"What happened?" The thick curtain of the carriage was lifted, and a burly middle-aged man poked his head out, and after looking around, his eyes fell on Chen Xu's face, and the two looked at each other for about a few seconds, and each other's faces were surprised.

"Is that you?"

"Is that you?"

After a short period of surprise, the burly middle-aged man laughed and lifted the curtain and got off the carriage, strode up to Chen Xu and saluted: "Chen Lidian, I said goodbye in a hurry last night, but I didn't expect to meet again today, it was really a surprise to Ran, I don't know what happened to Chen Lidian coming to my workshop?" If you need Ran's help to speak as soon as possible, you will definitely be satisfied! ”

Chen Xu: ......

It turned out that this person was the owner of the workshop, and it was no wonder that he had such a lot of confidence, hugging Gao Yao and the county lieutenant Gao Yan's thighs, and no one could touch him in Wancheng now.

"Hehe, since the owner of the Ran Fang said so frankly, Chen only said, in the middle of June this year, there was a family in Wancheng that the whole family of four was caught by Ma Teng, and finally sold it to you through Gao Yao, that family is old with me, I hope that the owner of the Ran Fang will return them to me, how much money did it cost Chen will pay you a lot of money!"

"And that matter?" Ran Feng pretended to be surprised, nodded after a little thought, and said, "My workshop did buy some homeless people and bandits without household registration as slaves through Gao Gongzi some time ago, but I don't know if there is any family that Chen Lidian said, since Chen Lidian has arrived at Ran's territory, please go in and rest together, and then arrange for someone to go down to investigate, if so, Ran will definitely return Chen Lidian!" ”

"It's good!" Chen Xu nodded, and then raised his hand, and Wang Wu's big sword was withdrawn from the middle-aged man's shoulder and inserted into the scabbard.

"Haha, Chen Lidian, Ran Mou leads the way, please" Ran Feng laughed heartily and got back into the carriage, seemingly not the slightest unhappiness about what happened just now.

"Master Ran, please!" Chen Xu bowed his hand slightly, and rode his horse behind the carriage.

This valley is not long, but it is like a gourd valley, the entrance is narrow, but the inside is very spacious, and there are traces of artificial excavation and landfill, the area is thousands of acres, more than 20 smelting furnaces are distributed in the valley, and there are more than 10 charcoal kilns on the mountainside on both sides are burning charcoal, countless people use rattan baskets to carry charcoal or copper ingots back and forth like ants, a large number of copper ingots are stacked under the grass shed, the number Chen Xu can not estimate, according to the volume and density roughly calculated, the number is afraid that there are hundreds of tons, Therefore, the strength of this workshop is also very staggering.

When passing by the outside of a smelting furnace, Chen Xu found that the worker slaves were putting pieces of irregular purple-red copper into a large furnace about two meters high, as if they were preparing for secondary smelting, and they walked through several smelting furnaces along the way and found similar scenes, all of which were secondary processing of copper blocks, not smelting copper ore.

The group finally stopped in a pine forest, there is a bluestone house, covering an area of several acres, the ground is also paved with bluestone slabs, it looks very atmospheric, there is a pond in the middle of the yard, and there is even a spring water from the canal next to it continues to pour into the pond, but the yard and the house are well repaired, but there is a thick layer of ash everywhere, and the air is also filled with a choking smell.

"Ahem!" When he dismounted, Chen Xu couldn't help but cough violently.

"Chen Lidian, the smell of copper smelting and iron smelting is quite unpleasant, Ran and the others have long been used to it, they are lazy, go into the house and sit down for a while, I will immediately arrange someone to help you inquire about the whereabouts of the family in the foot house!" After Ran Feng said a few words to the middle-aged man who came over, the middle-aged man nodded and left, Chen Xu, Wang Wu, Wang Qi, and Hu Kuan followed Ran Feng into the house, and then sat down in a room.

It doesn't matter if it's good or not, the important thing is that you can get a little fairy, and at the same time show your identity, because now drinking tea has become a hospitality habit for the upper class, and it is also a symbol of status.

"Master Ran, your smelting workshop is very large, I'm afraid that no one in the entire Nanyang County is stronger than you, right?" Chen Xu said with a smile as he drank tea.

Although he is not familiar with Ran Feng, but looking at Ran Feng's attitude today, this trip should not be in vain, and at the same time, Chen Xu still has a good impression of this kind of tycoon who controls the metallurgical workshop, if Daqin wants to be strong and develop in the future, metal smelting is one of the major problems that cannot be bypassed, only with high-quality steel, all kinds of things can be slowly developed.

"Chen Lidian praised it falsely, Ran didn't dare to claim rich, although Daqin never cut off the business of our businessmen, but he also managed harshly and paid heavy taxes, and he also had to feed so many slaves, and processing 100 catties of refined copper was only a profit of 100 yuan!" Ran Feng shook his head and said.

"Such a small profit?" Chen Xu couldn't help but be stunned for a moment.

"Yes, it's a small profit!" Ran Feng nodded.

"Fang Master Ran and Gao Yao are very familiar?" Chen Xu changed the topic, because even if you can only get a hundred yuan by processing a hundred catties of copper, the copper ingots piled up in this valley are like mountains, and they are also hundreds of thousands of dollars of income, which is an astronomical income over the years, so it is not an exaggeration to call the owner surnamed Ran Nanyang a huge rich.

"Hehe, Gao Gongzi is the second son of the county lieutenant Gao Yan, Ran wants to make a living in Wancheng, naturally he needs to be close to them, otherwise he will be anxious just to keep going back and forth every day, so the copper and iron workshops of all sizes in Nanyang County need to get along with them, if it is not his wish, it is really helpless!" Ran Feng said.

Chen Xu nodded: "What the owner of Ran Fang said is right, now the law is quite unfavorable to the merchants, I hope this situation will change in the future, there should be no difference between Shinong industry and commerce, there is no businessman to open a workshop to mine and smelt copper and iron, there is no businessman to drive goods back and forth, there is no businessman to communicate the products of the north and the south, the world will be dead." ”

Ran Feng was stunned for a long time and said in surprise: "I didn't expect that although Chen Lidian is young, he is well versed in the benefits of businessmen and the country and the people, but it's a pity...... It's a pity ......"

"What a pity?" Chen Xu asked curiously.

"Hehe, let's not talk about this matter!" Ran Feng shook his head.

Looking at Ran Feng's expression, Chen Xu can probably guess a few points, now that Daqin is heavy on agriculture and suppresses business, if you want to change the status of businessmen, I am afraid you have to change the pattern of the court, but Li Sidang was the prime minister until the death of Qin Shi Huang, it can be seen that if history cannot be changed, no matter how much this topic is discussed, it will not be of the slightest use, and the two are also intersecting for the first time, the so-called exchange is shallow and deep, and Chen Xu is too lazy to discuss these somewhat illegal topics with him.

"By the way, Master Ran, Chen doesn't know how to smelt copper, but on the way in just now, I saw that what was being refined in your workshop was not copper ore, but copper that was directly smelted, what did this mean?" Chen Xu changed the topic again.

"Chen Lidian, this question Ran can answer it for you! Ran's workshop does not directly smelt the raw ore, because it has mastered the best copper smelting technique in Daqin today, we can smelt the refined copper smelted by other workshops by adding some lead and tin and other metals to process it into copper ingots that are easier to cast, the copper ingots we process are easy to refine, the color is golden, easy to cast, and the cast weapons are tough and durable and not easy to break, and now almost half of the weapon-level copper ingots in the entire Nanyang County are from our workshop, refining millions of catties every year. Ran Feng explained with some pride.

"I see!" Only then did Chen Xu realize that this copper and iron workshop was still an advanced workshop that had mastered the core technology of bronze smelting, and it was no wonder that he could occupy such a large valley alone.

It seems that the phrase that science and technology are the primary productive forces is as effective as today's Daqin.

The two chatted while drinking tea, Chen Xu also asked a lot of experience in smelting copper and iron by the way, Ran Feng also knew everything, in addition to the core technology of bronze smelting, all the methods from mining to selecting ores to manufacturing smelting furnaces to rough refining and refining were carefully explained, so that Chen Xu benefited a lot, and finally understood the process and method of ancient copper smelting for the first time, so as long as he wanted, he could set up a smelting furnace and start firing a furnace of copper ore after he went back.

"Thank you Ranfang Master for your explanation, Xu has benefited a lot today!" Chen Xu bowed to Ran Feng.

"Chen Lidian, don't thank me, this is the easiest copper smelting method, all the workshops outside can find out, but to refine the best copper ingots, there is no best recipe, that is the secret recipe that Ran relies on to survive, Su Ran is inconvenient to tell him!" Ran Feng also bowed his hand to show modesty.

After the two chatted for about half an hour, the middle-aged man went and returned, and said after arching his hand to Ran Feng: "Owner, the family of the foot house has been found, both husband and wife are now working in the No. 15 smelting furnace, and the two sons are helping in the No. 5 charcoal kiln, and there has been no damage, and now I have taken them out of the door, ...... you see the owner."

"It's good to find it, go and take the slave and the sales contract together and hand it over to Chen Lidian, and the matter can be regarded as a successful conclusion!" Ran Feng stood up and said.

Chen Xu also stood up and arched his hand: "Thank you Ran, how many coins are needed to buy the four people that day, Xu will pay the owner together!" ”

"Haha, meeting Chen Lidian today is also fate, talking about money will be outside, Chen Lidian will go with me to see if it is confirmed, you can take people away!"

followed Ran Feng out of the door, and sure enough, he saw a dark and thin middle-aged couple outside the door, as well as two darker and thinner teenagers, their clothes were all in tatters, their hair was unkempt, and their skin was full of scars left by the fire and wounds.