My house was confiscated and I was exiled. I emptied the emperor's warehouse and fled.

In the dead of night, there is a thatched house in Beiling Village.

Su Yunwan took a comfortable bath with roses and washed away the dust from her body, "Zi Yuan, do you know why I bought so much raw iron?"

"Making weapons and agricultural tools?" Qin Junyi sat beside her, adding hot water to keep her at a constant temperature.

"Yes, once the housing pressure is resolved, we can build a blast furnace to refine refined iron and make weapons and agricultural tools."

Su Yunwan thought carefully about the cement manufacturing process, which requires the use of limestone, clay and iron ore powder. There is a high-temperature calcination process that requires coal as fuel.

And as long as you have coal, you can make coke.

With coke, steel can be produced using the blast furnace coke steelmaking method, which is what was called refined iron at that time.

If the army is equipped with fine iron weapons, its combat effectiveness can leap to several levels.

Just imagine, when two armies are fighting, one side holds up a steel knife that is as sharp as clay and cuts the other side's weapon into two pieces with just one blow. What else can the other side use to fight?

The use of steel farm tools for farmers is much better and more durable than the wooden, stone, and copper farm tools commonly used today, and farming efficiency can be greatly improved.

Su Yunwan stored a lot of knowledge acquired during the end of the world in his mind. Compared with cement paving, weapons and farm tools were more urgent, so he did not wait for Qin Junyi to come to explore the iron ore next year, and took advantage of the opportunity to go out and buy a large amount of iron ore.

As for the coal mines, she plans to explore them herself.

The productivity of coal in the Great Zhou Dynasty was poor, and the difficulty of mining was much higher than that of logging and burning charcoal. It was also prone to poisoning, so it did not form an industry and was not controlled by the court.

The Yanshan Mountains stretch for thousands of miles, and coal mines should be found. If it really doesn't exist, just look for it in the Taihang Mountains or other mountain ranges, and you can always find it.

Qin Junyi didn't understand what blast furnace refining was, but the word "fine iron" attracted his attention.

Ironware is currently expensive, but as long as you can afford it, you can still buy it.

Only fine iron products are rare and rare.

His Jiuli Sword was forged from fine iron, and he knew the value of fine iron very well.

"Then I will go find a craftsman to build a blast furnace. As for the blacksmith, I happen to be going to Fucheng for peace talks tomorrow. I will join in the negotiations."

Qin Junyi sent someone to look for the charcoal maker, but when the other party saw that the Qin family was at odds with the government, he did not dare to escape from other powerful men and join the Qin family instead.

Even the people currently employed on construction sites are only doing part-time work in compliance with the law. If they were really asked to support the Qin family and compete with the government, few would be willing.

This is why the two of them just returned to Beiling Village and did not reject the invitation from Zhou Mu to Qin Junyi for peace talks tomorrow.

If you want to compete in the world, you need troops and food, and the basis of these lies in population.

If you stand on the opposite side of the local government from the beginning and are branded as rebellious and rebellious, you will have difficulty attracting talents.

And if it can be justified, then a lot of resistance to what you want to do can be reduced.

Zhou Mu's request to lower his body is nothing more than two points: First, let the Qin family abide by the laws and regulations and be good citizens. Second, use the Qin family's soldiers and horses to resist foreign enemies.

Neither of these two points is too difficult for the Qin family.

If the peace talks are successful, it will be beneficial to both parties.

Su Yunwan changed her posture, lying on the edge of the barrel, and raised her delicate face: "Speaking of peace talks, what do you think?"

Qin Junyi poured hot water onto her bare shoulders: "We urgently need land for the coming people to settle down and to cultivate crops in the future."

Su Yunwan nodded: "Indeed, now those tens of thousands of day laborers living in cave caves have almost hollowed out the mountains nearby. When the people from Jizhou City come, they will even be unable to live there."

"I originally planned to use another hilltop to house them. If the land in several neighboring villages can be included in my pocket, I will settle them in those villages."

"Alright."

Qin Junyi estimated the time and changed the subject, "Are you ready? I'll take you to bed."

"Give me the towel and I'll go by myself."

Qin Junyi unfolded the big bath towel and quickly surrounded her as soon as she came out of the water. Then she was hugged by the princess and walked towards the big bed.

Su Yunwan hugged his neck and thought of something else: "If you buy land, remember to pay the land tax based on the average output of the entire Youzhou. I have good seeds, so I will definitely have a bumper harvest than others, but I can't be too cheap for the Dog Emperor. .”

"Okay, I've written it down. Does Madam have any other instructions?" Qin Junyi walked to the bed, took off his bathrobe and covered it with the quilt.

Su Yunwan smiled reluctantly and said: "You try to win over Changshi's brick kiln. Fire-resistant bricks are needed to build the blast furnace. It will take a few more experiments. In addition, I also want to bake tiles to cover those adobe houses. Blue tiles, those brick-making craftsmen will definitely make them."

"No problem, what about the others?"

"It's gone for now."

Qin Junyi undressed and took off his belt. He could no longer control the suppressed desire in his heart. His deep eyes were filled with heat, "Then let's discuss something else."

"No, I just came here yesterday!" Because she had just gotten out of the bath, Su Yunwan's skin was rosy and as smooth as gelatin, her expression was delicate and lazy, and she was full of amorous feelings without even realizing it.

"I'll be careful." Qin Junyi's voice was hoarse and he leaned forward.

"Hmm...um...be gentle..."

The hibiscus tent is warm, and the night is lingering.

*

Early the next morning, Qin Junyi lay on his side on the bed, quietly looked at the sleeping face of the woman for a while, placed a gentle kiss on her face, and quietly got up.

After breakfast, he took Qin Mu and Chu Yi, plus five personal guards, eight of them on tall horses, and galloped towards Fucheng.

In a small courtyard to the east of Fucheng, a beautiful woman with eyebrows like distant mountains, as if shrouded in light mist and rain, and bright eyes like water, like bright stars, was holding a silk handkerchief and carefully wiping the guqin.

A girl who looked like a maid pushed in the door and said, "Miss, at noon today, Mr. Zhou Mu entertained General Qin at Zuiyue Tower."

The woman's hand trembled and the silk handkerchief fell to the ground, "Do you know who General Qin will bring with him?"

"I don't know." The girl pouted and shook her head, helping her pick up the silk handkerchief.

Ruoyan took the silk handkerchief, held it tightly in her hand, pondered for a moment and said, "Aman, go ask shopkeeper Zhou for leave, just say that I'm not feeling well and won't go to Zuiyue Tower today."

"this......"

"Go quickly."

"Okay." Ah Man hesitated and stomped away.

But soon, she hurried back and said in a worried voice: "Miss, shopkeeper Zhou said that Mr. Zhou Mu has named you to perform a piano performance, so you must go."

"I understand." Ruoyan looked dazed and sounded like a mosquito.

Aman advised: "Miss, since we have come to Youzhou, we will meet sooner or later."

"I understand." Ruoyan took a deep breath and her expression returned to calm.