There is the largest gold mine in the entire Northeast China, with thousands of miners and an annual output of more than 30,000 taels of gold.

Many high-ranking officials and nobles in Beijing are vague about the situation outside the Guan, and even some of them don't even know how many generals have jurisdiction outside the Guan, but they know Luoshan.

Just because of gold.

But Lian Zining knew that the Luo× North in later generations, and the current Luoshan, were not because of gold, but because of graphite.

There is the largest graphite deposit in Asia, with reserves of more than 600 million tons, but unfortunately, because the scientific and technological level of the Ming Dynasty is still in a preliminary stage, these graphites have no effect at all.

"Huh? Maybe it's a little bit useful. Lian Zining's heart moved, thought for a moment, and said, "Call Lu Zhen." ”

His own guards went down to give orders, and after a while, Lu Zhen, who was dressed in a military attache robe and did not wear armor, came, and said respectfully: "My lord, are you looking for me?" ”

Lian Zining was not unprepared for this war, he knew that the territory under the jurisdiction of the general of Liaobei had always been known for its rich minerals, and many mineral deposits had been mined for tens or hundreds of years, and it was the kind of cooked ore that could be mined as soon as he took over. This time, Lu Zhen was also with the army, and brought a lot of officials from the Mining Supervision Bureau, preparing to immediately occupy every mineral land he went, appoint officials, and make it a subordinate of Wu Yijun.

The greed of his appetite and the greed of his heart can be seen.

Lian Zining asked: "Now when you mine and smelt ore, what kind of mold do you use?" ”

Lu Zhen didn't expect him to ask such a thing, he was stunned for a moment, and then said: "If you go back to your lordship, you will use clay to make clay molds." The inside is smelted and cast. It's to break the mold. When you mint money, or when you create something small. It is carved and cast on green sandstone. It's just that we don't produce green sand and gravel here, so it's useless. ”

Lian Zining said: "That is the requirement for this mold." Is it high? For example, if you were asked to make a mold from a different material instead of clay, would it have any benefit to the things that were cast? ”

"This?"

Lu Zhen was a little embarrassed, he didn't want to cut Lian Zining's face, but he didn't want to tell lies. Using clay to make molds was the least expensive way to do it, and it was so easy and quick that he didn't want to change it to any other material, and he didn't need it.

Lian Zining knew it by looking at his expression. I was a little disappointed.

Of all the uses of graphite, the one he knows can be used now may be used as a mold. Graphite has a very high melting point, good thermal conductivity, chemical corrosion resistance, is not easy to react with most metals, increases its strength with the increase of temperature at high temperatures, has good lubrication and wear resistance, and is also easy to process. It has good machinability and can be made into molds with complex shapes and high precision.

This thing can be said to be a natural material used to make molds, but it seems to be of little use now, after all, the industry is so backward in this era. There are quite few metal castings, and there are no requirements for precision, so it doesn't matter if it's a little rough. For thousands of years, people have used to clay castings. Low cost, if you switch to graphite. It's unrealistic. Unless it's the kind that is large and requires high precision. Only large metal castings with no blemish can be used.

Wait, large metal castings with high precision?

Lian Zining's heart suddenly moved, and asked, "Do you know how to cast cannons?" ”

Lu Zhen was stunned again, and said, "I know a little bit about it." ”

"Then do you know what is the most difficult thing to forge a cannon?" Lian Zining asked.

Lu Zhen smiled: "My lord, you can be regarded as asking this time, that day when the official and Lord Oka of the Ordnance Bureau were drinking, he also said that the most difficult thing about this cannon is the mold!" ”

"Oh?" Lian Zining's eyes lit up and said, "Let's talk about it carefully." ”

Lu Zhen cleared his throat and said: "The clay mold is not strong enough, it is dry and hard and fragile, and it is easy to break and break, and the objects of casting cannons are generally very large, so it is not suitable for using clay molds." And the inner wall of the clay mold is rough, there are a large number of holes, if it is used to cast the cannon, there are countless holes on the cannon body of the cannon wall, not only is it not strong, but it is very easy to blow up the bore, it is to cast the cannon, all of them are made of wooden molds. ”

"Wooden molds?" It's the first time Lian Zining has heard of such a doorway.

"That's right, Xia Guan has also been to the Ordnance Bureau a few times, and he has seen the process of their cannon casting, so he knows a little bit about it. So that the adults know that the first step of the casting method is to make a mold, which is to make a gun mold from very dry nanmu or fir wood according to the style of the cannon body. The two ends of the gun mold should grow more than a foot to make a shaft head, and an iron swivel stick is added to the shaft head, and then the gun mold is placed on the rotating frame in order to rotate the mud. After the gun mold is made, then the gun lug, the gun hoop, the mold with the word flower head is installed, and the gun mold is evenly painted with the coal ash that has been finely brushed, and then the good glue yellow mud and the sifted fine sand are used after drying, and the two eight phases are mixed to make mud, and the wool is shaken open, mixed into the mud, and evenly made "warp". After the mud is adjusted, paste it on the gun mold, then turn the swivel stick, use a round mouth wooden swing board, dip it in water and wait for drying. After drying, apply the mud again according to the previous method. After the mud reaches a certain thickness, use a thick iron wire to wrap it from the head to the tail of the gun mold, and then apply the mud according to the method just now. When the required thickness is almost reached, the iron bar with a large finger is used to compare the length of the gun mold, the long one is used more, and the short one is used less, and it is evenly placed on the gun mold as a skeleton. Then, an iron hoop 1 inch wide and 5 minutes thick was used to evenly tie the iron bar from the head to the tail of the gun mold. Then put on the mud and swing evenly. After it is completely dry, the wooden core is taken out and the charcoal fire is put into the clay mold, on the one hand, to burn the clay mold, and on the other hand, to burn the ear, hoop and flower head characters into ashes. After cooling, sweep out the ash and slag, place the bottom of the wooden mold, and then install the tail beads. Then put on the mud, after drying, take out the bottom of the wooden cannon mold, and then burn the tail beads with charcoal fire, after completely cooling, wait for the kiln casting. At the same time, the mold was made of iron, the length was equal to the length of the inner diameter of the gun, and the size was half of the inner diameter of the gun. ”

"After the mold is made, it can be cast, but it takes a long time to make the mold like this. And once the cannon body is too large, there is not a single whole tree to be found, and besides, the wood is fine. But it's not leaky, it's easy to have problems after all. ”

That's what he said. Lian Zining was a little foggy when he heard it, but the general meaning was clear - it was difficult to cast cannons. The difficulty is in the mold.

"No wonder." Lian Zining nodded.

Before this expedition, he also specially recruited Gonzalez to ask how the cannon was cast, and Gonzalez came up to kowtow and ask for guilt, it turned out that the cannon still had no clue. Lian Zining was not in a hurry, comforted him a few words, and let him go down.

Now that I think about it, I guess it's stuck on the mold.

"Ahh Lian Zining smiled: "It just so happens that this official has a way to solve this matter." ”

Then he told Lu Zhen about the function of the graphite, and Lu Zhen listened to it. It was immediately understood.

Lian Zining said: "Although this graphite is not used much now, and there is no special mining, but Luoshan is rich in this thing, and someone must be able to pick it up." After you arrived, you took people to explore in many ways, and tried to open a graphite mine as soon as possible, and mined a batch of graphite and shipped it back to Zhenyuanfu, understand? ”

Lu Zhen responded.

Lian Zining instructed again: "If that thing is pinched into a long strip and scratched on the paper, it will leave a black mark." But it's very different from ink, and you can follow this to ask. ”

At this time, he suddenly remembered that graphite is also a good material for making pencils!

Two hours later, the army arrived at the county seat of Luoshan.

Luoshan County is lucky. A while ago, the White Lotus Sect and the Jurchens were ravaging and invading everywhere, but this place was because of its remote location. In addition, it is located at the junction of the two major forces, so they are all afraid of each other. As a result, the county seat of Luoshan did not receive any intrusion. It has been preserved in the midst of this upheaval.

Not only that, but many people in nearby towns have fled here. Therefore, it also brought a deformed prosperity to Luoshan County.

In this apocalyptic scene, it is also rare.

The east gate of Luoshan County is already crowded with people.

Outside the city gate, a colorful shed was set up, and the magistrate and county seat of Luoshan County, and the garrison of thousands of households were already waiting below, and countless people were crowded on the side of the road, and the crowd was excited. After learning the news of the arrival of Wu Yijun's army, almost everyone in Luoshan County was overjoyed - although they are now temporarily sheltered under Luoshan County, no one can say when the White Lotus Sect or the Jurchens will fight, and it will not be a miserable end at that time? And Wu Yijun's reputation for being able to fight has spread all over the world, and with them, at least his life is worry-free.

Therefore, the people who were excited and excited also wanted to take a look at Wu Yijun's demeanor.

Under the color shed, Su Jisheng, the commander of Luoshan County, was sitting on the first place and staring and pondering.

This is a thin middle-aged man in his forties, with slightly higher cheekbones and thinner lips, which gives people a somewhat cool feeling, and it is. This Master Su is within dozens of miles around Luoshan County, and he is known for acting harshly and coldly, without favoritism, as long as the crime is in his hands, it is useless for anyone to intercede.

Such officials, although they are fierce, tend to have good official reputations, and because of their temperament, they are not very afraid of touching power. Regardless of whether they are cool or good officials, anyway, as long as the powerless and powerless people commit something, they must be caught in the yamen and beaten for a while, so the people are used to being severely punished when they commit crimes, and when they see that those powerful people are also severely punished when they commit crimes, they naturally have a balance pole in their hearts. So Su Jisheng also has the name of Su Qingtian, and his name is quite loud.

People thought that he had such a character, but they didn't know that he was originally a young man, an upstart in Beijing, but because he offended a great man who thought that his hands and eyes were all over the sky, he was assigned to this frontier as a small seven-grade county magistrate, which was more than ten years! It seems that the imperial court has forgotten about him as a person and ignores him, although Su Jisheng has governed Luoshan County day by day, it can be said that the GDP efficiency has increased by thousands of percentage points over the years, but the previous evaluations have nothing to do with him at all. Under the discouragement, naturally there are some changes in personality. Become fierce, become cold.

A servant came from a distance, knelt down and kowtowed in front of Su Jisheng, and said respectfully: "My lord, Wu Yijun is here." ”

"Hmm!" Su Jisheng snorted in his nose, waved his hand, opened his eyes and swept around in front of the squire standing in front of him, and said lightly: "It's all ready?" ”

"Ready!" A fat man with a fat head and big ears, wearing a staff uniform embroidered with money, touched the sweat on his forehead, and said with a flattering smile: "There is a good banquet upstairs in Linchuan, with a full seventy-two dishes. They are all seafood and mountain delicacies, which may not be eaten in the land of Jiangdong. The meal prepared for the soldiers was also cooked. The soybeans, forage, and eggs prepared by the war horse are all of the best. We've got our hands on it. Although three thousand taels is less, it is always a thought. ”

"Hmm." Su Jisheng nodded with satisfaction: "Outside Ding, you have done a beautiful job." ”

Nading was praised by him, and his face seemed to be about to smile, and he said continuously: "Don't dare, don't dare, this is a small part." The "

The military attache standing next to Su Jisheng let out a disdainful snort, he was tall, his face was dark, and his face had the unique murderous aura of a soldier. He wore a very formal red robe with small miscellaneous patterns. The patch on his chest is embroidered with a leopard, representing his status as a fourth-rank military attaché, and he wears a black gauze hat with a one-foot-two-inch long horn, a plain gold belt, and soap boots.

This person is Liu Fengli, who garrisons thousands of households in Luoshan County, and the military attache of Zheng Sipin. He was obviously very dissatisfied with such a painstaking meeting of Wu Yijun, which was also easy to understand, after all, he was Yang Xuezhong's subordinate, and in his eyes. Wu Yijun is an outsider, an uninvited guest who has intruded into his territory, even though they have come to save the land.

Su Jisheng glanced at him and didn't speak. He sneered in his heart: "I don't know what to do, I don't know how to advance or retreat." ”

Although he is the seventh grade, Liu Fengli is the fourth grade. However, the Ming Dynasty ruled the military with civility, and Su Jisheng's means were high. has a high reputation, and he pressed on Liu Fengli with all his plains. It's just that it's the autumn of war. You still have to rely on these soldiers, if it was in peacetime, Su Jisheng would have reprimanded him harshly.

The earth trembled slightly, countless cavalry appeared in sight, and countless banners of the Wuyi Army flew high in the wind.

Everyone was awe-struck by it, and Su Jisheng smiled faintly: "Let's go, let's go and greet Uncle Wu Yi!" ”

"Xiaguan Luoshan County Ling Su Jisheng (Xiaguan garrison Qianhu Liu Fengli, Xiaguan Luoshan Gold Mining Supervision Bureau Zhengpan Jiguang, grass people...... Wait to see the uncle. ”

Looking at the people who were kneeling down in front of the horse, Lian Zining waved his hand lightly: "Get up!" ”

"Master Xie." Everyone got up, Su Jisheng took a step forward, and said with a smile: "Uncle led the army to cross the river, relieve the people of Li from hanging upside down, and set the safety of the Jiangshan Society. The lower officials are here on behalf of the 160,000 people of Luoshan County, thank you! ”

After that, he knelt down and kowtowed three times.

Lian Zining smiled slightly, this Lord Su was rumored to be quite cool, but he didn't expect to be quite good at talking. He waved his hand: "My generation of soldiers, defending the land and defending against the enemy is the duty, the holy decree, since the observance, this time the official has led the troops to cross the river, sweep away the remnants of the Jurchens, the White Lotus bandits, but in a snap of a finger." ”

When he said something extraordinary, his tone was also light, as if he was saying something very ordinary, but in the eyes of others, he felt that his tone was sonorous, as if he was following his words, and what he said must be the truth! You can do it!

"That's that, in front of Wu Yijun's heavenly soldiers, those clowns who jumped off the beam are not enough to worry about."

Before he finished speaking, suddenly a cold snort came from next to him.

Su Jisheng's face suddenly became extremely ugly and gloomy.

Lian Zining was also stunned, he followed the sound and looked, but saw a tall black-faced man looking at himself, his eyes were fierce and fearless, and there was some disdain in his fierce eyes.

His eyes swept over the leopard on the chest of the black-faced man, and he knew his identity in his heart.

"Luoshan County guards thousands of households, Liu Fengli?" Lian Zining stared at him and said lightly, his face was a little cold: "You seem to be a little dissatisfied with this official?" ”

"That's right!" Liu Fengli raised his head and said loudly: "Dare to ask Wu Yibo, why did you delay crossing the river to fight, and the territory under the jurisdiction of my Liaobei general was full of wolf smoke and misery?" I ask Wu Yibo again, now that you are leading a large army, why did you run here instead of fighting the Jurchens and the rebels of the White Lotus Sect? ”

There was silence all around, no one expected that Liu Fengli would dare to question Lian Zining in public, this Uncle Wu Yi, the commander of the slave Gandu, a strong man with an army of more than 100,000 in his hands!

Everyone was sweating.

And what made them even more strange was Lian Zining's reaction.

Lian Zining looked at Liu Fengli with a very strange look, his face was still a little angry at the beginning, but now it has dispersed, replaced by indifference.

It seems that he didn't hear Liu Fengli's words.

The crowd watched. A wave of disdain rose in the hearts of many people, and they said in their hearts, how could this Wu Yibo be so weak. I don't dare to be angry in public by a person whose official position is far inferior to my own, what kind of army does this person command. What kind of battles to fight?

Liu Fengli also thought so, he looked at Lian Zining provocatively with his arms crossed, and the expression on his face became more and more disdainful.

But they don't know, Lian Zining is thinking now that it is a waste of your lips and tongues to argue with this kind of person, and it is a bargain to get angry with him. Since he offended you, then he will be slaughtered.

Needless to say?

Those who are familiar with him know that when an adult has such an expression, he is about to kill someone!

Lian Zining suddenly asked Su Jisheng: "Su Jisheng, this Liu Qianhu." Is it Yang Xuezhong's henchman? ”

Su Jisheng was stunned for a moment, and immediately said: "Yes, he is from Yang Xuezhong's own soldiers, and every year a large amount of silver taels are sent to the Wuzhiwei." ”

"Well, that's it." Lian Zining nodded, and smiled coldly at Liu Fengli: "If you are really a good slave, it doesn't matter, since you are so loyal to your master, this official will send you to see him today!" ”

"Someone! Take! Lian Zining's voice was as cold as ice.

Suddenly, several guards with big shoulders and round waists turned over and dismounted. grabbed Liu Fengli and pressed him to the ground. Liu Fengli wanted to struggle, but was kicked on the knee socket fiercely, screamed, and fell to the ground.

"You!" Liu Fengli's face suddenly turned pale. Looking at Lian Zining, his whole body trembled violently, and there was already despair in his eyes.

The reason why he offended Lian Zining. But it was not because of the reason he said it, but because Lian Zining said that the Jurchens and the White Lotus Sect were local chickens and tile dogs—if they were local chickens and tile dogs. So what are the soldiers under the command of the Liaobei general who were beaten by the chickens, tiles, and dogs? Pigs and dogs are not as good?

He seems to be rude, but he is actually quite scheming. Seeing that Lian Zining was so young, he felt contempt in his heart, and said in his heart that such a little rabbit cub could have any courage? Isn't it fortunate to rely on the emperor's favor? Lao Tzu bluntly offended him, how dare he?

So he directly made sarcastic remarks, but he didn't believe that Lian Zining could do anything to himself.

He had a good calculation, but he didn't expect Lian Zining to be so unscrupulous.

He could feel Lian Zining's killing intent, he was going to kill me on the spot? How dare he?

He yelled in despair: "Lian Zining, I am under the command of General Liaobei, why do you take me?" ”

"This official is the commander of the slave gandu, and Yang Xuezhong is also under the command of this official, you are just a thousand households, why can't this official take you?" Lian Zining smiled fiercely, full of murderous aura: "Besides, this official wants to kill you, no matter who you are, you will kill you according to it!" ”

He waved his hand: "Someone! Slashed! ”

"Yes!" Several wolf-like guards answered, and Liu Fengli, who had set it up, dragged it outside.

"I'm going to die? He's going to kill me? Liu Fengli was terrified in his heart, and shouted: "Uncle, spare your life, uncle, the lower official has no intention of offending...... Uncle......"

The sound faded away, and after a while, it was no longer heard.

The guards dragged Liu Fengli out of the crowd and pushed him to the ground, his hand raising and falling, blood splashing everywhere.

After a while, the guard came back with a bloody human head, the neck of the human head was still dripping blood, and the pins could be heard all around, only the sound of blood dripping.

Looking at the head, everyone was stupid.

It happened so quickly that they didn't react to it now - why did Wu Yibo start killing people like this?

Killed?

Thinking of these three words, he shuddered, and a huge horror rose in his heart, Wu Yibo was so unscrupulous? This is a dignified fourth-grade military attache of the imperial court, just like that, kill if you say kill?

Only then did they know that this Wu Yibo was not only not a good-tempered man, but also a cruel and murderous master who acted unscrupulously! At this time, the contempt and disdain in my heart have long been unknown and I have flown away for a few days, and the only thing left in my heart is fear.

"What about the garrison deputy Qianhu?" Lian Zining asked lightly.

The crowd was silent, and no one said anything.

Even Zining didn't ask anymore, his eyes swept straight into this, and everyone withdrew in an uproar, making way for an open space, and in the open space stood a man wearing a military attache robe. (To be continued.) )