The prince said coldly: "The Construction Department of the Ministry of Industry has the responsibility for forging and smelting iron. All the official iron controlled by our Northern Qin is under its jurisdiction. Normally, every cart of ore sent to the Construction Department has traces."
It can be seen that these bandits have the ability to sneak in the ore from private mines, they are really good at it!"
Xiao Lingyue had already finished reading the excerpt and narrowed her eyes slightly when she heard the words.
For the imperial court, salt, iron, and grain were the three most important resources for people's livelihood, and they must be in the hands of the government.
Today, there are only three large-scale iron mines developed by the government in Northern Qin. There are always troops stationed there, and no one is allowed to enter, and the security is tight.
Those responsible for mining are all serious prisoners.
Once you enter an iron mine, you will be shackled for life and have to work hard every day. You will not be allowed to leave until you die.
To put it mildly.
The internal environments of iron mines under the control of the imperial court and those under the control of bandits are actually similar.
The difference is that one is a government iron, and the workers are all death row prisoners who have committed crimes.
One is a private iron industry, and those who are exploited are ordinary people who were arrested innocently.
The Northern Qin court stipulated that the annual output of iron mines must reach a certain amount. If it fell below this standard, the responsible officials would be punished.
Under this mandatory requirement, the annual output of official iron ore mines is very stable, only a little more.
At the end of the year, all the iron ore will be escorted by the army, and transported one by one to the Construction Department of the Ministry of Industry, where it will be smelted and forged, and then made into armor, weapons, or iron farm tools and other items needed by the army.
, sold to the people through the government.
All kinds of folk ironware basically come from this way.
It is illegal in Northern Qin to forge iron tools privately without the permission of the government, and you will be severely punished. In severe cases, your whole family may even be imprisoned.
The people of the Northern Qin Dynasty worshiped martial arts, and all the people were soldiers.
All private blacksmiths have military status, and every blacksmith shop must register with the government.
In this way, the imperial court strictly controlled the circulation of ironware.
From the original iron ore, to the mined ore, and finally to the various iron items smelted into, every link is under the control of the imperial court.
Therefore.
Although the control was so strict, the bandits in Hulang Mountain were able to mix the iron ore dug out privately into the government ore without anyone noticing, and even secretly sent it to the Construction Department of the Ministry of Industry...
.
This can definitely be described as "hands and eyes can reach the sky"!
Xiao Lingyue thought to herself: If there is no help behind the scenes, a group of bandits alone will never be able to do it.
Then the nature of the matter is different.
The content of this excerpt is sufficient to prove that someone in the Northern Qin Dynasty colluded with the bandits from Hulang Mountain to escort them.
In other words, it is collusion between officials and gangsters, inside and outside!
Zhan Beihan finished reading the excerpt and sneered: "Under the nose of the emperor, such a capable person appeared in the court. It's really amazing!"
The three pavilion elders looked serious and slowly said: "The question is, who is this person?"
The prince said meaningfully: "It may not be just one person, there may be more."
"The banditry problem in Hulang Mountain has been present for many years. According to the results of His Royal Highness King Yi's personal investigation, the iron ore hidden in the mountain is not mined every day or two. This means that the private ore has been smuggled into the court.
It’s been a long time.”
Zhan Bei said in a cold voice: "At least a few years!"
"How much iron ore can those bandits dig out in the past few years?"
Mr. Wen Ge said with a cold face: "So much ore has been mixed into the Construction Department more than once or twice, and the entire Ministry of Works did not notice the abnormality. This is the dereliction of duty of the Minister of Works!" This chapter has been completed!