Zhao Hao chose Wu County for his father because it was the most prosperous city in the Ming Dynasty, the center of commerce, and the best breeding ground for commercial revolution. There was also a very important reason, which was that Dongting Xishan Island was located in Wu County!
As we all know, the Jiangnan region is an alluvial plain with fertile land and extremely suitable for farming. But because of this, even mountains are rare in the entire middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and mineral resources are extremely scarce.
Coal mines and limestone mines, which are very common in the north or southwest, are hard to find in the entire Susong area.
Only Xishan Island has both, and also pyrite, the main raw material for refining sulfur and making sulfuric acid.
Xishan Island is nature's magical gift to the Jiangnan region.
However, this place is located in Taihu Lake, isolated from the land, and was ignored until the 20th century.
During the Republic of China, industrialists who left Xishan sent their hometown’s coal and limestone to Germany for testing, which confirmed that they could be mined and used. Only then did coal mines and cement plants begin to be built on the island.
After liberation, Xishan continued to supply Suzhou and even Shanghai with large quantities of coal and cement. It was not until the end of the 20th century that it was shut down due to pollution...
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Although Mr. Zhao founded Xishan Coal Industry in Beijing and monopolized more than 80% of the coal resources in Beijing, as the saying goes, "no woodcutters are sold within a hundred miles", coal from Beijing could not be transported to the south of the Yangtze River.
No matter how good the coal in Beijing is, it cannot be transported to Suzhou for use.
Among the existing coal producing areas, the nearest Xuzhou is thousands of miles away.
Ma'anshan is only 500 miles away from Suzhou, but Mr. Zhao visited the place last year and found that it has not been developed at all.
So Zhao Hao had no choice but to take over Xishan, develop it as a basis, and then plan for other places.
But who would have thought that Mr. Zhao was tricked into going to Kunshan, causing Mr. Zhao to miss out on Xishan.
On the way to Kunshan, I tasted Qiaoqiao's "Solid as Gold Soup", visited the Baili Stone Pond in Wujiang County, and then looked at the pitiful little earthen embankment in Kunshan.
Master Zhao secretly made up his mind to build a longer and stronger embankment for Kunshan so that the people of Kunshan would be away from floods and live a happy life.
Making everyone happy is Mr. Zhao’s constant pursuit.
But Kunshan was such a poor place that there wasn't even any stone to build a dike. Mr. Zhao's desire for Xishan was so great that he almost fell ill with lovesickness.
If he gets Xishan, he can burn lime and make cement. He also has endless rocks, so he can surround the entire Kunshan County with a dike and let the neighboring counties also have a taste of being exploited.
Therefore, Master Zhao never stopped thinking about attacking Xishan, and he had already investigated the place thoroughly. Even if Mr. Liu didn't come to provoke him, he would find ways to make trouble.
Who would have thought that that fellow would come up to him without knowing the danger? How could Master Zhao not take advantage of the situation and seize Xishan?
~~
When eight or nine hundred people had assembled, Jin Ke picked up the iron trumpet and shouted, "Everyone be quiet! The gunners stand still!"
Although they had not yet received formal training, the gunners in the battalion at least understood the orders, and all the militiamen quieted down and stood in line.
The guys at Wu Ji also stood in line. Since they had received the reward from Mr. Zhao, they had to give him some face.
As for the captives, they were already as weak as frost, so naturally no one dared to say a word.
Seeing that the crowd had quieted down, General Jin said loudly, "Please give me a lecture, young master!"
Zhao Hao had seen big occasions before. He could speak fluently to 5,000 people in Lingji Palace, so he was naturally not afraid of such small occasions.
He stepped forward with a smile, took the loudspeaker, and said loudly to everyone: "First of all, I want to announce that yesterday's rescue operation was very successful! The militiamen from Kunshan and the guys from Wu Ji worked together bravely and wiped out the pirates who dared to make trouble!"
"Oh..." The Kunshan militia and Wu Ji's guys cheered wildly, as if they had really won a great victory.
"After the meeting, the reward money will be paid out immediately without any loss!"
"Ah!" This time the cheers were even louder.
When everyone's excitement subsided, Zhao Hao's expression darkened, and he said loudly:
"However, this morning, during the interrogation of bandit leader Yu Liu by Captain Jin, he learned shocking news!"
The soldiers could not help but feel nervous and held their breath as they listened to Master Zhao say:
"It was not an accident that we were robbed this time. Someone was behind this and instructed the pirates to do it!"
"Hiss..." Countless sounds of people gasping for air were heard in the net-drying yard, and it seemed as if the entire island was getting warmer.
Well, that’s because the sun is out…
"Who wants to kill us Kunshan people?" The Kunshan militiamen were furious. "Kill him!"
"Kill him!" The people from Wu Ji were also furious. "No wonder he dared to rob our Wu Ji's boat, it turns out someone was behind it!"
Even the captured pirates angrily cursed: "Yu Liu, this bastard, is really screwing us over!"
"Sir, please tell us who did it!" Everyone started talking at once and urged Zhao Hao to come forward.
"It was Liu Zhengqi, the lord of Xishan and vice president of Dongting Chamber of Commerce who ordered this!" Zhao Hao waved his hand, and the man from Caijia Lane appeared in front of everyone, escorting Mr. Liu's son and housekeeper.
"This guy is Liu Zhengqi's son Liu Ji! The other one is his butler Wang Jiu!" Jin Ke pointed at the two and shouted, "It's these two who are behind the scenes directing Yu Liu and the others!"
"Pooh!"
The militiamen and their men began to spit at the two men. Even the captives, who had their hands tied behind their backs, began to spit. It was like a succession ceremony for the Beggars' Sect.
How could the spoiled Mr. Liu have ever seen such a horrible scene? He was so scared that he wet his pants.
Zhao Hao waved his hand and asked someone to quickly drag them away so as not to scare Master Liu into a state of insanity.
"Everyone, tell me, should we avenge this?!" Mr. Zhao asked indignantly.
"Yes! We must take revenge!" The militiamen and their men shouted.
"How do you report it?"
"Kill his whole family! Fuck his mother!"
"Ahem..." Zhao Hao felt embarrassed. Sister Xueying was still listening from a distance.
"Shut up!" The guards of Caijia Lane angrily shouted at everyone, "Young Master is still young, you can't stand dirty talk!"
"..." Only then did everyone stop talking in dismay.
"We are all good people. It is natural for us to stand up for self-defense, but how can we just go to someone's house and kill them?" Young Master Zhao raised his megaphone and shouted, "We can take revenge in a more civilized way!"
"Sir, please speak. We will all listen to you!" everyone shouted.
"This is the property of the Dongting Chamber of Commerce, a precious land!" Zhao Hao pointed at the big rock under his feet and said, "We must occupy this place and make the Dongting Chamber of Commerce severely punish the murderer and cede land and pay compensation!"
"Good, good, sir, you're well-spoken!" Naturally, the Kunshan militia applauded whatever he said.
"..." Wu Ji's guys traveled all over the country all day long, but they were all quite knowledgeable. They looked at each other in surprise when they heard this.
Someone couldn't help but shout, "Master Zhao, what's so good about this deserted island? What are you doing here?"
"Xishan Island is a deserted island to others, but it is a priceless treasure to us in Kunshan!" Zhao Hao pointed to the mountains behind him and said:
"I want to replace all the river embankments in Kunshan with stone embankments, but I found that there is even a shortage of stones in our county. But here, there are boundless mountains and inexhaustible supplies. If we quarry stones here, we can directly load them onto ships and go downstream to the river embankment in our county! Occupying this place is more convenient than those counties with mountains and stones!"
"And the mountain is rich in lime, which is essential for building embankments!"
"So this West Mountain is the precious land that God has given to us Kunshan people, so that we can say goodbye to floods forever! Everyone, do you want it?!"
"Yes!" The gunmen from Kunshan shouted excitedly. Many of them knelt down in front of Zhao Hao and begged him to keep his word!
The attraction of the Stone River Embankment to the people of Kunshan is completely unimaginable to others!
ps. The second update of the three-part weekend series.
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