After coming out of Mangdang Mountain, everyone drove the carriage to the official road, An Daoquan decided to follow Xiao Ming back to Xuzhou first, and then go south alone, Xiao Ming knew that he had made up his mind, and no longer persuaded him, let him talk to Gongsun Sheng.

When the carriage turned east on the official road, it stopped, it is located in a village, the name is Sixian Village, which means that Confucius was sheltering from the rain here at that time, Xiao Ming was gossiping with Qian Baguang, asking about some surrounding geography and humanities, Gu Xiaoliu pulled his sleeve, "Bai San knelt outside"

Xiao Ming got out of the car, only to see Bai San kneeling straight on the ground, after seeing Xiao Ming, lying on the ground and knocking his head three times in a row, Xiao Ming sighed and helped him up, "I know your mind, a Qingdao chief often says that you have a clear root and bones, and you are born to be a cultivator, you will learn a skill with him, and there is no feast in the world, so say goodbye here today."

Bai San bit his lips and choked silently, Xiao Ming said: "Go, you and I have not finished our fate, and we will still see each other then," After speaking, he took out two ingots of gold and handed them to Bai Sandao: "Arrange a clear road chief for food and lodging on the way, go!" ”

He was very happy to be able to find a good future for Bai San, but when he saw Bai San crying, he suddenly felt quite reluctant in his heart, Gu Xiaoliu also wiped his tears on the side, Bai San took the gold ingot and put it in his arms, his eyes showed firmness, he stood up and said: "Bai San don't live today, but I won't forget you in this life!" I ......"

Gongsun Sheng walked over, his face was indifferent, he patted Bai San's shoulder and said to Xiao Ming: "Brother Xiao, I have a promise to you with the divine doctor, I dare not forget it, I am in Zhongnan Mountain, and if there is something to send a letter, I can send an envoy to send a letter" After speaking, he said goodbye to everyone, and took Bai San to the west.

……

The carriage and horse returned to Xuzhou the next day, Gu Shouzhen was very happy to see Xiao Ming, it turned out that the joint approval of the Ministry of Household and the Ministry of Industry had been issued, because the Tokyo historian did not substantially intervene in the purchase of Xuzhou iron ore, the imperial court proposed that the Xuzhou Prefecture Salt and Iron Cargo Capital Tea Farm should be handled as appropriate, and Zhang Duan had already notified Gu's Refinery yesterday to go to handle the contract affairs of iron ore mineral transfer and land documents.

In other words, the Xuzhou iron mine has been bought by the Gu refinery, which is reasonable and legal and the contract is complete, and the land around the iron mine has also been bought, and the government has made a price of 10,000 yuan! It's so cheap!

Zhang Duan's concubine has been arranged by Jie Zhicong to be sent to Tokyo, and he also has a heart, naturally grateful to Gu's Refinery and Richanglong, and the processing of the iron ore has been delayed for a long time, so he can dispose of himself as soon as possible to make money in the salt prison position, so Zhang Duan has been very hard from beginning to end, so that the iron ore has completed the delivery procedures at a very fast speed.

Eighty miles south of Xuzhou is flat, but there are hills to distribute, Xuzhou iron mine is here, the official road is also relatively flat, the road is horizontal, there is a town less than sixty miles away from the city, called Taiping Town, it is the place where the east and west official roads are staggered, although the population is not much, but the business is developed.

The name of the town "Taiping" is to expand when Shenzong, Taiping rejuvenated the country for five years, Emperor Taizong drove Mount Tai to seal Zen, passed through here to stay, and then changed its name to "Taiping Town".

Most of the merchants in Taiping Town were coal merchants from Shandong and other places, and the smelting and steel industry in the Central Plains was developed, and a large number of lignite from Yanzhou and other places were transported to the Central Plains. Shanxi is located on the border of Song and Liao, and the mining of raw coal has not yet been formed, on the contrary, a large number of coal mines have been found in Shandong and other places, and government and private coal mines are densely distributed.

Xiao Ming thought: "If the local smelting mill iron plant is built in Xuzhou, will the coal convoy rolling westward stop here immediately, after entering the iron factory, a large amount of molten steel will be smelted on the spot, and all kinds of iron tools will be made, and Xuzhou is located at the intersection of the north and south, and the waterway transportation is developed, and this place is a very good industrial base."

After inspecting the iron ore mine on the spot, in Taiping Town, Xiao Ming immediately said his thoughts, and discussed with Gu Shouzhen, Jie Zhicong, An Daoquan and others in the same place, that is, to build Taiping Iron Works here!

Richanglong and Gu's Refinery jointly invested, a total of 200,000 taels of silver, and now the iron ore purchase is less than 8,000 taels, plus the cost of the previous gift dredging, 200,000 taels are almost not moved, and a rich iron ore is obtained for nothing, if this money is not operational, according to Xiao Ming, it is a bad debt of assets!

To build an iron factory with 200,000 taels, you can imagine what his scale is, Gu Shouzhen can't think about it, Jie Zhicong is even more dumbfounded, even An Daoquan feels that Xiao Ming's courage is shocking to his predecessors.

"Occupying a favorable terrain and large-scale industrial smelting of steel is the basis of industrial monopoly!" Xiao Ming said this, but everyone couldn't understand it, "What is industrialization?" What is a monopoly? Xiao Ming scratched his head, in the use of nouns, he sometimes came out of his mouth.

"Let's put it this way, the steam-powered machine invented and manufactured by Richanglong will be an era of large-scale application of steel, and at the same time drive the smelting of other non-ferrous metals, including the processing of materials, molds, forging, steel sales, the construction of plants, the application of building materials, etc., this is a leader, equivalent to the pillar, supporting commerce, retail, processing industry, tourism, catering and hotels and so on are supporting industries, and we occupy this place is equivalent to grasping the cornucopia ......"

This explanation is very laborious, but because of Xiao Ming's consistent performance, everyone still chooses to trust him, and Xiao Ming's sketch of various future scenes is also quite tempting, Jie Zhicong is an old and serious person, although he is also in favor of the construction of the Taiping Iron Works, but it means that it is necessary to report to the higher authorities and explain the situation.

Xiao Ming said that he could understand this, he raised his faint red eyebrows, completely immersed in the grand blueprint he designed, and blurted out with bold words: "In the future, the Taiping Iron Works will be the largest steel base in my Great Song Dynasty, the largest iron plant in the world, and the largest refinery!" Our products will only have one name, and that is: "Taiping"

An Daoquan originally intended to be happy, but this time he was also dragged by Xiao Ming to visit the iron mine, Xiao Ming comforted him and said, "Brother An! We are all people with ideals, 600,000 taels of gold is a lot, but there will always be a time when there is light, we must establish a new system, change a world, how can 600,000 be enough, we will prosper with industry, there will be endless money, work slowly, there is no need to worry too much about that treasure"

An Daoquan was a little ashamed, he was indeed blinded by the treasure, and almost slipped his ambition, and then became high-spirited, but he still had to go to the Lei Chi trip, this is his style of doing things, and he refuses to give up halfway.

Xiao Ming didn't stop him, and said that he had to come back quickly if he had eyebrows, because Xiao Ming wanted to build a Chinese medicine hall for him, which was a huge temptation for An Daoquan, so he promised to go back quickly, and at the same time he asked Xiao Ming to pay close attention to the movements of the Demon Sect Pang Wanchun, this trip to Mangdang Mountain It seems that Pang Wanchun did not take action, but it does not mean that Pang Wanchun gave up the treasure.

Early the next morning, Xiao Ming sent An Daoquan back, and immediately planned with Gu Shouzhen to build the Taiping Iron Plant, which involved the site selection and planning of the entire plant and land, and needed to make a large floor plan, which Gu Shouzhen would not do, and he was not good at such planning, he was just a craftsman and not a designer.

Ri Changlong's reply had been received the next day, which surprised Xiao Ming, and after considering the opinions of many parties, Ri Changlong agreed to Xiao Ming's plan to build the Taiping Iron Plant, which did not surprise Xiao Ming, but surprised the way Ri Changlong carried out intelligence transmission.

Xuzhou Mansion is also more than 800 miles away from Xiuzhou in a straight line, if you use stagecoach express, it will take at least four or five days, Xiao Ming has always suspected that Ri Changlong is using carrier pigeons to deliver news, but Gu Shouzhen gave a negative answer, the reason is that Ri Changlong's personnel in Xuzhou did not carry this kind of living creature in their luggage.

Everything was only after Xiao Ming directly asked Jie Zhicong that he knew the answer, and what Jie Zhicong took out turned out to be a delicately designed flying kite! The materials used to make it are very strange, it looks like wood and fur, but it has a bracket inside, a pipe in the mouth, and all the information is written down in a roll of paper and hidden in the tube.

Watching Xiao Ming play with the flying kite, with a look of surprise in his eyes, Jie Zhicong said: "It turns out that the archdeacon doesn't know, this is the flying kite that we Richanglong transmits news back and forth, and the contact between my Richanglong business and the headquarters in various places has always been transmitted with this thing, and there has never been a mistake."

"This ...... It's a trick! Xiao Ming said, "Could it be that the legend is true?" Ancient legends say that the Mohist machine is unpredictable, exquisitely made, but there is no official historical record, and after he personally contacted the master of the Mo family, he has seen the utensils created by the master of the Mo family, although whimsical, but it is always reasonable, but this flying kite is completely beyond his imagination.

Xiao Ming confessed to Jie Zhicong who was puzzled, and wanted to ask what was going on, but Jie Zhicong was very indifferent, "In fact, the art of ancient institutions has long existed, and the people of the Mo family are just inheriting and carrying forward."

He recited a paragraph of "Liezi. The story of "Tang Wen" has made some explanations: King Mu of Zhou patrolled the west, crossed Kunlun, and did not go to Yishan. On the contrary, before reaching China, there is a famous teacher who offers workers, and King Mu recommends him, and asks: "What can you do?" Yanshi said: "The minister only tries what he is ordered to try." However, the minister has made something, may the king see it first. King Mu said: "The day is coming, and I will watch it together." The next day, the Yanshi met the king. Wang Jianzhi said: "If you come with you, who is evil? He said, "The minister is a capable advocate." King Mu was amazed, and he looked up, and believed in people.

This is to say that there was a craftsman named Yanshi who gave King Zhou Mu a puppet that could sing, just like a real person.

The king thought that he was a real person, and he looked at it together with Sheng Ji's inner palace. The technique is coming to an end, and the advocate instantly recruits the king to wait for the concubine. The king was furious and wanted to punish him. Yanshi was intimidated, and the advocates were dissected to show the king, all of which were done by Fu Huile, wood, glue, lacquer, white, black, dan, and green. Wang Di expected that the liver, gall bladder, heart, lungs, spleen, kidneys, intestines, and stomach on the inside, and the muscles and bones, branches, fur, and teeth on the outside, were all fakes, and all of them were complete. The union is as good as it was at first sight. When the king tries to abolish his heart, he cannot speak; If the liver is wasted, the eye cannot see; If the kidneys are wasted, they will not be able to walk. King Mu sighed with joy: "Can the ingenuity of man be the same as that of the Creator? "The edict is home. The cloud ladder of Fuban's loss, the flying kite of Mo Zhai, claims to be the ultimate in energy.

Later, this is to say, the puppet to King Mu after the performance actually teased King Mu's concubine, King Mu was furious to kill the Yanshi, thinking that this puppet is a real person, the Yanshi then dissected the puppet to King Mu to see, only to see that the puppet belly is full of internal organs, but they are all made of wood, leather, glue, lacquer and other things, the body teeth and hair are fake, King Mu believes that this is a puppet, the world says that Luban's ladder and Mozi's flying kite are the same exquisite things, but not so! Mozi's apprentice, Yu Huali, went back to tell Mozi and Lu Ban that the two of them were ashamed of the miraculous things created by Yanshi, and they never talked about the art of the mechanism again.

The ancient technique of the mechanism is also called puppetry, and the Mo family is the only one to inherit and inherit, like the flying kite, in fact, there are many more in the Mo family!

Xiao Ming knew at this time how short-sighted he was, sitting in a well and watching the sky!