"You are the one who is a marquis who is not innocent of being wronged. You are not punished by the marquis. Although your family is rich and you are not willing to work hard, but the tax collection in August is about to be collected and then labor service will be added. Is there any difficulty? But tell me what you can."

Cao Shi told him a fact that the Han Dynasty was dominated by the Qin law's military merits and titles and land system. The Marquis was at the top of the twenty-level title and enjoyed many privileges and benefits. Fan Ta Guangshu was beaten to the end, and from the Marquis to the common people who were demoted from the Marquis to the zero-level title, the family had a cap tax and corvee. A lot of troubles piled up in front of him.

Fan Taguang looked embarrassed: "What the king said is very good. Although I have been exempted from being a commoner, I have saved a lot of money over the past few decades. My family is very worried about being robbed by bandits on the road. Even if I return to my hometown of Pei County safely, I have no relatives or acre of land. I am very worried about being exploited and exploited by cruel officials. There are more than 80 stuttering and clothing in the family. It is a considerable expense. It will become impoverished in less than three years if I eat the mountain."

"It's better to stay in my Pingyang Marquis Mansion. This place is only three days away from the capital. You can learn about the capital at any time. Maybe the emperor will calm down and re-appoint you as the Marquis of Wuyang."

"But someone has no face and eats the king's fortune..."

Cao Shi knew he was moved: "You were once a marquis and also familiar with the etiquette and rules of the marquis. I would like to ask you to be my etiquette and literary master, and be in charge of the marquis' etiquette and law system to guide my words and deeds. According to the regulations of the marquis' mansion, how can you pay a salary of 200 s? Your clan members who are virtuous and talented can serve in the marquis' mansion."

"Thank you for your kindness. I'd better obey your orders." Fan Taguang paused his head and bowed, raised his head and immediately changed his face. He raised his teacher's posture to scold Cao Shi about how he treated his family officials. He had to go to the Hou Guozhong to inspect several times a month in the Hou Kingdom. The big and thick and strong man actually talked for two hours without stopping, making Cao Shi rub his eyebrows and shout and look away.

The next morning, Uncle Chen walked back panting, followed by seven or eight honest and dull men. Seeing that they were carrying boxes and bags as if they were escaping, Cao Shi found out that these people were blacksmiths recruited from Anyi, Hedong County.

Cao Shi stared at the big and thick man, asking. The young man with a big bag was about twenty-five or six years old. He opened his mouth and said, "My name is Lian Ji, a native of Yuwang Township, Anyi. His family has been goldsmiths for generations. According to my grandfather, his ancestors built weapons for King Hui of Wei. When Chen Jiacheng said that the Hou Mansion recruited blacksmiths, if he was willing to go, he would give me a thousand yuan to settle the house. My father didn't want to come. I thought it was appropriate, so he came."

"You slave, you said it in front of the lord." Lu Bulai cursed Lian Ji, and bowed and said, "The Lian Ji clan's skill in casting bronzes is very powerful. Since Emperor Gao founded the country, iron tools gradually gained the upper hand. No one used bronzes to learn to smelter. Although they learned it late, the smelting technology is still very powerful. By Lian Ji's name is already famous in Hedong."

Lu Buhai implies that Lian Ji's craftsmanship is good, so if Junhou wants to hire people, don't punish him excessively, otherwise he will not be able to do anything without such talent.

Fan Taguang held the bamboo slips in his hand and questioned: "Lu Buhe, a native of Qi, 32 years old this year. Huh? The Qi people, Lu Lianzi, are your ancestors. How could you choose to make iron smelting the business?"

"In the Xia Xian Gong, Lu Lianzi, vowed not to be the people of Qin. Two generations later, Qin destroyed Qi and fled to Yan to avoid disaster. After Qin fell, he originally intended to cross the Yellow River to honor the King of Han. Unfortunately, the Wei Dynasty continued to fight, and my family's father was almost captured as soldiers. He had to hide in Anyi to learn iron smelting technology before he could not be exempted from military service. From then on, he was already a third generation of people." Lu Buhe was not humble or arrogant, and it can be seen that he was very proud of his ancestors.

"Lu Lianzi, the master of the Qi Kingdom who would rather die in the East China Sea than be the people of Qin, is a righteous man in Qi Kingdom!" Cao Shi looked at the unpretentious man in surprise, holding his head up and his chest held high, and he really had the attitude of a famous man in the Warring States Period. Only Lu Lianzi was the most patriotic person in the family of the Warring States Period. Su Qin and Zhang Yi were far inferior to him.

"I dare not be praised by the king."

"Then let Lu Bulai be the blacksmith's family supervisor, with a rank of one hundred stones."

Lu Buhe happily bowed his head and thanked him. The craftsmen turned around and went out to greet the relatives waiting outside the mansion who were helping their disciples. After a while, more than 100 people were arranged in the iron smelting workshop outside the mansion.

The Hou Mansion has an iron smelting workshop. Their daily work is just to make some iron tools and farm tools used by the Hou Mansion, or repair weapons and objects in the Hou Mansion. Therefore, the blacksmiths in the Hou Mansion live a very leisurely life and will only be a little busy during the busy farming period.

But his good days were coming to an end soon.

In the morning, people entered the blacksmith workshop. In the afternoon, Cao Shi personally visited the site to urge the blacksmiths to start iron smelting. Seeing the red charcoal thrown into the stove, Cao Shi frowned: "Why should we use the wood in the mountains as fuel? The water and soil in Hedong are precious, and the trees have the effect of solidifying soil and maintaining land. I remember that there is charcoal on the mountain that can be used as smelting fuel. Why don't you use charcoal?"

The mountain he mentioned was the mountains in the west of the Hou Kingdom. There were many open-pit coal mines called black stones between the mountains. These hills were called Black Stone Mountains. Many were exposed and rolled down to the bottom of the mountain with the wind blowing Rishan. Local residents chopped wood on the mountain and threw the black stones aside as waste. No one realized that this would be a fuel that would be amazing.

Lu Buhe smiled and said, "Your Majesty is unknown. At that time, someone from Wei Wuhou also said that the black stones on the mountain could cause fire to smelve iron, but the blacksmiths later found that the iron crafts refined was hard and crisp, and some of them were broken when they encountered sharp bronzes. Since then, no one has mentioned the matter of black stones and iron."

"You did something wrong and of course you couldn't make good iron. If the furnace of iron is out, the work will be stopped first. Uncle Chen recruited a few people looking for the mountains and forests to lead the mansion's servants to the mountain to guess the charcoal. I'm of great use."

Uncle Chen asked stubbornly: "Junhou is the lord of a country and the people of all people. Mobilizing troops within the lord state will definitely cause criticism. Marquis's ruler Ding Hui always stares at the every move of the lord's mansion with ulterior motives. Have you ever thought that doing this will definitely be known by the emperor and will cause our lord state to fall into danger?"

"I heard that the emperor in the capital was going to attack the marquis. Now the marquis are panicked and the government is uneasy. The important officials are mentally unscrupulous. The emperor is eager to turn his mind. The emperor will be impeached by the censor if he makes a criticism."

Fan Taguang cooperated with the advice and forced Cao Shi to change his strategy: "I heard that a person with a good body is not afraid of his shadow being crooked, and the words written by a good heart will be straight. If I make an act that violates the Han law, even if Uncle Chen and the teacher do not advise me, I will feel guilty and short of anger and dare not look at myself. I went to the mountain to dig stones to strictly abide by the prohibitions and laws of relaxing mountains and lakes established by the late emperor. If the emperor convicted me of the law and obeyed the law, those who have a righteous heart in the world will definitely stand up and argue for me."

"What the lord says is great kindness." Fan Taguang shut his mouth happily. Uncle Chen had a stubborn temper. Lu Mu Cai was so angry that he was so angry that he was so angry that he was so angry that he could not find a small hill. It took most of the open space outside the blacksmith's workshop.

Cao Shi picked up a piece of coal weighing seven or eight kilograms and weighed it a few times: "These are all high-quality smokeless charcoal. They can release very high temperatures to melt iron ore, and can also be used to refine gray iron into soft sponge iron. Lu Buhui, do you know sponge iron?"

"Did Junhou refer to soft iron that was too refined when refining cooked iron? This kind of thing has been refined a few pieces, and he was punished by the first public to waste charcoal fire." Lu Buhe recalled his experience in learning iron smelting.

"I have also refined that kind of soft iron, but my father called it charcoal iron, like a piece of burned charcoal. Sometimes I will refine this kind of scrap iron when I see the stove sleeping. My father has beaten me several times, and later I never practiced it when I grow up." Lian Ji picked up the wooden shovel and poured coal into the iron stove. The big and thick men started to work quickly.

"Yes, this kind of iron is called sponge iron. It can be used to mix it with cast iron to obtain high-carbon steel. This method is easier than frying pig iron. Let's not talk about this for now. You cast the pig iron pot according to the drawings, and then use the stacked cooked iron pot to make the cooked iron pot. I will mark the size and specifications for you." Cao Shi picked up a wooden stick and drew three views of the iron pot on the ground, thinking in his heart that he had to make the paper quickly. He really couldn't stand the fly-headed ancient clerical script on the wooden slips and bamboo slips, and he was unwilling to read it even if he could understand it.

"This utensil looks very much like a wok, but the wok has no crank and its shape is not so beautiful. Is this a new kitchen utensil created by Junhou?"

"I call it a pot. Put it on the stove and use charcoal to make fire to cook food. It is more convenient and delicious than cooking with a large cauldron." Cao Shi licked his lips and couldn't help but think of those delicious delicacies. He hadn't eaten a decent meal of food for more than ten days after he came here, and the oil and water in his stomach were almost exhausted.

Lian Ji stared at the sketch for a long time and couldn't figure out how to make better food than the big tripod. Only powerful people in this era would use the tripod as food. The big tripod has always been a symbol of power.

Lu Buli squatted beside him and looked at him for a while, constantly shook his head: "Junhou's method of drawing pictures is wonderful. Even a novice in blacksmith can create a custom-made iron pot."

Cao Shi clapped his hands and stood up: "These iron pots must be perfect and make more sets as backups. I will take a few sets to the capital in a few days."

"Here!"

The cast iron workshop of the Marquis Mansion of Pingyang started overnight. The jingling hammer heads hit the ground all night. There were constant iron materials transported from Anyi to the Marquis Mansion of Pingyang. Within a few days, it was rumored that the Marquis Mansion was building iron tools.

The governor of the Hou country, Hou Lingchang, was moved when he heard the news and brought the Hou state officials to the Hou Mansion with great momentum.

——

PS: No wonder they would use "I" as a name. In the Western Han Dynasty, "I" and "I" were used in a mixed manner. The emperor, queen, and empress dowager also used "I" in private. The emperor sometimes used "Yu", and the empress dowager sometimes used "I". The title is about the words and sentences of the respected priests. For people with the same status, they are "I" and "I", and are also the most common to those who are inferior or close to those who are close to me.
Chapter completed!