Nanming Engineer

Chapter 75

Wang Huan said leisurely: "From my point of view, a small official has an extraordinary face and a strong hand, so he must be a descendant of a famous family. In this Kuizhou mansion, how many people dare to be called a famous family? Only I, General Fubo of the Han Dynasty, the descendant of Ma Yuan, Shizhu hereditary consolation A thousand horses ride a door, so I boldly speculate that the small official must be Ma Wannian, the son of the Ming Hussar General Ma Xianglin."

Ma Wannian was surprised immediately, and then laughed loudly: "Sure enough, it is Xiao Zhuge. Uncle Li Tingyu didn't talk nonsense. I didn't believe it just now, but now I believe it."

Wang Huan said modestly: "Young Master Ma is absurd."

Although Ma Wannian is not very old, he is very similar to his father Ma Xianglin, with a straightforward temperament. When talking about Li Tingyu, he immediately said sadly: "It's a pity that Uncle Li sacrificed his life for righteousness in the Dabie Mountains. I will never see him again."

Wang Huan and the others felt sad when they heard the words, and were about to bow their heads together, but Ma Wannian became happy again: "However, it is Shizhu's luck that Wang Shenshi came to Shizhu safely. Grandmother heard that the counselor will be here today, so she ordered me to Wait here, let's not delay here, just follow me."

Ma Wannian's emotions changed a lot, and Wang Huan couldn't keep up with him, but he was happy when he heard that his grandmother had sent him here. Who was Ma Wannian's grandmother?It's Qin Liangyu, the current Shizhu Consolation Envoy, the wife of the second rank imperial order, the chief military officer of the SC, one of the bright stars in the late Ming Dynasty, she actually asked her grandson to welcome her at the pier, she was a little flattered by the treatment .

So Wang Huan and others hurriedly followed Ma Wannian ashore. As soon as they arrived at the pier, the crowd standing on the pier fell to their knees and shouted: "Thank you, Mr. Wang, for saving my son. Township!"

The shouts were overwhelming, and several elderly people, supported by their families, staggered forward and kowtowed to Wang Huan to thank Wang Huan. How could Wang Huan receive such a great gift? Sha Wang is happy."

Ma Wannian said solemnly at the side: "These are the families of soldiers you brought back from Yangzhou. They thought their relatives had died in other places, but they didn't expect that there would be a day to see them again. They are inexplicably grateful for your kindness. Said you were coming, and came here after walking dozens of miles in the morning."

Seeing this scene, Zu Bian was very moved, and said to Wang Huan: "The world is difficult and dangerous, but the folk customs of Shizhu people are so simple, it is really rare."

Wang Huan nodded repeatedly, clasped his fists and raised his hands to the people on the floor, and kept shouting: "If you don't dare to take it seriously, please get up quickly."

People stood up, thanking each other continuously, and sincerely expressing their gratitude in plain language. This kind of passionate tears made Wang Huan truly feel that he had done a good deed. Even Xu Goudan and Chen Ergou behind him He also puffed up his chest, as if he had become an adult at this moment.

Ma Wannian's subordinates opened the way and led Wang Huan and others to the streets of the town. Horses were already ready. Ma Wannian was worried that Wang Huan and the other three would not be able to ride horses, so he thoughtfully called a two-wheeled carriage for the three of Wang Huan to sit on. On the morning, I and Zu Bian and others rode together, and a group of people entered the town, and the people behind still followed, shouting words like "Thank you, king, for your consultation".

Xituo Town is not big, just a small street, and the horse-drawn carriage passed through the town in no time and drove onto the official road. The stone pillars are located in a remote place, so the official road cannot compare with Wuchang Road and Jingzhou Road. Much narrower and rougher, all dirt roads, no more than five feet wide, barely enough for a carriage to pass, the road is densely covered with ruts and potholes, sitting in a carriage is much more uncomfortable than riding a horse, shaking Wang Huan and the three of them like sitting in a cradle Wang Huan swayed back and forth like a pendulum, almost vomiting from motion sickness, so he quickly opened the curtains to look at the scenery outside the car.

I saw the carriage galloping among the high mountains, and as far as I could see, there were mountains and slopes everywhere, high mountains and deep fields.Occasionally, I saw a flat land in the mountains, where houses were gathered to form a village.On the hillside, there are terraced fields with rice and wheat fields. Looking around, the mountain is covered with layers of fields. Many farmers help plows to drive cattle, and hoe and rake are busy in the fields. The terraces follow the mountain. , into several upper and lower floors, the top of the people on the lower floor is the heels of the people on the upper floor, the construction is wonderful and incredible.

However, although the terraced fields are good, they are limited to the scarcity of flat land and have to be done. Due to the soil fertility, the grain yields grown on them are not high. The good fields in the south of the Yangtze River can produce about two stones per mu, while the terraced fields can only produce one stone per mu.

The farmers and women in the fields are all dressed in sackcloth, and the villages are mostly thatched huts, with few brick houses and tile buildings. Compared with the provinces that Wang Huan passed through all the way back from Yangzhou, although they are vibrant, they are much poorer and more miserable. .

Chen Ergou and Xu Goudan grew up in the south of the Yangtze River. Where have they seen such a wonderful field structure? They opened their eyes wide and praised, and couldn't stop looking at it in novelty.As for Wang Huan, who came from a later generation, he had seen terraced fields before, so it was not surprising. He just sighed in his heart and felt that what Li Tingyu said before was true. The stone pillars are located in a mountainous area, with inconvenient transportation. It is not the foundation of the talented and bold.

However, people in this era only know one thing, not the other, but most of the mountainous areas are rich in mineral veins, and the underground wealth is as much as hundreds of millions.It is only limited to prospecting methods, and many precious metal veins are buried deep underground and are not known.

But Wang Huan knew exactly where there were gold mines, silver mines, iron mines, and lime mines in these mountains. This was why he was so confident that he could go deep in the mountains Important reasons for getting rich.

During the Wanli period, the imperial court sent mine supervisors all over the world. In fact, it was an idea to find income from the underground. Unfortunately, those mine supervisors were greedy and incompetent people. Seeing Jinshan crying poor, wasting huge natural wealth in vain.

Wang Huan looked at the mountains outside the car, thinking about his future plans. Before he knew it, the car had traveled a long way. After turning around the hills, Shizhu County, which was located at the bottom of the valley among the mountains, was exposed.

I thought the Xuanweisi yamen was in the county seat, but when I arrived, I realized that Shizhu County had no city walls, and the entire county was built directly on the flat land at the bottom of the valley. From the mountain road, the houses in the city were low, and there seemed to be no particularly tall and spacious buildings. architecture.

Ma Wannian rode his horse's head to lead the way, and did not enter the city with the carriage. He turned a corner on the official road, followed an uphill road, and ran up a mountain road next to the city.

The mountain road was winding, but it could still accommodate a horse-drawn carriage, and the road had to be leveled. After a while, the carriage stopped in front of a cottage gatehouse.

"Here we are, Wang Shenyi, this is the chieftain city where my grandmother lived." Ma Wannian jumped off the horse, and took Wang Huan out of the carriage with a smile.

The three of Wang Huan felt that their bones were falling apart, and climbed out of the carriage tremblingly. Just as they stood firm, their eyes lit up, and they couldn't help exclaiming: "What a magnificent gatehouse!"

There is a big gate tower in front of you, towering majesticly, with tall walls on both sides, stretching out.The gate tower is made of wood, more than eight feet high and four feet wide, tall and magnificent, larger than the gates of many big castles and giant castles. The gate tower is hollowed out and carved with cornices and corners. It is magnificent and magnificent. There are more than ten large flags on the walls on both sides. , the "Qin" character embroidered on it is extremely huge, and only this one place undoubtedly reveals the majesty of the Shizhu Xuanweishi.

Zu Bian also felt the majesty, and couldn't help praising in a low voice: "This chieftain city is even more magnificent than the gate of my Shenyang city in Liaodong."

Ma Wannian heard this, and proudly said: "My grandmother was a soldier all her life, and received countless awards from the court. A few years ago, the emperor specially ordered to establish this chieftain city as a hereditary yamen for the comfort envoy. Our soldiers and people in Shizhu are all proud of it."

He led a few people through the gatehouse, bypassed the screen wall, passed through the square in front of the hall, and arrived in front of the hall of the Xuanwei Commissioner. Along the way, there were countless soldiers in leather armor, each with their chests and bellies raised, their eyes fixed on each other. Looking like a warrior, Ma Wannian also changed his grinning expression to a solemn face, and shouted loudly to the hall: "The counselor Wang Huan and his party under Li Tingyu's account have arrived!"

Going up the stone steps in front of the hall, Wang Huan came to the lobby. The lobby is spacious and supported by several giant pillars surrounded by one person. In the center, a huge calligraphy of the word "tiger" hangs on the wall. , it seemed that there was a stern tiger spirit rushing towards his face.On both sides of the hall, there are several high-ranking chairs, and there is one person sitting in the first place on the left and right, but Wang Huan didn't pay attention to them at all. His attention was all focused on the grand master's chair sitting under the word "Tiger". Don't get angry at the old man who is arrogant.

She is Qin Liangyu.

(End of this chapter)