After sending His Majesty away, Master Jiang was very worried and didn't know what Zhang Yang was doing now. It must be very difficult for him.
He walked back to the blacksmith shop. His Royal Highness the King of Wei has always been very kind to everyone. Seeing that the old man is old, I don't need to go to the blacksmith anymore. Instead, he arranged a room for me to arrange daily affairs and just look here.
Walking into this small room, the room was in a mess. There were various iron material samples and piles of drawings on the shelves beside it.
Master Jiang took out the Lishan ruler that he usually kept on his waist and carefully looked at the outer edge and thickness of the pot in front of him. He didn't know what His Highness King Wei was thinking. The drawing showed a box-like pot.
After a lifetime of blacksmithing, Master Jiang has seen all the weird drawings that he has never seen in half his life. In just three or two years in Lishan, he has seen them all.
He leaned down and took out a box from under the table. There was a lot of broken silver in the box, which he had saved from working in Lishan in the past two years.
Lishan has always given him a lot of money, but it has been empty for half his life. It is most suitable to leave this money to Zhang Yang.
He thought to himself that the money would be enough for him to leave King Wei and start a business to make a living. Master Jiang put down the Zhenguan Ruler in his hand. He is a down-to-earth child and will definitely live a good life in the future.
After all, King Wei is not an ordinary person. He cannot continue to work under King Wei. With his temperament, he will definitely leave.
With this thought in his mind, Master Jiang took a sip of ale and had many ideas.
"Master, Xiao Zhang is here." Master Jiang suddenly raised his head and hurriedly put the box under the table. When he walked out of the room, he saw Zhang Yang wearing a coarse short coat.
The kid had a kind smile on his face.
"Master Jiang!"
"Hey!" The old master nodded in agreement,
"What have you been busy with these days?"
"I've been very busy, and I have to tidy up my new home. I'll ask you to come and sit down some other time."
"What am I going to do as an old man? Only if you have the ability will your Highness be valued by King Wei." Glancing at the blacksmith shop, huge die-cast stones fell again and again, making a lot of noise.
The coal and stone were burning in the furnace, especially in this season. It was so hot that if you took a few steps closer, it was like stepping into a steamer. The craftsmen present kept pouring water into their mouths.
Seeing that it was evening, the fire in the stove was much smaller. When the flame in the stove burned out, everyone went home.
Follow the old master to the backyard of the blacksmith's workshop, where there are three or four aunts from the blacksmith's family taking care of things.
"What have you been doing with His Highness the King of Wei recently?"
"I just want to help His Highness the King of Wei collect some ancient books and craftsmanship techniques." Zhang Yang cleared his throat to relieve his guilty conscience and then asked: "By the way, this time His Highness the King of Wei asked me to see the progress of the pressure cooker. ." The two came to the room and placed the drawings in front of them.
"These were brought by King Wei." There was something wrong with the design of Li Tai's pressure cooker, so he naturally wanted to take a look. Looking at the messy lines on the drawing, you could tell that he had drawn it himself.
The dimension markings are also incomplete. There are many wrong markings in the three views. The dotted and solid lines do not even have proportions written on them.
Fortunately, Master Jiang can draw it. Zhang Yang pressed and took out the cowhide bag he carried with him. This bag was used for repairing his new home.
It is always hanging on the waist. There is a vernier caliper on it, as well as a charcoal pencil made by myself, a knife, and a small wrench.
Sitting down immediately, Zhang Yang revised the drawings. Li Tai wanted to make the pressure cooker into a box shape, but if it was just too sharp and angular, it would become a burden.
The inner pot should be as round as possible so that the inner wall of the pressure cooker can be evenly stressed. Master Jiang watched Zhang Yang draw lines one after another, and a more perfect pressure cooker drawing appeared on the paper.
"Your skills are so good, you can even draw pictures so well." Zhang Yang continued to draw without looking up.
"There is something wrong with His Highness King Wei's drawings. There is no proportion. There is no distinction between dotted and solid lines. The thickness of the inner wall is also marked. Master, do you usually make your own estimates?" Listening to Zhang Yang's scolding, Master Jiang scratched his head and laughed. ,
"After doing this craft for a long time, I naturally have a ruler in mind." Then he changed the lid of the pressure cooker.
After carefully looking at it, I have the appearance of a pressure cooker in my mind. It takes a process from demonstration to practical application. Start with a small pressure cooker and then slowly transition. I wanted to make spring yellow in the past, but I suffered the losses at that time.
Later, I didn’t start from scratch by improving forged iron. I never wanted to go through the process of tearing it down and starting over again. This process was very painful and torturous.
After finishing the drawing, Zhang Yang nodded and said, "This is what His Highness King Wei ordered." The furnace in the blacksmith workshop had lost its heat, and the craftsmen left in twos and threes.
Master Jiang didn't care about the drawings. For him, all he had to do was follow them. He whispered
"How long have you been working with His Highness King Wei?" Zhang Yang nodded and thought,
"Some years." Master Jiang looked a little more worried.
"You have been following King Wei for so long, have you ever thought about what you will do in the future?" This question made people confused for a moment.
Master Jiang took out another small box and opened it. There were some broken silver inside.
"This is a lot of silver from Lishan. You can take it first. When you leave King Wei, you can find a place to run a good business. With your skills, you can open a blacksmith shop on your own and support your family." Zhang Yang quickly pushed the box Go back,
"Master Jiang, my family has enough money."
"Take it, what do I, an old man, do with so much money?" After returning it, Zhang Yang said: "I have also saved a lot of money. This money is enough for me to spend. I can't be hungry." Look at him. With a firm attitude, Master Jiang put the box away again.
"Old man, I'll save it for you first. I'll save more and give it to you in the future. Lishan is in charge of food and accommodation, and I can't use it even if I give you wages, so I'll keep it for now." After speaking, Master Jiang warned again: "Then It's the King of Wei, who is the King of Wei? That's the prince." He looked around, lowered his voice and whispered: "I heard, the old man, that the King of Wei and the prince have always been at odds." Li Tai was indeed in harmony with him. Li Chengqian was at odds, Zhang Yang sat cross-legged with his hands in his hands, and he didn't know who gave Master Jiang the wind.
Now look at Li Tai, a fat man with a well-established background, who can still criticize the books of saints and sages. What a good boy he is. He should work hard and down-to-earth in production and construction.
Reading too many books by sages can make people go crazy easily, which is not a good thing. The truth is to get rid of poverty through construction and production. Reading books by sages all day long should not make people stupid.
In this regard, it is wrong to just let it go. We must always be vigilant and have a critical eye. Seeing Zhang Yang lost in thought, Master Jiang nodded,
"You are a smart boy, you must understand the pros and cons."
"I will definitely remember the master's teachings." The old master nodded with satisfaction. The two said goodbye at the door of the blacksmith shop. The daughter-in-law was walking in the village with her two aunts. Xiao Qingqing looked around with disgust on her face. She didn't like the construction in the village very much.
Zhang Yang hugged her and smiled: "Isn't it not as beautiful as our new home?" Xiao Qingqing pointed at the loess on the side of the road and shook her head.
"These are all from our family, you can't help but like them." She turned around reluctantly. Li Yue looked at this scene and smiled.
After glancing at the village, I found that the village was indeed a mess now. Although the roads were flat, the roads were messy on both sides and the construction was not very complete.
Right now the village doesn't have enough people to improve the situation. Today's Lishan is dominated by factories and fields.
It takes a lot of money to coax your daughter. Zhang Yang held her in his arms and planned in his mind that he would build up the village in the future, especially in terms of landscape.
"What do you want to eat tonight?" Zhang Yang hugged her and asked. Having a daughter allows you to put your worries behind you, and many of your worries disappear.
The peaceful days were short-lived. Li Shimin issued a decree, which caused an uproar in Chang'an City.
Li Ji was granted the title of Duke of England, and was given the title of Governor Shi, and the crown prince Zuo led the guards. Zhang Yang sat by the Huaqing Pool and listened to Li Tai's story with a solemn expression.
"My father granted the title of General Cheng Lu to the Duke of Lu, who actually granted him the title of 700 households in the city. He was hereditary to his descendants. He led the military affairs of Youzhou from afar. He granted the title of General Li Daliang to the Duke of Wuyang County. He granted the title of General of the Inspector Youwei. Eight hundred households in the city..." During the days when the emperor was vacationing in the summer, a large number of state and county princes were granted titles.
Li Tai whispered: "Father built the Lingyan Pavilion before, and now many portraits of the Duke have been sent to the Lingyan Pavilion." Although they were granted the title of Duke, neither Li Ji nor Cheng Yaojin , no military power at hand.
When Li Ji came back from Mobei, he lost his military power, and in exchange he became the Duke of the country. Many old generals have released their military power. The more princes there are in the court, the more concentrated the power is in the hands of the emperor.
Moreover, they were all given hereditary positions, and even the military power of the state capitals was only a false position, not enough for them to command troops.
The emperor left these princes in Chang'an City, gave the founding generals the title of princes, and gave them the promised glory and wealth.
The emperor wants to rein in power, which is what His Majesty has been doing all these years, ever since Gao Shilian left the court.
Even now, the emperor is still perfecting his centralization of power.
"His Royal Highness King Wei, go on, why do you think so of me?" Zhang Yang said suspiciously after noticing the fat man's gaze.
Li Tai leaned closer and whispered: "Brother-in-law, don't you think it's strange?"
"What's weird?"
"Normally, my brother-in-law has done a lot of credit. The ministers and generals are the Duke of the county and the Duke of the country. Why are there no arrangements for the brother-in-law?" Zhang Yang smiled bitterly: "What? Can your father still make me the Duke of the country? ?" Li Tai lowered his head in despair,
"Brother-in-law really has no ambitions. He is almost thirty years old and he is still a county prince."
"What's wrong with the County Marquis? How good the County Marquis is." No matter how Li Tai looked at his brother-in-law, he felt unhappy.
"It shouldn't be, my father shouldn't be like this." When walking down the mountain, Li Tai returned to the small palace. The casting of the pressure cooker had not been completed for a while. At this moment, his father had granted so many princes.
There is no brother-in-law. When the brother-in-law regained the Hexi Corridor, although the method was not very good, he finally brought the Hexi Corridor back.
Let’s talk about the four towns of Anxi and Tubo. These are all the achievements of my brother-in-law, and the Diplomatic Academy was established by his brother-in-law, not to mention papermaking and printing.
It's just that my brother-in-law is still a county prince, and this county prince has been there for many years. At least give it to the county official.
Li Tai was thinking in his mind.
"Bastard!" Father's voice came from the small palace,
"Bring Zhang Yang to me!"
"Here." This was the voice of the prince. Li Tai looked back in surprise. At this moment, he suddenly understood in his heart how his brother-in-law and his father could benefit from such a conflict.
"Wait a minute!" Li Shimin called to someone again,
"There's no need to summon Zhang Yang. I'll go see him in person." Why was my father angry? Li Tai walked into the palace, watched his father leave angrily, and walked into the room, where his father usually dealt with memorials.
Even if you are staying in Lishan to escape the summer heat, you cannot ignore the affairs of the DPRK. Li Tai looked at the memorial on his father's desk and finally understood what happened. It was because of the civil strife in Tubo. His father had already sent troops to quell the civil strife in Tubo, but the troops had not arrived yet. Zangampo's credentials were delivered.
What his credentials write about is the civil strife stirred up by the envoys from the Diplomatic Academy sent to Tubo by Zhang Yang. As soon as the letter of credence arrived at the court, the officials knew about it and began to impeach.
There are stacks of memorials on my father's desk. These memorials are all about impeaching my brother-in-law. Some people even talk about abolishing the current Diplomatic Academy.
Although Li Tai was worried, he was also a little lucky. Fortunately, his father did not give another reward to his brother-in-law, otherwise it would have been more difficult to deal with it.
Zhang Yang was making barbecue for the children. Meat was the most eaten thing in Lishan. You can even see that Li Zhi seems to have gained some weight because he has been eating meat these days.
Seeing that His Majesty was coming, the maids on the side saluted hurriedly. Zhang Yang waved and said, "Your Majesty, are you here to eat too?" Seeing that the children were in front of him and it was difficult to scold them in person, Li Shimin said in a deep voice, "Come here, I have something to say to you." Zhang Yang nodded and left Huaqing Pool to follow the emperor. Arrive at the stone steps on the mountainside.
Taking out a memorial and handing it to him, Li Shimin said with a dark face.
"Look at the good things you have done." Zhang Yang opened the memorial and read it and said with a smile: "This Songtsen Gampo is not good at governing Tibet by himself. In addition to civil strife, he also throws dirty water on me."
"Many of my palaces contain memorials to impeach you." Zhang Yang simply sat on the stone steps.
"Your Majesty should always practice Haoran Zhengqi like me."
"Hao...Haoran is upright?"
"Yes, don't be swayed by emotions, keep your mind firm, and you can treat people and things more safely." Zhang Yang closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"I feel like my energy has improved a lot lately."
"Forget about others, I know all the things you have done, but you still have integrity? Then I have become a saint?" For some reason, Li Shimin became even more angry when he saw this kid's indifferent expression. , and simply sat down,
"I think it's time to kill you to calm people's hearts."
"Songtsen Gampo, you have done me a lot of harm." Zhang Yang looked up to the sky and sighed.
"It was you who harmed Songtsen Gampo, how can you complain?" Li Shimin felt angry in his heart, wiping the sweat from his forehead and saying,
"It's really hot today." Zhang Yang said with a smile: "I have a method of clearing away heat and relieving heat in Lishan. Your Majesty, would you like to try it?"
"Oh, is it so?"
