The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

Hei Fu raised his hand high above his head, aiming at the winter sun. He held a golden ring between his left index finger and thumb. After glancing at it for a few times, he grinned with satisfaction, his eyes full of greed.

"Baby!"

He threw the golden ring to his men, and stood on the river bank and looked at the slowly flowing Fanshui River, which was full of sandbanks and small islands. There was a small gold mine for washing gold sand, named "Golden Mining", located halfway from Pengli Lake to Fanyang City.

On the first day of December, according to the customs of the Yue people, after becoming "brothers" with Wu Rui, Hei Fu led the Qin army and the Gan Yue people to break camp. It took three days. When they arrived here, Dongmen Bao had already controlled this place with 500 vanguards.

The south of the Chu State is rich in resources, especially metal mines. Lead and tin are found in Changsha, and gold is found in Yuzhang. As soon as Heifu arrived, Dongmen Bao presented him with some gold cakes and gold plates, among which there were also several gold rings.

Along with him, there was also a ragged and skinny miner.

Dongmen Bao reported: "Sima, this miner claimed to be a Qin soldier captured by Chu. When we arrived here, he led the miners to kill the Chu miners and greeted our army."

In the twelfth lunar month, this man was wearing brown clothes that could not cover his body. He bowed to Heifu and claimed to be Wuyang, a native of Longxi County, Qin State. During the last attack by Li Xin on Chu, he was a garrison commander in the army and was captured by Xiang Yan. He then fell into the hands of Fanyang Jun and was brought back to be a miner in the gold mine.

With him, there were seven or eight Qin people. Seeing the Qin army flags and drums neatly arranged by the Fanshui River, they all burst into tears.

Heifu felt sorry for them and immediately asked someone to bring winter clothes to keep them warm.

After Wuyang thanked him, he said bitterly: "There were originally twenty people, but most of them were from the north. When they came to this hot and humid southern land, half of them died of illness. The work of panning for gold sand was heavy. Whether it was hot summer or cold winter, they forced us to work. The food was not good, and several people died. Now only we are left..."

Several people who participated in the Battle of Yingyang could not help but sigh. If they were captured by the Chu people, they would probably have ended up like this.

Because they had suffered a lot, Wuyang and others dismembered the Chu mining officials after the riot was successful, so Heifu could only ask him about everything about this small gold mine.

"Gold mining can be roughly divided into two parts. One is the gold panning area by the water. There are often gold sands in rivers such as Fanshui and Daxishui, and the most deposits are in this area. On weekdays, miners dig sand by the water, put it on the gold panning bucket, and wash it in the water..."

Wuyang showed Heifu the so-called gold panning bucket, which is some wooden trays. Put it in the water, the mud and sand will go with the water, and the larger gold will settle in the tray. This method is laborious and has little effect, so there is a poem in later generations: Although it is hard to wash and filter, the gold will be found only after blowing away all the wild sand.

Although Yuzhang is located in the south, it is a bit cold in the twelfth month of the lunar calendar. According to Wuyang, even in this climate, miners are forced to go into the water to pan for gold.

Heifu asked the military officers to arrange the soldiers to set up camp and cook, and he went to inspect the gold casting workshop not far away.

Wuyang and his team at least saved the lives of the gold casting craftsmen. The gold sand washed out was sent here, put into a refractory crucible, and burned on a charcoal stove with a blazing flame.

Gold has a low melting point. It doesn't take long for the gold sand inside to melt into shiny gold water, boiling and rolling. Pour it into a cone-shaped pier tank with a large mouth and a pointed bottom to cool it down. The contents of the tank will be divided into layers according to specific gravity. Pour it out and knock off the slag on it with a small hammer to get the inferior gold nuggets. After the second smelting in this way, the finished gold cake can be obtained...

Beauty jewelry and prince seals are all from the bottom of the sea in the sand. This is true.

Under the threat of the sword, the gold casting craftsman completed the operation tremblingly, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that there was no mistake.

They cut the still hot gold nuggets with iron blades and pressed them into gold plates. They were about to press the copper seal with the words "Fan Yuan" on them as usual, but were stopped by Hei Fu.

"From now on, we will no longer make gold nuggets, but small gold cakes weighing one or two taels each."

The craftsmen agreed, and Hei Fu asked Xu Shu to ask him: "How many taels of gold can be obtained in a month of gold mining?"

The gold casting craftsman said: "At least ten taels, at most twenty taels..."

"In this case, two hundred taels of gold can be obtained in a year."

Hei Fu was very satisfied. From the Warring States Period to the Han Dynasty, gold was widely circulated as a high-quality currency. This was due to the vast mineral deposits in Chu, which produced a large amount of gold and circulated to the north through trade.

Now the five kingdoms have been wiped out, and all the gold treasures have been put into the Qin treasury. The gold that Li Si and Wei Liao used to bribe the ministers has also been returned to the original owner, so the King of Qin at this moment is known as "gold for use".

However, the Ru River and Han River, which were rich in gold more than a hundred years ago, can no longer be minted. The main gold-producing areas have moved to the Jiangnan area, even to Lishui (Jinsha River).

According to Xu Shu, Fanyang Jun was qualified to mint coins and was the richest man in Jiangnan after E Jun. This gold mine should be able to last for a few years. In the Han Dynasty, the huge amount of gold unearthed from the tomb of Haihunhou in Jiangxi might have been mined and transported there.

But now, this cash cow has fallen into the hands of Heifu and has become his "treasure".

Well, at least it was so before the end of the southern expedition.

He immediately appointed Wuyang as the supervisor of this place, and his younger brother Jing also stationed here with a group of people. After conquering Fanyang, Heifu would capture some of the family members and followers of the Fan Lord and restart the gold mining.

Heifu didn't want to continue to go south with Jing, so it was safer to stay here. Seeing that his younger brother was a little disappointed, he emphasized seriously: "During the southern expedition, I'm afraid we will have to rely on you to raise our military expenses! This is the top priority. Wuyang and others maintain order, and you have to keep an eye on the amount of gold cast every day!"

Jing then agreed to accept the order, but at this moment, Ji Ying, who was in charge of the communication between the Qin Army and the Xing Army and the rear, hurried over and presented the wooden tablet to Heifu Sima.

"Sima, this is an urgent report sent by Xiao Tao from Pengze City!" Heifu frowned after reading the hastily written message, and sneered, "Lord Fanyang is quite courageous." ... Heifu asked Ji Ying to call in the scout who came to report, and he understood. After returning to the camp, he asked the military officers to come and hold a small meeting... He circulated the wooden tablet to everyone, and said with a smile, "King Fanyang did not hide in the city to die after learning that I had formed an alliance with Gan Yue to attack. Instead, he sent more than a thousand people to go up the stream, cross the mountains and jungles, and appear near Pengze, relying on his familiarity with the local roads and mountains. He wanted to wipe out my rear!" Hearing this, the military officers looked at each other, and Heifu's staff member Xu Shu's face changed drastically. He had analyzed this possibility with Hei Fu, but he didn't take it too seriously, because the road was very dangerous. On weekdays, only hunters and woodcutters would occasionally pass by, and it was difficult for a large group of people to pass, so Hei Fu only left a hundred people to guard the pass.

But what they didn't expect was that Fan Yangjun made what they thought was the most impossible choice.

"The Xu family still couldn't escape the disaster of war..."

Xu Shu couldn't help but sigh. At present, Fan Yang took advantage of the Qin army to send troops to attack Pengze. The entire Xu family lived outside the city. If the entire family hid in the city and resisted with the 500 Qin soldiers left behind, at most the houses would be burned.

But if Pengze was lost, because Xu Shu killed Pengzejun and surrendered, he would definitely be cruelly retaliated, or even the whole family would be destroyed!

Concern leads to confusion. Xu Shu immediately stood up and said, "Sima, Fanyang Jun sent more than a thousand special troops to attack our rear. There should be remnants of E Jun in Fanyang, with one or two thousand people left behind."

"More than three thousand people attacking a two-li city, fighting against two thousand people, it is difficult to win quickly. If Pengze is lost, the food and grass will be burned, and our army will be trapped under the enemy city. It will be difficult to seize the food of the Chu people. I am afraid that morale will be low, and it will be easy to be attacked from both inside and outside. Our army is in danger."

As soon as these words came out, Dongmen Bao immediately slammed the table and said, "Mr. Xu, it is a taboo to talk about defeat before the battle!" At present, they are only a hundred miles away from Fanyang, how can they give up the near and go far?

Gong Ao even said coldly: "I remember that praising the enemy and frightening the crowd is a violation of military law!"

Xu Shu insisted on his own opinion: "I am not advocating the Chu army, but I think that for the sake of safety, it is better to return to the army to destroy the more than a thousand people first, and then slowly plan..."

"Sir, you are worried about the clansmen and property outside Pengze."

Li Xian said what Xu Shu was most worried about. Like Zhao Tuo, Xu Shu, a surrendered person, was also excluded by their small group. Recently, Hei Fu asked Xu Shu for advice more and more times, which made Li Xian feel threatened.

Seeing that his men were about to quarrel, Hei Fu slammed the table to stop their argument.

His opinion was no different from that of Dongmen Bao, Gong Ao and others.

After thinking, Hei Fu said, "If we return now, I'm afraid we will fall into Fanyang Jun's plan of besieging Wei to save Zhao. Not only will Fanyang not be captured, but the Chu people under Pengze will not be captured either. Our army will travel hundreds of miles back and forth and waste food. As the saying goes, the first attack is the best, the second is weaker, and the third is exhausted. If we attack again, we won't have such high morale."

"Moreover, if we give up halfway, the Gan Yue people will also see this situation. Although they won't fight back, it will increase the bargaining chips of Wu Rui and his son."

"But Sima..."

Seeing Xu Shu was a little anxious, Hei Fu asked him, "Mr. Xu, what do you think of Xiao Tao, who I appointed as the patrol officer of Pengze?"

"This..."

Xu Shu was stunned. Hei Fu's subordinates had different personalities, but they all had their own distinctive characteristics. Man and An Pu, the two 500 masters, were well-behaved, Dongmen Bao and Gong Ao were brave and brave, and Li Xian was quite strategic and could come up with emergency plans.

Only Xiao Tao usually doesn't talk much, has no chance to show himself, and rarely puts forward his own opinions during military meetings. Therefore, Xu Shu, who has only met him a few times and has a nodding acquaintance with him, doesn't know this person. He just thinks that Xiao Tao is a little transparent and has no ability.

Seeing that Xu Shu is a little difficult to answer, Hei Fu laughed: "Among the five hundred people under my command, only Xiao Tao is the most stable, so I appointed him to stay in Pengze as a bow and crossbow officer. With Xiao Tao, the rear is as safe as a rock!"

Everyone nodded and felt the same way.

In all the battles, perhaps Dongmen Bao and Gong Ao led their troops to charge in the front, and on weekdays, perhaps Li Xian's strategies were eye-catching. But Xiao Tao and his subordinates are always the most stable corner in the army, just as the saying "no wisdom, no courage, so they can win without error".

So Hei Fu trusted Xiao Tao and chose to give his back to him. He believed that Xiao Tao would not let him down.

"Let's talk about it later."

Hei Fu stopped laughing and looked at the location of Pengli Lake on the map and said, "Although Xiao Tao has only 500 soldiers, Zhao Tuo's fleet has learned about the attack on Pengze and returned to the vicinity of Pengze!"

This time, Hei Fu was the only one who could lead the army and think independently.

In terms of gold panning, gold can only be found after blowing away all the sand. Isn't it the same for employing people?

"Zhao Tuo, if you are really not an ordinary grain of river sand, then shine!"