Because of the anger of His Highness the Crown Prince, within half a month all the imperial guards throughout the Ming Dynasty knew the news of His Majesty the Emperor's quiet departure from the capital.

For a while, there was no movement in the place publicly, but privately, countless people were quietly looking for traces of His Majesty the Emperor.

In the direction of Wuchang City, after Zhu Yunxi guessed that the old man might have come to Wuchang, he not only sent out all the Jin Yiwei in Wuchang City to search downstream along the Yangtze River.

Taking advantage of the 50,000 Beijing troops entering the city, they secretly sent thousands of people, like casting a fishing net, in the direction where Zhu Yuanzhang might come.

But no one knows.

How happy Zhu Yuanzhang was at this moment.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who brought his two eldest grandsons with him, stayed in Huangmei County for three full days and listened to the drama to his heart's content before continuing on his way to Huguang Road.

A few days later, Zhu Yuanzhang and his people quietly left Beijing, crossed Guangji County and Qizhou County in Huangzhou Prefecture, crossed the Yangtze River on a riverside fishing boat, and entered Daye County in Wuchang Prefecture.

Daye County is adjacent to the Yangtze River, with water and land crisscrossing the territory. It is already the hinterland of Huguang's granary. In addition, Daye is rich in mineral deposits. Silver, copper and iron have been mined since ancient times, making Daye even more prosperous than elsewhere.

But in the past, this wealth belonged to wealthy families and officials, and had nothing to do with the common people.

Zhu Yuanzhang chose to cross the border from Daye to Wuchang City. Firstly, he wanted to see how well the Hongwu New Deal was implemented in Huguang Road. Secondly, he wanted to see the people in a prosperous place like Daye County.

What are the days like?

Tieshan Town is located only thirty miles northwest of Daye County.

As an important iron ore production site in the Jiangnan region of Ming Dynasty, Daye was responsible for almost half of the production volume.

Tieshan Town in Daye County is responsible for about 70% of the entire Daye iron ore output.

This is a town that already has a primary industrial base.

Standing at the southeast corner of Sifeng Mountain, looking towards Tieshan Town in the northwest corner.

Tieshan Town is located in the southwest corner of Sifeng Mountain. Compared with the lush Sifeng Mountain, Tieshan Town is a bare area.

Large tracts of land were cleared and the ground was uncovered.

Mines of all sizes are scattered all around Tieshan Town.

A huge coal mine pile is piled in a corner of the town where it connects to the river.

Countless coal mines were transported from various places every day and then fed into the smelting furnaces, providing the imperial court with a continuous supply of raw steel materials.

As outsiders approach Tieshan Town, their noses will be filled with the strong smell of coal and sulfide.

In the surrounding small rivers, what flows is no longer clear water, but turbid liquid filled with metallic sediments.

Such a place is no longer suitable for growing crops.

Further away from Tieshan Town, you can see crops growing in wild fields.

As a human being, you wouldn’t think this is a good place.

The same is true for Zhu Yuanzhang.

Even though he knew that Tieshan Town was a mining area, he still felt uncomfortable with the environment here.

Standing on the road into the town, Zhu Yuanzhang raised his head and looked at the workshops in the town that were set up in the mines. The chimneys were spewing thick smoke day and night, just like a forest.

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned slightly: "Looking at the chimneys here, they are somewhat similar to those workshops outside Yingtian City."

When he was in Yingtian City, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had often slipped out of the palace and wandered around in the past two years, was very familiar with the chimney in front of him.

Zhu Gaochi will answer this question.

He took a step forward, came behind the old man, and explained in a low voice: "When the imperial court began to implement the New Deal, one of the policies was to re-explore and rebuild local mining areas.

Daye County is an important copper and iron producing area along Huguang Road and even along the Yangtze River in the south of the Yangtze River, and Tieshan Town is within the scope of the reconstruction.

Nowadays, the ore mined in Tieshan Town can be completely smelted directly in the town, and then transported all the way down the Yangtze River to the capital.

According to the plans of the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, there will be further reconstruction here, striving to transform Tieshan Town from an ore mining and smelting place into a production place integrating mining, smelting and forging in the next few years."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked curious, with a bit of doubt in his eyes: "Just like the coal mine reconstruction that has started on Shanxi Road?"

After the chaos in Shanxi Dao was settled and the Shanxi merchants were completely wiped out by the imperial court, Shanxi Dao began a brand new reform.

As the most important coal production area in the Ming Dynasty, Shanxi Road is undergoing a large-scale industrial reform.

Led by the Ministry of Industry, several important coal producing areas in Shanxi Province began to integrate manpower and material resources to integrate coal mining, cleaning and production.

The imperial court's goal was to use the coal mines in Shanxi Road as the core to supply the entire northern Ming army's heating consumption in winter in the next few years.

Zhu Gaochi nodded and said: "It's roughly the same. It's just that in Daye County, the Ministry of Industry will probably only transfer farm tools, copper and iron products needed by the people, as well as some weapons and weapons needed by the army to Tieshan Town.

As for the more important crossbows, armor, and firearms, they will still be manufactured in Yingtian Mansion."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, having a more detailed understanding of Tieshan Town.

At this time, he saw a group of people coming out of the town.

It was not summer yet, and the temperature was not cold, but not hot either. However, all of these people were only wearing short-sleeved shorts and a pair of thick-soled cloth shoes.

The common people had cloth strips wrapped around their waists, a burden on their shoulders, and an empty basket hanging in front and behind.

"Hello fellow fellows, I wonder where you are going?"

Zhu Yuanzhang stepped forward to stop the group of people and asked with a smile, just like when he met people elsewhere.

When the common people looked at Zhu Yuanzhang's appearance and tone, they knew that this old man must have come from a wealthy family, so they stopped one after another and bowed respectfully with their fists clasped together.

"Sir, the young men are going to Qiantouhekou to pick up coal and get off the boat."

Zhu Yuanzhang raised his eyebrows and pointed to the east: "But that river at the foot of the mountain in front?"

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! A leading man nodded and said: "That's right over there."

At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang turned back to look at Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Shangbing.

As usual, Zhu Gaochi came forward with a smile on his face and led Sun Gou'er to give each of these people a broken piece of silver.

"Excuse me, everyone, my family is in the Tieshan business. Knowing that the imperial court is renovating a lot in our Tieshan Town, my old man wants to come and take a look in person."

This is pretending to be a merchant's home.

When the people saw it, they felt that it was quite different.

Otherwise, ordinary people, who have a lot of money, would just give money to anyone they meet.

Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang and his group seemed to have something to ask, the leading man nodded to his companions, and then looked at Zhu Yuanzhang: "Old man, the coal boat at the mouth of the river is about to arrive. We are very pressed for time.

, If you have anything you want to ask, feel free to ask, as long as we know something, I will definitely tell you."

A smile appeared on Zhu Yuanzhang's face, and he even stepped forward and patted the man on the shoulder: "He is quite strong and tight."

The man chuckled: "If you're not strong, you can't do our job."

Zhu Yuanzhang had already led a few people to sit on the roadside, and then continued to ask: "Who do you work for?"

I'm afraid I need to find an owner over there at the iron mine so that I can do business more easily.

The man then said: "Who else can we work for? Of course we work for the imperial court and the government. Who dares to occupy the mine now and mine privately in violation of the law? If the officials in the county know about it, it will be a serious crime of confiscating the family and exterminating the clan.

.”

From the beginning of the Ming Dynasty to the present, the private iron industry has never been liberalized. All matters involving iron ore mining and smelting must be run by the government.

It's just that all the laws of the imperial court are often ignored by those greedy people who secretly explore, mine and smelt iron ore.

Zhu Yuanzhang became interested instantly and raised his brows: "Oh? So, there were originally private mines here?"

The leading man immediately shut his mouth and looked at Zhu Yuanzhang very carefully for a while.

The companions beside him also looked at Zhu Gaochi and others with vigilant eyes.

After a while, the man smiled and said: "Old man, this kind of thing was naturally not prohibited in the past. Even though several large iron mines in our Tieshan Town used to be run by the government, remote places were not allowed to do so.

Some people still mine it secretly.

It's just that in the past few years, because the imperial court was implementing some new policies, the officials in the county have changed a lot, and then all the people in Tieshan Town who were secretly mining were beheaded.

The place where the head was beheaded still smells like blood, who would dare to mine secretly?"

The second son of my family is fair and strict!

Zhu Yuanzhang could not help but praise in his heart.

Obviously, the heads in Daye County must have been beheaded by Qin King Zhu Ping.

Zhu Gaochi asked from the side: "So you all work for the government now? Can you still work in agriculture now?"

The man looked sideways at Zhu Gaochi.

This somewhat chubby young man has a good-looking face.

A smile appeared on the man's face, he was very cheerful, and he clapped his hands and legs and said: "Not all of us work in the mines for the government. Everyone is busy from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, and there is no time for farming.

Our Tieshan Town is different from other places. Most of the original land is now mined, or factories are built, and ores and coal are piled up.

With some land left, the elderly and children at home don’t have to be so busy as in the past, it’s just that the family no longer has to go out to buy rice to eat.”

When the man mentioned that the fields in Tieshan Town were now occupied by mines and stockyards, Zhu Yuanzhang frowned visibly.

But he soon felt relieved.
To be continued...