The mountain gate entering the arsenal is embedded in a huge boulder covered with vines. From a distance, it looks seamless with no trace at all.
When Guard Zhan bent down and moved a stone under the vines with force, the whole hillside made a roaring sound. Then, he saw the huge stone moving with a roar, and countless gravel and dust fell down. It was shaking.
After a moment, a long stone bar protruded from the boulder, and then not long after, the stone bar actually sunk in from the middle.
After the boulder was completely sunk in, two dark entrances appeared in front of you on both sides of the two-meter-deep depression. The entire depression was regular and smooth, as if cut by a knife. The vines hanging down at the door cut these holes.
The stone gate with winding path leads to the secluded place, which is completely natural.
Inside that door, there were soldiers in full uniform, drawing their bows and pointing outwards, as if they were facing a formidable enemy. The cold arrows were aimed at the crowd outside. In this dim tunnel, it looked particularly dark.
Cold. Creepy.
However, after seeing Wu Ningyuan and Zhan guarding outside, these soldiers quickly put away their arrows, saluted respectfully, and retreated to both sides.
"Your Majesty, please!" Wu Ning raised a thick vine in front of him, like a door curtain, pointed at the steps leading to the ground, and said to the emperor.
The emperor raised his head and glanced at the natural stone door, nodded with a smile, and walked in first. The others filed in.
After the door at the back was closed, the tunnel suddenly became dark. However, not long after, soldiers lit the torches on both sides of the passage. In the dim light of the fire, the tunnel looked strange and cold.
"How much money did you spend to build this underground fortress?" Along the way, the emperor looked at the neat brick joints in the passage and couldn't help but be surprised: "Also, when did you start building it?"
Wu Ningyuan smiled, shook his head and said: "Actually, it only cost more than a hundred dollars... to clean it up, and this underground palace already exists!"
"Oh?" The emperor turned his head, looked at Wu Ningyuan, and asked in confusion: "Why is this?"
As Wu Ningyuan walked, he pointed at the passage and said: "This was originally the tomb of the Yuwen family of the Sui Dynasty. Later...the world was in chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and the Yuwen family was scattered by the war and scattered everywhere. Later, this ancient tomb
It was gradually forgotten by people! We also discovered it accidentally!"
"So, you just used it?" After hearing this, the emperor looked at Wu Ningyuan dumbfounded. This emperor was worthy of his duties. In the end, he even committed tomb robbing. I really don't know how he will be laughed at by future generations.
But fortunately...it was Wu Ningyuan who did this, and he gave the order. It had nothing to do with him.
However, before the emperor could be happy for a moment, Wu Ningyuan nodded and said: "Yes, originally... there was an old man guarding the tomb here, and he refused to let us in. In desperation, we had no choice but to say that we followed the order.
, I want to build the emperor’s palace here, and then I gave the old man some silver coins, and then I was able to enter the ancient tomb!"
As Wu Ningyuan spoke, he shook his head and smiled bitterly. Apparently thinking of the painful memory at that time, his expression seemed helpless.
It's just... he was walking there and talking... but he didn't notice the emperor's expression. Not only was it black... his face was as black as carbon.
"You said you followed the imperial edict?" the emperor asked through gritted teeth, his teeth chattering. "And you also told the old man?"
"Yes, otherwise how would we get in? Do we really want to be that tomb robber?" Wu Ningyuan looked curiously at the unclear-looking emperor in the dark passage, and said with a puzzled look on his face. After thinking about it,
Wu Ningyuan couldn't help but shudder, then shook his head and said with a smile: "That's so embarrassing!"
"Besides, we have always said that we are doing it according to the decree to close the mountain for construction here. Now it is normal to pull the tiger's skin and pull the flag again!" Wu Ningyuan said seriously, thinking in his heart that this should be the case.
Obviously, the old man did not realize the seriousness of the matter. At least in the emperor's heart, he was very unhappy and serious.
"Then why do you say that I want to build a palace here?" The emperor suppressed his anger and asked through gritted teeth: "Am I so like a profligate, mediocre emperor?"
"No!" At the critical moment, Wu Ningyuan played a trick. He stroked his beard and shook his head. Then he said with a mysterious face: "This is a plan to attack the east and attack the west, and hide the truth from the sky!"
Huang Zhi: "..."
A moment later, a sad and angry roar suddenly broke out in the dark and deep passage.
"Wu Ningyuan, I will fight with you!"
As soon as these words came out, the momentum shook the sky, the sky became dark, the earth shook, and the mountains shook.
He finally calmed down the furious emperor, but along the way, the emperor's nagging words made everyone's ears feel like ten thousand flies were flying.
"A lifetime of fame will be destroyed in one day!"
We talked like this all the way, and the echo in the passage was very loud, making the noise as big as a fight.
This state continued until after walking out of the passage and entering the center of the arsenal, it came to an abrupt end.
What comes into view is a huge open area, from the ground to the top of the cave, which is a hundred feet high. Looking up, although there is firelight, you can still only see darkness, only the sound of water falling.
, like a quiet spring in an empty valley.
The entire hall is an irregular circle with a radius of one kilometer. It is surrounded by rocks from inside the mountain. Under the light of the fire, it shines dimly. The hall is divided into several floors. The bottom floor
, seems to be the staff of a blacksmith shop. They are all naked from the waist up. In the center of the hall, stands the shape of a tower made of wood dozens of meters high. If you look carefully, you can find that this wooden tower
In fact, it is a vertical descending passage. Under the tower, dozens or hundreds of workers, naked, sent strange components to the large frame in the wooden tower. And as one of them made a gesture,
Then I saw the wooden frame rising upwards with creaking sounds.
After arriving at the second floor filled with various kinds of refined steel, someone took the iron products of different shapes and started the second process.
This cycle goes back and forth, with a total of five floors. Each floor is responsible for a part of it. Up to the top floor, after the weapons are integrated, they are sent directly from the passage above, and the weapons are transported to a secret place by a dedicated person guarding the outside.
Seeing this smooth and smooth operation, the emperor's eyes suddenly brightened up. He pointed to the dozens of up and down lifts, turned his head, looked at Wu Ningyuan and said: "This method of operation... is quite novel.
It not only saves time, but also speeds up efficiency, and..."
The emperor rubbed his chin and smiled, looking at the officers and soldiers handles on the sealed floor, his eyes flashed and he said with a smile: "Moreover, each floor is responsible for a part... and the secret will not be leaked! What a clever move!"
"This is what Yong Zheng came up with, I just copied it." Wu Ningyuan laughed loudly and pointed down to Lu Heng who had already walked down. He saw that he was holding a piece of tempered steel in his hand and asked the blacksmith.
As the emperor walked down, he said with a smile: "He said, this is called an assembly line!"
"Well, the whole process went smoothly... It makes sense to have an assembly line member!" The emperor nodded, carefully stepped on the steps, and walked down.
"At first, when I saw the drawing... I was very puzzled. However, after these workers got used to it for a while, the manufacturing efficiency was..." Wu Ningyuan was speechless, with a look of amazement on his face.
"How?" The emperor was very interested and asked quickly.
"It has improved by more than thirty times!" Wu Ningyuan stretched out three fingers and said excitedly.
"Thirty times?" The emperor was shocked when he heard this.
"Well...this is still the efficiency after the extremely strict review process!" Wu Ningyuan was even more surprised than the emperor when he heard the report. Therefore, seeing the emperor's expression on his face...he nodded and smiled, and did not take the opportunity to be sarcastic.
The emperor is rare and strange.
"Is the review very strict?" the emperor asked with a wry smile on his face when he heard Wu Ningyuan talk about the review again.
"Yes, the previous review process was already very strict!" Wu Ningyuan shook his head and said with a smile, then pointed down, frowned, looked at Lu Heng with the iron in his hand, and curled his lips and said: "Well, since last time
After he came, the review became more stringent. Many weapons that had already been formed were rejected by him with a shake of his head and reworked!"
"Haha!" Seeing Wu Ningyuan's helpless smile, the emperor couldn't help laughing. Looking down there, not far away, there seemed to be a scholar who was very dissatisfied with the steel in his hand. After thinking about it, he smiled and said: "Be stricter.
It’s a good thing. However, as the saying goes, too much is too little. If the water is clear, there will be no fish!”
"The most humble people are invincible!" Wu Ningyuan, who was nodding and listening to the emperor's instructions, heard the emperor say that if the water is clear, there will be no fish, and he thought for a while and said it casually.
"Huh?" The emperor was deep in thought, but he was unexpectedly squeezed by his eighth brother. His face suddenly sank, and he turned his head and looked at Wu Ningyuan with an unkind look. "Oh, no!" Wu Ningyuan felt that he was speechless.
He smiled and waved his hands to explain. Seeing that the emperor's face brightened slightly, he smiled and said, "My brother also told Lu Heng that at that time. But, he said!"
"If you have something to say, say it quickly, if you have something to say, hurry up!" Seeing Wu Ningyuan's cautious appearance, the emperor waved his hand impatiently and scolded: "What did he say?"
After recalling the conversation between him and Lu Heng that day, the smile on Wu Ningyuan's face disappeared and was replaced by a serious look. He looked at the scholar below and sighed, his eyes full of respect.
Said: "He said that when these weapons arrive on the battlefield, they are the second life of the soldiers. The strictness at this time is to allow more soldiers to survive! If it is caused by carelessness when making the weapons.
If soldiers die on the battlefield, then...
Wu Ningyuan looked solemnly, looked at the emperor, and said in a deep voice: "Then we are all sinners of the country!"
Hearing this, the smile on the emperor's face also disappeared. He turned his head and looked downstairs at the scholar discussing things with the blacksmith, feeling silent in his heart.
At this time, Lu Heng held a piece of steel that had just been made in his hand. He looked through it carefully and then weighed it again. It seemed that the situation was far from what he thought.
"Is this the best steel?" Lu Heng threw away the piece of iron, clapped his hands, and asked the groveling blacksmith in front of him.
"Yes, sir, this has been tempered for many times!" The blacksmith is an old man, and his body is covered with sinews that don't look thin at all. There are thick calluses on the tiger's mouth on his hands. He is obviously an old master.
"Moreover, a new furnace was used!" The old man turned his head, pointed at the weird blast furnace, and said with a smile: "Compared with the steel in the past, the steel produced now is much harder!"
Hearing this, Lu Heng nodded and let him go.
Looking at the dark patch on the ground with the pitted iron pieces on it... Lu Heng frowned and said to himself: "If it is a firearm, it is not strong enough!"
Because the temperature is not enough? Is it because there are no other metals added?
Lu Heng also knew very little about steelmaking. Therefore, at the beginning, Yedan made one or two suggestions. About the blast furnace...about mixed metals. As for the others, because he was not professional, if he had made them,
On the contrary, it would make people confused. So, I didn’t say anything else.
However, at this time, when I saw the finished steel, I felt that it was too different. Therefore, I was a little disappointed.
"What's wrong...the steel is not good?" Wu Ningyuan walked down, bent down to pick up the palm-sized piece of iron from the ground, took a look at it, and asked with a smile.
"It's not bad, it's just..." Seeing the craftsmen sweating profusely... Lu Heng couldn't bear to say anything unpleasant.
Just as he was about to say something, he glanced and saw two big men walking past carrying a frame. In the frame, the long steel bars shone with a silver-gray light.
Yes, that's it!
Lu Heng's eyes lit up and he spoke quickly...making the two strong men stop.
After walking over... I picked up a steel bar from the frame... I weighed it in my hand. It was heavy and full of weight. I held both ends with both hands and bent it hard. There was a snap, and the steel bar was bent into an arc.
, it straightened up in an instant.
So tough!
Lu Heng praised in his heart. After putting the steel bars into the wooden frame, he clapped his hands and asked the somewhat bewildered strong man with a smile: "Who made these things?"
"My lord, this is the result of Goudan's beating!" A strong man lowered his head timidly and whispered.
"Where is he?" Lu Heng smiled and asked.
"Sir, that one is a bitch!" The strong man turned around and pointed at a strong man in the corner who was wielding a sledgehammer and whispered.
"Yeah!" Lu Heng's eyes suddenly lit up when he saw the big man named Goudan sprinkling a handful of powder on the red iron bars from time to time. He waved his hands and let the two strong men go down.
"Let's go over and take a look!" Lu Heng seemed to understand something in his heart. He turned around and said excitedly to the emperor and Wu Ningyuan.
The strong blacksmith was frightened when he saw a group of high-ranking officials coming toward him. He threw the sledgehammer aside and pulled his apprentice to adjust his clothes. However, because his upper body was naked, he had no clothes to adjust.
.The two of them laughed nervously and rubbed two handfuls on their bellies.
Zhan Xiong saw the strong man smirking with a confused look on his face. His heart skipped a beat, turned around, smiled awkwardly at the emperor and others, then walked over, gave the strong man a hammer, and lowered his voice and scolded: "See you
Why don't you show your respects to Your Majesty?"
His Majesty?
The strong man nodded blankly, and when he saw the old man with electric eyes standing in the center of the crowd, he was suddenly shocked.
Your Majesty, then, isn't that the emperor?
After figuring it out, the strong man was so frightened that he softened. He pulled the still confused apprentice, knelt on the ground with a plop, and said tremblingly: "I, oh no, a humble position is not..."
Not knowing what to call himself, the strong man was so anxious that he almost cried.
You must know that if you call yourself carelessly, you may be guilty of being disrespectful. The strong man was frightened and quickly turned his eyes for help to Zhan Xiong, who usually had a good relationship with everyone.
"Grass people!" Zhan Xiong twitched the corners of his mouth, gritted his teeth and said in a low voice,
oh!
After hearing Zhan Xiong's secret signal, the strong man suddenly understood, kowtowed and said: "You idiot, I have seen your Majesty!"
"Okay, okay, get up!" The emperor was in a good mood today, well, except for the fact that he had just been raped by Wu Ningyuan. At this time, seeing this strong man speaking with a Shanxi accent and looking extremely frightened, the emperor laughed loudly.
He shouted and waved his hand to let him get up.
When the emperor had finished enjoying the admiration of others and feeling proud of himself, Lu Heng smiled, reached out to pick up the steel bar, flicked it, and asked in surprise: "How did you make it?"
of?"
"This..." Hearing this scholar directly ask about the secret recipe, Goudan looked embarrassed. He is a guy who feeds himself. Once he tells it, how can he live in the future?
"Goudan, why are you so ignorant of praise?" Zhan Xiong cursed angrily from the side. After following the military advisor for so long, he has never seen the military advisor make his own people suffer. At this time, seeing this Shanxi Lao Kou,
I looked so proud of myself, and suddenly became angry.
Lu Heng smiled and waved his hand to stop Zhan Xiong from getting mad. He took the steel bar and flicked it, listening to the steel bar making a happy chirping sound. Lu Heng smiled with satisfaction, put the steel bar down and looked at the dog.
Dan said: "Well, don't worry, I didn't ask you in vain. As long as you tell me, from now on, you will be the supervisor of this level, and the emperor will give you an official position!"
As for the rank of official, Lu Heng could not decide. So, he pushed this problem aside and still left it to the narcissistic emperor.
"Oh, ah, right!" The emperor was a little at a loss for a while. After hearing Wu Ningyuan's story, the emperor quickly regained his composure. After coughing, he showed a god-like generosity. He nodded and said:
"Yes, as long as you teach the people here to blacksmith, ahem, I will give you a sixth, uh, seventh, no, eighth-grade official!"
After saying this, the emperor glared at Lu Heng angrily, apparently blaming him for making his own decision without consulting him!
"Eighth grade?" After hearing the emperor's golden words, the blacksmith was stunned.
Dear mother, at the eighth level, isn’t that bigger than the county magistrate?
On the side, Lu Heng and Wu Ningyuan couldn't help but curl their lips when they heard the three changes in official positions in the emperor's words.
You are really stingy, I despise it! To be continued.!.