Yang Chong couldn't figure it out, but Shi Daqian was clear. Yang Chong was at home, and when he was drinking with Shi Daqian, he casually mentioned the situation of Wuxia, and originally had the idea of having something to do, but who knew that Shi Daqian said disdainfully: "Shuangta Town outside Yumen Pass, Hanyu Pass in the west of Dunhuang City, there are many such things." ”

Then Shi Daqian said it carefully, and Yang Chong understood, because the Great Sui had household registration management, all the passage documents after the Hu Shang Yumen Pass had a route, and the merchants who came from the Western Regions, not everyone could get the passage documents, and if they had rich acquaintances, they would naturally be faster; No money, no acquaintance, while waiting to go. What is it like for you to let a person stay in an unfamiliar place with something valuable, except for fear and worry.

The official document is generally in duplicate, the original is officially stamped and issued to the applicant, and the copy is the same as the original, and it is in the file of the Department of Criminal Affairs or the State Household Cao. If local officials want to deal with a merchant, they often play a trick and take advantage of the difference in writing to make the number of items recorded on the merchant's document not match the actual number of items he carries, and then catch the fine. In the long run, an industrial chain was formed, and many desperate businessmen had no choice but to exchange goods for people who had access to Yumen Pass and Dunhuang.

Shi Daqian persuaded Yang Chong: "Brother, what are you doing not to get rich, and even go back to be an official in a few days, don't open that jewelry store, a good business in Chang'an City, what kind of back no one interferes?" Even those Hu businessmen, everyone has a connection with the powerful, otherwise those bulls, ghosts, snakes and gods in Chang'an City would have tossed them away. ”

Yang Chong didn't tell Shi Daqian about Tekis, he just suspected that it was not so simple, and now he was determined in his heart, and said with a smile: "Brother Shi, where did I get the capital to do it, just think about it." How are you in the prince's left inner rate? ”

Shi Daqian smiled heartily: "What else can I do, now the prince has not decided, fortunately, I am just a petty official of the ninth grade, it is the same everywhere, and now it is those people above who are annoying." In my opinion, there will be no arrangements until the Son of Heaven returns to Chang'an next month, and I guess you will do the same. ”

Yang Chong was about to say a few words, but Wei Lei ran in and said, "Master Liu of the Ministry of Engineering has arrived." ”

The two Shangshu are in Luoyang, Chang'an's Ministry of Industry is in charge of the Ministry of Industry Lang He Tuozhi, and Yang Chong's Ministry of Industry is in charge of the Ministry of Industry under the Ministry of Industry Liu Long, a member of the Ministry of Industry. Yang Chong hurriedly greeted him, Liu Long was already in his sixties, in terms of seniority in the Ministry of Industry, Wei Xuan and Yu Wenkai could not compare, Liu Long squinted, looked at Yang Chong and said: "Lord Yang, there is something wrong with the armory workshop now, the kind of knife you designed, the output will always not come up, Zhao Guogong wants you to go over tomorrow." ”

Yang Chong said: "Lord Liu, go to rest in the house, I'm on suspension now, it's not good to meddle in these things, right?" ”

"It's up to you whether to go or not, anyway, the old man brought the words, and I'm leaving." After Liu Long finished speaking, he didn't even enter the door, turned around and got into the car and left.

Yang Chong turned around and asked Shi Daqian to know that Zhao Guogong was Dugu Yu, the eldest son of Dugu Luo, the cousin of Emperor Yang Guang of Sui, and the director of Chang'an Armory. Yang Chong knew that in the Sui Dynasty, if you want to say which gate valve reassures Emperor Yang of Sui the most, it is the Duhu valve, no wonder Dugu can control that fat messenger. Although Yang Chong didn't know how to increase production, Liu Long came to inform him, so he had to make a trip, after all, he only saw Dugu, not to the armory workshop in Lishan.

Dugu usurped also the prince's right guard rate, the office is in the prince's mansion, because Yang Guang did not set up a new prince, more than 20,000 people under Yang Zhao, the prince of Yuande, still changed, as Yang Zhao did when he was alive. Dugu is very well maintained, I can't see my real age, it's okay to say forty, it's like to say thirty, when I saw Yang Chong, the first thing I said was: "It's beautiful, although it costs a little more money, but people's hearts can't be bought with money." ”

Yang Chong was taken aback, and said: "Guogong said that it was a matter of the lower officials buying slaves, and I had no choice, I didn't dare to bargain with Wei Fuzi, after all, he was a member of the Wei family, and I was just a craftsman." ”

Dugu smiled happily: "The people of the Pei family are not afraid, and you will be afraid of the people of the Wei family." Yang Chong, this official can see clearly, you are not only a craftsman, you are a qualified official, otherwise, you would not have killed people at the gate of Pei's family on Pei Zhen's birthday. No matter what you actually think, what you do is declaring that the imperial power is irresistible, and you have put yourself on the opposite side of the gentry gate. ”

Yang Chong was a little at a loss, your Duhu family is also a gate valve, what do you mean by this. Dugu Yu didn't let Yang Chong have too much suspicion, and said bluntly: "I invited you here just to hear your views on the situation. ”

Yang Chong said in embarrassment: "Xiaguan really doesn't have this vision, and he has been in the Central Plains for less than a year, so he can't talk about his views." ”

Dugu Yu smiled implicitly: "I asked Shi Daqian, and I also asked Yuan Jiu and Wei Wentong, the first time they saw you, your accent was the accent of the Central Plains, which means that you are not a Lingnan Tu, even if you grew up on that Andorra Island, you should have been exiled by your ancestors." You returned to your homeland in the Central Plains and went to the Western Regions, which can be described as a journey of thousands of miles, how can you not have an opinion? Wei Xuan has taken your words as a motto, how to say it, if you live in the temple, you are worried about the people, and if you are far away from the rivers and lakes, you are now an official in the temple. ”

Yang Chong didn't want to be slapped in the face, and said, "Guogong, can you be specific?" ”

Dugu Yu put away his smile and said, "Why aren't you afraid of the family, do you think that the power of the family is coming to an end?" ”

Yang Chong understood what Dugu wanted to ask, shook his head and said, "My master Zhuge He is not a descendant of Moxue, but he likes Mozi Technique; I'm a craftsman, I just like Mozi's thoughts, and I love Shangtong. As for the result of the family, it is actually a topic without answers, a thousand-year-old family like the Pei family cannot have no merits at all; I came to the Central Plains to travel, and now I just want to live comfortably. ”

Dugu smiled in disbelief, shouted to his subordinates to bring ten taels of gold and said: "Congratulations on your housewarming, this little meaning will be used as a congratulatory gift, and we will set off for Lishan." ”

Ten taels of gold, the amount is so small, Yang Chong couldn't even say anything to refuse, so he had to accept it, followed Dugu to the carriage, all the way to a col in Lishan, an area of nearly 1,000 acres There is only one lonely military camp, and the armory workshop is in the barracks. Yang Chong carefully looked at the process and found that the armory workshop used the method of folding and covering the soil to burn the blade, and then shaping, grinding and polishing after quenching.

Covering the blade is actually a local quenching technique, covering the blade with soil that does not require high hardness, and then heating the blade to a specific temperature, so when the red-hot blade enters the water, the naked part cools quickly, and the different cooling rates of different parts of the blade when quenched are directly proportional to the hardness and inversely proportional to the toughness. Yang Chong looked at it for a long time, and finally saw that the steel was decarbonized when forged at high temperature, and the hardness became smaller, and it had to be carburized later, so that the surface hardness of the steel knife was strengthened. Yang Chong looked at the iron material for the knife again, and asked suspiciously, "Which iron factory is this?" ”

Dugu was silent for a long time and said: "This is iron, the original material for making Bai Dao was imported from the Western Regions, and our iron factory in Dasui can't make this kind of product." ”

Yang Chong smiled bitterly, history is still on the old road, and he can't change it, the increase of the sword is the decrease of the knife, Yang Chong asked: "Can you import a large amount from the Western Regions?" ”