Chapter 561 558 [Miner]
"Benxi Lake is built in the county, and Weining Camp is built in the city. There are 30,000 guards in Kaiyuan, and a city of 100 households in the iron field."
In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty established 30,000 guards in Kaiyuan and recruited a large number of Jurchen people nearby. Although Kaiyuan's grain output was only enough for its own use, the iron smelting industry prospered rapidly, and the weapons manufacturing tasks arranged by the imperial court became increasingly heavy.
Kaiyuan's weapons factory soon ran out of raw materials, so an iron factory was set up in Weining Camp to provide Kaiyuan with wrought iron materials.
The iron factory was located next to Weining Yingcheng, and was garrisoned by a hundred households with troops, and a small town was also built specifically.
As for Benxi Lake, it was originally called Cup Rhinoceros Lake, named after its shape resembling a rhinoceros horn cup. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Benxi County was established. The county seat was set at the edge of Benxi Lake, about ten miles away from Weining Camp.
Hearing that Weining Camp was besieged, why did Daishan rush to lead troops to return for reinforcements?
Because as early as the Jiajing period, the iron output of Weiningying Iron Works accounted for one-seventh of the entire Liaodong.
And 150 miles due east of Weining Camp, which is Pingdingshan Town in Xinbin County, is the main gold mining area of the Tatars!
In addition, Xiaosiping Village in Xinbin County has an arsenal established during the Nurhaci period. "Siping" is a Manchu transliteration, meaning "arrow shaft" and is the arrow shaft production base of the Eight Banners Army.
Once Weining Camp is lost, the iron field will definitely be gone. Gold mines and arsenals will also be threatened by the Datong Army.
Daishan had enough reasons to return to his army, and Dorgon could not stop him at all.
Li Laixiang was like a dog-legger and came to see Lu Xiangsheng all day long: "General Lu, the iron smelting plant in Weining Camp was not built in Baihu City, but in Mingshan Valley and Ant Valley on the north bank. When the heavenly troops are coming, the Tartars The emperor moved all the iron smelting craftsmen into Weining Yingcheng and Baihu City. But not a single miner in the ravine was taken away, probably because he was afraid that the Han miners would cause trouble in the city."
"Are all the miners Han?" Lu Xiangsheng asked.
Li Laixiang replied: "Ten years ago, all the miners were Han. But now, 40% are Han and 60% are Korean. Most of the earlier Han miners...have died, and the Tatars can only kidnap Koreans to mine."
After Lu Xiangsheng got the exact news, he immediately ordered his troops to cross the river and go to Mingshangou and Antgou to appease the miners.
Mingshangou has the largest number of miners, and the iron-smelting fires can illuminate the ravine until it is bright at night. This is the origin of the place name "Mingshangou".
Li Kun was a miner in Mingshangou. His father was an officer in Baihu City and belonged to the permanent military household of the Weining Camp of Kaiyuan's 30,000 Guards. After Li Kun's father was captured, he was thrown into mining in Mingshan Valley, and his family moved to farm near Mingshan Valley.
His father, eldest brother and second brother died of exhaustion in the mine one after another. Li Kun took over the job at the age of fifteen and has been mining for three years now.
"Brother Li San, why are all the Tatar supervisors gone?" Yan Hong asked early in the morning.
Li Kun was also puzzled: "I'm afraid something serious has happened."
There is no sun or moon in the mountains. They don't even know that the Ming Dynasty has been destroyed.
The whole families of these miners live in the mines, and they are not even allowed to come into contact with the iron smelting plants in the valleys. Every year people try to escape, but most are caught and their bodies are hung to dry on wooden poles in the mines.
"How about going to the ravine to have a look?"
"No, no, if the Tatars find out, at least they will be whipped."
"There seemed to be no fire in the ravine last night. The iron was no longer smelted. Something big must have happened. Could it be that the emperor (Chongzhen) sent troops to kill him?"
"If the imperial army could come, they would have arrived long ago. Do they still need it now?"
"Counting the years, it should be the eighteenth year of Chongzhen, right?"
"It was the eighteenth year of Chongzhen. I started mining in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen."
"..."
Inside the mine, there are also some hillsides that can be cultivated and are allocated to the families of the earliest miners. The harvested food is definitely not enough to eat, so there is no need to pay food, and the people make a living purely by mining. Tatars regularly send supplies such as rice and salt.
The miners who followed were even worse off, as they were all kidnapped from Guan Nei and North Korea.
Li Kun frowned and walked to the mountain col, observing the situation of the Shangou Iron Smelting Plant intently. There was no smoke, and the iron smelting furnace was obviously turned off. What happened?
Their information about the outside world comes from North Korean miners who were added two years ago.
They say the Tatars are at war with the Datong Army.
No matter how detailed the inquiry was, the North Korean miners could not explain. All we know is that the Datong Army is a Han army, and there seems to be an Emperor of Datong who appears from nowhere.
"I'll go down the mountain and have a look." Li Kun said to Yan Hong.
"You don't want your life?" Yan Hong asked in shock.
Li Kun showed a sad smile: "Both my father and brother died in the mines, and my mother also died of illness last winter. There is no one in the family anymore. It doesn't matter if they are caught and killed, the whole family can still be reunited under Jiuquan."
Yan Hong gritted his teeth and said, "I'll go with you. Anyway, now that we have no worries, we might be able to take the opportunity to escape."
Both of them are children of local military families. They were not even born when the Tatars occupied this place.
As long as they can remember, they have never seen the outside world. When they were young, they followed their mother to farm on the hillside. Once they reach adulthood, the male members of the family go mining and wait for the day when they die from exhaustion and illness.
Li Kun hated the Tatars very much, but he had no sense of belonging to the Ming Dynasty.
He only knew from his parents' words that he was Han, and that there was a Han court in Beijing called the Ming Dynasty. Where is Beijing? Li Kun didn't know.
Some Han people in the pass were also taken captive by the Tatars to work as miners.
These miners told Li Kun that Beijing was the largest city in the world and the city walls were so tall and large that the Tatars could never break through.
But in recent years, no Han miners have been replenished. They are all miners from North Korea. News about the Ming Dynasty has been completely cut off.
After walking down the hillside for about half an hour, Li Kun and Yan Hong finally arrived at the ravine.
There are iron smelting kilns built here and there, but they are empty now, and all the wrought iron has been transported away, leaving only a lot of iron ore that has not yet been smelted.
"Ta-ta-ta-ta!"
The sound of hoofbeats came from hundreds of majestic cavalry.
The two were so frightened that they hid quickly.
Yan Hong looked at the horses of the cavalry and asked curiously: "Are those animals horses?"
Li Kun guessed: "It must be a horse. My father said that horses can be ridden in battles and are bigger than mules in the mines."
At this moment, the cavalry began to shout: "Are there any Han Chinese? We are the Datong Army, and we are here to save you!"
Lin Zhidong finished riding his horse in Mingshan Valley and frowned: "There are no ghosts in the ditch. Let's go and have a look at the mining area on the mountain."
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw two savages running towards him.
He was really a savage, with unkempt hair and ragged clothes. He hadn't washed his hair or face in months.
"Li Kun, a son of thirty thousand guardsmen, pays homage to General Ming Dynasty!"
Li Kun knelt on the ground and shouted, which was what his mother taught him before she was alive. When the officers and soldiers came, they knelt down and kowtowed to them, begging the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers to take them away.
Lin Zhidong reined in his horse and asked, "Are you all Han?"
Li Kun said: "I can recite the Three-Character Classic. My mother said that if I can recite the Three-Character Classic, I will be Han. I will not be accidentally killed when the army comes."
Looking at the two savage-like Han people, Lin Zhidong couldn't help but feel pity and said: "Lead the way up the mountain and rescue all the Han and Korean people in the mine. I'll go to the camp and boil water for you to bathe. After you eat enough, you will be healthy." Body."
There are probably more than 1,000 miners and dozens of miners' families in the mines near Mingshangou.
They didn't care whether the coming army was Ming Dynasty, Qing Dynasty or Datong. Anyway, they followed them very obediently. The brave ones will either escape successfully or be caught and hanged, while the rest will choose to live cowardly and humble lives.
Li Kun followed the dragoons out of the ravine and soon saw Baihu City, right next to Weining Camp City.
Li Kun whispered excitedly to Yan Hong: "My mother said that there is a small town next to the big city, and the small town is our home. Yan Er, we are going home, we are going home!"
"Yes, I'm home." Yan Hong had tears in his eyes. His mother died young, dying of illness and starvation more than ten years ago, but he still remembers her description of home.
The Datong Army had camps on both sides of the Taizi River.
The camp on the north bank is near Baihu City. The intention was obvious, which was to capture Baihu City first, and then attack Weiningying City, which was high in the city and deep in the pond.
Li Kun and other miners were taken to the North Bank military camp and placed in a corner.
A farmer came over and set up a pot to boil water for them, and everyone had to line up to take a bath.
To be honest, Lu Xiangsheng's military rations are almost running out.
Because the supply line was too long, food had to be transported from the Yalu River all the way from the mountains to Benxi. The civilians ate more food along the way than was actually transported to the military camp!
Rich traitor families like Qiao Ma Li could not provide much food because they had long been conquered by the Manchus.
Fortunately, we broke through the pass fortresses along the way and captured a lot of grain and livestock, otherwise Lu Xiangsheng would have been out of food by this time. Even so, Lu Xiangsheng's military rations can only last two more months.
If the city cannot be breached within two months, Lu Xiangsheng's army will have to go back hungry.
Despite the shortage of military rations, Lu Xiangsheng still distributed food to the miners. Moreover, regardless of whether they are Han miners or Korean miners, they are all given food.
Li Kun washed his body and got another set of clothes. He heard that they belonged to Datong soldiers.
He soon smelled the aroma of food and couldn't help but swallow his saliva. Then he heard someone shouting: "Get dressed and go queue up for porridge!"
The porridge is made from various grains, such as sorghum, which was captured in Phoenix.
There is some salt in the porridge, and it smells like oil. It was an animal carrying grain. It was injured after falling in the mountains and killed. The fat was thrown into the pot and cooked together with the porridge.
No vegetables, but a bowl of pine needle tea.
Just boil water with pine needles and drink it, which can supplement vitamins and treat night blindness.
Li Kun ate extremely simple food, but was moved to tears. There are clothes to wear and delicious food here. It's a pity that my mother died of illness last winter, otherwise she would have enjoyed such a good life.
Those responsible for managing the miners were peasant and soldier cadres who accompanied the army.
After Li Kun finished a bowl of porridge, he ran over and knelt down to the peasant and soldier commander: "I want to be a soldier, and I want to fight with you!"
The peasant and soldier officer smiled and asked: "You have just eaten enough, why are you thinking about going to war?"
"The Datong Army is good to me, but the Tatars are not good to me. I will follow the Datong Army to kill the Tatars!" Li Kun already knew the name of this army.