NCCnovel Chapter 185 Burning Ashes
Chapter 185 Burning Ashes
Butcher rushed back to the yamen on horseback and reported everything to An Luhai.
An Luhai held his aching waist, raised a creepy smile, and said meaningfully:
"Oh? She's so bold?"
Everyone in the yamen knew that ever since Du Shimu presented a secret recipe for giving birth to a boy, the county magistrate had been the bridegroom every night, and his bride was always a different one. He was so happy.
At first, the county magistrate was skeptical about the prescription, but Du Shimu guaranteed it with his own life and that of his daughter Du Kongqing, so the county magistrate reluctantly gave it a try.
As a result, after using this prescription, the county magistrate's spirits became better and better. According to gossip, the concubines in the backyard all praised the county magistrate for becoming more vigorous and energetic, which made the county magistrate so excited that he wanted to make those concubines pregnant with his child immediately.
Tu Ye pretended not to notice An Luhai's movement of supporting his waist, and replied with lowered eyebrows: "Yes, sir, Luo Xiaoran instigated the people of the two villages to oppose you, which is very disrespectful to you!"
"Disrespectful?" An Luhai turned these three words around in his mouth for a few times, and then continued to smile after a long time, but the wrinkles between his eyebrows became deeper:
"I can't afford her disrespect. She is a little girl who fled to Hexi Village to escape famine. Who would have thought that she would secretly hook up with the King of Yan? I am just a small seventh-rank county magistrate, so I dare not offend her."
"This..." Master Tu lowered his head even more. Although he guessed that Luo Xiaoran had a backer, he didn't expect that this backer was so big.
Master Tu let out a deep breath in his heart, secretly thanking himself for not continuing to confront Luo Xiaoran with the whip, but instead coming back obediently to report to the county magistrate.
I didn't offend Luo Xiaoran, so I took the right step. It was definitely not because I was afraid of being beaten by Luo Xiaoran that I did what she said.
An Luhai, who was suffering from back pain, had already sat on the armchair. His slender fingers kept stroking the armrests. The rosewood armrests were oily and smooth, and it was obvious that they were often touched.
After a while, An Luhai suddenly stopped what he was doing and suddenly attacked the people outside the hall:
"Give the yamen runner who delivered the message to Zhang Changzong twenty strokes of the cane. He even delivered the wrong message!"
……
"Before I came, the county magistrate told me that the yamen runners said something wrong yesterday. It's not that the yamen doesn't give us lime, but there is no ready-made lime to use. You need to make it yourself, which is quite time-consuming. Therefore, the duration of this corvée is two months."
Uncle Tu conveyed An Luhai's instructions to the villagers of Hexi and Hedong villages one by one, his voice as arrogant as ever.
But when he thought of the yamen runner whose back was beaten to a bloody mess, he couldn't help feeling cold. He calmed himself and continued:
"The county magistrate said that you guys were asked to build a lime road but didn't tell us clearly about the lime. You guys are understandable for making a fuss. I won't pursue it this time, but you guys must not cause any more trouble. Repairing the road is the most important thing."
After this was said, the villagers of Hexi and Hedong villages looked at each other in bewilderment. Finally, Zhang Changzong stepped forward and asked in a deep voice, "Where should we go to burn lime?"
"Not far away, at Chuian Kiln."
Between Yizhou and Liangzhou, there is a place called Chui Mine, which consists of several limestone mines.
The limestone ore mined from the mountains can be used to burn lime, and there are many trees on the mountains near the mine that can be used as fuel, so this is a unique place for producing lime.
Chuian Kiln is the general name for several lime kilns in Chuian Mine.
It took the people from the two villages three days, traveling day and night, to finally follow Butcher and four other supervisors to the Chuian Kiln he mentioned.
On the way, bored Luo Xiaoran discovered a strange phenomenon.
Although the people of Hedong Village are generally thinner than those of Hexi Village, they obviously have greater endurance. No matter they are old or strong, they all hurry on their way without saying a word. However, some of the people of Hexi Village who are in better physical condition cannot adapt to this long-distance journey.
Luo Xiaoran also heard Zhang Changzong talk about why the people of Hedong Village had been asking for food like crazy before. She knew that they came to perform this labor service with the mentality of certain death, which made Luo Xiaoran more interested in the people of Hedong Village.
Why was Hedong Village sent to build the road? Luo Xiaoran asked out the question in her mind.
Zhang Changzong originally didn't understand why the two villages had to perform labor service together this time, but after learning that County Magistrate An was deliberately making things difficult for him, he immediately figured out why Hedong Village had to do it too.
It turns out that a few years ago, there was no Hexi Village on the banks of the Dandan River, only Hedong Village.
Later, more and more military households were sent down to Hedong Village, and the large number of people there easily led to trouble.
At that time, a large-scale fight broke out between two forces, and dozens of people died. Magistrate An could have been transferred back to Kyoto to take up a post, but because of this incident, he stayed in Fuyuan County.
After the fight, County Magistrate An moved all irrelevant personnel to the west of Dandan River to form Hexi Village. Most of the people who remained in Hedong Village were people related to the incident and their relatives.
The people of Hedong Village caused An Luhai to miss the opportunity for promotion. Although An Luhai did nothing on the surface, the situation in Hedong Village became worse and worse, and every year people starved to death due to lack of food.
Now An Luhai was holding a grudge against Hexi Village again. He looked down upon both Hexi and Hedong villages anyway, so he sent them all here to do this impossible corvee so that he could finally clean them up together.
The person who received Mr. Tu was the mine supervisor of Chui Mine, a middle-aged man with a very tanned face.
Seeing so many people coming, the mine supervisor asked Tu Ye with a wry smile: "Why are there so many prisoners this time?"
Butcher responded with a smile that was about to fade away, "Brother, you misunderstood. These people did come to the lime kiln to work, but they are not prisoners."
"Not a prisoner?" The mine supervisor raised his eyebrows, "If he is not a prisoner, why would he come to the mine?
It turns out that the Chui Mine is not only the largest limestone producing area in the North, but also one of the most famous places of exile in the country.
The two most famous places of exile in Daliang were Lingnan, where people were surrounded by smoke and poisonous fog and were left to fend for themselves; and Chuikuang, where people mined stones and burned ash, and worked to atone for their sins.
"Following Lord An's orders, these people come to Chui'an Kiln to burn ash. The lime burned will be used to build roads. You must do your best to cooperate and don't make things difficult for us." Uncle Tu went on to say to the mine supervisor, with a meaningful look in his eyes.
The mine supervisor glanced at the hundreds of villagers behind him and smiled coldly, "If that's the case, then come on. Let me tell you in advance that I won't take care of your food or clothing. If you want lime, find a way to get it yourself."
After saying that, the mine supervisor picked up his long whip and walked away without even a glance at Butcher.
"You have a bad temper!" The butcher spat, and turned to the villagers of the two villages and said, "Now that we are here, you can burn the lime yourselves. Don't forget that we still need to repair the road with the lime!"