Time flies for three months.

It is almost time for autumn to begin.

At the end of the dynasty, natural disasters and man-made disasters alternate, causing the people to suffer. The court was extremely declining, and the people were in great difficulty. In addition, natural disasters and disasters made more people unable to survive, so more people rose up and formed a vicious cycle. As a result, the dynasty collapsed and could not persist.

Since summer, it has not rained for two months, and the fields have been drought and the people are in panic. This incident has caused a headache for Cao Mengde.

Even though Cao Mengde had ninety-nine political abilities and Chen Gong was a first-class strategist, he had no choice but to face natural disasters.

Cao Mengde called his side and asked, "What are Mr. Zhao doing these days?"

During this period, Cao Mengde was busy pacifying people's hearts. Although Zhongmu was just his temporary place to stay and Cao Mengde could turn a blind eye to it, but that was not the case. He had to do what he could do here, after all, he had a big mind and had no time to linger in Zhao Yu's house.

He said left and right: "I only heard Mr. Zhao jingling in the courtyard, I don't know what he was doing."

When Cao Mengde heard this, his heart couldn't help but turn around a few times, and then he planned to go to Zhao Yu's house to take a look.

It happened to be Chen Gong coming to see him.

"Ming Gong, the land outside the city is cracking, and the grains are about to be harvested but killed. The people cried, but the heaven and earth are not suitable. What should I do?" Chen Gong, as the head of a county in Zhongmu, tried his best to maintain the city. Although he was still in the war and could not take it too far, he did not give up around the city.

Cao Mengde sighed: "Does the matter of digging water from the big river have any clues?"

"Far away water cannot quench the nearest thirst." Chen Gong shook his head: "What's more, it is not easy to attract the water from the river. If you want to make water conservancy, you have to make a few years of contribution. For the sake of the present, you should find a way to purchase grain from Jizhou and Xuzhou to temporarily soothe the people. Otherwise, the people will lose money, and I'm afraid it's..."

Cao Mengde lamented: "The people's livelihood is so difficult!"

Then he said, "You sent a message to Wei Zhen to him to quickly transport grain back and continue to purchase it. The more you have, the better."

"Yes, Ming Gong."

"In addition..." Cao Mengde thought about it: "There is a shortage of water, so we must call the people to drill a few more wells to avoid insufficient drinking."

"Here."

"Fortunately, you're in the office."

Chen Gong smiled and said, "This is a blessing for the Gongtai."

After saying that, he was about to deal with the matter, but Cao Mengde called him and said to the county official who was with him: "You have heard what I and the Gongtai said. Let's go down and act. I and the Gongtai have important things to do."

"Here."

When the county officials left, Cao Mengde pulled Chen Gong and said, "Let's go, go to Mr. Zhao's place, and ask him if there is any way."

When the two arrived outside Zhao Yu's courtyard, they were hearing the jingling in the courtyard, and they didn't know what Zhao Yu would do.

The two looked at each other, and Cao Mengde quietly pushed open the gate of the courtyard. When he walked in, he saw Zhao Yu wearing a short jacket, rolling up his sleeves, holding tools in his hand, and knocking at something that looked like a huge wheel.

When Zhao Yu saw the two of them coming in, he put down the tools in his hands and said, "Don't knock on any door?"

Cao Mengde smiled and said, "I, Cao Mengde."

"I just knew it was you."

Zhao Yu laughed and greeted Chen Gong: "Brother Gongtai is here too."

"You are here just right." Zhao Yu said again: "I have almost done this thing and am planning to invite Brother Meng De to come and have a look."

Cao Mengde and Chen Gong looked up and looked at the wheel-shaped object two or three feet tall, with a look of confusion on their faces.

Cao Mengde asked, "What is this?"

Zhao Yu asked the two of them to sit by the stone table beside him, and then he said slowly: "It is said that the Han Dynasty is declining to eunuchs. Of course, there are eunuchs among them. But there are also powerful characters among eunuchs."

The two of them heard it inexplicably.

Zhao Yu smiled and said, "There was Cai Lun's papermaking before, and scholars were mostly favored by him. The prototype of my water truck also came from eunuchs."

"Oh? Waterwheel?"

"Yes." Zhao Yu smiled and said, "When Emperor Ling was in power, the regular attendant Bi Lan caused a reversal to please Emperor Ling. I believe that Meng De might be clear about this."

When Cao Mengde heard this, he thought about it carefully and it was true. He nodded and said, "This is indeed the case." Then he said, "Could it be that your water truck is overturned?"

Zhao Yu nodded with a smile on his face.

Zhao Yu knew that the earliest record of the water truck was the overturned car he just mentioned by Bi Lan. It was just used to please the emperor, but not to use people's livelihood. According to records, later Ma Jun improved the overturned car, and used it for irrigation, which was the original water truck.

However, Ma Jun has not made his debut at this time, so this water truck has not been officially used in agriculture.

Moreover, the water wheels improved by all horses require human trampling. However, the water wheels built by Zhao Yu now are something that has been driven by hundreds or thousands of years later. They can be driven by water or cattle and horses, liberating manpower and greatly increasing efficiency.

"My water truck can be driven by water or animal power. Choose different methods according to the terrain." Zhao Yu explained carefully: "For the convenience of making this water truck, I made a smaller one. The water truck can be six or seven meters long, and one water truck is enough for hundreds of acres of land to irrigate."

"Good stuff, good stuff!" Cao Mengde shouted, almost jumping up with joy.

Zhao Yu poured cold water on it: "Don't be happy in a hurry."

Zhao Yu said: "The water truck must also rely on water conservancy facilities to achieve results. However, now the drought has become a thing of the past, and it will not be possible to build water conservancy. My water truck is useless. The most important thing at the moment is to purchase grain from other places to overcome difficulties. Brother Meng De, if you buy grain, you can use labor-for-relief method. While you can solve the people's upside down, you can start water conservancy and how much it can be repaired. Although Zhongmu is only a temporary place to settle down, if the people can think of you, they will benefit in the future. And this water truck, when you become the prefect of Dongjun next year, the manpower and material resources of a county can be used at will, and then come to Daxing water conservancy. You will not be afraid of any drought at that time."

Cao Mengde nodded repeatedly when he heard this: "Mr. Zhao is saying."

Zhao Yu said: "I will sort out the method of making this water truck and I will give it to you tomorrow."

"It's OK at any time." Cao Mengde said: "No hurry, no hurry."

"You said you were not anxious, but you must be anxious." Zhao Yu was not polite at all.

Cao Mengde smiled.

Chen Gong next to him was quite envious.

Like Zhao Yu, the relationship between being able to joke with Cao Mengde and being both a teacher and a friend is indeed enviable. But he couldn't do it here. The difference between the king and the minister is because of his inherent thinking. In this era, few people have been able to overcome this hurdle.

The three of them were talking, and someone came outside to report: "Duke Cao, there is a general Xiahou Yuan who wants to see Duke Cao."

When Cao Cao heard this, he immediately stood up, looked surprised and shouted, "Take people here quickly."

He said to Zhao Yu and Chen Gong: "The wonderful class has arrived!"

Then he explained: "Miaocai is my clan's brother, named Xiahou Yuan."

Of course, Zhao Yu knew Xiahou Yuan's name. This famous Xiahou Miaocai was famous for his rapid march and his ability to rush thousands of miles.

As for the clan brothers, Cao Mengde was still a member of the Xiahou clan. Because Cao Teng was a eunuch and had no descendants, Cao Mengde's father Cao Song was adopted from the Xiahou family to the Cao family. The Xiahou family and the Cao family have had in-laws and blood connections throughout the ages.

Cao Mengde said: "I ordered Yuan Rang and Miaocai to recruit soldiers in Yangzhou. I was originally going to return until the end of the year. I don't know how I returned at this time, and I was about to ask him."

Soon, the attendant strode in with a tall man with a face similar to Cao Mengde.

Next comes the introduction.

The first impression Xiahou Yuan gave is completely different from his marching style. Instead, he is slow and elegant.

After meeting each other, Cao Mengde asked him: "Why are you back now?"

Xiahou Yuan said: "Because I was worried that my elder brother would be recruiting two thousand people, Yuan asked my brother to return first. My brother was free to recruit another three thousand and then return."

"Okay, okay, you're back." Cao Mengde smiled: "I'm worried that there is insufficient troops, you're back just in time."

Speaking of which, in the past three months, Cao Mengde has made no achievements in recruiting soldiers. There are very few young and strong people around Zhongmu. In addition, he is now weak and not attractive enough, so until now, this emperor has only recruited less than 500 people.

With more than a thousand soldiers and horses, only one thousand five were the generals.

What is the use of this number of troops? As Zhao Yu said, at the beginning of the year, Yu Fuluo and others would rob Dongjun, and at least 10,000 or 20,000 of the coalition forces of Fuluo and the Black Mountain bandits would say. Without 5,000 people, it would be unlikely that even a mob would be able to defeat tens of thousands of thieves.

He was also afraid that the bandits would come early, and Xiahou Dun had not returned. Therefore, at this time, Xiahou Yuan returned with two thousand men, which was exactly the same as his wish.

Afterwards, Cao Mengde asked someone to remove the water truck made by Zhao Yu and move it away, and carefully hide it in the warehouse. At night, he held a banquet in the county government office. After drinking and having enough food, he went back to his house.

In Cao Mengde's study, a little oil lamp is unstable.

Cao Mengde, Xiahou Yuan and Cao Hong knelt against each other.

First, he asked whether Xiahou Yuan was successful in recruiting troops. When he learned that Yangzhou Governor Chen Wen and Danyang Prefect Zhou Xin helped each other, Cao Mengde was very happy.

Xiahou Yuan said: "Governor Chen and Prefect Zhou are both kind to each other. Before leaving, Prefect Zhou said that his elder brother advocated justice, and he would help him with all his strength. He would also conscript 10,000 troops for his elder brother one after another."

Cao Mengde sighed with gratitude: "Zhou Xin has an old age with me. I met Yuan Benchu ​​and Zhou Xin long ago. I was very relieved when he helped me."

Then he said, "If I could recruit ten thousand soldiers for me, it would be great. Danyang's elite soldiers would be famous all over the world."

However, Xiahou Yuan was a little doubtful: "Brother, you need to get money and food to raise soldiers. I think five thousand is the limit."

Cao Hong laughed: "Miaocai doesn't know that my eldest brother is not short of money now."

Cao Mengde also laughed and said, "I am now missing everything, but I don't lack five zhu."

He said, "You are in Yangzhou and you are rushing all the way when you come back. You probably haven't heard of glazed mirrors and soap?"

"Glass mirror? Soap? What is this?" Xiahou Yuan had never heard of it.

Cao Mengde explained one by one and smiled: "Mr. Zhao gave me these two treasures. Zi Lian summoned craftsmen to study and could be mass-produced in half a month. I entrusted it to Wei Zhen, son of Wei Zixu. Now, the trade route has been paved to Guanzhong and Hebei, and it is favored by the powerful families and has made tens of millions of dollars in profits."

Xiahou Yuan was shocked: "It's so profitable!"

"Yes," Cao Mengde said: "Mr. Zhao gave me this treasure for free. I treat each other sincerely. In the future, Miaocai must not be rude to him."

Xiahou Yuan was pleased with surrender and said, "It's because of treating each other sincerely!" In March, he made tens of millions of dollars in profits. This is not treating each other sincerely. What is treating each other sincerely?

"With this Mr. Zhao's support, my elder brother will succeed in his great cause!"
Chapter completed!