If the smelting level can be improved, then the weapons and armor of the Great Qi army can be raised to a higher level.

There are also farm tools, which will also be more durable.

This is of great benefit and significance to Daqi.

Therefore, once it is reported, the person who handed over the fold will inevitably be rewarded.

After He Ming took office, the county has indeed been unstable, but if he hands over the excerpts, then he can completely ignore this mistake.

After all, in the past, Hewu County was also so chaotic.

You can't completely blame He Ming for the fault, at most he is mediocre and a little incompetent.

Moreover, the location and topography of Hewu County are the main reasons for the troubles.

He Ming saw that Jiang Long was telling the truth, so he happily responded.

Next, Jiang Long explained in detail, He Ming personally took the pen to write the excerpt, and immediately sent someone to Wangsha City after writing.

He did not doubt the authenticity of Jiang Long's words.

As Jiang Long, he has no grievances with him, and he led troops to help him, so there is really no need to deceive and frame himself.

Then there is the fact that He Ming urgently needs a merit to offset his past crimes.

On ordinary people, mediocrity is not a sin.

But when it comes to officials, the meaning of mediocrity is different.

Because of mediocrity, it is likely to miss a lot of opportunities, and these opportunities will affect many people.

For example, in Hewu County, because of He Ming's mediocrity, he didn't know how to deal with it, so many people died at the hands of horse bandits or aliens.

In this case, you can be held accountable, or you can turn a blind eye.

But the problem is that He Ming's enemy is quite powerful, otherwise he would not be able to recommend him as an official.

In this way, the upper side must be held accountable.

For He Ming, this merit is completely a good prescription to save his life.

So for Jiang Long, He Ming was already grateful from the bottom of his heart at this time.

Coming to Hewu County and discovering coal, this was definitely a surprise for Jianglong.

Every winter, in the entire northern Xinjiang, I don't know how many people will freeze to death.

Just for heating, this coal could save many lives.

It was already very close to the time for another big cooldown, so Jiang Long immediately began to think about digging coal.

But eight thousand alien sergeants will soon come to take revenge.

What to do?

After thinking about it, in the end, I can only put it on hold, at least I have to fight back those 8,000 people.

However, in this case, the coal is too heavy, there is no good means of transportation, and the transportation is inconvenient, and the number of people who can benefit will be much smaller.

In He Ming's complimented laughter, Jiang Long rode away.

Along the way, with a heart.

Mining coal as early as possible can save many people, which is a matter of human life.

After going back, Jiang Long and He didn't mention it.

Why not just wonder what coal is, there is no good way to solve Jianglong's problem.

Compared with Jianglong, why not care about the people of Daqi, but not so enthusiastic and caring.

He has long been accustomed to seeing life and death.

"I've found two new bandit dens, not too far from here."

Why not change the subject, "One of the bandits who came out to loot was completely wiped out by me, and only dozens of horse bandits were left guarding the camp.

The number of the other den was about 200. ”

"Divide the troops and get it." After hearing this, Jiang Long said: "You take a team to encircle and suppress that crowded bandit den." ”

"Why didn't you rob it?"

Why don't you be surprised, in the past, Jianglong had to scramble to gnaw hard bones.

Jiang Long explained, "Compared with encircling and suppressing these broken horse bandits, it is more urgent and important to investigate the nearby coal mines. ”

Why didn't he understand at this time, and didn't forget to advise, "Then don't run too far." ”

"I know."

Jiang Long left with one hundred and fifty cavalry, followed by Tudu and Gunty Bak.

Fan Ren, the three Qi brothers, and Qin Yuquan were all allocated by Jiang Long.

Their mission is to protect the lives of those who are not there.

Why don't you know the art of war, but you are just a scholar, you don't have much force, and the county town is still there, and when you go to the battlefield at this time, you must have some brave guards around you.

Jiang Long took one hundred and fifty horsemen and marched towards the bandit's den, and the speed was not fast.

Along the way, when you encounter ravines and small hills, you will ride over to check.

Not to mention, it didn't take long for the shadow of coal to be discovered.

Jiang Long jumped off his horse, squatted down in a ravine, slashed away some of the frozen hard clods of earth with his scabbard, and held the half-exposed lumps of coal in his palms.

Because of long-term exposure to the sun and rain, the coal has changed color and is very soft.

It's not as hard as a frozen stiff clod of earth.

When you rub your fingers, they turn into black particles of different sizes.

Jiang Long took the scabbard and dug around it, there should be a small coal mine here.

"Can a stone be lit with fire?" Tudu stepped forward curiously, and also picked up a piece of coal, and looked left and right.

Gunty Bark ordered a few sergeants to fetch a lot of weeds, take out the fire breakers, light them, and put a few pieces of coal into the fire.

Dusk smoke rose and drifted high into the sky.

Jiang Long smiled: "Find more weeds, although coal is durable and has little smoke, it is not as easy to light as firewood." ”

Several sergeants immediately gathered weeds around the area.

It is not very easy to light coal with weeds, in addition to the fact that coal is not easy to burn at first, another reason may be that campfires lit with weeds, the temperature is a bit low and the fire is softer.

It took a while for the underside of a piece of coal to ignite and turn red.

"It's really lit."

Tudu pulled out the waist knife of the sergeant beside him, pulled the piece of coal from a kilometer to his side, stretched out his hand an inch away, and said with a smile: "This temperature is quite warm, and there is no smoke, if you put it in the house, it will not be too choking." ”

"That's not going to work."

Jiang Long immediately said: "It has smoke, but it is different from the smoke from the burning of wild grass and dry firewood, we can't see it, if it is really put in a room with closed doors and windows to keep warm, it will kill people." ”

Tudu smacked his tongue when he heard this.

Gunty Buck frowned, "How do you use it?" ”

"You've got to make a stove first." Jiang Long replied, and then waved his hand and said, "This is more complicated, I'll let the blacksmith make it out after a while, and then I'll show it to you." ”

Jiang Long got up, walked up the hill not far away, and looked around to see if there was any exposed coal nearby.

Tudu and Gunty Buck followed.

Some of the sergeants just ran to the campfire and watched curiously.

After a while, all the coals were lit, and the orange-red flames swayed, which was very gratifying.

Several sergeants reached out in a circle to keep warm, and whispered in their mouths.

"This thing is good, unlike weeds that burn up before they are hot."

"Well, it's more resistant to burning than charcoal."

"Why don't we dig some back?"

So when Jiang Long turned around, he found that many sergeants were digging coal with steel knives in their hands.

couldn't help but smile, and said to the two people beside him: "Although coal is burn-resistant, it is the best fuel for heating, and it is better for cooking, but its weight is very heavy, just a small pile that is not big, there are hundreds of catties, we still have to suppress bandits, and it will be very inconvenient to carry some on our bodies." ”

Seeing that Jiang Long wasn't really angry, he drank for a while.

Laughing and scolding to stop the sergeants who were digging coal.

The sergeant, who digs fast, has discovered the problem that the coal is too heavy.

On weekdays, their homes are full of burned weed stems.

A large bundle of people tall is carried on the body, and it is also easy to bear.

Even if it is firewood, you can walk barefoot for more than ten miles with a large bundle on your back.

But the coal is too heavy.

Even if Jiang Long didn't stop it, they wouldn't be able to take too much.

In the end, the sergeants just stuffed a few pieces in their arms, intending to wait until the night to keep warm after being lit.

Not surprisingly, they'll rest in that bandit den tonight.

There were no accidents.

Most of the people and horses who went out to plunder in this bandit den in front of him have been annihilated by He Zai, Jiang Long brought one hundred and fifty cavalry, and it was a surprise attack, so he easily took the cottage.

There are also surprises.

In the kiln of the cottage, more than a dozen naked women were found.

These women were snatched by the horse bandits, and they were originally ordinary people, and they were imprisoned here for the horse bandits to vent their fire.

Because the number of women is small and not enough, they have to be played with by horse bandits every day.

"All cut!"

Jiang Long gave the order.

Naturally, instead of cutting down these women, he wanted to kill all the horse bandits who had been captured alive before.

Originally, Jiang Long felt that these horse bandits were also the people of Daqi, and if they could, they would spare their lives.

Before going to Jieziliang to suppress bandits, he also bought hundreds of horse bandits from He Huan's hands, and he didn't kill any of them.

He is still doing hard work in Lingtong County.

But when he saw these women covered in bruises and scars, he cooled down.

After a while, there was a burst of screams outside, before death.

Jiang Long asked the sergeant to strip off the clothes of the horse bandits and put them on the women.

It's just that how to arrange them has become a big problem.

Sending them home?

Definitely not.

Although the people in northern Xinjiang are more open, not as particular as those in the south, no one can accept the fact that a woman was robbed by horse bandits to a bandit's den.

Send it back, and the final result will be in the indifference and white eyes of the neighbors and relatives, and you will end up depressed.

Jiang Long naturally can't do it, no matter what, let it fend for itself.

After thinking about it, I decided to take it with me first.

Coal mining is about to be carried out in Hewu County, which is not very affected by the cooling weather.

Coal mining is underground, and the temperature is not too low, and the cold wind on the ground does not blow in.

The biggest difficulty is transportation.

But it doesn't matter, you can mine more goods first, wait for good weather, and then find a convoy to transport them to the surrounding counties.

These women can help with the cooking.

In addition, Jiang Long also asked He Ming to help re-issue household registration certificates for these women.

Let them break away from the past and have a new identity.

Jiang Long thought thoughtfully, but he couldn't guarantee that these women would be able to live well in the future.

Because of such a painful experience, many women have been numb physically and mentally.

There is no hope for them, and there is no tomorrow in sight.

That night, the people rested there, and the next day, two more bodies came out, and two women could not bear to commit suicide.

Jiang Long ordered people to bury it deeply.

The faces of the sergeants had more calm expressions and no smiles than before.

Set a fire, burn down the cottage and leave.

Along the way, the team traveled more slowly than they had come.

The reason is very simple, one is that most of those women do not know how to ride horses and need help.

The second is to encircle and suppress the cottage and harvest some loot.

In the kiln in the bandit's nest, there is a lot of grain, and there are also some gold and silver property.

Jiang Long let the sergeants divide it equally.

When he returned to Lingtong County, he at most reported some horses to the imperial court.

It is used to prove that he has indeed exterminated several horse bandits.

Gathering with He Zao again, Jiang Long received a letter.