"Benxi Lake is established in the county, Weining Camp is built in the city. Thirty thousand guards are built in Kaiyuan, and a city of 100 households is built in the iron field."
In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty established 30,000 guards in Kaiyuan and recruited and resettled a large number of Jurchen people nearby. Although Kaiyuan's food 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 important.
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The weapons factory in Kaiyuan soon ran out of raw materials, so an iron factory was set up in Weining Camp to provide wrought iron materials to Kaiyuan.
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 Beixi Lake, named after its shape like a cup with rhinoceros horns. Benxi County was established in the late Qing Dynasty, and 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 back to help?
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. The gold mines and arsenal 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 of Weining Camp was not built in Baihu City, but in Mingshan Valley and Ant Valley on the north bank. When the heavenly troops are approaching, the Tartars
The emperor moved all the iron smelting craftsmen to 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 recruit 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 is a miner in Mingshangou. His father is an officer in Baihu City and belongs to the resident military household of the Weining Camp of the Kaiyuan Thirty Thousand Guards. After Li Kun's father was captured, he was thrown into mining in Mingshangou.
, the family also moved to farm near Mingshangou.
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, and they don't even know that the Ming Dynasty has been destroyed.
The whole family of these miners lived in the mine, and they were not even allowed to come into contact with the iron smelting plant in the valley. Every year, some people tried to escape, but most of them were unfortunately caught, and their bodies were hung on wooden poles in the mine to dry.
"How about going to the ravine and taking a look?"
"If you don't go, if you don't go, if the Tatars find out, at least they will be whipped."
"There seemed to be no fire in the ravine last night. Iron was no longer being 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 first batch of miners. The harvested food will definitely not be enough to eat, so there is no need to pay food, and they 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. 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 themselves. They only knew that the Datong Army was a Han Chinese force, and that there seemed to be a Datong Emperor who appeared from nowhere.
"I'll go down the mountain and take 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 mine, 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 be reunited under the Nine Springs."
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 reached adulthood, the male members of the family would go mining and wait for the day when they would 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 a Han, and that there was a Han court in Beijing called the Ming Dynasty. Where was 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 would never be able to break through.
But in recent years, there has been no recruitment of Han miners. 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 at the moment, and all the wrought iron has been transported away, leaving only a lot of unsmelted iron ore.
"Da da da da!"
The sound of horse hoofbeats came from hundreds of majestic cavalry.
The two were so frightened that they hid quickly.
Yan Hong looked at the horses of the horsemen 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 is really a savage, with unkempt hair and dirty clothes, and he has not washed his hair and 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 had taught him before she was alive. When the officers and soldiers came, he 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 am a 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 up the mountain and rescue all the Han and Korean people in the mine. We will 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 incoming army was Ming Dynasty, Qing Dynasty or Datong. Anyway, they followed them very obediently. Those who were brave enough would either escape successfully or be caught and hanged, while the rest chose 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 excitedly whispered 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 early, of illness and starvation more than ten years ago, but he still remembered his mother's 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 is very obvious, which is to capture Baihu City first, and then attack Weining Camp, which is high in the city and deep in the pond.
Li Kun and other miners were taken to the north bank military camp and placed all 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 army rations are almost running out.
Because the supply line was too long, the grain had to be transported from the Yalu River all the way from the mountains to Benxi. The civilians ate more grain 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 Qing Dynasty.
Fortunately, they broke through pass fortresses along the way and captured a lot of grain and livestock. Otherwise, Lu Xiangsheng would have been out of food. Even so, Lu Xiangsheng's military rations could 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 grains to the miners. Moreover, regardless of whether they were Han miners or North Korean miners, they were all given grains.
Li Kun washed his body and got another set of clothes. I heard 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 seized in Phoenix City.
There was some salt in the porridge, and it smelled like oil. It was an animal carrying grain. It was killed after being injured in a fall in the mountains, and 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 the extremely simple food, but was moved to tears. There were clothes to wear and delicious food here. It was a pity that his mother died of illness last winter, otherwise she could 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.
