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Text Chapter 16 The "Magic Stick"'s experiences in Dengzhou (Part 1)

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    The Yellow River waterway was one of the important transportation channels in the Tang Dynasty, with a constant flow of ships coming and going.  Among the ships going east, a large part of the ships went to Dengzhou. These ships were like merchant ships of wealthy merchants, carrying various products of the Tang Dynasty for sale in Dengzhou, and the people gathered in Dengzhou  Maritime merchants ate these goods and transported them to overseas countries from south to north.  And when these ships came back from Dengzhou, they were full of all kinds of overseas specialties, and they made money every time they came back.

    Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng, masters and apprentices, had seen many such ships along the way. Just when they were about to reach the border of Laizhou, they encountered several very special ships. These ships looked strange and they were obviously passing by.  Refit, remove all useless things on it, leaving only the cabin and the outer deck.  If it were just like this, it would not attract the attention of Master Yuan Tiangang and his disciples. What really attracted them was the cargo on board.

    I saw that the decks of these strange ships were full of ragged people. Although all of these people were very thin, from the appearance, they were all men in their prime. If you look carefully, you can also see from the rags  It can be seen from the ragged clothes that these people are not people of the Tang Dynasty.

    Seeing these strange ships, everyone on the Qiangui Merchant Ship who was not busy were attracted to come out to watch the fun. After all, this was the first time they had seen this kind of thing.  But Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng frowned. Judging from the appearance of these people, they looked very much like the slaves waiting to be bought in the market, but who would buy so many foreign slaves at one time?

    Regarding the strange ship in front of him, not only Yuan Tiangang and his disciples could not guess where it came from, but even Qian Gui, who was very familiar with the Yellow River waterway, could not figure out the situation. When the two fleets passed by each other, they were only ten meters apart.  Qian Gui climbed on the string of the boat and shouted to the other party: "Brothers on the opposite boat, where did you pull these people from? And where are you going?"

    "Oh, we are Silla slaves brought from Dengzhou, and we want to drag them to work in the coal mines." There happened to be a steward on the opposite ship, and when he heard Qian Gui's question, he did not hide it.

    "Coal mine?" Qian Gui was startled. Thinking about the news he heard from friends from all walks of life, he immediately understood what was going on, so he then asked, "Are you from His Highness King Qi?"

    "Haha, we are not from Prince Qi's palace. We are the slaves of the Yan family in Changping." The steward on the other side explained with a smile.  to be exact.  They were Yanbei's men, and these slaves were Silla slaves that the slave-catching association either bought or robbed.

    "That's it, thank you for telling me, brother!" After figuring out the matter, Qian Gui immediately handed over his hand as a thank you to the other party.  And the other party returned the favor.

    "Money is expensive, so there is a shortage of people in the coal mines, so these Silla slaves are actually used as miners?" Yuan Tiangang asked curiously.

    "Old fairy, not only are there a shortage of people in the coal mines, but there is also a severe shortage. After all, so many new mines were opened last year. Although they can recruit some farmers around them, it is only a drop in the bucket. And when the farming season is busy. Those  Farmers will have to go home to work, and the production of coal will be affected. In order to solve this shortage of people, the mine owners have put a lot of thought into it." Qian Gui said with some gloating. Last year, he also wanted to build a coal mine.  Play, but it¡¯s a pity that I started late.  The mines that were easy to dig were all taken by others, and the remaining coal mines were either not discovered, or they were discovered but the cost of mining was too high. In the end, they were not able to do it, and they could only drool while watching others make money.

    After saying the above, Qian Gui suddenly remembered something. He turned around and looked around and found that there was no one else, so he whispered in Yuan Tiangang's ear and said again: "Old god, I heard that Duke Lu, Duke Ying and so on.  My old man, in order to solve the problem of lack of manpower in the coal mines under his name, organized a large caravan to buy slaves on the northern grasslands, and could buy thousands of slaves at a time. Now there are already some slaves on the grasslands to capture slaves and trade with caravans.  Many small tribes were exterminated."

    "Eh? There is such a thing?" Yuan Tiangang looked very surprised. He was also very familiar with Li Ji, Cheng Yaojin and others. He also visited them when he returned to Chang'an this time, but he had never heard of this incident.  thing.

    "Qian Gui, it's good that you know this. Don't talk nonsense outside." Although Qian Gui's voice was not loud, Li Chunfeng heard it very clearly. As Taishi Ling, he also knew something about this matter.  The inside story involved not only the Gonggun princes in the court, but also the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty.  He thought that although Qian Gui was greedy for money and slippery, he was at least a good character, so he kindly reminded him, lest any interested people would hear about it and cause trouble.

    "Yes, yes! I know! Thank you for reminding me!" Qian Gui is an old man, and he also knows Li Chunfeng's identity. When he heard the other party's words, he immediately understood his kindness, so he bowed and thanked him.

    The slave ship was an episode on their way. After going out to sea from the estuary of the Yellow River, they reached Dengzhou along the coast. The total time spent on the road was?Over the past month or so.  Just as the ships were queuing up to enter the port, Yuan Tiangang was still a little emotional, because when he came to Dengzhou last time, although the port here was prosperous, there was still some gap compared with what he saw now. At least last time he  When you come to Dengzhou, you don¡¯t have to wait in such a long queue to enter the port.

    After finally entering the port and finding a berth, Yuan Tiangang, Li Chunfeng and Qian Gui said goodbye. As soon as they got on the pier, they immediately felt something strange. When they looked down, they found that the entire pier was paved with cement.  , and it has been renovated and looks very sturdy and durable.

    "Boom~" Just as the two of them were looking at the cement pier under their feet, a loud thunder-like sound suddenly came from their ears. They were startled. They thought it was thunder on a sunny day. Li Chunfeng hurriedly counted with his fingers.  They wanted to see if this omen was bad or good, but they soon discovered that the thunder came from a nearby bay, and it sounded every once in a while, very regularly, not like thunder in the sky.

    The two of them discussed and planned to find someone to ask about the situation. They happened to see a tea shop on the pier, so they walked in, called the waiter to serve a pot of tea, stopped the waiter who was about to leave, and were about to ask about the thunder.  Where did it come from?

    But what they didn¡¯t expect was that the guy answered first: ¡°Two immortals, would you like to ask what¡¯s going on with this thunder?¡±

    "Eh? We haven't said anything yet. How do you know what we are going to ask?" Li Chunfeng asked in surprise. Although he can do calculations, he is still a mortal. Even he can't predict what others are going to say.  Yuan Tiangang also looked surprised.

    "Hey, don't worry, you two immortals. Our tea shop is open on this pier, and there are so many merchants coming from north to south. There are thousands of customers who ask this question in Tianguang, so now as long as someone calls  You little fellow, you don¡¯t need to guess, I must be asking about the source of the thunder.¡± The shop assistant was very articulate and explained the reason clearly in a few words.

    "Then I'd like to ask the store owner to help us solve our puzzles!" Master and disciple Yuan Tiangang couldn't laugh or cry, but they still asked for help.

    "Haha, actually this is very simple. Since the two immortals came by boat, they naturally found that the port was a bit crowded now, so His Highness King Qi funded a new port in a nearby bay. However, because of the reef there,  There are many, and it was difficult to deal with before, but now I heard that His Highness King Qi invented a kind of sky thunder that can explode the reef. This sound is the sound made when the sky thunder explodes the reef." The shop clerk explained.

    "Sky thunder? What kind of thing is that?" Yuan Tiangang asked in surprise.  Although the Perak Academy, which manufactures gunpowder weapons, has been established in Chang'an, it is still in the confidentiality stage. Except for a few civil and military officials in the DPRK, not many people know about it, and even Li Chunfeng next to him has not heard of it.

    "I don't know about this villain. Anyway, the whole Dengzhou is spreading the word, but except for the close craftsmen in Prince Qi's Mansion, no one has seen what Lei looked like that day." The boy spread his hands and said.

    Seeing that he couldn¡¯t ask any more questions, Yuan Tiangang had no choice but to ask the waiter to leave, and he and Li Chunfeng discussed in a low voice.  But before I could finish my cup of tea, I saw several more ships stopping at the pier. Different from ordinary merchant ships, these ships were actually equipped with some simple weapons. Then many ragged Silla slaves stepped down from them. It looked like  These ships were slave ships.

    When these slaves got off the boat, they were immediately led to a large courtyard next to the dock. Because it was blocked by a courtyard wall, they couldn't see clearly what was going on inside. They didn't know what it was for, but there was a pungent smell coming from the courtyard.  Lime flavor.  It happened that the waiter came over again at this time, so Yuan Tiangang asked: "Shopkeeper, what is that yard used for?"

    "Oh, that's called the Cleaning Factory. All the slaves captured from overseas have to be thoroughly cleaned there, and their clothes have to be boiled in lime water. I heard that it's because they're afraid that these slaves will bring some infectious diseases, or the King of Qi  Your Highness asked someone to build it." When Li Min was mentioned, the young man had a look of admiration on his face.

    "Well, it's a good idea. I didn't expect His Highness King Qi to be knowledgeable about medicine." Li Chunfeng also praised him. He was not a pedantic person and had no opinion on the matter of catching slaves. Instead, he was very interested in the lime disinfection method and secretly thought  I want to find some time to ask King Qi for advice.

    "By the way, you two immortals, it's not easy for you to come to Dengzhou. Do you want to bring some Dengzhou specialties back?" The waiter suddenly asked in a mysterious voice.

    "Oh? What specialty?" Yuan Tiangang asked with a smile. He found that the Dengzhou in front of him was very different from the Dengzhou he had seen a few years ago. It seemed that everything here had changed since Li Min came to Dengzhou.  It¡¯s different.

    "Two immortals, please wait a moment. I'll get it for you right away!" As soon as the clerk saw the door, he immediately rushed to the counter to get something.  Although the other parties were two Taoist priests, the Tang Dynasty believed in TaoismGenerally speaking, Taoist priests are rich people, especially the two eyes. The Taoist robes they wear are ordinary on the surface, but the workmanship is extremely fine. They must be rich people. In addition, they have just come to Dengzhou, so they are very likely to make one.  A big deal.  (To be continued)

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