"Give me back my loved ones!"

"It's clear every day!"

"Pay off the blood debt!"

“……”

At the entrance of the county office, twenty or thirty students wearing white cloths on their heads shouted slogans with emotion. Behind them were dozens of filial peasants, mostly women, as well as old people and children. These peasants were not as bold as the students, and at the gate of the county government, they looked a little restrained, and the expressions on their faces were mixed with a little sadness and a little panic.

A group of government officials stood in front of the county government gate with water and fire sticks in their hands, protecting the county government from anyone taking advantage of the chaos and not interfering with the demonstrations of the students and peasants. It is not uncommon for people to come to the gate of the county government to shout grievances, and the officials have experience in dealing with this kind of **. However, it was the first time that the students took the lead in making trouble in Fengcheng, which made the officials still a little nervous.

"What's going on? What are they going to make a fuss about? Han Wen stood inside the door and asked Xiao An, the leader of the fast shift who had just gone out to understand the situation.

Xiao An said in a low voice: "It's the gold mine, the gold mine that Chang Gong has opened, and something happened." ”

"Something happened to the gold mine!" Han Wen was shocked, "Have you asked clearly, what is going on, and also, there is an accident in the gold mine, why are these students here to make trouble?" ”

Xiao An had already talked to several students and farmers just now, and at this time, he reported what he heard to Hanwen in 1510.

It turned out that after Su Hao found the gold mine in Yuanli Village, the mine supervisor Chang Wu was overjoyed and returned to Nanchang to start arranging mining matters. He recruited some craftsmen in mining and gold processing from the Ministry of Industry in Nanjing, stationed in the Yuanli gold mine, and transferred two teams of soldiers to guard around the mining area, and then he couldn't wait to recruit local migrant workers to start mining.

Before Su Hao went to Luoshan, he once told Han Wen to bring a message to Chang Wu and pay attention to the safety of the gold mine. The geology of this gold mine is not very good, the rock formation is broken, and it is very prone to roofing accidents. Han Wen tactfully told Chang Wu this, but Chang Wu was eager to invite merit, where could he afford to listen to such advice.

According to the rules, the roof of the roadway needs to be supported by thick wooden planks at all times during the mining process to prevent the roof from rising. But Chang Wu was in a hurry to catch up with the schedule, so the miners desperately dug in, and the matter of supporting the canopy was repeatedly delayed. As a result, the accident really happened, and a mine collapsed in its entirety during the mining process, crushing five migrant workers recruited from the surrounding area. By the time the workers risked their lives to pull them out, all five of them were gone.

Mine disasters were not uncommon in those days. Chang Wu, as a high-ranking mine supervisor, disagrees with this. When he heard the news, his first reaction was that his progress should not be affected by this, and then he thought of the matter of compensation. The so-called bereavement pension is actually throwing five taels of silver into the homes of each of the dead miners, which is just a cost for burning.

At this point, this matter would have been over. In ancient times, human life was really worthless, and the miners signed a life and death certificate before going down the mine. But among the miners who died, there was a younger brother who was a student of Longguang Academy, and when he received a letter from his family, he immediately began to cry, causing the students of the academy to gather together. When I heard that my classmate's brother was killed because of digging a gold mine, the students immediately fried the pot.

"Do you know the origin of this gold mine?" A well-informed person asked the crowd.

Most of the students didn't know what the gold mine was all about, so well-informed people began to popularize science for everyone: this gold mine was opened by the evil mine supervisor, and the gold mined was to please the emperor's favorite concubine Zheng Niangniang. This Zheng Niangniang is amazing, she confused the emperor and let the emperor abolish the heirs, which is really the source of the trouble.

The students all know about the dispute over the national capital. Due to the perseverance of the Confucians' brainwashing education, the students firmly believe that the abolition of the heirs and the establishment of the young is a matter of disaster to the country and the people. It was Zheng Niangniang who caused this incident to happen, so Zheng Niangniang is also the face of the disaster that brought disaster to the country and the people. The eunuch Chang Wu is Zheng Niangniang's person, so he is naturally also a villain who fights for the tiger.

Now, there is a mining accident in the gold mine opened by the villain, which has led to the casualties of the miners, and we and other scholars are worried about the world, how can we stand idly by!

In this way, the students privately connected in tandem, and sent letters overnight, summoning the families of the dead miners, and collectively went to the county government to ask for an explanation. The families of these miners did not dare to come, but they could not resist the repeated persuasion and temptation of the students. The students told them that the mining was facilitated by the county government, and now that something has happened, the county government will naturally make the decision. How can the burial cost of five taels of silver be worth the value of a young and strong laborer? The county government must come up with more money to arrange the lives of orphans and widows.

Ordinary peasants have a better understanding of the law than the students of the academy, and when they hear the students say this, the families of the miners feel that there seems to be some truth. Besides, there are students who fight in the front, they only need to stand in the back, so why not do such a thing?

"I see." Han Wen said, "I have always opposed gold mining because I have heard that gold mining is extremely dangerous and hurts countless people. If the persecution of my father-in-law was too tight this time, I would definitely not have made this decision. ”

Fang Mengjin said on the side: "The proprietor, this matter has happened, let's think of a way to deal with the aftermath as soon as possible." In my opinion, these family members just want to ask for more buried silver, so it is better to take some silver from the county government and give it a compassionate touch, which is also human nature. ”

Han Wen said: "I don't know about the mining disaster, if I knew in advance, I would definitely have allocated silver taels to pay compensation." This father-in-law Chang is too ruthless to do things, how can there be a reason to buy a human life for five taels of silver. Mr. Fang, think about it, how much silver does our county government take out to pay for the pension, for example, is it appropriate? ”

Fang Mengjin frowned and said: "This pension silver, it doesn't necessarily need much, if the family can give another 20 taels, they will be very satisfied." The soldiers at this pass were killed, and there were not so many pensions from the imperial court. It's just that I was just thinking, why did the students of this academy also get involved in this? ”

"Didn't you listen to Xiao An, it's because there is a younger brother of a miner who died in the academy, and the students must have come out for him out of comradeship." Han Wen said, "These students are so unreasonable, if there is anything that can't be said well, if it has to be like this, when this matter is over, I must find Wu Zhicheng to talk about it well, and let him control the students more strictly." ”

Fang Mengjin shook his head, pointed outside, and said to Han Wen: "Owner, listen, the words they shouted have changed again. ”

Han Wen listened to it and couldn't help but be startled, it turned out that the slogans of the students outside had really changed:

"Close the gold mine!"

"Expelling the eunuchs!"

"Severely punish the scum Su Gaizhi!"

……

"What's going on? Why did Su Gaizhi even scold him? Han Wen asked in surprise.

Xiao An replied sneeringly: "That's the case, everyone knows that it was Master Su who explored the gold mine. They said that if it weren't for Master Su's tendency to become inflammatory, he would help the eunuch...... Well, I helped Chang Gonggong find the gold mine, and it wouldn't be what happened today. ”

"Ridiculous!" Han Wen said angrily, "Su Gaizhi went to great lengths to find the gold mine in order to share the worries of the county, what do these students know?" If it weren't for Su Gaizhi to find a gold mine, wouldn't it be even more difficult for the rich families and people in the county to be endowed? This mining disaster was unpredictable, how could it be counted on Su Gaizhi? ”

Fang Mengjin said: "This matter is a bit complicated, if they just fight for some burned silver taels, the county government will take out the silver, and it will be over." Listening to the meaning of the students, it seems that they are coming for the gold mine, and they are also quite disrespectful to Chang Gonggong, and then Su Gaizhi is involved. If this matter reaches the ears of Chang Gonggong, it will be troublesome. ”

"According to the master's opinion, what should I do?" Han Wen asked.

Fang Mengjin said: "That's it, it's very inappropriate for such a large group of people to make noise at the gate of the county government, and the surrounding people have already gathered to watch the excitement." If we continue to make trouble, we don't want to let Chang Gonggong know, and it's impossible. Xiao An! ”

"In!" Xiao An responded.

Fang Mengjin said: "You arrange for the officials to invite all the noisy people outside to rest in the East Pavilion to rest and appease." Then let them choose a few people and come to the lobby, and they said that the magistrate wanted to ask questions. ”

"Understood!"

Xiao An agreed, and shouted at the officials to go out. After a while, the slogans outside weakened, and a person said loudly to everyone: "Everyone go to the county office with the messengers to rest, and wait for me to meet the county lord in person, and Chen will explain the reason." ”

This person seemed to have some prestige, and after he shouted, everyone began to follow the officials into the county government one after another, and went to the east pavilion on the side of the courtyard to rest. The area of the East Pavilion was not enough to accommodate these hundreds of people, so there were still some people squatting in the empty field outside the East Pavilion and chatting quietly. The vast majority of peasants entered the county government for the first time, and they felt new when they saw everything in the county government, and at the same time they had some sense of fear, so they didn't dare to make a fuss.

Xiao An commanded the officials to wait on the side, so as not to disrupt the order in the county office. He himself took three representatives who were elected by the crowd to the lobby to meet Hangul.

"Student Wang Shengxian meets the county lord."

"Student Peng Shiji visits the county lord."

Student Cheng Dong ...... Meet the prefectural lord. ”

The first two people are both Xiucai, so they are all standing and saluting Hangul. The last person is Cheng Dong, he has no talent and fame, strictly speaking, he can't be called a student, but can only be called a child. He hesitated for a moment, and finally slowly knelt down and kowtowed to Han Wen in a proper manner.

"Get up and speak." Han said.

"Xie Xianzun." Cheng Dong stood up and stood side by side with his two companions in front of the public case. Although his status was lower than that of his two companions, he seemed the most stable, and even if the person sitting in front of him was the lord of a county, he did not feel cramped or uneasy at all.