After Xu Jia left, the prince fell into deep thought for a long time, nodding silently to the quotations he had excerpted from time to time. No one else dared to disturb him, and they didn't even ask him to eat dinner.
At first, Prince Qin simply believed that Zhang Lu's exchange of low-priced salt for grain was just a temporary measure to alleviate the food crisis in Hedong. Even if Lord Xinling invited the prince to admire the moon and asked the prince to intervene for this matter, the prince did not realize the seriousness of the problem and thought that Wei was just blaming Qin for his own problems. But Dr. Xu Jia's visit today seemed to have reminded the prince and gave him a new understanding of the exchange of grain and salt in Hedong: This may be an effective way to weaken the strength of various countries! Not just salt, but other commercial activities seem to have this effect. This made the prince seem to have opened a new world and he was very fascinated. However, due to lack of business knowledge, I couldn’t get into many issues even after thinking about it for a long time. Obviously, such a major issue cannot be consulted by just anyone, especially in Wei State.
Finally he seemed to have figured out something and started to order dinner. After dinner, he called the official who was in charge of contacting Tao Yi merchants, told him that he was interested in Tao Zhugong, and asked the official to tell him what he knew about Tao Zhugong. Dr. Xu Jia just mentioned Tao Zhugong to the prince, and Tao Zhugong was indeed a very accomplished person in both political and business circles. The saying "Being an official will lead to high officials, and being rich will lead to tens of millions of gold." This is what people in the world know. My idol! However, although this official was responsible for liaison with the merchants in Taoyi, he knew very little about Tao Zhugong's deeds. What he knew was generally known to the prince. So the prince asked him to use Tao Yi's power to collect Tao Zhugong's stories and documents for himself, especially his business deeds. The officials responded and left.
Then, he found two more officials and asked them to inquire about Bai Gui and Yidun's deeds and writings. Both Bai Gui and Yi Dun have a close relationship with the Wei State: Bai Gui once served as an official in the Wei State, and the Yi family, where Yi Dun made his fortune, was right next to Anyi, which was once the core area of the Wei State. You should be able to get some information by asking people from Wei.
In order to deceive others, the prince sent people to inquire about the deeds of Wu Qi, Ximen Bao, Li Kui, and even Pang Juan, Meng Ke and others, as if he was only interested in the history and culture of Wei. He himself takes some time every day to listen to the reports of these people in turn. As a result, Wu Qi's works are naturally the most convenient to collect.
The behavior of Prince Qin naturally spread to the upper echelons of Wei. So he sent envoys to ask the prince why he wanted to collect these important works of Wei. The prince said: "I heard that Qin's law originated from Wei, passed through the Shang Dynasty and entered Guanzhong in the west. So I would like to learn it." After the envoy came back, Lord Xinling invited a learned bachelor to teach at the Prince's Inn. . The prince did not refuse, and included him in the discussion, and invited him for advice every few days. Lord Xinling and others gradually relaxed when they saw that Prince Qin seemed to be really interested in learning Wei culture and had no other issues.
Summer is here in a blink of an eye. Food problems are gradually alleviated in this season of abundant species. Yuan County sent a document. The infrastructure there has been basically built, but there is a serious shortage of labor. Daliang is asked to recruit tens of thousands of households to go to Yuancheng to open mines. Daliang agreed to this request and recruited refugees and sons-in-law from various counties to go to Yuancheng.
The land of Wei is small and there are few people. In addition, the land annexation is serious, and the problem of refugees is very serious. The so-called refugees are people who have lost their land. Without land, they naturally no longer settle in one place, but wander around. Son-in-law is also a characteristic of Wei State, especially Daliang. Those who had lost their land moved into the homes of widows who were relatively well off and farmed the land for them. These two types of people have extremely low status in Wei State and are not popular with others. Whenever anything bad happens, these two types of people will be blamed.
Wei Xiang Wei Qi was very happy to get the documents from Yuan County, which became an important way to reduce his burden. From the New Year to now, Wei Qi has been in a panic of food shortage. People who died of cold and starvation in winter looked at each other, each witnessing his incompetence. What is even more embarrassing is that many officials, even middle- and high-level officials, are also experiencing food crises. He desperately wanted Xu Jia to go to Daliang to mobilize grain, but Xu Jia could only travel around the world, searching for every grain of grain, trying to buy it at the most favorable price, and quickly transport it to Daliang. They had spent three months feeling like they were being forced to the point where they could barely breathe. Finally, this year's first crop of millet harvest is in sight, and the food problem is expected to be temporarily solved. At this time, a letter came from Yuan County asking for more labor, which was considered by Wei Qi as a symbol of changing times.
But Mr. Xinling had some doubts. Yuanxian County was a notoriously poor county. It was good enough not to ask for food support from Daliang every year. How could it take the initiative to ask for more labor? Especially now, although there are more things to eat, those sophora flowers, elm money and the like are only better than nothing. They are definitely not food, and they are definitely not enough to supply tens of thousands of laborers. When he asked Wei Qi a question, Wei Qi said: "The safety of Daliang is in great danger, so there is no need to worry about how Yuan County can provide food. Even if he is greedy for fame, there is no need to worry!" Lord Xinling thought about it, tens of thousands As long as a person leaves Daliang and doesn't cause trouble, it doesn't matter what happens when he arrives in Yuan County!
Each township took their own refugees and their adopted sons-in-law to Yuan County for business. Those who went to Yuanxian County were no less than hundreds of villages, and most of them were concentrated around Daliang. A large number of lower-level officials entered Yuan County. Some people noticed the clues, and some even recognized Chen Si and Mang Wei. As a result, various rumors spread around Daliang.
The merchants in Taoyi caught the news and asked the prince about it. Based on the briefing sent by Xianyang, the prince simply replied: "At the beginning of the year, the five big officials in Hedong pulled out the wall, and the wall was called Qin City." In fact, the prince did not know who the five big officials were, and he did not know that Pi Wan was conquering the city. It was only after Yuancheng that he was promoted to the rank of Five Officials. As for the play Hedong performed in Zaiyuan, he naturally didn't know anything about it.
The prince's answer spread to Wei Ting through rumors in the market.
On that day, an unknown official reported to the court in the early morning: "It is widely rumored in the market that the walled city was taken by Qin. I dare not hide it, but I dare to report it!"
Duanzi of the arsenal said: "For the former, tens of thousands of people were invited to the wall to serve as an arsenal. How can it serve Qin?"
Then another official said: "Perhaps the people in power in Yuan County are the old Wei people Chen Si and Mang's son Wei."
Another official said: "I have also heard about it, but I think it is untrue. Mr. Fu Mang is a noble person, and his son is also a young master. Although he is on the run, he has not reached the grassland. How can he be with an unknown person? I look at Chen Si His name means Chen is a bitch, or he is a pawn in Daliang. Because the Mang family is so noble, but the Chen family is so low, even though the Chen family is a minister of the Mang family, I still think it is not the case; moreover, the Yun Mang family is on the lower end."
The ministers kept talking with each other. Lord Xinling saw that this discussion was not going to end, so he interrupted and said: "It is up to Duanzi to send envoys to inquire about the matter in Yuancheng and get a real report!"
Within a few days, Duanzi announced that the so-called Yuan City was destroyed by Qin was not true. None of the craftsmen sent to Yuan City escaped back, and their families in Daliang were stable as usual. None of the officials who escorted the refugees and their adopted sons-in-law in the past few days reported anything different. The so-called wall was captured by Qin is really a rumor!
So Wei Qi concluded: "Yuan County is also a border town of Wei. The remnant soldiers and the old people have nothing to go out. Wei's decrees are carried out, the arsenal can be built, and the refugees can enter. There are merchants coming in and out of Zhe Road every day, and there is no news of any conquests. It happened. Don't let Qin get involved in it." Because the matter passed like this.
When the craftsmen arrived at Zuoyi, they naturally could not doubt that Zuoyi might not be Wei Yi. However, there is no shortage of supplies in Zuoyi, and the progress of the project is not limited. Naturally, these craftsmen will not mind their own business and just do their business with peace of mind. Those differences from Wei Jing can all be explained by the reason of "border town".
When all infrastructure construction was completed, engineers and Yuanling jointly issued documents to recruit labor. It didn't take long for the laborers from various villages and towns to be escorted over, and the craftsmen naturally had no doubts. After being delivered in Yuan County, these laborers are either sent directly to mining sites for mining and transporting ore, or sent to forests to harvest wood and burn charcoal. They are isolated in deep mountains and dense forests. If there is no one to guide them, they will basically be unable to get out. More importantly, although the conditions here are difficult and the labor intensity is high, there is no shortage of food, and the daily food supply is based on a ration of one and a half buckets per person. Moreover, women take care of their daily food and clothing. Li Bing stipulated that performance should be reviewed once a month, and those who had outstanding performance and were rated as profitable would be considered meritorious. Those who had merit for three consecutive months would be exempted from hard labor and allocated fifty acres of land in Zuoyi. Soon, those who were diligent, capable, and strong in the labor force were screened out, and they were all led out of the mountains and forests, added to Zuoyi, and became residents of the town.
The ore is transported in sections, and each end does not meet each other to ensure that the ore points and routes are kept secret.
Although various measures were taken, some escaped. According to Qin law, if a fugitive is captured, the captor will receive a reward of two taels. Under such a heavy reward, coupled with the high mountains and dense forests, it was almost impossible for escapees to succeed. After dozens of people trying to escape were caught and beheaded in public, the phenomenon of escape gradually disappeared.
After several trials, the smelting furnace finally began to produce iron and copper. Excitement filled people's hearts, not only Hedong officials and Wei craftsmen, but even the refugees who helped the workers were excited. ——After they came out of the mountains, although they were assigned fields, the farming season was already over. In order to make a living, they mostly helped in the smelting factories to obtain food and clothing.
Casting work is a professional job and cannot be interfered with by others. Copper has a low melting point and is easier to melt, making it more convenient to cast in reverse molds; while iron is difficult to melt and casting is very difficult. Zhang Lu had already invited craftsmen from Xianyang to teach the craftsmen to cast copper arrowheads, spears and iron farm tools according to Qin system. At this point, the engineers of the Wei State fully understood that the people in front of them were the people of Qin. The weapons and agricultural tools made by Qin had very clear shapes among craftsmen from various countries, and it was almost impossible to confuse them with the weapons and agricultural tools of other countries. After seeing Engineer Wei's fear, Li Bing personally comforted him and asked him to follow his own drawings and build the iron arrowheads that Wei's arsenal asked him to forge!
