Li Feng bluntly said that he wanted to arrest a few Hu people and use them as big animals, and Chang Xiu and his entourage took this matter for granted. They would have such thoughts, not because these guys are Hu people, so they are particularly despised for them. No, even if it's a cat or a dog, it's a living being, isn't it? In fact, they all knew in their hearts that Li Bong was actually saving their lives by doing this. Otherwise, these guys will starve to death sooner or later. Therefore, they all think that Li Bong has done a thing to accumulate virtue.

When he met Shang Cheng, Chang Xiu also specially mentioned this matter. Of course, he didn't mean those few Hu people, but praised Li Feng's good deeds. This is actually praising Shang Chengyi for what kind of generals he has, what kind of soldiers he has!

For everyone's praise for the article, Shang Cheng just smiled slightly. Although Li Feng has not been with him for a long time, this guy is very good, he is disciplined and listens to commands, he is literate and hyphenated, his mind is also very clear, and he can endure hardships and patience. So he just echoed Chang Xiu's words and casually said a few polite words, and let the guests go to the study.

Immediately, a maid brought them tea soup.

This was originally a very ordinary thing, but it taught Chang Xiu a lot. Whether it is Yanzhou or the capital, he has not walked around in Shangcheng Mansion once or twice, as if there has never been an impression of a maid serving tea to guests in his memory. So the maid rouge went out, and he still looked at her back with a tea cup. He hurriedly made a little fuss, not knowing what was going on.

Shang Cheng explained to him with a smile and said, "The guards around me are all in military positions in the Yamen of the Plains General. In the past, they lived in the city, and it was quite convenient for them to go up and down the yamen; Now I live outside the city, and it takes an hour or two to get back and forth, so I let them live in the barracks. In addition, Duan Si is going to get married in a few days, the newcomer has a new house, and there are a lot of things in bits and pieces, they have a lot of comrades-in-arms, and several guys on duty have also asked for leave to go over to help, so sometimes there is a guest or something...... Ahem, sometimes the guests come, so one by one, let Rouge come over and help hand over a cup of tea or something. ”

Chang Xiu didn't realize that Shang Cheng's speech suddenly became slurred. He just felt a little strange, Shang Cheng lived in such a remote place, how could there be guests? But after thinking about it, Xiao Yang Shang Yanwu, Shang Cheng is one of the few generals in the army, and it is common for a few subordinates to ask for a visit, so they didn't think about it. He took a sip of tea and was about to talk a few words and then pull Pan out of the topic, when someone outside told him that another guest had come to visit.

Shang Cheng didn't leave his seat, and directly raised his voice and asked, "Who is here?" ”

“…… It is Yang Hengyang of Xiaoluoyi Dafang of the Ministry of Industry. ”

Shang Cheng was stunned for a moment, a little surprised how Yang Heng could suddenly report for a job. Pan'er had already known Yang Heng's father and daughter, and after moving to Zhuangzi, she also went home. When Yang Heng came to visit his daughter a few days ago, he also said a few words to Yang Heng. If Gu Shi hadn't sent someone to invite him over for a drink, maybe he would have accompanied Yang Heng to have a meal. After eating in the Gu family Zhuangzi, the two of them put on the chess scales again. He and Gu Shi are equally accomplished in Go, and it is precisely when the opponent is difficult to solve and difficult to separate, and when the quarrel and quarrel are finished playing the chess, the sky is dark. After eating dinner and returning home, Yang Heng had already left. He was still a little guilty at the time, this was not hospitality. But that's fine, he really doesn't know what attitude to use to talk to Yang Heng......

He was about to ask the guards to invite Yang Heng over, and said outside the door, "...... There is also an observer of the Ministry of Works, Lord Takuda, and please come along. ”

And Tian Xiu?

Shang Cheng grinned and glanced at Chang Xiu. He suspected that they had made an appointment in advance, and today they came to him to "force" about the glass.

But the question is, where does he know what glass-burning is? When he first suggested to the Ministry of Industry, it was also because Li Mu patted his chest as a guarantee, Tian Xiu is superb and miscellaneous, what to burn glass and glass is just a trivial matter, and it can be easily obtained; Tian Xiu also said that there are "many records" in the ancient books of the law of glaze, and there are many masters and craftsmen who burn glaze in the government-run workshops in the capital. It was because they were full of confidence that he was very confident in bringing in Chang Fat and the Ministry of Industry to make investments. But the result? Alas, don't say it. It is said that it was glass that he first proposed, so he has recently become the talk of jokes after dinner. Yesterday, Gu Shi made fun of him about this matter, talking nonsense about "the poor half-world heroes, all with the glass withering".

He frowned and asked people to invite Tian Xiu and Yang Heng over. He was going to make it clear in front of the three of them, telling them that he didn't actually know the process of making glass, and then take all the responsibility for the failure to fire the glass on himself. In this way, he thought, even if the imperial historians wanted to impeach, the spearhead would be pointed at him first; Anyway, he is a military general, as long as he does not make serious mistakes in the military aspect, the impeachment of civilian officials does not matter at all! And with him in front of him, Chang Xiu and the Ministry of Engineering will definitely ease their pressure a lot. As for the money that the Ministry of Industry filled into the kiln, he also helped Chang Xiu find a reason: where is there anything that does not cost money to engage in scientific research and scientific experiments?

But before he finished speaking, Chang Xiu immediately objected. With Shang Cheng in front, the imperial historians will let go of the Ministry of Industry and let him go Chang Wenshi? That's impossible! This is just Shang Cheng's wishful thinking! Shang Chengdu didn't want to think about it, how many people did the Ministry of Industry offend before and after for such a broken glass? Now that the glass thing has not progressed, I don't know how many people are waiting outside to see the jokes of the Ministry of Industry, who told the Ministry of Industry not to let them invest money in and share profits? Now the Ministry of Industry is lifting a stone to shoot itself in the foot, which is really happy! What's even more frightening is that in addition to the stone that the Ministry of Works smashed itself, God knows how many other stones will be smashed on the head of the Ministry of Industry. He told Shang Cheng frankly that it is impossible to stop the glass thing, it must be burned out, and it will not be possible if it is not burned! Even if the sky falls, the Ministry of Industry will continue to do this until the imperial court comes forward to call it a halt.

Shang Cheng looked at the more emotional waiter of the Ministry of Works, and said calmly: "Wen Shigong, we can't be rash. This matter was my fault from the beginning, and I will ask the court for punishment. But since there is no hope, you should stop the glass thing and stop throwing any more money into it. ”

Chang Xiu's round face was full of wry smiles. Stop it? He Shang Yanshan is standing and talking without back pain! The Ministry of Industry has already put 20,000 or 30,000 yuan into the kiln in Xiaoluofang, and wants to stop with the sentence "firing failure"? How can you stop! Moreover, the loss of liquor is almost a foregone conclusion, and the promotion of new agricultural tools and new practices has encountered obstacles everywhere. Where is the face of the Ministry of Industry facing?

Shang Cheng lowered his gaze, looked at the tea cup in his hand and was silent for a while, changed his tone to a soothing tone, and said, "It's not a matter of face. If you already know that glass can't be burned in a hurry, why bother throwing money at the furnace again? It is better to stop the workshop for the time being, summarize the experience and lessons of the previous stage, and then discuss carefully to see if there is a need to continue firing glass. He looked at Chang Xiu with an inquiring gaze, waiting for the reply from the Ministry of Works. Seeing that Chang Xiu was silent with a blank face, he added again. "It's all my fault, it's my decision. I will submit a review to the Prime Minister's Office as soon as possible. One by one in this day or two. ”

Chang Xiu put down the teacup that had been brought to his lips again, took a breath, and probably wanted to say something serious. But I don't know what happened to him temporarily, he opened his mouth, but in the end he didn't say anything. He turned his head away and stared at the bricks under his feet without saying a word.

Shang Cheng realized that there was a huge disagreement between him and Chang Xiu when it came to glass. But this is normal. Chang Xiu is a civilian official, he is a military general, and their ways and methods of understanding things and solving problems are completely different. Since ancient times, no famous general can truly be invincible in a hundred battles, and famous military strategists such as Sun Wu and Cao Cao have the experience of losing battles, so generals usually do not shy away from failure; If he loses this battle, he will make a comeback day by day, as long as he can have the last laugh, it doesn't matter how many battles he has lost before; Sometimes, in order to win the war, they even go to defeat the battle, the purpose is to show the enemy that the enemy is weak and arrogant. But civil servants can't. As long as the civil officials are slightly frustrated, they will be slandered by gossip at the least, or lose their posts and leave their posts, and if they want to make a comeback, they need not only extraordinary perseverance, but also the cooperation of the right people at the right time, the right place, and all aspects. So Chang Xiu is not in favor of stopping the firing of glass, and he can understand it.

However, the problem now is that this colorless transparent glass looks like a bottomless pit......

He knew that he couldn't convince Chang Xiu for the time being, so he had to turn his attention to Tian Xiu and Yang Heng. In his mind, Tian Xiu is a technical official, and Yang Heng is barely half a technical official, and they are not pure civil officials. Maybe he'll be able to talk to them.

Tian Xiu, who had not spoken, suddenly said at this time: "Uncle Ying, the matter of glass is not simple. ”

Shang Cheng turned his head to look at Tian Xiu. Probably because he misunderstood Tian Xiu at the beginning, Tian Xiu has always been estranged from him, and he will always plant a thorn and bury a stake for him when he has nothing to do. Just like now, Tian Xiu is obviously hiding words in his words, and secretly he is actually ridiculing him for his narrow vision and shallow vision. But he could not meet as well as her; And Tian Xiu's words, he can't talk to him. Therefore, he had no choice but to hold the tea cup on the table with one hand and look at her intently with an inquiring look.

Tian Xiu arched his hand to him in the chair, and said calmly: "Uncle Ying, whether glass can be fired now is not just a matter of the Ministry of Industry. You may have heard that from the middle of last year to the present, the Ministry of Industry has set up 17 new wineries in various places, and purchased nearly one million stone of grain; However, the method of liquor obtained by the Ministry of Industry from Huo's in Yixian County has long been spread abroad, and there are few wineries set up by prefectures and counties imitating Huo's method. The cost, homestead, labor, and transportation of these wineries are closer to those of the Ministry of Industry, and the price of liquor is nearly half less than that of the Ministry of Industry. Under such a severe situation, although the brewery of the Ministry of Industry has not yet started, it is actually close to losing money......"

Shang Cheng glanced at Chang Xiu. Of course, he knew that the liquor business of the Ministry of Industry was a loss. But who is to blame for this? Alas, the Ministry of Industry is the No. 1 "large state-owned enterprise" of Dazhao Tianzi, which has funds, resources, manpower and policies, and is truly in an all-round monopoly position; But it is such an advantageous unit, but does not focus on agriculture, mining and metal smelting such basic and pillar industries, but greedy for small profits to run to engage in liquor, in addition to saying that they are "not doing business", what kind of good evaluation can they give?

However, looking at Chang Xiu's sad appearance, he couldn't help but feel anxious for him in his heart. Chang Fat is a good person, he can't interfere in the glass matter, and he still has to help in the liquor business. You can't let a fat man become a long hemp stick, right?