The iron pellets that the Tatar heavy artillery blasted into Songshan City can be collected to make iron materials, but it is not "obtained without effort".

First of all, the iron bullets fired by the Tatars into the city were scattered everywhere.

Although it is relatively concentrated in Nancheng and Xicheng, everything hit by it is immediately beaten to pieces, or is sunk into the earth wall, or is buried under the ruins of collapsed houses. Everything that can be found on the street

It's very few.

Secondly, the iron projectile of a Hongyi cannon is roughly like a small football before it is launched. It is an iron sphere.

The diameter of the iron ball is generally between three and four inches, which is about ten centimeters when converted to later calculation methods.

After being fired, especially after hitting the city wall or stone slab, while breaking gold and cracking rocks, the iron ball fired by the Hongyi cannon will also deform after heating and impact, and then become an irregular shape.

Such irregular iron blocks are either stuck in the ground or buried in the soil, which is actually not easy to find.

Furthermore, Jin Guofeng, the commander-in-chief, still has the final say in Songshan City at the moment. Yang Zhen cannot send out his men without scruples with great fanfare to go through the streets and alleys to collect house-to-house items that the Tatars bombarded into the city.

Solid cannonball.

Moreover, he doesn’t have that many men. Even if Xu Changyong’s one hundred men are included, the total number will only be two to three hundred. They can’t all go out to collect iron materials!

However, no matter how hard it was to collect the projectiles that the Tatars shot into the city, it provided a relatively reliable source of iron for the newly established ironworks. Yang Zhen's hanging heart was finally relieved.

Just when the sun was already setting in the west that afternoon, Yang Zhen decided to strike while the iron was hot and asked for pen and ink. He also got a long and thick wooden board from a corner of the Chenghuang Temple.

Commanding the soldiers, a group of people carried wooden boards and arrived at the Songshan General Military Mansion, the deputy general's office of Jin Guofeng.

Jin Shijun led Yang Zhen and others and successfully met Songshan Commander Jin Guofeng, who had just returned from patrolling the city.

Yang Zhen explained the purpose of his visit to Jin Guofeng again. He only said that he couldn't use the big characters written by himself, so he wanted to ask Jin Guofeng to help write a sign for the advance camp ironworks. He said that he had brought several blacksmiths with the camp, and this time he had made a contribution.

, to give them an origin.

Jin Guofeng was also an upright and upright man. When he heard about this, he agreed and praised Yang Zhen for caring for his subordinates.

Yang Zhen quickly asked someone to call in the group of people who had followed him. Yang Zhan'ao, Wang Xuan and others carried the rectangular heavy wooden board and placed it in the front yard of Jin Guofeng's General Military Mansion. Jin Guofeng, who was good at writing large characters, came with thick ink

The six Wei stele characters "Advanced Battalion Iron Works" were heavily written on it.

It was only at this time that Wang Shoutang and his son, who had never seen rabbits before letting go of hawks, truly settled down and began to prepare to contribute to Yang Zhen's advance battalion honestly.

Jin Guofeng had never thought about sending people to collect the iron bullets that the Tatars shot into the city and then reuse them, so after learning all about Yang Zhen's whimsical ideas from Jin Shijun that night, he laughed.

In other words, it doesn’t take it seriously at all.

With the large-character signboard inscribed by Jin Guofeng himself, in the evening of that day, the Advance Battalion Iron Works was quietly opened at the east gate of the Chenghuang Temple inside the east gate of Songshan.

The only people present temporarily were Yang Zhen and his entourage, as well as two small workers, Wang and his son, and Liu Da and Liu Er. The rest were Pan Wenmao, Li Lu, Zhang Guogan and others who had frequent contacts with the Wang and his son.

The people who said this.

Although at this moment, this so-called ironworks only has a total of four people, including Ji Ji, deputy Ji Ji and two small workers, but in this war-torn year, especially after the battle of Songshan Castle, when everything is waiting to be revitalized,

The emergence of such a strange new thing is always a happy thing no matter what.

After solving the problem between Wang Shoutang and his son, Yang Zhen finally felt relieved about the next thing. Seeing that it was getting late, he led the people back to the third courtyard of the City God's Temple.

Zhang Degui had already prepared a simple dinner. Like the soldiers in each team, it was still mixed noodle porridge and mixed noodle pancakes. However, Yang Zhen, who was already hungry, didn't pick and choose, and quickly settled it.

Dinner question.

After eating and wiping clean, Yang Zhenchenghuang Temple went into the main hall and looked around, but saw no sign of Zhang Chen or his men, so he asked Zhang Degui, who was squatting next to him eating:

"Where's Zhang Chen?! I sent him out this morning to scout, and it's already dark now. Why don't I see him back?!"

"Don't worry, sir! Zhang Chen has been in the army for a long time! Nothing will happen to him! Besides, the Tatars have already withdrawn, what can happen to him?!"

Zhang Degui answered Yang Zhen disapprovingly while eating his meal.

After hearing this, Yang Zhen nodded, indicating that he agreed with Zhang Degui's statement, but it was already dark. If Zhang Chen and the others did not come back, the four gates of Songshan would be closed tightly, and he would not be able to come back tonight.

Thinking of this, Yang Zhen saw that several soldiers also put down their bowls and chopsticks, so he named Guo Xiaowu and asked him to go to the top of the east gate to guard the city. If Zhang Chen comes back, or there is other movement outside the east gate

, and report back immediately.

That night, when the clock ticked in the City God's Temple past three quarters of the hour, around eight o'clock in the evening, Yang Zhen was woken up from his deep sleep.

The person who woke him up was Guo Xiaowu.

Under the dim light of the oil lamp in the small room, Yang Zhen heard Guo Xiaowu's urgent voice in a daze: "Sir! Adjutant Zhang has sent someone back! They are outside the east gate now! It is said that Adjutant Zhang is picking up from Yuan Shou, the naval camp.

The visitor from Ningyuan is said to be a special envoy sent by Mr. Fang, the governor of Liaodong!"

"What did you say?! Someone from Ningyuan is here!? Or the governor's special envoy?!"

After hearing this, Yang Zhen, who was already drowsy, suddenly turned over and sat up, and suddenly woke up: "But who is the person who came?!"

"The boy who came here is called Li Shouzhong, and he is a shed chief employed by Adjutant Zhang! You will definitely recognize him after we meet him!"

"That boy?! I think you have an ear disease, don't you? What I'm asking you is, who is the special envoy from Ningyuan? What is his name?!"

"Oh, that was a mistake! Li Shouzhong, sent by Adjutant Zhang, said that one of the people from Ningyuan was named Zhang and the other was named Fang. He had forgotten what official they were. In short, they were high officials! That's right!

, He also said that there is a man named Fang, who is said to be the son of the governor of Liaodong!"

Yang Zhen, who had woken up, his mind was racing at high speed, and he had already guessed half of it in a moment.

"Xiao Wu! That Li Shouzhong who came back to deliver the message didn't say that the special envoy from Ning Yuan was here. What was he doing?!"

"This kid didn't have time to ask in detail, and that kid Li Shouzhong didn't elaborate either!"

——The people came from Ningyuan or were special envoys sent by Governor Fang. One of them was named Zhang and the other was named Fang.

Yang Zhen only searched the names of Ning Yuan's current civil servants and generals in his mind for a while, and then he roughly guessed who these two people were.

There is no other high-ranking official named Zhang except Zhang Dou of Liaodong Branch Patrol.

As for the man named Fang, the son of the governor of Liaodong, he must be Fang Guangchen.

Since Zhang Dou is here, it is not difficult to guess what they are here for.

The full name of Liaodong Branch Patrol Road is Liaohai Dongning Branch Patrol Road, because although Liaodong has a governor, it is not a serious province. It does not have the traditional chief envoys and inspectors, and its civil affairs and judicial affairs

Affairs, affiliated to Shandong.

The Liaohai-Dongning Branch Patrol Road is in charge of the punishment and inspection affairs in Liaodong, but it is only a punishment and inspection branch of the Shandong Punishment and Investigation Department located in Liaodong.

Zhang Dou is the chief officer of the Jingcha Branch. In the folk, such an official is called Fenxundao, or Branch Master, but his actual position is the deputy envoy of the Shandong Jingcha Envoy Department.

The Judiciary Branch is in charge of judicial review affairs. He came here with only one possibility, and that was to check whether the military merits reported previously were true.

Of course, Yang Zhen was thinking about this while putting on his clothes. He packed up his clothes in a short time, took the night guard with him, and followed Guo Xiaowu to the east gate of the city.

The city gates are closed at night, unless there is an extremely special reason or the general who guards the city personally orders it. Otherwise, the city gates will never be opened for a certain person.

Although the men and horses guarding the east gate were all from Yang Zhen's advance camp, he could not break this rule.

When Yang Zhen followed him to the top of the city, Zhang Degui, Li Lu, Pan Wenmao and others who had previously moved to the east gate wall had also heard the news and came to the scene.

"Li Shouzhong! Come forward, my dear! The Lord is here! Tell the Lord again what you just said!"

As soon as Yang Zhen arrived, a group of people came forward with torches. Among them, Zhang Degui, who was walking in front, came to Yang Zhen, turned around and shouted to a skinny young man behind him who had a deer-like head and mouse eyes, a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks.

By the light of the torch, Yang Zhen had already seen Li Shouzhong, who looked very special, and he was indeed impressed by him.

When Li Shouzhong saw Yang Zhen, he quickly walked forward, knelt down alone to salute, and then said: "Sir! Before the high tide this afternoon, we sent someone to contact Master Yuan of the Navy Camp! Adjutant Zhang and other brothers are now with us

I was stationed on that island before!

"Not long after we landed on the island this afternoon, we encountered the big ship that was sent back to Ningyuan to deliver the letter and docked! The person we sent to deliver the letter before has returned!

"And those who disembarked with them were Mr. Zhang and Mr. Fang sent from Ningyuan City! It is said that Mr. Fang is the son of the governor!"

At this point, Li Shouzhong looked up at Yang Zhen and said: "Adjutant Zhang asked me to come back as soon as possible to report to you, saying that Master Zhang and Mr. Yuan from Ningyuan were very excited when they heard that the Tatars had withdrawn from the island.
Chapter completed!