The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 136 A huge sum of money

The faces of the people in the village changed drastically.

The miners began to retreat, unable to hold their weapons, and several of them dropped their shovels and iron spades to the ground with a bang.

The Imperial Guards, however, were much more flexible in their thinking than the miners. They began to exchange glances...

From time to time, someone would glance at Luo Jiandang, and then nod at his companions.

Soon, the commander of the imperial guards, accompanied by several of his men, strode up to Luo Jiandang and said, "I think your Highness is right. What's the point of us still defending this village? If all of Shandong falls, this gold mine will become the property of the Jin bandits. Then all the ore here will be taken away by the Jin bandits. It would be better to hand it over to your Highness so that he can use it to pay the soldiers and forge weapons to fight against the Jin bandits."

Luo Jiandang was very anxious: "That's not the case. What if the Jin thieves just come to plunder and leave? Wasn't that what happened last time? By then, Shandong will still be the territory of the Song Dynasty. If we secretly hand over the gold mine to a prince and organize an army, what crime will that be? Have you ever thought about it?"

The commander of the imperial guards said, "It's not like I haven't been in officialdom before. If you were to tell me what you mean, the prince would be guilty of treason if he did this. In all likelihood, we would suffer as well."

Luo Jiandang: "Then what else do you say?"

The commander of the imperial guards said, "But if I don't surrender now, the Laoshan general's cannon will bombard us. How can I resist it? Just my head? Between being unlucky now and being unlucky in the future, I choose the future."

Luo Jiandang: "..."

The commander of the imperial guards said, "Besides, there's Wuma Mountain in Hebei. Prince Xin Zhao Zhen also raised an army there to fight against the Jin. I heard he even exchanged letters with the current emperor, but the emperor didn't accuse him of treason, but instead offered some words of encouragement."

It turned out that after Prince Xin Zhao Zhen raised the rebel army in Wumashan, he immediately wrote a letter and sent someone to travel thousands of miles to break through the blockade of the Jin army and deliver the letter to Song Gaozong Zhao Gou.

After reading the letter, Zhao Gou actually admitted that it was the handwriting of his eighteenth brother, and praised his eighteenth brother for his ability.

Of course, Zhao Gou was just pretending to brag. Afterwards, he did not send any reinforcements to help Zhao Zhen. First, he did not have the strength to do so, and second, he could not really allow a prince to have an army of 100,000.

Wumashan was in Jin territory at the time, and Zhao Zhen's raising of an army to cause trouble for the Jin bandits was within Zhao Gou's tolerance. If this had happened in Southern Song territory, the Jin army wouldn't have had to fight. Zhao Gou would have sent troops to defeat it first, capturing the "daring and self-important" prince and dismembering him.

I’ve gone off topic, let’s get back to the story.

Luo Jiandang didn't know what to say when the commander of the imperial guards brought up the matter of Wumashan. He turned around and looked at the imperial guards in the village. Everyone's face changed color. Then he looked at the miners. No one was willing to take up a weapon.

He also understood that only those with soldiers at their disposal could be the boss. If he said no now, the commander of the imperial guards might chop him down on the spot...

Luo Jiandang sighed and said, "Never mind, it's up to you."

then……

The gate of the stronghold opened, and the commander of the imperial guards came out with about fifty imperial guards to welcome Yue Wenxuan.

A large number of miners carefully hid in the distance, secretly watching the new boss.

Yue Wenxuan led his troops into the mountain stronghold...

The village was quite large, covering an area almost as large as a small county town. Its walls, stretching from east to west and north to south, were a mile long, forming a roughly square layout. It contained several mines and numerous buildings for the guards and miners.

There is a small square in the center of the village, and there is even a stage next to the square.

There is a big house in the north of the square. There is a gold-inlaid plaque hanging on the door. Even from a long distance, you can see the plaque shining with golden light.

Yue Wenxuan couldn't help but grumble, "It's worthy of being a place where gold is mined. Even the plaques are inlaid with gold." Luo Jiandang, who was accompanying him, sighed softly, "This was made when Lord Pan was still alive. It's not because of my greed for luxury."

"Oh? Did Pan Mei do it?"

Yue Wenxuan walked to the front of the plaque and could see clearly that there were three big characters inlaid in gold on it: Du Jin Mansion.

This is where the gold mine supervisor's office is located.

Luo Jiandang invited Yue Wenxuan to the main hall of the Dujin Mansion and asked him to sit in the first seat. He then went to the back and brought out a large pile of account books, piling them in front of Yue Wenxuan. He whispered, "Your Highness, these are the accounts from half a year ago to now..."

Yue Wenxuan asked, "Why half a year ago?"

Luo Jiandang: "Six and a half years ago, the Salt and Iron Transport Commissioner of the Jingdong East Road gave me the final order to have the Imperial Guards transport all the minerals here. At that time, I cleared the accounts and reported it to my superiors. Since then, I have not received any orders, so the accounts for the past six months have not been cleared."

Yue Wenxuan nodded: "I understand!"

He flipped through it casually, pretending to read it, muttering, "I'll take a closer look when I get home. I don't have time to calculate it slowly now. Let's just look at the result today."

I turned to the end and counted how much refined gold was stored and how many associated minerals were there. Upon closer inspection, there were quite a few. There were actually 3200 taels of gold stored here, as well as some iron, lead and other minerals.

This is quite a lot!

In those days, one tael of gold was approximately equal to ten taels of silver, and one tael of silver was approximately equal to between 800 wen and one guan of coins.

Yue Wenxuan planned to pay the soldiers a monthly salary of five strings of cash. Based on this calculation, the gold production of the Zhaoyuan gold mine could cover the salary expenses of a thousand full-time soldiers.

Of course, it’s just military pay!

In fact, arming an army also requires weapons and equipment, military rations, pensions, bounties, etc., which are another matter.

After reviewing the account book, Yue Wenxuan waved his hand and immediately issued an order: "You have guarded the gold mine in these turbulent times, ensuring it is not looted by the gold thieves. You have protected the country's important assets. This is a great achievement. I have clear rewards and punishments, and I cannot let your merits be in vain. Pass on my order: all the imperial guards in the Zhaoyuan gold mine will be rewarded with one ounce of gold each, and each miner will be rewarded with two strings of copper coins. Distribute them immediately."

Luo Jiandang was slightly stunned, about to object, but he swallowed his words back immediately. Even the most stubborn person knew that to object at this time would be to offend all the imperial guards and miners, and that would be courting death. After all, the order came from the prince, not him.

The commander of the imperial guards was overjoyed. He jumped up into the air and shouted to his brothers, "Brothers, the prince has ordered that each of you be rewarded with one ounce of gold."

All fifty imperial guards were overjoyed.

The Imperial Guards were essentially a byword for poverty. Chapter 8 of this book specifically describes how the Imperial Guards were so poor they couldn't even afford coal for hot water.

One tael of gold is a huge sum of money for them!

The new boss gives out huge sums of money right after he arrives. How can anyone not die for him?

Without a word, the imperial guards all bowed deeply to Yue Wenxuan and said, "From now on, if your Highness commands us, we will go through fire and water without hesitation."

Yue Wenxuan: "What else can I do for you? It's just fighting! You are the imperial guards, but you have been working as porters for the transport department. It's a bit of a waste of your talents. Wouldn't it be better to keep your useful bodies to fight the Jin bandits? Anyway, Shandong Province has become meat on the chopping board of the Jin bandits. If we don't unite and fight with all our might, we will all die."

(End of this chapter)