Old Liu thought for a while and said: "The most produced things here are clay and bricks. There is Stone Mountain in the south. Ganquan Fort is built with huge stones from Stone Mountain. There is also lime, which can be transported to paint the walls. There are also
The coal you are talking about, there seems to be no other coal."
"Aren't there any copper ore ores?"
"I haven't heard of it here. There is a government-run iron mine in Chengji. There is sulfur produced in Longnan County. We seem to have some sulfur mines here, north of Ganquan Fort. By the way, there is also alum, alum from Longxi.
It is the most famous one. Our production here is small, while Qingshui County has a large production and there are also official mines."
"I know, I will ask the old man to lead the way and find these minerals for us."
"No problem, I have lived here all my life and know this area well!"
It seemed that Old Man Liu had been studying for several years and was quite knowledgeable. Chen Qing asked his soldiers to give him twenty pieces of money. Old Man Liu carried the money on his donkey and left happily.
Chen Qing immediately arranged for two thousand soldiers to come and dig coal. In the evening, the soldiers began to use coal to cook and boil water to make tea. Green smoke floated over Ganquan Fort.
After returning from Crow Pit, Chen Qing went to visit a group of concubines and maids who had been rescued. There were 315 people, most of them were maids, and there was only one princess, Zhao Qiaoyun.
The Jurchen family members were arranged in the south of the city. The two groups lived separately. The Jurchen family members were guarded by soldiers and were basically under house arrest.
Chen Qing walked into a large courtyard. This courtyard had six rooms and eight concubines and maidens lived there. Zhao Qiaoyun also lived here.
The women were busy making dinner, and one woman was lighting the stove. Song Jun sent them several hundred kilograms of coal to boil hot water.
Before Chen Qing entered the courtyard, he heard laughter. These women were only sixteen or seventeen years old when they were kidnapped, and they were only in their early twenties now. Although life in Ganquan Castle was a little harder, their mood was extremely happy.
How to relocate them is still a big problem. I heard from Niu Gao that basically none of them have family members in the south. They are either in the Central Plains or Hebei, or they have died, or they have been kidnapped to the north as slaves.
Chen Qing had an idea. If it was feasible, he would let his young generals marry them.
In the Northern Song Dynasty, it was normal for women to marry and remarry. Chen Qing believed that his generals would not refuse. The key was whether they were willing?
When Chen Qing walked into the courtyard, the women lowered their heads in embarrassment and went to work quickly.
At this time, Chen Qing saw a young woman with a face covered with soot who was lighting the stove. She couldn't light it. Chen Qing recognized her at a glance. It was Zhao Qiaoyun.
"let me!"
Chen Qing squatted down next to her, flicked the fire stick, lit a bunch of wheat straw, put it in the stove, and put a pile of dried shrub twigs.
Zhao Qiaoyun was about to put small pieces of coal when Chen Qing stopped her and said with a smile: "This won't work!"
"Then what should we do?"
Zhao Qiaoyun lost the naturalness he had when he first met Chen Qing that day. He looked a little embarrassed, and his pretty face turned slightly red.
"You need to put in a few thicker logs, otherwise the fire will be extinguished before the coals are ignited."
"No wonder! It goes out every time."
Chen Qing picked up a thick piece of wood from the side, which looked like a section of a siege ladder. He pulled out his sword and chopped it into three pieces, then put them in the stove. After the wood started to burn, he started to put in the coal.
"That's good. After the crushed coal is ignited, we can then add larger pieces of coal."
Zhao Qiaoyun stood up with a red face and said impolitely: "Thank you, General!"
"It's okay. I just came here to see you. What else do you need?"
An older woman plucked up the courage and asked, "Excuse me, General, can we use all the daily necessities in the house?"
"Of course you can. If you are short of anything, go and find it in the empty house. I was in a hurry and didn't have time to take away many things. I guess I have everything."
Chen Qing thought for a while and said with a smile: "You don't have to look for it yourself. Tomorrow I will ask the soldiers to search all the empty houses, find all the daily necessities, and stack them together. Whatever you need, you can get it yourself."
Everyone was talking about it, wondering what they still lacked?
Zhao Qiaoyun whispered: "General, there is not enough water!"
Chen Qing saw that there was still soot on her face and the skirt she was wearing was a little dirty. He thought for a while and said with a smile: "There are many big water tanks in the city. I will give each of you a tank. You can put the tank at the door and cover it."
Put on the lid.
Every day at noon, the soldiers will fill the tank with water for you, and then you will carry a few buckets back in wooden buckets. It will freeze if left outside, so everyone must get more wooden buckets. Now that there is coal, everyone can burn it.
You can use hot water, wash your face, take a bath or wash your hair.
Dear sisters, the current difficulties are temporary. After spring, my main army will go north from Bashu and bring a large amount of supplies, and things will gradually get better."
"General Chen, I want to have a few words with you alone!" Zhao Qiaoyun whispered again.
Chen Qing and her came to the room and sat down. Zhao Qiaoyun bit his lips lightly and asked, "How does General Chen plan to arrange for us?"
Chen Qing smiled bitterly, shook his head and said: "To be honest, I haven't thought about it at all. If you have any ideas, you can tell me and I will make arrangements. As for Miss Zhao, if you want to return to Lin'an, I will send someone to take you there in the beginning of the spring."
Send it back."
Zhao Qiaoyun said slightly angrily: "General Chen thought I was joking. As I said, I am no longer a princess. I am just an ordinary folk girl from the Song Dynasty. I may marry an honest farmer in the future."
Chen Qing nodded, "I will respect your choice! I respect each of your ideas!"
"General Chen, let us live here quietly for a while! Don't send us away in a hurry. Although we are a little bit miserable here, we are very happy. Everyone is afraid of going to a new place. When the time comes, everyone will be separated.
I don’t know what to do.”
"I know, you can live here with peace of mind. If you don't want to leave, I won't drive you away!"
Chen Qing stood up and said with a smile: "I'll give you two sheepskins later to keep you warm at night."
"No!" Zhao Qiaoyun was so frightened that he waved his hands quickly.
She lowered her head and whispered: "Thank you General Chen for your concern, but I can't be special, others will feel uncomfortable."
"I see!"
Chen Qing smiled and said: "I will get more sheepskins later, and everyone will have a share, so you don't have to be afraid."
Zhao Qiaoyun nodded slightly, his eyes turned red, and tears fell. It had been a long, long time since anyone had cared about her like this.
"Miss Zhao, do you have any children who need to be reunited?"
Zhao Qiaoyun shook his head quickly, "I was a child when I was kidnapped, and I have been working as a maid in the palace. This time Wan Yan and Li Sa went on an expedition, the Emperor of the Jin Kingdom gave it to me."
Chen Qing felt pity for her and said softly: "I will ask the soldiers to bring you water right away. You first boil some hot water and wash yourself comfortably."
"Thank you General Chen!"
Chen Qing turned around and left, asking his soldiers to bring a few jars of water to their yard, and then give each of them a copper soup pot, so that they could stay warm at night.
Chen Qing then took another 320 sheepskins from the army and gave them to them, one for each of them.
Early the next morning, thousands of soldiers began to search for items throughout the city. They found all usable items, whether they were daily necessities, clothes, cloth, sheepskins, boxes, etc.
At this time, the soldiers guarding the city came to report that a group of golden soldiers and dozens of ox carts had arrived. Wanyan Wushu sent people to negotiate.
Chen Qing asked the soldiers to set up more than 20 large tents for the Jin soldiers outside the city, and asked them to live outside the city and were not allowed to enter the city!
Eighty-five women got out of the bullock cart, and two of them were so weak that they died of illness on the way.
Chen Qing asked Hu Yanyun to take eighty-five women into the city to register and resettle them. He was careful not to fool Wanyan Wushu by finding some folk girls in Fengxiang County to fool him.
Xiao Dongsheng handed Wanyan Wushu's autographed letter to Chen Qingxiao and said: "Chen Dutong, please rest assured, we will definitely exchange according to Chen Dutong's request, but Fengxiang does not have so many former Song Palace women, so Marshal Du can only return
Go to Youzhou to look for them, and make sure there are not many of them."
"Do you know how many people will be exchanged?"
"We have prepared a list, which should be 357 people."
Chen Qing nodded, it was really accurate, exactly 357 people.
After reading Wanyan Wushu's letter, Chen Qing said to Xiao Dongsheng: "I will take away eighty-five people for you this time, and we will exchange the rest after you send people from Youzhou."
"Can we choose by ourselves?"
Chen Qing smiled lightly, "You can come up with the list, and then we can discuss which ones can go first and which ones can wait for the next batch!"
There are some important people here who cannot be taken away by them. Let’s talk about it next time!
