"PS: There are always a few days a month when I just want to lie in bed and be a lazy fish, not wanting to do anything."

————The following text————

"What can you bring to our country?"

After thinking for a long time, Wei Gong Ziyu asked in a deep voice.

Xiao Luan chuckled when he heard this and said, "How about Xiao donating another five hundred thousand gold to the young master?"

He originally thought that Wei Gong Ziyu in front of him would be ecstatic when he heard this amount, but he did not expect that the other party would not even blink.

"Half a million gold... for an individual, it is indeed a huge amount of wealth, but for a country, it is not enough to make it take risks." After saying this, Wei Gong Ziyu took a deep look at Xiao Luan and said something meaningful.

He pointedly said: "If I remember correctly, your head is also worth five hundred thousand gold. In that case, why doesn't Wei Yu tie you up and send him to Daliang to earn the five hundred thousand gold?... Then

A bounty is not too hot to handle."

Xiao Luan was stunned for a moment, and then he remembered that Prince Zhao Run had offered a reward of 500,000 gold for his head, which caused him to be chased wildly by rangers and assassins in Wei for a period of time, and he finally had to disguise himself and hide.

Secretly gritting his teeth, Xiao Luan said in a deep voice: "One million gold!"

After hearing this, Wei Gong Ziyu snorted and said calmly: "One million gold, converted into silver, is only about nine million taels of silver at best..."

"...But it's enough to cover the taxes you paid to defend the country for two years!"

Xiao Luan cursed secretly. Although he had already had a hunch, it turned out that Wei Gong Ziyu's appetite was much greater than he expected.

What is the value of one million gold? You can find out by doing some calculation.

Nine years ago, Zhao Hongrun, who was still only the "Eighth Highness" at the time, led an army to fight against Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, severely injuring the latter, and counterattacked into the territory of western Chu. Afterwards, King Xiong Xu of Chu decided to negotiate with Wei Guo because Chu East was threatened by Qi.

He sent scholar-official Huang Er to urge Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo and Zhao Hongrun to sign the "Zhengyang Peace Treaty".

In addition to the compensation from the "Zhengyang Peace Treaty" and the property obtained by the Wei army from the aristocratic families in western Chu, Zhao Hongrun received a total of about two million taels worth of Chu specialties, such as pearls, jade, lacquerware, bronzes, etc.

Wait, these items were rare in the Wei State at that time, so after this batch of materials was transported back to Daliang, its value nearly quadrupled, and it was estimated to be worth seven million taels of silver.

According to the exchange ratio of gold and silver in Wei State, which was one to ten—actually floating between eight and twelve—this batch of property was worth approximately 700,000 gold at that time.

At that time, Wei's annual tax revenue, including civil tax and wealth tax, was around six million taels of silver.

In this way, one can imagine the value of one million gold.

Of course, this refers to the market situation of the Wei State nine years ago. As for now, as the Wei State has successively recovered Sanchuan County, Shangdang County, captured the Hetao area, and successively opened "Sanchuan Luo City" and "Shangshui Bian"

"City (smuggling nature)", "Weihan Border Market" and "Bolangsha Port City" have made Wei's transactions with other countries more and more frequent, and the stable tax revenue is more than four or five times that of nine years ago.

Even the prince Zhao Run himself, relying on the 20% profit dividend from Bolangsha Port City (including the money for renting out shops), was able to spend 500,000 gold to arrest Xiao Luan.

With the rise of Wei State, as a neighboring ally and vassal state, Wei State's economy has naturally grown. However, no matter how much it grows, Wei State's annual tax revenue will not exceed five million taels of silver. Therefore, when Wei State

When Gong Ziyu showed his dissatisfied attitude, Xiao Luan was also quite unhappy.

But considering some reasons, Xiao Luan finally suppressed his displeasure and asked patiently: "How much do you want, Master?"

I saw Wei Gong Ziyu stretched out his right hand, spread his fingers, and said without refutation: "Five million gold!"

"..."

Xiao Luan's pupils shrank, and he secretly cursed Ziyu, the Master of Wei in front of him, for speaking loudly.

Five million gold is almost close to the current annual tax revenue of Wei State. You must know that today's Wei State's annual tax revenue is slightly higher than that of South Korea, only slightly inferior to Qi State.

"This is so deceiving!"

Xiao Luan secretly gritted his teeth and looked at Mr. Wei Ziyu, with a trace of killing intent flashing through his eyes.

If he hadn't been concerned that the other party was the young master of the Wei Kingdom, and that Xia Yu, one of the most powerful heroes of the Wei Kingdom, was most likely ambushed in the inner room of the study, Xiao Luan would have really wanted to step forward and tear the handsome face of Wei Young Master Ziyu into pieces.

But in the end, he endured it and said calmly: "Five million gold... Even Xiao can't afford this money. One million gold is the limit."

"No, it must be five million gold." Wei Gong Ziyu said without refutation: "General Xiao, you must understand that you are a wanted criminal in the Wei State. If Wei Yu takes you in, he will be taking a huge risk...

If General Xiao is unwilling to donate, then please leave the territory of Weiguo. Considering that General Xiao has donated a lot of money and materials before, Wei Yu can treat it as unaware."

"..."

Xiao Luan took a deep look at Mr. Wei Ziyu. From Wei Yu's tone, he felt that the latter did not reject him, but the high "protection fee" of five million gold made Xiao Luan hate him.

I cursed myself in my heart.

And at this moment, I suddenly heard Mr. Wei Ziyu say quietly: "If General Xiao really can't come up with the money, Wei Yu can also relax the period, but..."

Seeing that things seemed to be turning around, Xiao Luan was shocked and asked: "But what?"

Wei Yu took a deep look at Xiao Luan and said meaningfully: "When Wei Yu went to Daliang to pledge money, he heard that the craftsmen in Daliang could use blast furnaces to smelt iron ore. After returning to China, Wei Yu also followed suit, but

In the end, I can’t figure it out, and I don’t know what the secret is?”

"I see……"

Xiao Luan understood something and nodded secretly.

He finally understood that the reason why Wei Gong Ziyu asked for five million gold was actually to obtain Wei's iron smelting technology.

It is no exaggeration to say that Wei's iron smelting technology is definitely second to none in the Central Plains, even compared to Lu's, it is not inferior, or even worse.

Thinking about it, we know that Wei Gong Ziyu must have coveted Wei's iron-smelting technology, but unfortunately, iron-smelting technology is the "foundation of the country" today. Even if Wei is an ally of Wei, it is impossible to

Obtaining complete technology - at most, the Wei State is willing to sell the finished products, that is, the recently built weapons and armor, to the Wei State.

Not only the Wei State, but also the Qin State, even if Qin Shaojun Yingying is the wife of Zhao Run, the prince of the East Palace of Wei State, Zhao Hongrun has not completely opened up the smelting technology to the Qin State - of course, Qin State's own craftsmanship is not up to this.

.

Every technology of the Smelting Bureau will be backed up and locked in the warehouse of Yecheng. Since Yecheng is completely closed to the outside world, there is no personal edict from Prince Zhao Run, even if it is the Imperial Guards Department directly under Wei Emperor Zhao Si.

Even the guards could not enter Yecheng, let alone the warehouses of Yecheng.

Coincidentally, Xiao Luan happened to have some documents taken out from the warehouse of the Manufacturing Bureau.

A year ago, after taking control of Daliang, the old prince Zhao Yu naturally took up the idea of ​​​​the Smelting Bureau. Without Zhao Hongrun's permission, he forcibly used the royal order to have the Imperial Guard take over the city of the Smelting Bureau.

, causing the Smelting Bureau to become turbulent for a time.

Taking advantage of this God-given opportunity, the Fuwei Army craftsmen lurking among the Imperial Guards secretly stole the design drawings from the Smelting Bureau's warehouse.

At that time, the goals of Fu Wei's soldiers were the records of Wei's iron smelting process, as well as the blueprints for making weapons and armor parts for the Wei army. As for the purpose, it goes without saying that it was to strengthen Fu Wei's army's equipment. After all, Wei

Our country's armaments are first-rate in the Central Plains.

It is worth mentioning that Fu Weijun’s detailed work at that time stole the records of the Smelting Bureau on the iron smelting process, but missed a very critical pre-process, that is, the raw material composition of fired refractory bricks, which made it known at the time

After this incident, Zhao Hongrun breathed a long sigh of relief.

There is no insulated blast furnace stacked with refractory bricks, so what if we get the iron smelting technology records of the Wei State? What comes out is still a semi-finished product that is at least half a furnace.

However, Fu Weijun's craftsmen did not know this secret. They thought that as long as they stole the records of the Smelting Bureau on iron smelting techniques and followed them step by step, they would be able to forge excellent weapons and armor.

In fact, Xiao Luan also thought so after obtaining the records of iron smelting craftsmanship. However, because his plan to support Zhao Hongyin, the king of Yi, failed at that time, he hurriedly escaped from Wei State and is currently hiding in Wei State to save money.

We haven't had time to make use of those documentary records yet.

When he thought of this, Xiao Luan felt much more at ease, and said with a smile: "Regarding the iron smelting craftsmanship of Wei State, Xiao was lucky enough to get some craftsman's notes..."

"...Is it really true?"

Wei Gong Ziyu was slightly startled, and couldn't help but feel excited.

To be honest, he was not sure before, he just wanted to give it a try. After all, the remnants of the Xiao family once caused several civil strife in Wei State. Even Wei Gong Ziyu had to admire that Xiao Luan was really powerful, so he secretly guessed

: Is it possible for Xiao Luan, who has such "supernatural powers", to master Wei's latest iron-smelting technology?

Unexpectedly, after asking, Xiao Luan actually took it seriously.

Next, there was a lot of bargaining between Wei Gong Ziyu and Xiao Luan. In the end, the two parties reached an agreement, in which Xiao Luan gave up the iron smelting records of the Wei State in exchange for Wei Gong Ziyu's "turning a blind eye" to them - not asylum.

Xiao Luan was just pretending not to know. After all, Wei Gong Ziyu also had to consider the pressure from the Wei State. The price paid by Xiao Luan alone was not enough for him to take the risk to protect Xiao Luan.

After making the agreement, Xiao Luan said goodbye and left. At this time, the heroic hero Xia Yu led a group of guards out of the inner room.

After waving his hand to signal the guards to leave the study, Xia Yu frowned and said to Wei Gong Ziyu: "Master, you should not cooperate with that Xiao Luan. That man is an evil tiger. Cooperating with him is tantamount to seeking the skin of a tiger."

"Cooperation?" Wei Gong Ziyu smiled slightly and said calmly: "When did I cooperate with him? It's just that he has what I want, and I lend him a place to hide, that's all." At this point.

, he paused and continued: "As for what you said about 'seeking skin from a tiger', you haven't

To avoid overestimating him. As far as I know, Xiao Luan planned in Wei for twenty years, but in the end, he ended up sadly fleeing from Wei. In my opinion, even if he was, as you said, he was

A vicious tiger, but right now, it’s just a lost dog without its claws, so why should we be afraid?”

Hearing this, Xia Yu frowned and reminded: "Sir, an evil tiger is an evil tiger after all. He will not give up hurting people just because he has lost his claws, nor will he be grateful because you spared his life."

"What is your personal experience?" Wei Gong Ziyu asked funnyly. He knew that the heroic man in front of him was a warrior who had fought against fierce tigers.

"Sir." Xia Yu frowned again.

"Okay, okay." Wei Gong Ziyu smiled helplessly, then put away his smile, and a cold look flashed in his eyes: "Don't worry, when I get what I want, I will send someone to carry it.

Go find my cousin Zhao Run and ask for the five hundred thousand gold reward!"

"Those iron-smelting notes from Wei craftsmen?" Xia Yu asked in a low voice.

"And his money." Wei Gong Ziyu took a long breath.
To be continued...