"Yingzhou will be gained and lost!" This is the first sentence of Zhang Wulang's henchman Cai Bin Mijin, which sounds a bit alarmist.

Cai's family is Zhang Wulang's father-in-law, and his hometown is Lingnan, but there was no lintel before, but it was a family of merchants. When Zhang Wulang and Xue Chongxun were in Shanzhou, they did not have today's prominent status, and when they saw Cai's little lady who worshiped their deceased relatives, they fell in love at first sight and tied the knot with the help of others. The world is very particular about the marriage of the right family, but there is no absolute thing, Wu Zetian was still a timber merchant at the beginning. And no one thought that Xue Chongxun would be the founder of the country and ascend the throne, and Zhang Wulang would be a marquis and a general. Cai's is the wife of Zhang Wulang Mingmei, who already has a daughter, and is pregnant again this year; The Cai family also belongs to the Lingnan people, so the people of their Cai family are very close to Zhang Wulang.

This time, Cai Bin, who followed him to Hebei Province, was a relative of the Cai family, and he used to be a person who followed Cai Weng to make suggestions on business transactions, and he was still a businessman's mind, so even if he was alarmist, Zhang Wulang was still very calm, and he didn't look down on Cai Bin's knowledge in his heart.

So Zhang Wulang touched the piano on the case and looked at it, sighed and said: "At this time, I don't know when I can return to Yingzhou, and I can't go home after giving birth." ”

Cai Bin was stunned, and hurriedly persuaded: "The big thing is important, this is not when the general is worried about the family." ”

Zhang Wulang ignored it, still fiddling with the piano in front of him, he actually didn't understand the rhythm at all, and he was suspected of being a vassal and elegant. Just because Xue Chongxun is also a half-hanger, but he likes to play music with Du Xian, this kind of atmosphere has unconsciously affected a group of generals who call themselves Confucian generals below, and I heard that Yin Ci is also asking famous artists to guide the rhythm.

Cai Bin said a little anxiously: "Yingzhou is the key point of the Northeast Silk Road, the Khitan made a lot of profits when they occupied this place, and now they will not be willing to fall into the hands of the Great Jin, let alone give up, and they are already looking for opportunities at this time." Although the general had soldiers and horses from the three towns in his hands, the elite division of the Mingguang Army was transferred, and the armament of Yingzhou was greatly damaged, and the situation was worrying. ”

Zhang Wulang said in his heart that Cai Bin really couldn't change the mind of a businessman, and his mind was full of profits. He couldn't help but say: "The situation in Yingzhou is not good, I have already noticed it, but you didn't get to the point." The danger is first in the country, first, to repair the city, it is bound to levy a large number of people, causing dissatisfaction among the people in Hebei Province, even if the people sent by the Beiya to make cement cannot change this status quo; The second is the confrontation between Yingzhou and the surrounding ethnic groups, and the elites of the Hedong Governor's Mansion and Youzhou Governor's Mansion are all in Yingzhou, beware of the rebellion of rebellious ministers and thieves in Hebei. Therefore, I have sent a letter to the military department, asking for an increase in the number of soldiers in the Andong Governor's Office, and moving the Andong Town Administration to Yingzhou, so as to prevent this place for a long time.

Secondly, the governor of Yingzhou, Shi Xuene, said that Yingzhou's policy towards the Hu people was too harsh before, which was not conducive to long-term peace and stability. I had the same view as Xue Changshi, so I changed the decree, set up a school in Liucheng, recruited some Hu people who were inclined to the Great Jin Dynasty to know Chinese characters, and then appointed them to serve as officials in the prefectures and counties where the Hu people lived, so as to change the tense situation in which rebellions broke out one after another in Yingzhou. ”

Cai Bin said: "Recruiting soldiers, training and educating the Hu people are not methods that can be effective in a short period of time, I am afraid that far water cannot save the near fire...... He took two steps closer and said in a low voice, "The current crisis is caused by Du Xian's improper administration, but the general must bear it." If the emperor was in the palace when the new governor of Hebei was appointed, he would definitely not choose a general to wade into this troubled water. As far as I can see, once something happens in Hebei, there is nothing we can do! ”

Zhang Wulang was silent. There was snow everywhere outside the piano room, and the winter in the Northeast was very cold, and the sky outside was gray on a cloudy day. There were no lights in the house in broad daylight, only two pots of charcoal for heating, and the dim light seemed to be late.

Cai Bin lowered his voice and continued to persuade: "We have to do our best to write to the imperial court and talk about the current situation in advance, the emperor and the ministers will know at a glance that the current situation is not the responsibility of the general, but the problem left by Du Xian. In this way, if something happens, the general's culpability is not great. In addition, compared with the territory in Yuguan, Hebei, Yingzhou is just a place outside the country, if the two lines are in chaos, the general should be in Youzhou, and the responsibility for the loss of Yingzhou will be put on the guard; In addition, the emperor misses the old days and thinks that the general has followed him for many years, and he will definitely not investigate the crime of losing Yingzhou. Loyal words are contrary to ears, and the general should make plans in advance, and he must not ignore them. ”

"How could Zhang be that kind of person?!" Zhang Wulang was suddenly a little unhappy, "I will write the book myself, but I must not do such a thing as shirking responsibility!" When the time comes, if there is a war, I will stay in Liucheng to defend it, and I will live up to the trust of the imperial court in the city. ”

…… Yingzhou was freezing cold, and the ground was as hard as stones, but digging coal, coking, and burning cement did not stop for a day. The decree of Hebei Province to build fortifications on a large scale was stamped with the great seal of the yamen at all levels in Chang'an, and preparations had to be stepped up from the governor of Yingzhou to the local prefectures and counties, and no one could afford to be guilty of dereliction of duty.

The cement smelting workshop was on the outskirts of the city, but the fuel was to be brought from the Jade Mountain, fifty miles away, because there was a coal mine there, and the coal could be mined in a nearby kiln to make coke.

The earth had already been frozen hard, and the craftsmen and slaves who repaired the kiln had to bake the soil softly, and several fires were burning around the kiln, and the slaves who were shivering from the cold unconsciously leaned close to the fire, and if they were not careful, they would be whipped by the overseer. There were a few craftsmen sent from Chang'an, and some local sergeants who were transferred from the local outpost forts to serve as overseers, and most of them were slaves and criminals who did hard labor. In such cold weather, the wind was so strong that it could almost blow people down, and working in the fields was a sin of life, and ordinary people stayed at home for the winter during this season, and it was very difficult for the government to ask people to serve, so most of the time they had to drive slaves and exiles.

Fortunately, recently, many families in China who committed capital crimes and wanted to be beheaded have been sentenced to exile in Yingzhou, which has indeed brought a lot of labor to Yingzhou. Just like the Cui family in Huazhou has bad luck again, implicated by Cui Mingshan, who is an official in the family, there are more than 1,000 people in the clan who were exiled to Yingzhou. Among the many exiles who are now building kilns here, there are dozens of them from Cui Men. Cui Mingshan is dead, but the forgiven living people are suffering here, the ground can freeze hard, and the wind on the face is really like a knife, which is more uncomfortable than whipping on the back and neck from time to time.

What crime did Choi Myung-sun commit? Jia Huan, who committed the crime of marrying his daughter to "framing the Son of Heaven for plotting against him", became his father-in-law, and coupled with the grudge between the former minister Cui Riyong and the emperor, it was very difficult not to be implicated and sentenced heavily.

On the edge of the kiln, a young man with a face and a burden is Cui Mingshan's eldest son Cui Qigao, who is from a scholarly family? Now it's not as good as a peddler's pawn, and there is also a blood-red mark on his face, which has just been pulled out, and the whip has not hit his face, and there is no clothing to block it, and he will immediately see blood when he goes down to take it, no wonder his expression is there.

A young man in the rammed earth in the kiln is also surnamed Cui, and when he saw Cui Qigao coming over, he casually answered two sentences, this person is not so much a relative of Cui Qigao, but also a fellow villager, and he didn't have much contact with Cui Mingshan's family before the accident, and the relationship was very unfamiliar; And now that he is arranged to work as a coolie, he is familiar with it in the midst of suffering.

The descendant surnamed Cui took the opportunity to take a breath of relief, straightened up and looked at the coal mine at the foot of the mountain, and said casually: "My cousin was ordered to dig coal, and he envied me before that I was just repairing a kiln outside. Now it seems that the wind is blowing to death here, so it is better to drill a coal hole! ”

Cui Qigao didn't talk about it, he had just been whipped and was in no mood to talk nonsense with others. Why did his father use to be a Beijing official, and his family was also a big family, how could he have been treated like a cow and a horse? Besides, he couldn't resist yet, he knew very well in his heart what the end of resistance would be.

Standing in the earthen kiln, the latter wanted to speak, but saw a sergeant holding a leather whip angrily walking over to this side, and the latter suddenly showed three black lines on his forehead, knowing that it was inevitable to be beaten twice and be abused. Unexpectedly, at this moment, I suddenly heard a "boom", something happened in the coal mine under the jade mountain not far away, which immediately attracted the people who repaired the kiln, and the sergeant who was supposed to punish this surnamed Cui also forgot about it all of a sudden, and his attention was attracted, and he immediately turned his head to look at the foot of the mountain.

People looked sideways, only to see the dust rising from the coal hole, the sand and gravel rolling down, and then someone shouted. The kiln repairer here quickly came back to his senses, and someone shouted: "The coal cave has collapsed!" ”

Soon there was a commotion in the kiln, because the coal mine and the coke kiln belonged to the same workshop, and many of the people working in the coal cave were relatives or acquaintances here.

There were many hard workers doing the work, and they ran to the other side of the mountain when they were excited, and there were few overseers and sergeants, and the scene quickly got out of control. The laborers did not listen to the sergeant's shouting, and when one of them saw this, he drew his weapon in a rage, and one of them hurriedly grabbed the sergeant's wrist: "What do you want to do?" If we move this thing now, if we see a drop of blood, we will be trampled to death by the crowd in no time! ”

The sergeants stopped stopping the out-of-control people and let it be a mess. After a while, a petty officer on horseback came, and hurriedly found a few soldiers and ordered: "Go back to the city immediately to report to the guards and arrest, and transfer the troops over!" The others, put away their weapons, take hoes and go to help dig people. ”

A large group of people poured out of the coal cave where the accident occurred, and some of the shallow buried ones were really dug out and still alive, but they were injured, but more miners inside were probably hopeless. The officials and one of the generals present looked very nervous, and it was very common for people to build fortifications and mine in various parts of Yingzhou, and now this situation would turn into a rebellion if someone climbed to the top and shouted. G