Please ask me to be the emperor

It was precisely because of these three characteristics that Zhao Lizi quickly sent people to report. Zhang Shun was also troubled when he heard this. Originally, he and others tried to avoid the city during this operation and focused on joining the rebels.

However, this city happened to be blocking the marching route of himself and others, not to mention that this city also had the iron goods that he lacked the most. If this city is captured, firstly, I can use its wealth for my own use; secondly, I can smelt iron and build troops to increase my strength; thirdly, I can take the opportunity to cross the river. With these three benefits, Zhang Shun was ready to ask the messenger to repay Zhao Lizi so that he could sneak into the city and open the city gate.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Lizi's second messenger arrived at this time. When asked, the hero had the same idea. Zhao Lizi tried to pretend to be a merchant and entered the city, but was discovered by the other party in time and was turned away and unable to enter the city.

It turns out that this place is already close to Qinshui City. There are many merchants coming and going, and they are well-informed. Due to the safety of property, they are well prepared, so Zhao Lizi cannot make money from the city. Later, Zhang Shun also came to Runcheng with his army. He saw that the city was tall and he had neither artillery nor siege equipment in his hands, so there was nothing he could do.

Zhang Shun had no choice but to ask his men what to do. Taoist Master Ma looked at the people in the city and suggested: "These are all merchants who value wealth and not weapons. Generals can get as much as they want if they scare them." Despite all the benefits, they would not dare to go out to fight in the city."

When Zhang Shun heard this, he thought this was Chen Jingzhi's old trick, so he ordered everyone to show off their power under the city, galloping back and forth with many flags. There were more than a thousand people, which made them run out of thousands of people. Sure enough, the people in the city didn't understand the art of war, and they couldn't even estimate how many there were, so they had to send people to beg for mercy.

Zhang Shun was overjoyed and wanted to force the city to surrender. However, no matter what property Zhang Shun asked for, he always agreed, but refused to say anything about surrender. Zhang Shun used coercion and inducement for a long time, and finally understood the thinking of the giant merchants in the city: it is almost okay to spend money to buy peace, but it is absolutely not okay to open the door and let others take advantage of him.

Zhang Shun had no choice but to extort hundreds of taels of money, as well as weapons, armor and other items. The city claimed that it needed to be rebuilt and it could not be accomplished in a day, so Zhang Shun had to give up.

Zhang Shun was about to lead his troops around the city. At this time, Chen Jingzhi came over and said to Zhang Shun: "From what I can see, there is a village opposite this city without a walled city. However, the water near the river near this city is shallow. , just in time to send some soldiers with good water skills to capture it. What the lord wants is nothing more than a crossing of the river, wealth and weapons."

"Now the wealth has been obtained without the effort of swordsmanship. And this village is close to this city, and there is a lot of fireworks. This city has always been famous for its iron products. I want to come to this village to make a living by smelting iron and making tools. That's right. As the saying goes, "It is better to teach a man to fish than to teach him to fish." If the lord gets a few craftsmen, there is a lot of iron in Shanxi. Where can't he make tools? As for crossing the river, the lord doesn't have to be in a hurry. He should go up the river from there. If there is a place with shallow water, look for it and the people will know it by asking."

When Zhang Shun heard this, he felt it made sense, so he ordered Zhao Lizi to choose a young man in his fifties or sixties with outstanding water skills to swim across the Qinshui River and capture the opposite village. Most of Zhang Shun's soldiers were recruited by Meng Jin. Originally, the main sources were Meng Jin's boatmen, fishermen, and servants of merchants, so they had a high level of calculation and good water skills. Zhao Lizi was also a local "local snake". In a short time, he selected fifty or sixty young people, took off their clothes, leaving only their shorts, held a short gun, and crossed the river.

The village opposite was watching the jokes in Runcheng along the river, but it never occurred to them that these "thieves" were thinking about themselves again. They suddenly panicked and were threatened by Zhao Lizi who was swimming by, so they all surrendered.

Because of his previous mistakes, Zhao Lizi was afraid that he would mess up again this time, so he searched a few canoes from the village, had people paddle them across the river, and asked Zhang Shun and others to take command. Zhang Shun secretly said: Zhao Lizi is interested. Then he crossed the river with Chen Jingzhi, Wukong, Chen Jindou and others, and the others restrained the team and warned of possible dangers in Runcheng and other places.

Zhang Shun crossed the river and asked the local old man to find him. He found out that the village was called Liushan Village, and the mountain next to it was Tiantan Mountain. The village was at the foot of the mountain, and the village was where sulfur and iron products were refined.

Zhang Shun was overjoyed after hearing this. He came from a later generation. At that time, the country had suffered enough from technological backwardness and had a profound understanding of the profound impact of advanced military technology represented by firearms on war. Since he formed the army, he has been unable to sleep at night, thinking all day long about how to get an advanced firearm and play with the method of queuing up and shooting. Now that I heard that sulfur can be refined here, how could I not feel happy?

This sulfur is the key raw material for making gunpowder. It was said in later mine wars: mononitrate, disulfide and charcoal. This sulfur is sulfur. Zhang Shun quickly asked the old man to take him into the village.

The old man was frightened and frightened, but he had no choice but to obey under the sword. Upon entering the village, Zhang Shun found that the houses in this village were very strange. They were actually made of black cylindrical objects. There is a hole in the middle of such objects, which are dark and dense, like eyes staring only at themselves.

Zhang Shun's scalp was numb when he saw these "eyes", and he asked strangely: "Old man, what is the custom here, and why are these bricks and stones used to build walls?"

"Ah? These are not bricks and stones, this is a crucible. Don't laugh at me, guests. We make a living by smelting iron and sulfur. We don't have much land and are extremely poor. We can't afford bricks and stones, so we use abandoned crucibles to smelt iron. You build walls to build a house, that’s why you build a house like this. Although it looks ugly, it is also strong and durable." The old man answered tremblingly.

"Crucible steel?" Zhang Shun was shocked when he heard this. He had only heard of this statement roughly in later online novels. It is said that Damascus steel is a type of crucible steel. Some foreign slaves even claimed that "crucible steel" was an advanced technology, while traditional Chinese cast iron was an inferior method. It is said that China also had such technology during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, but it was never heard of later. Zhang Shun thought that this kind of technology had been lost in China, but he didn't expect that there were still remains in this ravine.

In fact, this is due to Zhang Shun's ignorance. In Shanxi, crucible iron-making technology has been passed down for a long time, and Jintie has become famous all over the world. It was not until modern times that it gradually declined due to the impact of new Western steel technologies.

So, Zhang Shun quickly urged the old man to go and see the legendary "crucible steel" technology. After hearing this, the old man said helplessly: "Iron is made in crucibles. This has been done for generations. As for 'crucible steel', I have never heard of it."

It turns out that this article was half-understood. The so-called "crucible steel" technology was only invented by the British in 1742. The crucible technology here is just for making iron.

Due to the author's busy schedule recently, the update time is too tight, and there are many typos in the article. We hope for your understanding. The author will revise it again when he is free in the near future. Everyone is also welcome to come and catch insects. Thank you for your support.