Back in Yu Wenkai's mansion, Yang Chong unexpectedly saw Wei Xuan sitting in the living room, chatting with Yu Wenkai and Yu Wenshu; Wei Xuan saw Yang Chong, motioned for Yang Chong to go in and sit down, and said, "Yang Chong, we didn't finish the topic of the Western Regions in the council hall that day, so let's continue today." ”

Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty was not there, Yang Chong relaxed a lot, and said bitterly: "Lord Wei, I am just a small person, brewing wine, and tinkering with small things, don't embarrass me for this kind of big thing." ”

Wei Xuan smiled and said: "Yang Chong, you are now a servant of the court, an official of the imperial court, I am your boss anyway, and I am your elder in terms of age, what's wrong with talking to you about something, am I wronged you." ”

"No grievances, no grievances." Yang Chong arched his hand and said, "Lord Shangshu, please command." ”

Wei Xuan said proudly: "I know that Shi Lang is a person who knows right from wrong. Let me ask you, what kind of idea do you mean by long-distance and close-range attack? ”

Yang Chong recalled for a while and said: "The Western Regions are vast and desert, and it is almost impossible to eat them all at once. What I'm talking about is that the imperial court set up prefectures and counties, immigrated to the past, and pushed forward every ten years, just like the practice of Qin to destroy the Six Kingdoms; As for the Western Turks, we can't destroy them, and even if they do, new tribes will rise. ”

Wei Xuan and Yu Wenshu looked at each other, and Yu Wenkai asked curiously, "Is there anything wrong with Yang Chong's words?" ”

Wei Xuan adjusted his emotions and said: "Yesterday, Zhuge Ying's father and son entered the palace for a banquet, and Zhuge Jia would say that Zhuge Quan said that Pei Ju's strategy was not feasible, but he was just scratching his boots. Today, the Son of Heaven summoned Zhuge Quan, Zhuge Quan said that now the Great Sui is facing enemies, and it is impossible to subdue them one by one, and if the war continues for a long time, it will be the end of Wei during the Warring States Period, although Wei Wushu is invincible in the world, and in the end he is still tired of running for his life and losing the future of the entire Wei State. ”

Zhuge Quan's words are somewhat similar to Yang Chong's, no wonder Wei Xuan and Yu Wenshu, the two important ministers, are a little out of shape; Yang Chong has another feeling, this Zhuge Quan actually has this vision, isn't it the same as himself? Yang Chong asked, "Did Zhuge Quan say what method should be taken?" ”

Yuwen Shu immediately asked: "He said that the situation of the Great Sui and the Qin State was similar at the beginning, and the Eastern Turks should be consumed first, and then the others should be tried. ”

Yang Chong nodded, and it was in this way that the Tang Dynasty later pacified the grassland; But the Eastern Turks were at their strongest in the Sui Dynasty, and it was not easy to consume them. Yu Wenkai asked, "What is the attitude of the Son of Heaven now?" ”

Wei Xuan sighed and said, "Duan Wenzhen has arrived in Beijing, and he has to send it. ”

Yang Chongdao: "If you just attack Tuyuhun first, it should be fine." ”

Yang Chong was sure that in history, Emperor Yang of Sui defeated Tuyuhun and occupied Qinghai, Xinjiang and other places, but did not cause a reaction from the Eastern Turks, who were ready to move when the Three Expeditions to Goguryeo and the Great Chaos in the Central Plains had risen. Besides, Yang Guang, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, is not a person who changes his mind easily. Sure enough, in the winter of October, Duan Wenzhen, the assassin of Lingzhou, served as the secretary of the military department, although the imperial court did not say it explicitly, but the twelve guards of the government army began to mobilize, and a large number of materials were transported to Chang'an through the Grand Canal.

Yang Chong's real shortage has not come down, so he took the opportunity to go to the iron workshop of Meng Jindu Zhuge family, the iron workshop does not look big, but it occupies a good location, surrounded by mountains and rivers; The Yellow River is rolling down in the north, thousands of sails are competing on the river, and a small hill in the east is lush and green. The front and back of the iron mill are full of traffic, on the one hand, the iron ore is transported into the workshop, on the other hand, there are government vehicles and businessmen who come to pick up the goods, so that Yang Chong admires, is a small village outside the iron mill, neat and tidy three rows of tile houses, next to the official road, there is even a small market at the head of the village, open department stores, hotels, there is a lot of taste of the dormitory area in later generations.

Zhuge Quan stood in his thirties, his stature was very tall, he looked like a jade tree was in the wind, and he had a pair of strange eyes, wise and flexible, which made Yang Chong feel like facing Yuan Tiangang; Along the way, Yang Chong tried several times, from astronomy and geography to businessmen and traders, and finally determined that Zhuge was just smart, not a descendant like himself.

Zhuge Quan learned that Yang Chong was twenty-seven years old, and he couldn't believe it, no matter how Yang Chong's appearance looked, he was in his early twenties, but he looked like he knew everything. Seeing that Yang Chong was concerned about the tile house, Zhuge Quan introduced: "It is a place where the craftsmen in the factory live, and some people drag their families, so they bought two hundred acres of wasteland before and after the workshop, but it is not abandoned, I built a horse farm of more than 100 acres in the back, and you have the opportunity to take a look." ”

After entering the workshop, Zhuge Quan directly took Yang Chong to the material room, and asked the steward to take out five twisted sheet springs, some iron and some copper, Yang Chong tried it, but the elasticity of the springs was not enough. Yang Chong learned that when manufacturing steel springs, metal elements such as silicon, manganese, chromium, vanadium and molybdenum are often added to the steel to increase the elasticity and fatigue limit of the spring, and make it impact resistant; The brass of copper springs is a table gold of copper and zinc, and its color changes from yellow-red to pale yellow with the increase of zinc content.

Yang Chong has been thinking about this problem for more than ten days, and after discussing with Zhuge Quan, he decided to make bronze leaf springs, in order to ensure that the elasticity is bigger and thicker, coupled with the torsion springs of animal tendons, it took more than a month to make three samples and send them to the general prison, Yu Wenkai's first thought was to use it on the stone throwing machine. It took two days to modify the stone thrower, and Yu Wenkai asked Wei Xuan to invite Duan Wenzhen to come over and watch. Duan Wenzhen saw with his own eyes that the range of the two-hundred-pound stone thrower had increased to one hundred meters, and immediately asked Wei Xuan to arrange to place an order.

Wei Xuan has been in Luoyang for two months, and finally understands all the twists and turns in procurement, but in the face of Yang Chong's practice of winning with products, Wei Xuan still appreciates it. If everyone doesn't follow crooked paths and doesn't oppress people with power, how comfortable he will be as the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, but unfortunately there are too few such people. When Wei Xuan walked out of the Ministry of Industry, he saw a convoy parked in front of the palace, many people were watching, Wei Xuan asked, it was Wei Jie and Du Xingman who were sent to the Western Regions to return.

The two returned with a full load, bringing back the agate cup of the detainees, the colorless salt of Anguo, the Buddhist scriptures of the Wangshe City, and the most brilliant thing was the gift of Shi Guo, not only rare items such as fire rat hair and lion skin, but also ten dancing girls who were in their prime. Emperor Yang of Sui watched with a smile on his face as the servants counted the gifts, took them away or took them away one by one, and what he was waiting for in his heart like the courtiers was what Wei Jie and the others had seen and heard in the Western Regions.

Wei Jie and Du Xingman's westward journey was not for gifts, the specially arranged routes, Kangguo, Shiguo, Bada and Anguo were all on the south bank of Yaozhishui, separated from the Western Turkic bank in Shiguo; Detour to Zongbin and Wangshecheng, just to see Tuguhun's attitude, Fu Yun launched a coup d'état during the Kaihuang period, killed the original Tuyuhun king Lu Fu, and Emperor Wen of Sui agreed that Fu Yun's brother would die his wife and sister-in-law, and married Princess Guanghua, who was originally married to Lu Fu. Yang Guang wanted to know if his brother-in-law, Fu Yun, regarded himself as his brother-in-law.

Wei Jie is of medium stature, full of energy, and has a clear face; Du Xingman was half a head shorter, obese, and always had a smile on the corner of his mouth. When he arrived at the court, he could only report to Wei Jie as a messenger, Wei Jie said for most of the hour, and the more he went back, the more he was not calm, and finally said bitterly: "The Tuyuhun road is not passable, and the ministers and caravans are the same as they came back from Shanshan Road." ”

The hall was silent, Yang Guang's face was pale, there was a slight distortion on his handsome face, and word by word burst out of his mouth: "Go back to Chang'an next month." ”

Yang Zhao, the crown prince who stayed in Chang'an, died in the same month as Yang Su, and the Guan Long veteran and the officials who stayed in Chang'an wrote one after another, asking Yang Guang to return to Chang'an to preside over the overall situation; For the sake of the country, Yang Guang only named the emperor's grandson Yang Qi as the king of Yan, the emperor's grandson Yang Tong as the king of Yue, and the emperor's grandson Yang Yu as the acting king, but he did not return to Chang'an. Today, Yang Guang finally decided to return to Chang'an, and all officials understood that the curtain of the war had opened.