In the deep winter, the people are resting, and Chang'an City is quiet, and even the market is closed. The streets are sparsely populated, and most wine houses are closed, but only luxurious places are still in operation.

In Zhuo Wangsun's view, Fugui Tower was an ominous place. Diwu put a poisonous snake around his neck. Since that day, he often had nightmares at night. He dreamed that countless black snakes were running around the room. On the wall, on the top, on the door frame, the last giant python fell from the sky, the snake head pierced through the roof, the scarlet snake core was longer than him, and the two hideous fangs were comparable to human bodies. The mouth was sprayed with a green smell. He swallowed him alive with one mouth...

But Han Yan chose to meet at Fuguilou. Fortunately, he suffered for nearly two months and finally achieved results. Do you go or not?

Han Yan came early, and the season was in a sluggish state. There was almost no one in the hall. I looked for a private room on the second floor to admire the dancers on the flower table from a high place and twisted their waists and knelt down to enjoy tea gracefully, looking lazy.

"What's the smell?" Following the source of the smell, a mummy wrapped in white cloth appeared at the entrance of the Fugui Tower. Only his eyes were exposed outside, and his body emitted a pungent realgar smell. He looked at the door suspiciously for a long time before he was trembling, as if he walked in like a thief.

"Ah...she..."

Han Yan sneezed because of choking, and the young lady from Fuguilou hurried out to chase people out.

"Criminal Yan, it's me." Zhuo Wangsun ignored the entanglement of his sister and went to the second floor, unbuttoning the white cloth wrapped around his face, revealing a slim old face. He had experienced a lot of vicissitudes after only more than a month of missing him.

When she waved her back, Han Yan laughed and said, "Where are you doing this? Stay away from me quickly and don't choke me to death."

As he said that, his nose was itchy, his mouth opened again, and he almost sneezed again, and he couldn't stand the choking smell.

Zhuo Wangsun smiled embarrassedly, "I was scared by the witch, afraid of snakes..."

"All right away, sit down quickly. I am invincible to all beasts, don't worry." Han Yan was so happy. How deep is this psychological shadow so rude. It is basic etiquette for the lower-ranking person to be present before the higher-ranking person during the party, but I am too lazy to see you.

When he knelt down opposite him, Zhuo Wangsun was very arrogant and called the young lady to say one sentence: "Give me the best food in your Fuguilou."

Han Yan tidied up his robe and pretended to ask casually: "What's the matter with me? Tell me."

"Crown Prince Yan exposed the scam, and then dealt with Diwu to save me from the fire and water. Prince Zhuo did not dare to be ungrateful and wanted to invite you to enrich the world together."

"I am rich now. The crown prince has given me a lot of rewards. Your Majesty also promises me a piece of paper. Although it is not as rich as you, it is not as worried about food and clothing."

"You can't think so. There is a saying: I hate that I have to use it. Even the emperor is short of money, let alone us. During the rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms, the court was short of money. He had to borrow usury from the Wuyan clan of Chang'an to pay the soldiers, and then he successfully quelled the rebellion. As the Supreme Lord of the Crown Prince, he would also think about the livelihood of a country. If there was no harvest, he would have to send grain. Wherever there was a disaster, he would have to resettle the people. It would not be enough to spend much money. If you have money and help Your Majesty at that time, how can you not be favored?"

"You are worthy of being a merchant. You are so sensible." Han Yan smiled, "You continue."

"I discovered an iron mine in Linqiong. As long as the land is plowed, the ore will be exposed to the ground. These ores have excellent texture and can be used to make utensils after a little refining. However, this mine occupies a lot of barren fields, with ore underneath, and crops on it are difficult to grow. But those farmers do not sell the land. Our land in the Han Dynasty belongs to private owners and can be bought and sold, but if the farmer does not sell it, I dare not forcefully occupy land..."

"You have thousands of slaves, but you can't deal with them?"

"Criminal Yan was joking. Our Zhuo family has been smelting iron for generations, but they never oppress the people. Although they are rich, they do not do anything bad. They are upright all the way and have no evil deeds." Zhuo Wangsun Yizheng spoke, holding his fists to the sky.

"Then what does it mean to look for me? If you don't act as a villain, come to me for it?" Han Yan smiled slightly.

"I mainly want to work with you to start a mining business. With you on my side, I have a clear idea. As for farming, it's just to spend more money."

"Since you can spend more money to get them done, why are you looking for me again?"

"This..." Zhuo Wangsun couldn't hide it anymore and said with a wry smile: "Some people also like this mine, but I can't compete with them."

“People with official background?”

"Why is that there are two major families in the Iron Smelting of Shu County. I, Zhuo Wangsun, are one family. The other family is Chengzheng, another family, Xun's other family, and the descendants of famous families. When Emperor Qin Shihuang unified the country, he forced his ancestors to migrate to Linqiong, Shu County. His ancestors opened furnaces and casting, and became rich over time. Our two families are the best in the iron smelting of the Han Dynasty, and their businesses occasionally conflicted..."

"You have a thousand children, how many people are there in Cheng Zheng's family?"

"On the surface, there are only 600 slaves in the mountains, but in fact, their business is mostly in the deep mountains and forests. They collect unemployed refugees without land, abandon their graves, leave their hometowns, gather in the deep mountains and poor terrain, and everyone engages in production. As far as I know, there are 1,500 people in the mountains, and their iron tools are rarely sold to the big men, and they are dedicated to barbarians, such as Minyue, Nanyue, Shanyue and other small countries."

Han Yan: "Who is the best iron smelting technology in your two families?"

Zhuo Wangsun's face was bitter, "This one can't be compared... Whoever has more family members is better."

"What's the point?"

"The current method of iron smelting is mainly to stir-fry iron, heat pig iron into semi-liquid, put iron ore powder into continuous stirring, remove slag, and directly obtain cooked iron. However, because the furnace temperature is relatively low, the produced cooked iron has different textures, so we have to process and forge it again. We use stir-fry as the raw material. The best weapon we have ever forged is to make steel, but it has to be repeatedly heated, folded, forged, which is labor-consuming and time-consuming, and cannot be mass-produced. As the saying goes, steel is made by one hundred people, so whoever has more family members is better..."

"The most powerful craftsmanship is Baijian Steel?"

"Yes, the sword is made of steel, the weapons of ordinary soldiers are ordinary cast iron, and the farm tools of the people are cast iron, so it's good to be molded..."

"Then what black pill do you use to heat the stove?" The coal of the big man is called black pill or annihilation stone.

"Isn't the black pill just the black pill?" Zhuo Wangsun was a little confused.

"I have a way to make you surpass Cheng Zheng in one fell swoop and have the best iron smelting technology in the world. How do you want to thank me?" Han Yan asked with a smile.

"..." Zhuo Wangsun was stunned, and felt a heat spreading in his heart, gradually spreading to his whole body, even the fear of the poisonous snake was dispelled. "I will listen to you if I say anything," said Prince Yan.

"I don't want you to do anything. I have developed a method to mass-produce steel ingots within ten years, and developed steel better than 10,000 sets of weapons, and helped me build 10,000 sets of weapons, and both swords, guns, swords and halberds are free."

"You... are you going to rebel?" Zhuo Wangsun was dumbfounded, his hands holding the teacup were shaking slightly, and tea was scattered on his crotch, making his heart chill.

"Bad. The Huns repeatedly plundered the border, and sooner or later there will be a war. Your Majesty is in poor health recently. The Crown Prince is just around the corner, so naturally he has to prepare for the future." Han Yan's eyes were deep, as if he had seen the future. It was his wish to get out of the Han Dynasty. He paused and said, "You are really thinking too much. You don't need weapons now. In ten years, you can't be anxious? Besides, do you know that there is a Ming Dynasty outside the Han Dynasty? The weapons there are a hundred times more advanced than our Han Dynasty. If you don't chase them up, and when the Ming Dynasty comes, you will not have enough eggs when the nest is destroyed, and your wealth will be robbed."

"..." Zhuo Wangsun was speechless, feeling so bitter that he was about to come out. He knew that this time he stepped into the quagmire and could not come out even if he wanted to.

The Han Dynasty stipulated that personal transactions of armored shield weapons were prohibited. The reason why Tiaohou Zhou Yafu died unjustly was because his son Zhou Yang saw that he was old and secretly bought five hundred armored shields, preparing to use them when he died. He was reported to rebel and was sent to prison.

Although the Zhuo family occasionally made weapons and armor and sold them to the princes secretly, they were all small transactions. Even if they were discovered, as long as they were not sued to the emperor, the princes could take over. But this time, they had to take on the lives of the whole family. If they were reported to the three tribes of Yi, they would be considered light.

But if Han Yan is rejected, I may say that he will kill you to silence...

If you want ten thousand sets of weapons, as long as you say this, you will be on the shelves. You can get it even if you don’t have it even if you don’t have it, and you have no choice at all.

However, there are also benefits. They can surpass Cheng Zheng in one fell swoop, and they can also hang up with the crown prince. This is the supreme future. Moreover, Han Yan will only need weapons ten years later. He can first study the craftsmanship and build weapons after Liu Che ascended the throne. By then, it will be reasonable and legal. The real danger is only the few years of Emperor Jing's reign.

Seeing that King Zhuo was hesitant, Han Yan took a sip of tea and said lightly: "I have always had a good temper. If you don't want to do this business, I won't make things difficult for you. You are still in Shu..."

Before he finished speaking, Zhuo Wangsun shouted first: "I agree."

"Very good." Han Yan nodded with satisfaction, and wisdom flashed in his eyes, "Privately building weapons is a serious crime, I believe you will hide this matter well. As for iron smelting technology, if you go to the west of Taiyuan County, there are western mountains, black pills everywhere, and coke. This thing can make the furnace burn thousands of degrees, break gold and iron, and solve the problem of low temperature of the furnace. If you do more experiments, such as mixing pig iron and cooked iron into one piece forging, and spiral forging, etc., I believe that within two years, steel ingots will be produced."

"..." Zhuo Wangsun was speechless for a long time. The Zhuo family made a living by smelting iron for several generations and tried their best to improve the technology. In the end, it was not as easy as a boy's advice. He was so angry that he said a little decadently: "I've been taught."

Han Yan: "I will find a way to help you with your iron mine. I don't want your money and don't pay your dividends. Carefully preparing those ten thousand sets of weapons is a reward for me."

"The Zhuo family will definitely live up to the kindness of Prince Yan." He raised his hand and raised his forehead to salute.

“Happy cooperation.”

Han Yan smiled and stretched out his right hand. Zhuo Wangsun was stunned and also imitated him.

After receiving Han Yan's promise, Zhuo Wangsun rushed back to Shu County with a nervous mood for days, and asked the county magistrate to send a message. He sent fifty slaves to Taiyuan County at once and sweared to find the coke for me.

From an honest merchant, he suddenly stepped into the top struggle of the Han Dynasty. Zhuo Wangsun felt excited and trembling in his heart. The country changed and the earth was overturned. What a glory it would be.
Chapter completed!