As a good citizen, when faced with a problem she can't solve, she should naturally report it to the authorities immediately. However, she needs to think about how to best utilize the iron ore to mitigate her risks...
After resting for a while, Cheng Ruyi used her left hand to write four slips of paper. The content on each slip of paper was the same, with only the six large characters "Wolongzhai has an iron mine".
She looked at the scrawled handwriting on the note and was very satisfied. The words were so illegible that no one could possibly read them.
Iron ore was one of the most important resources in this era, its value roughly equivalent to modern oil. It was a highly coveted commodity. She didn't believe she wouldn't be tempted after seeing the contents of the note, even if she only had doubts, she would definitely take action!
With everyone's attention drawn to the iron ore, things will be chaotic, and fewer people will be paying attention to or investigating the events at Wolong Village. This will allow her to escape smoothly.
Without delay, while it was still quite dark, she immediately set off to sneak into the county government office in Nanyang County.
She first wrapped the note in oiled paper, then placed it under the beam directly opposite the magistrate's desk, and finally poured water on it. On a night when the temperature was below minus twenty degrees Celsius, the water froze instantly into ice a few seconds after being exposed to the air, slowly turning into an icicle hanging from the beam. However, upon closer inspection, one could see that the inside of the icicle seemed to contain something.
She had heard before that the magistrate of Nanyang County was very keen on socializing with various powerful families and merchants, and did not care much about government affairs. He even often did not work in the county office but went out to hold gatherings.
Now she has delivered this valuable news first. As long as the magistrate stays in the county office to work, he will definitely need to light a brazier in the room to keep warm. As the temperature rises, the icicles will start to drip water, and you will surely discover something strange.
Don't say she didn't give him a chance!
Cheng Ruyi wasn't worried that he wouldn't find out, since things would definitely blow up later. Nanyang County had a geographical advantage, so at most he would just lose the first-mover advantage, and he certainly wouldn't be kept in the dark forever.
After finishing the arrangements here, she immediately set off to go home. The wind and snow had been falling all night, and it was now close to dawn. The howling wind and snow had not only not subsided but had even become stronger.
Now that she has successfully mastered the [Flowing Light Dance] technique, her return journey was naturally faster than her outward journey. Before dawn had even ended, she had already safely returned home.
Without time to process what had happened the night before, she hurriedly changed into her everyday clothes, pretended to have just gotten up, told her family that she had something to take care of in the prefectural city, packed a few steamed buns for breakfast, and then rushed to the county town with You San Niang without stopping.
She asked You San Niang to rent a mule cart in the north of the city first, and then she secretly went to the backyard of the county government office.
Although Luo Xian was completely incompetent as a county magistrate, she did not actually hope that he could rise through the ranks. However, Da Yue was already beyond saving, and Luo Xian would not be able to keep up for long. It would be better to make good use of him. After all, he was a smart man, and Cheng Ruyi was very confident that he would seize this opportunity as one of her bargaining chips for climbing the social ladder.
Luo Xian had already woken up in the county government office and was about to have breakfast with his beloved concubine. Ruyi was too lazy to bother, so she simply tied a note to an arrow, shot it over Luo Xian's head, and it landed on the high table behind him.
The room instantly descended into chaos, but Cheng Ruyi ignored it all, jumped down into the back alley, and headed straight for the North Gate.
On the way to Qionglin, the prefectural city, Ruyi pretended to be unwell and kept the door closed so the driver wouldn't disturb her. Then she found an opportunity to let You Sanniang fall asleep while she secretly slipped away to the neighboring Xinbi County. She then repeated the same trick, and before the mule cart reached the prefectural city, she returned to the cart, woke You Sanniang up, and pretended that nothing had happened.
Cheng Ruyi hadn't had a proper rest since yesterday evening. Although her body was still full of energy thanks to the elixir, she was actually quite exhausted mentally. So she took advantage of the last hour or so of the journey to close her eyes and rest for a while.
Although she closed her eyes to rest, she couldn't completely relax. Cheng Ruyi kept thinking to herself: she had to tell the news to the governor of Chongzhou, but should she also tell her uncle and let the Xizhen Army know about the iron mine through him?
The army that Uncle He Gang originally belonged to was actually the predecessor of the current Xizhen Army. The main force of the Xizhen Army is now stationed on the border of Gaozhou, which is the main battlefield for fighting against the Western Jin Dynasty, with battles of all sizes every year.
If it weren't for the loyalty and bravery of the entire Wei family, the commander of the Western Garrison Army, who were devoted to resisting the enemy, Da Yue would have been finished long ago!
The deputy general who was once saved by He Gang has now become a general under the Western Garrison Army, responsible for guarding the border between Chongzhou and the Western Jin Dynasty. At the beginning of last year, the city was sealed off because of their war with the Western Jin Dynasty.
If the iron mine were to ultimately fall into the hands of a particular power, she hoped it would be the Western Garrison Army. This was directly related to the survival of the entire Great Yue. As long as the Western Garrison Army did not cause any problems, she could survive for a while longer, allowing her to make more thorough preparations.
Secondly, it would fall into the hands of the garrison in Nanyang County. This would be neither a good nor a bad thing for her, and it wouldn't be a bad situation. The worst scenario would be if it fell into the hands of the forces in the capital. This would only make the already turbulent situation in the capital even more chaotic and accelerate the demise of Dayue. This was the situation she least wanted to see.
It was already dark when she arrived in the city, but the performance still needed to be completed, so she went straight to the city branch of Lingyun Pavilion after entering the city.
There had been some problems with the medicine packets here a few days ago, so she deliberately delayed coming to deal with them until today, just to give herself an excuse to come to the prefectural city. Therefore, she had to be here.
Since the Cheng family has been frequently traveling between Huaishan County and the prefectural city for the past six months, staying in an inn each time has been inconvenient. So a month ago, she rented a small courtyard near her aunt's house. Although the place is not big, it is clean and tidy. Most importantly, it will be more comfortable and private for her to live there.
Normally, I only ask my cousin to look after her occasionally, and no one else comes in or out.
By the time Cheng Ruyi finished dealing with the branch store matters, it was already past 5 PM. It would be too abrupt to go and talk to her uncle now, so she might as well go back to the rented courtyard and rest.
Of course, the main reason was that she didn't want to eat the greasy meat snack her cousin-in-law had prepared; she was afraid that the sight of meat would make her want to vomit...
Fortunately, she had been so busy from last night to today that she had no time to recall the terrifying scene from last night, which allowed her to barely control her emotions that were on the verge of collapse.
She knew she needed to process her feelings, and it would be best to find someone to talk to her. However, there were no psychologists in ancient times, and it wasn't appropriate to reveal what happened last night to outsiders. So she could only try to process it on her own.
Since my mind is restless, I might as well find something to distract myself and think about what to do next.
After seeing the note this morning, Luo Xian will probably make a decision immediately. However, out of fear of Wolong Village, he will likely look for help everywhere. So he will definitely set off at the earliest tonight and at the latest tomorrow.
The situation in Xinbi County should be similar; it will also take time to discuss countermeasures and gather manpower.
As for Nanyang County, it doesn't matter if they don't know today. After all, they are the closest to Wolong Village, and they can directly ask the stationed troops for help, so it doesn't matter if they find out later.
In fact, the governor of Chongzhou and the army of Xizhen did not necessarily need her to inform them; they would find out sooner or later anyway. However, the sooner they knew, the more advantageous it would be for them. Compared to the Qin Dynasty to the south, the Western Jin Dynasty was the opponent that needed to be dealt with more urgently.
Tomorrow morning, she should first visit her aunt's house to test her uncle's feelings, then find an opportunity to slip away from her aunt's house and try to "deliver" the note to the governor. After that, she should return to her aunt's house without anyone noticing and tell her uncle about the bandit attack. Of course, the key point is the strange big knife that was found at that time. She should try to make the story seem more like Wolong Village. She believes that with her uncle's intuition from years of military service, he should be able to discover the trickery involved.
Even if they didn't understand at the time, it wouldn't have mattered. The governor would naturally take action immediately after seeing the note, and my cousin, who was in the government office, would definitely hear about it. He would then tell my uncle about it when he got home. Combining the two, my uncle would probably have some guesses. Given his feelings for the Western Garrison Army, he would definitely pass on the message immediately!
Only then is the layout complete.
Cheng Ruyi was thinking about the progress of the matter and the future situation. She didn't know if she was overworking her brain, was too nervous, or was just really tired. In any case, she didn't even know when she fell asleep. She slept until it was bright daylight.
After quickly tidying herself up, she immediately went out to visit her aunt's family as planned.
It wasn't until after dinner that Cheng Ruyi finally saw her cousin He Zheng rush back. He didn't even have time to greet Ruyi before pulling her uncle to the backyard to talk. Then, her uncle returned to his room with a solemn expression, wrote a letter, handed it to her, and left again with the letter.
As she watched He Zheng leave, a weight lifted from her heart. What happened next was beyond her control.
However, with several forces involved this time, the issue of ownership of the iron mine will definitely take some time to resolve. Regardless of the final outcome, as long as she can remain completely invisible, that's fine!
A few days later, news of Luo Xian's unexpected discovery of an iron mine while leading his troops to suppress bandits spread like wildfire. People in the streets and alleys were discussing the matter, and naturally, many people in the shops run by the Cheng family also mentioned it.
That evening, Ruyi heard the rest of the story from her family.
According to various accounts, the story goes that recently, a few bandits had been occasionally attacking the village. So, Magistrate Luo planned to take advantage of the heavy snow blocking the mountains, capture the bandits first and then storm Wolong Village to eliminate the bandit threat in one fell swoop. As if good deeds were rewarded, after the bandit suppression, they discovered an iron mine in the back mountains, so they immediately reported it to the imperial court.
Although people from Nanyang County and Xinbi County arrived in time, Luo Xian still stole the credit.
When the magistrate of Nanyang County realized that he could not win the battle, he immediately notified the general stationed there. However, he did not expect that the governor of the prefecture would receive the news so quickly and suddenly attack. In the end, the Western Garrison Army made its grand entrance.
Since the iron mine is located at the junction of three counties, theoretically all three parties should have management rights. However, the magistrate of Nanyang County argued that most of Mangshan Mountain is located within Nanyang County and should therefore fall under its jurisdiction. At this point, Xinbi County and Huaishan County objected, arguing that the iron mine is located on the back mountain of Mangshan, clearly outside Nanyang County's territory, and therefore should not be Nanyang County's concern at all...
With all sides refusing to yield, a grand drama unfolded. The daily topic of conversation among the people in the county town revolved around the final ownership of the iron mine, and almost no one cared about the annihilation of the Wolongzhai bandits.
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