The Sui Dynasty's chess game

Chapter 848 Transferred Miners
The continuous rain for a month affected everyone's survival, including the city's thugs and ruffians who used to make a living by extortion.

In times when people from all walks of life are struggling to make a living and extortion is no longer an option, local thugs and ruffians have begun to roam around in groups, committing all sorts of evil deeds, including rape and robbery.

This is actually a harbinger of rebellion. Once a powerful leader emerges among them, they will gather local ruffians and scoundrels to create large-scale unrest.

The Imperial Guard also began a large-scale crackdown on these local ruffians. After the emperor issued a strict order, the Imperial Guard changed the way they were handed over to local officials and instead handed them over to the army for custody, preparing to transport them all overseas or to various mines to serve as laborers.

As night fell, in Washi Township, in the eastern part of Weinan County, Dongcheng Prefecture, more than a hundred local ruffians roamed to a village. Most of the men in the village had gone out to repair roads, leaving only the elderly, women and children behind, who became the prey of these ruffians.

"Brothers, charge into the village!"

The leader of the local thugs shouted, and more than a hundred people jumped up and rushed into the village.

Unexpectedly, just as they rushed out of the woods, countless soldiers suddenly appeared around them. Thousands of imperial guards surrounded them, torches illuminated the night as if it were daytime, and hundreds of imperial guards aimed their crossbows at them.

"Raise your hands and lie face down on the ground!"

The more than one hundred thugs were terrified and lay prostrate on the ground. The guards stepped forward, one stepping on their necks and pressing a spear against their backs, while the other bound them with leather ropes.

At this moment, a local thug named Wang Delin was pulled up by the guards. Wang Delin walked up to the thug leader, pointed at him, and said, "He's the leader!"

The thug leader's eyes widened, and he roared, "So it was you, you bastard, who betrayed us!"

But he had no chance to take revenge. Several guards lifted the gang leader up, made him kneel on the ground, and in front of more than a hundred thugs, chopped off his head with a knife.

The thugs screamed in terror, and countless people wet their pants in fear.

The thugs were put into wooden cage prison carts, each cage holding more than a dozen people.

The internal guards escorted ten wooden caged prison vans away, and Wang Delin was released and returned home.

The same thing was happening in the counties of the seven prefectures and one county: finding inside agents, killing leaders, and arresting local thugs. The internal guards were doing their jobs well, and batches of local thugs and ruffians were being arrested.

In less than a month, more than 80,000 local ruffians and scoundrels were arrested and thousands of ruffian leaders were killed.

However, Emperor Xiao Xia eventually changed his mind and no longer sent them overseas. Instead, he registered them as miners and sent their entire families to settle in various mining areas.

All 80,000 miners were sent to Beiping County, where several large iron mines had been discovered and laborers were needed to mine them.

Compared to arresting local thugs, the problem of foremen taking a cut of their wages is much harder to solve.

Foremen did exist, and they were appointed by the government. For groups of two or three hundred people, the government would select a capable and influential person from among them to be the foreman.

Foremen are certainly important; they are like low-ranking military officers. They are responsible for urging the workers to work, for taking care of sick workers, and for mediating labor disputes.

At the same time, they also have to work like laborers.

However, the government would not give the foreman an extra penny, because this money, which was a relief fund, was borne by the imperial court and could not be obtained by local officials, so of course they would not pay the foreman.

Therefore, local officials turned a blind eye to the foremen's commissions. As long as the project proceeded smoothly and the workers did not cause trouble, the local officials would naturally not interfere.

Dongjun Baima County was the last stop on Xiao Xia's inspection tour.

A massive imperial fleet was slowly docking at the Yellow River wharf in Baima County. Tens of thousands of laborers were busily unloading hundreds of thousands of shi of grain, chests filled with 100,000 guan of cash, and various other supplies. The wharf was teeming with people, bustling with activity. On a dragon boat carrying 20,000 shi of grain, Xiao Xia listened to Shi Xiaozhen's report on the foremen's situation. He nodded and said to Cui Hongzhou beside him, "The work-for-relief program was an oversight on my part. The responsibility does not lie with the foremen. The court can increase the foremen's wages, but they cannot take any more commission. That's the bottom line."

Xiao Xia thought for a moment and continued, "Disaster relief is the responsibility of local governments. Local governments must shoulder this responsibility. Those with money should contribute money, and those with strength should contribute strength. Since the imperial court has already provided the financial support, local governments should contribute their strength. However, when it comes to the foreman, local governments are acting as hands-off managers. How can one be an official so easily?"
If I were to discover that the foreman was continuing to take a cut after receiving subsidies, then all the county magistrates and assistant magistrates involved would be dismissed. Prime Minister Cui must convey my words to every local government office.

Cui Hongzhou said, "Your Majesty, there are actually many ways to avoid taking a commission. For example, we can change the daily payment to a monthly payment, and then give the money directly to the workers' families instead of the workers. In that case, the foreman will not be able to take a commission. Of course, this can only be done if the court provides the foreman with the necessary subsidies."

Xiao Xia nodded. "These methods are not for me to consider, much less for me to implement. I only care about the results. The work-for-relief program must be completed smoothly. Prime Minister Cui, this is your duty as the Pacification Commissioner of Henan Province. After you have considered it carefully, you can ask the local government to implement it, instead of telling me and asking me to implement it for you."

Feeling ashamed, Cui Hongzhou quickly said, "Your humble servant knows his mistake!"

"Go ahead! Go and sort out the foreman's allowance. How much money is needed? Apply to the Ministry of Revenue. I will not concern myself with this matter."

Cui Hongzhou left in a hurry.

Chu Suiliang stepped forward, "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Xiao has arrived!"

Xiao Xia came to Baima County to hear Xiao Yu's report on the resettlement of disaster victims in the flood discharge area.

"Send him to see me!"

A short while later, Xiao Yu hurried in, bowed, and said, "Greetings, Your Majesty!"

Seeing that Xiao Yu was dark-skinned and thin, Xiao Xia knew he had suffered a lot. Xiao Xia nodded, "You've suffered, my dear Xiao."

Xiao Yu smiled and said, "As long as we get things done, it's worth the hardship. There are a total of 83,000 disaster victims, and they have all been sent to Liaodong. But there is one thing I would like to ask Your Majesty for instructions!"

"Please speak, Prime Minister Xiao!"

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Works has discovered a large iron mine between Yan County in Liaodong and the Liaoxi Peninsula. I am considering whether we could register 30,000 households there as mining households and let them mine in the northwest of the Liaoxi Peninsula. The income would be quite substantial, and I believe they would be willing!"

Xiao Xia issued an imperial decree last year to search for iron ore on a large scale in Hebei Province. Magnetite deposits in places like Handan had already been discovered, so the focus of the iron ore search was placed on the Jidong iron ore belt.

Two large iron mines were discovered last year. One was the Beiping County Iron Mine, which is the area around present-day Tangshan and Qian'an.

Another major iron ore mine was located between Yan County and the Liaoxi Peninsula, which is today's Anshan, Liaoning.

One of the most important reasons why the Liao and Jin dynasties were powerful in history was their strong iron smelting industry. After the Liao dynasty acquired the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, it gained access to a large number of Han Chinese artisans.

Furthermore, they controlled Liaodong and Youzhou, which were rich in iron ore, possessed technology and resources, and finally, they had the full support of their rulers.

The Jidong iron ore belt does indeed have many large iron mines. Although the quality is not very high, the output is large and they are easy to mine. Therefore, the imperial court decided to mine the twelve easiest mines first.

What we need most right now are miners, but Xiao Xia already has a solution.

Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and said, "I plan to transfer 100,000 able-bodied men from Goguryeo to work as miners in the iron mines of Liaoxi. The 30,000 households that Prime Minister Xiao mentioned can also be converted into mining households. They will be settled along the Bohai coast in the northern part of the Liaoxi Peninsula and will be responsible for smelting."

"Your Majesty understands and will certainly settle these disaster victims in accordance with Your Majesty's requirements."

(End of this chapter)