Overall, winter is a very boring season.

In the hearts of most people, in addition to hiding at home to avoid the cold wind and cursing this thief for being extraordinarily cold this winter, entertainment activities are quite limited during this time.

Adult couples can only snap in bed every day in the hope of having multiple children in the coming year, and the children can only run around the room, occasionally taking advantage of the adults' inattention to run out for a snowball fight and make a snowflake, and then the parents carry a stick while teaching while drooping their heads back to their homes, and then naturally there is the snapping sound of the stick falling on the buttocks and the cursing of the parents' doubles.

Even with the occasional joy as a buffer, I have to admit that boredom is still the main theme of this season.

When winter slowly fades and spring arrives, the whole land slowly regains its vitality.

In this piece of spring, Zhao Dan's car came to the workshop area of Zhao State.

It is worth mentioning that this time Zhao Dan accompanied Zhao Dan to a special visitor, that is, Li Mu, the envoy of the northern economy of Zhao State.

Li Mu arrived in Handan just after the beginning of spring, which means that he actually set off from Shuofang County a month in advance.

Rushing in winter is obviously not a very easy task, which can be seen from Li Mu's look that he still looks a little tired even though he has been resting for two days.

Li Mu did not leave his post without permission, but was specially recalled by Zhao Dan.

The reason why Zhao Dan wanted to summon Li Mu back was also very simple, that is, through the unremitting efforts of the craftsmen of Zhao State, the second-generation equipment with armored cavalry was finally released.

As the most proficient and outstanding general in the use of armored cavalry on the entire continent at present, Zhao Dan felt that it was actually necessary to let Li Mu see this armored cavalry.

This time, the person responsible for demonstrating the power of armored cavalry for Zhao Dan and Li Mu on the spot was the chief master of Zhao State.

Since he was kidnapped, he has stayed in Handan City and received quite strict protection, the treatment can be said to be quite good, and the whole person's complexion looks quite good.

After living in Zhao Guo for a while, Yu Zhen has obviously become accustomed to life here, and has made friends with many of them, which can be seen from the fact that he is constantly talking and laughing with several Zhao Guo masters around him.

An armored cavalry armor stood in front of Zhao Dan and the others, and what made Zhao Dan a little speechless was that Yu Zhen and several Zhao masters were muttering around the armored cavalry armor, and from time to time they also stretched out their hands to make a gesture on it, touching and knocking, looking like they couldn't stop.

Zhao Dan coughed twice speechlessly, which made the belly Zhen and the others come back to their senses and hurriedly apologize to Zhao Dan.

Zhao Dan waved his hand and said, "Okay, okay, let's talk to the widow about the new equipment of this armored cavalry." ”

As soon as he said this, he suddenly came to his senses and began to introduce himself to Zhao Dan with great interest.

According to the introduction of Belly Zhen, after he went to the ironmaking factory in the north of Zhao Kingdom, he did get a lot of inspiration from the blast furnace ironmaking, frying steel, and 100 steelmaking.

After returning to Handan, after several months of thinking and practice, he gained a lot of valuable experience and knowledge, and combined with some experiences and tricks handed down by the Mo family, he improved it, so that the protection of the full set of armor of the armored cavalry was once again improved.

Zhao Dan nodded and said, "How much has it improved?" ”

The belly really eyebrows danced and stretched out three fingers and shook them in front of Zhao Dan.

Zhao Dan was immediately overjoyed: "Tripled? ”

The belly was really flustered for a moment, and then glanced at Zhao Dan with the eyes of an idiot: "Sancheng!" ”

Zhao Dan was also stunned, and then he was relieved.

This is not a modern society, how can it be so simple to casually triple your defense?

Theoretically, this is a technique that should only appear after hundreds of years, and the fact that the ancients were able to understand this technique in such a short period of time and increase the defense by three percent is actually a genius.

As soon as he thought of this, Zhao Dan felt that he could get his hands on the belly, and this was indeed a treasure.

I wanted to ask how the belly really improved, but seeing the expression of the belly really looking at a fool, Zhao Dan decided not to be bored......

Anyway, I asked about it, and it's probably a bunch of technical terms, and it's especially ancient technical terms, so forget it.

As for the intentional or unintentional offense of the belly Zhen, Zhao Dan didn't take it to heart, masters like this are more or less temperamental, which is normal.

He ordered another set of the original version of armored cavalry armor to be brought in, and demonstrated the defensive ability against crossbows and weapons.

Sure enough, as the belly said, the new version of the armored cavalry armor lasted longer than the old version, and more importantly, its weight was lighter than the old version, whether it was human armor or horse armor.

There is no doubt that this is a big step forward.

You must know that the weight reduction means that the endurance of the horses increases, which can make the combat of the armored cavalry more durable, which is equivalent to improving the combat effectiveness of the armored cavalry from another aspect.

The only drawback is that the various resources required to create a new version of armored cavalry and a set of human and horse armor equipment are forty percent more than those of the old version.

Li Bo, who is in charge of the treasury, has complained many times about the waste and abuse of materials by the craftsmen led by Belly Zhen, but Zhao Dan himself does not have much opinion.

After all, it is impossible to spread such a thing as armored cavalry on a large scale, and a few thousand people is the limit, and under this kind of small but fine guiding ideology, in fact, the consumption of resources is not a problem.

In addition, the belly Zhen also improved the weapons of Zhao Guogu's armored cavalry to a certain extent, making the spears in their hands sharper and stronger.

According to Belly Zhen, after this improvement, the combat effectiveness of the armored cavalry can be increased by at least 30%!

Li Mu specially got his hands on it, experienced these equipment in the playground in the workshop, and agreed with the conclusion of the belly.

After Zhao Dan witnessed all this, he immediately gave out the reward very boldly: "The belly true lord is promoted to three levels, the rest of the master craftsmen are each promoted to two levels, and the craftsman titles are each upgraded to one level, and everyone is rewarded with wine, meat, cloth, and money!" ”

As soon as Zhao Dan's order went, it was naturally thunderous, and many craftsmen bowed to Zhao Dan happily under the leadership of Belly Zhen, and they all called the king wise.

It is natural to be wise, and those who are promoted and rich, and those who are not wise will have ghosts.

After leaving the workshop, Li Mu made another proposal.

"The king, now that the Yueshi people have been destroyed, the Huns and the Wusun people are very weak, it is when they take advantage of the situation to occupy Helan Mountain and Qilian Mountain, and ask the king to agree to the minister's request and let the minister lead a group of soldiers and horses out of Hexi!"

Zhao Dan shook his head slowly, and said, "Li Qing, you should know that at this stage, the widow is not able to use a large number of people on the grassland. ”

For Zhao Dan, of course, the more important thing is the strategy of the Central Plains, and the direction of the grassland is not so important.

In fact, Li Mu had already taken the fold two months ago, and Zhao Dan did not approve the fold at that time.

Li Mu obviously did not give up his efforts, but continued to persuade Zhao Dan: "The king, the minister understands the king's meaning very well, but the minister feels that even if he does not occupy the Helan and Qilian Mountains, then he will not be able to let the Xiongnu and Wusun people comfortably take that area, otherwise it will be a little unfavorable for the future conquest." ”

Zhao Dan glanced at Li Mu and said, "What does Li Qing have in mind?" ”

Li Mu nodded and said, "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that in fact, you can first build a city west of the Yellow River that is the same as the two cities of Dingxi and Zhenbei, on the one hand, you can monitor the movements of Wusun and the Xiongnu, and on the other hand, you can also use it as a logistics base when the army conquers the grassland in the future." ”

Zhao Dan obviously didn't expect Li Mu to put forward such an opinion, and he hesitated for a while.

"Founding a city?"

When you think about it, it seems like a good idea too.

After all, the strongest point of agricultural civilization is the city, if the grassland can be covered with cities, then the grassland has long been taken by the Central Plains people.

But it's not without its problems.

"It is impossible for the Wusun and the Huns to sit back and watch this city be built, if you lead a large army south to the Central Plains in the future, Wusun and the Huns will conquer it, then wouldn't this city be built in vain?"

Li Muyi gritted his teeth and said: "Great King, the minister dares to guarantee that as long as this city is built, the Wusun and Huns will definitely not be able to conquer it in the future!" ”

Zhao Dan glanced at Li Mu, although he didn't know why his general was so persistent, but after thinking about it, he still decided to agree.

"As long as you can ensure that the construction of this city will not affect the future use of troops in the Central Plains, especially against the Qin State, then the few people will approve it!"

Li Mu was overjoyed, and immediately bowed deeply to Zhao Dan: "Thank you, King!" ”

Zhao Dan looked at Li Mu's happy expression, and always felt that his own general seemed to have something to hide from him, but judging from all kinds of signs, Li Mu's loyalty was obviously beyond doubt, so Zhao Dan thought about it a little and went with him.

Just let Li Mu toss hard, anyway, there is a ban that he can't mobilize three thousand people, no matter what the result of his tossing is, in short, Zhao Guo will not have much loss.

If there is any big movement for him, then Zhao Guo will make a lot of money.

So Zhao Dan specially patted Li Mu's shoulder and said seriously: "Do a good job, the widow is optimistic about you!" ”