Chapter 067: Fighting for Life
The situation was different, so Qin Zhaoyue did not bring a group of maids with her this time.
Qingfeng was driving, but Ping'an occupied most of the seat on the throne. Just by looking at his physique, anyone could guess that he was a guard.
There were four people in the carriage. In addition to Sui Mo, there was also Mo San, who was best at water, and the last one was Xuanji Wei Yaoguang.
After much thought, Qin Zhaoyue still felt that safety came first. No matter whether it was related to other matters or not, he should take care of the present first.
As for the configuration of her carriage, the driver outside was a retired Qilin Guard, and on the left and right inside were the Qingluan Guard and the Xuanji Guard respectively.
All the bonds are complete, and with her hidden "blood", her sense of security is maximized.
In less than two minutes, the carriage slowed down and arrived at the mine.
When I got out of the car, the first thing I saw was a string of huge torches in the distance.
The two are about four or five meters apart and are inserted into the water, with a simple awning covering the top.
Under the light of the fire, a large number of laborers carried rocks and waded through the river step by step as they moved forward.
Sui Mo held an umbrella, and Qin Zhaoyue quickly moved to the front.
County Magistrate Zhou Yanqing pointed to the dark mountain ahead and said, "This is the scrap metal slag pile."
Qin Zhaoyue:!
This mountain before me is... a pile? Who the hell uses that word?
Everyone in the disaster relief team was stunned when they heard this, and then Zhou Yanqing continued:
“The accumulation of two generations is all here, and it gradually took shape.
We originally chose this high-lying location, but we didn’t expect the flood this year to reach this area.”
Qin Zhaoqiong quickly came back to his senses, "What arrangements does County Magistrate Zhou have?"
Zhou Yanqing led the way in front, talking as he walked.
The flood initially poured into the vertical mine tunnels, bringing all mining to a standstill and even engulfing many miners.
The water was so strong that it reached this point before any rescue efforts could be made, washing away a large amount of waste on the surface.
However, compared with the entire mountain, the iron slag that was carried away was only a small part.
If there is another flood in the future, one can imagine how great the impact will be due to the continued erosion.
Zhou Yanqing adopted two methods to control water.
One of them is the scene in front of us, where bamboo baskets are filled with stones and piled up to form a temporary retaining wall along the foot of the waste mountain to slow down further collapse of the mountain.
The second is to dig a diversion channel and a drainage ditch on the west side of the waste slag mountain in an attempt to divert the flood downstream.
"Your Highness, digging the open canal requires a large number of river workers, and Chiyan County is short of manpower..."
The deputy general beside her immediately reported back that she had already deployed all the 5,000 garrison troops she brought with her.
Qin Zhaoqiong nodded. Both strategies for flood control were feasible, and she couldn't think of any other methods.
"Order 10,000 garrison troops to be deployed to Chiyan County to help dig the open canal."
"yes!"
"The Tiangong Division immediately surveyed the channel, calculated the route and excavation depth."
"yes!"
"Where is the Ye Ling here?"
The Tiangongsi had an iron smelting plant under it, and the local official responsible for supervising the mining and smelting of iron ore was the Yeling.
Soon, a middle-aged man in a straw raincoat came hurriedly wading through the river.
"Your humble servant Duan Lifeng, the smelter of Chiyan Iron Mine, pays his respects to Your Highness!"
"Use all local iron mines and blacksmith shops to forge the hoes needed to dig the canal."
"yes!"
County Magistrate Zhou Yanqing breathed a sigh of relief.
Her Royal Highness the Princess is indeed quite talented and acts decisively without any delay.
If you have the right tools, digging a canal will certainly be twice as effective with half the effort. Zhou Yanqing naturally understood this.
He dared to force local gentry and drug dealers to release grain and medicine, only to compensate them with the disaster relief money later.
But to use iron ore without permission... that's a serious sin.
Even if the task of flood control is at the forefront, he cannot afford it, and His Highness has to give the order personally.
Qin Zhaoqiong looked at Meng Jian again and said, "Find a nearby campsite. The Imperial Guards will work in three shifts to help build the retaining wall."
Digging a canal cannot be done overnight. Although building a retaining wall cannot completely stop the water flow and carry away the iron slag, it is undoubtedly the most effective method at present.
Especially after the flood discharge in Mingyan County downstream, the water level has dropped, which is the time to speed up the work.
"Yes!" Meng Jian's face was as gloomy as water, and he endured the "injury" and went down to make arrangements.
At this moment, a figure in front of him crashed into the water, and the stones he was carrying fell on him.
The civilians around did not show any panic.
Most people ignored it and continued working, but three people slowly took off the stones on their backs and went forward to help.
"What's going on!"
Considering the county magistrate's forced requisition of food and medicinal materials, it seems that these laborers were not working voluntarily.
This is understandable in the face of disaster relief, but the man has not gotten up since he fell into the water, and few people have come to help him even though he was hit by rocks.
There is nothing wrong with forcibly conscripting civilians, but there are no basic protections?
Qin Zhaoqiong looked around and immediately frowned deeply.
I wasn't paying attention just now because we were talking about disaster relief, but now I realize something is wrong.
Many of the laborers who were carrying the stones were in unusual conditions. Some had empty and numb eyes, purple faces, and walked unsteadily.
Looking more closely, many people even had exposed wounds on their bodies.
Zhou Yanqing's face was filled with misery as he slowly exhaled, "Everyone is just numb, because the person who fell...can't survive."
"What the hell is going on!"
Under the harsh rebuke, Zhou Yanqing told the truth.
Chiyan County makes a living from iron ore, and the largest number of people are miners.
There is no need to explain how hard and dangerous this job is. Ordinary people are not willing to earn such a high salary, so the vast majority of the workers are prisoners.
Every year, many people who committed serious crimes and were demoted to slavery were sent to Qingyao Prefecture.
They were slaves for generations, and unless something unexpected happened, their final outcome would be death in the mines.
The flood was urgent, and in order to provide disaster relief, Zhou Yanqing promised that if he could move stones for a month, he or one of his designated descendants would be freed from slavery.
The prisoners' identities remain unchanged, but their descendants at least have hope and may be able to leave this man-eating mine.
“Those people were seriously injured and the doctor judged that they were incurable.
They asked me to participate in disaster relief, to sacrifice my life in exchange for a way for my descendants..."
【ps】When I opened my eyes this morning, I was stunned.
Maybe it’s because the track is relatively niche, but the data of our book actually ranked third on the category new book list...
Thank you all for reading, commenting, urging for updates and sending various gifts, all of which played a role in this. Thank you, thank you.
Don't blame the author for being greedy. This is already the third one. Do you think it's possible to go further?
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