"This is it!" Su Hao said, running into the valley first.
Xiao Ruxun and others were overjoyed, and followed Su Hao into the valley. They saw Su Hao arriving in the middle of the valley, driving his horse forward slowly, holding a telescope to observe the broken rocks on both sides of the cliffs, and muttering to himself.
The officers and soldiers didn't know what kind of magic Su Hao was doing, so they kept their mouths tightly shut and didn't dare to breathe.
After a while, Su Hao came to a gentle slope, jumped off his horse, stamped the ground with his feet, and said to Xiao Ruxun with a smile: "Brother Xiao, if I'm not mistaken, from here down, within a hundred feet there will be
Get out the coal."
"Is it really so magical?" Xiao Ruxun also got off his horse and looked around confusedly. He really couldn't see any difference between this place and other places. Why could Su Hao say with certainty that there was coal underneath?
.
Of course Xiao Ruxun didn't know that Su Hao judged the direction of the rock strata based on the exposed rocks on the surface, and then speculated where the coal mines might be based on the coal-forming conditions. In fact, there are coal reserves under the entire Ruji Valley, from top to bottom.
There were dozens of coal seams. Su Hao was just looking for the shallowest coal seam. Otherwise, with the mining conditions at that time, it would be almost impossible to dig out a coal seam several hundred meters deep.
"Jia Yuan!" Xiao Ruxun turned around and shouted.
"The end is here!" A general came in response.
"You bring 10 people and they will be stationed here from now on without any mistakes. I will dispatch sergeants to dig the mine tomorrow. You will be responsible for everything here." Xiao Ruxun ordered loudly.
"I will obey your orders!" Jia Yuan stood up straight with his chest bulging, and his face was full of excitement. He was obviously proud that he had received such an important job.
After determining the location of the coal mine, Xiao Ruxun and Su Hao no longer needed to stay in the valley. The two drove their horses slowly towards the outside of the valley, with the soldiers following behind on horseback. Jia Yuan led
Ten of his men stayed behind. They wielded their sabers, chopped down the surrounding thorns, and cleared the site. It seemed that they were really preparing to set up camp here.
Although he hasn't actually seen the coal yet, based on his chat with Su Hao along the way, Xiao Ruxun believes that Su Hao is not a person who just talks nonsense. Since he claims that there is coal here, the chance of being able to dig out the coal is very high.
. Thinking of the various benefits that would come after the coal mine was put into operation, Xiao Ruxun couldn't help but want to laugh out loud.
"Brother Su, you are really a nobleman of Brother Yu. No, you are a nobleman of the tens of thousands of border troops in Ningxia. You have to know that if we can dig out a lot of coal here, the whole face of Ningxia will be completely new." Xiao Ru
Xun said with emotion.
Su Hao smiled and said: "Brother Xiao is in Pinglu City and has Ningxia Town in mind. He can think of the rise and fall of the entire Ningxia Town in everything. I think he has more vision than the Party Governor and General Zhang in Ningxia City."
"Be careful what you say, be careful what you say." Xiao Ruxun quickly stopped Su Hao, not daring to let him continue. If a junior officer talked about a superior officer like this, it would cause trouble.
Su Hao was a time traveler and had a rather indifferent sense of hierarchy. He lowered his voice and said to Xiao Ruxun: "Brother Xiao, I really mean what I said. I have never seen the other branch commanders in Ningxia Town, but Brother Xiao
In terms of knowledge, his knowledge is indeed better than that of Dang Xin and Zhang Jizhong."
According to the military system of the Ming Dynasty, the military management of Ningxia Town was composed of a general military officer as the guard, a deputy general soldier as the co-guard, and four other sub-guards, namely the East Road Right Staff Officer stationed at Huamachi.
General, the West Route Left Counselor General stationed in the Ningxia Guard, the Lingzhou Left Counselor General stationed in Qingshui Camp and the North Route Pinglucheng Counselor General.
The chief guard officer was Zhang Jizhong. Su Hao accompanied Chen Dao and met him once in Ningxia City. He felt that this man had no ambitions and was basically just messing around. As for the deputy guard commander, he just worshiped him.
Although Su Hao had never met him, through the introductions of Jiang Tingfu and Chen Dao, he had already been positioned as a bad guy.
As the governor of Ningxia, Dang Xin was supposed to be the person in charge of the overall situation. However, Su Hao could feel from his brief contact with Dang Xin that this person was superficial and impetuous. There was nothing wrong with being a yelling Taiping official. What if something happened in Ningxia?
If something unexpected happens, this person will definitely not be able to take the lead.
Hearing Su Hao's words, Xiao Ruxun sighed softly and said: "To be honest with Brother Su, Brother Yu also feels that the governor and the commander-in-chief are too weak, otherwise some people would not be so arrogant. What else did you say?
Almost all of the generals and generals succumbed to someone's power and followed his lead. Only I, Pinglu City, refused to obey his orders, so he tried every means to deprive me of the supplies here. Even ordinary merchants would be subject to him.
of harassment."
Of course, Su Hao knew that the person Xiao Ruxun was talking about was Kuai Bai. The only person with such power in Ningxia Town was Kuai Bai. Xiao Ruxun said that he was the only general who refused to accept Kuai Bai's orders.
This corresponds to Jiang Tingfu's recommendation that Su Hao and the others come to Pinglu City to garrison.
"So, Brother Xiao is also worried that someone will be disloyal?" Su Hao asked tentatively.
Xiao Ruxun nodded slightly, answering Su Hao's question.
Su Hao said: "To be honest with Brother Xiao, after I arrived in Ningxia Town, I also heard some rumors, so I didn't dare to station the team outside Ningxia City, but came to Pinglu City. If Brother Xiao also felt that the situation was unpredictable,
, you and I should work together to make preparations as early as possible."
"What Mr. Su said is absolutely true!" Xiao Ruxun said happily, "Actually, Brother Yu has always had this intention, but he didn't know whether Mr. Su was an enemy or a friend before, so he didn't dare to invite me rashly."
"Now that we have said it, if some people really dare to risk the world's great power, they will be the common enemy of our two armies. You and I should share the same hatred and fight against the traitors together." Su Hao said boldly.
This day was a great harvest for Xiao Ruxun. After making friends with Su Hao, he first obtained a large coal mine, and then obtained a friendly army. His own border troops were only more than 2,000 people.
The survey camp brought by Su Hao also had more than 2,000 people. Being able to get Su Hao's help meant that Pinglu City's military strength had doubled out of thin air. Xiao Ruxun was more prepared to deal with various incidents that might occur.
More confident.
The coal mining work started vigorously. Xiao Ruxun was very strict in his military management. As soon as the order was issued, hundreds of officers and soldiers were transferred to Rujigou. Some were responsible for digging tunnels and some were responsible for building roads. The desolate valley suddenly became
It was full of life.
"The coal is out, the coal is out!"
Accompanied by a burst of shouting, a horse galloped out of the Rujigou Valley and towards Pinglu City. When entering the city gate, the knight did not slow down at all. He rode the horse to the front of the General's Mansion, rolled his saddle and dismounted, all the way
He jogged to Xiao Ruxun's lobby, knelt down on one knee, raised a cloth bag high with both hands, and reported loudly:
"General, I will fulfill my mission. The coal mine has produced coal today. Please inspect the coal!"
"Is coal really produced?" Xiao Ruxun walked out from behind the public case and walked to the general who reported the news and took the bag. He unfolded the bag and saw that the bag contained large chunks of shiny black coal.
I can’t help but feel happy:
"Well done Jia Yuan, I will promote you to the position of Commander-in-Chief and reward you with a hundred taels of silver!"
"Thank you, General!" Jia Yuan agreed loudly.
Su Hao also came after hearing the news. Seeing the coal sample sent by Jia Yuan, Su Hao smiled and said: "That's right, this is Taixi coal, a local specialty. This is world-famous good coal."
"It's all thanks to you, Gaizhi." Xiao Ruxun patted Su Hao's shoulder hard and joked, "Maybe you can teach me your coal mining skills? If I don't serve in the army in the future, I will come back.
It would be quite satisfying to go home and find a coal mine and be a mine owner."
"This... elder brother is a pillar of the country, how can he learn the art of roosters and dogs?" Su Hao also chuckled and said perfunctorily.
Of course, Xiao Ruxun didn't really want to learn coal prospecting. After a few polite words with Su Hao, he asked: "By the way, now that the coal mines are producing, do you have any ideas about the use of these coals?"
?”
Su Hao said: "Pinglu City is my eldest brother's territory. How to distribute the coal is entirely up to my eldest brother. How dare I say anything?"
Xiao Ruxun said: "My plan is to allocate 200 kilograms to each military household in Pinglu Station according to the family size for heating in the winter. I plan to sell the remaining coal to Ningxia City, and the money will be used first.
For repairing weapons, save some for repairing the border wall after next spring. As for changing your share..."
"This matter is not urgent." Su Hao said quickly.
In order for Su Hao to provide the location of the coal mine, Xiao Ruxun immediately agreed to the condition of splitting the profits. According to this condition, now that the coal mine has produced output, half of the income from selling coal should be given to Su Hao.
However, Xiao Ruxun was extremely short of funds and was waiting for the money to replace the outdated weapons in the hands of military households, so he had to postpone the matter of dividends to Su Hao.
Su Hao is not a money-grubbing person. He agreed to the share ratio proposed by Xiao Ruxun just because he didn't want Xiao Ruxun to have a psychological burden. Based on his inner thoughts, it didn't matter even if he didn't take a penny. After all, Xiao Ruxun
This money is also used for national defense construction.
"Brother Xiao, I have an idea. In addition to repairing weapons with the income from selling coal, if you have any savings, can you buy some food and provide subsidies to military households? People can only fight when they have enough to eat." Su Hao said.
"No problem, I'll just leave this matter to Liang Feng." Xiao Ruxun agreed.
"One more thing. In a few days, someone will send a batch of supplies to our department from the capital. Along with them, there will be some craftsmen. I want to build a temporary workshop in Pinglu City and make some utensils. Can the eldest brother
Provide a suitable venue for the younger brother?" Su Hao said.
Xiao Ruxun's face sank and he said: "In other words, aren't you just slapping my elder brother in the face by saying this? You can decide what happens in Pinglu City. You can decide which place you want, as long as it's not the house of a military family."
, just take it and use it. Besides, even if there are already people living there, if you tell them to move immediately, they will have no problem. More than a thousand military households in Pinglu City can live a warm life this year
The winter of peace is all a result of war and reform. Who among them dares to barge with you?"
"How dare I, little brother." Su Hao said with a smile, "Little brother, just an unused barracks is enough." (To be continued.)