On the other hand, the Xu brothers were captured by human traffickers as Kunlun slaves not long after they left Songjiang City.

That night, the group of human traffickers arrived at the agreed location. When they opened the boxes to sell the people, they were stunned to find that the two Kunlun slaves had turned gray.

"Oh my god! Why is it fading?" The human traffickers were stunned.

As the mud dried, it turned from black to grayish white. Even a fool could see that they had caught a faker.

They were so angry that they punched and kicked the two brothers until they peed themselves.

Middle-aged men are worthless. Who would kidnap them if it weren’t for their special skin color?

Although the wealthy people in the Ming Dynasty had no shortage of servants around them, they were very envious of the literati in the Tang and Song dynasties who had Hu concubines and Kunlun slaves around them.

However, due to the maritime ban in the imperial court, Kunlun slaves were extremely rare, so the price was naturally higher.

But I didn't expect that these professionals would lose their sight and transport the two fakes dozens of miles away like treasures!

In shame and anger, one of the guys was about to chop the two useless guys to pieces. Fortunately, Xu Fan's gag was knocked off, and he shouted, "Please spare our lives, we can pay the ransom!"

Upon hearing this, the leader of the human gang stopped his men and ordered Xu Fan to explain his origins and why he was naked and pretending to be a Kunlun slave.

Of course Xu Fan would not say that he was the son of the former prime minister, a dignified third-rank official... Well, they wouldn't believe it anyway even if he told them.

He lied and said that he was a wealthy businessman living in Changxing. On his way to Songjiang Prefecture, he was robbed by gangsters. Not only were all his belongings looted, but even his clothes were stripped off.

As for why I paint myself black, it's just to cover up my shame...

Hearing the gang's hearty laughter, they thought that these two guys were extremely unlucky, as they had just been robbed and now they ran into them.

Xu Fan took the opportunity to say that he could take them to Changxing to get silver, and would give them as much as they wanted, as long as their brothers' lives could be saved.

Several of the traffickers saw that although he was naked, he was well-spoken and had a plump body, which made him look like a rich man. So they believed what he said.

The head of the human tooth gang became ruthless and asked for ten thousand taels.

Xu Fan pretended to be in pain and hesitated for a while before finally agreeing.

He was not as stingy as his father, but he knew that if he said too much, the other party would not believe it and it might even bring him fatal disaster.

As expected, his reaction made Ya Tou Zi treat him and his brothers as treasures, but he did not feel the pressure of provoking a big shot.

The head of the human traffickers had his brothers washed and brought out, and also provided them with clothes and food.

The two brothers who escaped death put on their clothes and ate voraciously, feeling as if they had escaped death.

The next day, the head of the human trafficking gang found another mule cart and tied the two brothers in it. He also sat on the side and watched with a knife. The gang drove the mule cart towards Changxing County.

It was actually more comfortable to take a boat for the 200-mile journey, but these gangsters were Taihu Lake pirates, and Jinke's Taihu Lake security team had already been scared out of their wits, so they didn't dare to go through Taihu Lake at all.

If you can't go to Taihu Lake, you can go to the river. But the polder in Huzhou is very strong, and the river is crisscrossed by the Linggang Dam, and the water flow is very slow. For outsiders, rowing a boat is like entering a maze, and if you are not careful, you can't get out.

So they just took the dry road, traveling seventy to eighty miles a day, and arrived in three days.

During these three days, the Xu brothers tried their best to increase their chances of survival and tricked the gang leader into a daze... They said that not only would they not bear a grudge, but on the contrary they were very grateful to the hero for saving them from danger.

He also said that he and his brother usually admired the heroes of the green forest the most, and that the Ming Dynasty was now in chaos, just like the end of the Sui Dynasty, and it was time for the heroes to show their skills!

Xu Fan expressed his hope to become brothers with him. He also said that after becoming sworn brothers, he would no longer be a human trafficker. The three brothers followed the example of Liu, Guan, and Zhang, recruiting soldiers and training local militias in preparation for a change in the weather.

"A real man should hold a three-foot-long sword and accomplish great deeds, so as to live up to his life!" After the former vice-ministerial official's impassioned speech, he finally made the human-toothed boss' blood boil!

The leader of the human gang immediately untied the two men, and then asked his men to find a roadside land temple to become sworn brothers with the two men.

While the human trafficker was looking for the rooster, Xu Ying whispered, "It's too late. Who are we? Becoming sworn brothers with a human trafficker? That would be a disgrace to our ancestors..."

Xu Fan glanced at Xu Ying and lowered his voice and said, "If we don't do this, what if he takes the money and kills the victim?"

"Uh..." Xu Ying didn't dare to say any more nonsense.

"Let's survive first, and then kill them all, then naturally no one will know what we did." After Xu Fan finished speaking, he continued to look for the head of the human trafficking gang to discuss recruiting soldiers.

After a while, the chicken came. The three men cut off the chicken's head, burned yellow paper, and knocked their heads on the ground, becoming sworn brothers.

“Brother!”

“Second brother!”

"Third brother!"

Three pairs of hands, tightly clasped together, vowed never to separate from each other again.

Of course, brothers are brothers and money is money. The traffickers still have to go to Changxing and get real money before they will be convinced.

So we continued on our journey and entered Changxing County that day.

~~

Meanwhile, Master Zhao and his entourage walked along Hexi River for more than ten miles and climbed over a mountain. The view in front of everyone became clear and they saw a basin appear under their feet.

"Sir, once we leave this weir area, we will reach Guangde Prefecture." Jin Ke reported calmly.

A polder means a basin surrounded by mountains on all sides.

Zhao Hao sat down on a rock, panting hard to catch his breath, then smiled with a pale face, "Then we are almost there."

The reason why he was so sure was that the Changguang Coal Mine was very unique, as it was known that 'Anhui was in charge of the mine above ground, and Zhejiang was digging underground', so he had a very deep memory of it - the Changguang Coal Mine was located on the border between the two places, and most of it was within Guangde.

"Go and ask the villagers if they have ever seen coal."

Changguang Coal Mine is a large open-pit mine. The population in this area is quite dense, so some people must have seen coal blocks.

~~

After Zhao Hao ate some dry food on the mountain and regained his strength, the coal miner who had gone down the mountain to inquire about the news came back.

The coal miner reported to the young master that the mountain where they were located was called Putao Ridge. There were three villages in the basin at the foot of the mountain, namely Changjie, Ruojie and Huashujie... Jie means valley between mountains, Zhao Hao thought so.

Several people went to three villages to inquire, and found that the villagers had indeed seen black coal, but in the mountains with dense trees, these things were really worthless, and no one picked them up, let alone dug them, so no one knew where the mines were.

Of course, coal miners have their own methods of finding minerals.

But they didn't want to show off their ability to make a living in front of so many people.

Secondly, it is not easy to find the mineral veins. At least all the Niutou Mountains have to be surveyed, which will take at least a month to complete.

ps. This chapter is still owed to me the day before yesterday, please give me your monthly vote!