Chinese dining table

Chapter 1258 The Veil of the New Era Has Been Lifted

The name of the Second Workshop sounds like Yun Chuqi’s. It is simple and direct, and does not conform to the aesthetic requirements of the Tang Dynasty at all.

However, the defense here is obviously top-notch, because the people standing on the periphery are all imperial guards. Generally speaking, imperial guards are the emperor's personal soldiers who are only responsible for the emperor's personal safety. They are stationed in the palace and are rarely seen outside.

Yun Luan bowed to the soldier standing at the city gate and said, "Uncle Zhang."

The soldier had a mask on his face, which made his expression invisible to others, but his eyes were clearly filled with anger. He ignored Yun Luan and looked at the token in Taiping's hand for a long time without saying anything.

Taiping folded his hands in front of his chest, placed the token in a more conspicuous position, and then whispered: "General, you don't recognize the token?"

General Zhang bowed and said, "Your Highness, please enter the city."

Taiping returned the greeting with a smile and followed Yunluan through the heavily guarded city gate into this mysterious city.

The city was not as grim as Taiping had imagined. On the contrary, it was just an ordinary town in the Tang Dynasty, with restaurants, teahouses, and all kinds of shops. At the corner of the street, Taiping also saw a small brothel.

Although the streets are very quiet, there are still many people doing their own things on the streets.

As they walked, Yunluan explained to Taiping, "They have lived in this city for almost twenty years."

"You haven't been out yet?"

Yun Luan shook her head and said, "Whether it's gunpowder, artillery, or telescopes, microscopes are all very important national treasures for the Tang Dynasty. They are not easily shown to others. Therefore, this city has another name called the City of No Return."

Taiping looked at the people walking on the street and said, "It should be so."

Yun Luan looked at Tai Ping with a smile and said, "Now that you are here, these people have hope of getting out."

Taiping turned his head abruptly upon hearing this and looked at Yunluan coldly, "Because I know about this, you think the secret here can no longer be kept, so you are ready to open it up, or is it that the reason why this place is heavily guarded is to stop my mother and me?"

Yun Luan nodded and said, "That's right."

Taiping took a long breath, causing her chest to swell.

"In your eyes, my mother and I are so untrustworthy that you are more wary of us than of foreign thieves?"

Yun Luan waved her hand and said, "The Tang Dynasty does not need to be on guard against foreign invaders. When we find foreign invaders, we usually send troops to eliminate them directly. My father said that the bloody night in Luoyang and the slaughterhouse in Chang'an taught him one thing - to resist foreign aggression, we must first stabilize the internal situation.

Aye has always done this. For this reason, he did not hesitate to introduce the Wu brothers into the officialdom of Chang'an, hoping that everyone could work towards a common goal in harmony and build Chang'an into the number one city in the world.

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. When my father needed their help the most, the Wu brothers chose to blackmail him, using their own jobs to force him to open the second workshop to them.

Is the second workshop my Aye’s?
No, it is the second workshop of Datang. The Wu brothers used their jobs to threaten my father to open the second workshop to them. This behavior is despicable. "

Taiping said angrily: "Why do you all know about this, but my mother and I don't know?"

Yun Luan sneered and said, "Do you think it's not shameless to replace the Wu brothers with you?"

Taiping stared into Yunluan's eyes and said, "You were not like this outside the city."

"The one outside the city is Yun Luan, the playboy of the Yun family, and the one inside the city is a seventh-rank doctor of the Tang Dynasty. Naturally, they are different."

"It's just a seventh-grade..."

Yun Luan looked at Tai Ping with disdain and said sternly, "Oh, I also have a title of grace, it's called Lang, no one in my family takes that title seriously, but I got this title of seventh-rank medical official because I invented a kind of clamp. The old immortal and He Shanchang of the Imperial Medical Bureau jointly reported to the court and asked for credit for me. It's the recognition of the world for me, and it's an unparalleled honor."

"So, you look down on me as a princess?"

"It's just a good rebirth."

"Are you not reborn well?"

"So-so."

The two argued as they crossed the street and came to the inner city of the City of No Return. The walls of the inner city seemed taller than those of the outer city, and Kin'emon guarding the walls also looked more inviolable.

The two entered the inner city. Yun Luan pointed to several workshops on the left and said, "Inside are the workshops for making telescopes, microscopes, and telescopes. You probably won't be interested in them. On the right is the artillery workshop you've been thinking about. You can see how artillery is made there.

I am in charge of the microscope workshop in the second workshop. Now, I have to go on duty. You can go to the artillery workshop by yourself."

Taiping grabbed Yunluan's sleeve and said, "Won't you explain it to me?"

Yun Luan forced a smile, then shook her head firmly, shook off Taiping's hand, and went straight to the microscope workshop that she was in charge of.

Taiping watched Yunluan leave, and after a moment of silence, she said to the imperial guard general who came in with her, "Send the head of the artillery workshop to see this princess."

When Yun Chu arrived at the Wannian County Government Office, the Wu brothers had been waiting for a long time. Yun Chu knew that they had ridden a horse to Luoyang, and that the brothers had already completed all the procedures and money for building the steel city.

When the Wu brothers entered Yunchu's office, they seemed to have forgotten about the artillery. They were only focused on reporting to Yunchu about their trip to Luoyang and the things that needed to be paid attention to when building the steel city.

It must be said that Wu Sansi and Wu Chengsi have good talents as long as they do their jobs with all their heart. At least, they have done what an official can do regarding the affairs of the Steel City.

"County Master, that's it. The real pressure comes from the Ministry of Revenue, mainly because the Ministry of Revenue has to pay. It's easy to talk to them about other things, but don't talk about money. Talking about money with the Ministry of Revenue not only hurts feelings, but also hurts the stomach.

Fortunately, the Queen sent someone to speak for her, and finally she was able to obtain 60,000 strings of cash in start-up funds from the Pi Xiu at the Ministry of Revenue. As for whether there will be subsequent funds allocated, I think the county magistrate should not count on it.

Fortunately, the generals were easier to talk to. Yan Liben agreed to allocate 600 generals to the Steel City construction site for a period of three years. The bad thing was that we had to bear the salaries of these 600 generals.

This is the connection between the Steel City project and Luoyang. As long as the progress is smooth, we will receive the official documents from Luoyang within half a month, and the project can be started anytime and anywhere. "

Yun Chu looked at Wu Chengsi, who had no expression on his face, gloomily and said, "Very good."

Wu Sansi then said: "The relocation of Han Chang'an has already begun. A total of 168 households will be moved out within half a month. Their various fields have been compensated in the form of mulberry fields.

Because their houses were demolished, these 168 families have been trained into a team of craftsmen and can work on the construction site to support their lives for more than three years.

After the steel city is built, there will definitely be a lot of logistical tasks. I plan to train them in. In this way, the women and children among the relocated households can make a living by raising silkworms, while the men can enter the steel city to make a living.

This basically meets the county magistrate's requirement that the people's original living standards should not be reduced after the demolition, and the people are also happy to be demolished, which will greatly speed up the progress of the project. "

After listening to the report, Yun Chu tapped the table with his fingers and said, "Wannian County can squeeze out 400,000 strings of cash. How much can Chang'an County contribute?"

Wu Chengsi glanced at Yun Chu's face and didn't see anything bad, so he cupped his hands and said, "Two hundred thousand strings of cash is still okay."

Wu Sansi said, "That's 660,000 guan. Although the Iron City will take at least three years to build, I think since you want the Iron City project to be completed and put into production as quickly as possible, I think the project fee should be at least 1 million guan. No matter what, we have to consider the possibility of the government failing."

Yun Chu glanced at Wu Sansi and asked, "Why, did you hear any rumors in Luoyang?"

Wu Sansi looked at his brother Wu Chengsi, coughed and said, "The crown prince intends to send Zhang Jianzhi to Chang'an."

Wu Chengsi also bowed and said, "Before, I heard from you that the funding for Steel City was composed of Your Majesty, the Crown Prince, the Queen, and Chang'an City. Now, why is there only Chang'an left? Did the money and food from Your Majesty, the Crown Prince, and the Queen disappear for no reason?"

Yun Chu knocked on the table in annoyance and said, "Right now, Princess Taiping is visiting the Second Workshop of the Gunpowder Department that you brothers have been dreaming about. This visit alone cost her 600,000 strings of cash, and also changed the name of the Steel City from the Royal Steel City to the Chang'an Steel City.

The losses here cannot be measured in miles.”

Wu Chengsi said: "The Steel City lost some assistance and titles, but it actually gave Chang'an more say. All in all, I think Chang'an made a lot of money on the Steel City project.

Only my brother and I are here, so you don't have to put on such a disadvantaged look in front of us brothers."

Yun Chu nodded and said, "You are right. Chang'an does have more say, which is more important than anything else. In this case, you brothers will be responsible for the construction of the Steel City. I look forward to you giving me a good result."

Wu Chengsi said proudly: "Of course."

The two brothers left angrily, and Yin Erhu came in from outside and said to Yun Chu: "Princess Taiping entered the second workshop, but she doesn't understand anything. She plans to go back tomorrow."

Yun Chu said: "Your Highness Prince Yong is very knowledgeable and will definitely be able to help Princess Taiping solve her doubts."

Yin Erhu clasped his fists, agreed, and left the government residence.

After May, the weather in Chang'an becomes unbearably dull and humid. The sky is always gray and makes people feel suffocated.

The windmill at the highest point of Jinchangfang was spinning weakly, and the body of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda revealed a rare green color because it had absorbed too much moisture.

Everything in Chang'an City seemed to be filled with an inexplicable emotion.

When a dull rumbling sound came from the Xuanwu Gate in Longshouyuan, it began to rain in Chang'an. This rain was extremely precious. After a whole year of severe drought, Chang'an was finally soaked by a heavy rain.

Taiping stood under the awning in the trench. She witnessed the power of the artillery with her own eyes. Not only was the earth rotten, but even God was crying for the artillery.

(End of this chapter)