Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 851 Reason
Lou Jiu is the cousin of Lou Lao Er. Although they are five generations apart, they have known each other since childhood and have always had a good relationship. As for Lou Jing, he is Lou Jiu's son and also his nephew. He remembers that Lou Jiu only has this one son. When Lou Lao Er left home, Lou Jing was still a teenager. He didn't expect that after so many years, Lou Jing's son has grown up so much, and both Lou Jiu and Lou Jing are gone.

When he just arrived in the village yesterday, Lou Laoer had been busy with the buffet. In addition, knowing that he was rich now, many people came to visit him. From yesterday to today, he met many people and could not remember who he had met and who he had not met.

Of course he remembered Lou Jiu, but when he was busy with so many people, he had no time to ask about this matter. Besides, he knew too many old people in the village, and it would take a long time to meet them all. He didn't expect to accidentally see Lou Jiu's grandson today, and also learned about Lou Jiu's family.

Lou Laoer's face looked a little unhappy. Looking at the doll, he couldn't help but think of his old playmate Lou Jiu, and Lou Jiu's son Lou Jing.

"Go, help Lou Jiu's family pack more food and find someone to deliver it directly to his house. The baby is still young, what if he falls while being carried like this?" Lou Lao Er said to Lou Fu beside him.

Lou Fu nodded quickly and walked towards the child without calling anyone. When he got up to the child, he spoke a few words to the child. The child nodded and handed the food in his hand to Lou Fu. Lou Fu took it and held it, then took the child's hand and walked away. He went to the side and asked someone to pack a box of food in it, and then took the child to Lou Jiu's house.

Seeing that Lou Fu had done everything right, Lou Lao Er nodded slightly and turned to go to the main table. As soon as he got there, Lou Qi and his companions saw Lou Lao Er coming and quickly stood up to greet him and let Lou Lao Er sit in the main seat.

"Seventh Uncle, when I first came here, I saw the kid from Lou Jing's family. What's going on with this ninth brother and Lou Jing? How come they're gone out of nowhere?"

After sitting down, Lou Lao Er and Lou Qi drank a sip of wine first, then put down their glasses and couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

Lou Qi, who was originally smiling, froze in laughter when he heard Lou Lao Er asking about this.

"Xiaojiu died of a serious illness a few years ago. As for Lou Jing...ah, this matter..."

"What's wrong? Is there anything difficult to say?" Lou Lao Er asked.

Lou Qi hesitated for a moment and was about to say something, then thought for a while and lowered his voice to tell Lou Lao Er about the situation of Lou Jiu's family. Anyway, Lou Lao Er would know about this sooner or later, and he could only keep it a secret for a while, so it would be better to tell him.

Through Lou Qi's mouth, Lou Lao Er finally understood what was going on with Lou Jiu's family. The south also suffered from disasters a few years ago. Although the disaster situation in the south was better than that in the north, the problem was that Zhejiang has always been a place with many mountains and little land, and the harvest of crops can only be considered mediocre.

Life became difficult after the disaster, and the same was true for Dongtang Village. The Lou Jiu family only had a few acres of thin land, and it was very difficult to grow crops in the years of famine.

Many people had no choice but to go out to find a job, because there were mines in Yiwu, especially the mine in Niutou Mountain, which was reopened in the third year of Chongzhen. Everyone went to the mine to make money and survive. The same was true for Lou Jiu's family, but Lou Jiu was unlucky. He worked in Niutou Mountain for more than a year and was injured during a mining operation. After the injury, Lou Jiu could no longer work in the mine and had to return home to rest.

But who would have thought that not long after returning home to rest, Lou Jiu fell seriously ill for unknown reasons. The disease was so severe that no medicine could cure it. In order to treat Lou Jiu, Lou Jing almost spent all his family's wealth and sold everything he could, but still failed to save Lou Jiu's life. Lou Jiu passed away half a year later. After burying Lou Jiu, Lou Jing had no choice but to look at the empty house and go to work in the mine like his father.

Although the work in the mine was hard, it was still possible to earn some money, otherwise there wouldn't be so many people working in the mine. Lou Jing originally planned to work in the mine for a year or two, and then come back to farm after getting through this period. However, he didn't expect that Lou Jing, like his father Lou Jiu, would also die young. He had worked in the mine for less than a year when something happened. Somehow, one day when he was working in the mine, the mine cave suddenly collapsed, and more than a dozen people were buried in the mine cave and could not get out, and Lou Jing was one of them.

"No one was rescued?" Lou Lao Er asked anxiously.

"How can they be rescued?" Lou Qi shook his head and said, "You also know the situation of the mine in Niutou Mountain. This mine has been opened for a hundred years. The mine tunnels inside are getting deeper and deeper. If it collapses, the people buried inside will be dead." Lou Qi looked sad. He whispered, "Lou Jing is gone just like that. Not only Lou Jing, but also several young men in the village died in it, including the youngest son of the fifth brother. Didn't you ask me yesterday, wasn't the fifth brother the head of the village before? How did it become me? To tell you the truth, the youngest son of the fifth brother and Lou Jing died in there that day. Even the bodies were not found. When the news spread to the village, the fifth brother couldn't stand it and fell ill. He lay at home for half a month, and the disease became more and more serious. In the end, he passed away like this. After the fifth brother left, the clan let me be the head of the village and take over the fifth brother's position..."

Lou Lao Er frowned, he never thought it would be like this. He couldn't help but ask Lou Qi: "How many people in the village died in the accident? Which villages were the others from? After such a big incident, the mine didn't pay any compensation? The government didn't say anything?"

Lou Qi told Lou Lao Er that in the mine disaster, four people from their Dongtang Village alone died. Two of them were Lou Jing and Lou Wu’s youngest son Lou Yan, and the other two were boys from the third brother’s family and the eleventh uncle’s family, all of whom were members of the Lou family.

As for the others, they were all young men from several local villages in Yiwu, a total of thirteen people. There was no way to save these people after the accident. Even if they were not killed by the rocks, they would have suffocated to death in the mine. As for the mine, they didn't take it seriously at all. According to the mine, it was their own fault. Moreover, when they first started working in the mine, the mine said that they were responsible, so even if something happened, the mine would not pay a penny.

As for the government, there is no need to mention it. Lou Laoer has been away for many years and is not familiar with the situation in his hometown. The mine in Niutou Mountain is different now than before. In the past, the mine in Niutou Mountain was managed by the imperial court, and the emperor also sent a mine supervisor to watch it. Although the mine supervisor at that time was not a good thing, after all, everything was still formal with the imperial court involved, and there were some bottom lines.

But now, although the mine is openly owned by the government, it is actually contracted by someone else. The government does not care about these trivial matters at all, and the mine owner is entirely responsible for them. The government only knows how to collect money, and as long as the benefits are in place, the mine owner can do whatever he wants.

"Mine owner? What kind of mine owner has such great power?" Lou Lao Er asked doubtfully. He was puzzled when he learned at the post station that the mine in Niutou Mountain had reopened. Now that Lou Qi mentioned this matter, he had to get to the bottom of it.

Lou Qi hesitated for a moment and told Lou Laoer what was going on with the Niutoushan Mine. After listening carefully to Lou Qi's explanation, Lou Laoer finally understood the situation of the mine.

After all the fuss, it turns out that the mine owner is a man named Qiao Changfu. It is said that Qiao Changfu is the advisor of the governor Wang Ji and is trusted by Wang. The person in charge is not Qiao Changfu himself, but a man under him named Qiao Erye. Qiao Erye is Qiao's nephew. He is arrogant and rude, and is difficult to talk to. He has such a deep background. A dozen deaths in a mine accident is nothing to him. Let alone Yiwu County, even if Jinhua Prefecture intervenes, it will not work. Don't forget that he has the support of the governor's office.

Hearing these familiar names, Lou Lao Er instantly remembered Mr. Qiao whom he met at the post station. After all this fuss, it turned out that this guy was the manager who helped Mr. Qiao manage the mine. No wonder he was so arrogant, a mere servant of a master dared to live in the post station and asked him to give him a room.

As for what Lou Qi said about Qiao Changfu being the owner of the mine, Lou Lao Er immediately understood what was going on. Country people don't understand those things, but how could he, a man who has seen the world, not know? It is clear that this mine is the work of the governor Wang Ji, and his master Qiao Changfu is the person who took the place of Wang Ji, and that Qiao Erye is the manager under Qiao Changfu who is responsible for the details. If you connect the dots like this, what is there to not understand?
Originally, Lou Lao Er planned to find some time to ask Lou Qi about the Niutou Mountain Mine in the next few days, but he didn't expect to know the inside story today. Although he only knew the basics, the information he learned surprised Lou Lao Er. He never thought that the governor would be so bold. The court had clearly banned mining, but he dared to do this. Not only did he let his own master open the mine, but he also let his master's subordinates be the manager. He even didn't take such a big thing seriously. Not only did he not pay compensation, he even suppressed it in the name of the government, leaving the people with no way out.

What a great governor, what a great Lord Wang! This move was really brilliant. Where did he get such courage?

Just as Lou Laoer was furious and was about to continue asking about the mine, there was a commotion at the entrance of the village. It seemed that someone had come. Before Lou Laoer could ask who had come, a villager ran towards them, shouting as he ran: "The county magistrate is here! The county magistrate is here!"

"The county magistrate is here?" Lou Laoer was stunned. He did not expect that the county magistrate of Yiwu would actually come to Dongtang Village. He had only been back home for less than two days. How did the county magistrate know about it?

Although Lou Laoer's status was not low, and his official position and title were far higher than the county magistrate, the county magistrate was, after all, the local official and a civil servant, so Lou Laoer could not ignore him. Moreover, he would be living in the village for a long time in the future, so he naturally could not offend the local officials. In addition, after hearing about the mine from Lou Qi just now, Lou Laoer thought that he might be able to find out something from the county magistrate.

Thinking of this, Lou Lao Er stood up and looked towards the entrance of the village. After a while, he saw several people entering the village and walking towards him. The leader was wearing an official uniform and was not very old, looking about forty years old. Before he arrived, he was seen smiling and bowing to Lou Lao Er.

"This must be Lord Lou, right? Your humble servant, Xiong Renlin, the magistrate of Yiwu County, greets you, Lord..."

(End of this chapter)