Li Yan didn't know much about ironmaking, and his only suggestion to Blacksmith Zhou was to add an air preheating furnace to heat the air from the bellows powered by animal power before entering the furnace. If there is any suggestion, it is not to let this animal power be wasted, and install a grinding disc at the position of the vertical shaft, which can grind a surface, which can be regarded as improving the utilization rate. As for the crankshaft, eccentric wheel or something, people themselves know how to get it.

The newly built iron-making furnace is very large, and it can smelt 10,000 catties of iron at a time. What Li Yan has to do now is to provide blacksmith Zhou with iron ore, charcoal, and limestone.

Blacksmith Zhou made an iron mold for casting lead shots, with a slightly larger diameter, and it had to be polished later to make the lead shots round and smooth, with the right diameter. Li Yan felt that this was too troublesome, so he kept thinking of new ways to see if he could make lead shots more efficiently.

However, before he could figure out a way, Li Chunyu from Kaifeng sent him a letter asking him to go to Kaifeng. This time it was the same as last time, he didn't say what it was, but asked him to go as soon as possible.

Li Yan met the person who came to deliver the letter this time, but the person who came didn't know what it was. But what is certain is that it is not his family that has an accident, and this is the best news.

Li Yan arranged the affairs here, and let Li Zhong be in charge of the affairs in the city, while Li Mu continued to be in charge of the fields outside the city and the training of recruits.

"Fourth brother, I'll go to Kaifeng with you too." Li Mu said suddenly.

Li Yan asked suspiciously, "What are you going to do?" I'm still in charge here. ”

"It's nothing now, the displaced people have passed, and our fields are enough, Qian Er, Shi Jincai can do it." Li Mu still found a reason: "Besides, I haven't seen my cousin for many years, so I'll go and pay a visit." ”

Li Yan felt that there was no reason to stop Li Mu from going to Kaifeng, so he nodded and said, "Okay, you explain things clearly, if something goes wrong, your military stick won't be able to run away when you come back." ”

Li Mu said happily: "No problem, you can rest assured." ”

Li Yan and the others were preparing, but the officials of the yamen were looking for them.

"Mr. Li," the official who came said politely: "The county is waiting for you at the yamen, please go quickly." ”

Li Yan asked: "Zhao Bantou, I don't know what happened to the county looking for me?" As soon as he spoke, Zhang Yi gave Zhao Bantou a tael of silver.

Zhao Bantou pushed the silver back, bowed down with a smile and said, "Mr. Li, if it's convenient for you, it's better to give the villain a little food." ”

Li Yan nodded and said, "It's easy to say, it's easy to say, when Zhao Bantou leaves in a while, I will prepare a bucket of wheat for Zhao Bantou." ”

"Thank you, Mr. Lee." Zhao Bantou bowed to the end, and then said: "It's someone from Kaifeng, it seems that he is patrolling the yamen, and he said that he was looking for Mr. Li to ask questions." ”

"Patrol?" Li Yan was a little strange, how could the patrol press let people come to him? The patrol according to the imperial history is to inspect on behalf of the Son of Heaven, although he is only a seven-rank petty official, but his power is very great. From the vassal kings to the officials, to the civil and military generals, there is nothing he can't control. Big things are played, small things are decided, that's really majestic.

Zhao Bantou arched his hand and said: "The villain only knows so much, as for the specific matter, the villain really doesn't know." ”

Li Yan nodded and arched his hand: "Li Mou has accepted Zhao Bantou's love, I'll go change my clothes and ask Zhao Bantou to wait for a while." ”

"Mr. Lee, please." Zhao Bantou agreed.

Now Li Yan's name is very loud around Qi County, and he can divide the land for the displaced people to plant, and there are thousands of acres of fields under his name, and there must be a lot of grain in his hands. But there are seven or eight hundred elite soldiers in their hands, which are full of elite soldiers, and so far they have repelled three attacks by thieves, and they have beheaded a lot, so Qi County is still peaceful. Therefore, Zhao Bantou's respect is not pretended, but really a little admired and afraid.

Li Yan returned to the back house, told Li Zhong and Li Mu about the situation, and asked, "What do you think?" What are we doing to be on top of the Imperial History? ”

Li Zhong thought for a moment and said, "Is it a matter of making firecrackers and gunpowder?" ”

Li Yan nodded noncommittally, and then he looked at Li Mu. At this time, he and Li Mu seemed to think of it, and said almost at the same time: "Wangfu? ”

"What palace?" Li Zhong didn't know about it yet. Li Yan and Li Mou ordered to die, whether it was internally or externally, they all said that they had exterminated a group of thieves, so up to now, only those soldiers who participated in the army knew about it.

Li Yan told Li Zhong about the matter, and Li Zhong immediately became angry, and said dissatisfiedly to Li Mu: "You are too impulsive! Do you have to make trouble to the point of killing?! ”

Li Muzhi replied stunned: "His words are clear, even if we don't want that land, he will report to the governor." Then what are you polite to him?! If we back down, it's a rat in a sealed box - angry at both ends! ”

Li Yan persuaded: "Forget it, the matter has happened, let's see how to solve the problem." ”

"How to solve it?! You can't even kill the patrol press together, right?! In that case, we will be surrounded and suppressed by the imperial army! Li Zhong was still very angry and said unceremoniously.

Li Mu said indifferently: "Still afraid of them?!" Hum! It's a big deal! The official army is not a good thing, as long as they come, these homeless people we accept will still be oppressed and have no way to live. With these 800 desperate elite soldiers, plus the people are strong, even if the official army comes to encircle and suppress, we can also make them lose their troops and lose their generals! ”

Li Yan frowned and said, "Don't worry, I don't know if this is the case." Even if it's for the sake of the palace, then we still have time to prepare. You don't have to worry now, I'll go to the county government to see what is going on, and you can think about whether there is a solution here. Don't quarrel, let the people below know, the army will be unstable! ”

Li Zhong sat down again, and Li Mu also lowered his head.

Li Yan saw that their anger was small, so he said, "I'll go to the county government first." ”

Li Zhong reminded: "Bring more people, in case you come to arrest people, you can block it." You send a signal, and I'll take someone to answer it right away. ”

"No," Li Yan said with a smile: "There is no notification at the city gate, which means that there is no large group of people coming in." I can just take two people with me, and if I bring too much, it will make people suspicious. ”

Li Zhong is also concerned about the chaos, the county is under their control, if the official army comes, it is impossible for him not to know. So he nodded and said, "Go ahead, improvise and see what the situation is." ”

Li Yan went to the front hall again, and took two guards and Zhao Bantou to the county government together. Zhao Bantou was already carrying a grain bag at this time, which was the wheat that Li Yan gave him. And Zhao Bantou has no doubts at all about Li Yan coming out wearing the same clothes after going in for so long.