Liu Cun brought Gongsun Pei and other five henchmen to Xiahe City, temporarily placed them in the mansion in the backyard of the county government, and told the five people that this place is quite spacious, and there are still left and right study flower halls in the two houses, and everyone will work here in the future, and after several independent courtyards in the east of the city are built, everyone will take their families to live in.

At noon the next day, Liu Zhuang held a banquet in the Tao Pavilion outside the east gate, and colleagues such as Meng Huan, the chief secretary Guo Tang and the heads of various departments of the county government gathered together.

After sitting down, Liu Cun solemnly introduced 40-year-old Gongsun Pei, 42-year-old Han Yang, 45-year-old Huo Jian, 41-year-old Zhao Rong, and 43-year-old Tian Mu to his colleagues, stating in detail the origins, specialties, and great achievements of the five in the process of resettlement of displaced people in the past year, and finally asked everyone to take care of them.

Gongsun Pei and the five people didn't expect that the lord Liu Cun cared so much about him, and in order to promote the five of them, he did not hesitate to put his posture so low in front of his subordinates, give himself such a high evaluation, and said so solemnly and sincerely, he was so grateful for a while that he was speechless.

Meng Huan and the others were slightly surprised, seeing that Gongsun Pei and the five people had already stood up, they humbly bent down and saluted, and raised their wine glasses in unison, but they all stood up and responded enthusiastically before they had time to think about it.

Liu Cun is still very unaccustomed to the current banquet arrangement, at the moment more than 40 people are kneeling behind the 36 coffee table-like eating tables, in a circle not connected to each other, when toasting, you need to raise the wine glass high and signal it from afar, and you have to shout at the top of your voice when you are far away, and everyone can hear what you say, which is really not interesting.

Therefore, as soon as the lively and joyful banquet in everyone's eyes ended, Liu Cun immediately rode on his horse and rushed to the north of the city, pulled Wang Qi, who was urging the soldiers to train on the high platform, to the rear small school field, and pestered Wang Qi to practice riding and archery together.

After changing five horses in a row, practicing for nearly an hour, Liu Cun, whose arms were sore and his legs were sore, finally felt comfortable, he took off the tiger bone wrench and put it away, wiped the compound strong bow specially made for him by the master under his command, and put it into the exquisite leather bag with love, approached Wang Qi, who was also sweating, and stood side by side in the shade of the field to drink water, while watching the riding training of the disciples under his command, while chatting in a low voice.

"Xu Yan's kid has made great progress, he has already replaced the two-stone strong bow, as long as he persists, he will definitely be a brave cavalry general in a few years, and he envy these disciples under the command of the virtuous brother! Is that kid over sixteen? Wang Qi's eyes have been staring at the young player who slowly slowed down after riding a horse and firing arrows on the field.

"I will be sixteen years old at the beginning of next month, and I still remember the scene of accepting him and more than 20 little guys last year, but I didn't expect to hold a crowning ceremony for them one by one in the blink of an eye."

Liu Cun replied quite proudly, and then looked around at the renovated barracks with rows of neat brick houses: "Big brother, what else is needed in the army?" ”

Wang Qi was very satisfied with Liu Cun's strong support: "I remember you once said that the hydraulic stamping machine of the Zhushan Iron Workshop is almost ready, right?" Will you be able to create the kind of composite armor and steel helmet you designed in no time? ”

Liu Cun smiled apologetically: "I'm afraid it's not okay, Lu Jiu, who was sent to Liaodong, came back and brought back a letter from Gongsun Li, the head of the Gongsun family in Liaodong, asking for an order for 1,000 sets of improved armor, 4,000 sets of new leather armor, 5,000 stainless steel ring knives and 500,000 triangular arrowheads, the price is very attractive, promising to give war horses to war horses, and gold to gold, so the Zhushan Iron Workshop has no time to make composite armor, and 4,000 sets of leather armor have to be ordered from the Mi family. At least about three months before the official start of construction, so the composite armor promised to the eldest brother can only wait for next year, and by the end of May next year, the 1,500 brothers under the command of the eldest brother will complete the dressing. ”

Wang Qi had no opinion after hearing this, anyway, the weapons and equipment are enough now, but he was very surprised by the generosity of the Liaodong Gongsun family:

"The most famous of the Gongsun family in Liaodong seems to be Gongsun Zhao of Xiangping County, how can a county order come up with such a large amount of money? Could it be that the two big families of the Gongsun family in Jizhou and Youzhou support him behind his back? Or did he collude with a certain side of Samhan that was on the expedition and secretly provided weapons to help in the war? ”

Liu Cun nodded: "The Gongsun family in Youzhou has been divided, the patriarch of the Gongsun clan in Jizhou, Gongsun Kai is currently the most powerful, Gongsun Kai is the uncle of Gongsun Zhao, and he will definitely support his nephew." Lu Jiu led the team to and from Liaodong this time, that is, he first visited Gongsun's house in Jizhou, and then was accompanied by Gongsun Min, the third son of Gongsun Kai, all the way to Liaodong. The day before yesterday, Lu Jiu came back and said that the Jizhou Gongsun family promised that within 40 days, their caravan would arrive at our Langya, and transport 500,000 catties of Jizhou fine iron and 800 Saiwai war horses in exchange for our ceramics, axles, sea salt, shochu and various tools, and at the same time enter into a contract of cooperation with each other, and also asked to open up a sea trade between the two families. ”

Wang Qi immediately fell into deep thought, and after a long time, he raised his head and reminded in a low voice: "I'm afraid it's good to say hello to Mi Zizhong as soon as possible." ”

"I have instructed Mr. Botao to send a letter on his behalf, ask for Brother Zizhong's opinion, invite him to come when he has time, and at the same time send a letter to the monarch, asking the monarch to give Langya Academy a calligraphy." Mr. Botao mentioned by Liu Cun is the chief staff Gongsun Pei, whose name is Botao.

Wang Qi put his mind at ease: "If it's okay, let's go to the big school field together?" ”

Liu Cun happily agreed: "Okay! I wanted to see how the 2,500 brothers were doing. ”

When Liu Cun and Wang Qi were discussing, Meng Huan, the county leader, Guo Tang, and Ling Shi Zhouchong stood side by side above the newly built Langya Port Wharf in the south of the city, looking at the two cranes that were installing pulley groups in the middle of the wharf, and sighed at the endless new things that emerged in the workshop under Liu Cun's command.

Thirty-two-year-old Ling Shi Zhouchong stared for a long time, pointed to the steel crane tower and pulley set in front and asked, "Can that thing lift multiple goods at a time?" ”

Meng Huan replied casually: "No less than a thousand catties, only two people can easily lift and rotate half a circle, load goods from the dock to the ship, or unload goods from the ship to the dock, you can do it at will, it is really ingenious." At the beginning of the month, I went to Zhushan Township to inspect the people's situation and Mengxue, and took the opportunity to visit Zhushan Port, and saw them hoisting sea salt on a big ship, using a pulley block that saves several times the effort and a large net connected by ropes, and can lift six large baskets of sea salt into the cabin at a time, and the standard weight of each basket of sea salt in Zhushan is 250 catties. ”

Zhou Chong was dumbfounded after listening, he studied under Liu Xi, the king of Langya at the age of eighteen, and at the age of twenty-two, he was appointed as the secretary of the palace with excellent literary brilliance and upright image, and successively served as the post supervisor of the South Road, Zuo Shi and other positions, good at criminal names, proficient in the law, but he didn't know anything about the organ, and he had never seen such a tall steel crane, so he was deeply shocked by the effect of the crane.

Guo Tang, the chief bookkeeper on the other side, was slightly surprised, but what surprised him was not the hanging tower, but Liu Cun's trust in Meng Huan: "Brother Zisheng, what else do you see in Zhushan?" ”

Meng Huan, who had a complicated mood, said truthfully: "I have seen everything I want to see, in the valley south of Zhushan Township, a large reservoir with a radius of several miles is built, a solid embankment with a length of 100 steps and a thickness of 10 steps lies between the two hills, and four stone and concrete diversion channels are built on both sides of the embankment, extending from the mountainside to the foot of the mountain more than 20 zhang below, guiding the water flow in the reservoir above to rush straight down, pushing the two major workshops at the foot of the mountain to erect huge waterwheels on the four diversion canals, driving a cleverly connected sawing machine, punching machine, grinding machine and other machines. With incredible strength and speed, it creates amazing pieces of iron and tools. ”

"In addition, I also visited the Mongolian school in the township with 25 teachers and more than 550 children, and also saw the manufacturing process of many exquisite pottery and magical cement powder, and finally held a discussion with the nine-person township elders' association.

Guo Tang, Meng Huan, and Zhou Chong are all from Liu Xi's disciples, and they are brothers who have a good relationship with each other, so he said the worries in his heart: "Liu Zijian seems to be extremely persistent in strange skills and business to accumulate wealth!" Brother Zisheng, what do you think of the arrival of Gongsun Pei and the other five? ”

Meng Huan thought for a moment: "The five people are all experts invited by Liu Zijian to handle various affairs for him, the forty-two-year-old Han Yang, a native of Dongping, Qingzhou, I met three years ago, this person's family has been in business for generations, and is quite famous in Qingdao and Yan'erzhou. ”

"Forty-five-year-old Huo Jian, a native of Licheng, is taciturn and old, but a pair of narrow Danfeng eyes are indifferent, as if he has seen through the world, which is impressive, Liu Zijian introduced him to be proficient in smelting and construction, and he is very rarely called a master, which shows that this person is by no means an idle person."

"Forty-one-year-old Zhao Rong, a native of Jing County, Jizhou, is polite, talks extraordinary, and looks at his demeanor, he must be a son of a poor family with a splendid chest, Liu Zijian praised him for knowing the law, good at planning, and appointed him as the head of the upcoming Langya Baiye School, which shows that this person does have something extraordinary."

"Forty-three-year-old Jizhou Quliang people Tian Mu, from a family of cultivators, Liu Zijian praised his generous temperament, emphasis on hard work, committed to agriculture, animal husbandry and water conservancy for more than 20 years, I am afraid that Liu Zijian's future farming and pioneering will depend on this person. Among the five people, it is Gongsun Pei who is incomprehensible, his eyes are peaceful, but he is as deep as the sea, alas! I don't know how to put it there. ”

The two nodded frequently after listening, and Zhou Chong said helplessly: "Liu Zijian just introduced the five people to meet us, and did not seek any positions for these five staff, nor did they have any contradictions with the legal system, no one can do anything!" ”

"Brother Ziyi should let go of the prejudices in his heart, just imagine one or two, if there is no Liu Zijian, what kind of situation should the entire Xiahe and even the entire Langya be?"

Twenty-eight-year-old Guo Tang admired and respected Liu Cun very much, and in the past five months, the rapid changes in Xiahe City and the continuous increase in the revenue of the government treasury have brought him great touch and reflection.

Zhou Chong was stunned for a moment, knowing that his junior brother Guo Tang had a straightforward and frank personality, and he had always been right about things and not people, so he didn't have any anger, but smiled self-deprecatingly.

In contrast, the thirty-six-year-old Meng Huan has a much more complicated mood, compared to the other two, he has more life experience and keen political insight, he is clearly aware that the Han Dynasty is in the twilight, but he can't see who is the master who can turn the tide today.

Although Liu Cun has the benevolence praised by all the people, has superb skills and an increasingly large industry and wealth, respects him Meng Huan, and trusts and relies on him as always, but Meng Huan can't see any domineering spirit in Liu Cun, a son of a poor family who has no foundation, nor can he see the opportunities he needs.

Meng Huan is a good thinker, and he is also very forbearing, he has been in the narrow and closed Langya Kingdom, far from the political center and almost forgotten by the world, for a full seventeen years, and now he is thirty-six years old, and if he does not leave this place that cannot carry full of ambitions, he will probably die in obscurity in the wilderness in this life.