As soon as it was dawn the next day, Yang Jia dragged up the ancestral lion in the futon and walked to the open space yesterday.

The craftsmen got up much earlier than Yang Jia and him, and a group of people had already gathered around and were busy cutting bamboo strips to make catapults, and when Mr. Han saw Yang Jia coming, he quickly told the young craftsmen on the side to put down what they were in their hands and run to Yang Jia's side. After respectfully saluting the two, Mr. Han looked embarrassed, and reminded Yang Jia in a roundabout way: "Time flies so fast!" It's been a few days since the last time I knew we were smelting steel. Everyone is thinking about what they are doing well, and they are also thinking about the food and white meat that they are rewarding, and they are all trying to build weapons for Fenwei......"

Zu Lian looked at the endless chatter of Uncle Han, and he didn't know what was going on. Yang Jia playfully looked at Mr. Han, who was talking endlessly, and also sighed: "Yes! After smelting the steel, I went to attack Shihu in the blink of an eye, but I haven't come to see you for a long time......"

Seeing that Yang Jia was talking farther and farther, Mr. Han remembered that he was sweating profusely, so he found a moment to interrupt Yang Jia and said, "Hmm! Didn't you say that last time! As long as we reform new weapons, we will be rewarded, you see how the catapult ...... this time" Old Master Han caught a glimpse of Zu Lian's strange face, Yang Jia hurriedly explained with a stiff face: "I didn't mean that, it doesn't matter if I want to be rewarded or not, the money allocated to me from Gongxian County is enough for me to support my family." The point is that the ignorant young craftsmen need this, and do the work that gives them a promise and makes them die, isn't it? ”

The more Zu Jian listened, the more surprised he became, the world was full of wonders. I have never seen a craftsman dare to ask for a reward from the middle of the road'! Yang Jia finally couldn't hold back the sore muscles on his face, and laughed out loud, and scolded with a smile: "Okay, you old man, if you want food, you want food, and you remind me in a roundabout way, you can't see your thoughts?" ”

Uncle Han lowered his head and rubbed his hands when Yang Jia said, 'hehe' and laughed, Zu Jian looked at Yang Jia weirdly, why did he really want to send food. Yang Jia clapped his hands and beckoned everyone: "Everyone, stop, I have something to say." ”

The busy workers had already seen Yang Jia and Zu Lian, and they also saw Han Laozhang running over to fulfill yesterday's promise to remind Yang Jia. At the moment, everyone was in a much happier mood, and their hands also sped up, and some people even worked lightly with a whistling sound. Sure enough, the three of them didn't say a few words before they saw that Yang Jia had something to say, so they stopped what they were doing and looked at the three of them eagerly.

"I will never forget the rewards I promised you! After you have installed the frames of these 20 catapults, you will escort them to Qian County, and after you see Zu Fenwei, you will say like this: 'Yang Zhen and Zu Yuan'an promised to give each of us two catties of corn and two catties of white meat. I have already discussed this matter with Fenwei, and he will not disagree, as well as the fivefold reward from Mr. Han and the craftsman who proposed to reform the catapult yesterday, and the reward is limited to the more than 50 people present today. ”

When the commendation was finally heard, everyone cheered below, especially the young craftsman who had won the fivefold commendation, dancing excitedly.

Ignoring the concern of the craftsmen, Yang Jia rode to Gongxian County. It's okay to stay here, it's impossible for a craftsman to set up twenty catapults at once, it's better to go to Xuan County to supervise the election, and besides, the rest of the escort doesn't need to be instructed by Yang Jia, Uncle Han will send someone to get it done.

Immediately, the two of them trotted to the lower village below the county. Zu Lian, who was on horseback, was a little puzzled by what had just happened, and asked, "Why did Mingxin reward those craftsmen?" Isn't forging weapons where their errand lies? ”

"Of course, it's to speed up the forging speed and reform the weapons that are so powerful as they can be, stimulated by rewards."

"Then why don't you treat everyone equally, the craftsmen in the furnace shed are not rewarded, and Old Master Han and the young craftsman will give five times as much?" Zu Jian adhered to the mentality of asking to the end, and continued to ask.

Yang Jia did not answer the rhetorical question: "During the period of Emperor Hui of the Chinese Dynasty, Yang Jun, the minister of the auxiliary state, knew that he had no good hope, and he was afraid that he would not be able to combine the near and far, so he opened the seal and rewarded everyone, and everyone in Beijing added officials to the knighthood, wanting to please the public. Yuan'an, what do you think of Yang Jun's methods? ”

The funeral during the period of Emperor Hui began with Yang Jun, of course Zu Jian had heard of this incompetent master who had no skills in the Qi family and no way to govern the country, and sneered and said: "What is the difference between everyone adding officials to the knighthood and everyone rewarding them?" As soon as the words came out, he immediately reacted, and he smiled self-deprecatingly at the idiotic question he had just made.

Yang Jia didn't underestimate Zu Lian, no matter when and where he was, he couldn't underestimate the wisdom of the ancients, the craftsman was the first time Zu Lian encountered it, and he didn't react, if this kind of thing was put in politics, Zu Lian, who was familiar with history books, could see through it at a glance, not to mention those old fritters who had been officials for decades, and they could tell the trick clearly with their eyes closed.

Xia 㳡 Village is in the middle of Xuan County and Qi County, but it is a distance away from the water in the west, but for some reason it is called a Xia Village, there are a total of three villages in Xuan County, which are surrounded in the north, south and west directions, south Xia Village, north Shang Village, and west Yangye Village. There are at least 40 households in Xia Village. The two rode horses for less than a quarter of an hour, and rushed to the next village, looking at the specifications and distribution of the village from a distance and Yang Jia's hometown in Lin'an, Yangzhou, but this place is located in Yuzhou, years of war, occasionally there are mountain bandits, forced to protect themselves, the farmers in the village around the village rammed up a more than half a meter thick, enough to have a three-meter-high loess wall, that is, the dock wall in people's mouths, used to prevent mountain bandits and thieves.

The two of them tied their horses to the outside of the dock wall, walked through the wooden door of the high dock wall, and walked leisurely inside. It would be noon, and the young people in the village would go to the fields to work, and there would be only a few children and old people in the village who had nothing to do. A group of children playing in the grain field saw two richly dressed strangers coming to the village, and they ran around them and pointed at them. Zu Jian was surrounded by people for the first time and pointed at it and was still a group of children who didn't know how to do, so he couldn't help but be a little annoyed, but he couldn't bear to scold a group of children, so he had to endure it silently. Yang Jia looked around with a smile and asked, "Whose children are you?" "I don't want to go without a kid talking back.

The children surrounding the two saw one of them smiling and asking, and their vigilance dropped a little, only to see a little girl in the crowd with two pigtails on her head and a red face boldly asked, "Where are you from?" Is it from Gongxian County? ”

Yang Jia instantly felt like a strange uncle with a kind and black face who was kidnapping little Lori who didn't know anything, and endured the cold Yang Jia slowed down and said, "We are from Qian County." ”

As soon as the words fell, those children covered their mouths and exclaimed, Oh my God! It was from the 'distant' county, and after the exclamation, there were also a few children who were bold and chattered and asked.

"Is Qian County as big as Gong County?"

"Is there a lot of fish and mutton in Qian County?" The little boy who said this, tried to suck the snot that was about to flow into his mouth, swallowed his saliva and asked.

"Are all the people in Qian County wearing beautiful clothes like yours?"

......

Yang Jia picked up and answered a few questions, thinking that these little ghosts could stop asking questions, and they didn't want the children to ask more questions when they saw Yang Jia so kind and well-informed. The two looked at each other with a wry smile, and had to pretend that they didn't hear the children's questions, and walked around.

At last a stranger came to the village, and the children would have let the two of them go so easily, and they trotted to follow their pace, still surrounding them in the center. The two sides were at such a stalemate, Yang Jia and the two turned a corner along the path, and suddenly saw an elderly man leaning against the wall under the earthen wall in front of them to bask in the sun, and finally met a local who could ask questions, and the two hurriedly quickened their pace and rushed forward. When those children saw Yang Jia and the two walking in the direction of the old man, they all showed fear on their faces, slowed down their pace, distanced themselves from the two of them slightly, and tiptoed behind.

As soon as he walked to the old man's side, he saw the old man squinting at the two of them, and asked angrily, "If you want to borrow water to drink, don't bother me, go to the water tank in the courtyard and find it yourself." After speaking, he pointed to the earthen house leaning against him.

Yang Jiazu shook his head, squatted on the ground and replied: "It's not to borrow water, I came from Qian County, and I came here to ask about some things." ”

The sleepy old man finally came to his senses, stared at the group of children behind Yang Jia without speaking, blew his gray beard and shouted, "What are the little cubs looking at!" The sound was like the howl of a wolf in the mountains, and it frightened a few timid children into tears, and a group of people turned their heads and ran away.

Seeing Yang Jiazu and the two laughing dumbly, this 'wicked' has its own 'wicked' grinding, and this group of little devils were finally scared away by the old man with a white beard and a wrinkled face.

After laughing, Yang Jia jokingly asked: "Why is the vigilance of the father-in-law so poor, and he doesn't carefully ask the identities of the two of us, so he dares to let us in, so he is not afraid that I am two mountain bandits and thieves?" ”

When the old man heard Yang Jia's joke, he laughed heartily: "If you are thieves, there is only one bed of broken cotton wool at home, and there is nothing to steal from a stove!" But if you say you are thieves, I am afraid that even the children will not believe you. ”

Yang Jiazu was puzzled and asked why.

The old man, who had been leaning against the wall, sat down on the ground suddenly, and the wrinkles on his face seemed to be completely loosened, revealing a mouthful of uneven teeth and explaining with a smile: "This is all because of Zu Fenwei's favor!" In the past, the dock forts and horse bandits in the mountains came to the village from time to time to rob them, and those beasts hurt us miserably, but now Zu Fenwei brought the heavenly soldiers to the county, and cleaned up those dock forts, and also scared those horse bandits in the mountains to flee, and no one dared to come to our village to rob food. If it is really a mountain bandit, unless it is a fool, it will come to Qianjun to strengthen things, otherwise they will all be driven away by the whole ancestor Fenwei, all rely on the ancestor Fenwei, and finally have a peaceful life to live old! ”