Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 109 Dual Swords of Mandarin Ducks

After explaining to Chao Ning and Zhang Wang, Ruan Xiaoqi stayed in Jinshatan Water Village, while Zhao Zhen and others returned to Xixi Village by boat.

Coming out of the pier, the road was much drier. Back in the hall, Zhao Yuanli quickly served everyone herbal tea. After a short rest, everyone went to change their clothes and then went back to the front hall to talk.

Zhao Zhen went to the backyard to change his clothes, went to the study and took out a pair of south beads, and said to Zhao Yuanli: "Yuanli, take these beads and go to the silver burden Li Er's office to make a pair of hairpins."

Zhao Yuanli took the beads without asking what they were for, found a brocade bag, packed the two six-cent size pearls, and went to the jewelry shop.

Only then did Zhao Zhen take the [Iron Seawater Pattern Silver Double Swords] and [Seventy-two Mandarin Ducks Double Swords Secret Records] and went to the east courtyard. In the courtyard, the villagers were practicing their martial arts. Zhao Zhen walked up to Guang Hui. First, he handed over the secret book and said: "Brother Guanghui, this is the double sword secret book that was captured last time. I will show it to my brother today. Will it be helpful to my martial arts?"

Guanghui took it with a joyful expression, opened it and flipped through it roughly, then sat down on the chair again, flipped through it carefully, and made gestures with his hands from time to time. Seeing this, Zhao Zhen couldn't help but put a smile on his face.

Guanghui has the greatest merit and is not greedy for money or power. This set of sword skills secrets will pay off. After Guang Hui studied it for a while, he raised his head and said to Zhao Zhen: "Brother, this set of sword techniques has many moves and many changes. For me, after I learn it, I will make a lot of progress and my martial arts can be improved to another level."

Zhao Zhen said: "This is a good reward for brother's hard work."

Immediately, the two made gestures according to the secret book.

Two more days later, Zhao Zhen practiced the double-sword technique with Guang Hui every day, and it had reached the initial stage. On this day, Zhao Zhen practiced swordsmanship twice with Guang Hui. Zhao Yuanli came to report: "Master of the village, Li Er, the silver burden man, has sent an apprentice to report that the two beads that the master has brought are ready."

Zhao Zhen said: "I have been busy practicing martial arts these days. I haven't visited any of the shops in the village yet. Let's take a trip today." With that, he said goodbye to Guang Hui and went to the study first, and then went to the jewelry shop with Zhao Yuanli.

Zhao Zhen and his two men entered the jewelry shop. As expected, the place was even more deserted than the silk and satin shop. Only Li Er and four apprentices were tinkling and knocking.

When Li Er saw the two of them, he hurriedly came forward to meet Li. Without waiting for Zhao Zhen to speak, he took out seven or eight plates from the counter, each with three or five pieces of jewelry on them.

Li Er said: "Master of the village, these are the gold and silver jewelry that I made during this period. I would like to ask the master of the village to inspect them."

Zhao Zhen picked up the hairpin made of pearls in front of him and looked at it carefully. He only heard Li Er said: "The two beads sent by the owner of the village are both rare large beads. The white one is matched with Gold, decorated with cloud patterns, the head of the hairpin is in the shape of a phoenix. There is a name called red gold inlaid with pearls and cloud pattern phoenix hairpin. The pink one is made of silver with a body of hairpin and the head of the hairpin is in the shape of a butterfly. It is also called the silver inlaid with pearls butterfly. hairpin."

Zhao Zhen saw that the hairpin-headed phoenix and butterflies were lifelike and praised: "Good craftsmanship."

Li Er pointed to other objects on the plate and said: "There are also gilt and silver flower hairpins with mandarin ducks and lotus patterns, golden phoenix hairpins inlaid with precious stones, empty flower tube hairpins with gold threads, silver gilt dragon-pierced peony hairpins, copper-plated gold-plated jadeite hairpins with beads and stones. Begonia crane pattern head flower, silver gourd head flower inlaid with rice beads, gold wire hairpin, silver gilt phoenix hairpin, a pair of gold bead bracelets, a pair of silver silk bracelets, a pair of gold flower bracelets, a pair of silver bracelets with wishful patterns , a pair of gold earrings with mojie patterns, earrings with gold melon and fruit patterns, two pairs of silver lantern pendant earrings, five gilt silver sachets, and this golden walking phoenix holding a melon and fruit."

Zhao Zhen looked at them one by one, and they were indeed exquisite.

Li Er said with some anxiety: "Master of the village, although I have done all this, it is a pity that no one comes to buy it, and even few people come to see it. Most of the villagers wear wooden hairpins, and not many even wear copper hairpins."

Zhao Zhen said: "Brother Li, it doesn't matter. Just do it. These jewelry are not for sale here. If anyone comes to buy them, they will be sold. If no one buys them, they will be sent to Zhuangzi. If there are any other women in my family, A world can also be sold. Just let Zhao Yuanli prepare whatever materials you need."

Li Er breathed a sigh of relief and felt at ease, and said: "You can rest assured, little man. The materials are naturally diverse, including gold and silver, jade, agate, tourmaline, amber, tortoise shell, pearls, and precious stones. "

Zhao Zhen asked: "Brother Li, how much gold and silver do you consume in a month?" Li Er said: "Master, it depends on what you are doing. For example, bracelets use more materials but consume less labor; earrings use less materials but consume less labor. long."

Zhao Zhen nodded and said: "Make more exquisite objects. Get 10 taels of gold and 30 taels of silver every month. Once they are made, send them to the village."

Li Er nodded in agreement, and Zhao Zhen asked him to pack up all the jewelry and send them to the village today. Zhao Zhen went to the satin shop next to him. Wang Qiao had already seen Zhao Zhen and the two of them. After receiving the gift, he brought the prepared tea. Zhao Zhen took a sip, talked to Wang Qiao, and comforted Wang Qiao. .

Most of the people in Liangshan Township are farmers, and they really don't have much money. Most of them wear clothes made of burlap and Gebu. These coarse cloths used to be in grocery stores, but now they are moved to silk and satin shops. Today, less than fifty pieces of coarse cloth are sold.

Wang Qiao said: "Master, I see no one is weaving in the village. This weaving is not difficult. Why is this?"

Zhao Zhen looked at Zhao Yuanli, and Zhao Yuanli said: "Master, the original Xixi Village was only about 3000 acres in size, with many fields. Hemp and kudzu were never planted. Although there were some on the mountains, they were picked by the villagers for their own use. Many of them were used to make clothes. , and the few are reserved for mending clothes. Most of them are purchased from the county and slowly sold in grocery stores."

Although Zhao Zhen studied a lot in order to become the owner of the manor, he mostly worked on growing grains and breeding. He didn't know how to weave cloth, so he asked: "Liangshan Township is so big now. Is it possible to grow kudzu?"

Zhao Yuanli said: "Master, you can plant it naturally now. You don't need good land to plant it on the hillside, and you don't need to worry about management. Plant hemp and harvest it every year. Plant hemp once, and then pay attention to leaving roots and vines." , no need to plant again every year.”

Zhao Zhen said: "Next year, allocate some land that is not suitable for growing grain so that farmers can grow kudzu and weave cloth for sale in the future."

Zhao Yuanli noted that the two of them left Wang Qiao and went to the blacksmith shop near the village.

Zhao Zhen first inspected the 20 hundred-level knives, 300 30-level knives, and 300 gun knives made by Yang Mazi and others. The blades were sharp and the blades were tough.

Zhao Zhen said: "Yang Mazi, the weapons you made are really good. Today I will appoint you as the deputy manager of the blacksmith shop."

Yang Mazi quickly fell to the ground, grinned, and thanked Zhao Zhen.

Zhao Zhen took out a booklet, handed it to Yang Mazi and said, "You can read this book of craft secrets first, maybe you can learn it."

Yang Mazi stretched out his hand to take it, and saw that it read [錌金 SECRET RECORDS]. Yang Mazi read it once, exhaled and said, "Master, this is not difficult, but I have never thought that there is such a secret record." If you have it in hand and give it a try, you can do it.”

Zhao Zhen said: "This process consumes gold and silver, so don't try ordinary weapons. These twenty hundred-hand swords are decorated with silver pieces, so as not to affect the quality of the swords. The rest of the weapons will be transported to the village today and put into storage."

After hearing this, Zhao Yuanli and Yang Mazi both raised their hands and said yes. Several people were laughing and chatting when they saw Ding Chou hurried over and panted and said to Zhao Zhen: "Master of the village, two heroes Yang Lin and Bai Sheng have returned with many people and horses, and they are all waiting outside the village now."

Zhao Zhen heard this and ran away.

(End of this chapter)