Liu Yuan's face was solemn, and he said in a deep voice:

"Emperor Zhou is arrogant and thinks very highly of himself, and it is impossible for him to write his edict in such a tone, so the minister can conclude that this edict must have been written by someone under duress, and even it was not written by Emperor Zhou at all, but only printed in the newspaper in the name of Emperor Zhou!"

Emperor Yan's old face showed some agreement, and he said with some sighs:

"In this way, there is turmoil within the court of the Zhou State, but I don't know if it is Xie Qian or Wei Dongzheng who is now in power, or if there is someone else."

Liu Yuan looked at Emperor Yan and said a little anxiously:

"Your Majesty, now that the matter has come to an end, the court must no longer sit idly by! In case the Qianguo really captured the Zhou State, the strength would definitely increase, and the imperial court would have a huge threat! ”

Emperor Yan still looked light, and said lightly:

"Liu Xiang's words are a bit alarmist, a small Qianguo, relying on some strange tricks and tricks, took advantage of the internal turmoil in Zhou, and barely won, how can such an army be compared with my Dayan Iron Cavalry?"

When Liu Yuan heard this, he looked helpless, and could only say:

"But Your Majesty, even if I am a Dayan Iron Horse, I am not defeated by the hands of Fang Xiu, the prime minister of the Qianguo! The main general you sent, Ban Hongfei, is still uncertain about his life and death! ”

Hearing Liu Yuan mention this matter, Emperor Yan's face became a little ugly, and he frowned and said:

"The reason for the defeat is that Ban Hongfei underestimated the enemy and divided his troops to advance, and second, the cadres could not defend the city, and my Dayan Iron Cavalry could only dismount to fight, and could not give full play to their advantages, if the cadres dared to attack, the result would inevitably be different!"

Liu Yuan didn't expect that after Emperor Yan got older, he would be more cautious than before.

Perhaps it was Ban Hongfei's defeat that dealt a certain blow to His Majesty.

Thinking so, he opened his mouth and wanted to say something: "Your Majesty......"

"Enough, what you said, I know it in my heart, I'm not old, I'm not confused, what to do, I know better than you!"

Emperor Yan waved his hand and said impatiently.

When Liu Yuan heard this, his heart sank to the bottom.

Looking at Emperor Yan in front of him, he finally chose to give up, sighed in his heart, arched his hand, and said, "The old minister retires......"

After saying that, he turned around and left the palace.

Emperor Yan sat on the dragon chair, looked at his back, a deep light flashed in his eyes, turned his head to look at the eunuch beside him, and asked, "Where are the people at the sticky rod now?" ”

The eunuch hurriedly said: "Back to Your Majesty, I have entered Yongzhou yesterday." ”

Emperor Yan said: "Tell them that from today onwards, they don't have to reply to the imperial court, and they will lurk in Chang'an wholeheartedly, looking for an opportunity to assassinate Fang Xiu!" ”

The eunuch saluted and said, "Yes, Your Majesty!" ”

............

Changan.

Sunny.

Xiangguo's house.

Fang Xiu sat on the stone bench and looked at the recital sent by Zhongshu Province.

Shangguan Haitang stood beside him and said: "A letter from Jinnan Mansion, Emperor Zhou has been imprisoned, and now the court of Zhou is Xie Qian, he has promised to calm down the turmoil within seven days, and prepare for the subsequent Zen ceremony, he also sent a letter to you about this matter, in which he called you His Royal Highness the Regent." ”

When Fang Xiu heard this, a smile appeared on his face, and he said, "In this way, the true appearance is really not wrong. ”

"In addition, there is one more thing to tell the master."

Shangguan Haitang said solemnly.

Fang Xiu glanced at her and said, "What's the matter, but it doesn't hurt to say it." ”

"The secret agents in Yongzhou came to report that a group of fine works set off from Yan State, and as soon as they entered Daqian, they hid their whereabouts, and they were entrusted with a heavy responsibility, and they have not yet found out what their purpose is."

Speaking of this, a look of guilt appeared on his face.

Fang Xiudao:

"You and the secret agent of the first village are not Taoist priests who tell fortunes, how can you know everything, and enter the great cadre carefully, it is nothing more than thinking about finding out information, otherwise it is to assassinate Your Majesty or the true appearance.

Both the prime minister and His Majesty have guards around them, and it is expected that Yan Guo's fine work will not be so easy to assassinate...... Well, this matter, the true appearance knows, you don't have to take it to heart. ”

"Yes, master!"

Shangguan Haitang responded.

At this moment, there was a sudden sound of footsteps outside the courtyard.

Immediately afterwards, the housekeeper of the mansion appeared at the door of the courtyard and saluted: "Master, there is a man outside, claiming to be the current uncle of the country, and wants to see you." ”

Uncle today?

Fang Xiu was slightly stunned, and after thinking for a moment, he remembered the brother of the Queen Mother who had met at the Queen Mother's family banquet that day, and waved his hand and said, "Let him come in." ”

"Yes, sir!"

The butler saluted and turned to leave.

A moment later.

A young man in brocade clothes appeared in front of Fang Xiu, with a smile on his face, and said, "Fang Xiang......"

"Uncle Guo is here, what are you doing?"

Fang Xiu looked at Uncle Guo and asked.

When Uncle Guo saw him asking, he got straight to the point and said: "I came to see Fang Xiang, mainly because I wanted to invite Fang Xiang to take a look at the steam engine that had just been built." ”

As soon as this remark came out.

Fang Xiu was slightly stunned, his eyebrows raised, and he said with a slight surprise: "Uncle Guo built the steam engine so quickly?" ”

Uncle Guo scratched his head and said with a smile: "It all depends on the strong support of Fang Xiang to build so fast, if there is no Fang Xiang's drawings and silver, I am afraid that I will not be able to build it in ten years and eight years." ”

Hearing this, Fang Xiu still couldn't believe it.

I thought it would take at least two or three years for the steam engine to come out, but I didn't expect it to be so fast.

The appearance of the steam engine is no small thing!

Fang Xiu stood up from the stone bench and asked, "Where is the steam engine?" ”

Seeing that he attached so much importance to the steam engine, Uncle Guo felt more and more that he had met Bole, who knew the goods, his face was full of joy, and he replied busily: "It's in Uncle Guo's mansion, please move and go and have a look!" ”

"Let's go, let's see!"

Fang Xiu looked at Shangguan Haitang and said casually: "If you are fine, you will be with your own appearance." ”

"Yes!"

Shangguan Haitang answered and followed behind him.

Uncle Guo led the way.

Fang Xiu followed.

It didn't take long to arrive at Uncle Guo's mansion.

When you enter the mansion, you will find a large open space.

Above the clearing, there is a small iron can, connected by various iron rods, which looks quite complicated.

Fang Xiu did not study engineering, and his knowledge of machinery and steam engines was limited to the description of the Industrial Revolution and Watt's improvement of the steam engine in the history books.

Therefore, I don't know anything about the machine in front of me, I only know that it does look like a steam engine.

"Fang Xiang, this is the steam engine made according to your drawings!"

Uncle Guo stood next to the machine, looked at Fang Xiu with admiration, and said with great interest:

"To be honest, I had a similar idea a year ago, but after I built it, I found that after the water in the tin can turned into steam, it could drive the pole in front of it to move.

However, every time it condenses into steam, it takes a lot of firewood, and this original water, after turning into steam, disappears for no reason, so that even more coal is not enough.

During that time, I tried my best to improve the machine, but in the end it was in vain, until I met Fang Xiang!

Fang Xiang handed me the drawings of the so-called steam engine, and after careful study, I found that it was only necessary to design an iron tank in addition to the original iron tank as a neat cylinder.

Then add a so-called piston, direct that water vapor to another cylinder, and wait for it to cool down, and then you can solve the problem.

It is also miraculous to say that after cooling, the original steam will be pushed back into the cylinder, and the cycle will be repeated, without wasting steam, and the efficiency has been greatly improved compared to the original! ”

Uncle Guo talked about the steam engine and gushed endlessly.

Fang Xiu was confused when he heard it, seeing his enthusiastic appearance, it was not easy to interrupt, and when he finished speaking, Fang said: "Uncle Guo has said so much, it is better to let this steam move and demonstrate to the original phase, how it works." ”

When Uncle Guo heard this, his face turned abrupt, and he said busily: "Yes, yes, this is the right thing." ”

He looked at the servant beside him, waved his hand, and commanded, "Go and get some firewood, and put it under this steam engine and burn it." ”

"Yes!"

The servant answered, turned away, and a moment later brought back a pile of firewood, placed it under the steam engine, and lit it with a fire breaker.

Over time.

The steam engine in front of me began to work slowly.

The steam drove the pole and started a reciprocating motion.

Seeing this, Fang Xiu's eyes burst out with a bright light.

It looks like that!

"I didn't expect it to be so easy to build a steam engine."

Fang Xiu thought so, looked at Uncle Guo, and asked, "I don't know how much silver is needed to build such a machine?" ”

Uncle Guo said:

"I haven't counted it yet, but the craftsman shouldn't use much silver after he is skilled, and most of the silver I used up during this time was used for groping!

Fang Xiang, the machine you saw is actually the sixteenth, and the fifteen units that were built before either leaked air, or it couldn't move, and there was a lot of loss. ”

When Fang Xiu heard this, his face was thoughtful.

After a while, he made a decision, and said solemnly: "Benxiang will give you another 100,000 taels of silver to continue the research of this steam engine!" ”

100,000 taels of silver!

Uncle Guo was shocked.

As the younger brother of the Queen Mother, he knows many things better than the hundred officials.

He knew that now was the time for the imperial court to use silver.

Not to mention the emperor's relatives, even His Majesty has been thinking about how to reduce expenses all day long, and even hit the idea on the concubines of the first emperor.

100,000 taels of silver, but it's really not a small amount!

He looked at Fang Xiu and said with some concern: "Fang Xiang, 100,000 taels of silver is a bit too much, and you can't use it to study this steam engine!" ”

Fang Xiu said: "Why can't you use it?" There is still plenty of money to be used! ”

When Uncle Guo heard this, he hesitated: "However, now that the steam engine has been built, how else can it be studied?" ”

Fang Xiu said: "The machine that is being built today is still a useless thing, and the next thing to do is to turn it into a useful thing." ”

"Something useful?"

Uncle Guo had a thoughtful look on his face.

Fang Xiu continued: "Not to mention anything else, can this steam engine be used on a textile machine to improve efficiency, can it be used on a horse-drawn carriage to replace horses? Can it be used on a boat instead of a sail? ”

These few words can be regarded as opening the door to a new world for Uncle Guo.

His eyes widened in astonishment.

The whole person fell into a trance, muttering to himself: "Replace manpower, replace horses, replace sails...... Why didn't I think about it before? ”

A moment later.

He woke up from his trance, looked at Fang Xiu, and said excitedly: "Fang Xiang is really a genius!" Such a subtle idea can only be realized by a genius as wise and almost demonic as Fang Xiang! ”

Fang Xiu was a little embarrassed by him, but he had a breezy expression on his face, and wrote lightly: "The minister just spent the time of listening to the music on thinking, a little trick is not enough." ”

"Spend the time listening to the music on the hook and listening...... That's a wonderful statement! ”

Uncle Guo looked at the subordinates on the side excitedly, and ordered: "Go and get the pen, ink, paper, and inkstone, I want to write down Fang Xiang's words and hang them in the main hall!" ”

"Yes!"

The subordinate answered, and hurriedly went to get pen, ink, paper, and inkstone.

“......”

Seeing this, the corners of Fang Xiu's mouth twitched, and said, "It's just a feeling, it doesn't have to be like this." ”

Uncle Guo looked at Fang Xiu and said with a serious face: "Fang Xiang's words are a casual thought, which ordinary people can't understand for years, more than ten years, or even decades!" ”

“......”

Fang Xiu had no choice but to let him go.

There was a moment of silence.

He suddenly thought of something, looked at Shangguan Haitang, and asked, "Has the Engineering Academy ordered by the Prime Minister before started to prepare?" ”

Shangguan Haitang replied: "There is no movement yet. ”

Fang Xiu's brows furrowed slightly, and he said, "This matter, the prime minister has also ordered a lot of time, why haven't you prepared yet?" ”

Shangguan Haitang hesitated: "As far as I know, it's because of the lack of silver. ”

The voice fell.

Fang Xiu fell silent.

He knew in his heart that with his power, it would be impossible for the officials to delay the things he ordered.

The reason why there was no preparation was probably because there was really too much money.

After all, the little empress had also told him about the lack of silver before.

Fang Xiu sighed in his heart and said, "How much silver can you transport back from the Zhou Kingdom?" ”

Shangguan Haitang said: "It should only be enough to give bereavement pensions to the soldiers who died in battle." ”

Hearing this, Fang Xiu didn't know what to say for a while.

Seeing this, Shangguan Haitang was silent for a few breaths, and then said: "There is a way to raise money for the construction of the academy, but it is just ......"

Fang Xiu noticed her heavy face and said helplessly: "Do you want to say that the fallen soldiers are classified as fugitives, or missing, so that you can save the money for the bereavement?" ”

Shangguan Haitang didn't answer, obviously acquiescing to Fang Xiu's words.

Fang Xiu said: "The soldiers fought bloodily for the imperial court, and it is the responsibility of the imperial court to give bereavement pensions to their families. ”

Shangguan Haitang arched his hand and said: "Humble duty knows mistakes." ”

"What can be wrong with sharing worries about this ......"

Fang Xiu reached out and brushed the strands of hair from her forehead to the side, his face thoughtful.

After a while, he seemed to think of something, looked at Shangguan Haitang, and said, "Go, follow the prime minister into the palace to face the saint!" ”