Idle courtiers

Chapter 255 Strange Thing
Two flowers bloom, one branch each.

It is said that Zhou Nan had his heart on his mind, if Li Gao gave in to him and An Xian served as a decoration in the Military Weapons Bureau, he could let him go and take Fangshan's pig iron.

When we arrived at Baigezhuang, Li Gao was not there. His courtroom hadn't been cleaned for several days, and it was full of dust.

When he asked, Lao Guo laughed and said, "This man surnamed Li is suffocated by passers-by, and he doesn't like being an official. He is also a dude, and he sits here every day. There is no one to serve him, and the food is poor. The people on the street A whore is also ugly. How can it compare to the prosperity of the capital? Since he returned home, he has become his eldest son. Anyway, his monthly salary is indispensable. Why should he suffer here? Vice Envoy Li took leave the day before yesterday and left. He didn't say when he'd be back."

"Perhaps it was delayed due to a lot of family affairs at the end of the year." Zhou Nan said, and then imitated Li Gao and gave him a sidelong glance: "Are the women in Baigezhuang ugly? I think Lao Guo is enjoying it?"

I haven't seen anyone for some days. After all, Lao Guo is a man of his age. He sings and sings every night, and his face looks tired, like a cow that is about to die of exhaustion.

Deputy Envoy Guo was a little embarrassed: "Pedestrian, isn't it really boring to be idle in a humble job? So let's go to the building to play, don't tell me, even though Baby Lin is not born very well, he is also considerate."

"Who will listen to you patiently? If you miss the official business, I will forgive you." Zhou Nan snapped.

Speaking of official business, there are not many at the end of the year, but it is just to prepare for the work in the coming year.

Now the imperial court uses troops in the southeast every year. This is a major event and must be done well.

Zhou Nan is devoted to officialdom, but also to government affairs.

After dealing with official duties all morning, I went to the ordnance building to inspect the work after lunch.

As mentioned earlier, the Baigezhuang Arms Bureau is mainly responsible for manufacturing gun heads and Yanling swords.

The gun head is just that, and the quality requirements are not high.However, the Yanling Saber cannot be faked, and it must be forged with high-quality fine steel. When it is on the battlefield, it must be able to cut the Japanese pirates in half with one swing.If, as in the end of the Ming Dynasty, a general killed a cow to sacrifice the flag and went out to fight, and he could not kill a cow even after hacking several knives, the ambassador Zhou Nan could hardly be blamed.

With a patient mind, he counted and inspected the pig iron in the warehouse one by one.After this inspection, he breathed a long sigh of relief.

There has been no shortage of pig iron in the warehouse, but an excess of a thousand catties.

This is strange. I heard that there is a small amount of weight loss, but I have never heard that the more raw materials are used, the more the materials are used. Could it be that the craftsmen under him are all models of work with high moral character?
When asked, Lao Guo replied that the more than 1000 catties of pig iron came from the Ligao Mine.Tianfangshan delivered iron from Daqian, but was rejected, and had another argument with Li Gaoda.

In the end, Li Gao lost his temper, threw down more than 1000 catties of pig iron, and flung his sleeves back to the capital without even asking for a storage certificate.

To be honest, Zhou Nan originally wanted to have a good relationship with Li Gao, at least to save face.Otherwise, the principal and deputy chief officials would turn against each other, and if word got out, the boss would blame him for Mr. Zhou's incompetence and worrying management ability.

He also thought of a few ways to make Li Gao bow his head and obey his ears.

The departure of Deputy Envoy Li made his plan come to nothing, and he was a little depressed.

Zhou Nan was slightly annoyed, so he became cruel: I don't care if you are the future uncle, the county magistrate should not care now, let me pick some mistakes and squeeze out the pig iron from your Li family.

It is very simple to make charges, but work hard on quality and weight.

The Li family's pig iron is all one foot long, shaped like a baguette, with the Li family's stamp printed on it.

The blacksmith who was called first compared the size with a ruler, and then weighed it on a scale.

After finishing the work, he pinched his fingers to make a calculation, scratched his head and said, "My lord, this spindle seems a little strange."

Zhou Nan and Lao Guo looked at each other with wonderful colors in each other's eyes.

Elder Zhou thought to himself: Sure enough, it was wrong, finally caught Li Gao's fault, let's see how my lord will deal with you?
But Lao Guo thought in his heart: Sure enough, it is wrong, but it can be regarded as able to drive away the pig iron from the Li family.When the time comes to change to a sensible factory owner, the annual filial piety will be a windfall.

Zhou Nan hurriedly asked, "What's so strange?"

The craftsman is an old man who has worked in the military bureau for generations and has rich experience.He scratched his head and said, "The portion is wrong."

Zhou Nan was even more energetic. Salt and iron are important weapons in the military. Li Gao dared to shoddy them as good ones.

But what the craftsman said next stunned Zhou Nan: "Master, this iron ingot is [-]% heavier than ordinary pig iron."

"Thirty percent more, what's going on, is there something else mixed in?"

Craftsman: "No, no, it's not that there are other things mixed in. If the pig iron is mixed with impurities, it will only become lighter and bigger. How can there be any reason for it to become heavier?"

Zhou Nan: "Not necessarily, what if lead is mixed in?" As soon as he said this, he knew that he had spoken in layman's terms.Lead is more expensive than pig iron, so doing so will cost you money.

Craftsman: "I won't mix other things. Not only is it not mixed, but according to the villain, the quality of this iron ingot is high-quality. It only needs to be forged a little, and it will be fine steel in no time. No, this is steel... strange Oh, it’s strange, such a good steel, why sell it as pig iron, isn’t it afraid of losing money?”

Zhou Nan was also at a loss. Someone did the decapitation business, but no one did the money-losing business. What on earth is this Li Gao doing? Is he stupid?
The craftsman was still talking beside him: "That's right, they are all high-quality steel. If you use this ingot to make Yanling Dao, you can make an extra one for each ingot."

Hearing his words, Zhou Nan suddenly had an idea, his heart was shocked, and he couldn't help taking a deep breath.

His face changed color.

Lao Guo: "Pedestrian, what's wrong with you?"

"It's okay, it's okay." Zhou Nan waved his hand, and said to the craftsman, "Go down, don't tell anyone what happened today?"

The craftsman said: "Don't worry, my lord, the reason why the villain has been in this business for many years and nothing happened is because of his strict speech."

When the craftsman retreated, Zhou Nan's heart tightened more and more, and he became more and more confused.

This matter is very simple to say, the military management of the Ming Dynasty is very careless in the eyes of modern people.Unlike the Qin Dynasty, every time a military weapon was manufactured, the name and number of the craftsman had to be printed on it, and there was a complete quality traceability system.

If you do this, it will consume too much energy and the management cost will be too great.

Therefore, the Ministry of Industry approved the pig iron tapping rate and the weight of all weapons.Then, through calculation, pig iron was purchased according to the amount of equipment required by the army in that year.

Now, what Li Gao sends over is steel.In other words, if they are all used as weapons, the output will increase by [-]-[-]%.

This increased production will not be credited.

Still the same sentence, there are people in the business of beheading, but no one in the business of losing money, and there must be a way out for the extra weapons.

So where do these weapons go?

This is arms trading, which is a capital offense in any era.

It's no wonder that Li Gao is rushing to snatch power, one can only imagine the benefits.

At that time, the imperial court will really pursue it, and it is unknown how many heads will fall.

In the end, no matter who is unlucky, the ambassador Zhou Nan will be the first to be escorted to the execution ground.

Zhou Nan's vest was covered in cold sweat, and he almost couldn't help shouting: This official who is sent to death, labor and capital will not do it!
After thinking about it, he rejoiced in his heart, fortunately I drove Li Gao away, fortunately I saw through the doorway, otherwise I would be kept in the dark until my death.Actually, I don't think about resigning.As long as I insist on not letting Li Gao interfere in government affairs, and not letting pig iron from the Li family come in.As long as I'm in the Military Weapons Bureau for one day, the surname Li won't be able to play tricks.

Unless you drive me away.

Ha, if you are driven away, I will be relieved... No, no.Even if I am driven away, if something happens in the future, Li Gaoda can blame it on me.

Why is my master so miserable?

For the next period of time, Zhou Nan always felt terrified, and would go to the Military Equipment Factory twice a day.

Our Lord Zhou has been extraordinarily diligent recently.

Soon, Xiaonian is coming.

Zhou Nan remembered his promise to accompany Xun Fangyu to Biyun Temple, missed his wife, and decided to go home for the new year.Then he said to Vice Envoy Guo: "I want to go home and delay for three or five days. You are not allowed to go anywhere during my absence. Just show me the yamen. If I let the official know that you are going out for whoring and drinking , break your five limbs."

Master Zhou had a ferocious expression on his face: "Last time you actually went to fool around with Baobao Lin, what a shame, and punish you with two months' salary."

Old Guo Ben also wanted to go home. Seeing Zhou Nan being so vicious today, he knew that his boss was in a bad mood, so he hurriedly said: "Pedestrians, don't worry, you will never miss anything."

He also knew that Zhou Nan's words were not just for fun, so he cheered up to do things, and nothing went wrong in the next few days.

After entering the capital, Zhou Nan originally planned to go to Xu Jie's place to report to his "benevolent minister" on his recent work and talk about Li Gao.

But after thinking about it, this matter is also speculation, and there is no actual evidence.Moreover, the matter of pig iron involves the future father-in-law and uncle of the state, and maybe even Prince Yu's mansion, so it's so nonsense.

Moreover, Zhou Nan vaguely felt that the trickery in this matter might not be a clue, so it was a pity to hand it over to Xu Jie.

Let's wait and see, check it out, and see if I can get some benefits for my lord.

Back home, there are red lanterns hanging everywhere in the house, which is full of joy.

However, the servants all had gloomy faces, and the atmosphere seemed dignified.

Zhou Nan felt something was wrong and asked, "Where is Auntie?"

A servant girl came over and said, "My lord, you are back. My aunt is crying in the room now. She has been crying for two days."

Zhou Nan was shocked: "Why are you crying?" Could it be prenatal depression, that would be troublesome.

When a girl is pregnant, she can't control herself because of endocrine disorders and emotional instability.

Maid: "The little one dare not say?"

Zhou Nan shouted angrily: "Why don't you dare to say it, just say it!"

Maid: "There seems to be something wrong with Auntie's face, she lost a lot of skin... just like a snake's slough..."

At this moment, there was a loud "嘤嘤" sound, and it was Xun Fangyu who was crying.

Presumably she heard her husband come back, crying very loudly.

Zhou Nan's heart tightened, and he rushed to Xun Fangyu's courtyard.While walking, he shouted: "Fang Yu, don't cry, I'm back, I'm back, everything will be fine."

(End of this chapter)