Winter has not yet passed, but Pei County is terrible hot.

Before the arrival of the New Year, the Mozhi fulfilled their original promise, and the farmers who had completed their share of tasks ahead of schedule paraded around the six townships in red and hung green spaces, attracting many people in Pei County to watch.

I don't know how many girls have sung dumb voices, I don't know how many village girls have touched the hearts, and the "hero" characters under a new value have received all kinds of spiritual rewards they deserve.

Before returning, the Inkers also fulfilled their material rewards, and dozens of brand-new cast iron artifacts returned to their homes with the glorious crowd.

The iron tools they brought back were naturally annealed and cold.

But the iron tools they took back seemed to be still burning red, scalding the different pool water in Peixian County into countless boils.

Those things that once existed in the Promised Land Sutra have actually seen a lot of the people of Pei County.

However, it seems that iron tools are the foundation of everything, closely related to farming, and without them, there would be no important things for the life of farmers in the Promised Land, but it is the first time that they have entered the village community in large numbers.

After the second conscription, it seemed that everything was on track for the time being, and it was not as busy as it had been in the previous months.

In the largest room in Peiguo Township, Gong Zao Zhu was holding a few pieces of iron tools that had just been completed, talking to a group of ink artists.

The established iron-smelting furnace has achieved normal operation, the annealing method and the iron model method ensure a steady supply of metro machines, and the quality after inspection is also acceptable.

As the leader of the Xuanyi Department, the importance of the Xuanyi Department gradually reflected, and the people's emotions were closely related to the actions of the Xuanyi Department.

"The second group of conscripts from forced labor was in high spirits. After all, it's not that we don't give money, and besides, we can also buy iron tools with the money we give. ”

"Casting, molding, and smelting still require more manpower. This is in various giant cities and towns, and it is necessary to close some as soon as possible. These people must do one thing for a long time, so that they can become more proficient and do it faster. ”

After thinking about it for a while, he said some very secret and dark truths.

"Why do you have to recruit people from out of town? After the local farmers had iron tools, they cultivated the land and grew food, and they could not be willing to become iron smelters for the time being. Give more money, we can't do it for the time being. ”

"With the locals, the money given is less, they are not willing to do it, and it is not good to force it. Pei County is a cave of ink people, and the people's hearts here should not be consumed in this kind of thing. Besides, if we were really in a hurry to take the iron weapon and hide in the mountains and forests, we would not be able to do it. ”

"Those who use those big cities and giants to 'help others' with farming, one of them has no land, the second is that they themselves are also working, and the third is that even if they don't want to do it and want to run here, they are not familiar with the neighborhood."

"It's not that we don't give enough money, but the money we give is very high if we hire it elsewhere. But compared to the life of a farmer in Pei County, it is still worse after all. Three years ago, we could have recruited local farmers for the same amount of money, and they would come in high spirits; But now, if we pay the same amount of money to local farmers, they may not be willing to. ”

Again, this kind of thing is not worth eroding the people's trust in us. Our Xuanyi Department has done our best, and it is easy to gain these trusts, and we must not consume them. ”

The biggest headache now is this problem, Pei County has developed, a large number of wasteland reclamation and co-cultivation groups organized by the Moshi, which has sharply reduced the number of local displaced people, and also made the local labor force expect higher commissions.

The group of people on whom the Mohists would rely in the future should be the industrialists and businessmen and the burghers who gradually formed and increased with the agricultural revolution.

But now, it is the yeoman farmers who have to rely on them, and they do not have the conditions to abandon their support to fully represent the urban burghers.

Therefore, the Mo people have not collected excess taxes for the time being, and there have been no floods and droughts for the time being in the past few years, and the life of the farmers is quite good.

Fortunately, the Moshi had a vision of the world, not just a land, so the policy of recruiting homeless people and those with few lands in the city as artisans could be maintained.

Mozi agrees with Shi's opinion, although the latter ones are very straightforward and ugly, but this is only a fact, and it is also a criterion that Mozi must abide by in the theory of the unity of benefit and righteousness.

After considering the appropriate statement, Mozi asked Gongzao Casting again: "Over there for the iron smelting furnace, how are the iron tools used to dig tunnels and canals used to defend the city are prepared?" ”

Gong Zao Zhu took out a piece of paper, and also knew that the ink man was about to gather a part of the ink master and Pei County Yishi to go to Shangqiu, and after careful calculation, he said: "If you defend the city, it should be enough, so that you can save some copper for weapons." ”

Mozi asked again: "The kind of weapon that is suitable for mentioning, the outside is iron, and the inside is filled with gunpowder, are those iron shells also prepared?" ”

Gongzao Casting snorted, he was only responsible for the affairs of iron smelting, and did not care about the gunpowder, and said: "That kind of shell is also being produced, and there is no need to anneal, and it is not slow to be made." Accumulated quite a bit. ”

All the people present are qualified to know these secret things, so they don't hide them.

The righteous teachers of Peixian have already begun to publicize and mobilize to make it clear why they are fighting: quite simply, in exchange for the Song Duke's recognition of Peixian's semi-autonomous status, because the Mo scholars have not yet been able to directly turn their faces and not recognize the entire aristocratic system.

When Pei County was tossing the furnace iron, he was also paying close attention to the situation in the world.

It is appropriate for the Chu people to send troops to the north to fight for hegemony this time, and it is either this year or next year, the current king of Chu will be assassinated, and the state of Chu will fall into civil strife in inheritance.

The Chu people have also begun to recruit local garrisons, this time not only to ask the Song people, but more importantly, to give Zheng, Song, and Wei a signal: don't get too close to the Sanjin.

Zheng Bo and Han Hou had a blood feud, and Zheng Bo and the King of Chu were in-laws. Wei Guo is hidden in the north of the Song Kingdom, and the one who can beat it after thinking about it is the Song Kingdom.

Originally, defending the city and stopping the unjust war was an important creed of the ink man, although he did not accept it, but since he became the ink man, he must obey the order.

It is not difficult to defend the city, but the difficult thing is how to achieve the goal that the ink maker wants through this defense of the city.

Two purposes.

One is the semi-autonomous status of Pei County, and the Duke of Song can only have nominal sovereignty, but the right to govern, taxes, and policies are all independent, in order to ensure the status of the Duke of Song and the obligation to garrison if attacked by the Three Jin and Chu.

The other is that Mozi hopes to use new weapons such as gunpowder to fight a city defense that shocks the world, so that Mozi's ability to interfere in the internal affairs of the country will be further enhanced.

When Qi and Lu were at war, Mozi persuaded the Marquis of Qi to withdraw with his strong ability to defend the city, which indirectly led to Wu Qi going to Lu to Wei.

Mozi hoped that this time the Chu attack on the Song Dynasty would be better, more than thirty years ago to persuade the king of Chu has passed too long, many kings in the world seem to have forgotten the horror of the Mo's art of defending the city, this time Mozi hopes to be able to give a clear lesson to the warlike country of the world.

If it was in the past, it might just be to defend the city, and it would be good if it could be defended.

But now, the new weapons, iron tools, etc., are equivalent to the direct abolition of seven of the twelve siege techniques.

The most threatening ant-attached siege will be easier to crack in the face of gunpowder weapons.

The new weapon was an iron pot filled with gunpowder with a fuse on the outside, which was lit and thrown down from the city walls.

When used in field warfare, the effect may not be good, but when used to defend the city, the effect is excellent.

Throwing this thing in the field requires the same strength as Gongzaoye, so as not to blow yourself up and break through the opposing military formation.

In the battle of defending the city, as long as you can throw it a little farther away, standing on the high wall of Shangqiu and throwing it down, the effect will definitely be significant.

Originally, after making gunpowder, the ink man thought about using stone as a shell, and also thought about using bronze.

But bronze is too expensive, especially this kind of gunpowder weapon is completely disposable, throw out one, maybe a few Peixian yeoman farmers for a year of surplus grain will be gone.

Now that there is cast iron, it is natural to think of using a cast iron shell, which can at least be much cheaper.

As for how to keep it at that time, it depends on the specific situation.

Mozi believed that the "upper guard" in defending the city was to go out of the city to fight the enemy in the field, and there was no need to defend the city if the field battle was won.

But the military strength of the Song State, not to mention a Chu State, may not even be able to defeat the county garrison troops such as the Shen Xi Division of the Chu State.

These thoughts should be understood, and they are all clear, since Mozi wants to make gunpowder weapons appear in the war for the first time in this battle, then he must fully cooperate.

Shi pondered for a moment and asked, "Sir, although I am not proficient in the art of defending the city, since the Chu people know that Mr. is still there, I am afraid that they may not choose to attack strongly." If the Chu people choose to besiege and not attack, how long can Shangqiu support? ”

Mozi stretched out his two hands, measured them and said with a wry smile: "Ten months? Didn't those meat eaters in Shangqiu know that the Chu people were coming? It's just that each has its own constraints and plans, and it has not yet been prepared. ”

"The Chu people did not die in the Song Dynasty, nor did they cut the city, but just let the Song Dynasty hire them in Chu. This kind of thing...... Some people don't want to, some people do, it's hard to get together. ”

After thinking about it, he said: "I'm afraid that the Chu people will support it for a maximum of ten months. ”

Mozi shook his head and said, "You're right, but you're not right. During the siege of the city in October, the Chu people delayed planting, but Shangqiu was the same. After eating the stored grain, Shangqiu will inevitably be hungry next year, and how can the princes and nobles come up with food relief? ”

"In the end, more than 10,000 people went hungry. There is another war outside the city, and planting next year will also be a problem. So we can keep it for ten months, but we can't think about keeping it for ten months. ”

Shi Shi felt a little taste, and he didn't know if he was right, he couldn't know the specific military deployment for the time being, and asked: "Now the news from Shangqiu, the matter of the ink man going back to defend the city, I'm afraid someone will oppose it, right?" ”

When Mozi heard this, he smiled and said, "It's useless to oppose it. Whether it is Sicheng or the other six kings, the emperor, the Le, the prince and other clans, it is impossible for them to directly oppose the Mo people and incur our resentment. ”

"What can they do? Send someone to assassinate me? Not to mention if they can find an assassin who can get close to me, even if they kill me? The fowl slippery is still there, even if the fowl slippery is not there, there are a lot of ink people who can defend the city, can they still slaughter the ink man? ”

"Besides, once the assassin is exposed, the ink man is furious, who would dare to bear it?"

"Are they against it or not...... It's useless, and I don't dare to really come forward to oppose it. At most, when we defend the city, we will get some obstacles, and then we will inevitably kill some people for the benefit of the world. I want to go back to defend the city, the Song Guild will give me the tiger talisman, the law of the ink man to defend the city, if they dare to violate it, then kill. ”