Chapter 885 Chapter 885, Coal Mine

After Bu Gandang left with the horse, Xiao Yeyang pulled Daohua off the carriage, helped her onto the mount, and then he also turned over and sat on it.

The two men rode on the same horse, admiring the vast wasteland, walking at a leisurely pace.

Daohua leaned comfortably in Xiao Yeyang's arms, enjoying this rare time alone.

"Would you like to gallop?"

Daohua's eyes lit up and she nodded hurriedly.

When Xiao Yeyang saw this, he smiled happily, swung the whip in his hand, and the horse he was riding shot out like an arrow.

The pleasant laughter and the bright smiles, along with the galloping horses, were left on this land.

Xiao Yeyang slapped the whip and galloped quickly with the rice flowers. When the horse rushed up a slope, a dark-skinned teenager suddenly jumped out from behind the slope.

“Ouch~”

Xiao Yeyang was startled and quickly tightened his mount.

When the young man saw the tall horse charging towards him, he was so frightened that he stood there stunned.

The horse raised its front legs high, but was held tightly by Xiao Yeyang, so it did not kick at the young man.

Xiao Yeyang steered his horse away from the young man, took a few steps back, and then quickly looked towards Daohua: "Are you not scared?"

Daohua patted his chest and said, "It's okay, I was just startled."

Seeing that her face looked normal, Xiao Yeyang immediately dismounted.

"I want to go down too." Daohua stretched out her hands.

Xiao Yeyang immediately reached out and hugged her down.

At this time, Defu, Meilan and others also arrived in their carriage.

Defu: "Master, what happened?"

Xiao Yeyang ignored him and strode towards the young man who was so dark that only a little white could be seen in his eyes.

The boy seemed to be frightened and stood there in a stiff posture.

Daohua also walked over, not wanting Xiao Yeyang to scare anyone else, so she was the first to ask, "Little brother, are you okay?"

The concerned voice came into his ears and the young man finally came back to his senses. As soon as he came to his senses, he fell to the ground with weak legs, and then tears flowed down his face.

Well.

Daohua and Xiao Yeyang looked at each other quickly. The boy in front of them was only about twelve or thirteen years old. Seeing him crying so sadly, they both felt guilty for bullying a child.

Seeing that his two masters looked troubled, Defu quickly took out his handkerchief and handed it to them: "Little brother, don't cry, let's talk it over."

The young man looked at Daohua and the others, and felt no ill will towards them. He took Defu's handkerchief, wiped his eyes, and said with sobs, "Just now I thought I was going to die."

Defu was a little amused and said, "You are not dead yet, are you? Get up quickly and stop crying." As he said that, he reached out to help the young man.

When the young man stood up, he saw that the handkerchief in his hand had turned black, and he looked at Defu embarrassedly.

Defu looked at the handkerchief that was dyed black, and the corners of his mouth twitched: "The handkerchief is for you."

Seeing that the boy's mood had calmed down, Daohua asked, "Little brother, where did you come from? Why are you so dirty? And why were you running so fast just now?"

Hearing this, the boy's expression suddenly became nervous and panicked. Before he could say anything, loud voices came from behind the hillside.

"That little bastard won't be able to get far. I must catch him back to me."

The boy tried to run away, but Defu grabbed him.

The boy was anxious: "They are people from the coal mine, they are here to arrest me."

Xiao Yeyang looked at the boy and asked, "Did you escape from the coal mine?"

The boy nodded quickly and said, "Please let me go. If I'm caught by the people in the coal mine, I'll be dead. Please."

Xiao Yeyang heard the sound getting closer and closer, and glanced at Defu. Defu immediately pulled the boy and hid in the carriage.

As soon as Defu stuffed the boy into the carriage, several fierce-looking men appeared in sight.

Xiao Yeyang stood in front of Daohua, blocking her behind him, and glanced at the strong men with an expressionless face.

Several strong men looked at Xiao Yeyang and others and were stunned for a moment.

Perhaps realizing that Xiao Yeyang and his group were not easy to deal with, the strong men did not ask anything and continued to chase forward.

"Brother Hu, why didn't you ask those people just now?"

"You are blind! That horse and carriage are obviously not something an ordinary person can afford. Moreover, the demeanor of that man in brocade clothes is even more intimidating than that of a captain. We cannot afford to offend those people."

"What if that brat has hidden in their carriage?"

"Oh, you don't have many opportunities to interact with nobles. You don't know that those who are so high and mighty look down on us peasants from the bottom of their hearts. There are women among them. How could they help a dirty child?"

After the man had disappeared from view, Defu opened the carriage and let the young man get off.

The young man looked at Dengfu, then at Daohua and Xiao Yeyang, and then he knelt down and said, "Thank you for saving me."

Xiao Yeyang looked at the boy, who looked about twelve or thirteen years old, and whose body was so thin that it seemed like it could be blown away by a gust of wind. He frowned and asked, "You are so young and you want to work in a coal mine?"

The boy's face showed some anger: "I was taken away by force."

Xiao Yeyang: "Why did they arrest you?"

The young man shook his head. "I don't know either. My father was a minor official under Hundred Household Officer Yang of Beiwan Beihu Suo." At this point, the young man's eyes became red again. "Last autumn, my father suddenly died inexplicably."

"My family and I were very sad, but we didn't dare go to the Hundred Households Office to ask for information. Unexpectedly, just after the Lunar New Year, Hundred Household Officer Yang sent someone to arrest me and force me to work in a coal mine."

"They tortured me every day, forcing me to dig coal and not giving me food. I couldn't stand it anymore, so I escaped."

Xiao Yeyang looked at the young man, knowing that he had something to say, and was too lazy to ask.

However, the Beiwan Baihu Suo discovered a coal mine.

In the past few months, he checked the taxes collected by the thousand households and hundred households under the jurisdiction of Ganzhou Guard in the past two years, and did not see how much tax silver the hundred households in Beiwan had paid.

The coal mines in Xiliang can be mined privately, but a certain amount of tax must be paid every year. Obviously, the Beiwan Hundred Households Office concealed the matter of the coal mines.

Thinking of the Ganzhou Guard's financial expenditure, Xiao Yeyang was very angry at the officials who took the lead in tax evasion. He glanced at the young man again and said calmly, "Those people have left. You can leave on your own."

After saying that, Xiao Yeyang led Daohua towards the carriage. He had just been frightened and didn't want to ride the horse anymore.

The young man looked at the two men's backs with a struggling expression. When his father was still alive, he often went to the Hundred Households Office and met some noble people.

These people in front of him seemed to be stronger than Yang Baihu. He also saw that the people from the coal mine did not dare to provoke him and actively avoided him.

Can these people help him?

Thinking of his elderly grandparents at home, and his sister who was targeted by the village villains, the boy gritted his teeth, decided to take a gamble, and ran quickly towards Xiao Yeyang and Daohua.

When Defu saw this, he thought he was going to do something, so he quickly stepped forward to stop him.

Unexpectedly, the young man ran over and knelt down in front of Daohua and Xiao Yeyang: "Two kind people, please save me and my family."

Although Daohua felt a little sympathetic towards the young boy who had to dig coal at such a young age, she looked away when she thought of the boy's unclear speech just now.

Xiao Yeyang ignored her and reached out to help Daohua get into the car.

"If you two kind souls can protect me and my family, I will tell you the location of an open-pit coal mine."

Hearing this, Daohua and Xiao Yeyang turned to look at the young man.

The young man looked at the two of them with hope in his eyes: "Can you help me?"

Xiao Yeyang raised his eyebrows: "That depends on whether what you said is true?"

The boy said, "My father is in charge of guarding all the documents and books for the Hundred Households Office. Last Mid-Autumn Festival, he came home excitedly and told me that he had found information about a coal mine in an old geographical record. It was the same mine those people had just taken me back to."

"My father found information about two coal mines. Captain Yang took me to a coal mine and tortured me there, hoping to force me to tell him the location of the other mine."

"I knew that if I told him, I would die suddenly like my father, and my grandparents and sister might not be able to escape either, so I never told him."

Xiao Yeyang stared at the young man: "Do you know what will happen to me if you get sidetracked?"

The young man hurriedly said: "I'm not lying, everything I said is true."

Xiao Yeyang looked at the boy deeply and asked, "Are you willing to go to Ganzhou City?"

The young man nodded quickly: "As long as we can escape from the clutches of Captain Yang, my family and I will go anywhere."

Xiao Yeyang looked at Defu and said, "Go with him and pick up his family." Then he walked up to the young man and patted him on the shoulder. "Boy, don't lie to me. Otherwise, offending me will be more terrifying than offending Captain Yang."

The young man's face turned pale and he shook his head: "No."

Xiao Yeyang withdrew his hand, got into the carriage with Daohua and left.

"Do you think what the young man said is true or false?"

In the carriage, Daohua looked at Xiao Yeyang.

Xiao Yeyang: "It's probably true. He didn't even flinch under my gaze." He smiled and said, "If his disguise can fool me, then he is a talented person."

Daohua smiled and said, "At only twelve or thirteen, he saw that we could compete with Captain Yang, so he immediately made a bold move and offered a huge reward to ask for help. This courage and boldness alone surpasses many others."

Xiao Yeyang nodded in agreement. "There are few trees in Xiliang, and the winter is cold. Most people rely on coal briquettes for heating. If we can really find an open-pit coal mine, it will also ease the financial pressure on Ganzhouwei."

After coming here, he has invested a lot of money. The gold used to buy the horse this time was taken out by the Xiao family. Although it has not been used, it will be used to buy a horse next time.

It would be fine if it happened once or twice, but if it keeps going on, he will empty the family's fortune.

Daohua reminded: "If you use coal, you must pay attention to ventilation, otherwise you will get gas poisoning."

Xiao Yeyang: "People in Xiliang have been using coal for a long time. They understand this better than we do. Don't worry too much."

When it was getting dark, Xiao Yeyang took Daohua to stay in the inn at Beiwan Baihu Suo again.

After running all day, everyone was hungry. Xiao Yeyang ordered some dishes. He and Daohua sat at one table, while Meilan, Meiju, and Deshou Anying sat at another table.

Just when everyone was halfway through their meal, they heard exclamations coming from the backyard.

Everyone in the inn lobby looked over, and many of them stood up and walked towards the backyard.

Xiao Yeyang glanced at Deshou, and Deshou immediately followed the others to the backyard.

Soon, Deshou came back.

"Master, Madam, it's nothing. The woman who was in charge of the kitchen fire fainted from the smoke from the coal briquettes. After being carried out, she vomited for a while and is now fine."

Xiao Yeyang nodded and continued eating.

Daohua asked, "Coal briquettes? The solid kind?"

Xiao Yeyang shrugged. He had never seen coal briquettes before.

Daohua looked at Meilan and said, "Meilan, when you finish your meal, go to the kitchen and get a coal briquette for me to see."

Xiao Yeyang: "What's so good about coal briquettes?"

Daohua: "I'm just curious. If they are really solid coal balls, I might be able to modify them to make them burn faster and reduce the risk of poisoning caused by unburned coal."

After they finished their meal, they returned to their room.

Just as Daohua had untied her hair, Meilan came in with a black coal ball.

"It is indeed solid. I will go back and ask the blacksmith to make a manual honeycomb briquettes mold, and then I can turn these solid coal balls into honeycomb briquettes."

Seeing Xiao Yeyang's bewildered expression, he smiled and said, "It's definitely better than these coal briquettes. If that young man really leads you to a coal mine and makes these honeycomb briquettes, they will definitely sell well."

Xiao Yeyang smiled: "Then I will wait for Madam to show her skills."

After buying the horses, Xiao Yeyang started to go out early and come back late. If he went to the border military camp, he would sometimes not go home for several days in a row.

The young man who offered to exchange the coal mine for asylum was called Li Mancang. The day after Defu took him to Ganzhou City, he took Defu, Bu Gandang, and a team of guards to look for a coal mine.

On the third day of the fifth lunar month, Daohua was directing the kitchen maids and servants to make rice dumplings when Guyu came over quickly: "Miss, Defu and Commander Bu are back."

Hearing this, Daohua turned around and was about to leave, but just as she took a step, she stopped and said to Guyu, "You watch over here. The rice dumpling box should be delivered by the carpenter shop soon. You can take it."

Guyu nodded. She knew that these rice dumplings were to be given to officials in Ganzhou City. As it concerned the reputation of the Xiao family, she dared not be careless at all.

When Daohua arrived at the front yard, she saw Defu's excitement and immediately had a guess in her mind: "Have they found the coal mine?"

Defu smiled and nodded: "Madam, that open-pit coal mine is in the Gobi Desert and is very large. The master will definitely be very happy when he knows about it."

Rice Flower: "Gobi Desert? No wonder no one has discovered it."

Other places in Ganzhouwei are vast and sparsely populated, let alone the Gobi Desert.

Daohua was very happy to find the coal mine. The financial expenditure of Ganzhou Wei was huge, but the sources of income were not many, and it did not receive support from the court. For this reason, she often saw Xiao Yeyang worried.

"Now that we've found a coal mine, we can't treat the Li family unfairly. So, buy them a house in the city, the kind with a shop and a backyard."

"Once the coal mine starts operating, we'll let them sell honeycomb coal in the store. That way, everyone in the Li family can make a living."

Defu smiled and agreed: "Madam is really thoughtful."

Daohua continued, "I've asked the blacksmith to make some molds for making honeycomb briquettes. Bring me some coal dust and yellow clay, and I'll teach you how to make honeycomb briquettes."

"By the way, call that young man from the Li family as well."

In Xiliang, coal is used not only in winter but also at other times. The next day, Defu brought a pile of coal crumbs.

It is called the Rice Flower Sect, but in fact she is the only one who talks, and the servants do the specific work.

After several experiments on the ratio of coal and yellow mud, honeycomb coal was created that day.

"After it dries, you can use it."

After seeing the honeycomb coal, Li Mancang looked at Daohua excitedly and said, "Madam, this honeycomb coal is much better than the coal balls we usually use."

Rice Flower smiled and said, "Of course." This is the crystallization of the wisdom of the working people.

Li Mancang immediately said, "Madam, from now on, our shop will be called the Honeycomb Coal Shop?"

Daohua smiled and said, "You said it's your store, so naturally it's up to you to make the decision."

After learning that the coal mine was found, Xiao Yeyang returned from the military camp, considered the officials of the garrison, and finally sent Zhang Da to be in charge of the mining of the coal mine, with Dong Yuanxuan assisting.

(End of this chapter)