A holiday in August.

Lu Yuan was sleeping soundly, and he dreamed that he was back in the twenty-first century, lying on the beach, enjoying the warm sun and sea breeze.

Suddenly, the whole ground shook, and he stood up in a panic, only to see the people on the beach scattering and fleeing, and the waves making huge waves, and a unicorn monster got up from the middle of the sea and walked towards him.

"Brother!" The monster roared loudly.

Lu Yuan was immediately awakened, and when he opened his eyes, Lu Yutong next to him was shaking himself vigorously, and his mouth kept shouting: "Brother, get up quickly!" ”

Lu Yuan stretched out his hand and flicked it on the forehead of the culprit, and said angrily: "Today is the Mu holiday, can't you let me take a break?" ”

"No, you promised to take us to the Engineer Academy today." The little girl was full of words.

Lu Yuan scratched his forehead, and suddenly remembered that he had indeed casually promised Lu Yutong a few days ago to take her and her two friends to the Engineer Academy to have a look.

Alas, a child's request really can't be agreed to casually, Lu Yuan thought to himself.

He reluctantly got up, washed his mouth and face, and changed his clothes under the supervision of Lu Yutong.

During the meal, Lu Yutong ran out of the door, saying that he was going to pick up Zhao Qing and them. Lu Yuan took the opportunity to ask Jin'er beside him, "Are they all up, concubines?" ”

"Not yet, today His Highness and Miss Yutong are the earliest." Jin'er smiled slightly, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

Lu Yuan stroked his forehead, no wonder it was so dark.

Lu Yutong, this little guy, usually looks sleepy-eyed when he gets up in the morning, and when it comes to Mu Holiday, even the Sandman is not her opponent, and he can't wait to use one day as two days, Lu Yuan has to admire her strong playfulness.

As soon as he finished eating, a knocking sound sounded, and Lu Yutong took Zhao Qing and Liao Jing into the side hall, urging: "Brother, hurry up, hurry up, we are all ready!" ”

"Brother Lu is good." Zhao Qing greeted sweetly.

Liao Jing, who was about to shout "Your Highness", hurriedly changed his words and followed: "Lu ...... Brother Lu is good. ”

"Have you had breakfast?" Lu Yuan nodded and said gently.

"I've got something to eat, we'll eat it later." Liao Jing whispered, took out a quick pastry, and asked, "Do you want to eat it?" ”

"No need." Lu Yuan quickly finished drinking a bowl of red date soup, stood up and said, "Okay, let's go." ”

"Let's go!" Lu Yutong said excitedly.

"Yay!" Zhao Qing shouted.

The four of them walked out of the side hall and headed out the door.

Along the way, Zhao Qing and Lu Yutong chattered non-stop, while Liao Jing was much quieter and showed good upbringing.

Everyone walked to a gate, which was originally the boundary gate between the imperial city and the palace city, and now it has become the outer gate of the Engineer Academy, because the Engineer Academy belongs to the most secret place in the Wu Kingdom, and the gate is very tightly guarded.

Entering the Engineer Courtyard, the more you go inside, the tighter the security becomes, and there are soldiers standing guard everywhere, Lu Yuan suddenly saw a figure flashing in the distance, and hurriedly spoke: "Lu Yuan Envoy." ”

Lu Yun'er heard the voice, looked back, and walked over quickly.

"Your Highness." She saluted.

"Today is a Mu holiday, why don't you rest more at home." Lu Yuanwen said that Lu Yun'er is an exemplary employee, and he is really reluctant to say a heavy word.

"I don't have anything to do at home, so I'll come and have a look." Lu Yun'er whispered.

Lu Yuan thought for a while and said, "Yutong, you guys go to play with Uncle Bai, pay attention to safety." ”

"Oh." The little girl nodded, albeit with some reluctance.

"Shiraishi, take care of them." Lu Yuan instructed the captain of the guard.

"Your Highness, rest assured."

After the three little girls followed Baishi away, Lu Yuan and Lu Yun'er went to the workshop area together.

Along the way, you can see that there are many officials of the Engineer Academy who work overtime like Lu Yun'er, which makes Lu Yuan very pleased, and decides to add an overtime pay system after he goes back.

The largest working area in the Engineer Courtyard is called the Fang District, which is a little larger than the main hall of the Wende Hall in Lu Yuan, and many craftsmen process all kinds of wood in the Fang District, and they cooperate with each other very tacitly, and there is a faint feeling of production line.

They made a cloud crossbow, and although Lu Yuan had successfully developed artillery, the production speed of the cannon was too slow, and the cloud crossbow was still the main long-range weapon.

The scale of the Engineer Academy is also constantly expanding, from more than 800 people at the beginning, to several thousand, and many officials have been assigned to the Engineer Academy in this imperial examination.

Today, Lu Yuan has greatly improved the status of craftsmen, and he believes that in time, these craftsmen will be able to use their wisdom to promote the progress of productive forces, and thus promote the strength of the country.

After inspecting the workshop area for a long time, Lu Yuan went to Lu Yun'er's public house and asked, "Envoy Lu, how has the development of the Divine Fire Thunder been done recently?" ”

Lu Yun'er, who was making tea for Lu Yuan, stopped his movements and said with some guilt: "It's still not good, no matter how thin the iron ball design is, it can only cause damage to people within two meters, and the power is not great." ”

Having seen the power of artillery, her vision is very different.

"It's not your fault, it's that the power of gunpowder is not enough."

The gunpowder formula is even more difficult to match than Lu Yuan imagined, and he has also been to the gunpowder concept several times, and those Taoist priests are not lazy, and even can be called fanatical in research, but the progress is still slow.

"Your Majesty, I have a senior brother, I want him to come over and help me, is that okay?" Lu Yun'er opened his mouth coldly.

"Senior brother? Why haven't I heard you mention it? Lu Yuan was a little surprised.

Lu Yun'er handed over the brewed tea: "I don't have a good relationship with him." ”

"Can you tell me about it?" Lu Yuan put the tea aside.

Lu Yun'er looked out the window and said leisurely: "After grandpa died, my senior brother wanted me to tell him the manufacturing method of the cloud crossbow and cloud car, but grandpa explained before he died that the manufacturing method of these two things cannot be passed on. ”

"Can't be passed on?" Lu Yuan was taken aback.

Lu Yun'er smiled: "If it is your order, I can teach it to others, and I believe that grandpa will also agree." ”

"Haha, then thank you Lu Yuan for your trust." Lu Yuan said with a smile.

Lu Yun'er continued: "Because of this incident, he has always been dissatisfied with me, and later he served in the Zhou State, and the chain crossbow of the Zhou State was developed by him. ”

It was the first time Lu Yuan had heard of a chain crossbow, so it seemed that the crossbow alone really couldn't stop the Khitans.

"I've been writing to him since I settled down in Hui'an Mansion, but he hasn't replied to me, so I haven't contacted him again."

"Then you contact him now, is he willing to come and help you?" Lu Yuan wondered.

"Yes, in fact, he took the initiative to contact me a few months ago and asked me if I was still working for you and the official position I currently held, and I wrote to him to tell him the truth. A few days ago, I received another letter from him, and he said he was willing to come and help me. ”

Lu Yuan bowed slightly, it seems that Lu Yun'er's senior brother saw that Zhou Guo was weak, so he wanted to come to Wu Guo to serve, such a talent Lu Yuan naturally would not refuse, but he would not be as reused as Lu Yun'er.

"Okay, you let him come, what's his name?"

"Zhou Hai."

Lu Yuan nodded and wrote down the name.

After chatting with Lu Yun'er for a while, he went to the Gunpowder Temple and the Iron Smelting Department to inspect again.

Near noon, he found three little girls near the lake shore in the Engineer Courtyard, and took them back to the Heart Cultivation Palace, and after dinner, Lu Yutong and the three of them went out of the palace and went to Liao Jing's house to play.

Liao House.

At the end of the day, Lu Yutong and Zhao Qing said goodbye and went home, Liao Jing instructed his subordinates to clean up the room, and he ran to the desk to read a book.

She walked all the way to the side hall and sat down at the dining table.

The Liao family has a total of five people, the head of the family Liao Shan sits on the top, and the two stepmothers of Liao Jing sit on the left and right.

Liao Jing's biological mother died when she was very young.

She sat next to Erniang, and her two-year-old brother Liao Yong sat next to Sanniang.

After everyone sat down, Liao Shan said "eat", and the family of five ate silently, Sanniang was responsible for feeding Liao Yong, and Erniang would often give Liao Jing vegetables.

Liao Shan's face was flushed, his mood looked excellent, and after eating a few bites of food, he said loudly: "Wine!" ”

Immediately, someone brought a bottle of wine, and Erniang filled the bottle for him, and asked with a smile: "Master, did anything good happen today?" ”

"Do you remember Han Hee-jae?" Liao Shan's tone was full of pride.

Liao Jing was taken aback, the name Han Xizai is taboo at home, and it must not be said in front of Liao Shan. She saw with her own eyes that once Erniang accidentally mentioned a mouthful, and was beaten by her father in the yard.

Erniang recalled the past, the expression on her face froze, and she didn't dare to speak again.

However, Liao Jing was much bolder and asked, "Father, what's wrong with Han Xizai?" ”

"I suddenly received a letter from him yesterday, and he wanted me to recommend him as an official in our Wu country."

Liao Jing was a little confused for a while, is this kind of thing so worth being happy about?

Fortunately, Liao Shan drank a few glasses of wine and said it himself.

"Hmph, I think that Han Xizai's father Han Guangsi was involved in the rebellion of the prince Yan of Pinglu Jiedu and was killed by the imperial court, Han Xizai had to flee from the Later Tang Dynasty, he planned to cross the Huai River through Zhengyang and enter Wuyue, but it was with my full help that he successfully escaped."

Speaking of this, Liao Shan motioned to Erniang to pour him wine.

After Erniang poured it full, he drank it all in one gulp and continued:

"I helped him so much, and later when I fled to the Tang Kingdom to find him for an official, he said 'public and private separation, it is inconvenient to help each other', which is simply unreasonable, and now he finally has time to beg me."

"Father, if that's the case, why do you want to help him?" Liao Jing was puzzled.

Liao Shan sneered: "He asked me to be a small master bookkeeper in Yixian County, Shezhou, and now I also recommend him to be a master bookkeeper, so as to solve the hatred in my heart." ”

Sanniang whispered: "Master, Han Xizai has such a big reputation, I'm afraid that the king will reuse him." ”

Liao Shan laughed: "You don't understand this, our lord is not a fool like Li Jing, he values people like me the most." Let's talk about the famous Zhong Mo, Zhang Shangshu personally recommended it, and the king didn't let him go to Mingzhou to be the county magistrate, Han Xizai, a person who sells his reputation and reputation, is also suitable to be a master book. ”

Liao Jing ate silently, feeling that her father was too stingy, she was angry with Lu Yutong and Zhao Qing many times, and she didn't forgive them.

That night, Liao Shan sent a letter back to Han Xizai, his tone was very enthusiastic, and he promised to promote him as an official in Wu State. A few days later, the letter was delivered to Jinling City.