In Luoyang City, after a period of inquiring, Mozi finally knew the ins and outs of the Luo Mansion, its grudges, and the mine.
In a mansion in Luoyang City, leader Mozi, who was wearing a bamboo hat, was silent as he listened to the detailed report from his men. After a long time, he muttered to himself: "It turns out that the mine belongs to the Changsun family. It was Luo Zhang who invited Sun Simiao." He gave it to Luo Zhang for treatment, so it seems that Luo Zhang discovered the secret of the mine first, and then the Changsun family discovered it, and then took action to rob it."
"Luo Zhang joined forces with the Xiao family, Yuwen family, and Dugu family to open an iron-making shop, hoping to take away the Changsun family's foundation..."
"The iron shop, the mine...could the secret be that mine?"
The "man" in the bamboo hat was shocked by his guess. If this was really the case, wouldn't he have done a useless job in leading people into the mine a few days ago to find the secret? What he wants is not a mine, but wealth or secrets. Even if a mine holds huge secrets, what's the use?
How could the "man" in the bamboo hat have imagined that the value of this mine is unimaginable? After all, he is not from this industry, let alone from the future generations. Naturally, he does not understand the importance of steel. Otherwise, even if Mozi's men and horses fight, he will take it. of this mine.
Mozi's people temporarily gave up the mine, and Changsun Wuji was too busy to fight for the mine. This also brought a rare calm to the ferrosilicon mine.
With continuous collection day and night, the amount of ferrosilicon ore is also increasing day by day, and the warehouses built around the mine are gradually filling up.
Taking advantage of this rare peaceful time, Wu Shaobin urged the craftsmen to work day and night to build the fortress. Once the fortress was completed, it would not be so easy for True Yuan realm masters to attack it. After all, the fortress was not as easy to climb over as a wooden fence. And build some towers on top of the fortress to have a farther view and make it easier to spot invading enemies.
The Royal Pier of the Tang Dynasty was particularly lively today. Liu Rengui, who had been away for a month, finally returned with his warship.
The dock was filled with joy, and everyone was beaming with joy, for no other reason than that every time Luo Zhang's fleet came back, they would bring back a large amount of goods from the south. These goods are all scarce in Chang'an and Luoyang. As the saying goes, things are rare, the more valuable they are. Scarce things naturally sell for high prices.
Luo Zhang does not price these scarce items too high, which also makes small businessmen profitable. What Luo Zhang wants is not to eat a fat baby in one bite, but to have long-lasting water. What Luo Zhang wants is the popularity of the dock. , the circulation of goods will be faster, and this is the case for commerce and trade.
Besides, Liu Rengui's arrival also sold the goods that had been transported to the south. Among those goods were items belonging to Chang'an merchants. Liu Rengui came back safely and brought back their payment. It's strange to be unhappy.
The advantage of sea transportation is reflected here. It only takes one month to travel back and forth between the north and the south. If we switch to land transportation, it will take three or four months to go there, and another three or four months to come back. It’s just a round trip. In half a year, this does not include the robbers, bandits, natural disasters, etc. encountered on the road. If you encounter the same thing, you will lose all your money.
It is far less fast and safer than shipping by sea.
Merchants who originally didn't like sea transportation naturally gave up land transportation after tasting the benefits, which also made the transportation at the dock increasingly prosperous. Zhao Tianhu now spends most of the day here. There is no way, the business is too busy.
Naturally, Liu Rengui didn't need to worry about things like unloading. After returning to the Royal Pier, his first stop was to take his soldiers to the military camp to resume their duties.
Looking at the Royal Navy Barracks of the Tang Dynasty after being away for many days, Liu Rengui also felt a lot of emotion. He had always thought about going to sea before, but only after going to sea did he realize how happy it was to be on land.
Unexpectedly, when we just got off the boat, one or two people were unsteady, and some even fell. This was because they had been on the boat for a long time. They were swaying with the waves every day, and they were a little uncomfortable standing on solid land all of a sudden. .
After returning to the military camp, Liu Rengui asked the soldiers to settle down and rest first, while he came to the Chinese army's tent.
Ordinarily, many people should greet his arrival, but there are not many people in the military camp now. Liu Renyuan, Sun Renshi, and Du Shuang have already headed north with their respective warships. They want to follow Luo Zhang's instructions. He ordered to sweep the sea and destroy the Japanese warships and Gaogouli's warships, so that only the warships of the Tang Dynasty could travel in this sea area.
Of course, this is Luo Zhang's first step, to prepare for the future attack on Gaoguli. Li Shimin also agrees with this. After all, if the navy is not at sea, soaking in the dock every day is nothing.
Liu Rengui came back too late. Of course, this was not his fault.
After entering the Chinese army's tent, Liu Rengui was sitting on the commander's seat. Now that everyone is gone, he is the highest officer here. He just came back, but he didn't leave so quickly. Naturally, he had to deal with some backlogged official duties.
Before he could take a sip of hot tea, a guard reported from outside: "Master Liu, His Majesty has sent someone here!"
Hearing that His Majesty sent someone, Liu Rengui hurriedly got up and went out to greet him. What came was a middle-aged man dressed as a father-in-law. Judging from his service, his status in the palace was not as high as that of Huang Eunuch, but it was not lower.
Seeing what this man was holding, Liu Rengui's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly stepped forward to greet him and said, "I don't know when my father-in-law is coming, but I am not going to welcome you from afar. Liu Rengui is polite!"
"General Liu, you are so polite. I am here under your majesty's order to deliver the order to General Liu and the army. General Liu and the army will receive the order!" The father-in-law did not have too many polite words, but directly said what he came for. Purpose.
After hearing the word "receive the decree", Liu Rengui hurriedly knelt down.
"I heard that General Liu, the army, fought bravely, and his command was busy and unhurried. The rebel barbarians who fought in Dongting Lake abandoned their helmets and armor. I was very relieved. I specially made Liu Rengui the captain of Zhechong in the lower house, with a reward of 100 Two, Shu brocade... I hope General Liu will not let you down, I appreciate this!" After the father-in-law read out the edict, he handed it to Liu Rengui, who took it and stood up.
Looking at the edict in his hand, Liu Rengui felt excited in his heart. The title of Du Wei was a fifth-grade official position. He was almost catching up with Liu Renyuan, General Liu, and the army. He had been following Luo Zhang for so long. They were only at the fourth level, but Sun Renshi and Du Shuang were still at the sixth level, and they were not even close to him.
He was very emotional about this. Once upon a time, he was ostracized and unknown in other places. Ever since he was noticed by Mr. Luo and entered here, his pace of promotion has not stopped. In just a short time, he has become From an unknown seventh-rank official, he suddenly became a fifth-rank official who could enter the court and participate in politics. This was something that was unimaginable before.
