Chapter 315

North of Zhaoyuan City, the peaks of the Luoshan mountain range rise and fall in succession. In late summer, the woods are lush and verdant; the wind stirs the forest waves, refreshing and pleasant. Throughout the mountains, strange pines and unusual rocks fill the secluded forest ravines. Clear springs thread through the woods and over the stones, converging into a river at the foot of the mountain. The river is so clear you can see the bottom, winding cheerfully through the hills.

After the river course rounded a bend, the crisp splashing sounds were suddenly shattered by waves of clamor. Along the riverbank appeared swaths of people carrying loads on their shoulders and backs. They used winnowing baskets filled with countless broken stones, washing them continuously in the flowing water. The river water turned murky in the blink of an eye.

This was the Zhaoyuan Linglong Gold Mine, the most productive area of the Zhaoyuan gold mines, located about twenty li northeast of Zhaoyuan City. The mountain slopes were riddled with thousands of pits and holes, large and small. Over a thousand miners and their family members trudged back and forth along the mountain paths, carrying load after load of ore down to the riverside.

The small river flowing past was the Gold-Washing River. The Gold-Washing River wound its way along the base of the mountain, flowing past many of Zhaoyuan's large gold mines. Countless miners toiled along its banks like ants, crushing and washing ore by the water. The silt of the Gold-Washing River contained a fair amount of placer gold. Many children and women were also among them, panning for gold dust, just to earn a meager ration to stay alive.

A group of gentry from Laizhou made a circuit halfway up the mountain, all with worried expressions. Lately, the various tunbao around Dengzhou had been recruiting people, and from time to time some individuals came to spread word among the miners. Some miners had quietly run off, forcing these gentry to recruit more people from Laizhou. But mining wasn't a job one could start immediately, so they were somewhat concerned. At the same time, they had to increase the miners' wages, which made them hate the Dengzhou garrison even more.

The leader was a middle-aged man. He was Zheng Hegui from the prefectural seat of Laizhou. His father had been a Provincial Graduate in the twentieth year of the Wanli reign, the same examination year as Bi Ziyan. At the time, his father was already advanced in age. Not long after taking office, he retired. His family owned nearly two thousand mu of land in Laizhou, but only two or three hundred mu were taxed. Zheng Hegui's father had a good heart. He often spent money to aid poor tenant farmers in the countryside and also helped repair temples and bridges. He enjoyed a fine reputation in the rural areas. By Zheng Hegui's generation, he was equally adept at management, possessing both prestige and tangible profit in the countryside.

The Zheng family was quite skilled at managing affairs in Laizhou. The last time Li Jiucheng besieged the city, the Zheng family took the lead in contributing men and money, leaving a very favorable impression on Zhu Wannian. They also held considerable prestige among the city residents of Laizhou. Wherever he went, people respectfully called him Young Master Zheng the Charitable.

Zheng Hegui was actually very shrewd. He had set his sights on the Zhaoyuan gold mines early on. The gold mines in Yexian, Laizhou, were originally not bad either, but their output was far inferior to Zhaoyuan's. The various mining areas here produced over twenty thousand taels of gold annually, making all the surrounding powers drool with envy.

In the past, the Dengzhou gentry were powerful and strong, and Zheng Hegui could not compete with them. He could only watch, not daring to make a move. Li Jiucheng uprooted the Dengzhou gentry in one fell swoop, and Chen Xin followed up by sweeping through again. A power vacuum appeared in Zhaoyuan. Zheng Hegui seized the opportunity. While the Wendeng Battalion was still busy fighting over land and pay, he gathered a group of Laizhou gentry. Together they recruited local villagers and rushed to seize the gold mines before the Wendeng Battalion could.

News arrived that various Dengzhou units were forcibly seizing land in Pingdu, Penglai, Laiyang, and other places, which also made Zheng Hegui and his associates tremble with fear. However, the concept that civil officials were noble and military men base was deeply ingrained. Zheng Hegui believed he could use civil officials to deal with Chen Xin and his ilk. The group beating of Dengzhou soldiers in Yexian, Laizhou, last time was orchestrated by him, precisely to show Chen Xin and his men who was boss. He also bribed Wang Tingshi in the evening. He thought he had fully achieved his goal. Only, at the time, Chen Xin never even considered it was about the gold mines, thinking it was about the land disputes. Zheng Hegui might as well have been casting flirtatious glances at a blind man.

Zheng Hegui stopped at a mine shaft. A bare-chested miner was dragging a basket of ore, scrambling out on all fours with all his might. Zheng Hegui called the miner to stop, casually picked up a piece of ore, and saw specks of gold color where it was broken. He couldn't help but smile smugly.

The Luoshan fault zone beneath his feet possessed extremely rich gold resources. In the earliest times, the ore veins were even exposed on the surface, so mining began very early. By the late Qing dynasty, the Linglong Gold Mine alone reached an annual output of seven thousand taels. After adopting large-scale mechanized mining, output became even higher. During the period when the Japanese army occupied the Linglong Gold Mine, it produced forty thousand taels of gold annually. Meanwhile, anti-Japanese Mobile Corps Commander forces secretly mined other areas, transporting a total of one hundred thirty thousand taels of gold to Yan'an during the war, greatly supporting Yan'an's economy.

Zheng Hegui did not know these things, but he knew that what he held in his hand was real gold and silver. Since the last time he intimidated the Dengzhou military officers, he believed Chen Xin had been cowed into submission. When Song Wenxian sent someone to negotiate with him, he relied on his connections with high court officials to make exorbitant demands, wanting to secure a mining area for all his relatives, near and distant. In the end, he even had his eye on the land in Pingdu. Naturally, Song Wenxian could not reach an agreement with him.

Zheng Hegui tossed the ore chunk back into the carrying basket and glanced into the pitch-dark hole. Because gold veins are not large, the mine shafts used in this era were dug very small, allowing only one or two people in at a time, with no safety measures whatsoever. Working in a narrow, dark environment fraught with danger at every turn was an immense tempering of a miner's spirit and physical strength. They performed massive amounts of labor daily, so miners were often extremely tough. Moreover, the work required a spirit of cooperation, and their obedience and level of organization far exceeded that of farmers working alone on their own plots. This was precisely why Qi Jiguang most preferred to recruit miners from Yiwu and Dongyang.

The treasures in Qi Jiguang's eyes were nothing but a herd of beasts of burden in Zheng Hegui's view. In a place like Denglai, he considered giving them a mouthful of food to be an immense favor.

A young dandy dressed in thin silk beside him fawned over Zheng Hegui, saying, "Brother Zheng, this mine shaft of yours is truly a treasure ground. Nuggets of gold often come out of it. It turns out Brother Zheng's fortune in wealth far surpasses ours."

The others all chimed in agreement. Some of them were relying on Zheng Hegui's influence, and now, seeing the good yield, they naturally wanted to curry favor with him.

Zheng Hegui said smugly, "This is just the Linglong mine. The Jinhuashan and Wang'ershan mines over there are also good mines. Now that we've occupied them all, we can just slowly excavate them. I trust those crude men from Wendeng won't dare say a word. Gentlemen, this is an inexhaustible source of wealth. Passed down to our descendants, it can ensure generations of wealth and status."

The various gentry members voiced their agreement once more. The silk-clad young man, however, said in a low voice to Zheng Hegui, "Brother Zheng, not far from here is a military farmstead of the Dengzhou garrison. A few days ago, my maternal cousin returned from a trading trip to Dengzhou and said there seemed to be a large number of soldiers there. Could they be plotting something?"

Zheng Hegui threw his head back and laughed heartily. "I told you all long ago, I have powerful backing in the capital. Now, His Excellency Wang is also on our side. Why fear some insignificant military brute? He has a large force of soldiers stationed in Zhaoyuan, but has he dared send a single soldier to Linglong? If he dares send troops here, I will certainly have them seized and dragged to the Provincial Governor's government office. I'll make that Chen Xin kowtow and admit his fault to me."

After a few more flattering remarks, the silk-clad young man still urged, "Brother Zheng, we still need to keep an eye on those people. Post more men to guard the mountain passes and road junctions. In case they come, we'll at least be prepared."

Zheng Hegui pointed smugly toward a hilltop on the eastern side in the distance. "See that awning on the mountaintop over there? Coming from that tunbao, they must take one of two paths, both visible from that hilltop. There's a flag standing outside the awning. If the flag falls, it means troops are coming."

"So that's how it is. Brother Zheng is truly experienced." The silk-clad young man finished speaking and raised his eyes to look at that hilltop. He gazed for a good while and said, "I don't see any flag. Could they have forgotten to set it up? Or perhaps there's no wind right now, and the flag isn't flying."

"What?" Zheng Hegui looked carefully. Indeed, he saw no flag. "Those two useless curs..."

"Brother Zheng!" The silk-clad young man suddenly pointed down the mountain. Zheng Hegui followed his gaze. From both sides of a hill to the east, two columns of black-clad figures emerged. Within the ranks, gleaming Japanese swords and long spears could be seen. They ran swiftly, their advance extremely rapid, and were gradually spreading out.

"Brother Zheng, they're really coming! What do we do?" The silk-clad young man clutched Zheng Hegui's sleeve in panic.

"What to do, what to do..." Zheng Hegui's mind was a tangled mess. He had never fought a battle; how would he know what to do? He hadn't expected that what the Dengzhou garrison had done in Pingdu and other places would be reenacted here. Recalling the rumors of the brutal slaughter in places like Anxiangbao, his legs couldn't help but tremble.

The miners all over the mountain also noticed the commotion over there. One after another, they put down the work in their hands and stood rooted to the spot, at a loss.

Seeing that Zheng Hegui had lost his nerve, the silk-clad young man turned and ran for his life. It was instead several other younger men of the Zheng clan who bellowed loudly, "The Dengzhou soldiers are coming to steal our mine! They want to starve your wives and children to death! Everyone, grab your tools and fight them! Anyone who drives them back gets silver!"

Zheng Hegui jolted back to his senses. He yanked up the miner on the ground and shouted, "Mountain bandits are coming! Quickly, tell the villagers to bring out the weapons for defending against bandits and stop those Dengzhou soldiers!"

Zheng Hegui was flustered, shouting mountain bandits one moment and Dengzhou soldiers the next. The miner, shoved repeatedly by him, had no choice but to run off to get a pitchfork. Some of the miners, hearing the shouts, also rushed to the shacks to find their own weapons. These miners were usually numerous and powerful, many of them fellow villagers. They were equipped with weapons, and ordinary bandits were no match for them at all.

Seeing that some were preparing, Zheng Hegui breathed a sigh of relief. Looking east again, soldiers were still pouring out in an endless stream. The foremost ones had already charged to the base of the mountain. The miners along both sides of the river were too scattered and completely unorganized. They all fled in panic to either side.

Zheng Hegui had lost the time for early warning. Now, under the enemy's surprise attack, he was completely unable to organize. He hesitated, wondering whether to flee, but thinking of the over a thousand taels of gold stored here that hadn't been transported away, a sliver of hope remained in his heart. "They wouldn't dare kill anyone," Zheng Hegui thought.

At that moment, however, he heard those soldiers shouting loudly, "The Dengzhou Judge is here to arrest the demonic followers of the Wenxiang Sect! Those who block the way will be killed without exception!"

When those miners who wanted to resist heard it was government personnel, they all hesitated. They could brawl with villagers and bandits, but when it came to confronting the government, none of them had the nerve. In their minds, that was rebellion, a capital crime.

A few tenant farmers originally belonging to the Zheng family, however, desperately went forward to intercept them. The soldiers raised their blades and spears without mercy. After a few screams, the tenant farmers became corpses on the ground. The formation, almost unhindered, rapidly advanced toward the mountainside. Clearly, they had inside informants and knew who the ringleaders were.

The group of gentry and licentiates who had stayed behind let out a cry and fled in disarray. How could their physical strength compare to those soldiers? They hadn't fled a hundred paces when a slap sounded on Zheng Hegui's back. A great force struck him, and Zheng Hegui stumbled and fell flat on the ground. Immediately after, several people pinned him down firmly and began to bind him.

Zheng Hegui was left dazed and disoriented by these rough actions. By the time he came to his senses, all around him were his accomplices, bound and thrown in a heap on the ground. Even the silk-clad young man who had fled first was sitting dejectedly to one side, two trails of nosebleed hanging beneath his nose.

"You... you have colossal nerve! Do you know His Excellency Bi, the Minister of Revenue?"

"Young Master Zheng, even if the venerable Bi (a respectful term for a Minister) was your father's classmate in the examinations, you still cannot join that Wenxiang Sect, can you? Tell me, how can you face the favor the venerable Bi showed you?" Song Wenxian appeared before him, smiling genially.

Zheng Hegui was so furious smoke seemed to puff from his seven orifices. "You're framing me! When have I ever been involved with the Wenxiang Sect? Is it that Chen Xin..."

Song Wenxian bent down to look at Zheng Hegui. "If Young Master Zheng dares to spout more nonsense, I will waste no more words. All along the Gold-Washing River are people you brought here, no less than several thousand miners. Finding ten or so Wenxiang Sect or White Lotus Sect members is truly an easy matter. You've gathered such a large number of disorderly people here — what are your intentions! Army Supervisor Lü has specially ordered Regional Commander Chen: any gathering of the Wenxiang Sect in Zhaoyuan may be executed on the spot. Does Young Master Zheng have anything else to say?"

"I... I... Please, my lord Chen, spare my life!" (To be continued.)

PS: Requesting monthly tickets.