"Huh?"

Xia Guixian looked at Chen Chuntang beside him in disbelief, and said incredulously: "What...... This, this is the princess of the country of Jiaozhi? ”

At this time, Jiaozhi used Chinese characters and spoke Chinese, and Chen Chuntang grew up in the deep palace again, extremely fair-skinned, and Xia Guixian really didn't distinguish it.

It's over, what should I do now......

Xia Guixian now feels that this matter will not be solved easily, unlucky, who knew that in his Zhao Rui's palace mansion, there was a princess of Jiaozhi Kingdom.

Xia Guixian was completely arrogant, and said hesitantly: "Could it be that the Jiaozhi Kingdom wants to marry the prince?" ”

"It's not your turn to worry about that." Zhao Rui said lightly: "Now that the matter has come to this, what are your plans?" ”

"Uh...... I compensate, I am willing to compensate 5,000 taels of silver! ”

When Xia Guixian said this, he suddenly felt a pain in his flesh, and he couldn't imagine that he would bleed heavily when he turned around in the southwest, five thousand taels was not a small number in the Song Dynasty, and it also accounted for half of Xia Guixian's family property.

Hearing this, not only Zhao Rui, but even Princess Jiaozhi sneered.

Five thousand taels is a fart in their eyes.

"Hehe, do you think you can solve the problem with money? You take 5,000 taels to Emperor Jiaozhi to see if he will kill you? I suppose he could have you tied to a pillar and cut off your flesh piece by piece, a thousand pieces. ”

Xia Guixian listened, cold sweat quietly broke out, he knew that what Zhao Rui said was true, that was the king of a country, how could some silver taels be put in his eyes.

"That'...... So what to do. Xia Guixian was already completely dumbfounded.

"What else can I do, of course you're going to marry her! An innocent woman is defiled by you, and she must be responsible. I will also write a letter to Emperor Jiaozhi, explaining that you two are in love. It's just that you still don't want to go back to the Southern Song Dynasty, it was nominally given to me by Princess Jiaozhi here, but when you go to the Southern Song Dynasty, the meaning is completely different, and Emperor Jiaozhi will definitely not agree. ”

"Ah......h

Xia Guixian was completely helpless, just because of his impulsiveness, he would stay in Jiaozhi for the rest of his life.

Chen Chuntang has a grudge against Xia Guixian, all because he pretended to be the prince and caused the current situation, and now he is discovered by Zhao Rui, even if it is reasonable to kill two people or execute two people, and Zhao Rui let them stay in Dabao City, which is already a blessing in misfortune, so Chen Chuntang can only accept it aggrievedly.

Then Zhao Rui found them a house, and he didn't let Xia Guixian enter the army, but the blacksmith shop in Dabaocheng was short of people, so he asked him to do it, Xia Guixian had no choice but to live in Dabaocheng first.

Later, Zhao Rui sent a letter to Emperor Jiaozhi, detailing the reason, and later Emperor Jiaozhi thanked Zhao Rui, saying that it was because of his proper handling that he would not lose face in Jiaozhi.

Xia Guixian also sent a secret letter to Jia Yidao, Jia Yidao directly lifted the table after reading it, he didn't expect Zhao Rui to detain his right-hand man, although it was related to Princess Jiaozhi, but it could also be Zhao Rui's trick, after Jia Yidao calmed down, he instead found someone to send silver to Xia Guixian, and asked him to report the situation on Zhao Rui's side at any time. In this way, it can be regarded as laying an eyeliner on Zhao Rui's side, and it cannot be regarded as a complete gain.

Xia Gui first asked his wife and concubine to sell his wealth, and then went to Dabao City to look for him.

But the three concubines took some silver and ran away, and only the wife of Jiefa arrived with some silver taels.

Xia Guixian currently has some money, and he is also a wealthy man in Dabao City, and the work of striking iron is perfunctory, anyway, it is the work arranged by Zhao Rui, and no one can fire him.

It's just that Chen Chuntang is a princess who is inevitably squeamish, and she loses her temper all day long, and Xia Guixian's family is also jumping all day long, and she can't be at peace.

Approaching the Spring Festival, the last harvest of this year is a bumper harvest, everyone has surplus grain at home, and the people in Zhao Rui's entire territory are looking forward to a prosperous year.

Fishing boats in Ampang Prefecture are already in operation, catching tens of thousands of catties of fresh fish every day, salting them and sending them to Dabao City, which then sends them to various places for sale.

These fish are Zhao Rui's own industry, and when they go to various cities, they are sold more flexibly, and they can be exchanged for silver or grain.

Although the pickled sea fish tastes poor, it is cheaper and larger, and it is a high-quality protein source that ordinary people can afford, so unconsciously, Zhao Rui has increased his food and improved the physical fitness of the people in the territory.

Zhao Rui is also eating fish for lunch today, but the pickled fish is soaked in clear water, and after it is cooked, it still produces a strange taste, which makes Zhao Rui, a modern person, extremely uncomfortable.

By the way, is it possible to make canned fish for export?

Zhao Rui stopped his chopsticks while eating, which made Zhao Xiaoyi next to him a little stunned.

"What's the matter, young master, isn't Xiaoyi's cooking delicious today?"

"Oh no, it's still delicious, I just thought of something......"

Zhao Rui was a little depressed and ate absentmindedly.

Because of this idea, I was denied by myself in an instant, and I had the opportunity to go to the cannery before, and it was all large boilers, countless pipes, etc., all of which were made of iron. Even the iron sheet of canned food is inseparable from smelting steel.

It seems that steelmaking is something that must be done in this era, and steel is also a modern basic industry, as long as you want to develop industry, you must make steel.

Although Zhao Rui has a cargo box to be able to transport steel at will, but there is so much steel needed to develop industry, even if Zhao Rui is tired to death, it is impossible to rely on modern steel, and the things brought by the crossing can only solve the urgent need, but in essence, there is still no foundation for the development of industry in this era.

Thinking about it, Zhao Rui suddenly found that the idea of direct electrification was not so reliable, so he needed to bring back a large number of generators from modern times, whether it was diesel or solar energy, it was the same as steel.

Therefore, what he can bring can only be science and technology, which is a complete analysis of ancient technology in modern times, and such technical information can ensure that Zhao Rui's scientific and technological development route will not deviate.

It seems that in the end, it is impossible to escape the old road of the development of the industrial revolution, that is, the development of the textile machine, driven by the steam engine, and the steam engine and the textile machine also require a lot of steel.

Regarding the internal combustion engine and oil refining, Zhao Rui can't even think that the foundation of these technologies must also be developed under the premise of a large supply of steel.

Therefore, smelting steel is a top priority and must be planned immediately.

There is no shortage of iron ore, and when copper ore was mined in Wanya Prefecture, a lot of iron ore was also discovered at the same time. The most scarce thing right now is coal.

Thinking about his thoughts, Zhao Rui went to find Song Fengyi after eating.

Song Fengyi also idle for a while after being busy, waiting for the next season's sowing and resting for a long time, which made him look whiter, and his body was not as thin as it was at the beginning.

Song Fengyi listened to Zhao Rui's intentions, and muttered: "There are coal mines, just in the northernmost mountains where Baole Prefecture and Dali intersect, but the competition for coal mines happens from time to time, and it is not a safe place." ”

Zhao Rui often checked the map and knew the location of Baole Prefecture, which was in the northwest of Guangyuan Prefecture, bordering Dali State, which was now ruled by the Yuan Dynasty, but it still practiced the kind of power composition of warlords, but there was nothing to be afraid of.

"Okay, then capture Baole Prefecture, and at the same time recover Qiyuan Prefecture, Guangyuan Prefecture and Taiyuan Prefecture, so that we will have access to coal!"

The states Zhao Rui said were all along the northeast line where Jiaozhi and the Southern Song Dynasty intersected, and Guangyuan Prefecture, Taiyuan Prefecture and Qiyuan Prefecture were almost probing for things because of Zhao Rui's actions in Guangyuan Prefecture last time, but Zhao Rui was afraid of the harassment of the Yuan army before, so he had no intention of extending the territory to the north.

But now is a very good time, Jiaozhi and Zhao Rui's side temporarily truce, and the Yuan army is attacking the Southern Song Dynasty with all its might, and there is no time to completely encircle Zhao Rui, this respite can be used well.

Song Fengyi has been farming, and he knows less about these things, and he couldn't close his mouth in surprise when he heard Zhao Rui's plan to pull out four cities in a row.

happened to arrive at Yongping Village, Zhao Rui went to Ma Yue to discuss, and sure enough, he got Ma Yue's strong support.

"Lord Wang, I also thought about what you said, not because of coal, but because it is currently a 'three regardless' situation, so we must expand our territory, and this is also the easiest time to conquer territory."

"Oh, by the way...... Zhao Rui scratched his head in embarrassment and said: "Now that we have temporarily ceased war with Jiaozhi, we can't blatantly occupy his city!" ”

Ma Yue had already heard about the situation in the coal mine mountain range, pondered for a moment, and said with some excitement: "Why don't we have a 'bright plank road, dark Chen Cang'?" ”

After Zhao Rui heard this, his eyes lit up.

"You mean the current state of the coal mines, we can take advantage of it?"

"The prince is a smart man, just a little bit!" Ma Yue smiled and complimented.

After Ma Yue's prompting, Zhao Rui also thought of a plan in his heart, first of all, he wrote a letter to Emperor Jiaozhi, saying that because he needed some coal, he wanted to purchase it from Ponoh Prefecture, but he heard that the border between Ponole Prefecture and Dali, because of the continuous mining friction of the mine, so Zhao Rui decided to attack the border of Dali, so that Dali's Ayue Department, which was close to Ponole Prefecture, would completely withdraw from the mining area, and then mine it for his own use, without interfering with Jiaozhi.

When Zhao Rui was preparing for the attack, the reply from Chen Jiong, the emperor of Jiaozhi State, had already arrived.

He agreed with both hands to Zhao Rui's proposal, at this time coal has been regarded as an emerging fuel, charcoal also needs to be cut down trees, production, and the consumption of manpower and material resources is not small, but coal is different, although there is a bit of taste and smoke, but a chimney can solve it, the most important thing is that it is buried in the ground, and it can be used when it is dug out.

Judging from the rhetoric of his reply, it is estimated that he has been suppressed by Dali for a long time, Zhao Rui thinks about it, now Cochin and the Angkor Dynasty are constantly fighting, and at the same time he has to expand his territory and extend to the Champa State, which is already a country with two occupation lines, and is powerless for his own invasion, let alone organize people to go to the northern border to protect the coal area.