Allure of a Country Maiden

"Let me drive the carriage!" Shen Chengyao said. The emperor really cannot be left in the middle of the road. Besides, it is not a problem for the carriage to stop in the middle of the road. It will cause traffic jams.

At this time Yang Liu came over: "Master, let me set up the car!"

So the carriage was driven by Yangliu and Yangmei, and Zhao Yong and Xiao Fuzi were responsible for sending the two old people home.

The rain seems to be subsiding a bit.

Xiaoer looked out of the carriage through the curtain and saw Zhao Yong and Xiao Fuzi helping the two old people onto the cart, then pushing the cart aside and signaling for the carriage to pass first.

The roads in the country are relatively narrow, and two cars can barely pass side by side.

The weather was bad and the road was difficult to walk. When they arrived at Zhuangzi, it was already dark.

Fortunately, the rain has stopped. If it doesn't rain tonight, the fields will be drier tomorrow morning, which will make it easier to harvest without having to get muddy one foot deep and one foot shallow.

Xiaoer personally cooked a simple dinner. As soon as everyone had dinner, Zhao Yong and Xiao Fuzi came back.

Both of their clothes were soaked. After they had changed and had dinner, the emperor called them in for questioning.

"How is the old man's health?"

"The Lord of Rui'an County gave the slave a bottle of pills to give to him. After he took the pills, he returned home and said that the pain in his waist after falling was gone," Xiao Fuzi said.

The emperor nodded after hearing this. He trusted County Lord Rui'an's pills, and then he continued to ask: "Where have all the old man's sons gone? Why do they still need to go to the fields to harvest when it rains so heavily?"

"The old man's only son went to mine half a year ago. His daughter-in-law was about to give birth and it rained heavily. The old man was worried that she would fall, so he refused to let her go to the fields to harvest."

"Mining? Where did he go to mine? Did his son commit something?" No wonder the emperor asked this. Mining is tiring and dangerous work, and many people are unwilling to do it. Generally, a person who is an only child and has not given birth to a son does not need to be forced to mine unless he has committed a serious crime.

"The old man said that his son had not committed any crime, but he was filial and honest, but his family was poor. Half a year ago, someone came to the village to recruit people, and they were paid two taels of silver a month. He thought that his wife was about to give birth, and when the child was older, he would go home The house was not enough to live in, so he went mining for five months and earned just enough ten taels of silver, so that he could build an extra room for the children to live in. After five months, he returned home just in time to participate in the autumn harvest and watch the birth of his children."

"The whole family is looking forward to his return for the autumn harvest. Unexpectedly, everyone in the village has taken back the grain. He has not yet received less than half of his own grain. It has rained heavily in the past two days and his son has not come back yet. The old man is worried. The food in the fields was spoiled and the family had no food for the next year, so I went to collect the food in the rain," Zhao Yong replied.

"That's two taels of silver? There should be a lot of people in the village, right?" Shen Chengyao said casually after hearing this.

The wages of the miners are indeed high. Shen Chengyao heard that the maximum is one or two and a half silver per month, but this wage is still very few people are willing to do this work. If the wages are two taels of silver, it is estimated that many people are willing to do it. Shen Chengyao compares his feelings with his own. If his family was still the same as before the separation, and the children didn't even have enough to eat, and they only had two taels of silver a month, he would go without thinking.

"Indeed, there are many. There are men in almost every household in that village. However, none of the people who have gone there in the past six months have come back, and no one has ever sent money to their families." Zhao Yong nodded.

The emperor was thoughtful after hearing this.

"Do you know which mine you are going to mine?" Shangguan Xuanyi asked.

"Qishan Iron Mine!"

"Qishan Iron Mine? Wasn't it completed half a year ago?" Shen Chengyao said in surprise.

Qishan Iron Mine reported to the court half a year ago that it had been mined out, and the court also sent people to verify it. But now I heard that half a year ago someone paid a lot of money to recruit people to mine Qishan Iron Mine. This is obviously someone who deceived the superiors and kept it secret!

"Did the old man remember it wrong?" Shen Chengyao looked at Zhao Yong.

"I was also worried that the old man had remembered it wrong, so after leaving his house, I asked other villagers. It was the Qishan Iron Mine. The village chief also said so!" Zhao Yong affirmed.

"Qishan Iron Mine is not far from here. We will find out tomorrow when we go to find out!" Xiaoer said casually after hearing this.

At night, everything is silent.

Suddenly there was a loud noise in the distance, like something collapsed.

Xiaoer, who was sleeping, thought there was an earthquake. She jumped up from the bed and shouted: "There's an earthquake, run!"

Yang Liu, who was keeping watch at night, quickly said: "Girl, don't be afraid, it's probably not an earthquake, it's probably a mountain collapse in the distance."

Although the sound was loud, Yangliu didn't feel the earthquake, so she didn't think it was an earthquake.

"It's safer not to hide in the house. It's safer to stand in the yard." Xiaoer got out of bed, put on her coat, and was about to walk out when Shangguan Xuanyi's voice sounded: "Girl, are you scared?"

Xiaoer opened the door: "No, but I was so sleepy that I thought there was an earthquake! Is the Emperor okay?"

"It's okay, they are all standing in the open space in the yard." Shangguan Xuanyi took Xiaoer's hand and led her out.

The two walked out of the house together and saw Shen Chengyao and the emperor already standing in the open space of the yard.

When they saw Xiao'er coming out, they both asked her if she was scared.

Xiaoer shook her head: "I thought it was an earthquake."

"We also thought it was an earthquake! Fortunately it wasn't!" Shen Chengyao said with lingering fear.

"It's almost five o'clock now, let's not go back to the house and go to bed. Let's start performing our duties after breakfast!" The emperor took a look at the sky and said.

Naturally, everyone had no objection after hearing this. It will be dawn in a while, and now I can't sleep even if I go back.

"Yi'er, come with me to see the Qishan Iron Mine. If I heard correctly, the loud noise just now should have come from the Qishan Iron Mine." The emperor looked at the direction of the loud noise. road.

Shen Chengyao originally wanted to persuade the emperor not to go to the fields, but now he was even more worried when he heard that he wanted to inquire about the iron mines in Qishan. This was more dangerous than going to the fields to harvest rice!

"Master Shangguan, you stay in Zhuangzi and leave the inquiring to me!" It rained heavily for two days and nights. Shen Chengyao was worried that there would be a landslide. He didn't know what the cause of the loud noise just now was. reason. The important thing is that many of the roads leading to Qishan Iron Mine are mountain roads.

"Master Shangguan, let us young people take care of things like crossing mountains and ridges. Aren't you here to experience the fun of farming? Let my father take you to the fields to harvest. If you feel that harvesting is boring, just go down to the river and fish. !" Xiaoer also started to persuade.

Thank you book friends who voted, happy National Day~~

I heard there were traffic jams everywhere during the National Day. Has anyone been stuck on the highway?