The afternoon passed in the blink of an eye for Chu Mu, who was engrossed in his book.
The patrol inspectors coming to relieve the shift had arrived, and those who had been on duty all day shouted as they left.
Chu Mu silently tucked the book into his bosom, glanced up at the dimming sky, and as a gust of evening breeze blew past, he couldn't help but tighten the armor on his body.
"It's probably going to change weather…"
Chu Mu pursed his lips. The seasons in this era were no different from those in his previous life.
Spring, summer, autumn, winter—four seasons in cycle.
The current season was late autumn, with winter approaching. The sun was setting, and the evening breeze carried a growing chill.
Chu Mu glanced at the corvée laborers still toiling nearby, their clothes tattered, still wearing the thin garments of summer.
With just one look, Chu Mu retracted his gaze, adjusted his clothing, and followed the off-duty patrol inspectors out of the mine.
Nanshan Town was situated at the foot of the mountain. Leaving the Jia Mine, one only needed to follow the mountain path straight down, pass the iron smelting plant halfway up the mountain, and arrive at Nanshan Town.
It was now dusk, and on the mountain path, apart from the off-duty and patrolling inspectors, there were only corvée laborers carrying baskets, shuttling between the mine and the smelting plant.
The smelting plant was located halfway up the mountain, between the Jia and Yi Mines. Even from a distance, one could clearly see the thick black smoke rising from the plant.
The smelting plant was not far away, and Chu Mu slowed his pace.
As a newcomer to this era, Chu Mu had many unanswered questions, and the smelting plant before him was one of the most perplexing.
Normally, a mine with thousands of workers, combined with a smelting plant, would undoubtedly drive the development of the surrounding area.
Setting aside other factors, just as a hub for mining and smelting, the basic iron tools here should be significantly cheaper than elsewhere, not to mention the other benefits brought by the mine and smelting plant.
But in Nanshan Town, as Chu Mu saw it, things seemed to be the exact opposite.
The Nanshan Iron Mine and the smelting plant before him not only failed to benefit the surrounding people but instead loomed like two great mountains pressing down on the people of Qinghe County, becoming an almost unbearable burden.
The reason was simple enough.
The mine was state-run, plain and simple.
Being state-run, Qinghe County conscripted corvée laborers to extract ore, and the smelting plant processed the ore into crude iron. From what Chu Mu knew, apart from a small number of craftsmen hired by the Qinghe County Office, the vast majority of workers in the smelting plant were also corvée laborers.
It wasn't hard to see that this was practically a business with no cost at all.
The Qinghe County Office paid almost nothing, reaping all the benefits, while the entire cost was passed onto the people of Qinghe County through a single order for corvée labor.
If it were only this, it wouldn't be hard to understand—just a matter of oppression and the oppressed.
Such things had played out for thousands of years in Chu Mu's previous world!
But the issue lay precisely here. In this process, the Qinghe County Office, or rather, the "officials," seemed to be entirely empty-handed, taking all the profits.
Yet, from what Chu Mu knew… in these processes, the Qinghe County Office was merely one link in the chain.
All the ore extracted from the mine was transported to this smelting plant to be processed into crude iron, then stored in the warehouses of Nanshan Town.
Every three months, Qinghe County would dispatch patrol inspectors to escort it to the prefecture city.
And Chu Mu's confusion stemmed exactly from this.
Supply and demand, supply and demand—there must be supply for there to be demand, and likewise, demand for there to be supply.
Qinghe County mined ore and smelted it into crude iron—this was the supply side. Every three months, the stored crude iron was transported to the prefecture city—this was the demand side.
But the problem was… the prefecture city's demand for ore was nothing more than forging weapons, tools, and the like.
Yet the prefecture city was at least several hundred li away from Qinghe County. With the transportation conditions of this era, the process of transporting the ore alone consumed an unknown amount of manpower and resources.
If that was the case, why not create demand directly in Qinghe County?
The mine extracts ore, the smelting plant processes it, and it's forged into finished products—wouldn't that be far better than this deformed supply-demand relationship?
Chu Mu knew that every time ore was transported to the prefecture city, Qinghe County had to mobilize a massive effort, expending countless manpower and resources!
Chu Mu estimated that, in terms of money, the manpower and resources spent transporting the ore to the prefecture city likely far exceeded the value of the ore itself, not to mention the staggering costs of extraction and smelting.
If you broke it down step by step, it seemed that everyone involved in this process was engaged in a losing deal!
The people of Qinghe County bore an unbearable burden of corvée labor, with almost no return, and a high likelihood of paying with their lives.
The Qinghe County Office struggled to maintain order and suppress the simmering resentment of the people, yet the ore extracted and smelted ultimately had nothing to do with Qinghe County.
As for the prefecture city, they mobilized countless manpower and resources just to receive ore that was guaranteed to result in a massive loss?
Even if there were hidden profits Chu Mu couldn't yet see, no matter how he looked at it, those hidden profits couldn't possibly outweigh the staggering manpower and resources spent on the surface!
Chu Mu stood still, staring for a while before slowly retracting his gaze.
Perhaps… he was just ignorant.
After all, the original owner's understanding of this era, limited by his reclusive personality and young age, was confined to a small area. If not for the original owner's father being transferred from Qinghe County City to serve in Nanshan Town, the original owner might have rarely even left the county city.
And Chu Mu's own understanding of this era was largely drawn from the original owner's memories.
His personal knowledge of this era amounted to less than half a month.
Chu Mu let out a long breath, as usual, suppressing his doubts deep in his heart. With steady steps, he followed the mountain path down toward Nanshan Town.
The lingering glow of the setting sun remained as Chu Mu entered Nanshan Town. Perhaps due to the repeated conscription of corvée laborers, the streets were noticeably emptier, but it didn't seem to affect the town's liveliness.
After all, the Nanshan Patrol Station alone had over five hundred patrol inspectors, and counting their families, that was at least a thousand permanent residents.
Moreover, according to the county's corvée conscription standards, the relatives of patrol inspectors could be exempted from corvée labor, with the only condition being the payment of some money.
Compared to being conscripted as a corvée laborer, facing uncertainty and even the risk of death, a bit of money seemed insignificant.
In his memories, when the original owner had just turned fourteen, he had been conscripted for corvée labor, only to be exempted by his father's payment.
Later, the original owner's father had pulled strings everywhere, trying to secure an official position for him to ensure his safety, but he had never succeeded.
Who could have imagined that this official position would ultimately fall to the original owner through his father's death in duty?
And in the end, it benefited Chu Mu, a stranger from another world.
"Ensure safety, huh…"
Chu Mu touched the patrol inspector's armor on his body, murmuring to himself…
…
*(End of Chapter)*