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More than a dozen of the wounded were lying in a thatched hut, and two doctors from the city were busy bandaging their wounds.

"My lord, fortunately, everyone was eating in the big house next door when the explosion occurred, except for one furnace keeper who was killed when the iron-making furnace exploded, and the rest of the people were only slightly injured, but unfortunately the newly built iron-making furnace was destroyed." The steward of the ironworks said with a frightened look on his face, his eyes shining with fear, and his head was also bandaged with strips of cloth, and it was obvious that his head was also wounded.

"You didn't wait for me to come back and open the furnace? It's really dangerous, Wei Bi, you quickly take the silver two to appease the dead people's family! Shang Yu said with a solemn face.

This iron-making tanning furnace has not yet been burned to the hardness of the ground, and it needs to continue to bake, and it will take at least a few days before the furnace can be opened.

This kind of tandoor oven with a diameter of nearly a zhang was designed after careful calculation by Shang Yu, and the black gold coal dust purchased from the north was burned in the furnace for about a week, which could make the furnace hard and form a very strong refractory layer, and then the iron ore could be put into the iron smelting, and the iron smelting and the iron striking were completely different things, and the steward's eagerness to perform caused a great accident.

The damage caused by the explosion was about thousands of taels, and more than a dozen houses in the ironworks were extremely badly damaged, and several of them were burned by the fire, which made Shang Yu almost want to cry without tears.

When Wei Bi heard this, he immediately glared at the steward with his eyes, and then took the casualty list to deal with the relevant matters on his own.

"My lord, please spare the little one! The little one didn't know that this kind of thing would happen, but this kind of thing had never happened in iron smelting before, so please forgive me, right? The steward knelt on the ground with a pale face and kowtowed to Shang Yu and said.

Shang Yu shook his head and said in a deep voice: "Steward Liu, iron ore is not pure iron, and the workshop has suffered great losses due to your negligence. If I spare you, how can I be worthy of the families of the dead and the dozen or so wounded? ”

This Liu steward is the best person among the blacksmiths in the city, he has a good weapon, and many parts of the ballista were born in his hands, Shang Yu is very embarrassed at this time, it is difficult to find good blacksmiths in Lai'an County, and other craftsmen are also extremely short, so Shang Yu has to do many things himself.

If Steward Liu is punished, the production progress of the ballista will be affected, but if he is not punished, I am afraid that everyone will not be convinced.

"My lord, I am willing to donate my savings over the years to compensate the craftsmen in the workshop, and then go to Yongchuan County to invite the blacksmiths there for you, our Liu family has many blacksmiths in the south, and the villain is willing to make a contribution!" I just ask you to give me this opportunity. Steward Liu's eyes flashed with fear and pleaded with Shang Yu.

Shang Yu pondered for a long time after hearing this, and thought: "In this way, you can send people to secretly recruit craftsmen from Yongchuan and Quanzhou, and you don't have to be limited to blacksmiths, if you can recruit other craftsmen too, you can just implement my method of establishing a new city." ”

"And at the same time, I also ordered someone to purchase some medicines, I can also open a furnace for my mother-in-law to refine medicine, there are many craftsmen in Yongchuan and Quanzhou, and some people will not attract much attention, but in terms of candidates, I should go back to the city to discuss with General Hu, so that the people who go on this trip can return safely."

"Steward Liu, you can't be blamed for this matter, it's all to blame for the fact that the official didn't explain it in advance, so there will be this disaster! In this disaster, the county government will issue two pieces of silver to compensate the craftsmen, but the official will also punish your crimes as usual, and a judgment will be made in the lobby, and then he will give you the opportunity to make meritorious service and atone for your sins. Shang Yu said slowly.

Although he wanted to give Liu a chance, he couldn't help but give everyone an explanation, and the people of the whole city would know later that there was a local disaster, which could not be tolerated and concealed, and the matter should always be dealt with in the county office.

After hearing Shang Yu's words, Steward Liu understood what Shang Yu meant, and immediately kowtowed and said, "Thank you, my lord, for giving me the opportunity, the villain will definitely invite the best craftsmen to you." ”

These more than a dozen blacksmiths are now injured, and the ironmaking workshop is already short of craftsmen, so it can only be stopped, and these people can only continue to work after their bodies recover, and during this time, it depends on whether Steward Liu can gather the craftsmen to Lai'an County as soon as possible.

Shang Yu sighed and said, "I have more important things to do back to the city, so you can come back with me now." ”

After returning to Lai'an County, Shang Yu ordered Liu Guan to rest in the wing room in advance, and he immediately sent a government officer to the Chengdong school to invite General Hu Dahai, at this time to select capable soldiers to Yongchuan and Quanzhou, this Hu Dahai is very familiar with the Jiangnan waterway, and his soldiers can go south along the waterway to complete what he needs to do, which is much more time-saving and labor-saving than the land route.

After the official went out, Shang Yu began to think about the defects of the iron-making tandoor, and he knew very well that if the strength of the tandoor was not enough, it was not that he could not make iron while letting the tandoor strengthen it, but Steward Liu did not know how to put Wujin coal powder into the furnace, which caused the pressure in the furnace to be uneven with the flame, and the explosion occurred.

"If I had ordered someone to make a device for evenly putting Ugin pulverized coal, and strictly controlled the ground, I should have been able to avoid such a thing! It's all because I didn't think it through, and that's why I killed someone. Shang Yu once again took the responsibility on himself, thinking with some self-reproach.

At this moment, there was a sudden sound of drumming outside, and a later official suddenly came to the back hall to report: "Lord County, there is a beggar outside the county government who wants to see you, and we coaxed him many times and he didn't leave, only saying that he used to be an old acquaintance with you, and now he is so bold that he has beaten the drum of injustice, may I ask my lord, do we need to put him in prison?" ”

After hearing this, Shang Yu asked a little strangely, "Beggar! How do I recognize the beggar, did the man say his name? ”

The officer's face was a little strange, he didn't expect Shang Yu to be really interested in a beggar, so he said: "He said that his surname is Zhao, his name is Zhao Qing, if you hear his name, you can think of who he will be." ”

After hearing the words of the servant, Shang Yu immediately stood up and said in surprise: "Zhao Qing! Is it him? I immediately went up to the lobby to meet him, and ordered me to go down and ascend to the hall. ”

Since the other party is beating the drum and crying out for grievances, no matter what the reason is, he will be promoted to meet each other as a county magistrate, no matter what the purpose of the other party is.

"Yes! My lord. The servant immediately bowed down and exited the room.

Shang Yu straightened out his official uniform and muttered, "Didn't General Zhao Qing defect to Zhang Shicheng?" How did he come to my territory disguised as a beggar? Could it be that there is another war in Zhang Shicheng's place? Strange, I'll meet him later and ask him again. ”

"Wei ...... Wu ......"

Above the lobby, in the cheers of the third class of officials, Shang Yu walked out of the back hall slowly, and looked down the hall with his eyes, only to see a beggar in extremely dirty clothes, and looking at his figure, he looked a little rickety, where is there still the appearance of the general he saw half a year ago?

Shang Yu came to the table and slowly sat down, looked at the man standing in the hall, and thought to himself, "This thin person is the original General Zhao?" How did he get to such a point? ”

"Who's in the hall? Why are you beating the drum? Shang Yu asked loudly.

"Shang Yu, I didn't expect it to be you. I, Zhao Qing, was killed by Zhang Shicheng's army, and almost died, but fortunately, my own soldiers fought to protect me out of the city, so I changed my clothes and fled to Chuzhou alone, and I was seriously ill on the way! I didn't expect you to be a county magistrate here! The beggar in the hall said in a trembling and hoarse voice.

"Are you really General Zhao Qing? Someone came, helped him to the back hall, and the official had something to ask him. Shang Yu didn't decide that this beggar was really Zhao Qing until this moment, although the other party's eyes were dirty and his clothes were tattered, but he still remembered the bright eyes like stars.

Zhao Qing was originally a fierce general, but now he will end up in such a situation, there must be a hidden situation behind it, and the officials stopped him because they couldn't believe that a county and county would actually recognize such a beggar, since it was sure that it was indeed Zhao Qing, Shang Yu immediately ordered someone to send him to the back hall.

In the back hall, Zhao Qing said with tears in his eyes: "At the beginning, I tried my best to escort Zhang Shicheng out of the city, but I didn't expect that after I arrived in Tongzhou, his generals would frame him in every possible way. ”

"Fortunately, I got the news first, so I escaped, but hundreds of my own soldiers died to protect me." Speaking of this, the tears on Zhao Qing's face couldn't stop flowing downward.

"General Zhao, since you have arrived in Lai'an County, you are completely safe! After a period of recuperation with me, how about I recommend you to serve under the account of Deputy Marshal Zuo? Shang Yu heard Zhao Qing talk about what happened, and couldn't help but feel sympathy.

Zhao Qing was Zhang Shicheng's original ally, and he had a certain influence in the army, and this threatened Zhang Shicheng's position, and Zhang Shicheng relieved Zhao Qing of his military power, but appointed a supervision envoy to take charge of the responsibility of supervising the generals.

In this way, Zhao Qing is a righteous person by nature, and when he sees the officers pocketing the people's property, he will list the charges and punish them, and he will offend many generals in one and second place, but Zhang Shicheng just ignores them, which makes Zhao Qing very angry, and can only arrest some low-level officers to punish them, but those generals who are in charge of military power cannot deal with them.

After escorting Zhang Shicheng out of Gaoyou and arriving in Tongzhou, the generals carried countless wealth, but the army lacked food and grass and other things, but kept asking for it from the people, which made Zhao Qing very unsightly, so he told Zhang Shicheng about it, but Zhang Shicheng blamed him for many things, plus the generals said in front of Zhang Shicheng that he disturbed the army's heart, Zhang Shicheng wanted to ask him for his guilt after hearing it, he fled from Tongzhou in a hurry, and he was seriously ill along the way, begging alone before coming to Chuzhou, but his body was full of illness.

"Little brother Shang Yu, Zhao Qing thank you for your kindness! It's just that Zhao Qing doesn't want to lead the army on the march for the time being, and he just wants to be an ordinary civilian! Zhao Qing remembered what he had experienced in Zhang Shicheng's army, so he politely declined Shang Yudi's kindness.

After coming to the territory of Chuzhou, he heard the name of Shang Yu, and then after inquiry, he learned that the county was a person from Quanzhou, so he came to the county government with the idea of trying it, and now he really saw Shang Yu, he couldn't help but sigh about his life experience, and he no longer wanted to enter the army for the time being, not to mention that his body was extremely weak, and he did not have the slightest confidence in whether he could recover.

Seeing that Zhao Qing was so depressed, Shang Yu sighed in his heart and thought: "I didn't expect that this general who once shocked Quanzhou and ten thousand households, but now he is so harmed by Zhang Shicheng, that Zhang Shicheng is famous all over the world and is known as a righteous duke, but I didn't expect to treat General Zhao like this, this person should be really narrow-minded!" ”

His opinion of Zhang Shicheng and his person immediately changed fundamentally, and after thinking for a few breaths in his heart, he said: "General Zhao, for the time being, I will recuperate in my county government for a period of time, and if you are willing to do it when your health is better, I would like to arrange for you to do an important thing." ”

"What's the matter? What is the use of me Zhao Qing now? Zhao Qing couldn't help asking, he was a little puzzled by Shang Yudi's words.

"I'll recruit some young soldiers tomorrow, I want you to train them in a few days, judging from your many years of experience in leading soldiers, it shouldn't be a problem! Do you think it's okay? Shang Yu had already figured out how to arrange Zhao Qing.

Zhao Qing is only sick now, but it is impossible to lose his knowledge in the army, if he trains those "secret soldiers" who will be recruited, it will inevitably have excellent results, Shang Yu is determined to train the soldiers with ballistas and shockers into soldiers with strong combat ability, if the necessary training is carried out by Zhao Qing, first, the secrecy will be strengthened, and the effect will be better than that handed over to Hu Dahai.

Shang Yu had seen the military appearance of those soldiers under Zhao Qing, which was considered an iron army, but now it was controlled by Zhang Shicheng.

"If it's such a trivial matter, Zhao Qing can do it, but I want to trouble you to take it in with me!" After wiping the tears on his face, Zhao Qing said with a little gratitude.

"You're welcome, the soldiers and horses you brought with you in Quanzhou were clean, Shang Yu was very envious at the beginning! If you train those young soldiers this time, you will be a hundred times stronger than me. Shang Yu's heart was much more relaxed, he was responsible for teaching those teenagers to be familiar with and master the contact between the ballista and the future co-shocker, and Zhao Qing could be responsible for the marching training, so that Shang Yu would be much more relaxed.

At this moment, a report suddenly came from outside the door: "My lord, General Hu has been invited to the living room, do you want to see him now?" ”

After hearing this, Shang Yu immediately confessed to Zhao Qing and said, "General Zhao, I will go to the living room to see the general stationed in the city immediately, and we will talk when we come back later!" ”

After hearing this, Zhao Qing nodded and said, "It's okay!" Go first, and I'll wait here. ”

After hearing this, Shang Yu glanced at Zhao Qing before he realized that something was wrong, and immediately said to the official outside the door: "This official will go to see General Hu immediately, you take this Mr. Zhao to wash and change clothes and arrange for him to go to the guest room, don't be lazy!" ”

The local officials outside immediately agreed, and Shang Yu arched his hand to Zhao Qing and said, "General Zhao, Shang Yu will go to do things first and return later." With that, he walked outside.

Zhao Qing also gave it away, watching Shang Yu leave, but he also sighed a little in his heart: "At the beginning, I became a child in a county, but I became a beggar from a general of ten thousand households, the world is unpredictable!" ”

At this time, the official walked up to him and said, "This gentleman, you are lucky to know our Lord Shang!" Let's go, let the little one wash and change for you. "Since he knew that it was Shang Yudi's old acquaintance, of course this official refused to snub Zhao Qing.

"There's a big brother Lao!" Zhao Qing immediately came back to his senses and said.