No, I was just a concubine, how did I become the queen?

With the successful conquest of Goguryeo, Fourteen also defeated the Konbang Kingdom.

Seeing that both of its allies were beaten by the Qing Dynasty, the Russians did not dare to take any action for a while.

Lin Mingyan felt a little regretful: "If only the Russians couldn't hold back, they would have to cede some land and pay some compensation."

What she coveted was Russia's rich coal resources.

After all, the railway from Beijing to Tianjin has been laid and the train will be running soon.

It's a bit painful to use your own country's coal, but it's much more comfortable to steal other people's coal.

The Fourth Master laughed after hearing this: "It has come to this point, it's not like they can just stop fighting."

"After all, they captured people from Goguryeo and Gongbaung, so it's reasonable to find a few secret letters, right?"

Of course.

The secret letter was written with a brush, so it’s harmless, right?

Lin Mingyan frowned: I don’t believe you at all!

But whatever we can steal is better than nothing. After all, the Russians have also robbed us a lot in other time and space.

What is this called?

This is called conservation of cosmic energy!

Lin Mingyan nodded and said seriously, "That's really abominable. Master, you can't let them go!"

The Fourth Master was really happy this time. He touched her angry little face and said, "Don't worry, we will have enough coal soon!"

Every time he told a lie seriously, Cha Cha could pick up on it naturally.

This feeling of telepathy is really addictive.

The two men smiled at each other, completely indifferent to the life or death of any country.

Because of the advancement of weapons, the Qing Dynasty's coal miners had already entered the Russian territory to mine coal before the weather even got hot.

The people in the capital did not feel all this very clearly, but people near Ningguta talked about it with great relish.

Since the Shunzhi Dynasty, Ningguta has gradually become a cold and miserable place of exile. Those who are capable here have moved away long ago, and those who remain are the descendants of criminals.

Generally speaking, the people here have no hope of turning their lives around in this life.

Even the next generation or the next generation will not have the chance to return to this prosperous place.

What’s even more sad is that most of these people were wealthy and powerful people if you count their ancestors.

In this way, no one is willing to accept it.

Zhang Songqing is one of them. His ancestors were officials to some extent.

However, his ancestor Zhang Jinyan was an official of the Ming Dynasty. He served as the Minister of War and was exiled to Ningguta.

The Zhang family settled down here.

Perhaps because of their physical constitution, the Zhang family was able to adapt to the bitter cold here and finally managed to preserve the incense.

By his generation, people had bribed others with money and were no longer considered criminal slaves.

But people with their backgrounds had no chance of passing the imperial examination and becoming officials, so they could only muddle through their days.

It’s okay for those who have no ability, but who among those who have ability would be willing to waste their time like this?

Since he was 20 years old, Zhang Songqing has been trying to find a way out.

He first tried to join the army, but when people found out he was the descendant of a criminal of the previous dynasty, of course they would not accept him.

Although his great-grandfather Zhang Jinyan brought agricultural farming from the Central Plains here and was revered as the God of Grains among the outside world, this did not allow them to make more money from farming.

Thanks to the Queen Mother's promotion of improved sweet potato varieties, the Zhang family has finally been able to have enough food to eat in recent years.

However, the ambition ingrained in the Zhang family made them completely unable to be satisfied with such a simple life.

After asking around, Zhang Songqing finally found out about this method and secretly took note of it.

When he got home, he discussed it with his wife and parents: "I heard they're going to recruit a group of people to go over to the Russians to dig coal!"

"Because it's quite urgent, of course we'll give priority to recruiting people from Ningguta."

"It doesn't matter if they're guilty or not. As long as they're in their prime, we'll hire them!"

He was a little excited. After all, this was the best way out he could find in these years.

When Zhang's father was young, he was a criminal slave and did hard labor.

I was a little daunted by these jobs of coal mining and quarrying: "Qing'er, aren't we fighting a war with the Russians?"

"Isn't it dangerous to go dig coal over there at this time?"

Zhang Songqing quickly shook his head: "Oh, Dad! That war was last month, we won it a long time ago!"

"The place where we are mining coal now was compensated to us by the Russians."

"At the time, they said that place was even colder than here, so there was no point in coming."

"I didn't expect that a coal mine would be discovered in less than a month. I heard it's black gold!"

The Central Plains has a long history of using coal, but although their area is large, there are not many coal mines.

This time we have discovered a large mine in the Russian territory, so why not quickly mine it all and bring it back to the Qing Dynasty?

Father Zhang finally felt relieved, but he still had some concerns: "But going to a place where we are unfamiliar with everyone is still a bit risky."

Zhang's mother and his wife also looked worried, after all, Zhang Songqing was the pillar of the family.

If anything happened to him, their family would be finished.

Especially his wife, looking at her son sleeping soundly in the cradle, her eyes were full of reluctance to leave her husband.

Zhang Songqing didn't avoid her gaze. He looked at his wife and children and said firmly, "If you don't give it a try, are you willing to let Mo'er continue to live like this?"

"This is the first time the imperial court has issued a work-for-pardon policy. As long as we stay there for three years, we can be restored to good citizen status."

"Whether I continue to stay here or go back to my hometown in Henan, both are ways out!"

Not to mention, there is pay for mining coal, and I can make a lot of money in these three years.

By then, if I take everyone back to the Central Plains, I will even have the travel expenses!

Rather than saying that he discussed it with his family, Zhang Songqing actually just wanted to inform them.

Because he had already registered at the recruitment office, he had to go regardless of whether his family agreed or not.

Time was tight, as that day was the final farewell.

Before dawn the next day, Zhang Songqing kissed his still sleeping son, and amidst his wife's tears, he set foot on the path covered with morning dew.

There were many people on the road to Maozi, but most of them were silent.

In addition to volunteers like Zhang Songqing, there are more criminal slaves who were forcibly sent here.

But unlike them, criminal slaves do not receive any wages.

But after enduring three years, at least I was able to get rid of the crime, which is a good thing.

Once we arrived at the coal mine, accommodation for so many people became a pressing issue, and of course it was impossible to sleep directly in the mine.

So they walked for several days, and when they arrived, the first thing they did was cut down trees and build a house.

But if everyone builds a separate house, it will be somewhat difficult and inconvenient to manage.

So the officers and soldiers organized them into teams, with eight people in each team, living in one room.

They ate, drank and lived together, forming a temporary coal mining team.

Zhang Songqing is from the 18th team, and because of his strong physique, he is the captain of the team.