Liu Ping and Yang Sanduo got up and went out of the dumpling shop, only to see a mess on the street, perhaps the ancient Chinese also had the habit of watching the excitement, a large group of people gathered there, pointing there. Liu Ping and Yang Sanduo, www.biquge.info of the pen "Fun" pavilion, squeezed in and saw a man lying in a pool of blood, with a fist-sized stone stained with blood next to his head, and an unkempt beggar sitting on the ground trembling and muttering something in his mouth.

Liu Ping asked a person next to him who was watching the excitement, and the man replied: "This is self-inflicted and cannot live, the guy who died is called Lu Da, he is a splash on the street, he oppresses the good on weekdays, and he can't think of dying today." ”

"How did this Lu Da die?" Liu Ping asked.

"Hi. This guy doesn't learn well, he just lost money gambling in the casino, and he has no money to find a gambling book. I happened to meet the beggar on the side of the road, and saw that there were a few copper plates in the beggar's bowl, so I grabbed it, and I didn't give it to anyone, and the beggar was also in a hurry, so I came up to snatch it, which one was not Lu Da's opponent, and was hit on the ground in a few strokes. Lu Dayang walked away, and the beggar couldn't be angry. Pick up the stone and hit it at once

On the back of the head of the unsuspecting Lu Da, you said that it was a coincidence, it broke the back of Lu Da's head at once, and he ran out of breath when he landed. Hehe, this handful of birds, if they do a lot of injustice, they will kill themselves. It's good to die, it's good to die. The man said with a relieved expression.

"Oh. It turned out that the dead one was a splash. No wonder! Liu Ping said.

At this moment, the inspection team that got the news came closer. More than a dozen Yongding soldiers separated the crowd and came to the front to deal with the accident, the soldiers drove the crowd away, sent two people to arrest the beggar, and asked the body of the deceased to be disposed of, and was about to lift it up, when he wanted to go out, suddenly, Liu Ping found that the stone used to kill the deceased had a metallic luster on it. Liu

Ping squeezed through the crowd, picked up the blood-stained stone, and wiped it on the ground, his eyes brightened.

"What are you! This is a murder weapon! It's to take it back to the yamen for record! Hurry up and put it down! A leader-looking soldier shouted at Liu Ping.

"Really, really?? Iron?? Liu Ping saw it clearly, this is a piece of pig iron.

"O man, didn't you hear? Don't put it down yet! The leading soldier shouted again.

Liu Ping didn't hear it, but just turned the blood-stained pig iron slip over and over again, and his eyes fell into contemplation. Yang Sanduo shouted at the leader: "Blind your dog's eyes! Don't you even know the general!! ”

The leading soldier was stunned suddenly, only to realize that the person in front of him turned out to be the boss of his army, Liu Ping. Dengshi's face turned pale with fright, and he knelt directly on the ground and saluted and hurriedly said: "The subordinates are clumsy, they failed to recognize the general, and they collided with the general, I hope the general will forgive me!" ”

The onlookers around knew that the guy in front of them was actually Liu Ping, and they bowed their heads and saluted. Mouth call general.

"It's okay! Not to blame, not to blame. Liu Ping glanced at the soldier and said. He ordered the beggar to be taken away, and he walked up to the beggar and said, "You threw this stone?"

"Yes, the villain threw it, the only three coppers left in my rice bowl were the things I begged for seven or eight days."

"Where did you get this stone?" Liu Ping stared at the beggar and said, the beggar was so frightened by Liu Ping that he stammered: "General, yes, it's a villain, a person!" The villain for a while

Miss. I just want to get my copper plate back, and I hope the general will raise his noble hand!! ”

"Tell me honestly! Where did you get this fast stone? Liu Ping asked.

"It was picked up by the villain from the low hill of Wulipo outside the city, where there are such stones, and the villain only used them to drive away wild dogs, and never thought of using them to kill people, general, my lord

, spare your life, spare your life! ”

"You said there were ?? of this kind of stone" Liu Ping asked with wide eyes.

"The villain doesn't dare to deceive the general, if you don't believe the general, you can take a look there!!"

"Let him go!!" Liu Ping rushed at those Yongding soldiers.

"No!" A few people let go of the beggar, and Liu Ping walked closer to the beggar and said, "Take me to that place to see, if you dare to lie to me, the consequences will be very serious!" ”

"Don't dare! Don't dare, I don't dare to deceive you even if you lend me courage! The beggar shuddered.

"Let's go, let's see!!" Liu Ping asked the beggar to lead the way straight to the low mountain on the five-mile slope outside the city. After a short effort, a few people came to the nameless low mountain, which was extremely desolate and wild

There's not much grass. Stone by stone is all over the ground. Liu Ping picked up six or seven pieces and found that there were black-brown iron slags on them. Liu Ping felt a burst of ecstasy in his heart. Secret way, sent, sent. That's one

Iron Mine!!

The next day, Liu Ping arrived in the barracks early and found Wu Blacksmith. said: "Old Wu, go!" I'll take you to see and see good things! ”

"What's that? The general is so in a hurry. Wu Blacksmith said.

"Don't ask so much, just go. Fast! Liu Ping urged Blacksmith Wu and took a dozen guards straight to the place where the iron ore was found yesterday. Blacksmith Wu carefully looked at every stone on the ground for a long time, beating and stroking it, and said for a long time: "The general is really a blessed general, what is lacking is what there is." A few days ago, I complained to Mr. Nak that I didn't have money to buy iron

Finish. Now I see that this mountain is actually full of iron ore. In the future, we will never worry about no iron again!! ”

Yanjing, the later heroic city, stored a large amount of iron ore. Iron ore, iron-rich ore, can be directly put into the steelmaking furnace to make steel, the iron ore used to be called "open-hearth bonanza", and the iron ore that can be directly used for ironmaking was formerly called "blast furnace bonanza", all with the word "rich". These bonanzas are preferably magnetite and hematite, both of which contain more than 70% iron. The classification of iron ore is very complex, it can be divided into many angles such as the main components, harmful impurities, structural forms, gangue types, etc., and each angle can be divided into many kinds. Therefore, Liu Ping's heart is really happy.

In fact, during the Yuanfeng period of the Northern Song Dynasty, the annual output of steel in North China reached 150,000 tons; After the Industrial Revolution, Britain produced only 76,000 tons of steel in 1788. According to the data contained in the "History of the Song Dynasty, Food and Goods, Pengye" and "Literature General Examination and Zhengyu (V)", the steel smelting in the Song Dynasty reached its highest point in the reign of Yingzong (1064-1067), at more than 8.24 million catties, equivalent to four times that of 2.07 million catties in the early years of Tang Xuanzong and the early years (806). In fact, the heyday of iron smelting in the Northern Song Dynasty was in the Shenzong period (1068-1085), but the iron class in the first year of Yuanfeng (1078) was only 5.5 million catties, the reason is that at this time, the Song court promoted the "private purchase" system that arose in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty to the whole territory of the Song Dynasty, and the government-run iron smelting was relegated to a secondary position, and the private iron smelting only needed to pay 20% of the output as an iron class, which was the "28 points system": "(Pit Metallurgy) called the people to take, bring their own materials for cooking, ten points for the rate, the official income of two points, and eight points of the pit households to sell their own goods. "If it is calculated according to five times the 5.5 million catties of iron, the output of that year reached 27.5 million Song catties, which is 33 million catties today, that is, 16,500 tons" At that time, it was a country with the largest iron-making and steel-making output in the world, and almost a Song Dynasty accounted for more than 30 percent of the world's steel production at that time.

"Old Wu, is this iron ore easy to smelt?" Liu Ping asked.

"Returning to the general, Xiao Lao'er has just seen it, this mountain has a lot of iron, and with a little smelting, you can produce good iron." Old man Wu said excitedly.

"Good!! Tomorrow, Lao Tzu will send people to close the mountain, send special people to guard it, and find more people to come here to mine!! Liu Ping said happily.

"That's the best! Checkmate. Blacksmith Wu responded.

"Well, let's get ready." Liu Ping commanded.

"Don't worry, general, the old decay will definitely do a good job for you!" Blacksmith Wu patted his chest and said.

Suddenly, a fast horse came from a distance. But it was Yang Zaixing of the cavalry battalion. The sound of horses' hooves was urgent, and it was only a moment of effort until Liu Ping approached. Yang Zaixing turned over and dismounted. Bow your hand to Liu Parallel

said: "General, someone is here in Bianjing." Please come over! ”

"Oh? Really? I'll take a look. Liu Ping said. When he returned to the barracks, he saw a little eunuch of twelve or thirteen years old holding the holy decree in his hand, looking at the many fierce soldiers around him with a frightened face. cattle

Gao sat beside him with a grimace, and the tears in the eyes of the little eunuch were so frightened that they swirled.

"I've seen the general!!" When the generals saw that Liu Ping was back, they knelt down and saluted.

Liu Ping accepted it calmly, and said to the generals: "Get up." ”

"No!!" And the people rose up as they were told. Liu Ping looked at the little eunuch and said, "Dare to ask this little father-in-law if he came to read the holy decree??" But in my heart, I looked down on the old Zhao family more and more. under

Holy decree, just send such a little skinned child??? There was no one in the Great Song Dynasty???

"Please, you, it's Liu Ping, right?" The little eunuch asked timidly.

"Yes! What's the matter?!! Liu Ping said.

"The Holy Lord ordered me to come and be the overseer of the Yongding Army, and brought a holy decree." The little eunuch said.

"Where? Divine decree? Liu Ping said.

"This is the decree of God. I haven't read it out yet? The little eunuch said.

"No need. A certain family knows words!! Liu Ping said. After speaking, he snatched the holy decree from the little eunuch. Unfold it and look at it. As a little guy who was used to staying in the Bianjing Palace, he suddenly saw that he was frightened by the murderous aura in front of Liu Ping's eyes, and his little face turned pale with fright. He secretly said in his heart: "This guy in front of him is so fierce, who let himself have no status in the palace, and no one came to Yan Kyoto, where birds don't, so he caught himself in the top tank." ”