Deng Chen laughed loudly and said: "Axiu, Lao Liu is not a pretender. Since Lao Liu is willing to give it to you, just accept it!"
Liu Xiu really liked the set of sleeve arrows made by Lao Liu. He was silent for a moment, bowed deeply to Lao Liu again, and said: "In this case, it is better to obey orders than to be respectful, so Xiu accepted it shamelessly."
When Lao Liu heard this, he smiled happily and personally put the sleeve arrows on Liu Xiu's wrist and explained to him the techniques of opening the mechanism.
This set of sleeve arrows is not difficult to operate and is easy to get started. Under the guidance of Lao Liu, Liu Xiu can quickly use it freely.
In Lao Liu's words, this set of crossbow arrows is not perfect. Its biggest weakness is not that the repeating crossbow cannot fire continuously. After each arrow is shot, the arrow must be reloaded before it can be fired again.
As early as the Warring States Period, repeating crossbows had already appeared. However, the repeating crossbows at that time were relatively large and could not be lifted by a single soldier. They required multiple people to operate them.
And Lao Liu was able to make the crossbow machine so small that it could be worn on a person's wrist. His exquisite manufacturing skills and superb forging technology can be regarded as an ingenuity.
Liu Xiu played with the sleeve arrows on his wrist and asked: "Lao Liu, if you want to make five thousand spearheads, what do you need?"
Lao Liu's face straightened and he said, "Nine more furnaces need to be built."
"That's no problem." Deng Chen answered: "I will pay for the money."
"We still need thirty to fifty experienced craftsmen."
Deng Chen thought for a moment, nodded, and said, "Okay, I will find these craftsmen. However, I cannot find them all at once. I need to slowly select the right people."
Lao Liu continued: "I still need more than two hundred laborers."
Seeing Liu Xiu, Deng Chen and others all looked puzzled, Lao Liu explained: "To forge five thousand spearheads, a large amount of wood is needed. Fortunately, there are mountains and forests nearby, so the source of wood is not a problem. The key is that a large number of spearheads are needed.
Labor that can cut down wood is the only way to ensure that the furnace can continue to smelt."
It was quite difficult for Deng Chen to find more than 200 trustworthy laborers at once. When Deng Chen was worried, Liu Xiu answered: "I will solve this matter."
"Axiu?"
"I don't have anyone, but my elder brother has many brothers. I can write a letter to him and ask him to select two hundred men and send them to Xinye."
Hearing his words, Deng Chen's eyes suddenly lit up, he put his hands on his hands and smiled, saying repeatedly: "That's so good! That's so good!"
Soon, they finalized the matter of forging weapons. Before leaving, Lao Liu specially gave them a few weapons.
Liu Xiu and Deng Chen both had good swords. Lao Liu gave Deng Yu, Yan Guang, Zhu You, and Long Yuan each a sword. The sharpness of its blades was as sharp as Deng Chen's sword.
.
Gai Yan was good at using knives, so Lao Liu specially gave him a ring-headed knife.
It's just that this Huanshou knife is not a regular Huanshou knife. The blade is wider, longer, and heavier. It is blue-black in color and extremely sharp. Gai Yan was very excited after receiving the knife, couldn't put it down, and thanked Lao Liu continuously.
Their trip was not in vain, and they all received a good gift. After leaving Lao Liu's blacksmith shop and returning to the city, Liu Xiu immediately wrote a letter to his elder brother Liu Yan, explaining the situation in Xinye.
.
Deng Chen sent his close men to deliver Liu Xiu's letter to Chung Ling overnight. That night, the letter was successfully delivered to Liu Yan.
After reading Liu Xiu's letter, Liu Yan was overjoyed. He praised it three times on the spot and couldn't help but look up to the sky and sigh: "Ah Xiu has solved my urgent need!"
During this period, Liu Yan recruited more and more people, and soon he realized a very serious problem, that is, he had no weapons in his hands.
When the day of the uprising really comes, he can't lead a group of brothers armed with sticks, hoes, and sickles to fight the officers and soldiers.
But if it is a large-scale acquisition of weapons, firstly, he does not have that much money in his hands, and secondly, it is too ostentatious, and the intention of rebellion is obvious.
But if you want to make it yourself, there is no place to make weapons privately, and there are no people to make weapons privately.
When Liu Yan was worrying about this matter, he happened to receive this letter from Liu Xiu. It was really a timely rain, and it just solved Liu Yan's most troublesome problem at the moment. Liu Yan didn't think much about it, and immediately called for his confidant Liu Xiu. Jia, Zhang Ping and Zhu Yun let the three of them read Liu Xiu's letter to them.
Liu Jia, nicknamed Xiaosun, is Liu Yan and Liu Xiu's clan brother. His life experience was relatively miserable. His parents died early. It was Liu Yan and Liu Xiu's father who helped him, raised him up, and also sponsored him to go to school in Chang'an. Liu Jia The relationship with Liu Yan is very close. Although they are clan brothers, they are almost like real brothers. After all, they are similar in age and have spent more time together.
Later, Liu Jia went to Pinglin, where he got married and started a business. His wife and children lived a good life together on the kang.
After Liu Yan decided to rebel in Chongling, he immediately thought of his brother Liu Jia.
He wrote a letter to Liu Jia. The content was very simple, with only a few sentences. He first explained that he wanted to start a rebellion, and then asked Liu Jia if he would like to come to Chung Ling to help him.
After seeing Liu Yan's letter, Liu Jia didn't reply at all. Dang even sold his family property, took his wife and children directly to Chongling, and resolutely joined Liu Yan's camp.
What is a brother? This is a brother. Just one sentence, whether it is going up the mountain of knives or going down into the sea of fire, I will work with you. I don’t ask why, and I don’t ask about success or failure. I just work with you.
After Liu Jia, Zhang Ping and Zhu Yun read Liu Xiu's letter, they were all overjoyed. Zhu Yun put his palms in his hands and laughed and said: "General, Axiu has made a great contribution this time!"
Zhang Ping also nodded repeatedly and said: "Firstly, Axiu persuaded Wei Qing to join us in the uprising. In this way, our Zhutiandu Department has another powerful helper. Secondly, Xinye can forge weapons." , which just solves our immediate urgent needs."
Liu Jiaxiao praised: "My little brother has become more and more talented!"
Hearing that they all praised Liu Xiu, Liu Yan was in a good mood and said with a smile: "At first I asked A Xiu to go to Xinye to take refuge. Looking at it now, this step is really the right one. There are so many unexpected gains, haha !”
Zhang Ping said seriously: "General, without further ado, we have to draw up a list now and send the brothers to Xinye as soon as possible. The earlier we go, the earlier we make preparations!"
"Yeah!" Liu Yan nodded and said, "Come on, let's discuss it together and see who is suitable to choose to go to Xinye."
Liu Yan now has a lot of people under his command, more than 600 people up and down. It is not difficult to select 200 strong people among them. However, making weapons privately is of great importance. In addition to being strong in physical strength, the selected people are also very important. The most important thing is to be trustworthy.
The four of them discussed it almost all night, and it was not until dawn the next day that they finally drew up the list. Finally, Liu Yan put Zhang Ping in charge and quietly went to Xinye with the two hundred brothers to meet Liu Xiu and Deng Chen. .
Newfield.
It was Yin Lihua's birthday. Liu Xiu and Deng Chen went to the underworld for a banquet. Deng Yu, Yan Guang, Zhu You and Gai Yan also went with them.
The old man of the Yin family, Yin Lu, has never been in good health. He spends most of his time in bed. Today is his beloved daughter's birthday. Maybe because he is in a happy mood, Yin Lu seems to be in good spirits.
He rarely came to the hall to receive guests in person.
When Liu Xiu and Deng Chen entered the hall, there were already many guests inside. What surprised Liu Xiu was that Wang Jin was among them.
Seeing Wang Jin, Deng Chen frowned slightly and whispered to Liu Xiu beside him: "Axiu, the person next to Wang Jin is Wang Jing."
Liu Xiu looked around and saw a middle-aged man sitting to the left of Wang Jin. This middle-aged man looked really unflattering. He was short in stature, thick and fat, and had a lot of fat on his face. The small eyes are squeezed even smaller.
Wang Jing and Wang Jin walked together. If a stranger came to see them, no one would guess that they were father and son. Liu Xiu couldn't help but sigh in his heart, if Wang Jin was really Wang Jing's biological child, then he could only It shows that his mother must have been a great beauty who was as beautiful as a fairy.
Liu Xiu and Deng Chen walked to the end of the hall and came to Yin Lu. They both bowed and saluted, saying in unison: "Mr. Yin!"
While talking, Liu Xiu also secretly looked at the old man in front of him.
Yin Lu is not very old, only in his forties, but because he has been bedridden for many years, he has become skinny and skinny, and he looks extremely old, as if he is fifty or sixty years old.
Yin Lu would not get up when ordinary guests came to see him. When he saw that the visitor was Deng Chen, he stood up from his thick chair, walked around the table in front of him, walked to Deng Chen, and smiled at him. He waved his hands and said, "Wei Qing, you don't need to be polite."
As he spoke, he turned his eyes and looked at Liu Xiu again, asking: "Weiqing, who is this?"
Deng Chen quickly said: "Mr. Yin, this is Wei Qing's brother-in-law, Uncle Liu Xiu and Liu Wen."
"Oh, it turns out he is the younger brother of the A-Yuan family." The Yin family and the Deng family have always had a good relationship. Yin Lu also knows the situation of the Deng family relatively well. He calls Deng Chen's wife Liu Yuan with the nickname A-Yuan.
With a smile on his face, Yin Lu waved his hand to Liu Xiu and said, "Axiu, there's no need to be too polite."
"Thank you, Mr. Yin." Liu Xiu thanked him and straightened his chest. Yin Lu looked at Liu Xiu carefully. No matter who looked at him, Liu Xiu was a very handsome young man, with eyebrows and eyes, a high nose, red lips and white teeth. Extraordinary handsomeness.
Although he comes from a humble background, he is just a villager farming in the countryside. What is rare is that his skin is not rough, but also white and delicate. He does not have the vulgarity of a rough man, but has the bookish air of a scholar and a Taoist. The elegant and free spirit.
To be precise, Liu Xiu was indeed a scholar. At that time, there were not many people who could go to Imperial College. As for the aura of a Taoist, it was entirely due to the effect of gold liquid, and it was not much different from Liu Xiu himself. relation.
Looking Liu Xiu carefully from head to toe, Yin Lu nodded secretly and praised: He is a good young man! He asked casually: "Brother, how are you doing recently?"