"Minister, Yang Sichang, the secretary of the Ministry of War, knock on Your Majesty, may my emperor live long live long live!"

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"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Yang Sichang, who was wearing a black gauze hat inlaid with jade beads on his head and chest embroidered with a brocade rooster singing sun pattern on his chest and back, a bright red official uniform, and a black gauze hat inlaid with jade beads, was slightly chubby, with a sparse beard on a round face, and two round bull's eyes.

At this time, because he was walking quickly under the scorching sun, he was sweating profusely, soaking through his official uniform, until he sat diagonally on the chair, still gasping slightly.

Chongzhen looked at the new secretary of the military department with a caring eye. Then, he briefly recounted the rumors about Li Xiao, and then asked the eunuch to show him Luo's secret recital.

Chongzhen's favor and importance to Yang Sichang has a long history.

Before Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, he read books such as "Diguan Collection" written by Yang Sichang, and admired Yang Sichang's talent very much. Under the attention and love of the emperor, Yang Sichang was promoted very quickly.

In the first year of Chongzhen, Yang Sichang patrolled Ruzhou Road, Henan, and added the right to participate in politics, and soon after, he moved to dominate the state road, and in September of the fourth year of Chongzhen, he moved to the mountain customs to supervise the army and prepare the road. At this time, his father Yang He, because of the failure of the governor of Shaanxi trilateral military affairs to appease the Liukou God Yikui, was imprisoned and sentenced to death. As a result, Emperor Chongzhen's love for materials suddenly rose, so he exempted Yang He from the death penalty, and changed to Yuanzhou, Jiangxi, and did not let Yang Sichang resign, and also comforted him many times, encouraging him to do his duty.

In May of the following year, Yang Sichang was appointed as the military governor of the Metropolitan Inspectorate of the Imperial History of the Metropolitan Procuratorate of the Mountains (Customs), Yong (Pingfu) and other places. In September of the seventh year of Chongzhen, he was promoted to the right attendant of the military department and the governor of the three towns of Xuanda Shanxi. It's just that when his career was smooth sailing, his father Yang He died in Yuanzhou that year, and Yang Sichang had to resign and go home to worry about it.

In this year, the Qing soldiers entered the customs in a big way, and the emperor suspected that Zhang Fengyi, the former secretary of the military department, was afraid of Tartar like a tiger, and had no merit, so he was removed from his post and dealt with. Although Zhang Fengyi was not forced to commit suicide by poisoning as in real history, he was also ordered to leave his job and return to his hometown, bidding farewell to his career. Then, Emperor Chongzhen issued an order to seize the favor and ordered Yang Sichang to take over as the secretary of the military department. Yang Sichang resigned, but Emperor Chongzhen did not allow it, so he arrived in Beijing at the end of August of the ninth year of Chongzhen to take up his post and began to be active in the center of the political arena.

Today is the second day of Yang Sichang's arrival in Beijing, and even Yang Sichang himself did not expect that he would be summoned by the emperor so soon, and he actually came to discuss Li Xiao in the first place.

After listening to Chongzhen's brief description, Yang Sichang watched Luo Yangxing's secret recital, but his face was very ugly.

"Wen is weak, in your opinion, how should it be appropriate to deal with Li Xiaofang?" Chongzhen, who was on the dragon chair, stared at him and asked.

"Your Majesty, with all due respect, such rumors must not be believed!" Yang Sichang got up and said to Chongzhen.

"Oh?"

"Your Majesty, such rumors have no root and no basis, if you rely on this rumor, you will have to judge Fang for great merit and sacrifice your majesty Li Xiao, then Weichen is deeply afraid that this move will make the soldiers centrifuge and everyone will be in danger. At this time when the country is in danger, if you still want to be so suspicious of the general, it will only make the relatives painful, and the enemies will be happy. Yang Sichang said with a heavy face.

Chongzhen was silent.

Yang Sichang sighed lightly and said again; "Take 10,000 steps back, even if Li Xiao really has a grudge, but he has always been loyal to the country, driving north and south, there is no trace, His Majesty does not read his merits, but because of rumors and suspicion of the good general of the country, it is not a wise move. The minister was thinking, if His Majesty dealt with Li Xiao like this, it would be tantamount to cutting off his arm, then the Tartar chief Taiji, if he heard the news, he was afraid that he would clap his hands and applaud. ”

Chongzhen sat silently speechless, but his face became more and more ugly.

Yang Sichang raised his head, and said in a low but clear voice: "Your Majesty, now that my Ming national strength is declining, it is very reluctant for the Tartars to deal with it. If the emperor really forced Li Xiao to be anxious, wouldn't he be afraid that he would become the second Kong Youde in Shandong? If Li Xiao's strong soldiers rise up and cause chaos, the harm to Daming will be ten times more than Kong Youde's! ”

Listening to Yang Sichang's worried words, a trace of fear was clearly revealed from Chongzhen's face, and he muttered; "Then in my weak opinion, how should I deal with it, is it appropriate?"

Yang Sichang's eyes were fixed, and he said loudly: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that this matter should be revealed here, and there is no need to mention it again." If the emperor wants to deliberately encircle Li Xiao, he can give Li Xiao the post of commander-in-chief, in order to replace the inactive Chen Hongfan, instead of just adding the title of honorary knight, in this way, Li Xiao will deeply feel the grace of His Majesty, and even more think of serving the country. ”

Chongzhen pondered for a while, and finally sighed and said: "Wen is weak, the interrogation of Li Xiao will be revealed according to Qing's opinion, and I will not investigate the details." As for the promotion of Li Xiao to the commander-in-chief of Denglai, we added the title to Li Xiao, but it was not easy to promote him to his official position immediately. This matter is not too late for Li Xiao to make another meritorious contribution in the future, and then to be rewarded. ”

Seeing that Emperor Chongzhen was so stingy with the reward, Yang Sichang sighed secretly in his heart, but he had to give up his hand and say a word of praise: "My emperor Shengming, the ministers of the world, congratulate Your Majesty." ”

。。。。。。

When the dark clouds were surging in the capital and rumors were spreading, Li Xiao, who was in Shandong, did not take the matter to heart although he heard the report of his subordinate security department.

Because he felt that such mentally retarded rumors were simply not worth mentioning. And if Chongzhen wants to interrogate himself because of such rumors, Li Xiao will not be at the mercy of Yuan Chonghuan.

After he returned to Shandong from the capital, he first took Ingmar to see his wives.

Li Xiao was originally worried that the unruly Ingmar might have a difficult relationship with his own wives and concubines, but he didn't expect that Ingmar behaved very kindly in front of them, and was unanimously accepted and loved by his wife Zhu Yumei, his wife Zu Wan'er, and his concubine Zhuo Naxi, which made Li Xiao very happy.

Li Xiao then announced to everyone that he officially accepted Ingmar as a concubine, and arranged a banquet to entertain all the generals and subordinates as a celebration.

And Ingmar himself did not care much about the customs and rituals of these Han people marrying relatives and taking concubines. What excites her the most is that in this Chifeng City, the prosperous scene is far better than that of Jintang City on Xuanfu North Road, and she has seen too many fresh and interesting goods and objects, which is an eye-opener.

This naughty and active Mongolian girl, seeing those merchant ships coming and going in Longkou Port, has been living in the grassland, and has never seen the sea, she feels very novel. She even secretly got on the No. 2 lucky boat without Li Xiao's consent, and went out to sea to fish with a group of sailor soldiers.

Ingmar had a lot of fun in Chifeng City, but Li Xiao didn't have so much time to play with her everywhere.

The things that Li Xiao is concerned about now are, firstly, the construction of the sailor base on Ocean Island, and secondly, the progress of steel research in Iron Dragon City.

According to the report of the Department of Industry, the shipyard on the current Haiyang Island has begun to take shape in the past few months, the dock and workshop have been completed, and a large amount of large-root timber smuggled from Liaodong is being purchased from Dongjiang Town, which will be dried in the shade and set aside, and it is expected that the first batch of small boats will be produced on a trial basis by the end of the year.

In view of the progress of the shipyard on Ocean Island, Lin Dazhuang, an experienced veteran craftsman, is in charge, and everything is going according to plan, Li Xiao is not particularly concerned, he is more concerned about the development of steelmaking technology in Iron Dragon City.

Li Xiao is now getting higher and higher in official position, and the affairs he has to manage are getting busier and busier, and he has less and less time to deal with the affairs at the grassroots level. Generally, it is to point out the direction and key points, and then entrust the craftsmen to develop it themselves.

The problem that Li Xiao hopes to solve most now is how to greatly increase steel production.

Because, although everything is on the right track in Iron Dragon City's steel production, there is still a major problem that has not been solved.

That is, the current production of high-carbon steel, which is all about luck in iron furnaces, is too small, and we still have to work hard to find a way to achieve mass production of qualified steel.

The method that Li Xiao thought of was to make steel from a crucible.

This crucible steelmaking, in Europe in 1740, appeared and used, but it is not a technology specially invented by Europeans, our Chinese ancestors, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, invented this well-known crucible steelmaking method.

With the development of the times, it was the most prosperous in the Han Dynasty, and the steel it was refined to make strong fish scale armor and sharp ring head knives, so that there was an invincible Han army, and only then did it have the glorious victory of beating the Xiongnu from the Mongolian Plateau to Europe, and only then did it have the prestige of "those who commit strong men, although they are far away, they will be punished"!

Maybe it's the war of Wuhu Chaohua, or maybe it's some other inexplicable reason, the crucible method was inexplicably lost during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. This steel-making technology originated in China, but the wall blossomed inside and outside the wall, and flourished in India, and the Damascus saber made by the Asan people with this method was extremely sharp, and became a necessary weapon for the Green Cult army, which once beheaded countless crusader warriors and made great contributions to the bloody expansion of the Green Cult in Eurasia.

The crucible method has been used in human society for more than 2,000 years, and it was not until the mid-to-late nineteenth century that it was gradually replaced by the Martin-Siemens open-hearth steelmaking method, but this method has not become extinct in modern society, because the advanced steelmaking methods such as converters and electric furnaces that emerged in the twentieth century can be regarded as a variant of the crucible method, and the crucible steelmaking method has been reborn after two thousand years.

This steelmaking method, which once allowed our ancestors to dominate the world, has not been adopted in this Ming Dynasty era because it has been lost. In this era, the closest way to steelmaking was square furnace steelmaking, which was widely used throughout Fujian, but it was iron, not steel.

Therefore, it is definitely not easy for Li Xiao to successfully make crucibles to produce steel from a blank in this late Ming Dynasty.

The key to crucible steelmaking lies in the crucible, and the key to the crucible lies in his refractory material, or high-temperature refractory bricks. The higher the carbon content of iron, the lower the melting point, and the carbon content of steel is much lower than that of pig iron, at least 1600C, before the steel will melt into molten steel. The crucible material, Li Xiao already knows that it is composed of graphite, porcelain clay, and clay, which is molded into shape after being mixed evenly, dried over low heat, and then burned to the highest temperature with coke before steel can be smelted.

It's just that because Li Xiao's original base was narrow, such as graphite, porcelain clay, etc., he had not found the origin of raw materials for a while, so it was delayed at this time. Now after Li Xiao has taken Huangxian and Zhaoyuan, he has discovered porcelain clay ore and graphite ore in Zhaoyuan, although the output cannot be compared with the land of Laixi in Qingzhou, where these two things are prevalent, but it is more than enough to supply Li Xiao's craftsmen and study crucible steelmaking.

Therefore, since Li Xiao took control of Huangxian and Zhaoyuan, he immediately ordered Yan Jun, the head of the iron factory, and a group of craftsmen under his command to repeatedly test the specific proportion of crucibles, so as to develop crucibles that can be actually produced as soon as possible.

A month after Li Xiao returned to Shandong, he finally came from Iron Dragon City with the news that he was very happy about, that is, the craftsmen of Iron Dragon City, after more than three months of research, finally made a suitable steel-making crucible!

Li Xiao was very happy to get the news, and he immediately went to Iron Dragon City and personally watched the whole process of craftsmen using crucibles to produce steel.

"Tapping! Tapping! ”

In the excited shouts of the craftsmen, Li Xiao saw that when the craftsmen saw that the iron ingots in the crucible in the open-hearth had turned a charming orange red, they stopped heating, then opened the furnace, clamped the crucibles out of the furnace one by one, carefully opened the crucible lid, skimmed off the slag on the liquid surface with a ladle, injected the hot molten steel into the pig iron mold groove, and then spread a layer of quicklime on the surface of the molten steel, and a layer of charcoal powder on the upper layer of quicklime.

This is the practice instructed by Li Xiao, which can prevent the secondary oxidation of steel, and can be used for slag making to further remove harmful substances such as sulfur and phosphorus.

After the molten steel cools, the craftsmen knock out the slag on the surface, and ten pure steel ingots that are one meter long and ten centimeters square are finally made.

This is a eutectic steel whose carbon content is strictly controlled at about 0.77%, it is naturally cooled in a red-hot state, and a polygonal pearlite structure is formed inside at 723 degrees Celsius, and the flake ferrite and cementite are arranged in parallel.

Li Xiao told them that if this eutectic steel was used to produce weapons such as stainless steel spear heads, it would definitely be much better in quality and hardness than the steel that was produced by chance.

Seeing that the craftsmen were suspicious of their words, Li Xiao immediately asked them to do an experiment.

That is, the freshly made eutectic steel is used to create a rough sword by ordinary quenching and then high-temperature tempering, and the existing high-grade Qingfeng sword in the warehouse.

The craftsmen were very skeptical of Li Xiao's opinion, but they still did as he instructed, and created a rough and ugly sword.

What an ugly sword this was, with no scabbard, no gauntlets, the hilt was bare, and even the sword body did not have the unique cloud patterns of the stacked forging system, but a white and shiny piece, which looked lifeless, like a piece of polished iron.

And the Qingfeng sword is green and shining, flowing bright, at a glance you know that it is not a mortal thing, although the craftsmen do not speak, but almost everyone believes in their hearts that Li Dudu's double sword slash, it must be this ugly sword broken.

Li Xiao held the ugly sword in his hand, and Yan Jun, who was holding the Qingfeng sword, slashed each other.

"Look!"

Li Xiao shouted, and the two swords slashed each other, only to hear a dinging sound, and half of the sword tip fell to the ground.

What stunned everyone was that it was not the ugly sword that was broken, but the Hundred Refining Qingfeng Sword!

Including Yan Jun, all the craftsmen present were stunned for a moment.

How is this possible! (To be continued.) )