With the two swords in hand, Liu Ze jumped off the high platform, and slashed at the python's head with a sword, which was indeed worthy of being a peerless divine soldier, and the giant python that was not injured by ordinary soldiers was actually cut off by Long Yuanjian with a sword. As soon as Liu Ze turned around, Tai'a Jian cut off the head of the white python again.

Guan Yu jumped off the python body and praised repeatedly: "Good sword!" Good sword! ”

Although the black python was cut off the head of the python, the python's body was still wrapped around Zhang Fei, and Zhang Fei struggled a few times and didn't break free, shouting: "Don't talk patronize, pull me out first." ”

Liu Ze and Guan Yu looked at each other and smiled, and stepped forward to drag Zhang Fei out.

Zhang Fei kicked the black python a few times and scolded: "Damn, I almost suffocated Lao Tzu, I have to drag you back to cook and eat it today!" ”

Liu Ze looked at the two swords in his hand and handed them to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. "Today, it is all up to Brother Guan and the third brother to capture the giant python, so that we can get these two swords, just one for each of you, try to take advantage of it."

Guan Yu smiled slightly and said: "Brother Liu doesn't have to be polite, since ancient times, the world's treasures are based on those who are virtuous, and Brother Liu is a noble of the emperor's family, so he can be worthy of this heavy treasure." What's more, if you talk about weapons, Guan doesn't like swords, and it's good to have a knife. ”

Zhang Fei also laughed and said, "You should keep these two swords, big brother, it's so short, I won't take advantage of it." ”

Liu Ze knew that they were unwilling to fight with him, so he had to say: "Okay, in the future, I will definitely get two weapons for Brother Guan and Third Brother to take advantage of." ”

"Big brother, look, there are words on this stone wall!" Zhang Fei had already jumped up to the high platform at this time, saw the words on the stone wall, and shouted loudly.

After Liu Ze took the sword, he was worried about the safety of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, and he didn't look at the stone wall at all, and he really didn't know if there were any words. Hearing Zhang Fei shouting, Liu Ze and Guan Yu also stepped forward to take a look.

The words on the wall are all seal characters, and when the world is in the official book, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei have never known it, Zhang Fei shouted: "Damn, who carved this word on the wall, twisted and twisted, so awkward." ”

Liu Ze also learned calligraphy with Lu Zhi, and he still knows the seal characters, and he looked at it carefully, and after a long sound, he raised his head, sighed long, and said: "I didn't think that this was the place where Guiguzi buried his head!" ”

"Who is Guiguzi? Such a strange name? Zhang Feishu didn't read much, he didn't know who Guiguzi was, Guan Yu was familiar with the Spring and Autumn Period, and he knew the historical figures well, and said in slight surprise: "But five hundred years ago, the founder of the Zongheng family, Su Qin, Zhang Yi, Sun Bin Pang Juan's master Guiguzi?" ”

Liu Ze nodded and said, "Yes, it's this person." Guiguzi's surname is Wang Mingxu, his name is Xuanweizi, he is knowledgeable, and he has the ability to penetrate the earth, just cultivating the four immortal talents of Su Qin, Zhang Yi, Sun Bin and Pang Juan is enough to see his talent. Guiguzi's knowledge has four things: one is theology: the sun, the stars, the latitude, divination, gossip, the budget is sophisticated, and it is very accurate; the second is military science, six Tao and three strategies, endless changes, marching in formation, unpredictable ghosts and gods; the third is a study tour, a wide memory, a clear judgment of the situation, export into a chapter, ten thousand people are difficult to do; The fourth is the study of birth, self-cultivation, dispelling illness and prolonging life, and profound learning. These four and that are shocking to take out. ”

Zhang Fei pointed to the words on the wall and said, "Aren't these words the knowledge of Guiguzi?" ”

Liu Ze nodded and said, "Yes, Guiguzi's lifelong learning is engraved here, called the "Tianyan Secret Volume", which is broad and profound, and the mystery is endless. ”

Zhang Fei jumped up excitedly. "Haha, didn't you send it, big brother, you can get the true biography of Guiguzi, who is still your opponent?"

Liu Ze shook his head and said: "Although Guiguzi has carved all his life's learning on the stone wall, but for five hundred years, dripping water has pierced through the stone, and a large piece of handwriting in the middle has been blurred. ”

Zhang Fei looked up, and sure enough, water was still dripping down it, and a large piece of handwriting in the middle had been eroded by the water, and the handwriting was blurry and illegible. Zhang Fei slammed his fist on the stone wall, and said angrily: "This old Taoist of Guigu is not good at carving there, and he is engraved here, hey!" ”

Liu Ze didn't feel a little regretful, but he was relieved in an instant, patted him on the shoulder, and said: "Providence is like this, why force it, today I can get two divine swords and some knowledge of the Ghost Valley Immortal Master, it is already a great harvest, be content!" ”

Liu Ze was about to beckon Guan Yu to leave, but Guan Yu was there looking at the stone platform where the sword was inserted.

"A broken stone, what's so nice about it?" Zhang Fei muttered and walked over.

Guan Yu raised his head and said: "According to a certain opinion, this is not an ordinary stone, it is extremely heavy, a certain self-reliance can move a thousand catties, and the same large stone can be moved lightly, but this stone can't be moved in the slightest." ”

Liu Ze also went over to take a look, and sure enough, this stone was too heavy, and said: "There must be something strange about this stone, but now there are no tools that can't be dissected to see, so let's go back and gather some people to bring tools to come and see again." ”

Guan Yu nodded, and the three of them left the cave together.

Outside is already the light of day, based on the top of Taihang Mountain, overlooking the east, a round of red sun, from the East China Sea erupted thin, a peach forest under the mountain, has been fruitful, yesterday night march, only for the purple light to come, but not into the sight of this place is actually a paradise.

Liu Ze's heart moved, and said: "The world is in turmoil, the eldest husband needs to bring a three-foot sword to build an immortal feat, here in the land of Taoyuan, why don't we worship as brothers with different surnames, live and die together, share wealth and wealth, and build a career in this troubled world, what do you think?" ”

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei applauded in unison, and the three of them walked straight into the peach orchard, and in the peach orchard, there was a Xuanyuan Yellow Emperor Temple, with incense and candles.

Liu Ze was overjoyed and said to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei: "There is a temple of the Yellow Emperor here, you and I are both descendants of Yan and Huang, it seems that the will of heaven wants to make our three brothers worship here." ”

So, burning incense and burning candles, the three of them knelt down in front of the statue of Xuanyuan Yellow Emperor, and said: "Reading Liu Ze, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, although they have different surnames, they are brothers, they will work together to save the poor, report to the country, and go down to Anlishu." I do not seek to be born on the same day and month of the same year, but to die on the same day of the same month. The emperor and the queen of heaven, learn from this heart, betray righteousness and ingratitude, and kill heaven and man together! ”

After the oath, Liu Ze said: "Brother Guan's younger brother is four years old, and he should be the eldest brother." ”

Guan Yu resigned: "Brother Liu is the emperor, how dare Guan trespass, the younger brother is willing to respect the elder brother's orders and help the elder brother dominate the world." "In history, Liu Guan and Zhang Taoyuan were righteous, Guan Yu was indeed one year older than Liu Bei, but Guan Yu did not dare to cross after Liu Bei was the emperor, so he worshiped Liu Bei as his brother. At the moment, Liu Ze couldn't refuse, but sat in the position of the eldest brother, followed by Guan Yu, and Zhang Feiju was the third brother.

The three of them packed up their swords and returned to camp. The campfires around the camp were all burned out, and the men staggered, sitting or lying, falling into a deep sleep, and some of them snored loudly, one after another, wanting to be besieged by wolves all night, and never closed their eyes, and the wolves retreated in the morning, and everyone was extremely tired, and slept on the spot.

Liu Ze said to Zhang Fei: "The wind and cold on the top of the mountain are heavy, and everyone is very easy to get infected with the wind and cold when they sleep on the spot like this, so hurry up and let everyone get up." ”

Zhang Fei broke off with a cry like a thunderbolt: "Hey! Don't sleep! Get up! Get up! ”

The men were awakened by his shouting, and they got up one after another, and were overjoyed to see them returning. Liu Ze roughly talked about last night's incident, and asked everyone to worship Guan Yu. Everyone stepped forward to pay homage and called the second master, and since then, Zhang Fei has also called it the third master in people's mouths.

Liu Ze took a few more men who knew how to work as stonemasons, and returned to the cave with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

When the stonemason cut open the stone, it turned out to be a large piece of dark iron, such a high-quality dark iron that even the craftsmen who opened the stone said that it was rare to see in a hundred years.

Liu Ze carefully held it for a long time, this piece of dark iron was black and shiny, and it was very different from ordinary iron, and Liu Ze even suspected that this piece of dark iron came from an extraterrestrial meteorite. Unburned meteors fall to the ground, bringing material from outer space to Earth, and some meteorites contain more than 80% iron, called meteorite, and other rare metals, many ancient famous weapons are made of meteorite.

Thinking of this, Liu Ze had a plan, and immediately ordered someone to transport this piece of dark iron back to Phoenix Valley and hand it over to Guan Hai, and attached a drawing, so that Guan Hai could find the best blacksmith to build it according to the drawing.

Liu Ze naturally wanted to use this piece of dark iron to create weapons for the two brothers, but he didn't tell the two immediately, wanting to surprise them in the future. Then pack up on the hour and walk upward.

The next morning, Liu Ze took Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to the county office immediately to meet the county magistrate. At the beginning of the Qin Dynasty, the county was set up, and the county officials of the counties of 10,000 households were called orders, and those below 10,000 households were called longs, and the Han Dynasty followed the old system, and Shangai was a poor and small county, and the households were less than 10,000, so the county officials could only be called county magistrates. Shangai county magistrate surnamed Lu, heard someone outside the hall asked to see, and attached a gift list, it turned out to be ten horses of Shu brocade, I couldn't help but feel excited, and then look at the person who gave the gift, it was actually after King Jing of Zhongshan, Jiujiang was too guarded by Liu Ze of Zhuo County under Lu Zhimen, and he did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly welcomed out of the county office.

After entering the hall and saying a few cold words, Liu Ze went straight to the point and proposed to the county magistrate Lu to buy several barren mountains on the north bank of the Taohe River ten miles north of Shangai. The north bank of the Tao River is a poor mountain and remote land, all stone mountains, which cannot be cultivated, the population of Shangai County is mostly concentrated on the south bank of the Tao River, and the north bank is almost uninhabited. Liu Ze said that he wanted to find a black stone here.

County Magistrate Lu shook his head and said: "This county has been a resident official for many years, but there are people who have seen bluestone, white stone, and yellow stone, but they have never seen a black stone, but they don't know what this black stone looks like?" What is it used for? ”

"The black stone is buried in the deep mountains, the texture is lighter than the ordinary stone, it can be burned red in the fire, there are several kiln factories in Quyang, only because the charcoal is too expensive, I want to replace it with black stone, it is rumored that there is this thing in the mountains of Guixian County, but I don't know if it is true or false, I came to try it."

"This county is lonely and unheard, I have never heard of a stone that can burn red in the fire, it doesn't hurt if Liu Gongzi wants to try, the poor mountains and remote soil in Taobei are just digging it."

For the sake of these ten Shu brocade gifts, County Magistrate Lu immediately agreed that Liu Ze would go to Taobei to dig coal, and he was not even ready to ask him for a penny. Liu Ze insisted on refusing to occupy it in vain, and finally bought ten barren mountains at a price of one hundred taels of gold per barren mountain.

With the title deeds of ten mountains, the three of them left the county office, and Zhang Fei complained: "Big brother, you are really, the county magistrate agrees that you will mine for nothing, and you still want to spend money, a thousand taels of gold to buy ten barren mountains and mountains where birds don't, can it be useful?" ”

"Third brother, the eldest brother's move must have a deep meaning, you have to talk nonsense." Guan Yu dissuaded him.

Liu Ze smiled and said: "What you see now is a barren mountain and bald mountains, which are not worth a penny, in less than half a year, as long as you can dig out coal and stone, this mountain will be worth a hundred times and a thousand times the thousand taels of gold, even if someone pays 100,000 gold, I may not be willing to sell it." If we dig coal here in vain and have no land deeds, we are afraid that the government will order this mountain to be confiscated, and in the end it will be a bamboo basket for water. That's why I insisted on buying land and getting a deed. ”

"The eldest brother is meticulous and thoughtful, and the younger brother is convinced." Guan Yu nodded yes.

Zhang Feiwu was unconvinced, and muttered: "If you can't dig up coal and stone, see how you end up." ”

Liu Ze smiled and ignored him anymore.

In Shangai County, Liu Ze was ready to recruit dozens of coal diggers, because the autumn harvest had not arrived, Liu Ze's wages were high, so many laborers rushed to sign up, Liu Ze selected more than 60 strong men from them, prepared digging tools, ropes, baskets, axes and saws, etc., and immediately drove north.

After the Tao River, the population gradually thinned, and then to the north for more than ten miles, is the mountain purchased by Liu Ze, these ten peaks are connected, stretching for hundreds of miles, all are bare rocks, and the vegetation is scarce.

Liu Ze asked, "What is the name of this mountain?" ”

The hired worker, who lived on the north bank of the Taohe River, replied: "This mountain is uninhabited, so it is still nameless, and the people nearby only call them the North Barren Mountain." ”

Liu Ze pondered for a moment and said: "The spring water in the yang area of this mountain will not stop for a lifetime, it can be called Yangquan Mountain." Later, coal became popular all over the world, and the name of Yangquan was known to the world.

Liu Ze knows that coal mining is not an easy task, and in the later generations of modernization, a series of accidents such as gas explosions and water permeability collapses still occur frequently, and the number of people who die in coal mine safety accidents every year is huge, and the accidental mortality rate in the coal industry has always been the highest in major industries. In ancient times, coal mining has always been a high-risk industry. For this trip to Yangquan, Liu Ze made sufficient preparations and consulted a large number of ancient coal mining materials, and what interested him the most was the Ming Dynasty's "Tiangong Kaiwu", which introduced in detail how to find coal, how to dig wells, how to mine coal, how to ventilate and drain and other coal mining technologies, which can be described as an encyclopedia of ancient coal mining.

However, the difficulty of the excavation work was beyond Liu Ze's expectations, the rock of Yangquan Mountain was hard, and the primitive axes, chisels, pickaxes, shovels and other tools were used to excavate continuously for more than ten days, and the progress was not as good as Zhangyu. Liu Ze was at a loss for words, and personally guarded the excavation face every day, instructing the workers how to dig, but there were no modern mechanical tools, and the efficiency of digging such a hard rock layer with primitive tools alone could be imagined.