On this day, He Bo sent someone to report to Wang Ze, saying that there was a major breakthrough in the salt drying method, and Wang Ze rushed to it. After the process of the salt pan is basically completed, the next step is to build dozens of salt pans to prepare for salt drying.

When Wang Ze and He Bo were inspecting the salt pans, three boats appeared on the sea in the distance, which were not the usual copycat fishing boats.

The dock was immediately alerted, could it be the pirates on Long Island in the northwest? The atmosphere became tense all of a sudden, and someone went to the cottage to report the news.

The old man He was calm: "Don't panic, don't panic, what are you panicking!" These boats carried up to 100 people, and the cottage was extinguished, and I saw that the hull was very deep in the water, and it was slow, so it should have pulled a lot of goods. ”

After a long time, the boat slowly approached the dock, and it turned out that Wang Yong came back from his third brother Zhu Rui, "Brother He, the younger brother is polite!" Zhu Rui stood on the bow deck and saluted He Bo, "Have you informed the eldest brother?" ”

"Someone has already reported it, and just now everyone thought it was Haikou coming! Hahaha~~~" Uncle He laughed.

At this time, Wang Yong and Cheng Chong had also arrived with weapons, and when they saw Zhu Rui coming back after walking for so many days, they said excitedly: "The third brother finally came back safely, why did it take so long this time?" ”

"Not to mention the robbery and looting of Qingzhou by Mount Tai last month, the government set up cards everywhere, and the officers and soldiers took advantage of the maneuver to slander people and rob people and property. I waited for the group to successfully dodge, and waited for Linzi to buy nearly 300 stone of grain. When I was ready to come back, the government set up a card on the land route, and I waited for more than ten days and did not relax, so I 'get' three boats to rush back from Xiaoqing River to sea. It's just that I rarely '' the boat, but when I come, it's much slower. ”

"It's good to come back," Wang Yong took Zhu Rui's hand, "Third brother, you come with me and your second brother, I have something important to tell you", and said and pulled Zhu Rui to the cottage.

He Bo hurriedly organized the people of the cottage to come to the beach to transport food, and everyone in the cottage was elated and moved, this is the life-saving food that Lang Jun's wife took out all her dowry in exchange!

"What can you say about the eldest brother and second brother now?" Zhu Rui was taken to a secret room in the cottage by Wang Yong and Cheng Chong, "Third brother, look! Wang Yong said and opened a box.

"Gold?!" Zhu Rui asked in surprise, "Big brother, second brother, where did this come from?" ”

"This is our copycat that we found ourselves." Cheng Chong was slightly proud in his heart, this was kicked out by his own eldest 'daughter'.

"If these golden sands are refined into gold, I'm afraid it will be no less than a hundred taels! Could it be that a gold mine has been found near the cottage? Zhu Rui immediately guessed the point.

"The third brother is really smart, and now only more than 100 people know the news, and they are all reliable and strict-mouthed." Wang Yong replied.

"Since this is the case, I will step up to buy a batch of grain, and the weapons of the cottage are not enough to continue to build, I can't tell when the government will know that we are hiding here and come to encircle and suppress." Zhu Rui said to Wang Yong and the two.

Wang Yong nodded and said: "What the second brother said is very true, it is better to take advantage of the autumn harvest to buy more grain, otherwise the price will increase again during the New Year!" What is the situation outside now, the third brother, let's talk about it! ”

Zhu Rui then spoke in detail: "A few months ago, after we killed Changguang County, the government strictly investigated for more than two months and there was no result, until last month, Mount Tai robbed and plundered Qingzhou, and the Gwangzhou assassin was eager to give the court 'handover' on the court, so the culprit was attributed to the head of the Taishan thief. ”

Speaking of this, Zhu Rui said worriedly: "This year, Emperor Gaoyang went north to Kumoxi, returned with a great victory, plundered the population, cattle, sheep and horses extensively; However, after the victory of the division, it was still a major overhaul of the army, the purchase of military funds, and the reorganization of the army. If you can't get it, the grain and grass materials of this Daqi will soar, so we still have to prepare early. ”。

Wang Yong nodded and said: "The third brother is reasonable, you will bring more people with you, just in case, although Zheng Kui, the three major masters of Long Island Haikou, is my friend when I was young, but the big boss and the second boss have no 'friendship' relationship." In addition, the wealth is moving, and it is better to be just in case. The third sister has been waiting for you at home for a long time, you go home to see her first, and rest at home for a few more days before leaving! ”

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On the day of the Winter Solstice Festival, the school took a day off, and Wang Ze had a coveted mutton 'meat' dumpling.

Because Wang Yong usually shares weal and woe with everyone in the cottage, although Wang Ze can usually eat a full meal, his 'meat' is also full of fish and 'meat' like other households in the cottage.

Although Wang Ze also liked to eat fish before, he also wanted to eat 'meat' to change the taste when he ate fish every day! Now, although it is just a lamb 'meat' dumpling, it is better than nothing.

Yesterday, Uncle Zhu came back with the fleet, bringing back nearly 900 stone of grain, and thousands of catties of iron were also bought, so that the grain could be eaten until May next year, and the food crisis was basically solved.

Due to the continuous war between the Northern Qi and the Western Wei Dynasty, the price of iron continued to rise, and it would be too much of a loss to buy iron.

Now that the weapons are basically satisfied, it is better to make iron by yourself for other agricultural tools; Moreover, Uncle Zhu picked up a few fleeing blacksmiths on the way back, and they were also wanted by the government because they offended the powerful, so they brought them back along the way.

Qu Liulang has led people to roughly finish mining the golden sands in the mountain streams, and now he has begun to go everywhere in the mountains to prospect, a few days ago it seems that he found an iron mine, although the scale is not large, but it is enough for the cottage to be used for a hundred years.

It is estimated that the first batch of ore will be transported today, and Wang Ze is going to visit it, so that he can know how iron was smelted in ancient times.

"Da Lang!" At this time, a little fat man ran over panting, the weather in the 11th lunar month has really begun to get cold, and the little guy's two faces are frozen red, like two red apples.

This is Cheng Chong's five-year-old only son Cheng Hu, saying that Cheng Hu is a little fat man is actually wronging others, Cheng Hu is only slightly fat, but he has grown stronger since he was a child. In addition, the surrounding children of the same age are generally thin because of insufficient diet, which caused Cheng Hu to be very aggrieved and fell into the nickname of a little fat man.

"Second brother!" Wang Ze looked at Cheng Hu, who was one year older than him and was obviously taller, and felt very funny: the snot went in and out of the nostrils, like two 'hairy' worms, the cuffs of the clothes were black and shiny, but there was still a mutton 'meat' dumpling in one hand to eat with relish, and the clothes were bulging, and I didn't know what to pack.

"Da Lang, Sixth Brother Qu has brought a lot of iron ore, and the new blacksmith Cao is preparing to open a furnace to make iron, let's go and have a look!"

"Okay, let's go together."

There were some blacksmiths in the cottage, but in fact, they were just amateur blacksmiths in the former Zhuangzi, and before the rebellion, they were the kind of blacksmiths who worked for more than ten days before the farm, and they had to plant their own fields when they didn't live. Some of the farm tools used in the cottage are made by them, but the level is not very good, and the iron plough used by He Boken is often broken.

Since Blacksmith Cao came to the cottage to 'show' his hand, all of a sudden, these strong men and strong boys were eager to stick it one by one, and they bowed their heads, and Blacksmith Cao naturally became the leading brother of the blacksmith's room.

In the past, the blacksmith's house was in a small courtyard in the cottage, but now he has to make his own iron, so he simply moved to the back mountain, in a small basin near the stream.

That is, it is convenient to smelt iron and get water, and the transportation of iron ore is also closer. Because of today's school holiday, Wang Ze and Cheng Hu walked for most of the day and met many boys of the same age, and Zhu Bofu of Uncle Zhu's family was also there, it seemed that everyone wanted to go to see the excitement, so they went together.

The ironworks are really not small, accounting for about five or six acres of land. Wang Ze almost didn't believe his eyes, weren't the two towering blast furnaces not far away? Could it be that it is a peer, and there are other people who have also crossed?

At this time, Blacksmith Cao had already begun to prepare to light the two blast furnaces, and at this time someone asked: "Uncle Cao, in the past, when I saw people smelting iron, they were all forged with a sledgehammer after it was burned red, why are you different?" ”

According to Wang Ze's visual inspection, Cao Blacksmith's age is about forty years old, his skin is dark, his beard is a little but not bearded, and he only wears a sweatshirt even though it is winter, which is the peak of blacksmithing.

Hearing someone ask such a question, Blacksmith Cao said disdainfully, "How can that iron-making method be compared with me, my iron-making method can not only directly smelt molten iron, but these two big iron furnaces can also produce more than 1,000 catties of iron every day!" ”

Thousands of catties of iron are not less every day, which is equivalent to 365,000 catties per year, about 100 tons, and the annual iron smelting volume of the entire Northern Qi during this period is only seven or eight thousand tons.

Listening to Blacksmith Cao's immodest words, Wang Ze hurriedly asked; "Uncle Cao, can you fill the steel method?" Someone next to him introduced to Blacksmith Cao that this is the son of the big leader of the cottage, "It turned out to be Xiao Langjun, dare to ask what is going on with this steel filling method?" No, I haven't heard of it. ”

After Wang Ze explained, Blacksmith Cao finally understood, "It turns out that Xiao Langjun is talking about the Sugang method, but I have learned this from the master and know a little bit about it." However, Xiao Langjun said that he would use coal-based iron to smelt steel directly, but he had never heard of it. ”

"I used to hear that Yecheng also has a large number of iron smelted with charcoal, but it is all low-quality inferior iron, which is easy to break, but because of the large amount of iron, so there is still some profit, our cottage is now smelting iron for its own use, I am afraid it is better to use charcoal to make iron." Blacksmith Cao explained.

Listening to Blacksmith Cao's words, Wang Ze was directly dumbfounded, and at this time, Uncle He also came to see the excitement, and when he saw this situation, he spoke directly; "Xiao Langjun is afraid that there is still something to say, Cao Blacksmith will listen to it again."

Wang Ze thought for a while and said, "Uncle Cao, I'm afraid that the iron in Yecheng is directly smelted from untreated coal!" Seeing Blacksmith Cao nodding, Wang Ze continued, "My method is different, this charcoal contains various impurities such as sulfur, which needs to be refined and removed before good steel can be smelted. ”

Wang Zexin said, "Your sister, Blacksmith Cao is too good, not to mention that he can make iron in a blast furnace, he even saw a water-powered blower by the water just now, if you don't stop you today, how can I 'mix' with this traverser!" ”

Blacksmith Cao said with a suspicious look: "Is there such a thing? ”

He Bo smiled at him: "Mr. Cao, it's better to listen to Xiao Langjun's words, the salt farm that Xiao Langjun led us to build by the sea two months ago will be able to produce salt in a few days, but it is much lighter than the previous salt boiling method, and I am afraid that it will produce hundreds of stones of salt in a month!" ”

After listening to Uncle He's words, Blacksmith Cao was not calm now, and quickly respectfully invited Wang Ze to the workshop to learn from Wang Ze.

Wang Ze then probably passed on some of the knowledge of soil method coking that he had learned in later generations to Blacksmith Cao, and irresponsibly asked Blacksmith Cao to study it himself, "In a few days, I will come to see your results with my father!" With that, he walked out of the workshop.

Wang Ze came to a conclusion: Blacksmith Cao was not a traverser, and his level was very high. It seems that he is not just a folk blacksmith as he said, but Wang Ze is a good thing for the cottage to have an extra master blacksmith.

However, the matter of the salt field made Wang Ze very ashamed, and after the drumming, he threw it directly to the back of his head, seeing that the salt field was going to produce salt, Wang Ze didn't know, and he must go to see it when the salt came out in a few days.