Liu Yan's expression was a little complicated, and finally he sighed, arched his hands, and said in a deep voice: "When I read the book of the sages, I should have followed the words of the sages, done bright things, and established the way with my heart. ”

"But in extraordinary times, you can only do extraordinary things! Deng Cheng, according to what you said, took the people of the Zhao family to the county government, took care of them, and remembered to treat them with courtesy. ”

He withdrew his hands, looked at the officials, and continued: "Since it has been decided to let Chu Wen collect the grain tax of Changding Township, I wonder if any of you colleagues are willing to go on this trip?"

As soon as these words came out, the first-class officials present were silent.

There are many people in the mountains and wilderness, and even ordinary villagers may gather to resist taxes and kill the servants who collect taxes, not to mention the people of Changding Township who have thousands of elites.

This grain tax was not collected in the first half of the year, and in a year, it was not as simple as 50,000 stone rice grain.

In addition to the grain tax, there are all kinds of taxes, plus fire consumption drifting, etc., according to the registered Dingkou fields, Changding Township 30,000 Dingkou, a total of 300,000 acres of land, even if it is a tax paid for half a year, it is as much as 170,000 stones, which is equivalent to one person has to pay more than five stones of grain, not to mention the grain tax in the first half of the year!

Even according to the usual discount of one stone of rice and one tael of silver, it will require 170,000 taels of silver.

Don't look at the sparsely populated Changding Township, most of which have hundreds of acres of fields, the whole township can usually harvest about 600,000 stone of rice grain, and the grain tax to be levied usually reaches 60%, about 360,000 stone.

The more fields there are, the more grain taxes are paid, and the barren fields don't even produce enough food taxes, so that even if there are large tracts of wasteland, no one wants to cultivate them.

For a hundred acres of land, at least one hundred and twenty stone of rice grain must be paid, and the rest is only sixty or seventy stone, if there is no other side business, these sixty or seventy stone rice grain can only feed a family of ten people at most.

Nowadays, the environment is worse than in previous years, and the grain output in the second half of the township is about 200,000 stones.

The grain official went down to Changding Township and demanded that Changding Township pay more than 100,000 stone of rice and grain taxes, which was simply the net worth of 20,000 villagers in Changding Township, and the remaining 20,000 or 30,000 stone rice grain was not enough for 20,000 people in Changding Township to eat for two months, and they would not be able to suffer from the spring next year, let alone the spring harvest!

It is conceivable that if this task is released, it will make the people of Changding Township angry, not to mention killing the Tongchuan grain official, it is very likely to gather people to resist taxes.

Deng Qing saw that everyone didn't speak, and his heart suddenly chuckled, and sure enough, as he expected, the eyes of all the officials of Datong County fell on him.

Since there is a possibility of tax resistance, it is necessary for the military officers who have jurisdiction over the thousands of soldiers in Datong County to come forward.

Although it is Liu Yan who really holds the military and political power, the problem is that Deng Qing is engaged in the title of military service, and he is nominally the direct person in charge of the army.

At this time, Chu He had already set out to make the Eight Ox Crossbow.

He can't put all the hole cards on Gan Tian, if Gan Tian can't suppress the four-grade bachelor in Fenglai County, the Eight Bull Crossbow is his backhand.

Zhuang Zhongneng is an old craftsman in the carpenter village, with a good hand, teaching more than a dozen skilled apprentices, and now, he rarely makes woodware by himself.

When he was young, Zhuang Zhongneng wandered outside with his old father for a few years, but when he returned to the carpenter village ten years ago, only he and a little girl from nowhere called Zhuang Zhongneng his father, and the old father was nowhere to be found, and it was estimated that he died outside.

The carpenter's village has been making woodware for a living for generations, and there are not many people who grow fields, and almost everyone can make woodware.

After Zhuang Zhong came back, his craftsmanship soared, no matter how complicated the utensils, as long as he looked at them, he could build them, and they were durable, the wooden plough built by others could last for two years, and his could be used for at least five years.

Therefore, it didn't take long for him to become a well-known carpenter in Changding Township, and even the county officials moved into new homes, added furniture, etc., and came to Zhuang Zhongneng to build.

Zhuang Zhongneng did not skimp on his own skills, accepted many apprentices, and taught them carefully, the apprentices are also competitive, learn good skills, and it is not a problem to support their families, and the family background of more than a dozen apprentices is not bad in the carpenter village.

What is strange is that these apprentices with exquisite skills have not even gone out of the school to stand on their own, others asked curiously, and some apprentices revealed that they have not even learned two or three percent of the teacher's skills.

It is said that he can also create flying wooden birds, fish that can swim in water, and hardwood crossbows that are incredibly powerful.

Many Orions came to ask Zhuang Zhong to help build a hardwood crossbow, but Zhuang Zhongneng refused, but the hunters still believed that Zhuang Zhongneng could make a hardwood crossbow, but this was a controlled product, and Zhuang Zhongneng did not have the guts to make it.

Some time ago, the situation in the carpenter village was not very good, including more than a dozen disciples of Zhuang Zhongneng.

After all, food is the top priority, most of the wood furniture or something, is not a necessity, there is spare money to buy, no spare money, since rice and clothing priority.

Ordinary villagers engaged in small handicrafts are very poor at resisting risks.

For example, Zhuang Zhongneng and so on, who used to accumulate dozens of taels of silver, can be regarded as a small rich family in Changding Township, but now that the grain is soaring, one stone of grain will cost three taels of silver, Zhuang Zhongneng's family background is just for ten stone rice grain, and one person will not eat it for two years.

In addition, the price of salt and cloth has also skyrocketed.

Inflation has dealt a fatal blow to the carpenter's village, which is dominated by handicraft.

Changding Township leases the fields in the carpenter village, and the rice, grain, money and silver rent given is far less than that of other villages, after all, there are not many fields in the carpenter village, which is not enough for the food expenses of more than 1,000 people in the carpenter village.

Fortunately, many young people in the carpenter village later joined Qianyuanwei, and each family supported each other, and the families with Qianyuanwei took out some food to support relatives, friends and neighbors, so that the carpenter village would not run out of rice, and the situation was much better than those displaced people.

At this time, Zhuang Zhongneng also had nothing to do, lying on a wooden recliner and basking in the sun at the door of the wooden shop with his eyes closed.

Most of his apprentices went out to find a living to make ends meet, and two of them joined the Qianyuanwei with their strong physique from building wooden tools, leaving behind the two youngest disciples and Zhuang Zhongneng's daughter.

The morning sun is warm and sunburning, making people drowsy and want to sleep.

Just as Zhuang Zhong was half-asleep, he suddenly heard a familiar voice in his ears: "Teacher, the apprentice has come back to see you." ”

Zhuang Zhongneng opened his eyes and saw the second apprentice Zhuang Xing, next to Zhuang Xing there was a half-sized boy about one meter four or five tall, who was looking at him with a smile.

He was stunned for a moment: "Zhuang Xing, you didn't join the Qianyuan Guard, why did you have time to come back to the village?"

Zhuang Xing hurriedly said: "That's the case, the disciple has something to come back and ask the teacher for help." ”

"Teacher, let me introduce you first, this is our Captain Chu. ”

Chu He looked at Zhuang Zhongneng, and then smiled and stretched out his palm: "Hello Zhuang Laozhang, you are in Xia Chu River." ”

Zhuang Zhongneng was suddenly shocked, suddenly stood up from the wooden recliner, looked at Chu He with wide eyes, and his voice stammered a little: "You...... You are the Chu River, the Chu River of Qinghe Village?"

The name of the Chu River, in Changding Township and even the entire Datong County, is absolutely like thunder, there is no one who has not heard the name of the Chu River, but there are not many people who have really seen the Chu River.

Chu He smiled slightly: "It's exactly below." suddenly took the liberty to visit, and asked Mr. Zhuang not to be surprised. ”

Although Zhuang Zhongneng was skilled in carpentry, he served for the army when he was young, making wooden shields, bows, crossbows, etc., but for some reason, he finally left the army and returned to the carpenter's village.

But in the final analysis, he is just a carpenter, and suddenly saw that this legendary man has a strong power, has thousands of elites under his command, and raises tens of thousands of people in Changding Township alone, and controls the Chu River in Changding Township, he is sincerely frightened, and even seems a little helpless.

He was stunned for a long time before he stumbled and said, "Young Master Chu...... , decaying...... It's rude. I don't know why Gongzi Chu came to find the old decay?"

Zhuang Xing suddenly said at this time: "Teacher, why don't we go into the house and talk about it?"

Zhuang Zhongneng patted his head: "Alas, the old man is old and confused, and he almost snubbed Chu Gongzi." Young Master Chu, please!"

He beckoned Chu He into the house, followed by serving tea to Chu He, and then found that his daughter's eyes were full of curiosity poking out from behind the bamboo curtain.

Zhuang Zhongneng's heart moved slightly, and he took out a string of iron money from his arms: "Xiu'er, there are guests at home, you go to the sixth uncle in Dongtou to buy some wine and food and come back." ”

Xiu'er, the eldest girl, is also handsome, and when she heard this, she walked out from behind the bamboo curtain, and she was not afraid of life, she looked at Chu He generously for a while, and then asked curiously: "Dad, who is he?"

She didn't wait for Zhuang Zhong to speak, and said to herself: "Where does the sixth uncle have to go far, I don't know if there is wine and food at this time." ”

Zhuang Zhongneng glared at her: "If you are told to go, you will go!"

Xiu'er pursed her mouth, and reluctantly took the iron money and left the woodworking shop.

After Zhuang Zhongneng broke away from Xiu'er, he said to Chu He: "Master Chu, the tea is poor, I hope you don't be surprised." ”

Chu He said with a smile: "Actually, two years ago, our family was so poor that we didn't even have tea, so why not say it." ”

As soon as he said this, Zhuang Zhongneng suddenly felt much more cordial, and his expression was not so restrained, and after thinking for a while, he asked: "Young Master Chu came to our carpenter village in his busy schedule, I'm afraid there is something important, right?"

Zhuang Xing should also have a smug personality, and hurriedly said: "That's the case, Captain Chu wants to build wood, but the disciple can't build it, so he recommended the teacher to Captain Chu." ”

Chu He nodded: "I'll tell Uncle Zhuang." ”

"I wanted to build a piece of wood, so I asked the Qianyuan Guard to see if I could find a guard who could build wood, and then I knew that Zhuang Xing knew the way of carpenter. ”

Zhuang Zhongneng was stunned for a moment: "Among Zhuang Xing's many old disciples, his carpentry skills are good, I don't know what complex woodware Chu Gongzi needs to build, and even Zhuang Xing can't build it?"

Zhuang Xing's face turned red, but now that Qianyuanwei has strict training, he has already tanned his face like black charcoal, but he can't see his face: "Teacher, it's not that the disciple really can't build it, but the wooden tools that are created are afraid that it will be difficult to meet the requirements of Captain Chu." ”

Chu He didn't speak, and took out a few pieces of mulberry paper from his arms: "Old man Zhuang, please take a look." ”

Zhuang Zhongneng took the mulberry paper suspiciously, opened it and looked at it, and suddenly gasped, and his face instantly turned pale.

Although he had already guessed that Zhuang Xing asked him to enter the house and say that the wooden tools that Chu He wanted to build must be contraband, but when he really saw the structure diagram of the Eight Bull Crossbow, his heart was still shocked, and a pair of big hands full of calluses trembled slightly.

What Chu He gave him was not a complete composition of the Eight Bull Crossbow, and the key steel parts had already been handed over to the Chu blacksmith to build, but with Zhuang Zhongneng's eyesight, he could still see the horror of the Eight Bull Crossbow at a glance.

Ordinary wooden crossbows are contraband, and bows and crossbows in the army are extremely strictly controlled.

If the hardwood crossbow used by the army is equivalent to a firearm, this eight-bull crossbow is simply a missile level, just ask Zhuang Zhongneng, who usually doesn't even dare to build a hardwood crossbow, how dare to take this single job.

Zhuang Zhongneng was extremely frightened in his heart, but his hands seemed to be uncontrollable, trembling and turning towards the second piece of mulberry paper.

Such an exquisite composition makes this old carpenter, who has been immersed in carpentry all his life, unable to resist its temptation!

After reading the three pieces of mulberry paper, Zhuang Zhongneng finally regained his composure and took a deep breath: "What a terrible wooden weapon!"

"This composition is really an eye-opener for the old man, if the old man is not mistaken, this should be the part of a large crossbow machine. ”

Chu He nodded, he was not afraid of the Eight Bull Crossbow leaking out, only with silicon-manganese alloy steel, can the true power of this Eight Bull Crossbow be brought into play, if it is made of wood and steel, the power of the Eight Bull Crossbow is afraid of less than a quarter.

"Not bad. This bow and crossbow, called the Eight Bull Crossbow, as the name suggests, has the power of eight bulls. ”

Zhuang Zhongneng also nodded and sighed: "Such a skill of transportation, but the old man has never heard of it before. If the old man didn't guess wrong, this crossbow machine can burst out with eight to ten times the power, and it is appropriate to call it an eight-bull crossbow!"

"It's just that this crossbow lacks some accessories. To withstand such incredible force, it is impossible to withstand ordinary wood, and bowstrings are hard to find, not even steel. ”

"Although steel is strong enough, it lacks flexibility and cannot withstand the strength of a crossbow. ”

Chu He was really impressed by Zhuang Zhong.

He heard Zhuang Xing say that the teacher's skills are much more powerful than him, and he will definitely be able to create the main frame of the Eight Bull Crossbow, and he can give full play to the power of the Eight Bull Crossbow, Chu He is a little skeptical.

Don't look at the simple structure of the eight-bull crossbow, in fact, it is by no means easy to create an eight-bull crossbow.

In the future generations of the earth, it will not be possible to reproduce the power of wood to reach the eight-ox crossbow mentioned in the book.

Chu He's improved eight-bull crossbow is actually a trick, and the use of new alloy steel materials can ensure the power of the eight-bull crossbow.

Zhuang Zhongneng can accurately judge the power of the Eight Bull Crossbow with these main component drawings alone, and know the key to the Eight Bull Crossbow.

Chu He looked at Zhuang Zhongneng with a flat gaze: "I don't know if Uncle Zhuang can build an eight-bull crossbow for Chu He?" As long as Uncle Zhuang is willing to help, he will definitely not treat Uncle Zhuang badly." ”