Anti-Qing: Starting from the Reincarnation of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 12 Private Mine
After Butler Niu entered the study, he walked to Master Yang in small steps, leaned over and whispered to clarify the matter.

"Master Qi, our people have investigated the specific situation clearly. The group of people crossing the border from outside the town today are not refugees, but a group of braidless rebels."

"How to deal with this matter, I leave it to you to decide."

After hearing this, Mr. Yang couldn't sit still anymore. He got up from the desk and started walking around in the study.

After a while, Mr. Yang raised his head and said.

"We must find a way to deal with the rebel before this matter alerts the court."

"Otherwise, when the imperial army arrives at Jintian, my Yang family's private mines in Zijing Mountain will no longer be able to be hidden."

The Yang family now controls a small half of the land in Jintian Town.

But although land is more stable, the rate of return is not high.

Therefore, the most important source of profit for the Yang family now is actually several private mines in Bauhinia Mountain.

Jintian Town is backed by Zijing Mountain and close to the Qianjiang River. The Yang family can smuggle iron materials produced from the private mines in Zijing Mountain to Guangdong through the Qianjiang River waterway every month, thereby making a lot of money.

His eldest son's official career as an official was earned from the private mines in Bauhinia Mountain.

If he had only relied on the income from rent collection on the land, his son would probably still be waiting in the capital.

If the imperial court discovers the Yang family's private mine in the mountains, things will be in trouble.

You know, his third son is still preparing for the imperial examination. After the imperial examination, he will inevitably need to pay a large amount of official capital before he can be released to other places.

The private mine was seized, which is something Mr. Yang absolutely cannot accept.

After hearing this, Butler Niu asked.

"What do you mean, my lord?"

Mr. Yang took a deep breath and spoke.

"Go and invite the leaders of the villages in the town to come to the house to discuss matters."

"We, the gentry, have been favored by the Qing Dynasty. Now that there are rebels in the local area, it is time for us, the gentry, to contribute money and efforts, organize regiment training, put down the bandits, and serve the Qing Dynasty."

"How can you sit back and watch the bandits grow bigger and wreak havoc on the place?"

"Since the imperial court has no spare power to send out troops to suppress the thieves, we can just wait for the gentry to spend money and effort to suppress them."

Mr. Yang's thinking is very clear and clear.

Since the rebels would attract the imperial army, and the imperial army would expose their private mines, wouldn't it be enough for them to keep the Zijing Mountains free of rebels?

The idea is simple and crude, but absolutely effective.

Anyway, according to the reports, the rebel thief doesn't have many people, and it's only a few hundred people larger than the sky.

And the Yang family can easily bring hundreds of people out to fight with the Hakka people in Jintian Town.

With the Yang family's appeal in Jintian Town, wouldn't it be easy to suppress the rebel?
Upon hearing this, Butler Niu praised the master for his wisdom, then turned around and went out to arrange for people to invite the chiefs of each village to come to Yang's house to discuss matters.

……

Bauhinia Mountain!
The mountains are steep and the paths are winding.

The Ming army walked for more than half a day, and then found a valley in the mountains to settle down.

While Zhu Jingan ordered his men to prepare to bury pots to make rice, he asked Han Sigu to send out some servants as spies to investigate the surroundings of the valley and find out the way forward.

Zhu Jingan ran to help Zhu Guochang sit on a large bluestone to rest.

The big sun above his head shed a patch of light through the gaps in the leaves. Zhu Guochang picked up a fan to fan himself.

He was sweating profusely and looked a little embarrassed.

Zhu Jingan handed a kettle to his father, and then said.

"Father, drink water!"

Zhu Guochang was not polite, took the kettle and drank.

At the same time, the soldiers of the Ming Army collapsed on the ground and began to rest.

Soon, the aroma of rice filled the air.

Zhu Jingan looked around and said to Zhu Guochang. "Father, please rest first. I'll go see my mother and sister."

Zhu Guochang nodded in agreement, and then spoke.

"Go quickly, we men can't withstand this continuous march, let alone their women."

"You might as well go take care of it."

Zhu Guochang was also a romantic when he was young.

Moreover, when he was young and had not gained weight in middle age, he looked like a handsome young man. In addition, he was not short of money, so he had several concubines around him.

If there are more wives and concubines, there will naturally be more children.

In addition to Zhu Jingan, the eldest son, Zhu Guochang also has two sons and two daughters.

Among them, the youngest daughter is also born to the first wife. Her name is Zhu Xueya and her baby name is Yaya. She is only 11 years old this year.

The remaining two sons and one daughter were all born from concubines, and their status was naturally inferior to that of legitimate sons.

The distinction between concubines and concubines in ancient China is like clouds and mud, which is not just talk.

This time Zhu Guochang raised his flag to rebel, so he would naturally take his family with him to take care of and protect him.

When Zhu Jingan heard this, he nodded and left.

Not long after, Zhu Jingan returned to Zhu Guochang and spoke.

"My mother and sister are fine now, they just need to rest."

"Now that our army has entered the mountains and has temporarily avoided the threat of the Manchu and Qing court, it is time to start looking for a suitable foothold for repairs and training."

Zhu Guochang nodded in approval.

Then he turned around and asked Wang Shundao on the side.

"Wang Chief Assistant, how much food and grass does our army have now?"

Wang Shun heard this, thought for a while and nodded.

"Our army currently has about 700 shi of food and grass. Based on the current consumption rate, we can last for a month at most."

Hearing this, Zhu Guochang nodded and asked again.

"How much money is left in the account?"

Wang Shun heard this and spoke.

"If I go back to the prison country, I will still have more than 400 taels of money."

These more than 400 taels of silver were the military expenditures Zhu Guochang had accumulated over the years to fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, there were originally more than 1 taels, but after raising the flag to rebel and spending all kinds of money, now there are only more than 400 taels left.

Zhu Guochang nodded slightly and pondered.

At this moment, Han Sigu jogged over to report.

"I would like to report to the Supervisor, Your Highness the Crown Prince, that our army's Ye Bushou discovered a private mine five miles ahead."

"There are 20 supervisors and more than [-] slave workers in the private mine. The scale is quite large. It seems that the mine is owned by the Yang family in Jintian Town."

The Yang family, which has children serving as officials, is not only a prominent family in Jintian Town, but also a well-known family in the entire Wuxuan County.

The head of the Yang family is a person who can be treated as a guest by the county magistrate and treat him as an equal.

Han Sigu had been a servant in Zhujiazhuang for so many years, so he must have some knowledge of the Yang family in the same county.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Guochang asked his son.

"My son, do we want to avoid that private mine?"

Zhu Jingan shook his head when he heard this.

"Don't go around!"

"Because, the best choice before me, Ming, is to build that private mine."

(End of this chapter)