After many years, Dou Qing finally saw the number one nemesis of his life again, at this time, when Yang Ming first came to Hedong, he was not too polite, but now, he is completely humble.

"The prince is tired of the boat, please go into the house and rest," Dou Qing trotted over and personally helped Yang Ming get out of the carriage.

Yang Ming said with a smile: "Wen Xi's thing, did Dou Gong help Gu to stare at it?" ”

"Definitely, definitely," Dou Qingfu said with a smile.

The two of them were in front, and the hundred officials were behind, and they entered the Hedong Palace.

At present, it is no longer the Hedong Palace, there is no king in Hedong, but the mansion is still Yang Ming's property, and there have always been people here.

Since the eighteenth year of the opening of the emperor, the palace has been built, and Yang Ming has not lived here.

At this time, looking at the situation in the house, I felt that the years were like a shuttle, and the white horse passed by.

"Okay, you let them all go, Lone has nothing to explain, I'll only stay here for one night, and I'll go to Wenxi tomorrow,"

After Yang Ming entered the front hall, he asked Dou Qing to send all those magistrates away, leaving only Xu Deyan, Xiao Maha, Song Laosheng and Xiao Shilian, these four people were Yang Ming's people.

Song Laosheng is not old at all, that is, he looks like he is about forty, this person was pulled up by Xiao Maha, and Xiao Mahe intends to let the other party take over Yang Ming's elite troops in Hedong.

Xiao Maha is old, a man in his seventies, can help Yang Ming practice this elite force, he can also be regarded as a complete merit, and now he only plans to retire in the position of Hedong County Lieutenant and Military Hussar General, and when he dies, his eldest son Xiao Shilian will send him back to his hometown in Lanling for burial.

That's right, they are also from the Lanling Xiao family, but they are far away from Queen Xiao's Southern Liang Xiao.

"Shi Lian is not an outsider, but he has not met you until now, and he feels that it is too late to meet him," Yang Ming said with a smile.

Xiao Shilian is also in his forties this year, and has been living in Shixing County, Nanhai County, because Xiao Maha and his family migrated from Lanling to Shixing very early, which is in the north of Guangzhou.

Xiao Shilian hurriedly got up and said: "The prince has the grace of reinvention in my father and son, and he is also looking forward to his humble position every day. ”

Xiao Maha is different from other generals in Nan Chen, he led the main force of Chen's army to surrender to the Great Sui that year, which can be regarded as a meritorious performance, so his sons were not taken captive to Beijing.

So much so that the second son Xiao Shiluo, who stayed in his hometown, rebelled in Jiangnan, was suppressed by Yang Su, and was defeated and died, while the eldest son Xiao Shilian did not participate from beginning to end and survived.

Yang Ming smiled: "Sit down, don't be polite to your own people." ”

Then, Yang Ming looked at Song Laosheng with interest and said:

"This time I came to Hedong alone, on the one hand, I want to go to Wenxi to see the situation of the refining kiln, on the other hand, I want to meet a few of you, you are now just a soldier in Hedong to join the army, but you hold a lonely elite private army in your hand, although the grade is low, the power is not small."

Song Laosheng hurriedly said: "It is an honor to be able to serve the prince, but I want to train the most elite invincible division in the world for the prince." ”

"Very good," Yang Ming nodded and said: "This lonely private army will be handed over to you and Shilian, it may be of great use in the future, and wait for the opportunity, once it becomes apparent, it will be Pengcheng Wanli." ”

Song Laosheng was overjoyed: "The humble position is a rough person, and he only knows that he obeys the prince's orders, so as to live up to the cultivation of the prince and Xiao Lao." ”

"Okay," Yang Ming smiled and raised his glass: "Everyone, please drink this cup." ”

Everyone in the hall stood up one after another and toasted Yang Ming.

After Dou Qing drank it with a smile, he sat down with a wipe of his mouth and said:

"Qiao Zhongkui sent a letter, hoping to come to Hedong to meet the prince, I wonder if the prince will see him?"

"A county is too guarded, it is not a matter of priority, it is not appropriate to leave his post without permission, tell him that he will have a chance to see him in the future," Yang Ming said.

Qiao Zhongkui is also in love with Yang Ming now, and his son Qiao Chun has already served in the East Palace, so he thinks that he is the prince's person, and when he heard that Yang Ming is coming to Hedong, he asked Dou Qing to help ask to see if he has a chance to meet the prince.

After all, it is your own backstage, and you still need to meet from time to time to promote your relationship.

That night, Yang Ming stayed in the Hedong Palace, and in the early morning of the next day, he set off for Wenxi County.

Wenxi is Pei's hometown, and only the surname Pei has the final say in this place, and it is not easy for anyone to come.

When Yang Ming arrived outside Wenxi County, the greeting procession of nearly 1,000 people had been waiting outside the city gate for a long time, and there was also Dugu Huaien.

"Tell them, I won't go into the city, let them lead the way in front, go to the kiln refinery to have a look," Yang Ming instructed Chen Kui, and the latter passed on his meaning, so the Pei family divided hundreds of horses to lead the way in front of the county, and went to the deep mountains in the east of the county seat.

And Dugu Huaien was called into the carriage by Yang Ming.

After more than half a year, this kid's face is now tanned and peeled, but his expression is very excited, and it seems that he is making good progress.

Dugu Huaien didn't wait for Yang Ming to ask a question, and rubbed his hands excitedly:

"The Pei family has helped a lot, found a few good mines, easy to mine, the texture is good, now six refining kilns have been built, after all, it is the early stage, some weapons were baked in advance, not very good, slowly improve."

Yang Ming said: "I can't slow down, if I can be slow, I don't need to run in person, Yan Bi begged me for help, let me be sure to deliver a batch of ordnance and armor to him before the end of the year, so that he can deal with Your Majesty." ”

"What the hell? This is an errand given to him by His Majesty, and it is not for you, so I can't help him," Dugu Huaien said:

"Smelting and casting, the process is extremely complicated, it's not that it can be fast, slow work can produce fine work, the kiln is ignited not long ago, many processes are not perfect, tell you clearly in advance, I can't be fast, besides, I am a high-quality product, not to supply military supplies to the imperial court."

Yang Ming said with a smile: "You can tell Your Majesty this." ”

"I don't dare, I'll just complain to you," Dugu Huaien pouted, "If I tell him so, he can reward me with twenty rods." ”

After all, this kid was raised by Yang Guang's own mother Dugu Jialuo for two years, and in Yang Guang's heart, he is a very close cousin, and his personality is like this, so he doesn't care about his mouth.

Yang Ming smiled: "I'll take a look at the situation first." ”

The mines are basically distributed in the deep mountains around Tangying Township, so the smelting kilns are naturally located in Tangying Township, distributed in the six villages in the township, and the ores are all taken from the mountains and mountains around Tangwang Mountain.

Tangwang Mountain was originally called Tiao Mountain, later changed to Jingshan, in history, Shang Tang sent troops in this place, and the Xia Dynasty army fought a decisive battle in Mingtiao, and destroyed Xia Jianshang, so this mountain was renamed Tangwang Mountain, which is still used today.

There are abundant iron ore resources in the mountains, some of which are difficult to mine, and the mines that are easy to mine, this time the Pei family is also quite interesting, and they took the initiative to point it out.

So far, the mining is still very smooth, the road has also been repaired by the Pei family, and the ore in the mountains has been continuously sent to Tangying Township.

In the village, smoke rose everywhere, and the sound of striking iron was endless, which was very harsh.

The smelting process of the Great Sui is very backward, and the environment is also poor, but fortunately, there are professionals from Taifu Temple here, and the sewer canal was dug early to drain the sewage out of the village, otherwise there would be no place to settle in the village.

The village where Yang Ming is located, called Shimen Village, has eighteen smelting furnaces, because all the ore comes from a single kiln, so a village alone can be called a smelting kiln.

The ore material from each mine is different and cannot be mixed and matched, so the iron ore of one mine is used in the smelting kiln of a village, and other ores cannot be replaced.

There are barracks all over the place, all of them are workers' residences, and the population of the village is soaring, and commerce is booming, selling everything, including those who sell themselves.

As an expert, Yun Dingxing accompanied Yang Ming and introduced the entire smelting and forging process steps for Yang Ming, among them, Yang Ming met craftsmen from Shandong in a smelting shed, using the steel filling technology of Qi Wuhuaiwen of the Northern Qi Dynasty.

The two-liquid quenching method can only be used to burn the kiln with chestnut charcoal.

Chestnut charcoal is the charcoal made by chestnut trees, and it is used to start a fire, which has fewer impurities in the fire and is not easy to pollute the iron.

In fact, this is mainly the avoidance and application of some chemical elements, and Yang Ming doesn't understand what it is.

So he was accompanied by Dugu Huai'en, Yun Dingxing and others, and personally observed a smelting process, dozens of the best craftsmen, hands and feet, sweating profusely, carefully operating.

Burning iron and blowing wind, the temperature in the greenhouse rose instantly, and Yang Ming was also sweating profusely.

When the moon sets and the sun rises, the craftsmen open the bottom of the furnace, and then a mass of fiery red iron slag like cotton slowly flows out, which is called a piece of iron.

The smelting furnaces of the Great Sui are not large, more than one person is high, so the blast effect is poor, and the melting point cannot be raised, so the molten iron cannot be burned, and only a piece of iron-making can be burned, which is the cotton-like iron slag at the moment.

The next step is quenching and cooling, which is soft and you can't pick it up, so you have to cool it down to make it slightly harder, and quenching and cooling can also remove some impurities in the iron slag.

Cooling is very time-consuming, and after about an hour, three craftsmen pick it up with iron tongs, put it on the forging table, and start forging with a clang.

As the so-called striking iron while it is hot, only at this time, can you forge an iron block into the shape you need after constant forging, which is a kung fu work, which consumes a lot of time and physical strength.

After another two and a half hours, a knife blade was completed, at this time, the internal structure of the iron knife has been finalized, and it can be cooled directly into the water, and with a snort, the entire greenhouse is filled with smoke.

The handles are made of wood and are locked with iron rings to prevent the wooden handles from cracking and tightening the blades.

As for cutting the edge, it's simple, not a technical job.

A knife is made in this way, I don't know if I don't look at it, I am startled when I see it, Yang Ming only feels that this kind of process is too backward, no wonder Yan Bi is about to die, this kind of output, what year and month can it be equipped with a million army?

You must know that a single pair of armor requires dozens of craftsmen to work day and night for a month to complete.

Yang Ming felt that he was going to stay for a long time on his trip to Hedong this time.