Liu Rong didn't care about Guo Xiuying's defense of Qi Zuguang, he reprimanded him a little impatiently: "You woman really doesn't know anything, the people who work here are all vicious prisoners, you think he is a good person after helping you once..."

Guo Xiuying raised her head and looked at Liu Rong and pleaded again: "Even if he is a prisoner, he is only to help the people's women, and please raise your noble hand, otherwise the people's women are really ashamed..."

Liu Rong suddenly wanted to get angry, if it weren't for these rescued prostitutes, the emperor also specially arranged for the palace maids to take care of them, he would not have taken care of the woman in front of him.

When he narrowed his eyes and was about to tell her to get out, he happened to look down at Guo Xiuying's torn neckline, and he didn't expect that Guo Xiuying, who had an ordinary face, had an extremely outstanding figure.

Liu Rong suddenly felt a heat rise from his lower abdomen, and forgot what he should say, after all, he had not returned to the city for more than 20 days after watching these prisoners clean up the river.

Liu Rong whispered dryly: "My room needs to be cleaned up, if you want to go now, I will consider letting that prisoner go." ”

Qi Zuguang struggled to stand up straight, and the upper end of the standing cage was a flail, a torture instrument that could only expose people's heads. He had a brick under his feet, and if he accidentally fell, he would get stuck in the flail and hang himself.

Next to him, Gou San and the others did the same, but they had one more brick under their feet than him. The people who were originally tense no longer had the spirit to scold, and they were all struggling for their lives.

When Qi Zuguang maintained his balance, the corner of his eye skimmed to Guo Xiuying kneeling in front of the leader of the patrol and pleading for something.

The two men talked for a while, and then walked towards the wooden house on the distant hills, and the woman did not look back at him. Qi Zuguang suddenly scolded himself in his heart, and sure enough, he was looking for something to do and helped a ruthless and unrighteous woman.

However, half an hour later, Qi Zuguang, who was drowsy from the spring sun, felt that there was suddenly a bamboo tube full of water in front of him.

He leaned his head forward with great difficulty, trying to take a sip of water, but the bamboo tube actually approached his mouth. When the sweet water slipped from the corners of his mouth, he realized that he was not dreaming.

After slowly pouring a bamboo tube of water, Qi Zuguang came to his senses, he glanced at it, and found that Guo Xiuying, who had changed his clothes, was holding the handle of the bamboo tube and struggling to feed him water.

"Thank you, girl." After Qi Zuguang drank a bamboo tube of water, he thanked the woman unsatisfactorily.

"Little lady, be kind, give us a little water to drink, we are all dying of thirst..."Gou San's accomplice saw the woman's actions, and immediately pleaded with her.

Guo Xiuying scooped a tube of water from the crockpot next to her, and didn't pay attention to everyone, but walked to Gou San's station cage with a bamboo tube, raised her head and asked through gritted teeth: "Gou San, tell me, where my sister is, I'll give you water to drink." ”

was taught a lesson by Qi Zuguang, and received ten more whips, Gou San in the cage was already shaky and was about to faint.

After listening to the woman's questioning, he finally cried with a sad face, and said hoarsely in his throat: "Give me water first, and I'll tell you..."

At this time, on the road east of the construction site, a small group of cavalry was coming here. The knight of the territory was none other than Dong Weixian, who was followed by 5 cavalrymen.

Hearing the news from the guards, Liu Rong hurriedly put on his clothes and ran out of the house.

After Wu Huakui, the little flag behind Dong Weixian, got off the horse, handed Liu Rong an official document and said: "We are from the Sihai Battalion, and the battalion was ordered to go to the south to be stationed, but there is a lack of some masters to carry supplies, and the General Staff asked us to come to the construction site to select some prisoners by ourselves, do you have any problems here?" ”

Liu Rong glanced at the big seal of the General Staff and the Gyeonggi Patrol Police Bureau, and immediately said with a smile on his face: "Of course it's no problem, I don't know how many people Shangguan needs?" It's up to you to choose. ”

Dong Weixian nodded to Wu Huakui, who asked him for advice, and Wu Huakui said to Liu Rong: "We have already transferred a lot of people to other construction sites before, and you only need one or twenty people here." ”

Liu Rong suddenly smiled and said: "It just so happened that there were a few people on the construction site who made trouble and were put in a station cage by their humble positions. If Shangguan doesn't mind, take them away, and the provincial lowly will send them to Xishan tomorrow. ”

Dong Weixian glanced at the standing cage at the shed below, and then said expressionlessly: "If you can't carry things, I don't want to." ”

Liu Rong immediately replied: "Shangguan can go and take a look first, such a heavy work has not consumed their energy, and they still have the strength to fight, it can be seen that the body is a top stick." ”

After drinking the water, Gou San told Guo Xiuying that he only remembered that in the middle of July last year, he sold her sister to a southward transfer official surnamed Zhou, and he couldn't remember who it was.

When Guo Xiuying wanted to ask further, Liu Rong had already arrived with Dong Weixian and others. She had to step aside, and Dong Weixian, who was riding on the horse, glanced at the situation of the people in the cage, and then said to Liu Rong: "Open the cage door, and if you can still walk around when you come out, I will take them all." ”

Although they did not know that the officer who had suddenly appeared was going to take them there, the prisoners knew very well that it would be no worse than smashing stones. After stepping out of the Circle, they all struggled to get themselves on the ground.

Dong Weixian got off the horse and checked the prisoners' bodies one by one, and felt that they were just skin injuries, and they would recover as long as they were raised for a few days, so he didn't pick them again, but accepted them all.

Qi Guangzu had already recognized Dong Weixian, who was his cellmate in the prison of the Criminal Department. He had heard the emperor's letter to Dong Weixian, so he felt that the place he was going to might not be bad.

Seeing that Liu Rong, the biggest official on the construction site, was respectful to the officer, Guo Xiuying knew that she couldn't stop Gou San from leaving, but she was really unwilling to let the hope of finding her sister be extinguished again, and she still had many questions to ask Gou San.

Therefore, Guo Xiuying suddenly stopped in front of Dong Weixian's horse, she knelt in front of the horse and pleaded with Dong Weixian: "... The woman was originally from Yangzhou, but she was exiled in the capital because of family changes, and she heard that the general was going to take people to the south, so I don't know if she could bring the woman back to her hometown? ”

Wu Huakui, who was beside Dong Weixian, immediately reprimanded: "Although this army is only moving to the south, it is also an army march, how can it be possible to carry women on the road, don't retreat quickly, don't make mistakes..."

Dong Weixian looked at the woman lying on the ground and refused to get up, he couldn't help sighing, he took out a leather money bag from his arms, and then threw it on the ground in front of Guo Xiuying and said: "We are going from the sea this time, and we will not take the woman on the boat, so you can take these silver taels and go back to your hometown slowly." ”

After Dong Weixian finished speaking, he asked Liu Rong to let Guo Xiuying take away, and left with a group of prisoners.

Qi Zuguang was taken to Tongzhou Wharf, and then sat in Tianjin Wei. Then he began to move some of the military supplies on the Cao boat to the sea ship waiting on the dock in Tianjin.

When loading the goods, Qi Guangzu finally understood that this was said to be the Sihai Battalion that was transferred to Nanjing, and it was a thorn in the original Beijing Battalion. Because he refused to retire, he was transferred to Nanjing.

And whether it is Qi Zuguang, who is confused, or the veteran Youzi, who is happily preparing to go to Jiangnan to live. None of them knew that the destination of this fleet was not Nanjing, but the island of Taiwan.

They will be the vanguard of the Four Seas Firm to colonize Taiwan, and the experienced navigators sent by Zheng Cai will take the fleet composed of half of the ships of the Denglai and Tianjin Naval Divisions on the first voyage from Tianjin to Taiwan.

On the one hand, it is to let the reorganized sailors become familiar with the hydrological and geographical data along the way, and on the other hand, let the officers and men of the sailors begin to familiarize themselves with the life of long-distance sailing.

When Qi Zuguang and others were unloading goods in Tianjin, Zhu Youzhen was busy meeting with Song Yingxing's brothers and others in the Wuying Palace.

On this morning, after he arrived at Wuying Palace, he first summoned Fan Jingwen. For the important tasks of just being appointed by the emperor as a squire in the Ministry of Industry and presiding over the Tangshan Iron and Steel Plant, Fan Jingwen's appearance looked quite pampered.

After Chongzhen briefly chatted with Fan Jingwen, he said directly to Fan Jingwen: "Since the closure of the Zunhua Iron Works in the Wanli period, the amount of iron produced by the Beizhili Guanying Iron Works has plummeted, less than half of the output of the private iron works.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Industry, last year, the official iron plant in Beizhili produced only more than 1.6 million catties of iron, while the private sector produced more than 3 million catties. In Guangdong Province, it is more than 6 million catties according to the calculation of the iron class.

According to the new weights and measures, the iron production of the official iron plant in Beizhili was only more than 800 tons, and the output of steel was negligible.

Beizhili is the logistics base of the Liaodong army, and it itself is also connected with the Mongolian departments, so it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the center of gravity of the nine sides.

With more than 800 tons of iron a year, I really don't know what to do with it. And the quality of civilian pig iron is uneven, if it is used in ordnance, how can I be worthy of the frontier soldiers who defend the country?

If you want to defend the country, you must first ensure that the army has enough ordnance and food. The purpose of raising the Tangshan Iron and Steel Plant is precisely to solve the problem of steel shortage.

Therefore, I hope that you will preside over the construction of the Tangshan Iron and Steel Plant, so that the Tangshan Iron and Steel Plant can make the first furnace of steel as soon as possible. ”

After Fan Jingwen bowed to Chongzhen, he replied calmly: "Your Majesty trusts me, the minister does not dare or forget, the minister will definitely work hard to supervise the construction of the steel plant and complete the construction of the steel plant as soon as possible." ”

Seeing that Fan Jingwen understood the importance he attached to the construction of the iron and steel plant, Zhu Youzhen continued with some relief: "Tangshan Iron and Steel Plant actually has three parts, one is the Kaiping Mining Bureau, which is responsible for the development of coal and iron mines; One is Tangshan Iron and Steel Plant and its supporting manufacturers; The last one is the canal that communicates shipping.

In order for the steel plant to be able to produce as quickly as possible, it was necessary to make the speed of construction of these three parts not much different, and this must be supported by the local gentry.

Without the support of these gentry, you would have no labor and no material replenishment. Therefore, I hope that the first thing you will do after taking office is to meet Choi Chengxiu, the leader of the Jizhou gentry, and then get his assistance..."