In the first month of the sixth year of the Great Song Dynasty, the Jiehe River was frozen again, and the bustling commercial market also fell into a rare tranquility.

There are fewer pedestrians on the road, and the shops in the city are much deserted. Only the blacksmithing yard and iron-smelting academy built along the moat in the south of the city are still popular - rows of blast furnaces of various styles have been built, some are Liao-style, some are Xixia style, and there are also several Central Plains-style blast furnaces copied from the Liguo Prison. Next to the blast furnace, there are also iron furnaces, single-chamber furnaces, double-chamber furnaces, and tandem furnaces (that is, the blast furnace and the furnace are connected by a ditch made of bricks and stones). A two-chamber furnace was also built, which was used to smelt crucible iron.

All these blast furnaces, frying furnaces, and crucible furnaces are billowing with smoke, showing the appearance of being in full swing. However, these furnaces are not "production furnaces", but experimental furnaces of the Iron Smelting Institute. Specially used for systematic "trial and error", different formulas, different furnace temperatures, and different furnace types must be experimented one by one.

Moreover, the process and results of the experiment will be recorded by the professors of the School of Metallurgy and the School of Engineering (all the professors of the School of Metallurgy are graduates of the School of Engineering......

In the vicinity of the blast furnace and the frying furnace group, there are also open and closed brick kilns, which are specially used to experiment with refractory bricks.

In addition to the smoke of the stove, the sound of clanging forging was also heard from time to time. Facing the furnace that "burned money", it was built on the inside of the moat. What kind of steelmaking, cold forging steel, steel filling, steel clamping, cladding steel, all kinds of methods of wrought iron into steel, all have to be tested here one by one.

In addition, there are some designs of waterwheels driving hydraulic hammers, which are also ready to be experimented with after the moat is frozen.

And the same metallurgical institute (in fact, it is a metallurgical research institute), there is another one in Jingdong Shang City. Although both colleges have "shares" in Yuntai Academy, they operate independently (except for Yuntai Academy, other shareholders do not overlap), which is actually a competitive relationship.

Moreover, Wu Haogu and Ji Yi also took out 100,000 yuan each to set up a "Qingtang Award" - this is a heavy award for the college professor team that first achieved mass production of Qingtang Jia.

Under the heavy reward, I am naturally full of energy!

The people below are full of energy, but Wu Haogu himself has been staying at home for many days, enjoying the joy of family.

Now he is wearing a loose robe, lying on a small building in the newly built "Yiqingguan" on the edge of his house, leisurely looking at the newspaper sent by Kaifeng Mansion. Guo Xiaoxiao, who was dressed in a beautiful Taoist dress, was personally arranging the lunch table on the side. It's just a table of light side dishes, no wine, only four cups of tea.

Daogu, who is in her twenties, now looks more and more graceful and moving, and her every move is full of charm.

Pan Qiaolian came in from outside, and when she saw her, Guo Xiaoxiao hurriedly stood up.

"Little sister, you're busy." Pan Qiaolian looked a little overdone, she gave birth to a boy to Wu Haogu last winter, and she had just finished confinement. and Ximen Qing and Du Wenyu gave birth to daughters. Now Wu Haogu is really a group of children!

With a son, Pan Qiaolian, who was in a good mood, came to Wu Haogu's side, "Da Lang, what are you looking at?" ”

"Something happened in Kaifeng Mansion," Wu Hao Gudao, "Cai Yuanchang seems to be about to fall...... Shi Guozuo (Shi Gongbi) and Zhang Jiezhong, the superintendent of the imperial history, jointly impeached him for raising troops in Gyeonggi, blocking his speech and plotting against him. ”

"How can there be such a big crime?" Pan Qiaolian smiled, "Now these imperial histories are too fond of convicting officials indiscriminately." ”

"It seems that there is a way to raise troops in Gyeonggi and block the words," Wu Haogu shook his head, "Plans for misdeeds are naturally pressed on the way." ”

"Raising soldiers in Gyeonggi? How is this possible? A Xianggong. ”

"It's not the government that is making trouble?" Wu Haogu smiled, "No one thought of it...... Everyone treats the government soldiers as if they are forbidden troops, but somehow, these government soldiers actually obey their orders. And Cai Jing transferred hundreds of government soldiers to Cai Bian's accelerated martial arts, so he made it a soldier to raise soldiers in Gyeonggi. ”

"How can the soldiers obey orders?"

Wu Haogu thought for a while and said with a smile: "It's about the current government soldiers who have served continuously for five years, right?" In the past, the forbidden army paid attention to the generals who did not know the soldiers, and the soldiers did not know the generals. But the current government soldiers are all away from home for five years, live in the barracks for a long time, and train at four o'clock, but they get along with the generals day and night. Moreover, the government soldiers are all simple peasants, not the kind of soldiers of the forbidden army, and it is not surprising that they only obey orders. ”

Pan Qiaolian smiled, "But the officials are profitable, otherwise Cai Yuanchang will have to find you trouble." ”

"That's right." Wu Haogu smiled and nodded.

At this time, the sound of the stairs came, and Ximen Qing also went up to the small building, she held a small wooden box in her hand, and when she saw Wu Haogu and Pan Qiaolian, she made a blessing, "Master, sister." ”

"The eldest sister is here, just waiting for you to eat." Wu Haogu pulled Pan Qiaolian to get up and walked to the dining table, "Today is Xiaoxiao's own cooking, although they are all light side dishes, but they are delicious and exquisite." ”

"It's a small craft, so the slave family can eat a little more." Ximen Qing gave birth to a child when Pan Qiaolian was about the same, but her figure looks much more well-proportioned than Pan Qiaolian - she has been practicing martial arts since she was a child, and she can withstand a relatively large amount of exercise, so she is not afraid to eat a few more bites.

"Big sister, what are you holding?" Guo Xiaoxiao saw the wooden box in Ximenqing's hand and asked curiously.

"It's a piece of armor."

As he spoke, Ximen Qing put the wooden box on the dining table, and then opened the lid. I saw a piece of armor the size of a half-palm, blue and black, smooth and translucent, which could shine through the hair. At one end of the nail piece, there is also a small protrusion, vaguely like a scab growing on the skin - this is used to verify the thickness of the iron piece when it is not forged, hence the "filth" of the Qingtang filth armor.

"It was Zhu Xingshu who just sent it to the house." Ximen Qing said again.

"Something right?"

"That's right," Ximen Qing stretched out two fingers and turned the nail leaf over, and there was obviously a white spot on it. "This was shot 15 paces away with the Divine Arm Crossbow, and it didn't penetrate at all."

"Good!" Wu Haogu nodded and said with a smile, "It seems that Zhu Xingshu's people can win the 200,000." ”

Of course, relying on this piece of Qingtang Qizijia, Zhu Xingshu and his team will not be able to get a bonus of 200,000 yuan. Wu Haogu's request is "mass production"!

And it must be reliable in quality and huge in output. Zhu Xingshu's team is ready to solve the problem of yield with a hydraulic hammer. Now it is difficult to achieve quality control, and the route chosen by Zhu Xingshu's team is the process flow of charcoal ironmaking plus fried iron or crucible wrought iron (two routes are tackled at the same time). It's easy to say, but it's not easy to fully grasp it.

It's really a shame, Wu Haogu has been traveling for so many years, and he is only about to overcome the difficulty of "cold forging armor" - this is just the highest level of the Chinese metallurgical industry in the era of the Song Dynasty, and it is far from the level of breakthrough.

As for the legendary traverser's favorite plate armor, I don't know where it is!

When Wu Haogu and his two wives and concubines had an outer room to dine together, Cai Jing's family was also dining in the temple where they lived.

Cai Jing has now been impeached by a group of imperial historians, and they are all impeached by Lu Zhang. So he can no longer perform the duties of the left minister, and at the same time, he himself and Cai Bian have asked for a transfer from outside the county.

However, Zhao Ji did not immediately approve Cai Jing's request, it was just a routine, and he always asked Cai Jing to resign a few times before sending him away.

And avoiding the temple from home is also a good attitude to admit guilt and subjugate the law, saying that he does not dare to live in the prime minister's mansion - in fact, Cai Jing's mansion in the west of Kaifeng Mansion is a private house, even if it is degraded to Haizhou, it will not be confiscated.

"Daddy, official...... The officials still refuse to meet today. ”

It was Cai You who was talking to Cai Jing. He is also Zhao Ji's confidant, and his status is similar to that of Wu Haogu, Gao Yu, and Pan Xiao'an, but now he can't see Zhao Ji.

Cai Jing sighed: "If you can't see it, don't bother the official family for the time being." If you really can't do it, please transfer it out. Go to the local area to be a governor for a few years, and there will always be a chance to come back. ”

"Daddy......" Cai You was obviously unwilling to leave Zhao Ji. You were framed by a traitor, and the official family was just confused for a while, and when they think it clearly in the future, they will definitely recall you. ”

"There is a frame-up," Cai Jing picked up a crab roe steamed bun, took it to his mouth and took a bite, "But just Wu Haogu's frame-up will not make his father lose the trust of the official family."

For the father, he is still confused, and he has taken a wrong step! ”

"What's wrong with Daddy?"

"Soldier power!" Cai Jing smiled bitterly, "As a ruler, it is already a big mistake to get involved in military power...... Zhang Dian was alone for seven years, and in the end, he didn't dare to really train in Kaifeng Mansion. Wang Jinggong has done so many ways to enrich the country and strengthen the army, but he does not dare to train an elite army. As a father, he was confused by the military exploits of Gao Yu, Wu Haogu and Tong Guan, thinking that the official family was really a generation of heroes. ”

"Official, isn't it?"

Cai Jing shook his head and said, "Naturally not!" The official family is only a wise lord, but he is not worthy of the male lord. The male master must hold the male soldier in his hand, and there is absolutely no reason that he is afraid of the male soldier making chaos and does not dare to train the army. Now that his father has fallen because of military training, do Su Ziyou and Zhang Tianjue dare to mention military training again? ”

There are pros and cons! Wu Haogu used tricks to bring down Cai Jing, and it was not without drawbacks. Because Cai Jing was confused for a while before, he really regarded Zhao Ji as the male lord Tian Khan, and wanted to train an elite army for him. But now that he has fallen because of military training, how can Su Zhe and Zhang Shangying still dare to train in a big way? It's better to stay away from such a harmful thing as military power!

He sighed: "It's a pity that the road to a rich country and a strong army, which I finally found, will be abandoned halfway." However, as long as the ambition of the official family does not die, Zhang Tianjue and Wu Haogu will not have a good life! ”

"Daddy, what do you mean by that?"

Cai Jing smiled coldly: "If the official family wants to be the hero, this soldier must have someone to train!" Whoever practices will be unlucky! ”