Shen Long did not lavishly entertain Guo Xin and Yang Zhengu and his party, but took them to the barracks, dined with the soldiers, and ate exactly the same as the soldiers, potato stewed corn, a piece of steamed bun and an egg.

Guo Xin, Yang Xigu and others ate very happily, they can persist in the Western Regions for so long, they naturally understand the principle of the unity of the upper and lower, and, to be honest, they usually eat so well in Qiuzi and Xizhou.

"Yuan Zhengzhi has a lot of ignorance!" After eating, Guo Xin praised that Cheng Buzhi was a famous general in the Han Dynasty, known for his rigorous management of the army, which was a compliment to Shen Long's style of a famous general in governing the army.

"Cheng Buzhi is probably far inferior to Yuan Zheng in Tuntian!" Yang Xinggu pondered, there is no writing in the history books that the soldiers can eat eggs every day, right?

Moreover, Shen Long will also smelt iron to make weapons, if this is placed in the domain town in the Tang Dynasty, that domain town can solve the problem of military food and weapons by itself, the imperial court should be worried, but now it is in the Western Regions, and Shen Long has only such a few people, Yang Zhengu and Guo Xin did not think about it here.

Even they wish that Shen Long would become stronger and stronger, and now there are only three cities left in the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate and the Beiting Metropolitan Protectorate, and only if they are getting stronger and stronger, can the glory of the Tang Dynasty come again.

After a night's rest, the next day Shen Long took them to visit the iron yard and the factory where the weapons were made, Shen Long's ability to dig coal played a huge role at this time, and the best coal blocks were continuously transported from the mine, and then processed into coke, and the coke was used to smelt iron, and the quality of the steel smelted was far better than that of Datang.

Moreover, Shen Long made a rule in the six cities, and usually used coal for cooking and heating, so that a lot of forage and wood could be saved, and there was not much vegetation in the Western Regions, so it was too wasteful to use it to make a fire, and the forage could be used to raise cattle and sheep, and wood could be used to build weapons and houses, which was more cost-effective than making a fire.

When they arrived at the hydraulic forging workshop by the river, when they heard the sound of forging like thunder, Guo Xin and Yang Zhengu were dumbfounded, isn't this Lei Gong descending to earth?

Entering inside, seeing that the iron was kneaded like dough under the hammer of the hydraulic forging hammer, and gradually showed the appearance of armor, Guo Xin and Yang Zhenggu secretly calculated, the most troublesome forging work in creating armor is so easy here, the craftsmen only need to grind these forged parts to burr, punch holes, and then connect them with leather ropes to make a complete set of armor.

Although this armor is not as good as the Mingguang armor carefully built by Datang, the protective power is not weak at all, and the weight is lighter, and the soldiers can fight for a longer time wearing this armor.

"Yuan Zheng! In this way, wouldn't it not be long before my Anxi Protectorate and Beiting Protectorate would be able to put on iron armor for all the soldiers? This calculation immediately frightened Yang Zhenggu and Guo Xin, even when the Silk Road was unobstructed, the Tang army was not rich enough to put iron armor on every soldier, right?

Why are they so rich now that the trade routes are cut off? And...... And I heard that there has been restlessness in Datang recently, so I can't help but transport these iron armors back to support Datang, right?

Of course, this is just a thought, iron tools are extremely precious items for both the Uighurs and the Tibetans, if the caravan of the Tang Dynasty dares to transport the iron armor into the territory of the Uighurs, I am afraid that those Uighur nobles will leave this batch of iron armor even if they turn their faces, right? If you want to use the iron armor of the Western Regions to support the Tang Dynasty, I am afraid that you can only wait until the Longyou Road is reopened.

"Naturally, in addition to iron armor, horizontal knives, and spears, iron farming tools will also be built here, and with these, it will be easier to tuntian in the future!" Previously, due to the lack of iron, Shen Long could only make some wooden farm tools such as seeders, but now with enough iron, he can make more efficient and labor-saving farm tools such as steel plows and iron hoes.

After all the farm tools have been replaced, the efficiency of the tuntian will increase; This is where the industrial system is better than the agricultural system, although Shen Long only established a small iron-smelting industrial center in Juliu City, which could not even be compared to the village-level factories of later generations, but in this era, it was enough to beat the Western Regions.

"There are also iron pots here, which are ready to be sold as commodities to the surrounding tribes, and we can use these to redeem the Tang soldiers who fell into the hands of the enemy, buy women, and draw them to our side." During this time, Shen Long redeemed many Tang Dynasty soldiers, and they changed from slaves to proud Tang people, who had already married wives and settled in the city, working hard for the future of the six cities.

Most of these people may no longer be able to fight, but their experience can still provide Shen Long with a lot of help, building weapons, planting fields, patrolling and even teaching and writing, and they can be seen everywhere in the city; Doing these jobs, these people of the Tang Dynasty are really much better than the slaves purchased by Shen Long.

"Yuan Zheng! Don't let the iron fall into their hands! "In all dynasties, the Central Plains Dynasty was full of vigilance against the export of iron weapons, and Guo Xin was worried that Shen Long would do something wrong.

"The county king doesn't have to worry." Saying that, Shen Long smashed a freshly cast pot and showed him the cracks in the iron pot, "The iron brittle used to cast the iron pot will not affect it if it is used to cook soup and cook, but if you want to melt iron to make weapons, it will be in vain, even if it can be made into a sword, it is easy to break." ”

Shen Long still knew this simpler alloy knowledge, he had the broken iron pot melted, cast a horizontal knife, and then slashed with the horizontal knife of an ordinary soldier, and the horizontal knife cast by the iron pot shattered in response.

Guo Xin and Yang Zhengu were relieved at this time, in fact, if it weren't for the fear that it would be too scary, Shen Long would have planned to engage in the arms trade in the Western Regions, and the sale of armor and swords would be much more profitable than the sale of iron pots, and it would be easier to create contradictions between the tribes and divide them to win opportunities for themselves.

As for his own safety, he doesn't have to worry, in a few years, Shen Long will be able to create a hot weapon, and in front of the musket, no matter how good the armor is, it is useless.

Guo Xin and Yang Zhengu stayed in Juliu City for more than a month, visiting everywhere under the guidance of guides every day, and every time they saw something new, they had more hope in their hearts.

Before they could see it, a messenger from Xizhou interrupted their expedition, and the Uighur minister Yu Gas sent an envoy to Xizhou to ask Yang Xigu to lead an army to fight against Beiting with him.

If it was before, Guo Xin and Yang Zhengu would definitely be worried, but now, both of them and Shen Long have the same idea: Datang's opportunity has come!

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Sogou