Anyuan Station not only has a cave, but also not far from the post station, standing in front of the post gate and looking up, you can see the hole exposed in the depths of the mountain forest. In this location, the temperature is cool and in the mountains, and the underground water source is very developed, which means that it is a good karst cave. In a good karst cave, there will be no shortage of natural resources, and under the accumulation of thousands of years, there will be no shortage of nitrate.

Then the problem comes - Chen Mu casually explained to An Yuan's post guard that he would set up cards along the main road in the future, and all he thought about was how he should take people up.

It is a good karst cave, but it is located on the mountain, but there is a mountain road, but the karst cave is more than ten meters higher than the mountain road roughly.

It is not easy to climb up alone, and water is needed to filter or boil nitrate. The water in the cave must not be easy to collect, not to mention whether it is enough or not, so it is necessary to carry it from the bottom of the mountain to the cave, which is a troublesome matter.

Although Chen Mu had thought about these ancient methods before he started, knowing that it was one thing, and doing it was another, it was only when he was really ready to take action that he really realized that he still imagined things too easily.

Where in the world is it so easy?

Anyuan Station is not a small pavilion on the side of the road as Chen Mu imagined, but a huge group of houses covering an area of several acres, with dozens of houses within the high walls, as well as granaries, stables, donkeys, cattle and pigsties; There are more than ten people such as post guards, soap officials, cooks, grooms, porters, sedan chair drivers, and boatmen.

The earliest post stations in the Ming Dynasty were only used for military intelligence and state affairs, but just like the original good health centers, leaky gardens, nursing homes, Huimin pharmacies and other institutions, a system will have problems over time. Today's post station has become a place for officials and their relatives and friends to enjoy along the way, and it is necessary to have a local chief officer's guard, and the visitors and their servants can enjoy a full range of care such as clothing, food, housing and transportation free of charge.

Qingyuanwei is located in a remote area, but Lianzhou and other counties lead to Guangzhou, there are not many pedestrians, but if it is in the prosperous Yangzhou, a post station can send servants can be hundreds of people, and the cost of the post station depends on the local county government subsidies, a post station in Yangzhou supports grain and rice 100 stones a day, and the luxury can be imagined. Over time, the post station became a place that brought huge costs to the local area, and in fact, the reform was bound to be implemented long ago.

Later, the post guard Huang Laier was dismissed because of the post station and became Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang.

However, these things have been accumulated for a long time, and it is not Chen Mu's business, he is a unique military family that no one cares about when he dies, and eating enough to live a good life is a problem that needs to be solved urgently, and the national policy is still handed over to those scholars in the temple to take care of first.

Let the post guard lead them to look at the temporary house and put down the salute, there are five of them, even if Zheng Cong comes, there are only six people, the guest rooms of the post station are very large, they rejected the idea of the post guard wanting to arrange six rooms for them, only take a big room and let the servants buy a few more beds, and then Chen Mu asked the post guard to support them in the affairs required to guard the post station, and he only then understood why Shao Tingda and they said that this was a good errand.

"Back to the military master, the only way to go west is to fly to the gorge bridge and a road on the water, every day the boatman travels on the river, the sedan chair porter and the horseman each bring a sedan chair and a carriage and horses to attract visitors by the bridge, the military master only needs to assign a military household to set up a card on the side of the bridge to guard against bandits, and rotate day and night." The post man said with a smile on his face: "But if there is a surplus under the military master's banner, it is best to send one more person, and the people in the post will come back to rest at night, so that the military household on duty at night can have a companion." ”

Although the post guard is not an official without rank, he is just a soap officer, but his status is not high but not low, from his words, Chen Mu can hear that he has no respect for military households, and he is only called a military master to himself. What the post keeper did was to usher in the work of receiving dignitaries and nobles, and it was a must to observe the words and looks, Chen Mu nodded and smiled, and then the post man smiled and said that he asked the cook to prepare a meal for them, and slowly retreated.

"Tut-tut!" As soon as the post guard closed the door and left, Shao Tingda shook his arms and looked left and right in the room, and his mouth kept making strange envious sounds, turned his head and sat on the bed and kept patting the bed board and mattress with his hands, and said to Chen Mu: "My baby!" Brother Mu, look, the house in this post station is better than our nest! ”

In all fairness, although the furnishings of the inn are simple, there are good interior furnishings, and although the winter moon is not as cold as the north, the charcoal basin is also full of charcoal waiting for guests to take it at will, not to mention the clean house and sturdy bed boards.

Chen Mu sat on the edge of the bed and lay down, pillowing his arms and couldn't help but sigh: "Finally, I don't have to be tortured by the broken bed at home anymore - is Lao Tzu stupid!" ”

As soon as he lay down, Chen Xiaoqi sat up violently as if he had been electrocuted, patted his legs and said, "Lao Tzu has silver!" Is there a carpenter in Qingyuan City who can make beds, tables and cabinets? ”

Anyway, Qingyuan is also a county seat, and Chen Xiaoqi can't help but look down on people too much. Chen Mu's big action startled several flags in the house, who knew that he would say this, Wei Balang, who had just scooped a scoop of water, looked at the water stains splashed on the ground and said that it was a pity, Shao Tingda said: "There is it on Phoenix Street, Brother Mu, I will book with you when the time comes!" ”

Walking for half a day, the flags were very tired, and they sat or lay on the ground to rest for a while, but Chen Mu came on horseback without being tired, and looked at the cave on the mountain wall outside the post station for a long time.

Although the meals prepared for them by the post house were not as delicate and delicious as those made by the store in Guangzhou Prefecture, the portion was enough, and there was no shortage of Tommy, which made Shao Tingda and several other military households addicted, and even Chen Mu looked at the post guard with a little good feeling. Anyuan Post Station changes guards three times a year, and the post guards treat them like this, and even some military households will be allowed to put forward some requirements for post guards such as riding stagecoaches, which is not without reason.

In the eyes of the post guards, the military households are also divided into three, six, nine and so on, and those who can be on duty at the post station are undoubtedly the most outstanding group of military households. The military households who go to the land to cultivate the fields are naturally treated the least and have the lowest status; The top ones are on duty in the city, because they have the opportunity to practice a little idle, and it is impossible to defend the enemy, but it is difficult to guarantee that they can catch a thief at the city gate to make some meritorious deeds; Above them, it is the military households who can go to Anyuan in the southwest or Qingyuan Post Station in the northeast to guard it, they are leisurely, can practice, and can intercept thieves for meritorious service.

The post guards who ushered in the delivery know this best, even if they can look down on the military households in their hearts, they must be entertained properly in terms of rations and accommodation, and guard the Qingyuan Guard, if they can not offend the officers, they will not offend the officers, who knows if they will be used in the future? Anyway, the food in the post station is all from Guangzhou, and he is not distressed!

After eating, Chen Mu borrowed a stagecoach and sent Shiqi to take Fu Yuan to lead the horse to patrol by the Feishui Bridge, just learning to ride a horse and hurry, so that they would not be too idle; He himself took Shao Tingda and Wei Balang, took two axes from the post house, went outside and picked a few trees for Shao Tingda to cut, Shao Tingda was naturally puzzled, Chen Mu pointed to the cave and said: "I want to go up, go up and ask for a ladder, so you cut down the tree." ”

Note: The earliest karst cave nitrate production is recorded in the "Ming Dynasty Unification Chronicles" Golden Cave Nitrate Refining Field, which is dug by the local Tusi and boiled nitrate, with more than 120 existing mining and nitrate refining relics, and 218 nitrate pits, with a total area of about 200,000 square meters. It is the earliest recorded gunpowder site in China and the largest in the world. The hole that Chen Mu found was small, and there was less nitrate that could be boiled.