"Ying Guogong, I do know a way to smelt charcoal into coke, this kind of coke can be used to make iron, but the iron smelted by this method may be worse in quality than the iron smelted from charcoal, and there should be no problem for civilian use, but as for military weapons and the like, I suggest that before the complete mastery of coke ironmaking, charcoal is still used in important places like the army. www.biquge.info"Li Xiu thought about it for a moment, and finally proposed such a solution.

People who know some history know that Tang knives and Mo knives are definitely a pinnacle of ancient cold weapons, but since the Tang Dynasty, the iron-smelting technology of the Central Plains seems to have regressed a lot, and the quality of weapons is getting worse and worse, especially in the Ming Dynasty, the army's standard weapons are still not as good as the Japanese Kou, and the firearms manufactured are often in danger of exploding.

Although the use of coke has greatly increased the steel production of the Central Plains, the price paid is a significant decline in quality, which is absolutely fatal to the military, so Li Xiucai proposed that the weapons used in the Tang Dynasty should be best used to make iron with the original charcoal.

"I see, but even if it is used for civilian use, many farmers in my Datang can't even afford to use iron farm tools, if you use the coke you mentioned, it should be able to reduce a lot of costs." When Samurai heard that coke iron smelting was best used only for civilian use, he couldn't help but be a little disappointed at the moment, but civilian use was better than nothing, so in the end, he was happy again.

Seeing that Wu Shi Tong agreed, Li Xiu immediately talked about the method of refining coke, in fact, he only knew the principle, as for how to actually operate, Wu Shi Tong needed to send someone to explore, but he held the real power of the Ministry of Industry, and there were countless craftsmen under the Ministry of Industry waiting for his dispatch, so as long as he knew the principle, it was not difficult to find out the actual operation method.

In the end, Li Xiu added another point, not all charcoal can be made into qualified coke, in fact, only a few coal mines are qualified, so Wu Shi Tong must first cooperate with Ma Ye to take out some samples from his coal mines to see if there are suitable ones? However, as long as you are not particularly unlucky, you should be able to find a suitable carboniferous mine.

With this method of coke and iron-making, Wu Shi Tong can get enough political achievements, and then there will be Li Yuan on top of him, and the position of a Ministry of Industry Shangshu will definitely not be able to run, and Liushangshu is definitely one of the most core people in Datang, which also makes Wu Shi Tong very grateful to Li Xiu, and he keeps toasting Li Xiu to show his gratitude, and he knows that Li Xiu doesn't drink, so he only needs to drink something similar to fruit juice instead, and I don't know what this thing is called, it's very delicious.

Wu Shi Tong likes to make friends, he is also a very talkative person, he can chat a few words from all over the world, Li Xiu's insight is far beyond the people of this era, so he can chat with Wu Shi Tong very well, Ma Ye also interjected a few words from time to time, on the surface, the three of them get along very happily.

Just when Li Xiu and the three of them were talking happily, the rain outside finally stopped, and suddenly two boys less than ten years old ran into the garden, playing and playing not far away, Wu Shi Tong frowned when he saw this, and just wanted to let the two children drive away, but at this time, he saw another little girl who was only two years old at most, and ran into the garden with clumsy steps, and when he saw the two boys, he also happily raised his hands and ran up, as if he wanted to play with the two boys.

It's just that what people didn't expect was that the two older boys didn't pay attention to the little girl at all, and even the younger boy pushed the little girl, which made her fall to the ground all of a sudden, and immediately cried "wow".

"Bastard thing!" When Wu Shi Tong saw the scene of the little girl falling, he couldn't help but roar angrily at the moment, and then complained to Li Xiu and Ma Ye and left the corridor, strode over and reprimanded the two boys.

"Uncle Ma, those two children were born to Ying Guogong's deceased wife, right?" Li Xiu looked at the scene not far away and asked Ma Ye.

"Yes, the samurai Tong is busy climbing up all day long, but he neglects to discipline the children, these two children are so stubborn, I guess there is no successor to the martial arts family!" Ma Ye drank a glass of wine at this time.

Li Xiu smiled when he heard this, but he didn't speak, Ma Ye said that there was no successor to the martial arts family, but it was very wrong, these two boys were indeed unsuccessful, but the unborn daughter of Wu Shi Tong was extremely powerful, the only recognized female emperor of the Central Plains Dynasty can be said to be unprecedented, except for her, even the most powerful women only dare to govern behind the scenes, and no one dares to ascend to the throne directly like her.

Just when the samurai reprimanded the two sons, suddenly I saw another group of maids helping a pregnant woman to come, only to see that although this pregnant woman was already middle-aged, she still looked very beautiful, her abdomen was slightly bulging, she looked like she was four or five months pregnant, and the maids around her were also very careful to serve.

If Li Xiu's guess is right, this pregnant woman should be Wu Meiniang's mother Yang, it is said that she only married Wu Shitong in her forties, and she has been an advanced maternal age three times in a row, and it is not easy to give birth to three Wu sisters.

I saw that after the arrival of the Yang family, he first coaxed his daughter a few words, and then persuaded the warrior Tong not to be angry, and finally let the Wu brothers take away, so as not to let the warrior Tong see them angry, from this point of view, the Wu family is a reasonable daughter, but unfortunately she didn't know, and when the warrior died, their mother and daughter were driven out of the house by the two little boys she protected just now.

After the two boys left, Wu Shi Tong returned to the corridor under the persuasion of the Yang family, and the Yang family also knew that there were guests here today, so he did not come over, but saluted Li Xiu and Ma Ye from a distance, and then left with the little girl who was crying just now.

"Let the two of you laugh!" After Wu Shi Tong came back, he was very sorry to Li Xiu and Ma Ye, and when this kind of thing happened in front of the guests, he, the host, also felt that his face was dull.

"Haha, it's okay, the child is just making trouble." Li Xiu was the first to laugh at this time, and then he asked very curiously, "Ying Guogong, was that lady just now?" ”

Ma Ye felt bad when he heard this, when Li Xiu didn't come before, he seemed to be very interested in Wu Shi Tong's wife, and even asked if he had a child, if he asked this kind of similar question in person now, it would be too embarrassing, maybe it would make Wu Shi Tong misunderstand. But it's also strange to say, that Mrs. Wu just now is already in her forties, how could Li Xiu be interested in her?

"Haha~, Li Gongzi guessed well, that one just now was a cheap one, speaking of which, thanks to His Majesty's marriage, Wu Mou had such a virtuous helper!" Wu Shi Tong thought that Li Xiu was just asking casually, so he also replied with a laugh, and it could be seen that he was very satisfied with his second marriage.

"Ying Guogong is really a blessing!" To Ma Ye's surprise, Li Xiu only praised Mrs. Yang at this time, and then didn't say anything, but this also made him finally breathe a sigh of relief.

The reason why Li Xiu came to see Wu Shi Tong was mainly to understand the situation in Wu Meiniang's family, and now that the goal has been achieved, he even saw Wu Meiniang's mother with his own eyes, and the child she was carrying in her belly was the famous Wu Zetian in later generations. Even Li Xiu wanted to pretend to praise this child a few words, such as this child is "unspeakably expensive" or something like that.

But then Li Xiu thought about it again, with his intervention, the history of the Tang Dynasty has changed, and Wu Meiniang's fate is likely to change, no one is sure whether she can still ascend to the throne, and maybe she will not enter the palace at all, so as to find an ordinary nobleman to marry and be an ordinary lady.

This banquet was drunk until sunset, and Ma Ye and Wu Shi Tong were already seven or eight points drunk, and they sat there staggering and talking nonsense. Seeing that it was getting late, Li Xiu also got up to say goodbye immediately, but Ma Ye was so drunk that he might not be able to ride a horse at all, so he needed someone from Wufu to arrange a carriage to send them back.

Wu Shi Tong was also very drunk, and he couldn't personally send Li Xiu and them away, at this time, the Mrs. Yang suddenly appeared again, not only arranged for someone to help Wu Xiu down to rest, but also asked people to prepare a carriage for Li Xiu and them, and sent Li Xiu and them away from afar, which also made Li Xiu have a good impression of this Mrs. Yang.

After leaving the martial arts, the carriage quickly drove to the wide Suzaku Street, it was already sunset, and it was about to reach the time of curfew, and the sky was not very good, although the rain just now stopped, it seemed that it would definitely fall again at night, so everyone on the street had a hurried expression, hoping to return home early.

Speaking of the curfew in Chang'an City, Li Xiu also has a lot of opinions on this, the curfew was originally a rule implemented during the war in order to prevent the enemy from attacking the city at night, resulting in civil strife in the city, after the curfew, not only the merchants are closed, but no one is allowed to walk on the street, otherwise they will be caught by Wu Hou and will be closed for at least a few days.

However, now the situation in the Tang Dynasty is becoming more and more stable, especially Chang'an City is becoming more and more prosperous, plus the garrisons inside and outside Chang'an City are also the most, there is no need to worry about any big chaos in Chang'an City, so the curfew should have been lifted a long time ago, which must have been seen by many ministers in the court, but no one was willing to take the initiative, mainly because they were afraid that they would take responsibility for the chaos in the future, and as a result, the curfew in Chang'an seemed to have lasted until the fall of the Tang Dynasty and could not be lifted.

Just when Li Xiu was complaining about the curfew in Chang'an City in his heart, he looked out the window and suddenly inadvertently saw two people in the crowd, which made him stunned: "Why are they here?" (To be continued.) )