Although Wuji and Xiaquyang belong to Zhongshan and Julu counties, they are adjacent to each other, and the distance is not more than 100 miles, and the cavalry can arrive in half a day.

Zhongshan County governs Lunu, and leads thirteen counties, namely Lunu, Anxi, Liwu, Anguo, Wuji, Xinshi, Shangquyang, Wangdu, Tangxian, Puyin, Beiping, and Guangchang.

Zhongshan country north-south direction, across the Great Wall inside and outside, east connected to the Taihang Mountains, the north has been close to the Xianbei tribe settlement, in recent years repeatedly plundered by Xianbei, the southwest is the plain, Wuji County is in the southernmost part of the county.

Wen Yuan led the troops as soon as they entered Wuji County, and there was already a team of knights on the road to greet them, these people were all dressed in black, not wearing Han army uniforms, although they did not wear battle armor, but they knew that they were rare elites just by looking at their spirits, and they were private soldiers trained by the Zhen family.

When the knight saw Wen Yuan's banner, he hurriedly bowed down and stood beside the road, and waited until Wen Yuan was close to the front, and then a person stepped forward and said: "The villain Zhen Hu was ordered by our lord to come to meet General Zhang, my lord has been waiting for a long time, the general please come with me." ”

Wen Yuan and his entourage continued to walk all the way west with the comers, only to see the knights in front of them galloping back and forth, less than ten miles away, five or six waves of teams came in a row to greet them, it seems that Wen Yuan of the Zhen family attaches great importance to it.

After walking for more than ten miles, I suddenly heard the drum music in front of me, and saw a huge greeting team of hundreds of people standing on the side of the road, led by a wide robe and big sleeves, elegant and elegant, it was Zhen Yan.

Wen Yuan was riding on the horse early, and when he saw Zhen Yan, he hurriedly urged the horse to catch up.

Without waiting for Wen Yuan to get off the horse, Zhen Yan had already bowed down and said: "Zhen Yan has seen General Zhang, and the general came to Wuji in his busy schedule, which really makes my Zhen family shine!" ”

Wen Yuan dismounted and helped Zhen Yan up, squinted his eyes and smiled gently: "Brother Zhen is so polite, it's just that I haven't seen you for a year, and you and I seem to be angry." ”

Zhen Yan saw that Wen Yuan was not arrogant, and he also felt that there was light on his face, and said with a humorous smile: "Zhen Yan didn't dare to trespass, General Zhang lived in a small county of 100 miles back then, and he was a little rich, but now the general is already a county guard, and the general defeated Lu Bu, broke the Black Mountain, and Weijia Hainai, it is no longer the same day, not the same day!" ”

Wen Yuan patted Zhen Yan on the shoulder and said, "Brother Zhen is too polite!" How about you and I still call each other brothers? "I secretly thought in my heart, your Zhen family's business is all over Gyeonggi and Hebei four prefectures, and the family has hundreds of millions of dollars, if you are still called a little wealthy, then wouldn't I even be as good as asking for food?

Zhen Yan joked, and no longer pretentious, so he said: "Since Wen Yuan said so, it is better to be respectful than to obey his fate." ”

The two exchanged pleasantries, got on their horses, and went to Zhenjiawu Fort with a blow.

Zhenjiawu Fort is huge, it is said that it is a fort, it is more appropriate to say that it is a city, the fort is two miles long, one and a half miles wide, there are one or two thousand households living in it, only in terms of scale, it is already comparable to one-third of the city of Quyang.

The fort wall is piled up with mountain stones, three zhang high, and it is very strong. There is a trench dug outside the fort, the mountain water is led around the city to make a moat, the horse face on the city, the battlements, the lookout are all ready, when it comes to the strength of defense, it is several times stronger than the Yangjiawu Fort that Wenyuan laid at the beginning, even if it is attacked by thousands of troops and horses, I am afraid it is difficult to capture the castle.

Zhen's Fort is divided into two forts, the main relatives of the Zhen family live in the inner fort, and the outer fort is inhabited by relatives with foreign surnames who live in the Zhen family. Outside of Zhen's Fort, there are more than a dozen villages, large and small, inhabited by tenant farmers of the Zhen family, not to mention more than 10,000 people!

Although the sparrows in the fort are small, they are full of organs. There are all kinds of shops and workshops, and the people in the fort will give gifts from afar when they see Zhen Yan, and Zhen Yan will hug him before and after, as if he is the emperor of this place.

The two entered the main hall and sat down with the guests, and someone had already served tea, first greeting each other, and then the conversation gradually turned to the topic.

I only heard Wen Yuan take a sip of water and said: "Brother Zhen, I came this time, in addition to expressing my gratitude, I also have a big deal to discuss with you!" A folding fan allowed Wen Yuan to get a bonus of three thousand gold, so Wen Yuan looked at Zhen Yan with a smile.

Businessmen are profit-seeking by nature, and when they heard that there was a big business, Zhen Yan's eyes suddenly lit up and said, "Oh? Wen Yuan speaks quickly, speaks quickly. "Not to mention that Wen Yuan is already the Taishou of Julu County, as a businessman, he is naturally willing to make friends, just with the folding fan creatively made by Wen Yuan, in just one year, Zhen Yan made a profit! So when he heard Wen Yuan say that there was a big deal, his little heart suddenly fluttered.

Wen Yuan was not in a hurry, and said slowly: "I have heard for a long time that there are many skilled craftsmen in Zhenjiabao, but I don't know what the skills of papermaking are?" ”

Seeing Wen Yuan ask a nonsensical word, Zhen Yan couldn't help but be a little confused, but he still said truthfully: "Since Cai Hou invented the art of papermaking in this dynasty, it has been nearly a hundred years, and it has been widely spread, and the craftsmen in my castle have also done it, but Cai Hou's paper is slightly yellow, uneven in thickness, and inconvenient to write, even if it is made, no one wants it!" However, there is a new Donglai Saeki who has made a new paper, which is smooth and bright, suitable for writing, I don't know what process formula is used! ”

"As long as you are familiar with it!" Wen Yuan said disapprovingly: "I have a method, if Brother Zhen knows how to make paper, I dare to guarantee that the cost of papermaking is greatly reduced compared to Saber paper, not to mention, paper must be stronger than Donglai Saber paper!" ”

"Really?" Zhen Yan couldn't help but provoke from the seat. Although Cai Lun of the Eastern Han Dynasty has invented and improved papermaking, but the production of paper is general, the output is also small, the silk silk is still the main tool to carry the text information exchange and transmission, "silk is expensive and simple, and it is not convenient for people" This universal social problem has not been fundamentally solved, although Saeki paper has been greatly improved on paper, but the problem of output is still not solved, so Saeki paper is still very valuable, only the family or the eunuch family will use.

The papermaking technique that Wen Yuan came up with borrowed from the production process of rice paper.

Although Wenyuan did not make his own paper in his previous life, he was fortunate to go to a relative's house in Xuancheng, Anhui Province, and visited the ancient rice paper workshop that has been preserved to this day, and learned about some of the production process of rice paper.

Before coming here, Wen Yuan discussed the papermaking process at that time with the gall pottery craftsmen, and compared with the two, Wen Yuan's rice paper manufacturing technology was not only advanced for five or six hundred years, but also dozens of times the papermaking efficiency at this time!

Seeing Wen Yuan's confident appearance, Zhen Yan knew that he was asking too much, but as a businessman's caution, he continued to ask: "With the manpower and material resources of Julu County, it is easy to make paper, why should Wen Yuan fake his hands and let me take such a big advantage?" ”