Your Majesty, please draw the card

When Zhang Dequan told Zhao Yun to see him, Liu Xi was working with Zhou Yu to improve Dayan's steelmaking technology.

Liu Xi has accumulated a lot of cards related to steelmaking. Although most of them cannot be used due to technical limitations, some of them seem very feasible.Since Sun Quan once ordered to "harvest Wuchang mountain steel, make a sword with a thousand mouths, and a knife with a thousand mouths", Zhou Yu was the main person in charge of this matter, so Liu Xi decided to ask him what technologies are feasible at the current stage.

After listening to Liu Xi's introduction, Zhou Yu believed that the technology on the magic card was worthy of being a miraculous skill. If it could be used, it would be of great help to Dayan's agricultural and military power.He carefully selected several technologies that are most likely to be realized, hoping that Liu Xi can use the emperor's private workshop to conduct experiments, even if there may be no gains in a short period of time, this investment is worthwhile.

In addition, there is a simple technology of pig iron sprinkling mouth, which Zhou Yu thinks can be implemented now.Cast iron spouting refers to the technology of pouring pig iron juice on the opening of existing iron farm tools and quenching to transform part of the farm tools into steel.This method is simple and easy to implement, and the cost is low. It can greatly improve the wear resistance and strength of farm tools and improve the efficiency of farming.

When Liu Xi heard that Zhao Yun was coming, he was overjoyed and asked Zhang Dequan to lead him in.Zhao Yun is not on duty today. As the construction of Shanglin Guard is gradually on the right track, he has more and more things at hand, and it is already difficult to take care of the errands of the imperial guards.

"Zilong, you came just in time! Come and see the new sword I forged!"

Liu Xi took out a sword with a sharkskin sheath from a sword box as if presenting a treasure, and handed it to Zhao Yun.As soon as he got the sword, Zhao Yun felt that the sword was lighter than ordinary swords. The blade was silvery white, with a restrained brilliance, without the pattern of ordinary steel-making.

"Come here! Get me a good pair of armor!"

Liu Xi ordered someone to put armor on the wooden man, and let Zhao Yun try the sword.Zhao Yun was a little hesitant. On the battlefield, swords usually cannot pierce heavy armor, but can only pierce the gaps in the armor.He didn't want to spoil the emperor's interest, so he waved his hand and said, "You don't need to be so troublesome, your Majesty just fetch a stack of papers."

Liu Xi immediately ordered: "Come here, fetch two hundred pieces of paper!"

Zhao Yun laughed inwardly when he heard this. If he could cut fifty pieces of paper with one sword, it would be a peerless sword, but the emperor wanted to take two hundred pieces at once. It seemed that he had great confidence in this new sword.

The eunuchs hurriedly brought a table and spread two hundred sheets of paper on it.Liu Xi asked Zhao Yun to test the sword again. Zhao Yun wanted to save face for the emperor, so he added three points of inner strength when he swung the sword. With a click, not only the two hundred sheets of paper were neatly split in two, but even the table was broken. It was cut in half!

Zhao Yun looked surprised, held up the sword with both hands and returned it to Liu Xi: "Congratulations to the emperor for getting this wonderful sword!"

But Liu Xi didn't answer: "No need, this sword will be given to Zilong!"

Zhao Yun shook his head and said, "A gentleman does not take what others like."

Zhou Yu smiled and said, "Just accept it, Zilong! I have the same sword here."

Zhao Yun was startled, did the emperor forge two swords?

Zhou Yu said again: "Not only you and I have it, but even Lord Bao gave it to him. If Zilong doesn't accept it, won't it appear that the emperor treats one more than another?"

"Your majesty... this?" Zhao Yun was full of surprise. He is a general after all, and he likes magical weapons very much, so he clasped his fists and said, "Then thank you for your kindness! Where did your majesty get all these swords? Compared with general Mo Xie And more than that.”

Only then did Liu Xi proudly say: "This sword is made of manganese steel, which is not an ordinary thing. I spent 3000 taels of silver in exchange for a piece of manganese steel. It is difficult to melt manganese steel in an ordinary furnace, so I asked the craftsmen to transform it again." Only then can it be cast into shape. The cost of such a sword light is 1000 taels, not including the cost of the hilt and scabbard that I personally designed. I have cast a total of eleven swords, one for you, Gongjin One, one for Gao Lishi, one for Li Bai, one for Bao Zheng, one for Lu Su, one for Yan Qi, I will keep one for myself, and seal up the remaining three for now."

In fact, such a sword costing a thousand taels of silver is not expensive, even if it costs ten thousand taels of gold, some people are willing to buy it.However, Liu Xi can only exchange a piece of manganese steel with the benefit of the card's first exchange discount, and the price will not be the same next time.

Manganese steel is a manganese-iron-carbon alloy and is a high-strength steel.Manganese steel shows completely different properties according to the different manganese content. Adding a small amount of manganese to the steel will make the steel as brittle as glass, but if adding more than 13% manganese, the resulting manganese steel will be hard and tough , is an excellent material for making cold weapons.However, because the time when modern people made manganese steel has long been the era of hot weapons, only some sword lovers will use manganese steel to make weapons.Liu Xi had a collection like this in his previous life, so when he saw the manganese steel card, he had the idea of ​​using manganese steel to cast a sword.It took several months to cast these eleven swords, but fortunately the results are quite gratifying.

Liu Xi explained: "I originally planned to use manganese steel in ordnance, but after discussing it with Gongjin, I found that manganese steel is too difficult to smelt, not only has high requirements for the furnace used for steelmaking, but also fuel It is necessary to use good coke instead of ordinary charcoal and coal. But I have already thought about it, let’s go step by step, slowly improve the steel of Dayan, and improve the technology that can be improved by ourselves. It is really difficult. I use internal The silver in the treasury can be exchanged for the god cards. One day, I will make Dayan's steel unparalleled in the world!"

To smelt metals, you need to increase the temperature of the furnace, you need a suitable oxidizer, and some active metals even need electrolysis.Wanting to achieve modern metallurgical technology is tantamount to nonsense, but Liu Xi believes that as long as he is willing to work hard, it will not be a problem to surpass his contemporaries by 200 years.

Zhao Yun knew very well that if a worker wants to do a good job, he must first sharpen his weapon, so he couldn't help but said happily: "The general wishes the emperor to achieve his wish as soon as possible!"

At this time, Liu Xi also had the feeling that I have the card in my hand, and a surge of pride surged in my heart, and I was excited for a while before I remembered: "By the way, Zilong, why are you here to find me?"

Only then did Zhao Yun report the training situation of Lin Wei to Liu Xi.At this time, the scale of Shanglinwei had expanded to 1 people, but there was a relative shortage of horses.Zhao Yun divided people into three groups for training.The first batch were the less experienced recruits, who had no horses and could only learn to ride through recruit training.The second batch is ordinary cavalry, whose training has not yet met the requirements. These people often have to share a horse with four or five people. Only through the selection every half a month can they officially become the elites of the Shanglin Guard.The third group is the real main force of the Shanglin Guard. They are very powerful both in individual combat and teamwork, and only these people can own their own horses.

In the next stage, Zhao Yun plans to transfer a part of the second and third batches each time to conduct actual combat training for the soldiers. The main targets of attack are bandits near Chang'an.On the one hand, it can build confidence in soldiers, on the other hand, it can also make them familiar with cavalry combat methods and strengthen mutual cooperation.

But now there is a problem. The number of ordnance has not kept up with the increase in the number of personnel in Shanglinwei.The first batch of ordnance for Shanglinwei was directly transferred from the inner warehouse, because Shanglinwei is essentially an army supported by the emperor, so the imperial court will not allocate new ordnance.Now Zhao Yun still has some spare money. He originally planned to buy military equipment from the imperial treasury, but the quality of the weapons and equipment accumulated by the imperial court is very bad. Some things are even rusted due to improper maintenance, and the officials have to exploit them up and down , making the price of ordnance extremely high.So Zhao Yun wanted to ask Liu Xi if he could buy weapons produced in the emperor's private workshop.However, Liu Xi's weapon workshop is only for experiments, and the output is not high. To complete such a large order, it is possible to expand the scale.

"What's so difficult about this?"

Hearing Zhao Yun's difficulties, Liu Xi immediately decided to expand the scale of the workshop. Anyway, he had just discussed with the male god to expand the workshop to study steelmaking technology. Now it is just a little more expansion.In Liu Xi's plan, the military-related parts of these workshops will become part of the Dayan national defense system in the future.At that time, the scale that needs to be used is larger, and it doesn't hurt to expand it now.

As for the problem of horses, it is not so easy to solve.The process of the first and second horse transportation was very smooth, avoiding the eyes and ears of the Xiongnu and Xiqiang, but now these two countries have realized that Dayan is buying war horses in large quantities, so they have strengthened the control of horse transportation.Now Liu Xi can only let the merchants transport horses to Dayan in pieces. The speed of doing so is not as good as before, and Dayan really does not have a good horse farm to speed up the breeding of horses.

"I will think of a way to deal with the horses. I can transfer the people from the Horse Supervisor to help you. I can't increase the number. It is also good to improve the way of raising horses. Sigh... If Hetao is still in Dayan's hands, it will be fine " Liu Xi said apologetically.

Zhao Yun hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, you don't need to blame yourself. Soldiers haven't been trained yet, so it's useless to need so many horses."

Knowing that Zhao Yun was comforting him, Liu Xi smiled and said, "Although I don't know how to train soldiers, I still understand the principle that the more the better. I can't do other things. What I can do is to provide you with money and food. Next time, if Zilong If you have difficulties, you can tell me earlier, don't hesitate. As for those officials who dare to enrich their own pockets, I will definitely deal with them!"

Zhao Yun was very moved in his heart. He is not a person who is good at expressing his feelings, so he had to secretly make up his mind to repay Jun's kindness even if his body was broken.After talking about the business, he thought of another matter.

"By the way, at the end of the day, there is also a message from Lord Longyang to His Majesty."

"Longyang Lord?!" Liu Xi was taken aback.When did Longyang Jun hook up with his idol, oh no, did he hook up?

Zhao Yun: "Jun Longyang said..."

On the third day of July, Wang Juchen recommended the swordsman Longyang Jun to the emperor as the imperial bodyguard. The emperor received Longyang Jun in the hall and appointed him Weiyang Tingwei.It is said that the morning court on that day was still remembered by many people many years later. The sensation when Lord Longyang appeared was even greater than the scene ten years ago when the late emperor brought the Empress Dowager Zhao, who was still a queen, to meet the officials.

Because Lord Longyang was recommended by Wang Juchen, Wang Ting naturally had no objection, and Lord Longyang was Cao Zizhen’s friend, Cao’s family also strongly supported him, and the emperor clearly showed his affection for Lord Longyang, who dared to refute the emperor’s face almost none.Except for one or two speech officials who expressed alarmist opinions, which were ignored by the emperor as usual, even Zhao Wenshan could only secretly hate in his heart, but he couldn't speak out against it.

After the early court, Lord Longyang followed Liu Xi back to Weiyang Palace, and met with Liu Xi's confidantes.Lu Su, Minister of Honghe Temple, warmly welcomed him, and Bao Zheng, Minister of Dali Temple, also said that it was very good for Lord Longyang to turn around, and the rest of the people also welcomed him.

Lord Long Yang walked up to Li Bai, cupped his fists and said, "Master Li, Long Yang apologizes to you for what happened last time."

But Li Bai laughed: "To be able to compete with Lord Longyang, I only feel that Sansheng is lucky!"

There was a big smile between the two, but Zhou Yu shook his fan on the other side and said, "Did Lord Longyang forget something? Your Majesty is thinking about it day and night!"

Liu Xi rubbed her palms embarrassingly: "Yes, where is my jade seal? When can Lord Longyang return the jade seal to me?"

Lord Longyang smiled and said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, Long Yang wants to give the Emperor a gift, and Yuxi will come back soon."

He walked to the place next to the emperor that now belonged to him and stood there, holding the scabbard in his hand tightly.A month ago, he knew that he would return to this position, but his pride prevented him from simply becoming a guard.He wants the emperor to look at him with admiration, and he wants to become an indispensable person for the emperor. These people in front of him are not only his reliable colleagues, but also his competitors!

A long, long time ago, the old man in Ghost Valley once said to Lord Longyang that beauty without power can only bring disaster, but too much power will eventually lead to self-destruction.Long Yangjun believed every word this man said, but he still couldn't give up his pursuit of power.For him, killing himself is better than being held in the hands of others. After all, he only loves himself...