Chief Buwen's own village was not big, but he had good connections. He ordered He Benzheng and his party to be brought back to the village, and then sent his servants to the surrounding Jiudong and Eighteen Villages to invite the chieftains from each village to discuss matters.
The so-called Jiudong Eighteen Villages is a general term used to describe the numerous villages. I heard that some outsiders bet their money that they could find coal. The chieftains from each village rushed to Songshu Village where Buwen Chieftain was located, and there was a commotion.
Noisily asking for details.
Looking at these chieftains and their entourage in each village, the soldiers in Kanyu camp couldn't help but feel cold. It is true that they are chieftains. These people are so rustic. They can afford to wear silk shirts.
There are not many toasts in the country, and more toasts can only wear homespun clothes woven in the countryside. For the sake of appearance, these clothes are sewn with homespun cloths of various colors. The local dyeing technology is obviously not up to standard, and red cloth dyeing
It turned into the color of pig liver, the blue cloth was dyed into the color of soy sauce, and the yellow cloth looked even more suspicious, as if it was made by smearing it directly with cow dung, and it also had a faint smell.
As for the followers of the chieftains, it is even more miserable. Most of them are naked, have no shoes on their feet, and hold sticks in their hands like a group of beggars. In fact, Kanyu Camp has stayed in Songshu Village for the past two days.
I have already experienced the local poverty. The local people have nothing that can be called property at home. They eat millet and wild vegetables, wear homespun cloth and animal skins, and are very short of ironware, salt and other things. The soldiers
We would give a few pieces of salt to someone who was staying overnight, and the other person would be as grateful as if he had received a lot of gold and silver.
"Han people, can you really find coal?" Bannuo, the chieftain from Longtan Village, asked He Benzheng.
He Benzheng said: "My master is an earth master. We are just running errands for my master. My master looked at the sky at night and saw that there was coal gas here, so he sent us to investigate. As for where the coal is buried.
, we won’t know until we send the materials obtained from the survey back to Chongqing.”
"What are you writing down?" A chieftain's follower looked over and over with the data recorded in the survey camp. Unfortunately, he couldn't even hold the paper upright or backwards. This follower had studied for a few days.
He knew Chinese characters, but unfortunately the survey records of Kanyu camp were all represented by Latin letters and Arabic numerals, which was beyond his cognitive scope.
"This is a heavenly book, and what is recorded in it are heavenly secrets that cannot be revealed casually." He Benzheng said bluffingly.
"Who knows if it's true or not?" The follower muttered dejectedly.
"Whether it's true or not, these guests said that if they can't find coal, they are willing to pay 25 taels of silver as compensation. This is something that no one will suffer." Bu Wen said to everyone. He Benzheng promised him 50 taels.
He lost half of the silver compensation as soon as it changed hands, and was only willing to give out 25 taels to distribute to everyone.
Even though half of the amount of silver was deducted, the chieftains still widened their eyes and showed an ugly look of salivating. There was no way. The mountains were really too poor, and occasionally some traveling merchants passed by to purchase local animal skins, medicinal materials and other local products.
At that time, they also tried their best to lower the prices, and the toasts could not get much silver taels in a year. These limited incomes should be used first to buy salt and ironware, and then to spend on the toasts' luxurious consumption, so they spent one, two, two, two.
They are also very concerned about their money.
In the view of the chieftains, these Han people were looking for coal locally, and if they didn't find it, it would not cause any harm to the local area. It was equivalent to making money for nothing. Why not do such a good thing? If they could find coal,
The profit is not trivial. They all know that the price of coal at the foot of the mountain is very high. If coal can be dug out of their own mountain farm, the entire village can be lifted out of poverty and become rich in one fell swoop.
"Everyone is invited to come here because the guest said that this coal is produced in our mountain farm in Jiudong and Shiba Village. As for whose mountain farm it is said to be produced in, no one knows. What I mean is.
Our villages have formed a blood alliance and agreed to be rich and prosperous together. No matter who owns the coal in the mountain farm, it will be jointly owned by the eighteen villages. The money earned from selling the coal will be shared equally by everyone. What do you think, chieftains?" Bu Bu?
Wen continued.
Bu Wen had a reason for saying this. He Benzheng had already said that there was no coal in the mountain farm of Songshu Village, and the coal might be in another mountain farm. He first set the rules so that no matter whose mountain farm it was,
Once coal is found, even Songshuzhai can get a piece of the pie.
As soon as Bu Wen said this, all the chieftains got into a fuss. Some people thought this was a good idea. There might not necessarily be coal in their own mountain fields anyway, so it was always a good thing to make some money from others. Others thought that the coal deposits might be in their own homes, out of thin air.
It would be a real loss to take it out and share it equally with other families.
Whether they are supporters or skeptics, there is an unsolvable problem, that is, they themselves do not know where the coal is, and they can only rely on the surveyors invited by Bouwin. According to Bouwin himself, this surveyor
He spent a lot of money to invite the master from Chongqing. If ordinary people went to invite him, they might not be able to invite him. With such a restriction, the other chieftains had to consider Bu Wen's position when they made a fuss.
Already.
In the end, He Benzheng helped solve the problem. He told everyone that in order to show his sincerity, he decided to take out 25 taels of silver in advance as a deposit. Since he did not have much cash on hand, he was willing to use the goods he brought
Converted into silver taels, all chieftains who are willing to support coal exploration can get a share. If coal is found in the future, the output of the coal mine will be used to offset the deposit. On the contrary, if no coal is found, the deposit does not need to be returned.
Seeing the wide variety of commodities, the chieftains' defenses collapsed. No matter whether they could find coal in the future, the immediate benefits would not be free of charge.
So, everyone slaughtered a rooster in Songshu Village, and then swore an oath dipped in the rooster's blood, agreeing to jointly develop the coal mine. Chongqing's surveyor would get 30% of the output of the coal mine, and the rest would be divided equally among the villages. There were many villages where the coal mine was located.
Get a share. In addition, if coal mining makes outsiders jealous and causes disputes, all villages must work together to protect the coal mines. The last one is actually the most critical, because in this mountainous area where the jungle is strong and the strong prey, no isolated village can
It is impossible to guard such a cornucopia.
After signing the agreement, Bu Wen began to urge He Benzheng to work quickly. In order to make the surveying and mapping work of the survey camp smoother, each village made an appointment to send people to cooperate. The mountain people in the village were not short of strength, and the chieftain gave the order.
They took on all the logistical work of the survey camp. Not only did they carry various equipment, but even when the soldiers went up and down the mountain, there were local men carrying sliding poles to wait on them. The soldiers in the survey camp were almost happy.
Don't want to go back.
"He Xiaoqi, you said you could help them find coal mines. Is this true, or are you bluffing?" While Wang Gui was enjoying the treatment like a distinguished guest, he still felt a little uneasy. He secretly asked He Benzheng in private.
He Benzheng smiled and said: "Of course it's true. Before we set off, Su Baihu told us that there was coal underground in the area we were walking in. As for where the coal is specifically produced, we can only ask Su Baihu.
Already."
"Is this really happening?" Wang Gui asked in surprise.
He Benzheng said: "You don't believe what my Su Baihu said? Ask everyone when Su Baihu stopped talking."
Wang Gui still didn't believe it. He said, "If he misses the point and can't find the coal, won't we make him suffer?"
Xiong Min looked up and laughed: "Wang Gui, you are really honest. Even if we don't find the coal, we won't suffer a loss if we pay 50 taels of silver to Buwen Toast. Think about it, there are people waiting on us when we go out these days.
, Isn’t this worth 50 taels of silver?”
"Of course it's not worth it." Wang Gui muttered in a low voice. A full 50 taels of snowflake silver was exchanged for some worthless services. In his opinion, this was a very bad deal.
The surveying and mapping results of each team flowed to Chongqing via the station outside the mountain, and were sent to the Chaotian Inn. The embroiderers brought from Jiangxi worked day and night on the needlework, transforming those boring digital coordinates.
It became a contour map on white silk. Fu Zhong would summon Su Hao and Chen Dao to Chongqing Guard every few days to report on the progress. Looking at the maps that were gradually taking shape, Fu Zhong smiled broadly.
"With this thing, Yang Yinglong is like having his pants taken off. I can hit him wherever I want. I think he can still run around for a few days." Fu Zhong said proudly while holding the map. After Su
With Hao's guidance, Fu Zhong has now mastered the skills of reading maps. In his eyes, these maps have turned into mountains and rivers. He imagined how troops would line up among these mountains. He couldn't help but
Fascinating.
"Commander Fu, in order to draw these maps, our army has spent a lot of money. Can Chongqing Guards subsidize some of it?" Su Hao quickly made a request while Fu Zhong was happy. The ideas of each small flag in the survey camp
They are all the same as He Benzheng, who throws money at troubles. The amount of money they have thrown out has already reached the scale of thousands of taels.
Fu Zhong said disapprovingly: "Money is not a problem, but I, Chongqing Wei, don't have any spare money. If you want money, just ask Governor Ye."
"Once this matter is completed, the matter in Bozhou will be settled once and for all. It can be said that it is a contribution to the present and will benefit the future. How can such a feat be measured by gold and silver in the market?" Chen Dao was also talking nonsense at the side.
.
Su Hao said: "Mr. Chen, you didn't pay for it, so of course you don't care about the gold and silver in the market. The gold and silver you are paying now are money from my personal pocket. You are not in a hurry, but I am."
"Haha, there are times when reforms are so philistine." Chen Dao laughed and said, "Don't worry, the Ministry of War has already budgeted for this matter, and it has been allocated to the Chongqing Guards. How much you spent, report it truthfully to me.
Just give you real reimbursement."
"That's great." Su Hao was overjoyed, "I will inform all the small banners right now that although they are open to spending money, as long as the goods are good, I am not afraid that the Ministry of War will not admit the debt."