Cui Heng came out of the shower and was about to take a rest when suddenly a guest came over and said that Xie Yuan asked him to come over.
Then he put on his thin cloak, leisurely walked over and knocked on the door.
Not long after, a young man also wearing a thin cloak came over and opened the door.
"My lord, I don't know what happened in the middle of the night?" Cui Heng bowed.
"Yuzhi, come in and take a look at this thing." Xie Yuan whispered.
Noticing a trace of solemnity in the young man's eyes, Cui Heng realized that the matter was serious, suppressed a smile on his face, and followed him into the house.
The candlelight on the table was dim, and Cui Heng could tell at a glance that the colors of the soil were different.
Xie Yuan pointed to the soil: "Yu Zhi has traveled all over the country and has seen more than me. Come and see if the soil is different."
He was afraid that he would admit his mistake, so he wanted to ask Cui Heng to identify something.
Cui Heng sat down and took out the magnifying glass Xie Yuan made for him to study it carefully for a moment. Suddenly his eyes darkened: "Where did you get this, my lord?"
"How was Yu Zhi's research on the place where the salt mine passed?"
"It's an iron mine." Cui Heng's eyes were heavy. "No wonder these people are heavily guarded. I always feel strange. It turns out that there is a layer of iron ore under the salt mine."
"Yu Zhi also noticed something was wrong?" Xie Yuan raised his eyebrows.
"Naturally. No matter how private mining of salt mines is not allowed, there is no need for so many heavy soldiers to guard it. Since we arrived, they all looked nervous, and the soldiers on the sentry tower in the distance were even holding their bows and arrows, for fear that we would find out.
What are you doing, as if you want to shoot us with arrows at any time."
Cui Heng gritted his teeth,
"These guys actually hide iron ore secretly. How brave they are!"
The laws of the Jin Dynasty clearly stipulate that no matter what mineral resources are, they belong to the Tianjia——
Except for a few big families who can spend huge sums of money to buy one, ordinary people and officials will be punished if they are found to be sitting on mineral resources.
Why, sir, these mineral resources belong to the Heavenly Family. You keep them for yourself instead of handing them over. Instead, you use the mined things to make gold and silver to disrupt the market, and use the excavated iron to make weapons to plot against the Heavenly Family - isn't this?
Is it a crime of treason?
Therefore, Emperor Tianwu was very strict about this. Unless they belonged to a century-old wealthy family, the rest of the noble families who wanted minerals were just dreaming of the Spring and Autumn Period.
These people are mining salt mines on the surface, but secretly they are digging for iron. The iron is used to make pots, pans, and weapons.
It’s easy to imagine what these people wanted to do if they didn’t report it.
"At this point, with our current status, if we want to expose them, we will definitely endanger our lives. If we want to save the captured young men, we must find another way to make this matter public." Xie Yuan looked at Cui Yuan.
Heng,
"I'll stay here to spy on them, and I'll tell you to go back and bring a hundred thousand soldiers over."
"My lord wants to..." Cui Heng was stunned.
"They have been able to hide the iron ore for so long. They must have built enough things long ago, and they must have been prepared to become enemies of the imperial court. In the end, they will have to confront each other head-on. Why don't we take precautions as soon as possible and find an opportunity to turn these things into enemies?"
Catch them all in one fell swoop.”
Xie Yuan patted Cui Heng on the shoulder,
"I am weak, so I will stay here to explore the salt mine in depth. Could you please Yuzhi to help me make the trip? By the way, the road is far away and there are many bandits here. You can take the disciples away. They will know martial arts to avoid getting out of trouble.
If something happens, no one will protect you."
Cui Heng: "..."
He once heard from soldiers that Xie Yuan could lift a hundred kilograms of objects with one hand.
Is this called a weak body?
Also, it would be too dangerous for him to stay here.
If they were discovered, judging from what those people had done over the years, they would definitely kill people and destroy their corpses.
Xie Yuan left these retainers to him, what would he do?
Cui Heng frowned, looking worried.
"If I am discovered, I have a way to protect myself. And when the soldiers you bring come over, they will not dare to kill me out of fear. They will only use me as a bargaining chip in negotiations." Xie Yuan said warmly.
"What if they...the fish is dead and the net is broken?" Cui Heng asked again.
"If there is really the worst possibility and I really die, then take my body back to my hometown and bury it with my mother. One day when the Jin Dynasty returns to the north, they will bury me and my mother."
Go to Yumen Pass, she said she grew up there."
In the dim candlelight, the young man smiled slightly, as if he didn't care about life and death, and as if he was not the one who secretly vowed to survive at all costs.
Cui Heng's heart moved and he looked at Xie Yuan: "Nothing will happen to my lord, Cui Sanlang will fight to the death to protect you."
"Well, my life depends on Yuzhi."
At midnight, a horse left Nanhai County overnight. This chapter has been completed!