"Ronghuatang" is the residence of Xiang An, the old man of the Xiang family, since his 60th birthday, this old man has lived in a simple place, and the general affairs are handed over to his son Xiang Cong to take care of.

Strictly speaking, Xiang An is the same generation as the Empress Dowager Xiang, who was just a smart and clever little guy in the clan at the beginning, but now he can be in an important position, relying on courage and vision.

There is a pond in the courtyard of Ronghua Hall, which is made by leading the water of the mountain spring, and there are 100 fish in the pond, Xiang An sits on the pavilion in the pond, throws some bait out from time to time, and sees those fish shaking their heads and tails and fighting for food, he finds it interesting.

At this moment, the sound of hurried footsteps broke the calm of Ronghuatang and scattered the fish.

Xiang An raised his eyes with some displeasure and looked at his son who came in a hurry: "Every time you are in a big event, you need to be calm, what kind of body do you look like!" ”

Xiang Cong suddenly slowed down, paced over, first bowed to Lao Tzu slowly, then coughed lightly, and said slowly: "At today's party, there is news. ”

The Xiang family looked down on the Zhou family and did not send anyone to the meeting, but it does not mean that the Xiang family did not pay attention to what happened at the meeting.

"What is the idea of the reckless military father and son?" Xiang Ann threw a handful of wine-soaked millet into the pool and lured the fish over.

"It was said that a charter should be drafted and another head of the line should be elected."

"Haha, that's stupid, just this little trick...... It seems that they will not be able to stay long in this position of superintendent......"

Compared with other smelting masters, Xiang An is more well-informed and knows more things.

For example, the father and son of the Zhou family came to Li Guojian this time, in fact, they made a military order in front of today's officials, and the Zhou family said that within two years, the pig iron output of Li Guojian should be doubled, and more importantly, the steel output should be tripled!

Today's official Zhao Ji is interested in side affairs, whether it is the summer expedition or the invasion of Liao, it means a lot of steel consumption. If the production of pig iron doubled and the output of steel quadrupled, it would be of great help to Zhao Ji's plan to prepare for war.

It is precisely because of this that Zhou Quan received the reserved support of Zhao Ji, as well as the full support of Tong Guan, Zhao Ji even allowed Zhao Ji to burn cement in Xuzhou, firstly, to make up for the shortage of Jingshi kilns, and secondly, to make some money to expand the steel production capacity of Li Guojian.

Of course, the Xiang family will not go against the official family, but this does not mean that the Xiang family must cooperate with the Zhou family's father and son. The Xiang family has the interests of the Xiang family, and if the will of the official family infringes on the interests of the Xiang family, it is impossible to say that they will have to fight.

"Let's see how many days this pair of lucky father and son can jump." Xiang An smiled lazily: "Send some more money to Shi Kongmu." ”

"Shi Kongmu was ordered by Governor Zhou to be punished, first beaten with a board, and now he is flailed in front of the yamen to show the public."

Xiang An heard the news and raised his eyebrows: "Yo, it's really a reckless man, he only knows how to use force, but he doesn't know how to use it...... Did you send someone to inform Xu Taishou? ”

"I've already sent a letter, but I don't know if this Xu Taishou will make a move."

"Of course he's going to do it!" Xiang An said without hesitation.

Now Xuzhou Taishou is surnamed Xu, a benevolent person, a self-proclaimed upright person, there is a conflict with Tong Guan during the Daguan period, and he is very disdainful of Tong Guan's good side affairs, and he hates the fortunate generation.

The most important thing is that the Xiang family has not made copper coins from the Xu clan over the years.

Even if Xu Churen himself didn't want to touch the Zhou family's father and son, there would naturally be people who had money to find trouble for the Zhou family's father and son under his banner.

"We just need to close the door and not go out, we can see its self-defeat, after the Zhou family father and son leave, we still have the final say in this Li Guojian after all......"

Hearing his father explain the reason for this, Xiang Cong was relieved: "In this way, the Zhao family is really stupid, and they would cooperate with the Zhou family's reckless Han Wufu." ”

"Zhao family, which Zhao family?" Xiang An frowned at this time.

"Zhao Sheng's main family, Zhao Mingcheng, the third master of the Zhao family, came in person, and now he is drinking with the Zhou family."

Hearing that Zhao Mingcheng came to visit Zhou Quan, Xiang An suddenly couldn't sit still, he got up suddenly, and said anxiously: "Why didn't you say this matter earlier, you erection, you have delayed the big thing, how can you afford to eat!" ”

Xiang Cong was surprised: "Why do you say this, the Zhao family is just a broken household, and it is colluding with the father and son of the Zhou family, what can you do?" ”

"You know!"

Xiang An roared, there was no initial leisurely for a long time.

He knew very well that whether it was Zhizhou Xu Churen or any other person, it was an external pressure on the Zhou family's father and son, and they could completely hard-top.

The real trouble is that there is still no manpower available. After all, the father and son of the Zhou family are outsiders, even if the dragon crosses the river, they are not as familiar as the local snakes. Even if they pulled out the nail of the stone hole, they couldn't replace all the servants below.

No matter what you do, you always need these servants to run, but these people have been fed by the smelting pit smelters, and they are all talking to the smelters in the open and secret.

However, the Zhao family and the Zhou father and son joined forces, which means that the strong dragon and the earth snake cooperated, and the biggest shortcoming of the Zhou father and son was also made up. They are no longer isolated in the construction of the country, and those smelters who see the wind and rudder will also realize this, they take refuge in the Zhou father and son, and will no longer look forward to the future.

The more Xiang An thought about the consequences, the more worried he became, he frowned tightly, paced back and forth for two steps, and then said, "Call Zhao Sheng in, no, please come in!" ”

Xiang Cong didn't dare to slack off, went out in person, and after a while, welcomed Zhao Sheng in. Zhao Sheng was flattered, when he was the master of the smelter before, he did not receive such courtesy, but now he has lost power, but he has been valued by the Xiang family.

"Outside of the old man, it's not a good thing! That, Zhou Xiaoya, is clearly going to put his hand into the iron smelting, outside the old man, I have always been the only one who looks forward to you, and now that I have ended up like this, you can't ignore it! ”

Xiang An no longer had an anxious look on his face at this time, he stroked his beard and smiled: "Brother Zhao Xian, why are you so panicked, there are always more ways than problems...... What kind of characters do you think the Zhou family father and son are? ”

Zhao Sheng heard Xiang An say this, and he was happy in his heart, which proved that the Xiang family was going to deal with Zhou Fu and Zhou Quan. Now he was first humiliated by Zhou Quan in public, and then abandoned by the Zhao family, he was originally desperate, and when he came to see Xiang An, he was simply dying, but now, there is really a glimmer of hope!

He has been operating iron smelting in Liguo Jian for a long time, and all his interests are related to this, and he must not tolerate being kicked out. If the Zhao family doesn't use him anymore, he will vote for another master, and if he can't find a suitable candidate in a hurry, then the Xiang family is not bad.

"The father and son of the Zhou family...... In my humble opinion, his father was just mediocre, but that little boy was as cunning as a fox, full of bad water, and a black-hearted rotten thing! Zhao Sheng gritted his teeth and said.

Xiang Cong, who was listening to the side, spat silently, if he said that his stomach was full of bad water and his heart was rotten, this Zhao Sheng's smelter under him was really like this.

Only Xiang Cong knew that in the iron smelting managed by Zhao Sheng, at least three or five workers would be folded in every year, and the bones of these workers had been smelted into pig iron together with molten iron and sold to merchants. And the families of the workers who fell into the frieze, when looking for Zhao Sheng to reason, were either kicked out of the door or driven out of Diqiu.

Although the fourteen smelting masters' subordinates have more or less this kind of thing, it is really rare for someone as black-hearted as Zhao Sheng.

Of course, Xiang Cong ignored his father's methods, and the lives in the hands of his father Xiang An were more than five times more than Zhao Sheng!

At this time, Zhao Sheng said how Zhou Quan was brutal and bullied him, how cunning and treacherous, and he didn't know what means to use to move the Zhao family to give up on him, these things were all said one by one. Although he had known about it before, Xiang An still listened very carefully, and after listening, he sneered: "You have been fooled." ”

"What?"

"You think that Zhou's father is mediocre, this son is cunning, you are fooled, that kid is only sixteen or seventeen years old, even if he has some knowledge and skills, but the means of putting down the stone hole are clearly the methods of accumulating old officials, and they are definitely not used by intelligence." Xiang Anwei closed his eyes and tapped his fingers on the stone table in front of him.

Seeing that he was deep in thought, Zhao Sheng didn't dare to say anything, just waiting for him to make a final decision.

"In any case, the father and son of the Zhou family can't let them be too proud this week, Zhao Sheng, if you want to turn over, you have to pull them down!"

"Yes, yes, please give me pointers."

"Xu Taishou over there, I can send someone to do something, but only in your name." Xiang An said slowly.

Zhao Sheng's spirits perked: "I'll pay five hundred yuan to make money!" ”

This guy is willing to spend the capital, five hundred yuan, even in the eyes of these wealthy iron smelting merchants, it is a lot of expenses.

Five hundred guan is not enough to buy a Taishou, but it is more than enough for the children of the clansmen who buy the Taishou to come forward and make trouble.

"This is just a step, but the father and son of the Zhou family dare to act like this, I think they have some reliance, so you have to prepare some other means." Xiang An said again.

"Anything else?" Zhao Sheng was a little puzzled.

Xiang An looked at him and smiled, his smile was a little soft: "I heard that Brother Zhao Xian has a wide range of contacts, and even some strong people have dealings......"

Zhao Sheng hissed and took a breath of cold air and looked at Xiang An, but found that Xiang An's smile did not change, but there was an indescribable coldness in his eyes.

"This ...... This ......," Zhao Sheng muttered twice.

He didn't expect that this bit of his secret was discovered by Xiang An.

He was able to deal with those dead workers in a black-hearted manner, in addition to relying on the power of the Zhao family, there was also an important help, which came from those strong beams who killed people and set fires!

Thanks to the blessing of today's officials, all the officials he favors are small experts in scraping, forcing the displaced people to rise in all directions. Especially on the side of Li Guojian, the people are fierce, and there are those who are stoic and yin, who occupy the mountains as kings and fall into the grass. These people have always been the great enemies of the 36th smelting lord of Liguojian, so when Su Shi ruled Xuzhou, he wrote to the emperor that "he is often peeped at by thieves"!

But what Su Shi didn't know was that a considerable number of these thieves were colluding with the smelters, and Zhao Sheng was one of them!