"Old Kang Qu Dagan, how many precious irons have you brought me this time?" Wu Yingying greeted him with a smile, and hugged Kang Qu Dagan with open arms according to Sogdian etiquette.

Kang Qu Dagan also got up from the chair with a smile, hugged Wu Yingying before saying loudly: "The old Sogdians have almost dealt with the industry in Jinling, and they will leave for Guangzhou tomorrow to see General Wu." Referring to the ten pitch-black wooden boxes placed next to the flower hall, he said with a smile: "After agreeing with General Wu that day, I immediately notified the treasurers of various ports to send people to take the nearest ship to Tianzhu to buy iron. Who knew that there happened to be a batch of things coming from the sea, which were originally going to be transported to the Khitan, and the old Sogdian knew that General Wu was in a hurry here, so he immediately wanted to come down without saying a word, and transported them here first, but the quantity was a little less, but only 500 catties. As he spoke, he took Wu Yingying to the wooden boxes and motioned for the men to open them.

"Five hundred catties is less, but I have received your love, you go to Guangzhou, and you still owe me four thousand catties of iron, don't pay the bill." Otherwise, when the Song army retreats and you want to return to Jinling, I will settle accounts with you. Wu Yingying smiled and joked with him, while watching Kang Qu Dagan's guy pry open the box with a strong iron rod, this is the legendary Uzi steel, I don't know if two catties of steel are enough for a two-foot-long steel spearhead, five hundred catties of steel can just make two hundred and fifty spearheads, not enough to arm his own tooth barracks, thinking of this, Wu Yingying popped out of his mind two words, hate.

But as the lid of the box was pried open, and the man pulled out the dried palm leaves and reed rods on the surface with his hands, Wu Yingying's eyes were completely straightened, and the box was not filled with iron bars, but with a good steel knife with a strange and dazzling pattern.

Wu Yingying stepped forward with an arrow, picked up a knife to look at it carefully, and saw that the knife was in the shape of a scimitar, nearly four feet long, and weighed about five pounds in the hand. Wu Yingying looked back at Kang Qu Dagan and asked, "Old Kang, is this the case?"

Kang Qu Dagan smiled slightly, stretched out his hand and took out a scimitar from the box, although he was very old, his hair and beard were gray, but once he picked up the steel knife, it gave people a feeling of being old and strong, he gently flicked on the back of the knife, slightly closed his eyes and listened to the buzzing sound of the knife body trembling, and said with a smile: "These steel knives are made of iron by the best craftsmen in Samarkand, each handle weighs five catties, here is a box of ten handles, a total of ten boxes of five hundred catties of iron, the old man still owes General Wu four thousand catties of iron." ”

"What?" Wu Yingying almost couldn't believe his ears, and blurted out the familiar title of the Persian sword of his time: "You say this is a Damascus knife?"

"How can the swordsmiths of Damascus compare with us Samarkands. Kang Qu Dagan looked at Wu Yingying with some dissatisfaction, as if to prove the correctness of his words, he specially took out a silk handkerchief from his arms, gently threw it into the air, and the knife in his hand waved hard, cutting the silk silk into two, and the silk silk was as if it had not been split at all, and the two pieces still fell to the ground slowly at the original speed.

The Persian treasure knife, which is worth thousands of gold, is far more valuable than the unprocessed iron, and Kang Qu Dagan actually has a hundred handles as soon as he shoots. He looked at Kang Quda's wrinkled smiling face, and while thinking in his heart what he had to be calculated by this old Sogdian, he asked with a smile: "Old Kang, you can treat it as iron, but I can't treat it as a treasure knife, as the saying goes, take people with short hands, eat people with soft mouths, you give such a generous thing as soon as you make a move, what do you ask of me?"

Kang Quda neatly put the knife into the box, and his movements were so swift that Wu Yingying suspected that he might be the first pot of gold earned as a swordsman before he became a businessman, and then he straightened up and said, "I want General Wu to hand over all these scimitars to the children of my clan under the general's command." If the general agrees, next time I will offer 500 of the same steel swords to pay off the debt. As soon as he finished speaking, he heard Shi Yuanguang's breathing beside him become heavy, such a treasure knife is something that these elite children of Sogdia usually fail to wear.

"Absolutely not. Wu Yingying's answer left no room for anything, he looked at Kang Qu Dagan with a disappointed expression with some sympathy, and explained: "Brother Pao Ze in the army, I have never treated everyone equally, and I will never distinguish between them because of different races. ”

Kang Quda smiled awkwardly, "That's what old Sogdian is careful to say," he paused and asked, "I wonder how the general intends to distribute these steel knives?"

"According to the rules of the army, it is natural to compete for the sword. Wu Yingying said with a smile, this method is the most simple and practical, and he has just thought clearly, the scimitar is not suitable for the tactical system he is going to adopt in the army, and can only be used as a personal weapon for brave soldiers. If it is practical, it is better to give yourself a thousand catties of iron to create a spearhead that is enough to arm a battalion, but these Persian treasure knives are really good, Wu Yingying thought while greedily admiring the beautiful patterns on the steel knife in his hand, if he didn't take into account Kang Qu Dagan next to him, he would immediately dance in this flower hall for a while.

Hearing this, Kang Quda asked thoughtfully, "Can the general tolerate his soldiers believing in different gods?"

Wu Yingying pointed to his heart and asked, "If there really is a god in the world, who can stop people from believing in him in their hearts?" He pointed at Kang Quda and said with a dry smile: "If someone wants to force you to give up your faith, I'm afraid you would rather die than die." ”

Kang Qu Dagan didn't expect Wu Yingying to answer like this, and nodded affirmatively: "Neither wealth nor life can make me turn my back on the great Ahula. After speaking, he stroked his white beard with his hand, and said: "General Wu seems to be different from many adults, and has a deep study of faith.

Seeing him so inquiring, Wu Yingying couldn't help frowning and said, "I've read some books about faith and gods, as for my faith?" he paused and said, "I'm still very young and have enough time to find a correct faith." Looking at Kang Qu Dagan's immediately disappointed expression, Wu Yingying smiled again, "But I think that if there really is a god in the world, he will definitely guide me to a bright path." ”

After listening carefully, Kang Qu Dagan looked at Wu Yingying and said in a deep voice: "General Wu, your eyes tell me that you didn't speak. Please don't blame those reluctant invitations just now. Hope we have a day when we meet in the garden of Paradise in Ahura. ”

Wu Yingying smiled and picked up the tea bowl and said, "If there is this day, I will definitely owe you four thousand catties of iron." Both of them laughed, and Konkyuda got up and took his leave.

In the early morning of the next day, Wu Yingying hurriedly finished breakfast, because the depression of the previous days delayed the handling of many affairs, he did not even participate in the daily morning exercises, and hurried to read the report passed by Xin Gu and Xiao Jiu some time ago, and instructed Feige to send a message to Changrun Erzhou to step up the training of soldiers and soldiers, and prepare to enter Jinling when needed, and asked Xin Gu and Xiao Jiu to report the list of members of the brotherhood that they were preparing to develop recently. After dealing with these documents, he took his own soldiers to visit Hu Ze, the commander of the Tiande Army, who is now in charge of Jinling's defense, and asked him to inspect the Jinling city wall, so as to predict which place to eat in the future in case of war is most likely to be broken through by the Song army, and make a countermeasure in advance. Wu Yingying has already made up his mind in his heart, helping the Tang State to defend Jinling can be regarded as worthy of Cai Yu, and then he can take Huang Wen away and fly away, this era is vast and sparsely populated, looking for a fertile and barren land to establish a new world, which is more suitable for himself than living under the rule of the imperial power.

When he came to the office of the Tiande Army, he was told that since the Song army defeated the Hukou camp, Hu Ze moved his office to Stone Town, where he could see the Song army's camp from afar, and it is said that even the bedding was moved. Wu Yingying was secretly ashamed in his heart, and it was noon when he came to Xicheng Tower.

The northwest city wall of this Jinling City is the stone city built by the mountain, the city wall is as high as two long and five feet, winding on the ridge of the stone hill with steep terrain, the red mountain and the cyan city bricks are integrated, and the end is easy to attack. In the northwest corner of the city, which is most vulnerable, a huge and sturdy masonry arrow tower was also built, called Huju Tower, which was temporarily used as an office by Hu Ze.

Looking from afar, it looks like a long dragon built of bricks and stones entrenched on the majestic mountain, and the arrow tower is like a dragon's head staring at the Song army camp in Niutou Mountain in the northwest.

Hearing that Wu Yingying wanted to inspect the city defense, Hu Ze smiled and said: "I haven't seen you for a long time, Lao Hu still thinks you are sick, but the city guard has a heavy responsibility on his shoulders and can't go to visit you." I will patrol along the city wall every few days, come, my brother's lunch here is not as delicious as your house, first cushion your stomach, I will go with you personally. As he spoke, he handed over two thick beef cakes.