Yang Chengying and Lu Xiangsheng arrived in Jining on 13 March.

Lu Xiangsheng felt that he had come to a strange place.

Strangeness is not in the region, but in a feeling in the heart.

For example, roads are not dirt roads, but gravel roads. But it is not a stone-paved road in the ordinary sense, but something else is clearly added.

The whole road is wide and flat, and all kinds of horse-drawn carriages travel on it, and there is an endless stream of them.

Here, you will see people dressed in various styles, speaking different accents, or even speaking the same language, or haggling, or chatting.

Lu Xiangsheng even thinks that being able to quarrel is also a kind of happiness, at least it means that they are full and have the strength to argue.

"Leaving the grass on the plain, one year old and one withered glory......

The sound of children reading came to Lu Xiangsheng's ears.

He stopped his horse and listened.

Yang Chengying also stopped, turned his head and saw Lu Xiangsheng's serious expression.

What a pure minister.

"The children here are all in the army?" Lu Xiangsheng asked suddenly.

"There is another school for the children of the army, which is specially built for the poor people."

Yang Chengying replied with a smile.

"It is also a great merit to educate the people." Lu Xiangsheng said, "I also want to promote education in Shanxi and other places, but unfortunately I am shy in my pocket, and it is just an idea after all."

"Let the people have the heart to send their children to the school, and if the family is hungry, how can they have the heart to send their children."

"That's right."

"Let's go, I'll take you to a good place."

Yang Chengying rode his horse first.

Lu Xiangsheng glanced at the school, and followed on horseback.

The group passed through the west city of Jining and came to the steel mill in the southeast of Jining.

Before Lu Xiangsheng arrived, he saw the smoke clouds over the steel mill from a distance.

It was a big factory he had never seen before.

Under the careful operation of Li Guoying and Liu Chengai, the steel plant has been able to produce qualified steel in large quantities.

Pig iron, wrought iron, carbon steel......

Thus extending a series of workshops such as arsenals, artillery factories, and agricultural tool manufacturing factories.

Create a high-quality horseshoe, armed with the Liaodong Army and Mongolian cavalry, crisscrossing the outside.

"Please come with me and show you the Arsenal."

Yang Chengying said as he lifted the stiff rope, knocked the stirrups, and walked towards the arsenal.

The arsenal mainly produced gunpowder, Miner, and Type 09 rifles.

Gunpowder, at present, is dominated by black powder, and yellow powder is also being produced on a large scale.

There is also smokeless gunpowder, but it is generally in stock.

Usually training, black powder plus mene bullets.

When he came to the shooting range, Yang Chengying held a Type 09 rifle and demonstrated loading ammunition in front of Lu Xiangsheng, and then shooting.

Bang, one hit.

Lu Xiangsheng was taken aback and asked, "How much is this gun equipped in the Liaodong Army?"

Yang Chengying said, "Everyone has it. It is engraved with a number, and it is recorded when it is received, and whoever loses it will be punished for his sin."

"No wonder you crisscrossed the desert north at a very small cost, here's why." Lu Xiangsheng couldn't imagine the scene at that time, but guessed based on the distance of the gun.

A traditional cavalry, from the moment it appeared in sight, was constantly subjected to the blows of such guns.

It is even said that it was hit by artillery without entering the field of view.

Then if you don't retreat in time, you won't be far from the annihilation of the whole army.

"The quality of guns is only part of the story, the most important thing is that the materials used to make guns are good. Otherwise, there will be a situation where due to the poor quality can only be prayed or divined before the cannon is fired."

Yang Chengying handed over the gun to the people around him and said to Lu Xiangsheng.

"That's right." Lu Xiangsheng listened, and he was also guessing in his heart the purpose of Yang Chengying's words.

"But the average squire wouldn't see this, he

They will only stare at the land. They exploited the people and goods on the land, and the property they obtained either bought the land again, or subsidized the children of the clan to become high officials in the court to avoid the taxes of the imperial court. I never thought of doing these things with money!"

"Yang Jingluo's words are unfair, even if someone has the heart to do these things, the imperial court ......" Lu Xiangsheng suddenly stopped.

Shinong industry and commerce are the rules set by Taizu.

Among them, although Shang is the lowest, it is also the richest category.

Of course, it is only limited to the kind of people who are integrated with government and business.

The rest of the merchants had a hard time.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, there was a paragraph where a man opened a tofu factory, worked hard every day, earned some money, and expanded the scale.

But it also attracted the attention of the officials, and since then that person has suffered a lot of bad luck, today you come to blackmail, tomorrow he will come to blackmail, and the good tofu workshop will be destroyed.

The germ of so-called capitalism became the sanctity of the property of corrupt officials in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Collecting the right tax and listening to the least goose cry has always been the mystery of taxation.

Obviously, Ming can't do it.

Lu Xiangsheng closed his mouth.

He was silent for a while, and then asked, "What is the purpose of showing me these places?" Don't tell me it's just hanging out."

"Brother Lu, there is no basis for prosperity and decline, the Ming Court is already a rotten wood, and it is difficult to make a difference......

"Brother Yang, I understand what you mean."

Lu Xiangsheng raised his hand to interrupt Yang Chengying's words, and said angrily: "The characters I have admired since childhood are Yue Fei and Wen Tianxiang.

When he said this, he said earnestly, "Brother Yang's kindness, I understand it. But I can't go against my heart and betray the Ming!"

"I didn't let you betray, I just asked you to ......" Yang Chengying still wanted to persuade again.

Lu Xiangsheng said, "That's what Hong Chengchou can do! I, Lu Xiang, understood when I ascended, and I should understand when I went!"

Yang Chengying sighed for a while, and sure enough, it was difficult for Chunchen to persuade.

At this time, he suddenly found that Lu Xiangsheng was looking at him, and he also raised his head to look back.

"Yang Jingluo, what will you do when he meets each other in the army?" Lu Xiangsheng asked.

Yang Chengying didn't even think about answering: "I will defeat you and your men and horses head-on, and then bury you with dignity."

"If I can get this answer, I don't think of you as a friend." Lu Xiangsheng said, "So please don't persuade me again, I won't do that."

Yang Chengying sighed and said, "Since I have said this, I will also tell you the truth, as long as Da Ming is still in one day, I, Yang, will be Da Ming's courtier. What would you do if Da Ming was not there one day?"

"I still say the same thing, someone should always shed blood for Daming to the end." Lu Xiang ascended.

"Brother Lu's courage is admirable, I have nothing to say."

Yang Chengying no longer persuaded Lu Xiangsheng.

He took Lu Xiangsheng to walk around other places, and finally personally sent Lu Xiangsheng away.

As the sun set, on the empty field, Yang Chengying immediately went to the mountains and watched Lu Xiangsheng and his party go away.

"Your Highness, Lu Xiangsheng is a rare talent." Li Guoying said on the side.

"It's a pity that he will sink into the sea of suffering with the ship of Daming."

Yang Chengying is not without regret.

"Thousands of sails pass by the side of the sunken boat, and ten thousand trees spring in front of the sick tree." Li Guoying said, "But the minister prefers another sentence, there must be faithfulness in the ten-room city."

Yang Chengying nodded: "Don't dwell on the past, we have more things to do."

With that, the master and servant rode away from the mountain.

The two backs were illuminated by the sun, leaving a long shadow.