From the Central Plains to the Jingxiang area in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, there are three avenues. It passes through Lushan Pass in the west, Luoyang County in the north, and Nanyang County in the south. The key pass of this avenue is Sanyakou, which runs through the mountains for dozens of miles, and the mountain road is rugged. In the era when Luoyang was the national capital, this road was particularly important. The middle one passes through Fangcheng Pass, Yexian in the north, Fangcheng in the south, and passes through Dengzhou to Xiangzhou. Fangcheng Pass is wide and flat, surrounded by low mountains and hills, which is a north-south avenue. Yexian to the west through Ruzhou through the Longmen, can go to Luoyang City, to the north through Xiangcheng to Xuzhou, there is a road through Bianliang, to the east through Yuncheng can go to Chenzhou, the road extends in all directions. The eastern route passed through the Xinyang Army to Ezhou and the Hanyang Army, which was the Wuhan area in later generations.

These three avenues, affected by the changes in the status of the north and south ends in the country, have different degrees of prosperity in each period. At the earliest, Luoyang and Jingzhou played a pivotal role in the country, and the Lushanguan Road was particularly important. With the decline of the status of Luoyang in the north, the center of gravity shifted to Kaifeng Prefecture, and the status of Jingzhou in the south was slowly replaced by Xiangzhou, and the Fangcheng Pass on the middle line became the main road of north-south traffic. In later generations, Yunmengze disappeared, the status of Ezhou and Hanyang rose, coupled with the further eastward movement of the national capital, the status of the road from Xinyang to Wuhan rose, and it became a road connecting the north and the south.

At this time, the Jinghu area was widely swamped, with a large number of barbarians living there, and the degree of development was insufficient, and the middle line of the North-South Expressway was the most important. Ye County is in the key position of this avenue, and the geographical location is very important.

At the hottest time of the year, Du Zhongxiao and Su Song went to Ye County and handed over the affairs of Qingtai Town to Master Cui.

Li Binghe, the magistrate of the county, and Liu Zhuo, the chief bookkeeper, welcomed the two into the city, and sat down in the yamen.

After asking about the hardships, Du Zhongxiao said: "The imperial court has already made the will to use the land of Yexian as an iron prison, but everything has not been prepared and delayed. This time, Master Su and I came here to see how the iron supervisor was prepared, and we should not delay it for a long time. ”

Li Bingdao: "The judgment came just in time. There are iron mines here, and the news that the imperial court is going to set up an iron supervisor has spread, and there have been many incidents in the past few months. I'm a lowly official, and the county has few people, so it's inconvenient to deal with it-"

Du Zhongxiao said: "In the past few months, there are not many people who have come here to camp and farm, and there are many disputes with the local government?" ”

Li Bing hurriedly said: "Back to the judgment, there is no dispute between the camp and the local government. However, when the local big households heard that the mining and metallurgy were profitable, many of them moved to places with mines and occupied land one after another. There are all mountainous areas, there are no families, how many years of household registration has not been repaired, the land deed is scattered, it is difficult to distinguish the true from the fake. There was a lot of controversy over where to choose a place to build iron smelting. The county did not dare to make a decision, so it was delayed. ”

Du Zhongxiao listened to it and smiled slightly: "The mountains, forests and grasses are owned by the Son of Heaven." They dare to take possession, but they are not small. ”

Li Bing sighed and said, "That being said, the area is full of dirt and mountains, and it's not that you can't cultivate the fields. Those big families went to the mountains to identify the place, saying where their ancestors had cultivated the fields, where they had herded silkworms, and some even pretended to be their former residences to identify ancient tombs, where they could tell clearly. ”

The separate supervision shows that the iron ore in this area is not small, and there is 500,000 yuan of capital allocated by the inner treasury, which is a big piece of fat, and it is desirable to compete for it in the local area. If you want to mine and smelt iron, you have to occupy an area, and if you occupy an area, you have to demolish and relocate.

At this time, the expropriation of civil land is also to be compensated, and even the expansion of the palace has been made yellow because the compensation is too high, not to mention the construction of the iron prison. However, in the countryside, it is too bold to dare to slander the fields in such a blatant name.

After listening to Li Bingda's brief description of the situation in the area of the iron mine, Du Zhongxiao asked again: "It is not easy to open an iron mine, so what about the coal mine?" ”

Li Bingdao: "It's okay in the coal mine, there are a lot of mine seedlings in the area of Ziyun Mountain, and they occupy it here, and the villagers go to other places to pick it." ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "That's fine." It's hot now, and it's still a few days before the slender man arrives. Su and I are here, first mining coal to build a few brick yards, preparing bricks and tiles, and building houses. When the porter comes, there will be a place to stay. Those big families can't occupy everywhere, and they don't even have a place to build a house. As for the iron ore they occupy, they have been calmly disposed of in the past few months. ”

Li Bingdao: "This matter is not difficult. Those big families don't know where to know the news, they all go into the mountains to occupy the mines, and there is a lot of idle land on the south bank of the Lishui River under the mountain, but no one takes the risk of occupying it. That area is not far from the iron mine, and there is a water source, which is a good place to build mining and metallurgy. ”

The Lishui and the blocked water have the same origin and different flows, the blocked water passes through Qingtai Town and enters the Tangbai River, which belongs to the Han water system, and the Li River flows eastward into the Huai River. There is a lot of rain in the mountainous areas of this area, and there are many such rivers, whose sources are very close to each other, but they belong to different water systems, which is the typical feature of the watershed.

Du Zhongxiao said: "Okay, in the past few days, the county magistrate has sent some people to find out if there is a suitable place to burn bricks and tiles." By the way, in addition to bricks and tiles, there should also be lime, and the place should be selected and ready to be burned. ”

Li Bingdao: "You don't have to look for it, this county has always produced good lime, and there is a quarrying place in the mountains." Yellow mud can be seen everywhere, and the bricks and tiles are well burned. It's just that no coal is produced under Fangcheng Mountain, and it has to be transported from under Ziyun Mountain. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "It's okay, there are big trucks in the camp, and you can transport coal over." By the way, the water and the water are not far apart, can a canal be built to connect them? If there is a river to connect it, it will be much easier to transport coal. ”

Li Bingdao: "I'm afraid this matter is not feasible. There are many heavy rains in the upper reaches of the water, the water is uncertain, and there is a lot of sediment in the water, if the canal is dug, it will soon be silted up, and it will be dredged every year, and the place cannot afford it. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "In this case, then forget it, just use a big truck to transport it." ”

The coal mine is about twenty or thirty miles away from the iron mine, and it is not far away, but it is not close. If it is really transported by carts, a large amount of iron will be produced, and it will not be able to be supplied. If you can't transport it by water, you have to think of other methods, such as rail transport.

How did trains develop? It was developed in the mines. No matter how high the cost is, it is also possible to transport a large amount of ore over short distances. Du Zhongxiao originally intended to test rail transportation in this area, and when the development is mature, it will not be bad if it is pushed to its place.

The place where the iron is smelted is at the foot of Fangcheng Mountain, and the ore is produced in the mountain, so it should have been built to transport the ore, even if it is pushed by people, it is also cost-effective. Coming down the mountain with ore and taking advantage of the height difference, you don't need much power. It's also easy to go up the hill empty.

Du Zhongxiao only remembered the general appearance of the track, what should be done, and he still had to try it little by little.

Back at his residence, Du Zhongxiao changed into civilian clothes, called Tao Seventeen over, and said to him: "Shicai Li Zhixian said that the place where you explored the iron ore a few days ago, many households occupied land there and wanted to blackmail the imperial court, but is there such a thing?" ”

Tao Seventeen said: "Alas, where is it just a matter of blackmailing the imperial court!" Before I went back to Qingtai Town, I went there and talked to a few big families and tried to give them more money so that they would not cause trouble. And guess what? No matter how much money is given, they don't let it! Later, I inquired about it and found out what they were thinking. These people don't want more money, but to open their own furnaces and smelt iron. Somehow, the mines we have explored will be known by these big households, and they will show their magic and occupy the place. ”

Du Zhongxiao frowned: "They want to smelt iron by themselves?" The heart is very big! ”

Tao Seventeen said: "The officials don't know, but recently there are rumors in that area that the Laiwujian Iron Mine is a private household smelting iron, and the official collects iron classes." There are countless servants and servants of the big smelters in the people, and everyone wants to be such a rich man! ”

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