After Xu Ling took the people away, Zhao Bin took Wang Wu and Ling'er back to the palace. As soon as they arrived at the gate of the palace, they met Wei Xiang, the capital of Yan City, who was riding on horseback. Wei Xiang turned over and dismounted and saluted: "I have met His Highness."
"Wei Dutou doesn't need to be polite," Zhao Bin signaled, "Wei Dutou came to see me specifically?"
Wei Xiang chuckled and said, "Go back to the prince, I have nothing to do at the Yamen today. I am humbled by my post and want to come to the palace to meet the prince and see if there is anything the palace can do to help."
"Oh? Is Wei Dutou so free? Don't you have to catch thieves?" Zhao Bin laughed.
"Your Majesty, I don't know. Although Yancheng is located on the border and is often invaded by the Jie tribe, and its folk customs are fierce, most of them are good-natured and there are very few roosters and dog robbers." Wei Xiang replied proudly.
The few people entered the palace while talking. Chunxi saw Zhao Bin coming back and came up to greet him and asked: "Your Majesty, those blacksmiths and carpenters came this morning to ask if they can be allowed to go home?"
"I asked them to do the work, not to kidnap them. In this way, if I pay them the wages for these few days, I will say that the king's work is not finished yet, and let them stay for two more days, and the king's work will be taken care of. After that, let them go back.
Let them wait in the next courtyard. I still have something for them to do today. Ling'er, go and get the drawings I drew," Zhao Bin ordered.
Ling'er and Chunxi responded, one walked towards the backyard and the other towards the front yard.
"Your Majesty, I can also forge iron. Do you want to make weapons? I can help you do it," Wei Xiang asked.
"No weapons. Just some copper pots," Zhao Bin said with a smile.
"Copper pot?" Question marks filled Wei Xiang's head
After a while, Ling'er came out of the back hall with several drawings, and Zhao Bin handed two of the drawings to Wei Xiang.
Wei Xiang looked at the drawings up and down, and asked in confusion: "Your Majesty, how does this look like a pot? This seems to be a plowshare."
"That's right, that one is the plowshare, the iron plowshare, and the other one, you will know what it is when I get it out. Let's go and forge iron with me."
Several people followed Zhao Bin to the next door. A fire was already lit on the blacksmith table. Zhao Bin called the two blacksmiths to his side, spread the drawings on the table, pointed at the drawings and began to explain to the two people.
Wang Wu and Wei Xiang also came over to take a look. After half an hour, the two blacksmiths walked to the blacksmith's bench and started to get busy.
After explaining the blacksmith's work, Zhao Bin took out several other drawings and showed them to the carpenters. The drawing he gave the carpenters was for the plow body.
This kind of plow is simple and light. It only requires two people to cooperate. One person pulls it in front and the other person holds the plow behind. It is much lighter than the plows I saw in farmers' homes before.
After Zhao Bin finished explaining, a group of people began to work in the yard. Zhao Bin pointed at this place for a while, and asked how to make it stronger and more reasonable.
His drawings were only based on things he had seen in his previous life. He was not sure whether they would be practical, so he still had to listen to the opinions of professional blacksmiths and carpenters.
Wang Wu and Wei Xiang also took off their coats and helped. In the evening, the first copper pot was basically built.
Wang Wu squatted on the ground and looked at the copper pot with a chimney coming out of the middle. He said with a depressed look on his face: "My lord, what can this small pot do? It can't even hold the meat for cooking."
"Lao Wu, you don't have to cut the meat into pieces, you can also eat it in slices." After saying this, Zhao Bin said, "Thanks to the hard work, two masters. Do you remember the method of making this copper pot?"
"Back to your lord, I remember it, I remember it." The two blacksmiths nodded quickly and replied.
"Okay, Ling'er will give each of you another two taels of silver. Today you will take a day off to go home and see your family, and come back the day after tomorrow to continue cooking. After I give you wages every day, you will follow me, and in addition, you will pay me The king asked some blacksmiths to come over."
The two knelt down and bowed their heads: "Thank you, Your Majesty, thank you, Your Majesty."
"Get up, don't kneel down from now on, work hard, I won't treat you badly. You should go home early." Zhao Bin
The two of them then stood up and left.
"Ling'er, take the pot back and clean it."
"Okay, Your Majesty, I'll go right away." Ling'er picked up the cold copper pot on the ground and walked towards the palace.
Zhao Bin looked towards the carpenters. Two carpenters were assembling the various parts of the wooden plow. The only thing missing now was the plowshare, but I am afraid it is too late today and can only wait until the blacksmiths come back from vacation.
After struggling for a while, the plow body was finally assembled. Zhao Bin also gave them a holiday and agreed to come back the day after tomorrow to continue work.
"Wei Dutou, can I give you something to do?" Zhao Bin said to Wei Xiang
"Your Majesty, your humble duties will be fulfilled as you command."
"Tomorrow I will ask Xing'er to get you part of the money, and you will bring a hundred brothers to collect copper for me all over the city, including copper basins, copper kettles, and bronze mirrors, both good and bad, as long as they are copper.
Bring all the collected copper to this yard for me, but remember one thing, equal exchange, and you must not rob people of their belongings. "
"I obey my command, I will ask my subordinates to collect the copper early tomorrow morning." Wei Xiang said with cupped hands.
In the next two days, Wei Xiang led people throughout the city to collect copper, but by the fifth day, it was impossible to collect any more.
When several government officials returned to the palace after a long day, some were empty-handed, while others had broken door knockers. Yancheng is such a big city, and I have to knock on every door in a few days.
Zhao Bin and Wang Wu led people to make copper pots, plowshares and plow bodies.
In the blink of an eye, it has been half a month since Xu Ling left.
The courtyard next to the palace was filled with fifty small copper pots and more than thirty rakes. Zhao Bin looked at these things and felt they were enough. Fifty copper pots should be enough for two restaurants.
"Old Wei, come here" Zhao Bin shouted to Wei Xiang who was busy at the blacksmith's bench.
After getting along with each other for more than ten days, Zhao Bin no longer called him Wei Dutou, but called him Lao Wei, which greatly benefited Wei Xiang.
Wei Xiang put down what he was doing and ran over immediately.
"My lord, what's wrong?"
"Do you know who owns the largest restaurant in the city and who is the shopkeeper?" Zhao Bin asked
"There are not many decent restaurants in this city, and the largest one can't be called a restaurant. It has only one floor with about a dozen tables. The shopkeeper's surname is Zhang, and his name is Zhang Guide."
"How is this person's character?" Zhao Bin asked again?
"My character is quite acceptable, but I am a businessman after all," Wei Xiang replied.
"Okay, I understand," Zhao Bin nodded.
Zhao Bin was thinking about the restaurant he was going to open. He might not be able to make any money in a remote and remote area like Yancheng. If he wanted to make money, he would have to go to the capital and open it to make money from the wealthy families.
Since I am going to the capital, I have to find someone who is both reliable and able to handle the situation. I can't do without Xiao Chu. Wang Wu is not that material, so the three girls can't do anything else.
So he had to find someone from the outside, but he wouldn't hand over his business to a stranger. The best way was to hold his family hostage.
But we are not in a hurry right now. The salt has not been brought back yet, and the cattle and sheep have not been replaced yet. It's a little early to think about this.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Captain Xu has sent someone back," Chunxi ran in from outside the door and shouted.
"How many people are back? How many carriages?" Zhao Bin asked happily, really getting what he wanted.
"One person and one horse." Chunxi whispered back.
"Fuck! One person and one horse? Where's the convoy?" Zhao Bin asked anxiously.
"My lord, please don't worry, he is back to deliver a letter." Chunxi saw Zhao Bin looking a little angry and said hurriedly.
"Let's go and have a look." Zhao Bin said and walked towards the courtyard gate. Wang Wu also threw down the hammer in his hand and followed back to the palace.
"My subordinates pay homage to the prince." As soon as Zhao Bin entered the hall, a red-black-faced guard knelt on one knee and said. It was obvious that he had been exposed to the sun.
Zhao Bin stepped forward to help the guard up and said: "Brother, you have worked hard all the way. Get up and talk. Ling'er is going to pour tea."
The guard got excited and then stood up and said: "Thank you, Your Majesty, your subordinates came back early to deliver the message. The convoy is still more than thirty miles away from Yancheng. Because it is carrying salt, the convoy is moving slowly. I am afraid that it will not be able to enter the city today. Tomorrow We should be able to reach Yancheng at noon."
"How many people are coming back? How many cars are there?"
"There are a total of thirty people coming back this time, ten carriages, eight carriages are loaded with salt, the other two carriages brought some marching battalion commanders, and they also brought some sea goods to the prince."
"Chunxi went and asked the dining room to prepare some food and wine tonight, and asked this brother, by the way, what is your name, brother?"
"My lord, my name is Han Rang," the guard replied.
"Good Han Rang, come have dinner with me tonight, and tell me about your time at the beach." Zhao Bin patted Zhao An on the shoulder and said.
"I don't dare." Han Rang bowed and said.
"Whatever you dare to eat, you can eat it if you are told. You have made a meritorious service. When they all come back, I will celebrate the merits of everyone together." Zhao Bin said.
"Yes, I obey."
In the evening, Zhao Bin asked several people to gather around a table, and while eating, they listened to Han Rang's introduction about how they were drying salt on the beach.
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