With the new year and new atmosphere, Huangmenting is now far less embarrassed than it was last year.
After one year in Xinye, they strictly followed Shen Chen's methods, recruiting refugees, opening up wasteland, and building manors. Now they have more than 20,000 acres of farmland and a total population of about 2,000.
The number of members of the clan has increased from fifty in the middle of the year to one hundred and twenty. They do not need to engage in agricultural activities, and they train all day long to increase their combat power.
Although the number of these soldiers is not large, Shen Chen's request is to train towards the elite, and he does not require that the number be as large as possible.
Deng Mao and Shen Zhen had served as regular border troops of the Han Dynasty in their early years, fighting against the Xianbei people who were at their peak more than ten years ago, and they had a deep understanding of how to train elite soldiers.
Therefore, with their training, these one hundred and twenty people can be considered small in size and have considerable combat effectiveness.
A few days ago, a Huangjin village in the Dabie Mountains saw Huangmenting building a manor and looking quite prosperous, so they sent more than a thousand people to attack, but they were severely defeated.
The most important thing about this victory is not the bravery of the soldiers.
After all, it is the first time for many people to go to the battlefield, and the enemy is still ten times more numerous than before. It is normal to feel timid before the battle.
The important thing is that their weapons and equipment are much stronger than those of the Yellow Turban bandits.
The weapon is a ring-shaped sword made of steel, and the upper body is also wearing a small armor, and the equipment is in a crushing posture.
What about the Yellow Turban Army?
The better thing is the ordinary wrought iron ring first knife, which still has a lot of gaps, and many of them are even rusty.
The worse ones were just cast iron kitchen knives, farm tools, hoes, stones and sticks, and no armor at all.
With such a huge equipment gap, Huangmenting's soldiers were invulnerable and could cut the opponent's weapon into two pieces with one strike.
However, the Yellow Turban Army could not compete with them at all. Under the leadership of Deng Zhao, Shen Zhen and others, the Huangmenting soldiers rushed and killed the Yellow Turban Army, defeating them and fleeing.
There are two main reasons why Huangmenting's soldiers have such good equipment.
One is the birth of the blast furnace steelmaking method.
In fact, there was a steelmaking technology in the Han Dynasty, called the stir-fried steel method. It was a relatively advanced steelmaking technology that could decarburize steelmaking evenly.
But the problem with the fried steel method is that if pig iron is used for production, if the decarburization work is not done enough, it is likely to produce wrought iron. After decarburization, the temperature inside the furnace is not enough, and molten steel cannot be formed.
In other words, the most important thing is to grasp the degree of decarburization. If there is not enough decarburization, it will be just wrought iron. If there is too much decarburization, molten steel cannot be formed, and the final iron produced will be very brittle.
At that time, charcoal was used for firing, and the steel-making furnace could not reach the point of smelting molten steel. Therefore, under this situation, people found another way and invented steel-making.
Steelmaking is to heat the wrought iron to a temperature close to whitening, and forge it with a hammer to remove inclusions in the steel and reduce the size of the remaining inclusions, so that its composition becomes uniform, the structure becomes dense, and the grains are refined. particles to improve the properties of steel.
It's just that this method sounds good, but it is very inefficient. Forging a piece of pig iron into a piece of steel requires thousands of hammerings.
The origin of the idiom "refined thousands of times" lies in the forging process of the sword embryo.
Once a blacksmith makes a mistake, all efforts may be wasted.
Therefore, even though the method of frying steel was invented, the steel output in the Han Dynasty was very low.
It requires extremely skilled blacksmiths to continuously forge to produce steel, and it is impossible to mass-produce it on a large scale.
Shen Chen manufactures blast furnaces using the steel filling method.
The iron ore is heated into a liquid state, and then the wrought iron is added to the liquid state. When the two are mixed, it turns into molten steel directly due to a chemical reaction.
The efficiency of steelmaking has been improved almost by leaps and bounds.
Why is it that before the invention of the steel filling method in the Tang Dynasty, my country's steel production was so low that the total steel production in the Western Han Dynasty for more than 200 years was only 17,855 tons.
After the Tang and Song Dynasties, the annual output could reach tens of thousands of tons, and even during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the annual output could reach 200,000 tons?
This is because the emergence of the steel filling method is a dimensionality reduction attack.
Although it is not like the British Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, which used steam power to produce 800,000 tons per year, compared with forging steelmaking, the efficiency is still hundreds of times improved.
In addition to steelmaking technology, the second direct reason is that Nanyang is rich in resources.
As a vast plain comparable to the Guanzhong Basin, it is rich in important resources such as coal mines and iron ores.
Among them, there are more than ten iron smelting sites of the Han Dynasty excavated near the urban area of Nanyang City in later generations, and there are countless others.
There must be minerals near the Shahe River where Huangmenting is located, but most of them are buried underground and there are no open-pit mines.
Mining technology in the Han Dynasty was relatively low, and it only made use of open-pit minerals. If they were buried a little deeper, they would either not be found, or even if they were found, they would not be able to mine them.
Fortunately, Fuyang County, not far from Huangmen Pavilion, is a major iron-producing county. Later it was called Tongbai County. There is a mountain named Tongbai Mountain, which was called Dafu Mountain in the Han Dynasty.
According to information unearthed in later generations, there is a huge open-pit iron ore vein here.
In fact, not only in the Han Dynasty, there were also many mining areas in Tongbai Mountain in later generations. There were a large number of small and medium-sized mining companies. The mountains contained huge amounts of gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper, iron and other mineral resources. It was a world-class mineral resources.
In the Han Dynasty, due to limited mining technology, it was impossible to dig out all the hundreds of tons of gold ore, thousands of tons of silver ore, tens of millions of tons of iron, copper, zinc, lead, alkali and other minerals found in the Tongbaishan mining area. things.
But even the exposed natural iron ore is already very abundant. Thirteen Han Dynasty iron smelting sites were excavated in Tongbai County in later generations, and even more have not been excavated. The iron ore reserves are very amazing.
Coupled with the minerals produced in other places in Nanyang, which have not been exhausted after thousands of years of mining, you can know how much natural resources this place contains.
So to a certain extent, Nanyang is really a treasure.
It's just a pity that it is located in the war zone of the Central Plains, and there is no stable environment due to years of war. As a result, even though the natural resources are so abundant, they cannot be utilized by people.
However, although there are so many good resources in the Nanyang Basin that are currently unused, Huangmenting is gradually developing based on it. When it grows in the future, it may be able to use it as a base to radiate to the surrounding areas.
On December 26, Deng Hong returned to Huangmenting with his newlywed wife and Shen Chen.
Deng Mao and others led the village elders to welcome him.
Today's Huangmen Pavilion is no longer what it used to be. On the fertile fields, farmland stretches as far as the eye can see, crisscrossed by streets, and farms, villages, ponds, and mulberry forests rise from the ground.
In addition to farming, there are also traditional mulberry and hemp industries, breeding, animal husbandry, etc. It is like a huge manor economic system.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, major aristocratic families established their power at the bottom of the country based on this manor system.
Now the Deng family has built a manor like a family, and there are still people serving as officials under Liu Biao. Coupled with the heritage of the Deng family's descendants, they can barely be regarded as a local gentry.
In the morning of Shen Chen, they took a boat from Xiangyang and went north along the Baihe River. After getting off the boat in Xinye, they followed the direction of the Shahe River to Huangmen Pavilion.
Therefore, the meeting point for the team is at the entrance of the village to the west of Huangmen Pavilion.
Under the leadership of Deng Mao and others, many newly joined refugees were also summoned to greet them along the road. The several-kilometer-long post road was filled with people from Huangmenting, and the motorcade slowly came from the west.
The reason why it is so grand is that the bride must first see the strength and heritage of the Deng family. Otherwise, if the husband's family is not strong, Deng Hong may be despised by the bride.
The second is to appease the people at the bottom of Xiangting.
Most of the newly recruited refugees are homeless people who ran away from the war in the Central Plains or Guanzhong.
They are afraid of war and hunger. If Huangmenting does not show a certain strength, it will be difficult for these people to have a sense of belonging and they are likely to flee again in the future.
Therefore this welcome ceremony is very necessary.
When Mrs. Cai saw that Deng Hong's family owned such a huge estate, she would not despise Deng.
The lower-class ethnic groups will also feel more at ease when they see that Deng has senior officials under Jingzhou Mu as their backers.
This is a matter of killing two birds with one stone.
But what is strange is that I heard that the direct descendant of the Deng family married a bride, so why was there a child standing next to her?
Could it be a second marriage?
Many of the new refugees in Huangmenting looked puzzled and talked among themselves privately.
"That is Deng Langjun, who works for our Huangmenting Deng family under Liu Shijun in Jingzhou? He is indeed handsome and handsome."
"She is like a bride."
"Aniu, don't talk nonsense. If it weren't for Deng, we would have starved to death."
"Huh? Why is there a child next to you?"
"Could it be Deng Langjun's child?"
"No way. I heard that Mr. Deng just married a wife, so how could she give birth to a child so quickly?"
Everyone was puzzled.
I don’t know why that child came back with Deng Hong.
However, these outsiders didn't know that Shen Chen's taking charge of Huangmenting was deliberately concealed.
First of all, he asked to keep a low profile. In order to prevent him from showing off, he must not be known to outsiders.
Secondly, it is also to protect the face of the clan, otherwise the refugees will have to doubt whether their choice is correct when they learn that the person in charge of this rural pavilion is a child.
Therefore, the refugees from outside only know that Huangmenting is currently run by Deng Mao, Deng Kai and other senior members of the Deng clan, while outside it is headed by Deng Hong, who works under Liu Shijun in Jingzhou. I don’t know about Shen Chen’s existence.
Shen Chen didn't care about these false names. For the upper class dignitaries, the emergence of a child prodigy was not surprising.
Because prodigies are recorded in many history books, such as Xiang Luo Ganluo, etc., even in their circle, the number of prodigies is very large.
Kong Rong is one of them.
As for the people at the bottom, who have not read and learned calligraphy, have little knowledge, and do not know history, they naturally do not know the concept of child prodigy.
They will only apply their own inherent thinking, and instinctively will not believe a child's words.
Just like when we were in Xuzhou, if Cao Cao's massacre of Xiapi hadn't really happened, the village elders in Huangmenting would not believe that Shen Chen's words were true.
Therefore, in many cases, there is no need to be too conspicuous among the people at the bottom. Shen Chen can indirectly influence people like Deng Mao and let them implement it.
After the motorcade entered Huangmen Pavilion, Deng Mao and Deng Kai greeted them.
"Big brother and second brother."
"Sister-in-law and second uncle."
Mrs. Cai very politely performed the common ritual of slightly curving her knees, which is what you often see in TV dramas. You press your right hand on your left hand, your left hand on your left hip, your legs together, your knees bent, and your head slightly bowed.
On the contrary, after Shen Chen got out of the car, he just shouted: "First uncle, second uncle."
"You guy."
Shen Zhen came over and pinched Shen Chen's ears and said, "I used to salute my uncle, the foreign minister, and my second uncle, but after I went to the academy, I forgot all the etiquette?"
"It hurts, it hurts."
Shen Chen bared his teeth, thinking clearly that they wanted to take charge of the clan, and they were almost becoming clan leaders. Why did he lack etiquette? Besides, they were all elders and acquaintances, so bending down to salute every day seemed out of place.
But in the eyes of your parents, no matter how capable you are, you are still just a child, and you will still be taught how to teach, so he really has nothing to do with Shen Zhen.
Deng Hong was still kind-hearted. He chuckled and said, "My son-in-law, please use a little force. Yes, I think pulling your ears won't work. You have to spank your butt."
Shen Chen rolled his eyes when he heard this.
The farce was quickly stopped by Deng Mao, and the group started walking towards the Xiangting Pavilion.
Only then did the surrounding refugees know that this child was a member of the Shen family and had just gone to Xiangyang Academy to study.
Outside the Xiangting Pavilion, if the dozens of miles outside Huangmen Pavilion are just ordinary rural farmland, then the place where a thousand villagers originally lived is already a manor.
The outer wall was built with bricks fired in caves and rammed earth, about two miles wide from north to south and four miles long from east to west. A large number of houses, high oars, watchtowers and other fortifications were built inside.
In terms of fortifications, these are the only ones currently available, but in terms of daily life, there are vegetable plots, canals and even a small amount of farmland. There are also tunnels hidden underground that can lead to the mountains and forests behind.
This is a standard Han Dynasty manor structure. If it is upgraded further, it will become a city.
However, the manor has not yet been fully repaired. For example, various fortifications have not been built, and the excavation of tunnels has not been completed.
This requires specialized military craftsmen to build, and Huangmenting does not yet have such professional talents.
Even Shen Chen didn't know how to make the city defense equipment of the Han Dynasty.
He does know about golden juice.
Although it doesn't seem to be an honorable thing to say it out loud, if there is really a large-scale enemy attack, Shen Chen can only think of using gold-burning juice to defeat the enemy.
Amidst the hustle and bustle, Deng Hongchenchen was welcomed into the manor and officially entered his own territory.
Seven aunts and eight aunts rushed forward, surrounded by relatives.
Mr. Cai immediately felt the enthusiasm of the country people.
Because when those relatives caught her and praised her, she was a little embarrassed.
The most powerful thing about rural girls is their mouths. Now that Deng Hong is at the peak of his power, no one will be stupid enough to offend him, so they will naturally praise the bride.
Surrounded by relatives, Deng Hong first took Cai to the ancestral hall to worship his ancestors.
This is standard etiquette.
Only in this way can you officially enter the Deng family.
Soon after the ceremony, there will be a banquet. Compared with the banquets where aristocratic families have one seat, the countryside is not so particular.
In addition to the core figures such as Deng Mao, Deng Kai, Deng Hong and Cai who held banquets at home, the villagers held banquets to celebrate this year's successful harvest together and to wish Deng Hong and his wife their wedding.
The New Year will be here in a few days, and during this banquet, the elders of Huangmenting Township are also celebrating the arrival of the New Year in their own way.
Let me tell you some bad news, that is, I have to write only 4,000 words a day these days, and I must strictly control it, not too many. The reason is that I signed the contract on August 15th, so far I have been on the new book list for 15 days, and I have been on the new book list for 15 days.
There are two situations in the list, one is that it will be automatically removed from the list after 30 days, and the other is that it will be automatically removed from the list after reaching 200,000 words. So according to the current situation, if I update 6,000-10,000 words every day, the fastest will be 6 days, and the slowest will be 9 days.
list, I lost a lot of exposure. So in order to wait for the remaining 15 days, I can only write 4,000 words a day. But don’t worry, everyone, I will post 4,000 words, but I will definitely not write just that much, from the time I get off the list to the time I put it on the shelf
In this stage, I will make a big update, with a daily guarantee of 10,000.