What is a "mountain"? It is the soil that gathers stones and is high. Therefore, walking between the mountain roads, because the terrain is from low to high, winding and steep must be one of them. Those who want to have a small slope must take its winding and abandon its approach, and those who want to take a shortcut and avoid its distance must bear its steepness. Although Mei Siyuan's eight people have all practiced martial arts and have extraordinary skills, they are not good at climbing, and they come all the way along the mountain and meandering upward.

"Hey, big brother, I'm not wrong, how do I think I've been here before. Fu Chou followed closely behind the old man and was walking through a bush.

"Hehe, there's no going wrong with that. This is the case with this blind mountain, and at first glance each hill looks like a number of siblings. The bushes and bushes are one after another, and others dare not come here. The old man replied with a smirk.

"Yes. Why don't you dare to come, just you?" Although Fu Chu was tired, he was also interested in talking.

"When the people in the village go up the blind mountain, they will fetch some firewood or something, and there will be some at the foot of the mountain. If you want to come to this depth, where can you tell the left and right? Do you not go around in circles here? My parents died young, and at the age of thirteen they plowed the land for the owner. At that time, it was small, and there was little farming, and the grain and rice obtained were not enough to fill the stomach, so I often came to the depths of this blind mountain to find food. The old man talked about the past, and his face was quite vicissitudes, "Wherever I went, I broke a branch back and forth beside me, so that I would not get lost." You see, this is the little branch I broke a few days ago. With that, he pointed to a branch beside him that was falling backwards. I saw that it had a dull fold, and it had obviously fallen for several days.

"Oh, that's it! When Fu Chu heard this, he found it very interesting, thinking that in the future, when he walked in the mountains, he could also use the old man's method to distinguish the way, and he was overjoyed, and replied with a smile while walking.

"A few officials, just ahead. The old man turned his head and smiled and said to everyone.

"Oh, yes!" Mei Siyuan was shocked and quickly followed the front, "I'll take a look." ”

"It's the edge of the elm forest in the lower right in front, and through the elm forest, the cave is at the very edge. It is estimated that it will be three miles away. The old man pointed to the lower right in front of him and explained to Mei Siyuan.

At this time, it was noon, and everyone had been walking in the mountain for more than three hours. Although the winter sun is not scorching, I feel sticky and dry after a long time. When they heard that the salt mine was in front of them, they all felt that their bodies were much lighter, their feet were strong, and their steps were bigger.

"Phew! These pimples are not pleasant! A body of leaves bites like a saw!" I only heard Yin Chenghui, one of Mei Siyuan's four personal guards, scolding at the end of the team, but he was unexpected, but he was hit by an elm branch, and the elm leaf cut a big cut on his face.

"Cheng Hui, rely on me. This, alas. Mei Siyuan's four personal guards Zhai Kai heard Yin Chenghui complaining, so he turned back to see that he was pushing the elm branch when he was moving forward, and he was in a hurry, and the elm branch bounced back too fast, and Yin Chenghui didn't have time to avoid it, so he was hit on the cheek, and a blood mark had already appeared at this time. At this time, he blamed himself.

"What's this! Let's go, I'm going to say!" Yin Chenghui didn't seem to mind, and said happily.

Everyone walked out of the Yulin and saw a trickle, and there was a small pool below, which was clearly visible.

"Hey, it's easy to find!" Fu Chou has been following the old man closely, and when he walked out of Yulin, he rushed to the front, and when he saw a trickle of clear water in front of him, he hurriedly rushed over to fetch water to drink. With a "poof", Fu Chu spit out a mouthful of water, his face changed a few times, and then he laughed, "Haha! Your Excellency can't be wrong! This is it!" It turns out that this water entrance is extremely salty, and it is a salt cave that the old man brought everyone to find.

Mei Siyuan had also arrived, stretched out his hand to grab the water and sent it to his mouth, several breaths began to spit out, and he said for a long time, "It's really a great joy!" The smile grew, and after a while, he burst out laughing.

Only then did everyone sit down, only to see two people walking out of the woods on the other side, who were actually dressed as officials of the political secretary's yamen. When the two of them got closer, one of them had a scar on his face, and the other was short, but it was He Guanggen and Wan Yong, who had been to the old man's house before. The two of them had already seen the old man in the crowd and reprimanded, "Why did you bring so many people here!" The old man was about to explain, Fu Cheng first revealed the identity of the group, and the two of them were frightened for a while, and hurriedly bent down to salute.

"Are you the head of the State Salt Administration?" asked Mei Siyuan, "just the two of you?"

He Guanggen had never seen such a high-ranking official, and he was a little nervous at the moment, and replied in a low voice, "The two of them are the walking of the Fuzhou Salt Transportation Administration, and the boss sent us to guard here, and no one should be called to stir up the chaos." In addition to the two of us, there were six other people, two by two. I thought he had finished speaking, but he added, "Oh, there is also a state official who has been here for seven or eight days, and eats with us every day." ”

"Staff?" Mei Siyuan was very happy and asked, "Where is it?"

He Guanggen was a hundred promises, walked in front to lead the way, and replied, "At this moment, it is time for dinner, and we are making rice at the mouth of the mountain in front. ”

The place where the nine men made rice was not far from the cave, and they arrived in less than half an hour, and saw that two fires were burning, and an iron pot and a large rice bowl were set up respectively. The seven of them were busy working, and when they saw that He and Wan brought so many people, they were confused for a while. He Guanggen shouted to the seven people, "Come and see Lord Mei, the administrative secretary of the county salt transportation!" When the seven people heard this, they were shocked, and hurriedly put down the things in their hands and came to pay their respects.

"Get up!" Mei Siyuan said, and then turned back to punish everyone, "Open our food bag, and eat here together at noon!" And he said, "Which one is Mr. Staff?"

The thin black man who thought he was in his early forties stood up and knelt down and said, "My lord, the little Xie Buquan is the staff sent by the state government to paint the terrain here." ”

Mei Siyuan stepped forward and pulled him up, and said, "Sir, why do you use so much courtesy!"

Xie Buquan took off the clip book from his back and said, "My lord, I just finished painting the last piece in the morning, and it's all here!"

Mei Siyuan was overjoyed and took the splint to look at it. Staff drawing, walking outside all the year round, in order to draw at any time and ensure that the atlas is not wet by rain, are equipped with waterproof cowhide bags and drawing splints. Mei Siyuan opened it carefully, looked at it slowly, and Xie Buquan was waiting on the side, and he had already solved the problem.

Half an hour had passed, the food had been prepared, and Mei Siyuan didn't seem to have any intention of eating. Fu Cheng came over and asked, "My lord, can you eat?"

This atlas is specially drawn by the state government yamen for the state salt transportation department, thinking that this salt cave is used for mining, and although this map only depicts the town of Fuyang, the square circle is all detailed. After reading it, Mei Siyuan slowly closed the atlas, and the terrain near the left side of the blind mountain was tiled in his mind: "The salt mine stretches for more than ten miles, and there are only three large open spaces within a radius of 100 miles: Tuge Village in the north, Shanbutou Village in the southeast and Heao Village in the southwest, but at that time, the people have all gathered into villages. Carefully study this mountain Butou Village, it is only 344 or 5 miles away from the mine, and the mountain is not steep, it is 60 miles away, and the ore is best transported out; there are two rivers passing through the front and back of the village, which is necessary for boiling salt; there are ready-made township roads leading to towns and counties, and you can do the way of transporting salt by widening it slightly. It's really the best place to build a salt factory!"