Three Kingdoms: The Yellow Turbans finally revolt

Chapter 197 Yuan Shi's Ambition, Liu Qing's Niece
The death of Hussar General Dong Zhong made the two factions of Empress He and Empress Dowager Dong become real tensions.

In the city of Luoyang, people are rushing to and fro.

He Jin's former generals, Wu Kuang, Bao Xin and others, all received all-out efforts from both sides, not to mention Situ Cui Lie and Taiwei Zhang Wen.

Until this day, Dong Zhuo entered Luoyang. Although the Xiliang army was stationed outside the city, Dong Zhuo led all the generals and more than a thousand elite Feixiong troops into the city.

Many of Feixiong's army were warriors from Xiliang, they were not restrained, and immediately caused Luoyang City to be restless. This matter, when it was heard by Zhijinwu Dingyuan, he also criticized Dong Zhuo.

Speaking of which, the two had worked together in Bingzhou, the battle of Hedong County, and the defense against the Xianbei and Southern Huns coalition forces, but they didn't have much contact and were not familiar with each other, so Ding Yuan also chose to suppress this matter.

After all, today is an eventful time, if there is a conflict between soldiers and horses, the consequences will be disastrous.

Dong Zhuo went straight to Yuan Kai's residence, which was considered proper courtesy, after all, he was also an old official of the Yuan family, but Dong Zhuo had his own ideas about supporting Liu Bian in Yuan Kai's letter.

What Zhang Rang said made him instinctively dislike Queen He's faction.

Dong Zhuo came to the reception hall and saluted Yuan Kai very respectfully.

"Dong Zhuo, my lower official, I have met Yuan Gong." Dong Zhuo called himself a lower official very modestly.

"Zhongying doesn't need to be too polite, please sit down and talk. This is Yuan Shao and Yuan Benchu." Yuan Kai introduced him, and said with a smile: "I should have arrived a few days ago, why is it a few days late?"

After Dong Zhuo sat down, he nodded to Yuan Shao, and said to Yuan Kai, "It's not because we delayed on purpose, but we went to Beimang Mountain and caught some thieves back."

"A thief? Who is a thief?" Yuan Kai asked casually.

"Ten servants and some little eunuchs."

Yuan Kai snapped back to his senses, and said seriously, "Ten Attendant? Zhongying don't want to play tricks."

Yuan Shao also stared at Dong Zhuo with bright eyes, as if he was the ten regular attendant.

"It's such a big deal, how can it be a joke! I heard Yuan Gong said that Shi Changshi absconded and escaped from the palace. There are many barriers around Luoyang, and only Mount Mang in the north can escape. reward."

"Have you captured Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong?" Yuan Shao continued to ask.

Dong Zhuo shook his head and said: "I have never been captured, but according to the eunuch's confession, Zhang asked Zhao Zhong and Duan Gui to fall into the river and die."

"Have you ever tortured him?" Yuan Shao entered the state of Sili Captain and began to question him.

"I've already killed him!" Dong Zhuo said, his tone was very indignant, "Eunuchs are messing up the country, everyone gets to kill him!"

"Hey, Dong Zhoumu's trip is inappropriate. The people should have been handed over to me, and I will take out their criminal evidence one by one!" Yuan Shao said regretfully.

Yuan Kui just listened, sipping hot tea quietly, as if watching two juniors chatting.

Dong Zhuo thought in his heart: I knew that Duke Yuan was important. Originally, he would really listen to his younger brother Dong Min's advice and dedicate a living person to Yuan Kai, but after meeting Jia Xu, he changed his mind.

The reason is that there are too many secrets in Shi Changshi, and the criminal evidence of hundreds of court officials, if they fall into the hands of Yuan, almost all the officials of the court will be handed over by Yuan, and Yuan is above the court. But no one can really compete.

And to kill all the ten permanent servants, those who have dealt with the ten permanent servants or were caught by the ten permanent servants will be grateful to Dong Zhuo.

Jia Xu's words directly made Dong Zhuo very open-minded.

But for Dong Zhuo's recruitment, Jia Xu tactfully refused, and said that the reason why he told Dong Zhuo this was because he and Dong Zhuo were from Liangzhou, and Dong Zhuo didn't force it.

Yuan Kui heard that Dong Zhuo had killed the ten permanent attendants and a group of eunuchs, and felt a little pity, but he still had a smile on his old face, and said to Dong Zhuo: "Zhongying is jealous like a vengeful, and still has the heroic demeanor of back then!"

Dong Zhuo chatted with the two for nearly half an hour, and the topics were also very broad. They talked from Chang'an to Hanyang Ji County, and from Han Sui to Qiang people. In the end, they still had to face the problem.

The problem of choosing the emperor's team.

"Zhong Ying, Empress He and Empress Dowager Dong are now at loggerheads. There is a lack of voices with enough weight in the court. The captains of the Xiyuan Army have complicated backgrounds and lack of morale. Jinwu Dingyuan, choose to be silent, and it is my intention to call you to Luoyang, together with the General, and we all hope that you will support Liu Bian."

Yuan Kui turned a corner, he knew that He Jin was also trying to win over Dong Zhuo, and he brought the general to say this, so the legal rationality was high, otherwise Yuan Kui, as a grand tutor, would have summoned the local army to Luoyang.

"Yuan Gong, Empress He and Shi Changshi often have connections, and the world knows that Empress He is a clique, vicious and vicious, and Liu Bian is ignorant and incompetent, and has no princely cultivation. I don't know why Yuan Gong supports Liu Bian? "Dong Zhuo asked. In fact, he didn't come up with these words himself.

Yuan Kai's face changed a little. When did Dong Zhuo speak in such an orderly manner?Could it be that he has grown so much after leading troops to fight in these years?
Why support Liu Bian, of course, has his own ambitions, in order to win over Dong Zhuo, maybe he should reveal a thing or two.

"Ah!" Yuan Kui let out a long sigh, as the tone of emotion.

"The first emperor was so stupid that the world was in chaos, the people were displaced, the land of the Central Plains was starving and dying everywhere, and there were bandits running around in Yingru. I, the Yuan family, have received the blessings of the previous emperors in the past, and I have become a famous family today. The Yuan family will report what they have seen in Runan. Listen to me, it is true that those who hear it are sad, and those who see it cry. Previously, I bitterly remonstrated with Your Majesty, but there were ten servants who did evil. This is an important task for the country, and the country and the people of the big men will be safe."

Yuan Shao looked at Yuan Kai with some surprise, it was the first time even he had seen such an explicit expression of his ambition.

"The country must be abolished, and the ancestral system must not be abolished, otherwise the world will become more chaotic, and there is no talk of peace and prosperity for the country! Therefore, I hope to get Zhongying's support." Yuan Kai said.

Abolishing the elders and establishing the younger ones is the source of disaster, Dong Zhuo admitted this, Yuan Kai said that he was not talented, and wanted to control the government and restore the peace of the country and the people of the world, just listen to it.

However, Yuan Kai's words were sincere and sincere, so it was impossible to refute them.

Dong Zhuo intends to ask Jia Xu for his opinion.

"Grand Yuan is making a living for the people of the world, we admire it!" Dong Zhuo cupped his hands and said, "But when we first came to Luoyang, we wanted to meet the officials first."

Dong Zhuo's request was very reasonable, and Yuan Kai expected it. Since Dong Zhuo came, Yuan Kai didn't need to worry so much.

The news that Dong Zhuo's army was suppressing the border quickly spread in Luoyang City, and the forces that had escaped before became honest again.

During this period of time, Dong Zhuo's army and Zhijinwu's army often had conflicts, and even reached the point of attacking each other, but the scale was not large.

……

A few days later, Liu Qing rushed to Yanmen, and after seeing Xun Yu, he rushed to Guangwu County without stopping, which is the iron-making county where Gan Lai is currently located.

When Dong Zhuo was in Bingzhou, he served as the county magistrate in Guangwu County, Yanmen County.

Perhaps this is also some kind of chance.

At the beginning, because of the consideration of the shipping factors of the Hutuo River, Liu Qing decided to focus on the location of the development here.

After arriving in Guangwu, Hu Jie, the magistrate of Guangwu County, took Liu Qing to the Juzhu Mountain Mine.

When Liu Qing saw Gan Lai, he found that he had lost a lot of weight and darkened a lot, but he was different from the black and thin when he first met in the past, and now he looked very energetic.

"Grand official, the lord has made a special trip to see you." Hu Jie said with a smile.

Hu Jie is a literati over half a hundred years old. He has read books and made military achievements, but he has no attributes.

The big officials jokingly said that because Gan Lai has great power, Liu Qing has orders, and there are several counties in the surrounding area. Whenever Gan Lai needs anything, he must fully cooperate and make no mistakes.

When Gan Lai heard this, he hurried over, knelt down and said, "Master! Why are you here?"

"The workshops in Jizhou are all waiting for your work, why do you think I'm here?" Liu Qing said angrily.

Gan Lai chuckled, and immediately felt that the lord was friendly, and he got up from the ground, leaned over and said, "Master, the small blast furnace can basically operate, but the big one is not enough, if it really can't, let's expand a batch of small ones to satisfy Production first?"

"Go and see! Lead the way!"

Gan Lai led the way and walked ahead, reminding Liu Qing to pay attention to his feet from time to time. Juzhu Mountain is a big mountain, and it is just a small vein in front of it. Now here, a large piece of exposed rock has been excavated. Around it, two A tower-like building stands here.

"My lord, this is a small blast furnace. Although it looks two feet high, it actually has a very small volume inside, so the output is very low."

"There are only two at present?" Liu Qing asked.

Gan Lai nodded, as if he didn't find any problem.

Liu Qing really wanted to slap him in the face, even if the output is low, first get ten or twenty, can't he?This thing is much more efficient than local refining!

"If the big blast furnace can't break through in a short time, let's expand this small blast furnace. If ten is not enough, then twenty, if twenty is not enough, then a hundred!"

Anyway, in this era, the iron mines on this mountain are almost infinite.

"My lord, in fact, the biggest problem is mining. The best method we can think of at present is the method of alternating cold and hot rock cracking. But cutting firewood and drying it into firewood is too complicated and extremely wasteful of manpower. Otherwise, my lord Send more people." Gan Lai said.

Alternating cold and hot rock cracking method should be the so-called method of thermal expansion and cold contraction. Using fire to heat the ore and then pouring water can make cracks appear in unstable rock formations and reduce the difficulty of mining.

It's just that if the firewood is time-consuming and labor-intensive to prepare, wouldn't coal be used?

"Why not use charcoal firing?" Liu Qing asked.

Gan Lai stared at him with an incredulous expression, "My lord, you don't know the price of charcoal, do you?"

"It's expensive?"

"It's close to the price of food." Gan Lai said with a smile on his face.

"Why so expensive?"

Liu Qing seems to understand, because the market has opened up, charcoal is now widely sold in Xianbei, especially steamed coke, the price has exceeded cheap coarse grains, because Xianbei is very cold in winter, this thing can be called a winter artifact.

Food and clothing, food and clothing, food and clothing are still ahead.

Because of the huge demand and limited grain production, can the price not soar.

Does Xun Yu care?Why not send more people?Or has he grasped the true meaning of hunger marketing and packaged charcoal as an artifact for Xianbei nobles to keep out the cold?
Liu Qing thought for a while. Economic benefits are important, but people's livelihood is still important. Of course, the most important thing is that the output of iron ore must be increased, and the machines in the weapon and armor workshop must be running.

Therefore, let go of coal mining.

"Gan Lai, arrange to build a new small blast furnace immediately, and don't stop improving and developing a large blast furnace. As for burning mountains, just use coal." Liu Qing leaned into Gan Lai's ear and whispered, "This thing is not for us. Words are endless!"

What Liu Qing said was true. Compared with the industrial needs of later generations, no matter how people dig now, they probably won't be able to dig much.

"There's something wrong here, so I'll go back to the Yin Pavilion first, and if there's anything else, write me a letter!" Liu Qing said lightly, if he had known it was such a problem, Liu Qing shouldn't have made this trip.

It's just that the ancients were probably more straightforward. Gan Lai thought that Liu Qing's needs were small, so two small blast furnaces were barely enough.

Who knew that Liu Qing wanted to build hundreds of thousands or even millions of sets of armor and weapons.

"Farewell to my lord!" Gan Lai bowed and did not kneel again.

……

It was already the sunset of the second day when we returned to the Daoyin Hall again.

Liu Qing replied that he was in Yinguan Fangfu, but he saw Xun Yu was also there.

It stands to reason that Xun Yu would not come here if Liu Qing was not in the mansion. He obviously knew that Liu Qing was going back to the Yin Pavilion and came to wait in advance.

"I've seen my lord!" Xun Yu said.

"Wen Ruo, what's the matter?"

"My lord, there is a visitor from Luoyang."

"Oh? But your older nephew Xun Gongda?" Liu Qing replied with a smile.

Xun Yu shook his head, not being infected by Liu Qing's smile.

"What's the matter?"

Xun Yu waved his hand and made a gesture of invitation, "I'd better meet you, my lord."

Liu Qing was immediately kept in the dark, when did Wen Ruo learn how to play tricks?

He walked towards the hall with big strides, and saw two people sitting in the accompanying seat, one of them, he was familiar with, was Taiyuan Guo Yan, while the other was actually sitting on his upper seat, he was just a boy in his teens It's just a girl.

When Liu Qing stepped into the hall, he saw the little girl's true face, and a doubt arose in his mind?
This is Guo Yan's child?But he immediately dismissed the idea.

Not to mention that the girl's clothes are extravagant and extravagant, which is definitely not something that ordinary people can have, and her seat is above Guo Yan, which is obviously out of courtesy.

Generally, juniors of this age are not allowed to take a seat, as long as they follow behind the elders.

In addition, this little girl was born very delicate and cute, not only her facial features are beautiful, but her skin is also crystal clear and white, as if she has not experienced the slightest bit of wind and sun, and the bun on her small head is also combed meticulously and gracefully. A gold step shaker with a simple style, decorated on it just right, expensive but not elegant, the first impression it gives people is——

Whose little publicity is this?It's a pleasure to look at!

Seeing Liu Qing coming, Guo Yan hurriedly got up to greet him.

"Guo Yu pays homage to the Marquis of Wuzhou!"

"You don't need to be too polite, why do you have time to come here? This is..." Liu Qing looked at the little girl.

Unexpectedly, before Guo Yan could speak, the little girl stood up first, her eyes were red, and she cried out in a crying voice: "Uncle!"

Liu Qing: "???"

……

(Well, a little accident, forgive me!)
(End of this chapter)