From the outside, it looks like an ordinary farmhouse courtyard, but through a door, it still can't stop the earth-shattering shouting and banging from inside, and after pushing the door open, a scorching heat wave rushes out like a swimming dragon.

"Old Feng!"

Zhu Dachun opened his mouth to greet warmly at the door, looking at his familiar way of pushing the door and entering, it was obviously not the first time he had done this.

Gu Xuan looked inside slightly, there were three people in the courtyard, all three of them were wearing exactly the same linen shorts, and they were also naked in winter, and the muscles all over their bodies were as strong as steel cast from iron.

One of the middle-aged men was wearing a turban, covered in dirty sweat, and was using iron tongs to grasp a piece of metal that had been burned red and placed on the iron pier, and in front of him stood a young man who was seven or eight points similar to his appearance, wielding an iron sledgehammer weighing dozens of pounds in his hand.

The last one was squatting next to the stove, with his back to this side and couldn't see his face clearly, just shaking the bellows vigorously, and there was a creaking sound, and a gust of wind blew down the cloth bag inside, and the flames in the stove suddenly rose a foot high, which looked extremely scary.

In addition, the furnishings of the entire courtyard are not much different from ordinary blacksmith shops, one of which is a large furnace, and not far from it is a quenching pool used to cool and set the shape, and there are some samples that have been cast long ago in the corners for customers to choose, and the only thing that surprised Gu Xuan is this, because in addition to some unregulated agricultural tools in this courtyard, there are all kinds of blades that have been opened.

The imperial court has long forbidden private shops to cast weapons, that is, some sharp farm tools have strict standards to supervise, it seems that this Huangsha County is really unusual, and few people take Wang Fa seriously.

Seeing that someone walked in, the three people in the courtyard didn't even stop, they were still busy with their own business, completely ignoring the meaning of the two people here, only the middle-aged man wearing a headscarf still took the time to glance over here.

"Lao Feng, come, let me introduce you. Zhu Dachun estimated that he had long been accustomed to the other party's cold reaction, but he enthusiastically gave up his body and enthusiastically introduced to the middle-aged man, "This is the newly canonized prince of the imperial court, our Huangsha County will be the prince's fief in the future." ”

But they never thought that when the three people inside heard this kind of news, they were still doing what they were doing with their faces expressionlessly, as if they couldn't move them at all no matter what happened in the outside world.

After a while, the middle-aged man surnamed Feng took the time to turn his head, first threw the metal block he had beaten to his son on the side, and then stood up and wiped his hands on the wet rag next to him, and then said in a disdainful tone: "Then what's the matter? Change the soup and don't change the medicine, when did you Zhu Dachun become a dog leg of the imperial court? Why, was you beaten and convinced in prison a few days ago?"

Unexpectedly, an old friend suddenly mentioned his embarrassment in front of outsiders, Zhu Dachun was already a rough man, so he blew his beard and glared at him: "Lao Feng, Lao Tzu is here to bring you a big business, what do you mean by this?

The blacksmith surnamed Feng looked Gu Xuan up and down unceremoniously, snorted disdainfully, and sneered: "What's the matter?

Gu Xuan didn't care why the other party was so hostile to him, or to the Liangguo court, thinking that it was also due to the inaction of the previous county officials, which ruined the relationship between the image of the court, and at the same time, he was also glad that although he was a prince, his mother family was born a commoner, and he had been bullied a lot since he was a child, and he didn't feel much disrespect for middle-aged people, and he could still think calmly, if the third and fourth people came here, I was afraid that they would have let the guards take charge of this Feng blacksmith's stinky mouth.

Since the other party was inexplicably hostile, Gu Xuan was too lazy to be polite, and directly stated his purpose: "Under Gu Xuan, he is the king of Hedong County canonized by the imperial court, and this Huangsha County will be the fief of this king in the future, so it is natural to protect this place from foreign enemies. ”

"For such a thing as armor, the prince can find the court himself, or why do you come to me to do it?"

Blacksmith Feng still had that strong hostility and sense of distance in his bones, and he still spoke unceremoniously.

Gu Xuan changed his previous peace and humility, his eyes were sharp, and he said loudly: "You have to find the imperial court for everything, so why do you want us people to do it? Wouldn't it be better to directly send the Youzhou army to station, what else do we have to train?"

Blacksmith Feng ignored his words, but lowered his head again, grabbed a new piece of iron from the side, and continued to beat, speaking in a very low voice.

"If the prince wants to use us to fight for political achievements, then I advise the prince to abandon this idea as soon as possible. ”

Gu Xuan said eagerly: "Mr. Feng, you don't don't understand the situation in Huangsha County, now that the Youzhou army has withdrawn, the Rakshasa clan and those horse bandit groups will attack at any time, we must protect ourselves! Put aside my political achievements, don't you care about the lives of the people? You don't care about others, don't you care about your own family? There are no eggs under the nest, and we are talking about it now that it is ugly to say that it is a grasshopper on a rope, are you indifferent to that?"

Zhu Dachun next to him looked embarrassed, he originally thought that he would recommend his old friend to do things for the prince, and he could also make a good impression on him, although he didn't like the imperial court, but the new little prince at least had the right taste so far, and besides, he would have to beg for food under other people's hands in the future, so he had to work hard?

But I didn't think that this Feng blacksmith's temper was so stinky, and when it came to this kind of thing, what else did you want?

Of course, he also knows what the reason is, in terms of the attitude of the imperial court towards this place in the past 20 years, the people of Huangsha County have long been cold, and they are naturally on the opposite side of the imperial court psychologically.

After Gu Xuan's words, although Blacksmith Feng did not respond immediately, he finally stopped what he was doing, and after a while, he looked up at Zhu Dachun next to him, and then at the new little prince, then stood up again, and said with a serious expression: "It's okay to cast armor and weapons for the army, as long as the prince doesn't punish me afterwards." ”

Before he finished his words, Gu Xuan hurriedly promised: "Mr. can be a workshop warden and have an official status, so these things are naturally nothing." ”

Although the imperial court forbade the people to cast weapons privately, the first is that Huangsha County was originally completely autonomous by him and has great authority, and the second is to give him an official body, so that he has become an official's casting, and there is no problem according to the rules.

Blacksmith Feng waved his hand casually, his face full of helplessness: "Lord Wang, don't blame me for speaking badly, even if we can forge armor and swords for you, what about the ore? ”

Ore?

Gu Xuan frowned, this was indeed his negligence, sure enough, once many things were done, they found that there were many difficulties, and every link in all aspects had to be taken into account, otherwise if there was a problem in one ring, the whole thing would not be able to go on.

Blacksmith Feng is right, without ore, it is futile to say anything.

Buy?

Where did he get the money to buy a bunch of ores that can arm an entire army, and the money he brought out was only a little, plus a part of the money copied from Xu Sanjin's carriage, it was barely able to support the operation of the entire yamen now, after all, he was now paying the people in the yamen, but he was no happier than he could ask the court for money before.

This time, Gu Xuan, who has always been full of confidence, is a little desperate, the city wall has to be repaired, the soldiers have to be recruited, the weapons have to be built with ore, and there are other problems such as the supply of grain and grass, as well as the recruitment of internal affairs talents who support the normal operation of the entire yamen, and now none of them can be carried out, which really makes him anxious and doesn't know how to deal with it.

"The matter of the ore, this king will deal with it, and it is enough to get a promise from Mr. today. Saying that, the disheartened Gu Xuan reluctantly saluted, and said deflatedly, "Then wait for this king to prepare the ore, and then come to Mr." ”

Saying that, he didn't care what others thought, he turned around and walked back, Zhu Dachun glanced at the Feng blacksmith over there, and scolded him in a low voice, and then dragged a sick leg and hurriedly followed.

These two people were completely opposite when they came along the way, and they didn't have a word to say, as soon as they arrived at the yamen, a figure ran up in a hurry, it was Ma Mingze, he had a bitter face, and said helplessly.

"Lord Wang, there is no one who comes. ”

I was wrong, because there was a 7-hour time difference, I counted an extra day, which caused this update to be too late, I'm really sorry, sorry.