A team of more than a hundred people walked quickly along the Chi Road to the east of Wuxian County. At the front of the team, Xiang Liang took the lead, followed closely by Wu Rui and Xiang Zhuang. Soon, they came to a very tall building.
An inconspicuous mountain front.
This mountain is adjacent to Lou County. From the outside, it looks very peaceful and nothing special. But if you go inward from a mountain road in the south, you can see that hundreds of houses of various sizes have been built in the mountain.
Craftsman's shop.
At the mountain pass, there were hidden patrols patrolling back and forth. When they saw a team approaching, they were ready for battle. But when the team drove in, they finally discovered that the people coming were Xiang Liang and others, so they immediately stopped.
He raised his weapon and continued to lie dormant without letting out any sound.
The team marched slowly on the mountain road. Although Wu Rui was surprised and didn't know where Xiang Liang was going, but thinking about it carefully, maybe the Xiang family's craftsmanship shop would be in this mountain.
Although the making of weapons and leather manufacturing are the secrets of a country, it is rare for the Xiang family to do so secretly.
At this time, Wu Rui had to admire the Xiang family's caution. After walking for about half an hour, he could finally see black smoke rising into the sky. This was the black smoke coming from the kiln. Until this time, Wu Rui
It is absolutely certain that the Xiang family's arsenal must be located in this mountain.
After walking for a while, a fence like a military camp appeared in the distance, and a very high gate stood in the mountain road, blocking the way. At this time, Xiang Zhuang had already accelerated his horse, came to the gate, and raised his waist.
He shouted: "Open the door!"
"Just quack!" The gate slowly opened, and Xiang Liang and others quickly rode their horses in.
The Xiang family's shop has a neat layout and a clear division of labor. Some craftsmen in gray robes are busy going back and forth, and some soldiers in cloth armor are also busy patrolling, supervising work, or carrying items.
Wu Rui looked at the Xiang family's craftsman's shop and couldn't help but admire: "What a weapons factory."
Xiang Liang also laughed proudly. After the laughter, Xiang Liang took Wu Rui to one of the craftsmen's shops. The iron furnace in the craftsman's shop was still burning. Wu Rui walked around the shop.
Swords were placed aside one after another. These swords were just models and had not been deeply processed. But when Wu Rui picked up the swords, he was surprised to find that these swords were not iron swords.
He immediately took a few more. These swords were all made of bronze. On the side, there were sword heads, spearheads and halberd heads, and some arrowheads were also neatly stacked. These were all made of bronze.
Wu Rui looked a little frustrated. He turned back to Xiang Liang and sighed: "Mr. Liang, these are all made of bronze."
Xiang Liang nodded, waved his hand and said with a smile: "Iron ore has a very high ignition point and is not easy to forge. Moreover, an iron sword needs to be repeatedly quenched and polished. Therefore, the casting of iron swords is extremely limited. At the moment, we can only make large
Scale cast bronze sword.
After saying that, Xiang Liang made a sign to go out, and together with Wu Rui, walked towards the depths of Dazhai. Inside, there were about ten craftsmen's shops. The sound of hammers and iron could be faintly heard in the house. Xiang Liang pointed at
The craftsman smiled and said: "Here, there is something General Wu wants to see."
Wu Rui was very excited. He walked in quickly, but found that the layout of the craftsman's shop was the same as that of other craftsmen. There was nothing special about it. He was surprised again and said: "Mr. Liang, there is nothing different here. Are you mistaken?"
Already?"
Xiang Liang smiled and picked up an arrow from the side, handed it to Wu Rui, and said with a smile: "You might as well take a look at this."
Wu Rui took the arrow, looked at it carefully, and couldn't help laughing: "It's an iron arrow."
Xiang Liang nodded, took an iron sword from the side, and said with a smile: "These swords are also made of iron."
Wu Rui took the sword and looked at it. They were some semi-finished products. He couldn't help but become interested. He looked at the iron furnace again. It was no different from what he had just seen in other craftsmen's shops. He looked at the iron sword in his hand again.
Then he asked: "The smelting method is the same, but why can an iron sword be made here?"
When Wu Rui asked, Xiang Liang pointed to the bellows on the side and said with a smile: "The reason lies in this bellows."
Wu Rui then noticed that a clerk was pulling the bellows continuously. He was sweating profusely. Wu Rui came to the bellows with curiosity and carefully looked at the bellows for a while. He finally discovered that the bellows and the bellows were
The principle is roughly the same, except that the air dispersion volume of the bellows can completely heat the charcoal better.
Thinking of this, Wu Rui couldn't help laughing and said: "What a bellows. I wonder which great sage invented it?"
"I'm ashamed to say that this was invented by Zhuang'er and applied to iron smelting." Xiang Liang said with great pride, but Wu Rui's recognition of Xiang Zhuang was even deeper at this time. He looked at it again
After checking the other items in the craftsman's shop, he, Xiang Liang and others walked out of the craftsman's shop and walked towards the other craftsmen who made weapons and armor.
Wu Rui was extremely interested in these iron smelting techniques. At this time, he had no intention of watching any more. He was thinking more about how to get Xiang Liang to agree to pass this technique on to him so that he could also
Forge swords in Poyang and build your own armored army?
However, after thinking about it, Poyang and the Jiangdong Chu Army already have an inseparable alliance relationship, and it is very likely that they will become one family in the future. In this case, Xiang Liang should not refuse and pass this technology on to himself.
Thinking like this, Wu Rui laughed twice. He wanted to bring the topic to this, but Xiang Liang and Xiang Zhuang had already walked into another craftsman's shop, so Wu Rui had to follow them.
In the shop, more than a hundred craftsmen were sewing leather armor. The leather armor was made of animal skins and cowhide. Xiang Liang picked up one, looked at it, and handed it to Wu Rui. Wu Rui took it and looked at it.
After taking a look, he found that the workmanship was better than the one in Poyang. He couldn't help but give a thumbs up and nodded in approval.
At this time, it was already noon, Xiang Liang said with a smile: "Since General Wu has already seen it, let's go back."
...
On the way back, the speed was not as fast as when he came. Wu Rui accelerated his horse and came to Xiang Liang. He smiled dryly and said: "If you want the Chu Kingdom to recover as soon as possible, it is not enough just for the Liang Gong family to be strong. If
Liang Gong is willing, and I, Poyang, are willing to become the second production line of Chu State’s weapons.”
When Xiang Liang heard what Wu Rui said, he couldn't help but sneer in his heart. The purpose of bringing Wu Rui to the shop today was to get Wu Rui interested in ironware. As long as Wu Rui was controlled by Kuaiji, he could control him to prevent him from changing his mind.
At this time, Xiang Liang smiled dryly and said: "General Wu, with all due respect, if you want to make iron tools, you need enough iron ore. Just relying on the purchase of iron ore will cost a lot and it will not be able to achieve stable production, so..."
Before Xiang Liang finished speaking, Wu Rui waved his hand and said with a smile: "Mr. Liang underestimates me, Poyang."
Speaking of this, Wu Rui was full of confidence and patted his chest: "Actually, as early as a few years ago, when I sent troops to suppress the rebellion in Yugan County, I knew that there was iron ore there. At that time, it was just because the iron ore was of little use.
, I have not developed iron mines. If Mr. Liang is willing to pass this technology to Poyang, I guarantee that within two months, Poyang will be able to build the first batch of iron swords belonging to Poyang."
Seeing what Wu Rui said, Xiang Liang couldn't refuse, so he had to smile and said: "Since General Wu is so determined, I will agree to your conditions. But since Poyang is put into production, then we can also distribute some weapons and armor to supply Kuaiji."
Wouldn’t it be nice to arm the army faster?”
Wu Rui had already expected that Xiang Liang would make some demands, but he did not expect that Xiang Liang's demands would be so low. Not to mention providing some weapons and armors to Kuaiji, even though Xiang Liang asked Wu Rui to provide 50,000 arrows and 3,000 sets of arrows.
You can also take out the leather armor yourself.
After all, he has been guarding Poyang for a long time. Poyang has its own craftsman shop and arsenal for a long time, but the scale is not large. Moreover, seeing the Xiang family's arsenal today, Wu Ruicai felt ashamed.
What's more, Lushan County belongs to the Qin State in name, but in fact, it has long been under his own name. However, in order not to attract attention and cause unnecessary trouble, Wu Rui would hide everything and let the other counties still hold high.
Qin Banner.
At this time, Xiang Liang's eyes were as bright as a torch, and he was staring at Wu Rui quietly. Wu Ruilang smiled and patted his chest: "I, Wu Rui, will tell you the truth, and this matter will be settled. In addition, I hope that Xiang Zhuang's nephew can come forward.
Help me fix that bellows."
Xiang Liang smiled and nodded, no problem.
At this time, Xiang Liang turned back to Xiang Zhuang and ordered: "When you return to Zhu County this time, you will personally be responsible for the renovation of the iron furnace in Poyang. You must pass on the cast iron technology to them so that Zhu County and Poyang can complement each other."
.”
Xiang Zhuang stepped forward on his horse, cupped his hands and said, "My nephew, I obey the order."
In order to make the relationship between the two families further, Wu Rui smiled and said: "If you and I can get along well with Qin and Jin, I think that in the land of Jiangdong, Liang Gong will be more stable and no one can shake it."
Wu Rui's idea was also Xiang Liang's idea. Wu Rui proposed it at this time. Xiang Liang couldn't help but smile and said: "That's what I had in mind."
Once the topic was opened, the two began to think about their respective Xiao Jiujiu. Wu Rui was more optimistic about Xiang Zhuang. Of course, he would try his best to bring the topic to Xiang Zhuang. Moreover, at this time, Wu Rui thought in his heart that Xiang Zhuang was far better than him.
The son-in-law has a brighter future.
Xiang Liang, on the other hand, was thinking about who among the descendants of the Xiang family would be suitable to marry Wu Rui's daughter?
Suddenly a thought flashed through Xiang Liang's mind, but he soon rejected Xiang Zhuang's plan to marry Wu Rui's daughter. After all, Xiang Zhuang was already entangled by two women, Cao Feng and Kong Xiuyun, so why not
, give this opportunity to Xiang You.
Thinking of this, Xiang Liang smiled and said: "I have a suitable candidate, but I don't know if General Wu can like him."
Hearing what Xiang Liang said, Wu Rui's eyes were like torches, and he was staring at Xiang Liang quietly. After a while, Xiang Liang laughed and said: "My third brother Xiang Bo has a son named Xiang You. He is handsome and has superb martial arts.
He is also a rising star of my Xiang family, but I don’t know if General Wu is willing?"
The person Xiang Liang wanted was not the one he wanted, but Wu Rui did not reject Xiang Liang because of this. After all, many things still need to be settled over time, and wanting to accept Xiang Zhuang as his son-in-law was even more difficult than climbing to the sky.
For difficult things, Wu Rui felt that she needed some time.
But thinking that his third daughter Wu Ling was still waiting to be born, Wu Rui couldn't help but squint and smile: "Gong Liang's eloquent words, how can I refuse? Since Mr. Liang intends to match up, I also show my sincerity. My youngest daughter Wu Ling,
I’m still in my boudoir, as beautiful as a flower, so I might as well..."
Wu Rui stopped talking, but the two of them had already raised their heads and laughed. They both knew it well and there was no need to elaborate further. In this way, a political marriage was finalized in the two people's understatement.
