Time flies.
It is already two months later.
The entire northern land has completely entered the cold winter.
There have also been several snowfalls in Dongjun, and the section of the Yellow River north of Puyang City has also entered a frozen state that will not be lifted until next year.
For ancient dynasties.
Every time the twelfth lunar month of winter comes, it means that they will face a challenge. Before winter comes, the poor people who have not been able to store enough food and winter clothing will fall into a situation of cold and hunger.
This resulted in massive population losses.
If it were a time of peace, the Han Dynasty, as a force that enforced the government, would naturally organize the whole country to carry out corresponding disaster relief.
But now the Han Dynasty collapsed.
Therefore, only the local government can support itself.
Fortunately, Cao Ang is living a comfortable life now. The large amount of wealth brought by Princess Wannian means that he does not have to tighten his belt to live a comfortable life.
Therefore, the people's livelihood work in Dongjun was carried out in an orderly manner, and it did not put too much pressure on Cao Ang.
And it’s worth mentioning.
Due to the arrival of winter.
Zhang Liao also made great progress in his anti-bandit work. He returned to Puyang City earlier than expected and was ready to continue his raids southward.
The main reason is that when winter comes, the bandits and bandits have no food left, so they basically live a tight life. If they can keep people from starving to death, they can be considered a relatively well-planned village and a relatively good village.
So Zhang Liao's army of thieves arrived.
These bandits hiding on the top of the mountain did not need to send troops to conquer. They just raised their flags and rushed down the mountain to express their surrender.
It depends on the preaching of Zheng'er Ba Jing.
After all, if you hang out with the army, you can still have something to eat. Even if the government wants to hold them accountable for being thieves and bandits, most of them will be slapped on the leaders. What does it have to do with minions? It's better than starving to death. powerful.
Against this background.
Zhang Liao quickly put down many chaos in the north and captured a large number of bandits and bandits.
If the family is local and there are no bad deeds in the process of being a thief, they will be given a ration directly and released back to their hometown, leaving them to fend for themselves.
Those who committed more serious crimes and had multiple lives on their hands would be executed based on their status in the village.
After eliminating the two categories of people, one high and one low, the remaining middle section, which accounts for the majority, was also collected as members of the military camp and continued to add vitality to the military camp field reclamation.
…
In the prefect's mansion.
Cao Ang stayed alone in the study.
Looking through the official documents presented to him by Xun Yu and others, there was a look of relief on his face.
Good news is basically coming from everywhere in the county. The entire East County is thriving and developing vigorously.
Political, economic, military, and other aspects are all progressing hand in hand, and Cao Ang is naturally satisfied.
It is precisely with such a stable development of the basic market that Cao Ang can have enough confidence to go north to compete with Yuan Shao and others in the following time.
And based on my recent observations.
Throughout the city of Puyang, there is quite a scene of prosperity for all industries. Many people living in nearby villages and settlements are taking advantage of the approaching New Year to come to the county town to attend the market.
Businessmen who had not come here from far and near also took advantage of the approaching festival to rent stalls in the city and set up stalls to sell various items.
While thinking about it.
Cao Ang suddenly thought of something.
Maybe I can take advantage of the Chinese New Year to use something like that?
Think about this.
He collected the last piece of paperwork.
Then he stood up and came to the secret door, turned the mechanism to open the secret room, and walked in.
As soon as you enter the door, you can see a huge prismatic object placed on the ground.
It looks very much like a giant square box. Its length, width, and height are quite astonishing, and it occupies a large space in the already small darkroom.
On the surface of the prism, two other things are placed.
A scroll.
and a drawing.
These three items were caught from the river by Cao Ang after two months of hard work and unremitting efforts before he had the precious opportunity to board the boat.
In addition to one opportunity each for Dong Bai and Yin, the rest is an additional opportunity after the ship has traveled five hundred meters.
…
That's right.
The ship advanced another five hundred meters.
The reason was precisely because of Cao Ang, who obtained the title of Marquis of Weixiang.
In the text displayed on the stone tablet on the bow of the ship, the title of Xianghou corresponds to an area the size of a county.
So the distance traveled is equal.
This discovery really surprised Cao Ang. After all, the administrative division system of the Han Dynasty only had three levels: prefectures, counties, and counties.
Although it can eventually be expanded to the whole country, and even break out of the boundaries of the Han Dynasty.
But that's all in the future.
The current reality is that it will take a long time to move from the county level to the state level. If there is no other measurement system, Cao Ang still doesn't know when he can move forward.
Under the background that the river section where the boat is located is linked to the guaranteed quality of the rewards caught.
Naturally, the more the ship moves forward, the better.
Therefore, the promotion of the title can also make the ship move forward, which is naturally great news for Cao Ang.
After the matter in Jizhou was resolved, he would find a way to ask Dong Zhuo to create a county marquis for him.
After the young emperor Liu Bian was promoted to the throne of emperor and he occupied most of the north, he could find a way to make a king Lai Dangdang.
For example, the title "King of Wei" is quite good.
…
Get rid of these thoughts in your mind.
Cao Ang first checked around the prism and touched it up and down with his hands to confirm that there was no sign of moisture.
Only then did I put my heart back in my stomach.
Among the three things I got this time, the function of this thing is the least.
But in terms of novelty, it definitely beats the other two items, and it can be used directly without any research or creation.
Recalling the many notes on this object on the stone tablet, Cao Ang couldn't help but have a lot of expectations in his heart, and he really wanted to order it directly.
"Item name: 1088 giant fireworks
Function: Ignite it and you will see wonderful scenes in the world.
Note: The weather is dry, so be careful with fire. If something ignites, please stay away from it in time, and be careful not to set it off in densely populated areas of the house. "
Just as it is written on the stone tablet.
This prism is a box of fireworks, and it is a giant firework with 1088 rounds. It is not surprising why it is so huge.
…
When catching this thing from the river.
Cao Ang's first consideration was whether the large amount of gunpowder contained in the fireworks could be used to deduce the proportion of explosives?
But after thinking about it for a long time.
Cao Ang gave up this unrealistic idea.
The main gunpowder ratio is a very complicated process, including combustion, deflagration, and explosion.
If there is a slight difference in the proportions of various compounds, the effects will be completely different.
Simply collecting the gunpowder contained in giant fireworks and using them as disposable explosives would be somewhat reliable.
But if you want to rely on these things to do research.
It's true that it's a bit whimsical.
Instead of pondering this unreliable method, it is better to wait quietly and fish the gunpowder configuration plan directly from the river.
Isn't it easier than this?
And after giving up such an idea.
This box of giant fireworks naturally only has its original function, which is to burst into bloom in the sky.
This is what Cao Ang had in mind.
Since it can't be used for research, it's better to get rid of it happily. Now that Dongjun is prosperous, we might as well take advantage of this new year to set it off in Puyang City.
It can be said that the beloved Governor of Dongjun and his people are having a great time together.
…
Now that I have observed the fireworks.
Cao Ang conveniently picked up the scrolls and blueprints. Compared with entertainment items, the practical effects of these two items were somewhat obvious.
One of the scrolls is the "Geographic and Topographic Map of Jizhou".
This thing comes from the same source as the "Yanzhou Geographic and Topographic Map" that I obtained before, and is a set of items in the same series.
The above also clearly labels the mountains, rivers, topography, and even the distribution of mineral resources and many other factors in Jizhou.
There is no need to say more about the importance of this thing.
Whether it is crushing the current situation, the accuracy of various rough maps, or the marking of the distribution of various hidden minerals, can be said to be of great use.
As long as he controls the territory in Jizhou and participates in the disputes in Jizhou, this geographical topographic map will come in handy.
And it's worth mentioning.
When the Jizhou map met the Yanzhou topographic map, the two automatically merged into one. Now on this scroll, there are topographic maps of Yanzhou and Jizhou.
As you can imagine.
As he acquires more and more maps of Hanzhou and counties, this scroll will become more and more complete, until the thirteen states in the world are integrated into one.
Naturally, you can also unlock the "special functions" mentioned in the previous remarks.
…
After removing the previous two things.
This last item, the item that looks like a drawing, is what Cao Ang values the most.
It can also be called Cao Ang's biggest harvest from fishing on the boat in the past two months.
"Item Name: Technical Analysis of Steel Filling Method
Function: Learn and master
Note: A martial arts master went through many difficulties and dangers, went through countless twists and turns, and lost a lot of manpower, and finally found the famous sword from a thousand years ago.
However, in the next battle with the enemy, the master of martial arts was killed on the spot because the thousand-year-old sword in his hand was broken into two pieces by the enemy's fine sword.
After all, forging technology has been iterating rapidly over the thousands of years. Blindly pursuing a century and a thousand years may have the opposite effect. "
Ignoring the subtle little story in the notes for the time being, Cao Ang turned his attention to the steel filling method itself.
Although he is not familiar with science and engineering knowledge.
But how could Cao Ang not know about something as famous as the steel filling method in historical books?
As the name suggests.
This technology is used when forging steel.
It is a more advanced version than the mainstream steel frying method in this era.
Steel is essentially an iron-carbon alloy. If you want to create high-quality steel, you must control the proportions of iron and carbon.
If the carbon content is low, the texture will be soft and easily deformed.
On the contrary, the steel will have poor plasticity. Although it is hard, it is also brittle and easy to break.
Only when the carbon content is neither too much nor too little, and within a reasonable range, can the finished product be of the best quality.
…
The two main steel forging methods currently used are fried steel method and forging method.
The former is to reduce the carbon content in pig iron by constantly stir-frying it like stir-frying.
The latter is understood literally, which means beating, folding, and beating again.
Both methods can produce finished steel, but even with the more advanced steel frying method, the forged steel still contains a large amount of impurities.
The rules for filling steel are different.
What is used is to dissolve pig iron and wrought iron into a liquid state, then pour them into the same container in a certain proportion to each other, and stir them evenly.
Then give it another beating.
An ideal carbon content can be achieved.
The hardness and plasticity of the steel forged by this method are much higher than those obtained by the old method.
…
The real difficulty with this method.
It's all about the ratio of pig iron to wrought iron.
If you don't have a general understanding of this ratio, you may only be able to conduct experiments through a lot of trial and error, and finally get a relatively reliable data.
Therefore, although Cao Ang had some understanding before.
But I never thought about starting immediately.
But things are different now.
The entire analytical secret book was delivered directly to him, so he just had to copy it directly.
It's urgent.
Just find someone who is trustworthy and can be mainly responsible for forging steel.
Then pass on this method and turn the theory into practical products.
As can be expected.
As long as the steel pouring method spreads in the workshops under his control, and a large amount of high-quality steel is forged for the Cao family's army.
It won't be long.
The army controlled by himself and his father Cao Cao, the soldiers' weapons will be updated.
And as the proportion of high-quality weapons continues to expand.
Once a battle begins with the enemy.
The equipment alone is enough to kill the enemy explosively and make them run away with their heads covered.
As the saying goes, fighting for the world cannot be achieved overnight, especially if your own side does not have the upper hand.
Then you have to rely on other aspects to make up for it.
And as long as enough advantages and strengths are accumulated, it will gradually become overwhelming.
At that time, would it be very difficult to conquer the world and change the surname of the Han Dynasty?
Think of this.
Cao Ang couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly, revealing a meaningful smile.
………………
And just when Cao Ang was thinking about who to choose to check for him and take charge of forging for him.
Thousands of miles away, Shanggu County in Youzhou is located on a mountainous plain in the middle of Jundu Mountain.
It lasted nearly three months.
During this period, Le Jin and his party experienced many dangers and tribulations, and even fought bloody battles with several waves of people with malicious intentions.
Finally arrived at their destination.
The seclusion of Lu Zhi and Lu Ziqian.
Looking at the flat land in front of me, there are several bamboo houses arranged in sequence, as well as a large number of chickens, ducks and other poultry enclosed by fences on the left and right.
Le Jin couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.
Starting from Puyang County in Dongjun, we passed through the entire Jizhou, and then passed through Zhuojun and half of Shanggu County before finally arriving at Jundu Mountain.
But Jundu Mountain is a large mountain running from northeast to southwest. Le Jin spent a lot of time inquiring about the information and asked many local people before he learned that Lu Zhi lived in seclusion here.
But no matter how difficult the process is.
As long as he finally reaches his destination and successfully completes the important tasks assigned to him by General Cao, he will live up to the high expectations placed on him.
Then it will all be worth it.
Thinking of this, Le Jin couldn't help but groped in his arms for a while, then found the well-sealed mailbox and carefully inspected the paint on it.
After confirming that everything is fine.
He stepped forward and knocked on the bamboo door of a bamboo house.
…………
Inside a house at this moment.
Lu Zhi was wrapped in a thick coat and was lying on the soft couch, somewhat drowsy.
It wasn't until a disciple walked in with food that he opened his eyes in a daze.
"Teacher, I've heated these meals three times. You'd better get up and eat something."
"It's freezing cold here. If you don't eat on time, how can you resist the cold?"
Listening to the disciple's earnest persuasion.
Lu Zhi just waved his hand casually, with no intention of getting up to eat, and still said in an old voice.
"You can take it down first. I'm not hungry now, so you don't need to heat it up. I will tell you when I want to eat."
Lu Zhi was very prestigious among his disciples.
Students dare not not listen to his words.
Therefore, even though he knew it was not good, his disciples still took the food and left respectfully.
After the students left, Lu Zhi was the only one left in the room, and he opened his slightly cloudy eyes.
The whole person looked at the roof with some desolation.
"I'm afraid we are running out of time..."
…
It has been more than a year since he left Luoyang City in a hurry and came to Jundu Mountain to live in seclusion.
On weekdays, I lead a group of students to work in the fields, raise chickens and ducks, and most of the time give lectures to students. In my free time, I can also study various scriptures and meanings and write a few theoretical articles.
The days were quite fulfilling.
But since he celebrated his fifty-first birthday a few months ago, Lu Zhi felt that his body was deteriorating.
In just a few months, it had deteriorated to a serious level, and I began to suffer from severe energy loss.
Insomnia at night, drowsiness during the day, loss of appetite, and erratic attention.
When giving lectures to disciples, I would often stop talking at a certain point, and my attention would wander to nowhere.
In addition, the daily routine of working with the students was completely cancelled. Instead, the disciples did it themselves, while he hid in his room and snoozed.
Such different changes before and after.
How could Lu Zhi not understand that there was something wrong with his body, and it was probably his end that was coming.
If you want to let go now.
There is nothing Lu Zhi cannot accept.
But when he breaks down the details, he has too many regrets in his life that have not been realized and completed.
After all, we can't wait until the day when the Dong thieves are killed, the Han Dynasty is restored, and the emperor returns to the old capital.
At the same time, the grand aspirations that run through his life will probably be taken to the grave with him.
…
"Teacher, there is someone outside the house asking to see you. They say they are here to deliver a message to you on the orders of Cao Ang, the governor of Dongjun!"
At the time when Lu Zhi was feeling lonely and sad.
Suddenly I heard a disciple say this.
His thoughts were immediately interrupted.
"Cao Ang, the governor of Dongjun?"
"Could it be Cao Mengde's son, Cao Zixiu who once denounced Dong Zhuo in the court and defended the emperor's dignity?"
"Hurry up and invite people in to meet you!"
Lu Zhi is meticulous and serious.
If the person who came to visit today was someone he didn't know, or a guy with a bad reputation, then he would probably refuse the visit behind closed doors.
Although Cao Ang and Cao Zixiu were only a young man, the good reputation he had created in Luoyang City made Lu Zhi willing to receive his messenger.
Get up hard.
After sorting out his clothes and hair, Lu Zhi slowly came to the desk and sat down.
Not long after.
Following the sound of footsteps, a short but majestic man appeared at the door of the bamboo house.
…
"Le Jin, a member of the Wei Kingdom under the command of the prefect of Dongjun, has met Lu Shangshu!"
Le Jin bowed respectfully.
Lu Zhi smiled back.
"There is no need to be polite. I am no longer a minister. Now I am just a farmer living in seclusion in the mountains."
"You said you are under the command of the prefect of Dongjun, but is this prefect Cao Zixiu, the son of Cao Mengde?"
Le Jin did not dare to neglect.
He answered truthfully: "My prince is the son of Duke Cao. Now Cao Gong is the shepherd of Yanzhou, and my prince was appointed by the court to serve as the prefect of Dongjun."
When Lu Zhi heard this, he immediately nodded happily.
There was quite a look of relief on his face.
"good very good!"
"You are indeed young and promising. When I was in Luoyang, I saw that your master is a young and talented man. Now things are indeed as I expected."
After exchanging a few words.
The smile on Lu Zhi's face faded slightly, and then he asked quite calmly.
"Since you are here to deliver a letter to me for Cao Zixiu, I don't know where the letter is. Do you know why you sent this letter?"
Le Jin handed the mailbox over with both hands.
At the same time, he explained in a serious manner.
"To be honest with you, my Lord ordered me to deliver the message. In fact, he wanted to ask you to come out and help him restore the Han Dynasty and bring peace to the world."
"Save all the people in the world from fire and water, relieve the suffering of the common people, that's all!"
…
Lu Zhi was slightly surprised when he heard this.
He glanced at Le Jin in surprise, then shook his head helplessly.
He said with a bit of a wry smile: "I might as well tell you some things directly. Before you came here, Bohai Governor Yuan Benchu and my student Fenwu General Gongsun Zan came to see me successively."
"They all hope that I can come to help, and they all talk about restoring peace to the world and restoring the Han Dynasty."
"It's just that I rejected them all. Based on these few words, I really don't want to leave."
The rejection was a little more obvious.
After all, even Yuan Shao, the fourth generation and the third Duke, and even Gongsun Zan, who was Lu Zhi's student, failed to invite this old comrade out of the army.
So why can Cao Ang do it?
Le Jin was speechless for a moment.
He is not a person who is good at arguing or speaking well, so naturally he cannot say anything that can move people's hearts.
So after hesitating for a few breaths.
Le Jin could only bow to Lu Zhi and hold his hands in front of him, and spoke sincerely and with sincere affection.
"Important words are too dull to convey the meaning of my Lord. Ming Gong might as well take a look at the letter. It contains what my Lord wrote in his own hand."
"After taking a look, whether you go out or not, it all depends on your decision."
…
Monthly ticket recommendation ticket
(End of chapter)
