More than 20 miles north of Yuncheng County, there is a diamond iron workshop, covering an area of more than ten acres, more than 200 craftsmen. The blast furnace is towering, and the coal pile is like a mountain.

The molten iron is poured directly into the mold and becomes a rough blank, which is then processed into a finished product by skilled blacksmiths and sold to customers.

However, there are still seventy percent of the refined iron that is directly sold to the outside world, because with an annual output of 500,000 catties of refined iron, the number of blacksmiths in the workshop is not enough, and so much refined iron cannot be digested internally.

But even if only 30% of the refined iron is processed, the profit of this part is also twice the profit of selling the refined iron, so Li Ziqian, the owner of the iron factory, pondered all day long how to recruit more blacksmith masters.

He is Chinese New Year's Eve and is in the prime of life, and he always wants to make the iron mill handed down from his ancestors bigger and stronger.

The funny thing is that a few days ago, there was an arrogant guy who came to the door and offered to buy his iron mill for 10,000 taels of silver, and he was kicked out.

In fact, this bid is still very fair, but how dare he sell the inheritance passed down from his ancestors?

If you sell it, you will not be a descendant!

However, Li Ziqian's ambition to revitalize the family business is just thinking about it in his heart, if he really works hard, he is reluctant to endure that hardship. He usually lives in Yuncheng County, and only goes to the iron mill once in ten days and half a month.

Of course, he doesn't spend his days drinking, and sometimes he does some serious things, such as entertaining customers and looking for sales.

Today, he happened to meet a big customer.

At noon, when he was drinking in Tianxiang Building, he heard two people at the next table talking about which iron mill to buy fine iron, so he secretly looked at it and pricked up his ears to listen.

One of the two was a calm and calm middle-aged pedant, shaking a banana fan in his hand.

The other was a tall and sturdy young man, with a steel knife at his waist and a large heavy package in his hand.

The two of them are extraordinary, well-dressed, and exquisitely groomed, and they are rich people at first glance. And the tone is quite loud, it seems that the first batch of purchases is more than 20,000 catties.

Nowadays, the price of iron is between 25 and 30 wen per catty, which is a big deal of 500 taels of silver!

Thinking of this, he was a little excited in his heart

But the two of them chatted and chatted, and they actually said that they were going to buy it at Shangyi Iron Workshop in Dongping Mansion.

Li Ziqian was anxious, hurriedly went over, and bowed his hand: "In Xia Li Ziqian, a native of Yuncheng County, his family has been running an iron mill for generations, and the King Kong Iron Workshop outside Yuncheng County is my family." When he heard that the two brothers wanted to buy fine iron, he took the liberty to talk, don't be surprised by the abruptness!

I don't know why the two of them went to Dongping Mansion to purchase? It's not to boast about it, but the refined iron smelted in my family's iron mill is of good quality, and the government has to buy a lot of it every year to forge weapons. ”

The two glanced at each other, got up and clasped their fists and saluted, and the middle-aged pedant said: "The two of us are from Jiangnan, in Xia Wufang, this brother is Lu Yong, entrusted by the owner, to purchase a large amount of fine iron in the north to build weapons, at least 20,000 catties or more, I don't know what is the scale of Li Yuanwai's iron workshop?" Can you provide it? ”

"Haha!" Li Ziqian laughed and said: "What a coincidence, my iron workshop is the best at building armor weapons, if you don't believe it, you two can go and inquire to see if I brag!" ”

The two of them glanced at each other, and they were both happy, "In that case, can Li Yuanwai take me to have a look?" ”

"It should be, it should be! Take two of you with you, please! ”

"Please!"

The three of them settled the account, got out of the restaurant, got into Li Ziqian's carriage, and went out of the city.

When passing through a Goolan courtyard, Wu Fang suddenly said "Huh", and saw a strong man wearing a flail at the door to show the public, the man had a purple face, a fan-circled beard, and he was also a martial artist.

"Who is this, and why is he wearing a flail at the gate of Goolan Courtyard?" Wu Fang asked.

Li Ziqian said with a smile: "That person is the head of the county's infantry, and he is known as the 'winged tiger'. ”

Wu Fang was even more curious: "Since it is the head of the capital, why do you wear shackles like a prisoner to show the public?" ”

"Brother Wu didn't know, I was there at the time, so I just knew it. Yesterday, Na Lei came back from his errand and went to the Goolan Courtyard to listen to the music, but he forgot to bring the money, and was ridiculed and insulted by the flower girl Bai Xiuying and her father Bai Yuqiao.

Lei Heng was annoyed and ashamed, and hit Bai Yuqiao. Bai Xiuying is a good friend of the magistrate, and after a meal of wind in his ears, where did Lei Dutou get a favor, and was punished to wear a flail at the gate of Goolan Courtyard to show the public.

Thinking of that Lei Heng, he is also a well-known figure in Yuncheng County, a well-known hero, and he was insulted by this! ”

After Li Ziqian finished speaking, he couldn't help but sigh.

After Wu Fang heard this, he let out an oh sound, his eyes changed, and he secretly made a plan in his heart, but he didn't make a sound, and went away in the carriage.

There seemed to be a noisy argument in the back, and there were screams, but Wu Fang still had important things on them, and they didn't care about the excitement.

Along the way, it passes through villages, farmlands, stone bridges, rivers, hills, and dense forests...... Amid the sound of chariots, they arrived at the King Kong Iron Workshop.

"The owner!" A young steward ran over and greeted him.

"Hao Jie, how are you doing?" Li Ziqian asked.

The young steward hurriedly said, "Don't worry, everything is fine!" ”

Li Ziqian nodded, and introduced Wu Fang and Lu Yong: "This is Hao Jie, the head of the iron workshop, and he usually takes care of it. ”

After the three of them bowed their hands, they went to see the fine iron and weapons.

Wu Fang found that this iron mill had a lot of inventory, including 2,000 spears, 500 swords, and 30 pairs of armor......

The young man Lu Yong said curiously: "Li Yuanwai, why do you have so many weapons in your fang?" ”

"The two are from Jiangnan, and they don't know anything about the local situation! It's all because of Zhu Long! ”

"Zhulong?" Wu Fang and Lu Yong glanced at each other, puzzled.

Li Ziqian thought that they had never heard of Zhu Long, and explained: "If you want to talk about Zhu Long, you have to start with Liangshan!" It turned out that a group of robbers gathered in Xiaoliang Mountain, robbed houses, cut off business travel, and the government was helpless.

Many large families buy weapons for self-protection, so my weapons business is particularly good.

But not long ago, Liang Shan wanted to rob Zhujiazhuang, and Zhu Long, the boss of Zhujiazhuang, was a ruthless man, and he actually destroyed Liangshan! Those landlords don't need to buy weapons anymore, they originally planned to hoard some and make more money, but who knows...... Ay! ”

Wu Fang and Lu Yong looked at each other and smiled, under the pretext of visiting, and walked around, the more they looked, the more satisfied they felt.

After the two sides determined the amount of fine iron and weapons to be purchased, and after negotiating the price, Lu Yong was about to pay, but Li Ziqian invited them to a secret room with a serious face.

"Brother Wu, Brother Lu, before buying and selling, I want to say one more thing, the imperial court has strict control over weapons, if it falls into the hands of robbers and thieves, then I will never be robbed, so I must find out the true origin of the two, please forgive me!"

After Wu Fang and Lu made eye contact, Zhengse said: "Don't hide it, we are under the command of General Jiangnan Shenggong, and we were ordered to come to Shandong and Hebei to buy fine iron and weapons and armor!" ”

"Jiangnan Holy Father?" Li Ziqian couldn't think of it for a while, but suddenly came to his senses and shouted in horror: "Fang La! You are Fang La's men! ”

At present, the hottest topic in the Great Song Dynasty is the rebellion of Fang La!

Because Song Huizong's brainless thing engaged in Huashigang, many wealthy families in Jiangnan went bankrupt and their families were ruined, not to mention poor families.

As a result, Fang La was annoyed, this old man raised his arms and shouted, and Jiangnan heroes gathered to respond, and turned against his mother's Zhao Guanjia together.

Li Ziqian never dreamed that he would be involved with Fang La, he was speechless in shock, and cold sweat flowed on his head - this is a big crime to kill his head!.

"Two, two, please forgive me for being cowardly, I really don't dare, I dare not do business with you! I'm sorry! Li Ziqian stammered.

"If Li Yuanwai wants to declare customs, it doesn't hurt to go, we will never resist!" Lu Yong pulled the door open and let Li Ziqian out.

Of course, Li Ziqian didn't take it seriously, and hurriedly shook his head, "Where do you two speak, business is not benevolent!" We must not betray our customers when we buy and sell! ”

He's not stupid, this is an outlaw who kills officials and rebels!

Wu Fang smiled and said: "Don't worry about Li Yuanwai, our identities are secret, except for you, no fourth person knows, we bought it and left, and went to Jiangnan, who will find out where these things came from?" ”

Li Ziqian's head shook like a drum.

Lu Yong put the package in his hand on the table, opened the package, and the golden garlic gold inside.

"This is worth ten times your price, whether you sell it or not, you give me an accurate word!"

Li Ziqian's eyes were attracted by the gold, and he struggled inwardly, gritted his teeth and said: "Sell, there is a good price, why not sell!" ”