Most of Zhu Yuanfeng's children and grandchildren went to Beidao, but he didn't go himself, he was old, and he knew that he didn't have much time, and his biggest wish in life was to be buried in the Zhu cemetery in Wujiang, with his father and biological mother.

His daughter, Zhu Jie, is responsible for taking care of the capital's industry, while also taking care of her elderly father.

Fanning and Zhu Pei came to the Zhu Mansion together, and Zhu Pei hadn't seen her third grandfather for a long time, so she took this opportunity to come with her husband to visit.

In the night, Zhu Jie was waiting at the gate, the carriage slowly stopped, Fan Ning got out of the car first, and then helped his wife out of the car, Zhu Jie stepped forward and took Zhu Pei's hand and smiled: "Why is Pei'er here too?" ”

"I'll come to see the third grandfather, is he okay?"

"The spirit is not bad, but he is old and frail, he can't walk, and he needs someone to carry him."

Zhu Pei whispered to her husband: "I want to go to see the third grandfather first, will the husband go too?" ”

"Let's go together!"

The husband and wife followed Zhu Jie into the mansion, and saw that in the courtyard, Zhu Yuanfeng was sitting on a sedan chair and looking at them with a smile, and there were four small servants carrying a sedan chair standing behind them.

Zhu Yuanfeng had a serious illness last fall, although he survived, his body completely collapsed, his lower body was paralyzed, and he could only sit on a sedan chair to travel.

Fan Ning hurriedly stepped forward to hold Zhu Yuanfeng's hand, and his hand was cold, he complained a little: "It's cold outside at night, what is my grandfather doing when he comes out?" ”

At present, among Fanning's grandfather's relatives, only the old grandmother Yang, Zhu Pei's third grandfather Zhu Yuanfeng and Cao Xiu's grandfather Cao Cong are particularly precious.

Zhu Yuanfeng grinned and said, "His Royal Highness the King of Chu is coming, how can I not come out to greet him?" ”

"No kidding!"

Fanning said to the little servant, "Hurry up and carry it into the house!" ”

The four servants carried Zhu Yuanfeng's sedan chair into the warmth, and everyone moved him onto the soft couch with all hands and feet, and the little maid retreated.

The two maids helped Zhu Yuanfeng sit down, and at this time, Zhu Yuanfeng's grandson Zhu Qi walked in, he was also Fan Ning's sister-in-law, Fan Ning was surprised, "Xiao Qi, why are you, Ado?" ”

Zhu Qi hurriedly saluted his wife and brother: "She is pregnant again and can't take a boat, so I am the only one who comes back." ”

Next to him, Zhu Jie waved his hand and said, "Don't stand, sit down and talk!" ”

Everyone sat down on the chairs on both sides, and Fanning asked with concern, "Ado is a few months pregnant, who will take care of him when you come back?" ”

"Big brother, don't worry, my mother is taking care of her, she is now about five months pregnant, and I can go back to catch up."

Fan Ning put down his heart, and smiled at Zhu Yuanfeng again: "Third grandfather, don't you really want to go to Beidao to see your great-grandson?" ”

Zhu Yuanfeng shook his head with a smile, "Don't use this kind of words to pressure me, I have too many great-grandchildren, I can't see it, now I can only take care of myself and strive to live a few more years." ”

Zhu Pei whispered beside him: "Husband, the third grandfather can't travel long distances by boat!" ”

"I know, I'm just joking with him."

Fan Ning smiled and asked Zhu Yuanfeng again, "Are the old guys of the third grandfather willing to go to Beidao?" ”

Zhu Yuanfeng moved the steam engine manufacturing institute in Chenliu County to Beidao last year, and all the craftsmen gave them generous compensation, allowing them to live in Beidao for ten years and bringing out a group of apprentices.

In the end, there were a total of 75 craftsmen, 33 of whom were willing to lead their families to immigrate to the North Island, and 37 of them were willing to take their wives and children to live in the North Island for ten years because of the generous compensation, but there were still five old craftsmen who were reluctant to run around again because they were a little older, but these five people were the best craftsmen, and Fanning certainly hoped to convince these five people.

Zhu Yuanfeng nodded, "Four of these five old fellows have been persuaded and are willing to lead the whole family to Beidao, and one of them is really in poor health, not better than me, then it can only be forgotten, this time they will return to Beidao with Xiao Qi." ”

Fan Ning turned his head to look at Zhu Qi and said with a smile: "You, the county commander, came to the capital in person, wouldn't it be just to pick up a few families to go to Beidao?" ”

Zhu Qi shook his head, "Of course not, I came to the capital this time for two things, one is to negotiate with Guozijian to send a group of outstanding students to the Institute of Engineering for further study, and the other is to buy steel for the imperial court." ”

Sending students to the College of Engineering for further study is a matter that has been set a long time ago, and Fan Ning also knows that he doesn't want to ask more, but when Zhu Qi mentions stainless steel, he is talking about Fan Ning's heart.

"What's going on with steel?" Fanning asked.

"That's right, at the beginning of the year, the Ordnance Superintendent ordered us 500,000 catties of steel, which is all our output, if the imperial court buys it all, we will have no ....... ourselves."

"So you want to negotiate with the imperial court and leave a little for Beidao, is that so?"

"That's not what it meant!"

Zhu Qi hurriedly explained: "In fact, the price given by the imperial court is very good, one pound of steel can be exchanged for five catties of ordinary pig iron, and we want to exchange stainless steel for ordinary pig iron from the imperial court, which is very beneficial to us." ”

"And then?" Fanning felt that Zhu Qi still had something to tell him.

"That's the case, we invented a furnace smelting method in the process of smelting refined steel, which can remove a large number of impurities in ordinary pig iron, we repurchase ordinary pig iron from the imperial court, and then return to the furnace for smelting, and then add an appropriate proportion of toner, we can also get high-quality pig iron second only to steel, we call it refined iron, in addition to meeting our own use, it can also be sold to the people of the Song Dynasty, which is very profitable."

Zhu Yuanfeng smiled slightly: "It seems that you have learned to do business with Mingren and Mingli." ”

Zhu Qi's face flushed, "This is Akihito's plan, but he can't get out, so it's up to me to deal with the imperial court." ”

Zhu Jie next to him said with a smile: "If you tell the truth like this, aren't you afraid that your eldest brother will ask you to hand over the furnace smelting method to the imperial court?" ”

Fan Ning shook his head, "Not really, now that the Son of Heaven has decided to develop the Southern Continent on a large scale in order to obtain a large amount of steel, at this juncture, how can I destroy the hard-won development plan?" ”

Zhu Pei saw that his grandfather was tired, so he said to Fan Ning, "Husband take Xiao Qi to the study to talk!" Ah Gong is tired. ”

Zhu Yuanfeng said with a smile: "The body is really bad, you can't sit for a while, you can go!" I do have to rest. ”

Fanning nodded and took Zhu Qi to the study, and Zhu Pei and her aunt helped her grandfather to the bedroom to rest.

In the study, Fan Ning said to Zhu Qi: "The imperial court is preparing to develop the southern continent on a large scale, this is an opportunity for the northern island, try to cooperate with the imperial court to recruit the people, population is the most important thing." ”

Zhu Qi nodded, "I remember, after I go back, I will let the Senate negotiate, and everyone will mobilize to fight for the population." ”

At this time, the maid brought tea, Fanning took the teacup and sat down, he took a sip of hot tea and asked, "How is the situation in Beidao now?" ”

Zhu Qi said with a smile: "In the past half a year, the population of Beidao has continued to rise, and eight thousand households have been added, including the Han people of Liao arranged by the imperial court, and the people of the Song Dynasty recruited by ourselves, and we have added three more county seats, Qicheng, Lucheng and Jincheng, plus the original Wu, Yue, and Song three cities, and now it has increased to six counties, nearly 20,000 households. ”

"Are you considering going north?"

"Yes!"

Zhu Qi said: "We will build two county towns next, and we will prepare to put them on the northernmost peninsula. ”

"Isn't it too far to put it on the northernmost peninsula?"

"It's not too far! On the one hand, it is necessary to connect with Seoul on the island of Noumi, and on the other hand, to build a dock and a transit warehouse there, which can save the cargo ship a little more than a day's voyage. ”

Fanning was stunned, "That's not right! It takes two and a half days to get from the northernmost peninsula to Wucheng County. ”

Zhu Qi said with a smile: "That was before, this year our shipyard successfully developed a propeller, using it to replace the paddle wheel, so that the ship sails faster, from the northernmost to Wucheng County only one and a half days is enough." ”

Fan Ning was overjoyed, the propeller drive he proposed to Zhu Xiaolin had been developed for many years, and he had no hope, but he didn't expect it to be successfully developed.

"Did you come here this time to drive it with a propeller?"

"Exactly, a total of twenty-three days were walked, three days less than the previous twenty-six days."

"How did you reduce it by three days?" Fanning was a little disappointed.

Zhu Qi explained: "Big brother doesn't know, this kind of propeller is really fast when used on a three-thousand-stone cargo ship, but when used on a thousand-stone cargo ship, the effect is not significant, but it is more coke-saving, so the connection between the North Island and the South Island and the South Continent, try to use a three-thousand-stone ship, which is very convenient." ”

At this time, Zhu Qi's eyes were gloomy and said: "There is one more thing I want to tell my eldest brother, my fourth uncle of the main hall, the whole family immigrated to the North Island in May, but in the north of Nuami Island hundreds of miles away encountered a strong storm, ten ships capsized and sank three, and later rescued more than fifty people, and finally one hundred and forty-three people were killed, the fourth uncle of the main hall and the family of seven were unfortunately killed, I don't dare to tell my grandfather about this matter, and my aunt doesn't dare to say it." ”

The fourth uncle of the main hall mentioned by Zhu Qi is Zhu Yuanfu's fourth son, Zhu Pei's fourth uncle Zhu Xiaonan, he has three sons and one daughter, the daughter is married, the three sons are only teenagers, and the family of seven was killed.

Zhu Pei's three uncles, the second uncle Zhu Xiaolin took thousands of people from the Yang shipyard to Beidao, the third uncle Zhu Xiaohua was greedy for the prosperity of the Great Song Dynasty and refused to immigrate to Beidao, the fourth uncle Zhu Xiaonan was persuaded that the whole family decided to go to Beidao, but they encountered a shipwreck on the way, which was the first shipwreck encountered by Beidao, and the third uncle's family encountered it.

Fanning was silent for a moment and said: "Don't mention this matter again, I will tell them when I find the time, my grandfather is old, and I can't tell him about this matter." ”