Very happy.
"Rileng, go and take it." Bu Wen pretended to be reserved and ordered the native who spoke before.
The native named Rileng stepped forward and took the tea leaves from He Benzheng's hand. He Benzheng stepped aside and waited for Bu Wen to speak.
Bu Wen took the tea leaves from Rileng's hand, put it to his nose, smelled it, nodded with satisfaction, and then asked: "Foreigners, I heard from the herb collectors in the village that you have been in the village these days.
He was spinning around and looking back and forth with some sort of compass, why is that?"
"Uh, well..." He Benzheng was at a loss for words. It turned out that the other party had already noticed that he was doing surveying and mapping. The other party came with so many people and weapons just to find out what was going on. He was doing surveying and mapping.
It requires setting up benchmarks, setting up a theodolite, and the observation time is relatively long, so it is impossible to completely avoid leaving traces. It must have been that someone in the village accidentally bumped into him while he was surveying and mapping, and this led to Bu Wen Tusi.
"Back to Buwen Tusi, in addition to doing business, I also have a job as a geologist. My master is a big mine owner. He sent me to this mountain. He wanted me to see what's in this mountain.
Are there any mineral deposits that can be mined?" He Benzheng answered according to what Su Hao taught him.
"Mining?" Bu Wen's eyes sparkled, "Are there any mines that can be opened in my mountain farm?"
"This... I don't dare to say it." He Benzheng deliberately kept it secret.
"Why don't you dare to say it?" Bu Wen stared.
He Benzheng said: "My master said that there is coal that can be mined in this mountain. However, I am afraid that the coal deposit is not in the mountain farm of Chief Buwen's family. Even if he says it, it will be in vain."
There was a dull look on Bu Wen's face, but Rileng on the side stepped forward and murmured a few words to Bu Wen. Bu Wen's face shone with light again, and he waved his hand to Rileng and said, "Go ahead.
Talk to this stranger."
Rileng stepped forward and said to He Benzheng: "Foreigners, my chieftain wants to ask you, are you sure you can find coal in this mountain?"
He Benzheng said: "This search for coal requires surveying first. Only by surveying the geomantic omen of all places can we determine the location of the coal deposits. However, my master has already said that there must be something in this mountain."
Coal. If He cannot find coal, I would like to offer 50 taels of silver to the chieftain to atone for his sin."
"Okay, then I will inform the chieftains of Jiudong and Shibazhai to help you find the source. If you find coal, everyone will share the proceeds equally. If you don't find coal, you, a stranger, have said that you are willing to pay the silver.
50 taels, you can't default on your debt." Bu Wen said with high spirits. (To be continued. Please search Piao Tian Literature, the novel will be better and updated faster!)