"Son, what are you trying to do? Why can't your father understand this?"
Liu Dafu saw Liu Zheng ordering the fifty-year-old man sent by Lu Zhengyi to bring over a large pile of bluestones. Then open the kiln and fire. He just couldn't understand it.
What treasures can be burned out of this broken stone?
Qin Changfeng was also beside him and couldn't help but said: "Master, Yangzhou will definitely be prepared for rolling stones... Could it be that Master wants to use hot stones to attack the horse bandits? This is a good idea!"
The corner of Liu Zheng's mouth twitched. Qin Changfeng seemed to be a very smart person, and this guess really made him angry. Of course, it’s no wonder that he was there. How could such ancient people know this?
"Just wait and see!"
Liu Zheng smiled mysteriously and did not explain much.
Burning lime is actually not difficult. It belongs to the category of knowing what is difficult and doing it easily. Naturally, ancient people did not understand this. But with a little guidance, firing becomes easy.
Fifty people, according to Liu Zheng's instructions, quickly started operating. However, due to limited time, Liu Zheng used the countercurrent calcination process. This calcination method produces ash faster and is prone to overburning and underburning, so the control of the heat must be very precise.
So, it goes without saying.
The first two furnaces failed.
"Son, let's run away!"
Liu Dafu said something, and Liu Zheng turned around and kicked him.
"continue!"
Time passed little by little.
With three days left, Liu Zheng watched the weather while firing. Heavy rain is coming, which is unavoidable. It depends on whether your lime can be fired successfully!
at night.
Qin Changfeng sat in a corner, watching all this with slightly moving eyes, not knowing what he was thinking.
…
At this time, the city of Yangzhou was crowded with people.
Lu Zhengyi mobilized the entire city's army and civilians to prepare to defend the city. All kinds of rolling stones, oil pans, and arrows were continuously sent.
The night is getting darker.
Lu Zhengyi stood at the top of the city and took a look. He couldn't help but frown and said, "The horse bandits are getting bigger day by day. In just two days, they have gathered four thousand people. What should we do?"
"Sir, you must be careful! How can I, the eight hundred soldiers of the mansion, be the opponent of the horse bandits?"
"How can I, the entire Yangzhou, rely on that yellow-mouthed kid? Sir, we must capture that Qin Changfeng and deliver him to the horse bandits, in order to keep my Yangzhou safe!"
Several counselors around him were anxious.
"shut up!"
Lu Zhengyi angrily rebuked: "I, the dignified County Marquis of the Longyan Dynasty, in such a big Yangzhou, can't fight with that horse bandit again and again? Where is the prestige of the government? There is no need to talk about this matter! Besides, the Liu County Marquis is also considered a colleague, and he goes back on his words. Could it be that I, a man, did it?"
All the counselors looked at each other with sorrow and said nothing.
At this moment, a horse and a man suddenly galloped over.
"Order of Liangzhou Prefecture!"
Everyone greeted him respectfully.
The messenger glanced at Lu Zhengyi and smiled slightly: "Is it a personal letter from the prefect, sir?"
Lu Zhengyi did not dare to neglect: "Please ask the special envoy to read it!"
"The father and son of the Liu family are about to take office as the Marquis of Yinzhou County. Liu Dahao donated money to get the official position, but he may not be good at politics. His son has become a dandy, sensual and sensual, which has led to the ruin of the family and the poetry society. I would like to ask Lu County Marquis, To help you observe his quality and correct his behavior, you can act cheaply if you have no choice! Mr. Lu County, do you understand?"
The envoy had a meaningful smile.
Everyone was dumbfounded.
Lu Zhengyi also turned dark.
Are the Liu family father and son this kind of thing?
The hint in this letter is strong enough. It seems that the Liu family and his son have offended the prefect and directly told him that "they can act cheaply"! In other words, even if he killed the father and son, he would still have the prefect Chen Ping to help him!
Everyone burst into laughter immediately.
"Sir, this guy turns out to be an official donor!"
"Sir, I also heard that this kid is a famous dandy. He ruined Liu Dafu's family, so he bought a county marquis title and planned to take office. Poor Yinzhou, which is already poor. ,Why……"
Lu Zhengyi looked at the special envoy and asked, "Is this true?"
The special envoy chuckled and recounted the messages from Liangzhou in detail. He seemed to regard the Liu family and his son as a down-and-out wealthy family who wanted to become officials, bastards and scum in the fish and meat village.
"How can this not make sense? How can it not make sense!"
Lu Zhengyi's face darkened, and he said angrily: "Let me capture these two father and son, they almost missed my chance!"
After saying that, he led a hundred soldiers and rode towards the stone field.
At this time, Liu Zheng was staring at his kiln lime with red eyes. He had tried dozens of times in the past two days. However, every time it ended in failure, which made him feel that it was not that simple to rely on modern technology to counterattack after traveling back in time. It's getting daylight soon, and the weather is getting more and more humid. I'm afraid it will rain heavily early in the morning.
By then, if he still can't produce some results, it will be a minor shame and Qin Changfeng's life may be lost.
He was running around in a panic.
There was the sound of weapons banging outside the door, people shouting and horses neighing, and there was chaos.
"Who is coming?"
Liu Zheng shouted angrily and saw Lu Zhengyi leading a group of soldiers with murderous intent. Qin Changfeng saw that the person coming was not good, so he picked up a long knife and guarded Liu Zheng.
"My lord, what is this?"
Liu Zheng frowned.
Lu Zhengyi snorted: "Shu Zi, you dare to bully me? Let me take them all!"
Liu Dahao was frightened: "Master Lu, why is this?"
Qin Changfeng shouted angrily and was about to take action.
Liu Zheng quickly grabbed him and asked with a smile: "Master Lu, what do you mean?"
At this time, the counselors also arrived, angrily pointing out Liu Dahao and Liu Zheng, and denounced their various crimes, including being a playboy, a prodigal, buying an official position with money, etc. Liu Dahao was furious, but he did not dare to refute.
Qin Changfeng glanced at Liu Zheng in surprise.
Liu Zheng laughed loudly and said frankly: "My father's donation of money to officials is recognized by the Longyan Dynasty. Which commandment is violated?"
"this……"
Lu Zhengyi was suddenly speechless.
Liu Zheng sneered and said: "I, Liu Zheng Poetry Club, have greatly insulted the gentlemen? Do you know that most of the poems that have been circulated recently are written by me. Although I am a playboy, why am I guilty?"
"you you you……"
Lu Zhengyi was so angry that his whole body trembled.
Liu Zheng smiled and shook his head: "Master Lu, it is really not the behavior of a gentleman to go back on your word!"
"presumptuous!"
"How dare you insult your lord?"
"Hurry up and capture him!"
"Are you the spies sent by the horse bandits?"
The counselors were all anxious and began to curse and ridicule him in all kinds of ways.
Liu Zheng looked at Lu Zhengyi, who was uncertain, and suddenly smiled and said: "Your Excellency, you don't believe me? Well, how about you, Sir, do you have the intention to bet with me?"
"I will issue a military order!"
"If we cannot successfully defeat the enemy tomorrow, my father and I will rectify the law on the spot!"
Everyone was shocked when they heard this.
Qin Changfeng's eyes were red: "Young Master, you must not do this! This matter happened because of me, Chang Feng, and you must not risk your life. If anything happens, just come to me!"
He shouted loudly.
With a wave of the long knife, the whole place was in chaos.
Lu Zhengyi waved his hand to stop the soldiers, looked at Liu Zheng and asked: "How to gamble?"
Liu Zheng laughed loudly, took out the 10,000 taels of silver notes from the package, slapped it on the table and chair next to him, and said proudly: "If I lose, donate 10,000 taels of silver to build Yangzhou!"
"What?"
"Ten thousand liang?"
"this……"
At this time, the crowd was moving and salivating.
Lu Zhengyi's eyelids also jumped.
In these troubled times, ten thousand taels of silver is not a small sum.
"What if you win?"
Lu Zhengyi could not withstand the temptation of so much money.
Liu Zheng sneered and said: "If I win, I hope I can use two hundred taels of silver to hire fifty soldiers to send us to Yinzhou and protect me for a month!"
Lu Zhengyi made some calculations.
The salary of these government soldiers is only ten yuan a month, which is half a tael of silver.
Calculated this way, it’s not a loss at all.
"good!"
Lu Zhengyi thought for a moment and said, "If you can't retreat the enemy, don't blame me for handing Qin Changfeng over!"
After everyone left, Liu Zheng took a deep breath.
He knew that he had just escaped from hell. This Lu Zhengyi is indecisive and capricious, and is not someone to work with.
"My son..."
"Master!"
Liu Dahao and Qin Changfeng wanted to say something else, but Liu Zheng shook his head to stop them.
Just at midnight on the second day, I finally succeeded!
Although everyone didn't know what it was, when they heard that it was a success, they all cheered. But time no longer allows them to rest. If they want to make a contribution this time, they need to succeed in at least three furnaces!
When the sky is dark, it's two o'clock in the morning.
The rain finally came.
In a barren land in the northwest like Yangzhou, rain is a rare thing. Along the way, people used various pots and pans to catch the rainwater. But today's rain is not sweet rain for Yangzhou City.
Because once it rains, oil and rockets will lose their deterrent effect, and the horse bandits will become more effective in fighting.
"Sir, the enemy is unstoppable!"
"Then Mr. Liu hasn't figured out how to defend the city yet, so he should be punished on the spot!"
Outside the city, the horse bandits have begun to shout, with people shouting and neighing, extremely arrogant.
"Catch them!"
Lu Zhengyi couldn't wait any longer and shouted angrily.
"Come on, come on, everyone, give way!"
Just then, several carts were pushed over, covered with tarpaulins that looked like pieces of stone.
Everyone laughed.
"Mr. Liu, what is this?"
"Could this be your way to defeat the enemy?"
"It's so easy to laugh at! We've already prepared enough rolling stones!"
They all laughed at him, thinking this was ridiculous.
Liu Zheng held his fists in the rain and said: "Master Lu, you can order the soldiers to throw a cart of five feet with a trebuchet, but be sure to wrap your hands and feet with sheepskin. This thing is very lethal!"
These words made others laugh again.
Although Lu Zhengyi didn't believe it, he still gave the order for the sake of ten thousand taels of silver.
Soon, three carts of balls made of lime were ready at the top of the city.
At this time, the horse bandits once again clamored to hand over the thief Qin Changfeng, otherwise they would go to the city to capture the thief in person. The arrogant threats made everyone angry.
"kill!"
The horse bandit finally shouted loudly and divided his troops into two groups, one taking the main gate and the other taking the west gate. One person and one horse, coming with great force.
With such an offensive, a small city like Yangzhou may not be able to withstand several charges.
"catapult!"
When the horse bandits were fifty feet away from the city, Liu Zheng shouted.
The lime balls wrapped in oilcloth flew out under the force of the trebuchet.
Others didn't take it seriously at first.
However, when those lime balls fell to the ground with a bang, or directly scattered into lime powder in the air, and fell into the water, the whole city was filled with white steam, the temperature rose sharply, lime fell on the horse bandits' eyes and bodies, and heavy rain poured down. , this ordinary white stone immediately turned into a deadly killer!
"ah!"
"it hurts!"
"What is this? Why can't I see clearly?"
The four thousand horse bandits felt like they were in a white hell.
It was already dead silence on this side of the city.
