North of Xiangyang City, Left General's Mansion.

"My lord! The last general had gathered together the blacksmiths and carpenters of the city, including eleven blacksmiths, eight carpenters, and twelve tailors. Most of these blacksmiths are from the people, and the blacksmiths in the army are useless to prevent leaks. ”

Although he didn't know what his lord was going to do, every time he reported to Liu Bei, he could always find a feeling of excitement in Liu Bei's eyes, and Chen Zhi faintly felt that something big would happen this time.

Liu Bei's eyes flashed with that feeling of excitement again, nodded with a well, and commanded: "Uncle Zhi!" Find a secret place outside Xiangyang City, gather all the craftsmen here secretly, and then send ten people from the guards to secretly guard there. ”

Chen Zhiyi arched his hand: "Lord! That's what I'm going to do. ”

Liu Bei beckoned Ah San again: "Help me find Zizhong, I have something important to discuss." ”

After a while, Mi Zhu came to the mansion, saluted, and said, "Lord." ”

Liu Bei waved his hand and motioned for Mi Zhu to sit aside for a while: "Zizhong!" How's it going? ”

Mi Zhu smiled lightly: "My lord! Everything is going well, not only in Xiangyang City, but also in Jiangxia, Nanyang, Fancheng, Jiangling, and Changsha, thanks to the help of Gongzi Liu Qi, otherwise there will really not be such a fast efficiency. ”

"Hmmm! Very good. It's hard for you to be able to do this, whether our business can extend to iron ore, bronze, timber and other resources, and I urgently need resources in this area at this time. ”

"This" Mi Zhu was obviously a little embarrassed, and he pondered for a long time, and finally shook it: "Lord! According to the following understanding, this aspect of the business is basically monopolized by the Cai family in Jingzhou, the Kuai family is involved, and the Jiangxia Huang family is also involved, but there are really few resources that can be used, such as iron ore and the like are basically not available in Jingzhou. ”

Liu Bei also fell into contemplation, it was difficult for a good woman to cook without rice. If there are no resources, then everything is basically all phantoms, and the bronze resource is good to say, this time the war with Sun Quan, the weapons collected. The armor is enough. However, Jingtie is not always refining the armor left by the tiger and leopard riding, so the gains outweigh the losses, but if you want to build an elite army, you can't do it without these, and you still have to do everything you can to solve this problem.

"Zizhong! Is it possible to set up a caravan. To do business in Xichuan, Hanzhong, Yanzhou, Yuzhou and even Xuzhou, Jiangdong and other places, we do not lack money in our hands at this time, what we lack is resources. ”

Mi Zhu pondered for a moment, and then said: "Can be can, but it takes time." ”

Liu Bei blurted out and asked, "How long does Zizhong take?" ”

Mi Zhu was silent for a moment, and arched his hand: "A caravan needs ten carriages, twenty accompanying cronies, and it needs to be very familiar with the situation in each middle, and the others are relatively easy, but people are really a little difficult to do. ”

"It's simple, draw a hundred people from the seven hundred elite soldiers we brought out to form five caravans. They rushed to Shuzhong, Hanzhong, Runan, Xuzhou, Jiangdong and other places.

Zizhong selected ten more cronies who were proficient in business to set off with the army and expand the business to these forces, I don't ask for these resources to be brought back immediately, but it is necessary to be able to take root in these places to facilitate future business, how about it!? ”

"Of course, it would be best if it could be so, but the lord urgently needed these resources but couldn't provide them in time." Mi Zhu said without thinking.

"Huh!" Liu Bei didn't seem to care about these things at all: "The thin water flows for a long time, and the big fish can only be dropped by putting a long line, although these resources are urgently used, the amount is not large for the time being." I can find some to experiment with through Gongzi Liu Qi or Jiang Xia Huang Ancestor, and wait until the experiment is mature before I demand it in large quantities, so Zizhong has enough time to develop his business. And these people aren't just capable of doing business. It can spy on intelligence, spread rumors, and get more with one stone, so why not? ”

Mi Zhu arched his hand: "The lord is far-sighted and admires him so much." ”

After the matter is explained, it will be after noon. Liu Bei personally visited his son, Liu Qi.

At this time, Liu Bei was the target of Liu Biao's father and son's efforts, and naturally he would not refuse some of Liu Bei's requests, and Liu Bei only needed some fine iron, which did not arouse Liu Qi's suspicion, so he directly agreed to this request.

At the same time, Liu Bei ordered Sun Qian to hurry to Jiangxia and ordered Tian Feng to ask the generals to prepare the extra bronze swords and corresponding armor and secretly put them away for emergency use.

When it was approaching evening, Chen Zhi had already chosen the location of the report, and when night fell, Liu Bei and Chen Zhi rushed to Xiangyang City to personally investigate, which is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and it is very secret, it is indeed a rare place for forging.

Back in the house, Liu Bei took out the stirrups and saddle sketches drawn in his free time, and explained to Chen Zhi in person, including the use, shape, and test methods, etc., Liu Bei's requirements are not high, as long as he can build enough to equip a team of five hundred elite horsemen.

*******************

Xiangyang, Dadu Governor's Mansion.

Cai Mao held a bamboo slip in her hand and asked without leaving the scroll: "Where did Liu Bei go today?" ”

The little official in the hall was a little nervous, and his words were slightly slurred: "Back to the governor, Liu Bei went to the mansion of the prince Liu Qi at noon today, and after coming back, he had already arrived at the time of Xu, but he happened to meet his subordinate Chen Dao, and the two went out of Xiangyang City together. ”

"Oh!?" Cai Mao suddenly became interested, frowned, and asked indifferently: "A trip to Xiangyang City!?" ”

"Exactly."

"Where did you go!?"

"This" The little official was immediately dumbfounded, not knowing how to answer, he muttered for a long time, and still honestly confessed: "Liu Bei walks every day, but who would have thought that he would go out of the city today, so he is small"

Syllable!

The bamboo slip in his hand flew out suddenly and smashed directly on the little official, the little official was startled, knelt on the ground with a pop, and slapped his mouth again and again: "The little one should be damned!" Little damn it! ”

Cai Mao was furious and shouted, "Waste! Come! Pull me down and give me twenty strokes. ”

I went out of Xiangyang City at the time, and it was already a watch day at this time, so wouldn't it be later to come back? Leaving the city at night, things came strangely, and there must be a mystery in this.

"Butler!" Cai Mao greeted.

A person turned in outside the door, and said, "Governor." ”

"Go and find out, who is guarding the four gates from the first watch tonight, have you ever seen Liu Bei enter and leave the city."

"Yes! The little ones are going. ”

**************

Jiangxia City, where Liu Bei's army is stationed.

"Strategist."

Sun Qian opened the curtain and came to the military tent.

Under the candlelight, Tian Feng was reviewing the relevant official documents, and when he heard this, he immediately looked up, saw Sun Qian coming, and hurriedly turned into the account to greet him, the corners of his mouth rose, revealing a faint smile: "When Gongyou comes, it must be delivered by the lord's letter." ”

The two looked at each other and laughed, Sun Qian took out the silk letter from his arms and presented it to Tian Feng, Tian Feng took a closer look at it by the candlelight, and couldn't help but be taken aback.

"What's the use of the lord asking for so many bronze swords!?"

Tian Feng looked at Sun Qian in front of him with an extremely skeptical look, hoping to get the answer he wanted from Sun Gan, but Sun Qian smiled at him.

"Actually, I don't know, but I'm sure the main guild will be useful. How? Isn't there a bronze sword in the army? ”

"Oh! No" Tian Fengyi waved his hand: "There are bronze swords, but at this time, our troops have reached five thousand, and there are not many bronze swords and bronze armor captured." ”

Sun Qian was a little surprised, and looked at Tian Feng in a daze: "What!?" The number of troops has reached five thousand? How can there be so many? ”

"Yuanlong brought back two thousand bandits from Xiangyang, plus our original strength of seven hundred, this time Feng only recruited more than two thousand three hundred people, it is really worthy of the trust of the lord." Tian Feng was a little embarrassed.

Sun Qian laughed: "Anyway, first prepare some bronze swords for the lord, as for the problem of new soldiers' weapons, you can ask Jiangxia Huangzu to buy some, I think the faster I develop at this time, the happier Liu Biao will be, and all the items in the army should be collected according to the order." What does Yuan Hao think? ”

"This counts in big seconds!" Tian Feng smiled knowingly.

**************

Early the next morning, in the valley outside the city of Xiangyang.

"General Chen, do you think that's the case?"

A blacksmith was shirtless, holding an iron clip with a round bronze ring between it, and showed it to Chen Zhi.

Chen Zhi took a lot of time, pointed to the stirrup and said: "It should be flat here, there is some curvature on it, and it should be a little thicker on top, well, that's right, it should be like this." ”

"General Chen, but that's it!?"

Chen Zhi came to the man again, looked at it, and nodded: "There are some looks, go on, and I'll try it out first after it's built." ”

"Okay!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The chaotic sound of gold chirped once again filled the valley, and the heat wave came after wave, and although there was wind in the valley, the blacksmith door was still sweating profusely.

Separated from the blacksmith by a distance is the carpenter, Liu Bei gave them the task of building a bellows and a saddle out, the saddle is relatively easy, it only needs to be able to match the war horse.

However, the bellows are a great challenge for this era, after all, if you refine refined iron in the future, the requirements for the flame temperature are really high, and after having the bellows, you will definitely be able to get twice the result with half the effort.

The carpenters gathered to discuss and discuss the drawings, and around them was the already cut wood, enough for them to experiment.

************

The Mijia caravan was once again formed, this caravan was set out from Jiangxia, one fleet rushed to Jiangdong, and four horse teams rushed to Xuzhou, Runan, Xichuan and Hanzhong respectively.

Before each caravan set out, it loaded the special products here in Jingzhou, and carried a hundred gold with it, which was used as the principal for entanglement and business.

In this way, Liu Bei's business empire has already embarked on a starting point, and then it is waiting for it to take root, as long as it does a few big business, then it will gain a firm foothold in a state and county in a short period of time, and it can take root and sprout, as long as these commercial outlets have a steady stream of financial support, then the problem of intelligence and various resources will be solved.

During this period of time, Liu Bei was thinking again, how should this money be earned!? (To be continued.) )

PS: Autumn wind asks for tickets ~~~~