Datang Nongwang

Chapter 619 Iron Materials Are Scarce

"Ji'er, do you have a letter from Yuan'er? I don't know how Yuan'er is doing recently. After I went to Xixiang, I didn't send many letters back." One day, when heavy snow fell on Chang'an City, the old lady sat in the inner courtyard, facing Her eldest son Li Chongji asked about Li Chongyuan.

Li Chongji hugged his son very fondly, and while dangling, he responded to his mother, "Mother, the fourth brother will go to Xixiang. He must be very busy some time ago, so don't worry too much. Eight, they are here, and Xiang Si is here, and nothing will happen to the fourth brother."

"It seems that the Chinese New Year is about to come, and Yuan'er has never been away for the New Year's Eve. I am a little worried about him going like this. Moreover, Yuan'er is young and works in Xixiang far away. How can Xiang Si and the others go?" Take good care of Yuan'er. Yuan'er doesn't have a woman by his side, so I'm really worried." The old lady still misses Li Chongyuan who is far away in Xixiang.

Lin Caishu stopped her needlework and said comfortingly: "Mother, the fourth brother is smart and sensible. Even if he doesn't have a woman, he can take care of himself. Besides, I believe that the fourth brother must have sent a message back. It is estimated that we will receive a letter from the fourth brother in a few days."

The old lady let out a long sigh, still feeling a little uncomfortable.

Li Chongyuan has never spent New Year's Eve outside, and the old lady is worried that Li Chongyuan can understand.

But it is true that Li Chongyuan only wrote a letter to Chang'an after he arrived in Xixiang, but now it has been two months, and it is almost the end of the year, but this letter has not yet been sent to Chang'an.

The old lady is thinking about Li Chongyuan.

The same is true for Wan'er who is far away in Li Zhuang.

Ever since Li Chongyuan left Lizhuang to work in Xixiang, this girl has become a little listless, and she no longer goes to play with the little friends in the village every day.

Even if it was about making money, this little girl began to lose interest.

every day.

This little girl is either studying or being educated by Li Yuan.

Otherwise, just go to the roast duck and goose place to stay for a while, and then go back to the small courtyard to study with Zha Ren.

And today.

But the little girl stopped reading, stood in the small courtyard and looked up at the snowflakes falling from the wine in the sky, and said a little old-fashioned: "Oh! It's snowing heavily and it's getting cold. It's so boring."

"You little girl is only so old, why is it boring. Hurry up and go back to the room to study." Li Yuan, who was sitting in the main room drinking tea and grilling charcoal fire, saw the little girl suddenly say such a sentence, shook his head, and was very speechless.

Wan'er walked back from outside the house, came to Li Yuan, blinked her big eyes and asked, "Uncle, why don't you come back after being in Xixiang for so long? What's the point of being an official?" Well, it’s better to plant crops and raise fish in Lizhuang.”

"You little girl, when you grow up, you will know that being an official is not about whether it is interesting or not, but that there are certain things that must be done. Just like when you grow up, you must marry and have children." Li Yuan glanced at the little girl After that, he became more and more speechless about the little girl's question.

Without Li Chongyuan, Li Zhuang would indeed be much more depressed.

Even if Li Zhuang was making roast duck, Huaishan vermicelli, or boiling brown sugar at this time of year, the popularity seemed to have suddenly faded a lot.

Even the little kids in the village don't like to run around as much as they used to, and they are not as lively as before.

Li Yuan also saw Li Zhuang's situation in the past few months.

He knew that Li Chongyuan was the backbone of Li Zhuang.

With Li Chongyuan's departure, Li Zhuang's backbone seemed to be pulled away in an instant, and everyone seemed so lifeless.

Even Josu and the others are the same.

While the little girl was talking with Li Yuan, a servant of the family was being led into the small courtyard by a guard, holding a letter from Xixiang from Li Chongyuan in his hand, "Master, little lady, little man You have returned from Xixiang with a message."

When Wan'er in the main room heard that Li Chongyuan had returned, she jumped up with a thud.

"Give it to me quickly, give it to me quickly, first let me see what fourth brother said." Wan'er snatched the letter from the servant, and opened it impatiently.

When Wan'er read the letter written by Li Chongyuan, she immediately hung up with a sense of loss on her face.

Li Yuan looked at the sense of loss on Wan'er's face, although he didn't know what Li Chongyuan wrote in the letter, he could guess a thing or two.

Li Yuan took the letter from Wan'er, looked at it casually, and said, "Your fourth brother is doing business in Xixiang, why are you unhappy?"

Li Yuan then looked at the servant again and asked, "Where's Yuan'er's stuff?"

"Going back to the master's house, it will take a few days for the things that Mr. Xiaolang sent back from Xixiang to arrive in Chang'an. The old lady ordered that as long as the things that Mr. Xiaolang sent back from Xixiang will be sent to Lizhuang immediately Send it." Seeing Li Yuan's questioning, the servant quickly responded.

Li Yuan nodded, and didn't say anything more.

At this time, Wan'er was a little curious, "Uncle, the fourth brother said in the letter that he would send some things back, but the fourth brother didn't say what to send. Can there be any good things in Xixiang, isn't there any in Chang'an?" ?”

"Our Tang Dynasty has a vast territory, and the products produced in different regions are also different. Although Chang'an also has them, but because the distance is too far and the transportation is difficult, even if there are, there will not be too many. And your fourth brother got it from Xixiang It should be something produced in Xixiang." Li Yuan really knew Li Chongyuan very well, and he said it as if he was by Li Chongyuan's side at that time.

After Wan'er heard this, she didn't realize how expensive Xixiang's things were, so her interest faded away, "Uncle, it's almost a month before Chinese New Year, do we have to go back to Chang'an?"

"I won't go back now, I'll come back after half a month." Li Yuan shook his head, went back to the main room and continued to drink his tea, and went to roast him.

Wan'er sighed softly, glanced at the servant of the family and asked, "Mother, does she have anything to say?"

"Go back to my lady, the old lady confessed. She told me to study hard in Li Zhuang and not cause trouble, and spend more time with the master's house when I have time." The servant said truthfully to Wan'er.

After hearing this, Wan'er waved her hand to the servant, indicating that he could leave.

For the old lady's explanation, it is the same every time, and it is the same until now. Wan'er's ears have long been bored.

Seeing Wan'er waving her hand, the servants bowed and exited the courtyard, and returned to Chang'an.

Wan'er continued to stand in the small courtyard, looking at the snowflakes in the sky, muttering some words.

At this time, Li Chongyuan, who was far away in the Xixiang Shipyard, sneezed several times in a row and rubbed his nose, "Who is scolding me!"

"Xiao Langjun, who dares to scold you. If anyone dares to scold you, I will have to skin him." Xing Ba, who followed Li Chongyuan, saw Li Chongyuan's sudden words, and immediately looked at the boatman not far away.

Sneezing means that someone is scolding him, this is also Li Chongyuan's habitual thinking.

Li Chongyuan smiled and said: "It's okay, I think Wan'er must be blaming me."

"Xiao Langjun, this lady is not cursing, she must be thinking about Xiao Langjun. Xiao Langjun, why don't we go back to Chang'an?" Xingba knew that Li Chongyuan was also homesick.

The Chinese New Year is less than a month away, and during this time, many people are homesick, even Xingba.

Although following Li Chongyuan came to Xixiang to take office, for them, this can be said to be a high promotion.

A guard of the governor, that must be filed with the imperial court, and he can also get a salary.

But no matter how high you are, if you are far away from home, you must be homesick.

Li Chongyuan shook his head, "Forget it. Even if I rush back now, this year is probably over. Besides, even if I want to go back, I have to get the approval of the court before I can go back to Chang'an. Besides, there are so many people here. Things need to be dealt with, so there is no time to go back. Oh, by the way, why hasn’t Zhu Ni rushed over here, then won’t Miracle Doctor Sun not return to Chang’an?”

"You don't mention this, Mr. Xiaolang, I still want to talk about this matter. Zhu Ni has been waiting for Miracle Doctor Sun in Chang'an, but Miracle Doctor Sun didn't know what happened. After going back to Qishan, he turned to Ling So, in the past few months, Dr. Sun has not returned to Chang'an, so the pig mud can only wait in Changjing and wait for Dr. Sun to return to Chang'an." Xingba saw that Li Chongyuan asked about the pig mud, and quickly put the pig mud What was said in the letter written to him was relayed to Li Chongyuan.

When Li Chongyuan heard that Sun Simiao had run away again, he felt helpless again, "This old man can really run. Everyone ran from the south to Chang'an, and then from Chang'an to the north. I don't know where he came from so big." With such vigor, I almost ran all over the Tang Kingdom."

"He is a miracle doctor. If he sits like a medical officer in the imperial medical office every day, he probably won't be able to become a miracle doctor. Besides, Mr. Xiaolang, didn't you say that if Doctor Sun didn't travel around, he wouldn't be able to become a miracle doctor." Xingba said.

Li Chongyuan also stopped thinking about Sun Simiao.

Anyway, this old man is very good at running, even better than Li Chongyuan, and his vigor is even stronger than that of the young man.

Keep busy.

The long-distance trial ship is back, and it's already set.

Under the leadership of Wan Hong, the boatmen of the shipyard have already begun to build medium-sized paddle steamers.

And recently.

Wan Hong and the others are very busy, even if the weather is too cold, they never stop working.

The timber of the paddle steamer was sent to the shipyard one by one.

The processing of various woods has become the hull of the ship under the efforts of the boatmen.

And Lao Xu and the others also cooperated with the shipyard under Li Chongyuan's orders.

The amount of iron ore also began to increase, which made Li Chongyuan a little bit stretched.

original.

Lao Xu and the others helped Li Chongyuan build some small things, and after arriving in Xixiang, Lao Xu's family became more and more busy.

All kinds of steelmaking need them to forge, and even for the output of steelmaking, Li Chongyuan asked Lao Xu's family to start experimenting with blast furnace steelmaking, and let them experiment how to get coke out.

At this stage.

As long as people related to shipbuilding are basically too busy to breathe.

This is not.

When Li Chongyuan came to the blacksmith's house again, Lao Xu ran over and complained to Li Chongyuan, "My lord, there is too little iron ore. If we don't get the iron ore again, we will stop working here." Lang Jun, you promised me half a month ago, but after half a month, the iron ore has not been shipped yet."

"Well... I'll think of a way. If there is really a lack of iron, we can go to various places to collect some scrap iron. You know, this iron ore is not as much as I can get. Yes. I’ve already written to Chang’an, and I think it won’t be long before there will be news from there.” As long as the iron ore matter is involved, Li Chongyuan has a big head.

Most of the iron ore in the Tang Kingdom is controlled by the imperial court, and its possession is about [-] to [-]%, and the rest is in the hands of the aristocratic family.

and.

The mining of iron ore is already full of difficulties in this era, and the output is still a bit frighteningly low.

Naturally, the chances of this iron ore reaching Li Chongyuan's hands were almost negligible.

Furthermore, the person who supervised the iron ore in the imperial court was Sun Wuji, the eldest son of Zhao Guogong who did not deal with Li Chongyuan. It was basically impossible for him, Li Chongyuan, to get some iron ore out of his hands.

but.

Some time ago, Li Chongyuan had written a letter and went back to Chang'an. He hoped that Li Shimin would give him an imperial decree for the sake of his shipbuilding. By then, the shortage of iron ore would be resolved.

However, Li Chongyuan's heart was also a little beating.

After all, iron ore is under the supervision of the imperial court, even the iron ore controlled by the family is also under the supervision of the imperial court.

And if Li Chongyuan needs a large amount of iron ore, the court probably won't agree.

Therefore, Li Chongyuan can only rely on Li Shimin.

As for the family.

Of course Li Chongyuan thought about it, and he has been waiting for Wang Ting's arrival.

Ever since Wang Ting took [-] goldfish from Li Chongyuan and left, even though the money was sent back to him by Li Chongyuan, until now, he hasn't even seen a single person.

Wang Sheng, the manager, said that Wang Ting had gone back to Jinyang because of the Wang family's business, but Li Chongyuan had some doubts in his heart, wondering if Wang Ting went to study how to breed goldfish by himself.

In short.

Li Chongyuan is currently short of iron, so he can only go three ways.

One is Li Shimin, the second is the aristocratic family, and the third is self-reliance.

In order to solve the demand for iron, Li Chongyuan had to ask people to buy some scrap iron from various places in Yangzhou, so that the Xu family could help the shipyard build gears and other things.

but.

Even so, that's a drop in the bucket.

And it's the end of the year, and the road to buying scrap iron can only be carried out after the next year.

After listening to Li Chongyuan's response, the Xu family also shook their heads and sighed, "Young Lord, no matter what, the iron ore will have to be brought back next year. Besides, we have been testing the blast furnace recently, if there is not enough iron ore , Once the blast furnace is turned on, it will cost money, labor, and coal."

"I see. I will arrange this matter, you just proceed step by step. If you really want to be short of iron, then stop for a while." Li Chongyuan had no choice but to do so.

(End of this chapter)