Yunzhong County, Zhaoguo blast furnace ironworks.

Dozens of huge blast furnaces stood in a huge valley at the foot of the mountain, billowing black smoke constantly emitting into the sky, making the whole sky dark and hazy.

In the ironworks, thousands of workers toiled under the shouts of the overseers, the clanging sound resounded through the valley, and the air was filled with the heavy smell of sweat and the pungent smell of burning.

A carriage creaked towards the valley under the protection of dozens of guards, and came to the gate of the valley.

A soldier of the Zhao State stretched out from the watchtower above the walled gate and shouted: "Who is coming, show the token!" ”

The horseman who drove the car lifted the hat covering his face, and scolded the soldiers above: "Blind your dog eyes, I am the second steward of Guo Mansion, and a noble person is here today, so don't open the gate quickly!" ”

There was a little silence on the watchtower, and then the face of a general Zhao Guobai poked out, and his tone became much softer when he spoke: "Second steward, you also know the requirements, if you don't show the token, you will be asked by military law!" ”

"Military law?" The second steward took a heavy sip: "You are a killer, you don't take less benefits on weekdays, but now you know military law?" Come, let me show you what my Dharma is! ”

The second steward took out a token from his bosom, raised his hand and smashed it directly into the face of the hundred generals on the watchtower.

Bai took over the token with a copyist, and found that there was a small gold bead on the token.

General Zhao Junbai weighed the weight of the gold beads, nodded with great satisfaction, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and gave an order without hesitation: "Come on, and open the door!" ”

The heavy doors of the ironworks creaked open.

General Zhao Guobai leaned out from the watchtower again, threw the token back into the steward's hand, and said in a loud voice: "The old rule, the carriage can enter, but the guards cannot enter!" ”

The second steward scolded with a smile: "I know! ”

The carriage creaked into the ironworks and came to a halt in an open field.

Bai Jiang walked down from the watchtower, and was about to speak with a hippie smile, but was waved away by the second steward, like a fly: "Go, go, the noble man is here, don't pollute the eyes of the nobleman by killing him." ”

"Noble?" The hundred generals shrugged their shoulders, and a meaningless expression appeared on his face: "Second steward, you are a little sorry for what you said, what kind of noble person can there be in this barren mountains and mountains?" ”

After all, the general walked away with great interest, and ordered the soldiers in the other ironworks not to disturb him.

The curtain of the carriage was lifted, and a nobleman, about forty years of age, who looked quite shrewd, stepped down and looked at the blast furnace in front of him, obviously interested.

"I didn't expect this to be the case with this famous ironworks."

The second steward smiled at the noble man and said, "The master of the good sect has learned that the iron-making output here has now reached forty percent of the entire Zhao Kingdom, and it is still increasing rapidly every year. ”

"Forty percent." The aristocratic man nodded slowly, and said, "I heard a few years ago that the king was going to build an ironworks, and at that time I thought it was just a whim of the king. I didn't expect that in the past few years, the king has really made this ironworks to such a huge scale. If this continues for a few more years, the Guo family's business will not be able to compete with this ironworks at all. ”

At this time, a gloomy voice suddenly sounded: "Dr. Guo Kai actually came here in person, it is really a rare guest, a rare guest." ”

The aristocratic man who was called Guo Kai subconsciously turned his head to look, and happened to see a man in a black robe standing not far away surrounded by several soldiers looking at him, with a hint of cold light in his small eyes, without any expression on his face, exuding a smell of being unapproachable.

Guo Kai smiled slightly, and bowed to the black-robed man: "Guo Kai has seen Brother Mu Mo, and I heard that Brother Mu Mo is quite important after joining the Supervision Guard, but I want to congratulate Brother Shi." ”

This Mimo was none other than one of the dozen adopted sons of the eunuch Ling Mixian of the Zhao State, who was responsible for overseeing the ironworks and the tens of thousands of slaves and craftsmen in the factory.

It can be said that Mumo is the actual person at the helm of this ironworks.

Regarding Guo Kai's smile and the closeness revealed in his words, Mu Mo just snorted coldly and turned around: "This is not the place to talk, come with me." ”

After about a quarter of an hour, he walked with Guo Kai and gradually left the blast furnaces and factories and entered a valley path.

The trail was quite secretive, and after a certain bend, a small and quiet valley suddenly appeared in front of Guo Kai.

This valley is not very large, only about the size of two courtyard houses, and there is a small building in the valley that looks quite delicate and elegant, and there are wells and trees next to the building, and there are pavilions next to the trees, and there are tables and chairs in the pavilions.

Miao Mo and Guo Kai sat down in the pavilion as the host and guest, and two more bearded girls appeared, respectfully serving all kinds of food and even wine.

Guo Kai glanced at Hu Nu, who was serving tea and wine for the two of them, especially at Hu Nu's huge buttocks, showing an expression on his face that all men understand, and couldn't help but praise: "I didn't expect Brother Miao to have such a good place to go, no wonder I haven't returned here for the past few years." ”

Miao Mo's cold face didn't have a bit of a living breath until this moment, and after waving away everyone next to him, he said to Guo Kai: "As the head of the Guo family, you must not easily leave Handan to come here, just say anything directly." ”

Guo Kai nodded and said, "This time I came, I really have something to ask for my brother." Recently, the Guo family's business is okay, and they have received a lot of orders, but the number of blacksmiths is a little insufficient, I heard that there are many craftsmen here in the world, and a group of Qin captives have arrived recently, I don't know if the brother can transfer some craftsmen with me? ”

Miao Mo glanced at Guo Kai deeply, and some strange expression flashed in his eyes: "Guo Kai, don't you know that those craftsmen came to improve the steelmaking technique?" What kind of craftsmen, in fact, you just want to get the steel frying technology, right? This cannot be done. ”

When Mu Mo spoke, he was not polite at all, completely ignoring that the person sitting in front of him was the doctor of Zhao State, the head of the Guo family, the largest ironware merchant in Zhao State.

Guo Kai looked at Mi Mo with a smile on his face, and there was no trace of anger in his tone: "Brother Mi Shi, you and I have cooperated so many times, can't we be accommodating?" I am willing to pay 100 Yi gold, I just need to provide a little convenience from Brother Mushi. ”

However, Mu Mo still ruthlessly refused Guo Kai: "The king specially ordered that the death of any craftsman must be registered, Mo said that there are one hundred and ten craftsmen, even one craftsman is impossible." ”

The smile on Guo Kai's face slowly disappeared, and he sighed: "Isn't Brother Mu Shi unwilling to take care of it at all?" ”

Mi Mo shook his head and said, "It's not that I can't take care of my feelings, otherwise the Ru Guo family wouldn't have secretly obtained the secret recipe in the ironworks." With these secret recipes, the Ru Guo family must have made a lot of profits over the years, right? I also heard that you were secretly trading with the Huns in the north, exchanging iron tools for cattle, sheep, livestock, and slaves from the Huns. ”

Speaking of this, the expression on Mu Mo's face became even colder: "You must not know, in fact, the guards have already noticed your movements, but they have all been intercepted by me." Thou shalt not think about it, what would it be better if the king knew about it? ”

Guo Kai was taken aback after hearing this, and subconsciously said: "This is impossible, this matter is only secretly handled by a few of my retainers and dead soldiers, and it is absolutely impossible for others to detect it!" ”

"Absolutely impossible?" A mocking look appeared on Miao Mo's face: "Guo Kai, for the Inspector Wei, there is no secret in the Zhao Kingdom. ”

Guo Kai was silent for a moment, and finally said with a blushing face: "In order to thank the world brother for taking care of him, from now on, the profit from the transaction with the Xiongnu will be given to the world brother!" ”

Miao Mo shook his head and stretched out a palm: "Fifty percent." ”

"It can't be!" Guo Kai's whole face turned red, and he said angrily: "At most, thirty percent!" ”

Miao Mo said unhurriedly: "Forty percent." ”

Guo Kai was entangled for a long time, gritted his teeth and said: "Brother Shi, Sancheng really can't be more, unless you can let the side of the cavalry army loosen up, otherwise it will be difficult for the younger brother to obey." ”

Miao Mo looked at Guo Kai quietly for a while, and finally nodded slowly: "Okay, three percent will be three percent." ”

There was silence in the pavilion for a while, and both of them had their own thoughts, and they both lost the desire to speak.

After a long while, Guo Kai finally cleaned up his mood and said to Miao Mo: "Brother Shi, the craftsman thing you just talked about, can you really help the younger brother?" ”

Miao Mo's face showed an impatient look: "Guo Kai, how can you be such a mother-in-law, I can't say no, the transaction is a transaction, but I don't want to lose my head!" ”

Guo Kai hesitated for a moment, and finally gritted his teeth and took out a small token from his hand and put it in front of Miao Mo: "Brother Shi, please look at this thing." ”

Miao Mo looked at it fixedly, and then a surprised look appeared on his face: "This is ......"

Guo Kai took back the token and pointed in the direction of Handan: "That token, I guess Brother Shi knows it, right?" ”

Miao Mo nodded, and suddenly sneered again: "What, you want to use that person's power to suppress me?" Don't forget that my father is still a eunuch, and he is still in charge of the guards, and he is on a par with that one in terms of status and power! ”

Guo Kaifu smiled and said: "Brother Shi misunderstood, how dare the younger brother threaten Brother Shi?" But the younger brother still wants to ask the world brother to hear a few words, although Miao Qing is very trusted by the king, but after all, he is old, and he can't tell when he will pass away. And that one is much younger than Miao Xian, and at the same time, he is also very trusted by the king, if the world brother angers that one, when Miao Qing leaves, it will be the day of the world brother's great disaster! ”

Miao Mo's face changed slightly, and he was silent.

Guo Kai didn't continue to speak, just sat there drinking and eating, waiting for Miao Mo's reply.

After a long time, Miao Mo slowly spoke: "It has only been two months since the Mo craftsmen arrived here, and the method of steelmaking is still being improved, and there is no conclusion yet. After the steelmaking method is completed, I will definitely report to Handan, and then you can come first, and naturally a Mo craftsman will die violently. ”

Guo Kai was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately stood up, and arched his hand to Miao Mo and said, "Thank you, brother!" ”

Half an hour later, Guo Kai's carriage slowly drove away from the ironworks in the valley.

Unexpectedly, Guo Kai was not the only one in the carriage, there was another mysterious person in black clothes and black robes who couldn't see his face clearly.

Guo Kai smiled at the mysterious man and said, "Now that you know where the Zhao State Factory is located, you don't know how Daqin should deal with it?" ”

The mysterious man shook his head slowly, and said in a deep voice: "I will report this matter to Xianyang, as for how to deal with this iron-making factory, it is a matter for the king and Hou." ”

Guo Kai nodded, and asked again: "I have completed my mission, should my previous promise be fulfilled?" ”

The mysterious man nodded and said, "You can let people go to Xianyang, as long as you show the code, someone will naturally contact you." ”

Guo Kai put his mind at ease, he didn't know what he remembered, and the whole person suddenly laughed.

He was smiling very happily.