The Great Song Dynasty: You were put in charge of teaching, and you produced a whole bunch of prime

The world underground is a completely different sensory experience.

Darkness is the first impression. That pure darkness, devoid of any light, seems to have weight, pressing in from all directions, making one feel as if they are being slowly devoured by a giant monster.

The second sensation was dampness. The air was thick with the smell of earth and decaying plants, sticking stickily to the skin. The well walls were covered with slippery moss, making it easy to slip and fall if you weren't careful.

Jiang Lin gripped the rope, controlling the speed of his descent. He didn't turn on the cold light stick; it wasn't the right time yet.

In a completely unfamiliar environment, any glimmer of light could reveal his location. He could only rely on touch and hearing to assess his surroundings.

The only sounds were the rustling of ropes against the well walls and the deliberately hushed breathing of my companions above. Besides that, there was only deathly silence. This silence was more unsettling than any noise.

He silently calculated the depth of his descent. One zhang, two zhang, ten zhang…

When he estimated that he had reached a distance of about twenty zhang, he stopped, pushed off the well wall with both feet, and steadied himself.

"Jin Wanliang said the tunnel is around this depth," Jiang Lin whispered, calling upwards. His voice echoed faintly in the shaft.

"Let me look for it," Niu Aihua's voice came from above his head.

A moment later, a soft "click" was heard, as if the stone had been moved.

"Found it." Niu Aihua's voice remained calm. "The entrance is very small, and it's blocked by a loose rock."

"Okay, I'll go first." Jiang Lin adjusted his direction and moved horizontally a few feet along the well wall like a gecko, quickly reaching the cold hole.

The opening was indeed very narrow, barely enough for a normal-sized adult to squeeze through. Jiang Lin took a deep breath, hunched his shoulders, turned sideways, and slowly squeezed himself in.

The cave was darker and the air was more murky than the well. He groped his way forward, feeling as if he were crawling through the esophagus of a giant snake.

After climbing about seven or eight meters, the view suddenly opened up ahead. He knew that he had entered the natural rock crevice.

He took out the cold light stick made by Shen Kuo from his pocket, and following Shen Kuo's instructions, he snapped it open and shook it violently.

With a soft "pop," a faint green light instantly illuminated the bamboo tube.

Although the light was faint, it was enough to dispel the darkness before him. Jiang Lin held up the cold light stick and surveyed his surroundings.

He was in a narrow crevice, the jagged rock walls on either side covered in slippery water stains. The ground was uneven, littered with sharp pebbles. In addition to the earthy smell, there was a faint, kerosene-like odor in the air.

"It smells like lard." Shen Kuo's voice came from behind. He had already crawled in, and as soon as he entered, he excitedly twitched his nose, like a hunting dog that had discovered a treasure.

Niu Aihua and Zhao Lingjun followed suit. The four of them squeezed into the narrow crevice, making it feel rather crowded.

"It's so oppressive here." Zhao Lingjun frowned, looking at the rocks overhead that seemed to close in on him, his voice carrying a hint of discomfort.

"Keep up, don't fall behind." Jiang Lin didn't say much, holding the cold light stick, and took the lead into the depths of the crevice.

The crevice narrowed as they went deeper, and at its narrowest point, they had to suck in their stomachs to barely squeeze through. Niu Aihua had already tightly bound her broadsword to her back with strips of cloth, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to get through at all.

After walking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, a glimmer of light finally appeared ahead, accompanied by some vague and noisy sounds.

Jiang Lin immediately made a shushing gesture and then turned off the cold light stick in his hand.

The four of them immediately slowed their pace and crept slowly toward the light.

At the end of the crack was a small opening, barely big enough for half a head to peek out. Outside the opening was a huge underground cavern.

Jiang Lin cautiously peeked out and looked outside.

The scene before him made him hold his breath instantly.

This was a vast space beyond description; the dome was so high that its top was invisible, with only countless thick stalagmites hanging down like the fangs of a monster. Countless torches lit up the cave, illuminating the entire space as if it were daytime.

Under the firelight, there was a dense crowd, like ants.

Those people, or rather, those "slaves," were all poorly clothed and emaciated. Bound by heavy iron chains, they numbly swung their pickaxes under the overseer's whip, quarrying the black rock.

The clanging and banging of weapons, the cursing of the overseers, the cracking of whips against flesh, and the suppressed groans of the slaves blended together to create a symphony from hell.

The air in the cave was thick with the stench of sweat, blood, and the pungent smell of burning oil, making one almost nauseous.

Behind Jiang Lin, Zhao Lingjun also peeked out and saw what was happening. She instantly covered her mouth to stop herself from crying out. Her face turned deathly pale, and her body trembled slightly with shock and anger.

She was a princess of the Song Dynasty, raised in luxury and surrounded by peace and prosperity. She knew that the Song Dynasty had its poverty and injustices, but she never imagined that beneath the emperor's feet, in the bustling city of Daming, such a living hell was hidden!

Shen Kuo's focus was entirely different. He stared intently at the black rocks that had been quarried out, and the thick, black liquid seeping from the cracks in the rocks, his eyes filled with fascination.

"My God... This is... This is a rich mine! Look at that black water, it's almost flowing directly from the rocks! And the concentration of turbidity in the air... The reserves here are probably more than the entire Yanzhou!" His voice trembled with excitement.

Niu Aihua didn't speak, but the veins on her hand gripping the knife hilt were bulging. She looked at the overseers wielding whips, her eyes flashing with a terrifying murderous intent.

Jiang Lin was also deeply shocked.

As a historian, he knew the misery of ancient mine slaves, but the words in books were far less shocking than what he saw with his own eyes.

These people can no longer be called human beings. They are tools, consumables; their lives are cheaper than the stones beneath their feet.

For the first time in Jiang Lin's mind, the name Zhao Liben was synonymous with "deadly".

He forced himself to calm down and carefully observed the layout of the entire mine.

This is what Jin Wanliang's map refers to as the "upper level," a place where waste ore is stored and slaves live. In the distance, you can see some simple dugouts with iron chains at the entrances, like cages for livestock.

At every key passage in the mine, guards armed with weapons stood watch. These guards were different from the garrison soldiers outside; they all had fierce eyes and a bloodthirsty aura, clearly desperados who had tasted blood.

"We need to find a way to get into the middle level." Jiang Lin withdrew his gaze and lowered his voice to the three people behind him. "That's the core area, and the most likely place to find Zhao Liben's ledgers."

"How do we get in?" Zhao Lingjun's voice was still trembling slightly. "There are guards everywhere here."

Jiang Lin narrowed his eyes, his gaze sweeping back and forth across the mine.

Suddenly, his gaze fell upon a group of slaves transporting ore. The slaves were pushing wheelbarrows toward a deeper, darker passage.

"I've got it." Jiang Lin's lips curled into a cold smile. "Since we can't walk in openly, then we'll... sneak in."

Just then, a commotion suddenly broke out not far away.

A thin slave, seemingly exhausted, slipped and fell to the ground, spilling ore from his cart.

A burly overseer immediately rushed over, raised his leather whip, and lashed out hard.

"Snapped!"

A crisp crack of a whip echoed through the enormous cave.

The slave let out a piercing scream, and a bloody gash instantly split open on his back.

The overseer didn't stop, lashing the foreman again and again while cursing, "You scoundrel! You dare to slack off! I'll beat you to death today!"

The surrounding slaves stopped what they were doing and stared blankly at the scene. In their eyes, there was no sympathy, no anger, only a deathly despair.

Niu Aihua could no longer hold back her tears in the crack.

"I'm going to kill him!" she growled, and was about to rush out.

"Stop!" Jiang Lin grabbed her shoulder with such force that Niu Aihua was startled.

"Headmaster!" Niu Aihua turned around, her eyes filled with anger and confusion.

Jiang Lin's face was equally gloomy, but he still shook his head, his voice as cold as ice.

"If we act now, we'll all die here. Save one person, or destroy this entire hell? Which would you choose?"

Niu Aihua bit her lip so hard that her nails almost dug into her flesh.

Just as they were locked in a standoff, the screams from the other side suddenly stopped.

The slave who had been beaten was lying motionless on the ground, his fate unknown.

The overseer spat, cursed, put away his whip, and then, dragging the slave by the feet like a dead dog, threw him into a huge pit in the corner of the cave.

Jiang Lin looked in that direction, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

That pit was densely packed with corpses.

Just then, a muffled sound, like muffled thunder, came from the depths of the earth.

"Waaah—waaah—"

The sound was mournful and drawn-out, exactly the "ghostly wailing" they had heard at the wellhead.

Accompanied by this "ghostly wail," all the slaves in the cave seemed to have heard some terrifying command. One by one, they dropped their tools and ran frantically toward the dugouts.

The overseers' faces changed as well. They whipped the slaves, shouting, "Quick! Back in their cages! The 'Black Demon' is coming out to eat people!"