Li Mu only believed half of what Qi Ge said, and his other half needed investigation and confirmation before he could make the final judgment. However, Li Mu felt that it was necessary to confirm her feelings for Li Chongyi.

"Put these aside first, you are to my brother..."

"Brother, I..." Qige hesitated, but he still plucked up the courage to say, "I really have no affection for him, I guess he is the same for me, I can see." Qige smiled bitterly and said, "He has always thought it was my father, and he killed his father. I don't know how to explain it. If there is this, he will not be with me."

Li Mu originally wanted to say that if this matter is resolved and said it out, would she consider Li Chongyi... But judging from the girl's attitude, it seems that she doesn't like her brothers very much, so she should not speak. Moreover, the girl's ability to express her uninterested interest in Li Chongyi so bluntly also made Li Mu admire her very much. You know, Li Chongyi is a talisman for her now. After all, if there is no Li Chongyi's relationship, Qi Ge will not be very concerned about whether she is dead or alive. She can take the initiative to give up this amulet, which makes Li Mu trust her just now.

Li Mu thought about it and said, "I will investigate this matter. If what you said is true, I will explain it to the big man. And I can also tell you clearly that Goguryeo has no courtesy, and Your Majesty has long meant to be a conquering force. Either this year or next year, Your Majesty will use troops to Goguryeo. Your hatred with Goguryeo will be settled by then."

"But..." Qige wanted to speak but stopped. Li Mu knew what she was thinking and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty will not force the vassal states to follow the army like Emperor Yang of Sui. But there will definitely be some arrangements. It has not been completely decided yet. When the big guy comes back, we will discuss it together."

Qige nodded and bowed to Li Mu: "Thank you, brother."

"Since you call me Big Brother, there is no need for these etiquettes." As he said, Li Mu's tone slightly heavier and said, "But if you lied to me, there is no need to say what consequences will be if you will?"

"My little sister understands it."

"My people are so brave, how are you doing?"

"My little sister can use daggers and bows." Qige did not hide it, and there was no need to hide it. The woman of Martyr knows some fighting skills, and she is the daughter of the leader of the clan, so it is impossible for her to have not learned martial arts.

Li Mu seemed to be prepared, so he turned around and entered the study compartment. When he came out again, he had a dagger and a pair of bows and arrows in his hand.

"This is a weapon I made in my spare time. I will give you a gift for a meeting. It's not easy for you to call me a big brother in vain. Whether you have a good relationship with a big man or not, it's fate to get to know each other. In the future, you will be my girl."

Qige subconsciously wanted to refuse, but when she saw two things in Li Mu's hand, she couldn't say anything about rejection. Even those two weapons could be seen by anyone who knew how to do martial arts. Thinking of Li Chongyi once said that his elder brother was the world's number one master of warfare, and it was true that it was true when she saw it today. Just looking at the skills of this dagger, it was already the best in the world.

"Brother, I dare not refuse. My younger sister will definitely cherish it. Thank you, brother."

"It's good to like it." Li Mu handed over the weapon and sent Qi Ge to the door before he took his eyes back. After returning to the table and sorting it out for a while, Wei Yingluo walked in again and said while helping Li Mu sort it out: "How are you talking?"

"It doesn't seem to be telling lies, at least from her tone and expression, it doesn't look like it." Li Mu thought for a while and said, "But I can't believe it all. People's hearts are complicated. She may not be kept in the dark when she was old and had a midnight snack."

"My husband is right." Wei Yingluo smiled and helped Li Mu sort out the documents and packed them all, then said, "Mother-in-law has made new clothes for the children. She just met me and asked me to tell you that if she has time to go there early, she would like to discuss something with you."

"I understand." Li Mu nodded and said, "I will write a letter and I will go there later."

Wei Yingluo grinds the ink for him and then leaves again. Usually, Wei Yingluo avoids such private things. It’s not that Li Mu asked her to do this, it’s her own measure.

...

When Li Mu came to the small courtyard where Wang Ou was, he could hear laughter and joy from afar. Mrs. Lu liked to make clothes for the children. Almost all the clothes that children had from childhood to adulthood were sent by her. Although the old lady preferred a little more grandchildren, her two granddaughters never favored one or the other. She made three sets of clothes, all sewn by the top embroiderer, which was much better than those offered to the palace.

Although Li Mu has never been stingy, he still feels that it is unnecessary to see such luxury. This child’s clothes are just comfortable to wear, and there is no need to spend so much money, especially when the child grows up, he looks the same for a few days. No matter how beautiful the clothes are, they will not be worn for the second year. Why bother?

But this kind of thing doesn't count. Can my wife listen to him, can I listen to him? Not to mention that it is directly and indirectly, half of the world's silk business is in the hands of Jisitang. How good is silk embroidery? Is the family big and the business is big, and how many children's food and clothing are missing?

Li Mu vaguely expressed it twice, but it was useless, so he stopped talking. Later, after he thought about it himself, it seemed normal. His son was the King of Chu. As a king, it was normal to wear it with some care.

"Mom, I'm here."

Li Mu entered the house and greeted Mrs. Lu. When Mrs. Lu saw Li Mu coming, she handed the little Li Bai in her arms to Bai Qiaoqiao and said, "Son, are you done?"

"Well, there is another thing, it's not an important thing, and it's okay to do it tomorrow." Li Mu took Xiao Lingyue from Wang Ou's arms. Although this description is a bit inappropriate, when Li Mu hugged the child, he really felt like he was "footed", which was really relieved.

Especially Xiao Lingyue, the little girl is very gentle and does not care about her mother's temperament. No matter who holds her, she will be sleepy for less than a quarter of an hour and can sleep in anyone's arms. But she is not like that little boy Li Bai, who is trying to be naughty and can't sleep no matter how she coaxes him.

The room was full of family members, and there was nothing to avoid when speaking. Mrs. Lu said directly, "The bearded guest had already gone south yesterday and was preparing to transfer to Guangzhou Port to Nanyang. He would gather the elites from the thirty-six islands to arrive at Liuqiu first, and find a temporary port of call. After another month, we will prepare and transport the supplies directly without delaying anything."

This was a matter that had been decided long ago, and Li Mu knew about it before. But he didn't expect that the bearded guest would leave so early, and he thought it would be half a month later.

The mother and son talked about some details about construction and efficiency. When it was getting late, the three children began to take a nap and finally finished chatting. Sending their mother and wives back to their room to sleep, Li Mu returned to Bai Qiaoqiao's house. The two children were already asleep under the care of the old mother. Li Mu tiptoed onto the bed and gently took Bai Qiaoqiao into his arms.

Taking a sip of the smell of Bai Qiaoqiao's body, Li Mu closed his eyes and murmured, "Madam, do you know that the faint fragrance on your body can make you fall asleep the most."

"Stop it," Bai Qiaoqiao pushed him with her elbow and said angrily. "The day before yesterday, Zhien came to sleep, and told me that you like the smell on her body the most. The little girl didn't know what it smelled on her body, so she asked me,"

"..." Li Mu was a little embarrassed, and used actions instead of words to chew on Bai Qiaoqiao's neck. Bai Qiaoqiao immediately became honest and did not dare to retaliate. The child fell asleep in the outer room, afraid that Li Mu would do anything excessive to wake the child up.

...

The steel plant in Wuxian finally had some climaxes under the construction of Wang Rui's tribe. It was recently put into trial operation and was not sure about it, and he did not dare to come to Li Mu. Later, he found Wei Yingluo and asked her to help him and asked Li Mu to inspect and guide him. The Wang family of Langya paid almost all of it for this steel plant and could not bear even a little risk.

Yesterday, Wei Yingluo sent the message, and today Li Mu set out to Wuxian. It was not that Li Mu took Wang Rui seriously, but that he took this steel plant seriously. According to Li Mu's macro plan, Wuxian's steel plant will supply most of the southeastern steel in the future, which is an important part of the plan. There must be no problems.

When Wang Rui learned that Li Mu was coming, he wished he had lived at the factory gate last night, for fear of being slower.

How to meet the question has already made Wang Rui think. Last time Gu Sizhi warmly welcomed him, but the Marquis didn't like him very much. He originally wanted to give him a quiet place this time, but it is hard to guarantee that the Marquis likes the lively this time? If it becomes quiet, what should I do if the Marquis is negligent?

Just in case, Wang Rui prepared two sets and planned to implement them by looking at Li Mu's eyes.

Wang Rui tried his best, but Li Mu didn't care much about it. Because he didn't care about this kind of thing at all, the carriage was outside the steel plant. Before Wang Rui could see the implementation of the color, Li Mu had already strode in.

When Li Mu walked into the gate of "Jiangnan Steel", he saw dozens of workers in two huge greenhouses, using a cart to transport the iron ore and coal from outside into the greenhouses on both sides.

In the greenhouse on the left, there are long grooves made of bricks and stones, and the edges are a reservoir made of bricks and stones.

The workers poured several trucks of iron ore into the trough, and then opened the sluice gate. The water flow in the reservoir rushed into the trough fiercely, taking away a lot of soil and impurities. Some workers even stirred the ore with a rake to clean out the clay attached to the top and the stones mixed inside.

Then there is a special ore dresser who carefully washes and picks up iron ore sand with a dustpan. Anyone with gangue and those with bad quality will be discarded directly. Only high-quality ore will be packed into the bamboo basket next to it.

However, these ores cannot be directly put into the furnace. They also have to be crushed and crushed into ore sand with a small hammer. After washing and sorting, the iron ore sand that is left with very few impurities.

Li Mu nodded in praise. The coal washing process is no longer inferior to the steel factory near Chang'an.

Wang Rui introduced from the side: "This washing pool is a method passed down from the family. Although it takes time and effort, it has many benefits. Before the southbound transition, there were also some steel businesses at home."

Li Mu knew his background. Before the Wang family of Langya moved south, it was no less than that of the Wang family in Taiyuan. This method of iron smelting is of course inherited.

"After washing, will it produce more iron and less slag, and can it save coal?" Li Mu grabbed a handful of dark-brown ore sand. The quality is indeed visible to the naked eye. It can be seen that the iron ore in Wuxian is really a high-grade iron ore. The steel refined from such iron ore must be much better than those in other places.

"It's worthy of being the Marquis. It's true that it's all things in the world and everything is understandable!" Wang Rui quickly flattered and said, "No one understands better than the Marquis."

Li Mu rolled his eyes. What kind of bullshit title? He can't even flatter him. Is this a praising me as the king?

As for the greenhouse on the other side, it is used to wash coal.

It mainly divides raw coal of different specific gravity into different grades through the impact of the water flow, and removes dust and waste rocks to reduce the ash and sulfur content.

However, the fine coal obtained in this way is not used directly, but is sent to the earth kiln after the greenhouse for smoldering.

I saw rows of tomb-like earthen kilns on the ground, and yellow-brown smoke was slowly emitting from chimneys made of bricks.

The smoke was very choking, and it made people cry from afar and coughed. Wang Rui was about to think that Li Mu would not go over, but saw that Li Mu took out a piece of white veil from his arms and put it on his face as if he was ready. Just as he was about to ask what it was, Li Mu also handed him one and said, "This is called a mask. Take it back and remove it, and do it as usual. From now on, the workers working here will give two every day, and change it every half a day."

"What's the use of this?" Wang Rui murmured in his heart. After wearing it like Li Mu, he immediately understood the use of this thing. Once he had it, he felt that his breathing was much smoother and he was not so choking. He couldn't help but admire him again... He didn't like to come to the steel shop very much, because the smoke was too scattered.

Unexpectedly, the Marquis had a way to deal with it, but how did the Marquis know that it would smoke? Wang Rui thought of a possibility. Does the Marquis also know about steelmaking? This secret method is not known to the big family, but how did the Marquis know? If he even knew this, would there be something he didn't know in the world?

Wang Rui, who was wearing a mask, could finally continue to introduce to Li Mu that this was making coke - relying on the heat burned by the bituminous coal itself in the kiln, heating the coal layer by layer. After eight to ten days of smoldering, the coke matured. Then pour water to quench the coke, and the cold furnace was ashes, and the unburned part was coke.

Wang Rui was content with this. As we all know, the primary factor in the quality of steelmaking is temperature. The ancestors of the Wang family of Langya accidentally found this method, which is also Wang Rui's confidence and intention to dare to make steel.

However, in Li Mu's opinion, this method not only takes a long time and has a low coking rate, but also has the most fatal defect that the ash content is too high, which greatly reduces the effectiveness of coke. However, in terms of current technical level, the method of Wang's in Langya is already the first step.
Chapter completed!