Mrs. She said to the Eighth Prince, "The apprentice Qing'er accepted is named Yang Peng. This Yang Peng was also rescued by Qing'er, so Qing'er accepted Yang Peng as his apprentice. Yang Peng and Qing'er have been practicing martial arts for four years. , the young man asked him to go down the mountain to practice. Yang Peng saved a group of people during the training. They kept fighting the Khitans. They used to hide in the mountains. Yang Peng felt that it was not a big deal. He was sixty miles east of Cangzhou. A city was built there, called Tianjing City. Now Tianjing City has a population of about 40,000, more than 60,000 acres of wasteland, and an army of more than 2,000 people. According to them, there shouldn’t be much of a problem in defending the city. We don’t know the details. I know what's going on. They produce such salt. They call it refined salt. Hey, I originally wanted Bamei and Jiumei to come and have a look. I also asked Qilang's two wives to come and have a look. After all, Qing'er Is she also their mother-in-law?"
The Eighth Prince was also shocked when he heard it. Why had the court not heard anything about it? Mrs. She added, "It is a place that neither the Liao Kingdom nor the Song Dynasty has control over. Yang Peng built the city there, so neither the Song Dynasty nor the Liao Kingdom knew the existence of this city. Yang Peng is now the lord of that city." The Eighth Prince said, "City Lord, they didn't call them County Magistrate! How could they call them City Lord? I don't understand, there is no such name as City Lord in this world."
Old lady, can you please ask the people sent by Yang Peng to come out and have a meeting? Mrs. She had no choice at this time. So she said to the maid, "Go and ask that Liu Zhiliang to come over. Don't say it's the Eighth Prince who's here, you know?" The maid said, "I know, old lady." After saying that, the maid walked out. The prince was also looking at other gifts at this time and said, "Old lady, a gift like this is worth at least five hundred thousand taels of silver. It is really a generous sum. This Yang Peng is really not simple, not simple. "Old lady She was also shocked. Why did Yang Peng give such an expensive gift? Even the official family cannot afford to give so many gifts. It seems that I still underestimate this Yang Peng.
Liu Zhiliang came to the main hall alone this time. Liu Zhiliang walked up to Old Mrs. She and saluted the old lady and said, "Old lady, I don't know what else to do if you call me here." Old Mrs. She said to Liu Zhiliang She said, "This is the Eighth Prince. He just wants to ask you about the situation there. I don't know if it's convenient." What Mrs. She means is that you don't have to say it, because the Eighth Prince can't do anything to you.
Liu Zhiliang said to the Eighth Prince, "I have met the Eighth Prince," Liu Zhiliang said to the Eighth Prince in a lukewarm manner. The Eighth Prince also felt that the other party seemed to dislike him. The Eighth Prince said, "What is the name of the city you built?" Liu Zhiliang said, "Our city is called Tianjing City, the capital of the Song Dynasty is called Bianjing, and Youzhou of the Liao Kingdom is called Nanjing. Our city lord has said that, then our city The city is called Tianjing, haha, it is loud enough." The Eighth Prince said, "You are not afraid of the Khitan people coming to attack you, how can you defend the city with more than a thousand people?"
Liu Zhiliang said, "The Khitans are attacking us. We are not the army of the Song Dynasty. Except for the Yang family army, the other armies of the Song Dynasty are all cowards. Besides, we also have weapons to deal with the Khitan cavalry. If you want to attack us, it depends on whether the Khitan dogs are strong enough." Say it if you have the guts. Haha." The Yang family members were relieved after hearing such words. Yang Peng still valued Yang Jiajun very much. Unlike the civil servants in the imperial court who are not good people.
Liu Zhiliang said, "I heard that Empress Dowager Xiao wants to engage in hunting? You just ask them to come to Yingzhou to hunt. If it's not five thousand cavalry, we can just send out two thousand people. Let's see what the old demon queen is." How awesome, haha, just like this, I scared your officials so much that they peed their pants. Did you go to the old lady to bring in reinforcements? When it comes to war, you think of the Yang family. They are really worthless, like women. Please help, let’s put our sixth brother back first, haha.”
The Eighth Prince was so angry that his face changed color. These people were talking about officials like this. Liu Zhiliang said, "Don't try to deal with me. If you want to deal with me, we will deal with you Song Dynasty together with the Liao Kingdom. Well, Pan Renmei He killed our seventh brother and convicted our sixth brother. This is the imperial court of the Song Dynasty. It’s really shameless. Do you know? Our goal is Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures. Let’s see how we take it back. From the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun, haha"
Liu Zhiliang said, "There are a bunch of men in the imperial court who have no eggs. They will ask women for help. It is better to put their heads in their crotches and not come out to be embarrassed. Shameless. A bunch of men without eggs. This is the Song Dynasty. Haha. Empress Xiao Let’s deal with the five thousand cavalry, and the imperial court will kill Pan Renmei’s nine tribes until no one is left alive. Haha.”
The Eighth Prince angrily said to Liu Zhiliang, "It's unreasonable. It's unreasonable." Liu Zhiliang said, "You are also a prince without eggs. Why do you have the nerve to come to the Yang family for help? There are no men in the Song Dynasty?"
Liu Zhiliang said to the old lady, "Old lady, don't go to Jinyang to hunt this time. This is a conspiracy to deal with Sixth Brother. If Sixth Brother is gone, Queen Mother Xiao will not go south. Also, there seems to be some movement over there in Xixia. Don’t be fooled. If you want to know how to hunt, just go to Yingzhou. The old lady can also visit us in the past few days. You will know that we are not talking big words." We are also recruiting troops there. It seems that the city wants to increase the number of troops to 5,000. "
"The city lord said that no matter what happens this time, he will invite the eighth sister and the ninth sister to come to our place to have fun and see how we train our troops." Liu Zhiliang said.
The Eighth Prince was very embarrassed, and left angrily without saying a word, without even saying hello. Old Mrs. She also sensed the conspiracy, but Old Mrs. She just didn't expect that this guy Liu Zhiliang spoke with any emotion at all. He didn't even spare his face, even the Eighth Prince dared to scold him. He said to Liu Zhiliang, "You are too reckless and don't know how to restrain yourself."
Liu Zhiliang said, "Old lady, please ask the servants to go down first, and the Yang family will stay. I have something to say, do you think?" The old lady waved to the maids and said, "You go down first, and we will go to the study to talk. ," Mrs. She brought her daughter-in-law and Liu Zhiliang to the study room. Mrs. She said, "Just tell me what you have to say, and don't let anyone know what the big secret is."
Liu Zhiliang said, "You know why our people are so disgusted with the Zhao family, because they are not human beings. They have been coming to deal with your Yang family since Zhao Kuangyin, but you don't know. Old lady, do you know why your family doesn't Give birth to an heir, only the sixth brother has an heir, and it was this guy Zhao Kuangyin who did it. They were plotting against your Yang family from the beginning, because the Zhao family was not in the right position, and they were afraid that the military attache would imitate the same, and they were building the Tianbo Yang Mansion. At that time, a large number of lead pipes were buried underground. If you don’t believe me, you can also dig secretly to see if what we are telling is true. Last time we captured an old craftsman during the suppression of bandits. He had been hiding from the officials. We were hunted down because he was also involved in this task. In the end, the craftsmen in front were executed. That is to say, the craftsman ran away. He had no choice but to become a bandit. He caught us and told us every word of the story to the city lord. , Sixth brother has a child because Sixth sister-in-law is the princess, so there is a boy, otherwise there would be no child at all."
At this time, the old lady was trembling with anger, and the daughters-in-law of the Yang family were also trembling with anger. They never thought that Zhao Kuangyin had started plotting against the Yang family when he was a child. It was like a bolt from the blue. Liu Zhiliang said, "Old lady Jun, the fifth brother is now a monk in Wutai Mountain. The fifth brother is not dead, and the fourth brother is not dead either. He is now in the Liao Kingdom. He is also a prince-in-law and has given birth to a son."
"Ah, is what you said true? Is it true? Wuwu. God will never destroy the Yang family, and God will never destroy the Yang family," the old lady cried loudly. Liu Zhiliang said, "Don't let the court know about this matter. If they know, they will definitely send people to deal with Fifth Brother. You must keep it a secret." The old lady took Liu Zhiliang's hand and said, "I know, and you don't want to be outside either." Go talk, you know? We will think of a solution when we get to Tianjing City," the Yang family's daughters-in-law nodded with tears in their eyes. Ma Saiying also took Liu Zhiliang's hand and said, "Wulang is really not dead, Wulang is really not dead."
Liu Zhiliang said, "We know this news and have sent people to verify it. We also sent people to the Liao Kingdom to find the fourth brother. The fourth brother was rescued by a man named Yelu Jin'e, Yang Silang's second wife, Liao. Princess Tiejing, the second daughter of the Xiao Empress Dowager, is also known as Princess Bilian. Yang Silang Yanhui was kidnapped by the Liao Dynasty during the Song, Liao and Jin Dynasties. He changed his name to Mu Yi and married Princess Tiejing. When Zhang Yan found him, he was very depressed. . The princess inquired about the secret, stole the command arrow, and made Silang sneak through the border at night to meet Zhang Yan. His son Yang Zongyuan."
Liu Zhiliang said, "Don't go looking for the fourth brother, because no one in the Liao Kingdom knows that he is the fourth brother except the princess. You must pay attention, it is not the Queen Mother Xiao who wants the fourth brother's life, but those Khitan officers." It will kill the fourth brother, because too many Khitan people died in the Yang family army. This hatred cannot be resolved. Old lady, you also have two grandsons. From now on, you will have to cook and drink water. Find a way to transport it from outside, because lead is harmful to everyone, find a way to transport water from outside, and don’t let the officials know.”
Mrs. She said to Liu Zhiliang, "Thank you. Now I know why you talked to the Eighth Prince like this. Now I understand you. It's okay to be disloyal to such a court. We will go to Yingzhou this time. Jin We don't want to go to Yang, this is a trap, we can no longer let Liu Lang take risks. This is a disaster for the child Yang Peng, there is no good thing in the Zhao family, it is too insidious. "
The old lady was also so angry that her face turned pale. Liu Zhiliang said, "Old lady, can you go and take a rest? I think you don't look good. Also, give away all the knives we gave you. Don't keep them all, give them to the important officials of the court, and prepare for their escape in the future. This is also what the city lord ordered. Just give a knife with ten kilograms of salt. How can the official give five swords and a hundred kilograms of salt? Leave the hunting matter to us, old lady, do you think we can do it?" Old lady She took Liu Zhiliang's hand and said, "Thank you for your thorough preparation for the Yang family exam, thank you, so you can leave tonight, I Afraid that the court will detain you, there is no need for you to fall out with the court now. Put the overall situation first. Eight sisters, nine sisters, Huyan Chijin, and Du Jin'e will go with you. We will leave at night. I won't be polite to you. Just have a light meal in the evening. Set off."
Huyan Chijin, Du Jin'e looked at Old Mrs. She with tears in her eyes. Old Mrs. She said, "Lin Qing'er is also your mother-in-law. You have to fulfill your filial piety. Our Yang family will not do unkind things." , I will deal with the affairs of the imperial court, so you can go with peace of mind. If I don’t ask you to come back, you will stay at Yang Peng’s place, which is also your home, do you understand?”
Yang Peng first went to the rifle workshop to check it out. Yang Peng asked craftsman Li Dao to manage the rifle workshop, and he managed it well. It has been seven months since the rifle workshop mass-produced flintlock rifles. In these seven months, more than 260 gunsmiths have produced more than 4,000 flintlock rifles. Not only that, most of the 130 blacksmiths who were apprentices have already left their jobs and produced the first batch of 127 qualified rifles.
After the new craftsmen started working, their monthly money changed from two taels to three taels. Three taels of reward for each rifle made went to the old craftsman, and the remaining seven taels went to themselves. In total, they had three taels a month. The monthly salary is considered to be a rare high salary. Now that they are making money, the new gunsmiths are very excited and work very hard. Not to mention the old craftsmen, whose monthly salary plus silver reward is four or six cents a month. They are considered wealthy in this era, and they work very hard.
These craftsmen produced one flintlock rifle per month. Each rifle is tested with four times the gunpowder before leaving the factory, and its quality is very reliable. Yang Peng equipped more than 4,000 people with these rifles, allowing all soldiers to train and shoot on the shooting range every day, striving to become qualified riflemen as quickly as possible. Other troops who did not receive rifles continued to train in fighting, formation and field training.
Yang Peng went to the crossbow workshop to check again. In the past two months, the crossbow workshop's exploration and manufacturing has achieved initial results. The craftsmen have mastered the trick of combining two metals to cast. The large-scale crossbow required by Li Zhi has a shooting range of more than 800 meters and has been initially cast. I have fired a hundred machine crossbows intermittently and no cracks were found, and it is a hundred pounds lighter than the Mining light long crossbow of this era.
However, the craftsmen feel that the potential of the crossbow can still be tapped, and they plan to further reduce the thickness of the crossbow tube and reduce the weight of the crossbow. However, I was too anxious to eat hot tofu and almost hurt someone. The craftsmen don't know what the limits of the crossbow are, so they can only explore step by step. But it is estimated that it will not be long before craftsmen can figure out the most suitable parameters for the crossbow. The five craftsmen are all looking forward to the day when the parameters of the new crossbow are found, and hope that Yang Peng can resume their status as craftsmen by that day.
Yang Peng told the craftsmen to pay attention to safety and left the crossbow workshop. The production capacity of the soap workshop has been increased after Xu Mince placed additional orders, and now there are 150 workers working in the soap workshop in Tianjing City. However, last month Cui Wending placed an additional order worth 50,000 yuan per month, so Yang Peng simply recruited 50 more workers, bringing the total to 200 people. The production capacity of the additional fifty workers far exceeded Cui Wending's needs, and Yang Peng sold the extra soap directly in Cangzhou.
The salt factory is operating normally under Zheng Yuan's management and there is nothing wrong with it. The cement workshop supplies cement to the masons normally, and there is nothing wrong with it. After checking around and confirming that all lines were operating normally, Yang Peng began to develop new industries.
What Yang Peng wants to do this time is glass. As a designer and city owner, Yang Peng has certainly learned about the glass industry, which is a commonly used product for people's livelihood, and is very clear about the detailed theoretical production methods of glass. Now that Tianjing City has been initially completed and various industries can be safely placed in Tianjing City, Yang Peng is ready to make glass.
The first thing you need to consider when building a glass workshop is building a crucible furnace. Firing glass requires heating the raw materials mixed with soda ash, limestone, and quartz to 1550~1600 degrees. Ordinary furnaces will definitely not work, and specialized talents are required to build special furnaces. Moreover, the crucible containing the raw materials also requires professionals to make it.
In this era, the most common people who used high-temperature fired products were porcelain craftsmen. Yang Peng planned to find a few porcelain craftsmen to make glass for himself. Yang Peng inquired about Cangzhou City for a while and found out that there were porcelain makers in Yanshan County, a hundred and fifty miles south, so he took his servants and rode to Yanshan County in person. When he arrived in Yanshan County, Yang Peng inquired for a while and found out that there was a Liu Village in this county where all the people in the village were porcelain makers, among which the Cai family was the best at making blue and white porcelain.
Yang Peng paid for someone to lead the way and found the Cai family in Liucun. The Cai family's house is very large, occupying a large area of land in the middle of Liu Village. It is a large courtyard with a single family. Yang Peng stood outside the yard and looked around, and saw several erected clay stoves inside, which were probably the stoves used by the Cai family to make porcelain.
Yang Peng handed over his name card at the door, and a member of the Cai family ran out and took Yang Peng to the main hall. Before Yang Peng entered the main hall, he saw a young man kneeling on the floor of the hall, kneeling there with his back straightened proudly. There were three old men standing in front of the young man. One of them looked very angry and kicked the young man on the shoulder. "I'll beat you to death, you traitor!" The young man was kicked to the ground, then stubbornly got up, knelt on the blue brick floor and said loudly: "Dad! Cui'er and I really love each other!"
The old man's face turned red with anger and he said loudly: "Our Cai family is also a big family in Liucun, but you have set your sights on such a poor merchant's daughter who is so poor that the family can't take the blame! You don't even want to kiss me if I tell you. Are you so angry?" The young man on the ground said loudly: "Tui'er and I have already worshiped Heaven and Earth privately, and she is already my wife! I will never marry her again in this life!" "I'll ask you again, do you listen? Is mine getting married to the Han family’s daughter?”
The young man stiffened his neck and said loudly: "I only have Cui'er as my wife in this life!" The old man was so angry that he kicked the young man in the chest again and cursed loudly: "Get out of the Cai family! Our Cai family There is no such a traitor as you!" The young man got up and knelt on the ground, raised his head and looked at the old man, and said tremblingly: "Dad! If you drive me out, I will starve to death!"
The old man shouted loudly: "I raised you for eighteen years and taught you how to make porcelain for ten years! Is this how you repay me? You make me unable to hold my head up even in the village! You also know that people need to eat? Don't you have Cui?" Do you want a child? Go to her house to find her!" After saying this, the old man shouted with all his strength: "Get out! We don't have a member like you in the Cai family!"
The young man lowered his head, slowly got up, and walked out the door with his head lowered. He and Li Zhi, who was standing aside to watch the excitement, passed by each other without raising their heads. Yang Peng stood aside and watched the excitement, knowing that his children wanted to make their own decisions about their own marriage, which offended their father. He secretly thought that Daming's parents were really powerful. Fortunately, his wedding master didn't force him, otherwise they would have gotten married.
After the Cai family's parents stood in the second hall to calm down, Yang Peng followed the boy into the main room. When the parents of the Cai family saw Yang Peng's official uniform, they put away their anger and saluted and said, "The official is here, it's too late to welcome him from afar!" Yang Peng smiled and said, "No courtesy."
The head of the Cai family invited Yang Peng to take a seat. He asked Yang Peng to sit on the main seat and accompanied him. He also asked the servant to bring tea. Yang Peng took a sip of tea and went straight to the topic and said, "I wonder how much profit Mr. Cai makes a year from running this porcelain workshop?" The head of the Cai family was a little embarrassed when he saw the official asking about his income. After thinking about it, he said: " The six members of the Cai family make porcelain, and in addition to food and clothing, they also make a profit of more than 100 taels a year."
Unexpectedly, the Cai family's annual profits are quite high. Counting the expenses of six people, the Cai family has an income of at least 150 taels of silver a year. If others have high incomes, you will need more money to poach them. Yang Peng felt a little sad in his heart, but said calmly: "I will pay you two hundred and fifty-two years to hire six of you to work for me in Tianjing New City. How about it?" The head of the Cai family was stunned. Asked: "Tianjing New City? What do you want to burn?" Yang Peng said: "What I want to burn is glass, and I need some manpower!"
The head of the Cai family shook his head and said: "My lord, please forgive me for not recognizing the appreciation, but our Cai family has been making porcelain for seven generations. It is an industry that has been around for hundreds of years. We are not willing to leave Liu Village and lose this industry!" The head of the Cai family did not Willing to work for himself, Yang Peng took a breath and said: "I am willing to pay three hundred taels of silver, and each of the six members of the Cai family will give fifty taels a year. How about it? Mr. Cai will consider it?"
The head of the Cai family was still stubborn and said: "Even if the official pays a thousand taels of silver, the common people are not willing to give up their ancestral property!" Yang Peng was stunned when he heard this and said, "Think again, Mr. Cai, who will give up the money?" Can't you get through?" The head of the Cai family had just kicked his son out of the house and was in a very bad mood. He said, "My lord, please forgive me for being stupid, but my family will not agree to this matter no matter what!"
Yang Peng finally said helplessly: "Then I invite one of the six of you, just one person, how about it?" The head of the Cai family said arrogantly: "The six of us can just support a cellar. Without one person, the property cannot sustain it." Get up!" Yang Peng was shocked by the owner's rigidity and took a helpless breath.
If you want to know what happens next, let’s look at the breakdown in the next chapter.
