After lunch, everyone went to Wild Dog Ridge to play.
At present, only Wild Dog Ridge in Xishan Manor can be regarded as a place for outing. Otherwise, it is full of farmland and there is not much to see. However, at this time of year, Wild Dog Ridge is still full of greenery and wild flowers are in full bloom. It is just a place of mountains and fields, and even the scenery
They are all unmodified, and in the eyes of some people, they are indeed not worth looking at. But everyone actually doesn't care too much.
Xu Wanyi's motion sickness has been cured and she took a nap before noon, so she went with him. The old blacksmith and his wife were overjoyed to see Axiu and Zhao Yuancheng come back, but they didn't care much when they saw Tan Ruqing following them. But
Later, when I saw Xu Wanyi, I couldn't help but ask about it.
When they learned that this was Zhang Yanling's newly married first wife, and that Xu Wanyi was the princess of the Duke's Mansion, the old couple were immediately filled with worry and worry. They looked at their daughter, and then looked at their daughter.
When talking about the two women, Ruqing and Xu Wanyi, it was obvious that Axiu was far inferior. Regardless of their life experience and appearance, they were worlds apart. When they thought of Axiu's situation in the Marquis's house, the old couple felt bad in their hearts.
The old blacksmith secretly asked Axiu aside, and Axiu told them not to worry, saying that the Marquis treated her well. How could the old blacksmith believe it? He secretly called his son Yuan Cheng to ask, and Zhao Yuancheng also said that the Marquis treated Axiu very well.
Very good, the old blacksmith and his wife finally gave up their doubts.
Looking back, the old couple began to discuss and decided to fawn over Xu Wanyi and ask her to treat her daughter better while the Marquis and others were playing.
Although Wild Dog Ridge is a small mountain, at the turn of spring and summer, the hillside is green and green, with many unknown wild flowers blooming, which is quite amazing. Especially when passing through the originally messy thorny mountain road and the vines and trees on the hillside.
After the renovation, it is no longer as messy as before.
When Xishan Reservoir was being built, Zhang Yanling mentioned that some of the miscellaneous trees and thorns on Wild Dog Ridge needed to be shoveled away, and the mountain paths needed to be cleaned up. Later, the old blacksmith discussed it with the manor manager and took advantage of the free time after the new year.
Time took the tenants to tidy things up a bit, so they had the scenery in front of them.
Everyone walked along the hillside to the dilapidated beacon tower on the top of Wild Dog Ridge. The top of the mountain was green and flat. There were various unknown flowers blooming on the grass, which looked like a carpet of wildflowers. It was like a carpet of wild flowers.
A great place for camping and fun.
Immediately, everyone began to set up tents, spread flower cloths, and brought out the tables, chairs, stools, food and drinks they had brought. Soon the top of the mountain became a lively camping place.
Everyone was free to move around. Axiu and Tan Ruqing picked flowers on the grass together, Xiaozhu and Tao'er flew kites. Tao'er, Xing'er and several other maids played Cuju on the grass. Xu Wanyi was incompatible with master and servant.
Or they don't bother to play with other people, sitting on the grass with a flower cloth spread out and whispering something in a low voice.
Zhang Yanling was not idle. He went around the top of the mountain with the old blacksmith and Ma Quanhuang to check the terrain. Zhang Yanling was not just here to relax. He had long planned to open a smelting workshop. In his mind, the best
The location is right here at Wild Dog Ridge.
In the barren mountains and ridges here, it is most suitable to open a smelting workshop here. The purpose of opening the smelting workshop is to make muskets. Not only is it a smelting workshop, but it will also be the location of a small arsenal in the future. Therefore, confidentiality is the first priority. Here
It's your own private estate and it's in the wilderness, so privacy can be guaranteed.
In addition, at the foot of the hillside is the Xishan Reservoir, which has abundant water resources and is suitable for human habitation. No matter how big the scale is, there will be no problems with the Qin water source.
The location of Wild Dog Ridge is only more than ten miles away from the Xishan Mountains. It is also very convenient to transport wood, charcoal and other materials here. Smelting workshops or arms manufacturing workshops will definitely need a large amount of charcoal, wood and other fuels in the future.
However, after walking around, Zhang Yanling felt that the terrain on the top of the mountain was not suitable. Although the top of the mountain was flat, the area was too small. Although it was more than enough to open a smelting workshop at the moment, Zhang Yanling knew that he must have long-term plans.
Since you need to plan, you can't be too petty.
"Yanling, what do you want to build here? I've looked around several times, but I still don't know what you want to do." The old blacksmith finally couldn't help but ask.
Zhang Yanling didn't hide it either. He originally needed the help of the old blacksmith for this matter, so he told him.
"Smelting furnace? You mean, the tall furnace used to smelt refined iron?" the old blacksmith asked in surprise.
Zhang Yanling was also surprised. He was surprised that the old blacksmith actually knew about the smelting furnace.
"It's that kind of furnace. I want to smelt a kind of refined iron for making things. But I don't want to be too ostentatious. It's not suitable in the capital, so I chose this place. Anyway, you can't farm in this barren mountain place. It's just right.
Take advantage of it. What do you think?" Zhang Yanling said.
The old blacksmith didn't know what Zhang Yanling did by smelting refined iron, but after all, he was a blacksmith, so he was naturally interested in it. He smiled and said: "The top of the mountain is very suitable. It can be leveled a little and surrounded by a big yard. The road up is neat, and the carriage can
Just go in and out.”
Zhang Yanling nodded and said: "I think so too, but this place is too small. The area on the top of the mountain is only a few acres. Moreover, it is not private enough."
"The top of the mountain is still small. What kind of big thing are you going to do? It's not like I've never seen a smelting workshop before," the old blacksmith said.
Zhang Yanling could not answer his question for the time being. Zhang Yanling figured it out. Wild Dog Ridge could not just be a stopgap, but must become a base. The smelting workshop was only one link, and behind it there must be a forging workshop, an assembly workshop, and various supporting facilities.
The future development here should be an arsenal. Not only firearms such as blunderbuss, but other firearms can also be developed. If you are short-sighted and only plan for the immediate things, you will inevitably have to re-plan in the future, doing twice the result with half the effort.
.
"Old father-in-law, I have an idea to use all the upper and lower parts of Wild Dog Ridge to build more than a dozen workshops. The hillside in the north is too steep, and the south is the reservoir. The terrain on the east and west sides is gentle and can be tidied up layer by layer.
of flatness
Up there, there can be at least five or six floors of flat ground. In addition... Wild Dog Ridge is also somewhat high, and there should be rocks below. If it can be hollowed out below, it will be more secretive and the usable space will be larger."
Zhang Yanling said.
Not only the old blacksmith, but everyone following him stared blankly at Zhang Yanling. No one knew what the Marquis was thinking. Isn't the Marquis crazy? Does he know how big this project is and how much money it will cost? What on earth is he doing?
What to do.
"There are rocks underneath the Wild Dog Ridge. But... Trillium, are you sure you want to do this? Hollow out this mountain? Wouldn't that take decades?" the old blacksmith said solemnly.
"Instead of hollowing it out, just open up the passage stone chamber. What I want is a secret space inside. And it doesn't require manpower. Ma Quan Huangsi, please call some people and bring ropes. We will measure everywhere and record the data.
.I will make some plans later. At present, everything is still my preliminary idea and the data will speak for itself.”
Zhang Yanling just did it and decided to measure all the data immediately. After returning, he can make sketches and carry out step-by-step construction. Planning is the most important thing. Although it will not be possible to realize his ideas in a short time, at least he will not be able to realize the subsequent construction.
They will interfere with each other and can be advanced step by step.
So everyone was a little surprised to see Zhang Yanling leading a group of people pulling ropes up and down Wild Dog Ridge to measure and map. While Zhang Yanling carefully recorded all the data, a blueprint in his mind gradually became clear.