Chapter 155: King Zhou has something to do, the emperor summons him

After Zhang Zhimu received the telegram, he felt that the matter was serious. Because the telegram was not translated, it means that the telegram was sent in a special cipher.

Zhang Zhimu said: "King Zhou, they must have a very serious matter when they use passwords. Then he called Li Zhi to translate the telegram.

Ouyang He said: "King Zhou, they shouldn't have something happen so quickly." Princess Anping began to pretend to be sick after she went back, and the news should be able to reach Beijing! ”

Li Zhi quickly came over and personally translated the telegram.

Sure enough, the telegram said: The emperor has sent a holy decree, for the safety of the vassal kings everywhere, in this special period, let the vassal kings everywhere bring their families and property together to Beijing, and they must not disobey. Soon the emperor will send brocade guards to protect the vassal kings into Beijing.

"It's time to come." Zhang Zhimu said, "I don't think King Zhou can enter Beijing anyway. The emperor must have known that King Zhou had close contacts with us and wanted to do something to King Zhou. ”

"Then send a telegram back to King Zhou and tell him that he can't enter Beijing under any circumstances." Ouyang He said: "We should arm the Zhou Wangdu Guards." If necessary, we sent troops from Wuzhi to protect the king of Zhou. Take over the opening. ”

"I think I'll give fifty pistols to King Zhou, and give them enough ammunition, and they should be able to withstand a while. We should have a secret army in Kaifeng, and once the king of Zhou has something to do, he can help and hold out until our army of Wuzhi arrives. Chen Yufeng said.

"I think so! I'm going to Kaifeng. also arrange Wu Zhi's affairs. Go to Kaifeng to see King Zhou. Ouyang He said.

Zhang Zhimu thought for a while and said, "Mr. Ouyang is the best to go." It is best not to intensify the contradiction as much as possible. We don't want to do it in Henan yet. ”

"I know that I'm just preparing for the worst." Ouyang He said, "When I arrived in Kaifeng, I looked at the situation and made a decision. But now I have to send a secret telegram to King Zhou immediately, telling him that he can't go to Beijing anyway, and also telling him that I will go to Kaifeng immediately, and everything will be said when I get to Kaifeng. ”

Li Zhi translated the telegram drafted by Ouyang He into cipher and handed it over to the staff officer to send the telegram. Soon, King Zhou called back and said, waiting for Mr. Ouyang He's arrival.

It seems that King Zhou has been waiting for the telegram from Yaogang.

"In fact, if our troops on the north bank of the Yellow River move to the south bank of the Yellow River, the whole of Henan will be under our threat, and Kaifeng will not be a problem." Ouyang He said.

"With our relationship with the imperial court uncertain, with our current strength is not yet the time to make an offensive posture, we will use the natural barrier of the Yellow River to buy us some time." Zhang Zhimu said.

"I think so, we have more than enough troops to defend at the moment. But if we attack Shaanxi in two years' time, our forces will be stretched. And our soldiers can't be recruited now, because the gap between such soldiers and our trained veterans is too great. Special equipment is our automatic firearm, which requires good training. Chen Yufeng seems to have set his sights on the offensive in two years.

"Next year, I will also have a plan for building an army, at least to complete the divisions of those three regiments into four regiments." Zhang Zhimu said, "In fact, the General Staff can now slowly draw up offensive plans for Shaanxi and Henan, and according to these plans, we can see how many troops we need and take over cadres, and we can also assign tasks to the intelligence department." ”

"There are a few things to do, but our top priority is to do a good job of sending troops to the northern grasslands in the spring of next year. That's our top priority for next year. Chen Yufeng said, "As for the building of the army, I think that the personnel of each division will be replenished enough next year." In the year after that, we will be able to expand the ranks on the basis of these divisions. However, we must pay close attention to the training of officers at all levels. We also need to be prepared, one is that all our passes out of Taihang Mountain are controlled by the imperial court, and if we oppose the imperial court, we must also have troops to take these passes back. That way we can rest assured, otherwise, they can threaten us at any time from these gates. ”

"Within a year or two, the imperial court fell out with us, and they did not have the strength to send troops to us on a large scale. I think they'll weigh which of their own armies or Li Zicheng's army is stronger. Ouyang He said, "The most important thing is that they don't have our silver, where do they get their military expenses." In the future, we really have to make good use of the weapon of silver in our hands, and the emperor can't come to take the silver without paying the price. Ouyang He said.

Although there was a situation on King Zhou's side in Kaifeng, Ouyang He personally dealt with it, and Zhang Zhimu was relieved.

Tang Jingyao, director of the Hydropower Construction Committee, made Zhang Zhimu like it more and more. This is a very pragmatic person. Since the last time he talked to Zhang Zhimu, he took people directly to Kaiyuan Xinhe to investigate. After coming back, I couldn't wait to see Zhang Zhimu.

Zhang Zhimu felt that Tang Jingyao, who was in good spirits, looked extraordinarily young now. Originally, he was beating stones in the smelter, and he ate poorly, and he became sick, and when he was in his forties, he looked like a little old man in his sixties and seventies. Now that the body has recovered, and there is a heavy responsibility in the body, the mood is very different, and the person seems to be very energetic.

After Zhang Zhimu gave Tang Jingyao a few of them, he said, "Mr. Tang, I am much more relieved to see your complexion." When I built the Xiaoling River lock, I was worried about you too much, I was really afraid that you would be tired. ”

"I am now with young people every day, and I don't have to be an official like before, and I have to put on an official stand and get any official authority. Besides, what we are doing now is what we want to do the most in this life, and I am in a good mood. The body is naturally much better. Tang Jingyao also said more than before, and he could see that he was very energetic.

"Then tell me what you think of the dredging of the Kaiyuan New River!" Zhang Zhimu knew that they had just returned from Kaiyuan Xinhe.

As soon as he got down to business, Tang Jingyao sat up straight and said, "We went to the Kaiyuan New River to take a closer look, and actually measured the water level of the Kaiyuan New River. If we don't dredge up, it's likely that our lucky ship won't be able to pass. Our opinion is that if we can build a dredger is the best, and the amount of work you said about building a dam at the entrance of the Kaiyuan New River to hold back the water will be amazing, and it is likely that it will not be completed in a year or two. We believe that the length of this Kaiyuan New River is limited, and we can use a dredger to dig out the sediment at the bottom of the river. As for the practice of blocking rivers and removing sediment, it is even more undesirable. This is also a lot of work, and it can't solve the problem fundamentally. Since none of them can solve the fundamental problem, we might as well adopt a simple and easy solution. ”

"Over there at Lingshui Wharf, we have built a few new tugboats, and Li Yunhe's people are rebuilding dredging equipment, if it goes well, we can go to Kaiyuan Xinhe in the spring of next year to try it." Zhang Zhimu said.

"That's great," Mr. Tang said, "but I have a suggestion that we might build more of these dredgers." You must also know that before the Yellow River entered the Huai, there was a section of the river that was not very shallow and narrow. If we can have a few more dredgers, we can dig up the river a little bit, so that all the boats can go smoothly. In addition, after we take over the canal in the future, we can use this method to desilt it, which will be twice the result with half the effort. We now dredging the canal to block the river, and then manually excavate, which is time-consuming and laborious, and also affects navigation. Tang Jingyao thought far ahead all of a sudden, which made Zhang Zhimu even happier. This person is a person who can do things if he wants to.

"Mr. Tang's advice is too good. We should expand the shipyard at Lingshui next year, because we don't have enough tugboats, and we really need to build more dredgers for dredging. Although we don't care about the canal now, we have cleared the canal, and it is convenient for us to walk on our own! At the same time, it can be good for the world. ”

"Mr. Zhang, this time our group also went to Wuzhi and checked the Qinshui estuary, as well as Baigou (Wei River). I don't think the difference between the water level of Baigou and the Yellow River in Qinshui is not big, and it is not difficult for us to build a lock. I want to hurry up, and I can finish it in a little more than a year. ”

"We must repair this project, but not now." Zhang Zhimu said, "I give you a task, that is, to speed up the construction of the Xishan Paozi Hydropower Station, and then find a more suitable place to build a hydropower station in Shanxi as soon as possible, so that our demand for electricity will be greater and greater in the future." This is a priority. ”

"Good! We're going to organize people to do it right away. There are a lot of rivers flowing through the mountains in Shanxi, so we just need to find a place with a big drop. Tang Jingyao agreed and left with a group of his people.

After Lu Chengxiang bought cattle and sheep in Hukou, he drove back first. When he heard that the Jin Wangfu had found silver, his eyes lit up with joy. I don't rest at home anymore. Immediately organized a capable team familiar with the box office business and went straight to Taiyuan. When leaving, he asked Liu Yun to go with them to give them a witness.

This time, Lu Chengxiang bought more than 30,000 sheep and more than 5,000 cattle in Hukou. Because he also had to take out some sheep to breed sheep for the landless people in various places to graze as a livelihood for them to turn over, and these cattle should not only eat meat, but also be trained for farming cattle in various places. It would be a trouble to transport these cattle and sheep back, but after Lu Chengxiang and Liu Yun arranged such a thing, they would not worry about it.

A few days after Lu Chengxiang went to Taiyuan, he returned to Yaogang and reported to Zhang Zhimu, Chen Yufeng, and Huang Yukun about the inventory of the treasure house of the King of Jin.

It can be seen that Lu Chengxiang, who has seen gold and silver, is really shocked, "Mr. Zhang, I used to think that even if we had the most silver in the kiln, it was impossible to compare with us. Let's not talk about the silver we earned, that is, the silver we got back from the eight major merchants in Zhangjiakou, the silver treasury in Tongguan, and a few bandits' nests, and we couldn't beat 10 million taels. But when I entered the treasure house of King Jin, I was really dazzled. It took me a long time to wake up. Why are the generations of Jin Wangye? One of them gets these gold and silver, no wonder the court is so poor. ”

"I said Lao Lu, don't be emotional, let's talk about the lack of dry goods, right?" Chen Yufeng was a little anxious.

"Oops! I'll say big numbers. Lu Chengxiang knew that he was off topic, "There are 150,000 taels of gold ingots and 8.8 million taels of silver ingots in the treasure house. The gold and silver in this treasury are large and integer. I took a look, and there was still a vault outside them, and it was estimated that King Jin handed over the outside vault to Li Zicheng, and the inside was not explained. There are also a large number of rare treasures, antique calligraphy and paintings. That's all priceless. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "With these dry goods, we will have no problem printing another 20 million silver kiln gang coins." ”

"Let's get the stuff back as soon as possible." Huang Yukun said, "Where you put it, it's better to put it in our vault." ”

Chen Yufeng said: "Without further ado, let Liu Yun and Li Jing escort the things back secretly tomorrow." It is best to go to the kiln at night and go directly to the warehouse. ”

"We thought about it, and the boxes were unloaded into the yard when the things were brought back. Let's change a batch of people with our ticket numbers and transport them to the underground warehouse. Those who unpacked in the library were changed to another group of people. This matter is to be kept in absolute secrecy. It seems that Lu Chengxiang has already thought of a way.

Zhang Zhimu said: "Those jewelry, antique calligraphy and paintings and other things will be handed over to our museum for exhibition next year." Let everyone visit and enjoy. ”

"Oops! Mr. Zhang. Every single one of those things is priceless! Is it safe inside a museum? Lu Chengxiang was a little distressed.

"We went together to inspect the museum's safety facilities, and if they didn't pass the inspection, we wouldn't allow them to open. Our treasures won't let them see it either. Zhang Zhimu said.

Huang Yukun just came to his senses and said, "Have we already gotten all the gold and silver in the world to the kiln?" ”

"Hey, hey! Far from it! Lu Chengxiang said, "When we were in the Great Song Dynasty, the imperial court paid tens of millions of taels of silver every year. Our little money is nothing. I don't know how much silver our rich people in Shanxi can have? ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "With gold and silver, we can buy a lot of food and feed a lot of people. With people, we can do a lot of things. ”

"Lao Lu said, how does it feel to enter the vault?" Chen Yufeng was obviously still reminiscing about getting so much gold and silver all of a sudden.

Lu Chengxiang shook his head and said, "I'm really dizzy!" It is really not easy for a person like Meng Si'er to withstand such a test. It is said that if there is more gold, it can affect people's souls, and I think it makes sense. Strangely, however, the silver ingots there are all in the form of treasury silver. I don't know if this is embezzled by the prince or if he deliberately cast this style. ”

In order to transport these gold and silver, Chen Yufeng transferred a transport group to Taiyuan, and Li Jing and Liu Yun personally escorted them back. However, for the sake of secrecy, after the transport group drove the carriage to the palace, the personnel withdrew, and the people brought by Lu Chengxiang and Meng Si'er loaded the car themselves. The goods on the cart were covered with canvas, and after being unloaded after being transported to the kiln, the people of the transport regiment drove the wagon away. Lu Chengxiang's men were then responsible for transporting these things to the underground vault. Huang Yukun personally participated in the registration of gold and silver. The final figures were all signed by Lu Chengxiang and Huang Yukun.

Meng Si'er was meritorious in this matter and rewarded two hundred taels of silver. The dozen or so Meng Si'er's subordinates were also rewarded with thirty taels of silver each.

Zhang Zhimu didn't care about Lu Chengxiang and their silver. He couldn't help it, so he went to Yaogang Academy to find Qingfengzi.

Qingfengzi saw Zhang Zhimu coming, and hurriedly said: "Mr. Zhang, are you in a hurry about benzene and toluene?" If you don't come, I'm just going to tell you. We've separated benzene from toluene in the lab. One of them vaporized at a temperature of more than 80 degrees, and the other was more than 100 degrees. In this case, we can separate them with the distillation column. ”

"If you produce some samples, you can use them for experiments and make some *****. I don't know how to do these things, but I do know that you have to react with concentrated sulfuric acid and nitric acid together, and you have to nitrate about three times to get yellow *****. Zhang Zhimu said.

"Yes, a lot of things that need to be nitrified require concentrated sulfuric acid. However, there are still many tests to be done on what kind of temperature conditions are best. But we already have a lot of people who can participate in such experiments. Now I can leave these experiments to them. Qingfengzi said.

"These things are poisonous, you must be careful. With benzene, you can do a lot of things, and this is the basic thing. Their group that makes sulfonamides can also work. Zhang Zhimu said.

"We are now preparing to work with Zhang Bingchen and the others to do toxicity tests on various materials with the rats they raise. That way we know how toxic that stuff is, and how different our protective measures are. Qingfengzi said, "As for the drugs you mentioned, they have already started experiments, and I have matched them with a few more people." ”

"Great, with these things, it's much easier for us to do it in the future. Let's talk about the sulfonamide used for anti-inflammatory, and now we basically have a way to encounter meningitis and pneumonia. But with sulfonamides, these diseases are basically not much of a problem. Zhang Zhimu said.

"There's one more piece of news you'll be even happier." Qingfengzi said, "We spend the most energy and manpower on synthetic ammonia, and the synthesis rate can reach 3% at the peak." There is no problem with stabilizing at two percent. ”

Zhang Zhimu almost didn't jump up when he heard it, "Hey! Let's hurry up and produce it first. Although the synthesis rate is still at the bottom, we will slowly study and improve it in the future. With ammonia, our nitric acid and fertilizers can be produced in large quantities on an industrial scale. ”

"I was about to tell you about it." Qingfengzi said, "I want to rebuild a production unit according to the current experimental equipment for synthetic ammonia production." Because we need to continue the experiment with this experimental setup. The production plant needs to build some supporting facilities, such as direct oxidation production of linitric acid and chemical fertilizer and other supporting facilities. ”

"Okay, we'll look into this matter in the next few days. This is our key project for next year. We just don't have enough people, and those who are engaged in synthetic ammonia can't be removed. Zhang Zhimu knew that the significance of this matter was too great, and it was a sign that the chemical industry had entered a new level.

"Also, what you said about our camera's film, we've improved it. A layer of opaque black paper was wrapped behind the film so that the film could be changed while holding the camera outside. You said 135 cameras, they are also developing. It is said that they have already started processing mechanical parts. We've looked at it, and if it goes well, we'll be able to use a 135 camera next year. Qingfengzi said.

Zhang Zhimu and the others are steadily advancing according to their own plans. However, this world is not theirs, not to mention other people, far away in Beijing Emperor Chongzhen, after hearing the report of Gonggong Li adding oil and vinegar, he knew that the people of Yaogang did not promise to lend him two million taels of silver, and he was very unhappy when he promised to borrow one million taels. Long Yan was furious.

Those civil servants who are mainly members of the Donglin Party, how can they let go of such an opportunity. One after another, he said: "This Zhang Zhimu doesn't take the emperor in his eyes. He also excluded the officials sent by the imperial court to Shanxi, which was a rebellion. The emperor had to guard against it. ”

Emperor Chongzhen knew that this was Wenchen taking the opportunity to make trouble, and if Zhang Zhimu wanted to rebel, he would not agree to lend the court one million taels of silver. Moreover, all the entry and exit gates in Shanxi, none of the kiln gang people have moved, which shows that the kiln gang people still know how to take the severity. What he was angry about was that the court really didn't have any silver in their hands, and their kiln people were said to be so rich that they couldn't give him more silver. He didn't think that the silver was earned by the kiln people themselves. Emperor Chongzhen was very disgusted by Zhang Zhimu's rebellion, "Zhang Dongjia is unwilling to lend silver to the imperial court, which is a money obsession, but it is also the duty of a businessman to keep money." If he wanted to rebel, he would not lend the million taels of silver to the imperial court. ”

A Wenchen played again: "Whether the emperor wants to rebel or not, we can try to find out." ”

"Ou! Aiqing, please speak. ”

"The emperor can invite Zhang Zhimu to Beijing to see him. If he dares to come, it means that they have no intention of rebelling. We can wait for them to bring the money, and then let him go back; If they don't listen to the announcement, then they are rebelling? ”

Emperor Chongzhen listened to this scolding in his heart, and he knew that Zhang Zhimu would not come no matter what. Last time, Zhang Zhimu finally escaped, no matter how stupid he was, he would never be fooled. These ministers know this, and it is purely difficult for the emperor to say this deliberately. However, Emperor Chongzhen thought about it, whether Zhang Zhimu came or not, I could use this matter to stimulate him. said: "Aiqing, it makes sense. I immediately ordered Zhang Zhimu, a merchant from Xuanyaogang, to enter Beijing. ”

When Gonggong Li came to the kiln with a sneer on his face to announce the decree to Zhang Zhimu, Zhang Zhimu really didn't prepare for Emperor Chongzhen to come to this hand. When Zhang Zhimu knelt down to receive the holy decree, he said: "The kiln gang merchant obeys the decree!" ”

Gonggong Li laughed and said, "When will the Zhang Dongjia leave!" I'm waiting for you here! ”

"When I enter Beijing to see the driver, I won't work for your father-in-law Li. We know the way into Beijing. ”

"That's not going to work! I'm going to accompany you to Beijing! ”

"We don't need you with us!"

"It's not that I want to accompany you, it's the emperor who asks me to accompany you!"

"I don't think the decree says it! You better let the emperor come again. Drop-off! ”

As soon as Zhang Zhimu and Chen Yufeng talked about this, Chen Yufeng was also surprised, "Beijing can't go, but there is no need to fall out with the emperor now!" ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "The emperor also knows that I will not go, he is not satisfied with our not borrowing their money." But there was no other way for him. I just didn't go, and Gonggong Li came to urge me again, so I said that I couldn't leave because I was sick. ”

"If you pretend to be sick, it's inconvenient to do anything."

"Don't pretend to be sick, I'll do whatever I have to do. Even if they really pretend to be sick, they also know that it is fake," Zhang Zhimu said, "We just showed Gonggong Li like this, so that they could not do anything." ”

Chen Yufeng smiled, "Yes! But take back Grandpa Li's yard as soon as possible. If they are willing to live in the kiln, they will go to spend money to live in the store. I'll let Li Jing do it tomorrow! ”

"Let's see, what other tricks does the emperor have?" Zhang Zhimu knew that at this time, he was too weak to do it.

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The Song army occupied Hokkaido, and Yuankou landed on the island of Kyushu. Opening up the Japanese battlefield. --Progress of "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty".