Traveling through the emperor, overthrowing the empress dowager at the beginning

After the Beijing camp soldiers in Muzhai were cleared out, Ye Chen completely took control of the situation.

Then, Ye Chen went to the mine.

The narrow and stuffy mine entrance can only accommodate one person.

Lu Niudan and others were the first to enter the mine to clear the way. Only after making sure everything was safe did Ye Chen enter.

Then he saw the miners gathered at the cave entrance, kneeling together.

He looked around and felt that these people could not be called miners, but a group of beggars.

They were naked, with tattered aprons hanging around their waists. They were all covered in black, and most of them didn't even have shoes.

All the miners were pale and thin, each one looked like a skeleton.

Ye Chen frowned.

Such a scene is really tragic.

"Sir, I, we are just common people, we were captured and are not in the same group as the people outside."

An elderly miner came forward on his knees, sobbing with a sad face.

Hearing this, Ye Chen was silent for a moment.

"Someone, take me to where these miners live."

"Yes."

A guard led the way.

Ye Chen ignored the miners and walked towards the depths of the mine.

Soon, he saw the miners' homes.

Those were small holes dug out from the wall, each only big enough for one person to fit in. They were covered with straw mats, and only a few of the holes had quilts.

The further you go into the mine, the hotter and more stuffy the air becomes.

Ye Chen was already sweating profusely.

Shen Qiu and Murong Yan, who were following Ye Chen, also kept wiping the sweat from their foreheads.

this kind of environment.

Ye Chen felt that he couldn't stay there for even a quarter of an hour.

He now understood why these powerful people would do everything they could to plunder the people.

In this environment, I'm afraid several miners die every day.

"Let's go."

Ye Chen gritted his teeth and led his men out of the mine with a heavy heart.

"Get all these miners out, send them down to the Qinling Mountains, and let Su Fu take care of them!"

Ye Chen said to Shen Qiu.

These are all witnesses!

"Yes."

"By the way, what do the miners eat?"

Ye Chen asked again.

"Millet dumplings."

Shen Qiu paused and added, "It's very dirty. There are stones, wheat husks, and weeds in it. The amount is also small."

"The powerful people in the Beijing camp really deserve to die!"

Ye Chen gritted his teeth.

These are all Dayu’s people.

However, they were treated like cattle and horses by these powerful people, and they were never well fed.

Ye Chen was naturally very angry.

"Your Majesty, we have found the layout of the troop rotation in the Qinling Mountains."

Ye Chen just walked out of the mine.

A guard stepped forward and clasped his fists.

"Give it to me."

Ye Chen immediately took a piece of paper.

He couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

Do all these Beijing troops actually use paper?

Judging from the current price of paper in the capital market, these guys are really rich.

Ye Chen took a few glances at the paper and his eyes immediately narrowed.

"The next rotation will be tonight, right?"

Ye Chen pondered for a moment, then said to Shen Qiu beside him, "Qiu'er, if I go to the nearest copper mine now, can I capture those people in the copper mine without being known by others before the shift change?"

The successful capture of the stronghold in his first operation gave him a boost of confidence.

Moreover, since he had reached the Qinling Mountains, he definitely did not just want to capture a wooden village and be done with it.

He had to collect enough evidence to completely shake the Beijing camp's guilt.

Only in this way.

Only then can the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of War, and even Yang Dechang be dragged into the water!

"Your Majesty, it should be possible!"

Shen Qiu was also very confident at this moment.

Moreover, those copper mines had just been developed, so she thought the defenses should not be very strict.

"Alright then, pass the word out. We'll set out immediately for the nearest copper mine. We have to take control of it within three hours!"

Ye Chen immediately gave the order.

"Yes!"

Shen Qiu quickly went down to pass on the order.

A part of the imperial guards was left behind to escort the miners down the mountain, while the rest quickly walked out of the wooden village and headed towards the location of the copper mine.

The mountain road is rugged, but there is a road, which was opened up by the Beijing camp.

"Boom!" "Boom!"~

Accompanied by bursts of roars.

From a distance, Ye Chen saw thick smoke rushing into the sky again.

He snorted lightly, but ordered the imperial guards to slow down their pace and advance slowly.

In the dense mountains and ancient forests, the imperial guards hid their bodies in the shadows of the leaves, like ghosts hiding in the darkness.

The scouts that were originally wandering around were killed one after another.

However, just when Ye Chen thought everything was going well.

But got some bad news.

"There are seven or eight hundred soldiers from the Beijing camp working in the copper mine?"

Ye Chen was very surprised.

When the imperial guards dealt with those scouts, they would also capture one or two scouts and interrogate them.

But the copper mine hasn't been developed yet, so how can we already have so many soldiers?

Ye Chen was a little surprised, but he realized that it would be difficult to capture the copper mine while keeping the news secret.

He originally wanted to surround the enemy and attack the reinforcements, and kill all the soldiers who were coming to relieve the guard.

Now I can only give up.

But he did not give up the plan of attack, but asked someone to inquire the name of the general who was in charge of the development of the copper mine.

"Cao Kun?"

Ye Chen smiled coldly. Just by looking at the name, he knew that this guy was probably a relative of Cao Tao.

After all, they are all children of aristocratic families, so it is normal for some of them to come from the same family.

"Spread the word, there will be a huge reward for anyone who captures Cao Kun alive!"

"Yes!"

The Imperial Guards continued to advance, rapidly closing the distance to the area where the copper mine was being developed.

And there, Cao Kun, Cao Tao's nephew, was observing the mine with thick smoke, and the corners of his mouth quickly rose up.

What a great place! What a great place!

Qinling Mountains is such a great place.

There are iron mines, not to mention grazing, even copper mines have been discovered.

If we control the Qinling Mountains, we will really make a fortune!

"If we can mine this copper, we can mint coins. By then, my Cao family can buy up half of the Qinling Mountains!"

Cao Kun's eyes lit up, and he felt that his family was about to take off.

"General, the mine has been blown out."

A lieutenant general came to Cao Kun and said.

"Send someone down to dig it out for this general!"

"But, General, this mine was just blasted out. If we don't stabilize it first, it will easily collapse if we dig directly."

"It collapsed, it collapsed, it's just a bunch of untouchables! Send more untouchables over there, and get the copper out quickly! That's the real thing!"

Cao Kun waved his hand impatiently.

He doesn't care how many untouchables die.

"But General, a scout heard the sound of killing at the nearby wooden fort. Could something have happened?"

"Heh, send a few more scouts over to check. What could possibly happen? The sky won't fall."

Cao Kun waved his hand again, but he didn't seem worried at all.

After all, the Beijing camp had been operating in the Qinling Mountains for several years and nothing had happened.

Not to mention, Cao Kun is now focused on opening a copper mine and doesn't care about anything else.