In the early hours of the next morning, it was still dark.

Fang Ming rode his fast horse towards the Dongshan mine early in the morning.

The yellow light that stained the sky last night gave him a sense of foreboding.

He had a faint feeling that there was something strange in the yellow light.

But the most important thing is the desire to escape in his heart. He didn't want to announce the conviction and punishment of Zhao Da early in the morning, so he fled......

There are not many people on the streets in the early morning, and there are a few who get up very early and come out to set up stalls to do business.

For example, He Yonglin, that is, He Laozhang, he sells breakfast, such as xiaolongbao, noodles, porridge and other pasta. You need to get up early to make a fire, boil water, cook porridge, and stack a steamer...... When things are almost cooked, it's almost time for people to get up for breakfast.

Buy early and sell early, this is the beginning of a day of buying and selling in Jinxi County.

Following the East Avenue to the end, out of the East Gate, in front of Fang Ming's eyes was a pitch-black world, a few stars embedded in the sky, it was a great luck not to be swallowed by this darkness.

The lanterns in the streets were still bright, making it difficult for him to get used to the darkness outside.

Fortunately, horses are animals with unique visual advantages, although Fang Ming can't see them, but horses can, and they run faster and faster with joy.

Fang Ming only felt like an arrow shuttling through the smoke, frantically passing everything in front of him.

I don't know how long it has been, I don't know if it's dawn or if I've adapted to the darkness. Fang Ming slowly saw everything around him clearly.

Beneath your feet is a narrow dirt trail, and on either side of the trail is a dark forest that does not shine in the light. Because it grows in the wilderness, no one prunes and manages it, and the trunks of the trees grow horizontally and vertically.

If you look closely, you will find that each tree is covered with mushrooms and weeds, and the trees are covered with cobwebs with the carcasses of predated insects.

Slowly, as the journey progressed, there were more and more cobwebs on the trees. Fang Ming couldn't help but wonder if there was a net on the tree, or if there was a tree out of the mesh?

......

After a short while, the forest disappeared abruptly. In its place is a majestic mountain at the end of the trail.

This sudden mountain is like a wall that rises into the sky. Makes you feel close to the wall, close at hand. But it feels far away from the wall, far away like clouds in the sky, and when you get closer, it takes a step back.

Fortunately, Fang Ming happened to have seen a mountain similar to this one, so he was not shocked.

Soon, as Fang Ming approached, two or three open flames appeared at the foot of the mountain not far ahead.

And Fang Ming also smelled a strange message in the air - the smell of gunpowder.

A smell of burning gunpowder came to my face, and it became stronger and stronger.

"Gunpowder...... No, no, and ......."

Fang Ming smelled the gunpowder and always felt very strange.

"It stands to reason that the use of gunpowder to blow up stones in the mine shouldn't have such a strong smell, why is this smell so stinky when it comes here!"

Yes, it just stinks. An indescribable stench mixed in the air. There is even a posture to cover up the smell of gunpowder.

Gradually, the two or three open flames at the foot of the mountain were connected into pieces, and the number increased to dozens.

Neat rows of wooden houses appeared in the open flame, surrounded by a towering fence. The fence is of wooden, sharpened ends.

The open flame was an oil lamp hanging outside the wooden house. There are outside every wooden house, and it seems that there are quite a few people working in the mines, and the wooden houses are full.

Suddenly, from the only bayonet in the fence, the Muzha lookout, there was a shout: "Who? Stop! Don't go any further." ”

Fang Ming replied: "Jinxi County is the acting magistrate, Fang Ming!"

In nine concise words, he made his identity clear at once.

"Ah? It's the magistrate, it's the magistrate, the magistrate has come to comfort us!" the man couldn't help but exclaim, but soon doubted: "Alas, how could the magistrate come here like this? and it's a person." ”

"Alas~ Why do you care so much? Anyway, it's just one person, it's really not vigilant that should be vigilant, and blind vigilance that shouldn't be vigilant. The other man said two words, and then said to Fang, "Wait a minute, my lord, I'll open the door for you." ”

With a "squeak", the wooden door slowly opened, and two men in their early twenties, one fat and one thin, trotted out.

The thinner man said, "The big one is good! The small one is called Hou Biandan, and the fat man is called Zhu Bench." Welcome to the arrival of the magistrate. ”

"Hey, hey, bench, bench......" The fat laughed honestly.

"Haha, don't be so polite, I just saw a yellow light flashing last night, and I wanted to come over and see what happened?"

"Oh! yes, my lord...... Last night, two black medicine eggs were dug up in the mine, and they were very hard! They couldn't be exploded with gunpowder, and they stinked terribly. Hou Biantan explained with a rich facial expression. "If you want to see it, we can show you the way. ”

"It really smells!" Fang Ming was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly said, "Black medicine eggs...... Let's go, let's take a look. ”

"Yes, please come with me, sir. Bench, the adult's treasure horse will be handed over to you to take care of, you are here to watch the gate, but you must not let the thief come in and startle the county lord. ”

"There will be no problem, monkey, you can rest assured! I have appointed to feed the horses as strong as I do, and the task of protecting the magistrate will also be entrusted to me. ”

......

In this way, Fang Ming, under the leadership of Hou Biandan, slowly entered the legendary Dongshan mine.

The so-called Dongshan Mine is actually a natural iron mine located in the east of Jinxi County. The entire mountain that Fang Ming had shocked before was a part of the iron mine. Along the mountain up to the sky, into the ground deep and bottomless......

No one knows what the real reserves of this iron ore are, maybe the Beisheng Dynasty will not be able to use it up in this life, maybe it will bottom out tomorrow, this is all possible.

"Brother Hou, how many years has this iron ore been mined?"

"Uh~ Lord Zhixian called me that, and he was embarrassed to call me. Hou Biandan scratched his head with a smile and explained: "This iron ore has been mined since the previous dynasty, and it has been mined since the founding of Beisheng after the founding of the People's Republic of China, so it will take three hundred years to say the least!"

"Three hundred years!

"Hehe, my lord may not know that the iron ore in this Dongshan mine is not the same as other iron ores. The ore here is extremely brittle and not a single unit, so there is a danger of landslides if you are not careful, so the mining speed is extremely slow. Otherwise, the dynasty would not have handed over such a large mineral deposit to the local government. ”

"Ah, then, why don't you try to dig flat? first dig the mines on the hills, then flatten the hills, and then dig the mines underground. ”

Open-pit flat excavation is convenient and safe, and the work is clean and bright. It's just ......"

"Hmm, is there any obstacle?"

Hou Biandan pointed to the mountain in front of him, and said with a depressed expression: "This whole mountain is an obstacle, and there is no place to worry!"

Fang Ming looked at the mountain and wondered: "What's wrong with this mountain? I think the content is quite high, and it also meets the mining standards." ”

"Alas~ the underground ore is scattered, soft, and at risk of collapse, so I dare not dig it. And on the mountain, it is tight, tight, and hard, and it jumps straight down with a pickaxe, and the hands are so numb that they can't cut off a piece. When I lifted the pickaxe, I saw that the blades were all curled. ”

"Ahh

"yes, ohoh, wicked. ”