There are three roads from the Central Plains to the Jingxiang area in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. The west passes through Lushan Pass, Luoyang County to the north, and Nanyang County to the south. The key pass of this road is Sanyakou, which travels through the mountains for dozens of miles, and the mountain roads are rugged. When Luoyang became the capital, this road was particularly important. The middle pass through Fangcheng Pass, Ye County to the north, Fangcheng to the south, and through Dengzhou to Xiangzhou. Fangcheng Pass is wide and flat, surrounded by low mountains and hills, which is the north and south road. Ye County goes west through Ruzhou and Longmen, you can reach Luoyang City, and go north through Xiangcheng to Xuzhou. There is a road leading to Bianliang, and through Yancheng to Chenzhou. The road is connected to all directions. On the east side, you can go through Xinyang Army to Ezhou and Hanyang Army, which is the Wuhan area in later generations.

These three avenues were subject to changes in the national status of the north and south ends, and the prosperity of each period was different. At first, Luoyang and Jingzhou played an important role in the country, and the Lushan Pass was particularly important. As the status of Luoyang in the north declined, the center of gravity shifted to Kaifeng Prefecture, the status of Jingzhou in the south was gradually replaced by Xiangzhou, and the Fangcheng Pass on the middle line became the main road for north-south transportation. In later generations, Yunmengze disappeared, the status of Ezhou and Hanyang rose, and the state capital further moved eastward, and the road from Xinyang to Wuhan rose, becoming a road connecting the north-south.

At this time, the Jinghu area was swamped everywhere, with a large number of barbarians living in it, and the level of development was insufficient. The central line of the North and South Avenues was the most important. Ye County was at the key position of this Avenue, and its geographical location was very important.

When the weather was the hottest in the year, Du Zhongxiao and Su Song arrived in Ye County and handed over the affairs of Qingtai Town to Zhubu Cui.

The magistrate Li Bing and the chief clerk Liu Wei welcomed the two into the city and went to the yamen to separate the guests and take a seat.

After asking about hard work, Du Zhongxiao said: "The court has already made an order to use the land of Ye County as the Iron Supervisor, but everything has not been prepared and delayed. This time, Master Su and I came here to check how well the Iron Supervisor is prepared and should not be delayed for a long time."

Li Bingdao: "The fortune was just right. There is an iron ore here. The news that the court wants to set up an iron prison has spread. There are many troubles in the past few months. I am a low-ranking official, and the county has few people, so it is inconvenient to deal with it-"

Du Zhongxiao said: "There are not many people here in the field camp in the past few months. Are there many disputes with the local government?"

Li Bing hurriedly said: "There is no dispute between the land management and the local government when returning to the transportation and the local government. However, when local big farmers heard that the mining and smelting profits were high, many of them moved to places with mines and occupied land. They were all mountainous areas, and there were no families. After many years of household registration, the land contract was lost, and it was difficult to distinguish the authenticity. There were locations where iron and smelting were built, and disputes continued. The county did not dare to make a decision, so it was delayed."

Du Zhongxiao heard this and smiled slightly: "The emperor owns the mountains, forests, grasslands, and the emperor dares to occupy it, but they are very brave."

Li Bing sighed and said, "Although that's the case, that area is full of earthen mountains, and it is not impossible to plow the fields. Those big families went to the mountains and then identified the places, saying that their ancestors had plowed the fields and laid silkworms where they had even faked their former residences and identified ancient tombs, and where could they say it clearly."

The separate prison has shown that the iron ore in this area is not small, and there is a 500,000 pounds of capital allocated from the internal warehouse. It is a big piece of fat, and it is a must-have for local scrambling. To start mining and smelting iron, it must occupy land, and to occupy land, it must be demolished. It seems that many large households regard the iron supervision as a fat sheep.

At this time, compensation is required for expropriation of civilian land. Even if the expansion of the palace is too high, it will be ruined in the end. Let’s not talk about building an Iron Prison. However, if you dare to blatantly extort land in such a pretext, you are too brave.

After hearing Li Bingdalai's discussion on the situation in the iron ore area, Du Zhongxiao asked again: "It is not easy to open an iron ore, so what about the coal mine?"

Li Bing said: "The coal mine is not bad. There are a lot of seedlings in Ziyun Mountain. I occupy it here, so the villagers go to other places to mine it."

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "That's good. The weather is hot now, and there are still some days before the arrival of the boatman. Director Su and I are here, first mining coal to build a few brick and tile yards, preparing bricks and tiles, and building houses. When the boatman comes, there is a place to live. Those big families cannot occupy everywhere, and there is no place to build houses. As for the iron ore they occupy, they will be dealt with calmly in the past few months."

Li Bing said: "This is not difficult. The news that the big families knew from nowhere were all places where they occupied the mines. There were many idle land on the south bank of the Lishui River at the foot of the mountain, but no one took it. That area was not far from the iron ore and water sources, which was a good place for building minerals and smelting."

The Lishui River and Dushui flow in the same origin and different flows. Dushui passes through Qingtai Town and enters the Tangbai River, which belongs to the Han River system, while the Lishui River goes east into the Huai River. There is a lot of rainwater in the mountainous areas of this area, and there are many such rivers, whose sources are very close, but they belong to different water systems, which is a typical feature of the watershed.

Du Zhongxiao said: "Okay, the magistrate sent some people to the area to find out if there is any suitable place to burn bricks and tiles. By the way, in addition to bricks and tiles, there must be lime. Choose the place and prepare to burn it."

Li Bing said: "There is no need to look for it specifically. The good lime in this county has always produced, and there are quarrying places in the mountains. Yellow mud can be seen everywhere, and bricks and tiles are burned well. However, there is no coal produced at the foot of Fangcheng Mountain, so it must be transported from the bottom of Ziyun Mountain."

Du Zhongxiao said: "It's okay, there are big trucks in the field, so you can transport coal. By the way, the Han River and Lishui are not far away. Can a canal be built to connect? If there is a river connecting, transporting coal will be much more convenient."

Li Bing said: "This matter is afraid it is not feasible. There are many heavy rainstorms upstream of the military water, and there is uncertain water flow, and there is a lot of mud and sand in the water. If the canal is dug, it will soon accumulate and dredge it every year, so the local area cannot afford it."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Since that's the case, then forget it, just use a big truck to transport it."

The coal mine is about twenty or thirty miles away from the iron ore, not far away, not near. If it is really transported by a large truck, a large amount of iron is produced, but it is actually impossible to supply it. If it cannot be transported by water, you have to think of other ways, such as rail transportation.

How did trains develop? They were developed in mines. No matter how high the cost was, a large amount of ore could be transported from a short distance. Du Zhongxiao originally intended to test rail transportation in this area. When it matured, it would not be bad if it was pushed to its place.

The iron smelting place is at the foot of Fangcheng Mountain, and the ore is produced in the mountains. It is supposed to be built to transport ore on tracks, even if it is pushed by people, it is cost-effective. It is not necessary to get off the mountain with ore and take advantage of the height difference. It is also easy to get on the mountain without a car.

Du Zhongxiao only remembers the general appearance of the track. How should he do it, he still needs to try it little by little.

When he returned to his residence, Du Zhongxiao changed into casual clothes, called Tao Shiqi over, and said to him: "Judge Li said just now that you found the iron ore a few days ago. Many families occupied land there and threatened the court. Is there such a thing?"

Tao Shiqi said, "Oh, it's not just a matter of threatening the court! Before I returned to Qingtai Town, I talked to several big farmers there and tried to give them more money so that they would not cause trouble. The officials guessed what? They didn't allow them to give it any money! Later, they asked from many sources and found out what they had. These people were thinking about not asking for more money, but they had to open the furnace and smelter themselves. Somehow, the mine we found out was known by these big farmers, and each showed their magical powers to occupy the place."

Du Zhongxiao frowned: "They want to smel iron by themselves? Their heart is very big!"
Chapter completed!