Chapter 8: Swords and Knives Bring Wealth

  Time flies, and another four months have passed. The roads of the three cities are basically paved with rough cement, and traveling is no longer worried about muddy roads.

  After a season of improved farming, the rice harvest was bountiful and the whole city rejoiced. Leiming gathered all the generals in the White Mountain City Lord's manor to discuss their next move. He asked with a smile: "Now that the three cities have been governed for a while, the living conditions of the residents have greatly improved. Does anyone have any ideas about what to do next?"

  Yang Tian smiled and said, "Now the troops have all more or less practiced, they've already passed the period of rapid progress. It'll be harder to improve further unless... we go fight another battle..."

  "It's not worth mentioning, we can consider teaching them qigong, increasing martial arts training, or increasing the difficulty of training." Lei Meng hastily stopped Yang Tian's words and proposed his own idea, "Our development has just started, a few battles will soon lead to destruction."

  Huang Chu, sitting in the second seat on the left, nodded to Lei Meng and said: "General Lei, I've seen many fish in the Bahe River. I don't know if it's possible to catch some more to supplement the bodies of our soldiers and residents." He saw that Lei Meng and Yang Tian were able to open a furnace to smelt metal on a large scale, so he thought it shouldn't be a problem to catch some fish in the Bahe River.

  "Hmm, this proposal is not bad!" Lei Meng immediately gave a affirmative answer, looking at the idle Yang Tian, "Yang Tian, aren't your troops temporarily free? Besides daily reconnaissance and guarding, take them to the White River to practice, weave nets to catch fish, or directly grab! Our troops must be able to hit birds on land and catch fish in water!"

  Yang Tianyi heard this and was delighted. The soldiers trained here were even more powerful than special forces, only lacking guns. So he said: "This is no problem, I also want to see what extreme limits the soldiers here can be trained to. Otherwise, why don't you bring out a few guns?"

  Lei Meng rolled his eyes and slightly moved his lips. Yang Tian's ears rang with: Don't bother me, there are still many things to do.

  Yang Tianyou's lips moved slightly, and he replied: I'm also serious, if we don't come up with something powerful, others will send tens of thousands of troops over, and we'll surrender obediently!

  They have recently been trying to concentrate their internal energy into a single line from the throat, which can achieve the effect of transmitting sound secretly. Some things that are not very good for public speaking can now be said on the spot without fear of being heard by others.

  Looking at the generals who were desperately drinking tea to save their lives, Lei Meng smiled and said: "Our meat is also a bit too little, it seems that we should also organize people to raise some fish and pigs. Mr. Wen, this task is given to you."

  "This is no problem. Raising some pigs and fish will easily solve the meat-eating issue." Mr. Wen stroked his beard with great satisfaction as he accepted the task, finding that Lei Meng brought too many surprises, and his wonderful ideas were endless. He continued, "However, I don't know how to raise fish and pigs."

  The crowd burst into laughter, and no one expected Mr. Wen to make a joke about thunder.

  "Hehe, this isn't difficult. Raising fish and digging ponds to raise them, on the side you can build pens to raise pigs, and the pig's manure can fatten up a lot of fish. Specifically, you can go find people in Baihe or Hexi who are capable of doing this work." Lei Meng habitually revealed a smile, patiently explaining, continuing to say, "As for preventing fish diseases, we'll need to find some slaked lime. Hmm... since slaked lime isn't specially made yet, building a kiln to burn it later is also not bad."

  Mr. Wen listened and then went away with his head bowed in thought.

  Luoyang Tian also spoke up at this time, saying: "General Lei, what should we do with those precious swords that we forged?"

  Just as Lei Meng was about to change the subject to those swords, Luoyang Tian brought it up, and it really was a case of "sleeping on a pillow". He nodded slightly and said, "This is also exactly what I wanted to bring up next." After a pause, looking at everyone's curious gaze, he continued, "A precious sword matches a hero, I think I'll sell this batch of swords."

  Qin Hao's face turned pale with anxiety, and Sun Ming and many other brothers often asked when the batch of swords could be delivered to their hands. Wouldn't this sale be over? He couldn't care about much, so he bowed his head and said: "General Lei, Qin Hao thinks that these swords should not be sold. If we give these sharp weapons to our enemies, we will be at a disadvantage in battle!"

  Lei Meng looked at Luoyang Tian, Liao Yun and Lin Chong, only to see that the three of them also had a look of urgency on their faces. He smiled and said: "You listen to me, those swords are just ordinary equipment for our army, every soldier has one, and the ones for officers will be even better."

  Looking at the crowd with suspicion, he continued: "Recently, I have redesigned that iron furnace again. It should be able to smelt out better ductile iron. And I'm preparing to make a trip hammer, and then forging sharp tools won't be difficult."

  Although the crowd didn't understand those things, they felt at ease after hearing Lei Meng's confident explanation. The strategist was indeed a strategist, and Huang Chu immediately jumped out of excitement and asked: "How does General Lei plan to sell those precious swords? I think selling them piecemeal can bring in more wealth, and also control the number of swords that flow out."

  "Ah, the value of things lies in their rarity. Not a bad suggestion." Lei Meng's tone became increasingly authoritative, his comments always focusing on the positive aspects. "I plan to build an auction house in Hexi City and sell these swords there. Also, I'd like General Meng to make a trip to the Imperial City and present three of the swords to Emperor Hua Tian."

  Auction? A term I've never heard of before. Mr. Wen furrowed his brow and asked, "Auction? How does that sell?"

  Lei Meng rubbed his head, a faint red on his face: "That's an item, set a floor price, then those who want to buy participate in the bidding, and the highest bidder gets it, a way of selling items."

  "Oh~", several voices came, and Lei Meng finally remembered that they all didn't know.

  In the following two months, Lei Meng designed a mold and repeatedly tested it with rough concrete more than 30 times to produce a grindstone. In the middle of the grindstone there was a square hole, on which a wooden axle was passed through, supported by an iron frame, and after adding a handle to one end of the axle that came out, a simple hand-cranked grinding machine was manufactured. With this grinding machine, it became much simpler to grind ordinary knives and swords.

  Because of the existence of a large amount of pig iron, it can be forged and used in new blast furnaces for construction, so the construction standard of new furnaces has been greatly improved. Moreover, Leiming's known technology is extremely rich, and many methods of refining and smelting have been added, making the newly built blast furnace a complete steelmaking furnace that can directly produce high-quality steel, eliminating the need for craftsmen to hammer and refine it thousands of times.

  He also made pulleys, pulled steel wires by hand to make steel ropes, and used the principle of pulleys to make a hammering machine. The only thing missing was lubricating oil, which had to be replaced with edible oil. This hammering machine was equipped with heavy hammers and was used for re-forging the refined steel. After folding and hammering several times, it became high-quality steel material. With this steel material, even if knives and swords were made casually, they could reach or even surpass those newly produced precious swords.

  Many generals were amazed at the same time, and also criticized the previous method of summoning so many elites to participate in sword forging. If they had known that they could make such excellent steel, why did they have to let them forge those rotten irons?

  Lei Meng smiled and explained, "Firstly, without their forging skills, there would be no high-quality steel to build the excellent smelting furnace; secondly, those forging methods are fundamental, if you want to make a treasured sword, you still need to rely on those methods to produce it; lastly, they also trained with more profound skills because of this."

  The many craftsmen were initially somewhat disheartened, but after hearing Leiming's explanation, they all smiled and also worked harder to improve their forging skills...

  It's been half a year since then, and now it's deep autumn. Everything is on the right track, just waiting for time to settle and skills to accumulate. The rice fields outside the city are a vast expanse of golden yellow, except for the faint sound of "ding-dong" knocking sounds, there are birds chirping happily and farmers laughing in the fields.

  Those residents had never imagined that after the arrival of Lei Meng, they would undergo earth-shaking changes in less than two years. As long as they were willing to work hard, their food and housing problems were uniformly solved, and are getting better and better. The young and strong people in the jurisdiction now yearn for the opportunity to serve Lei Meng, but unfortunately, Lei Meng is not willing to expand his army, so he can only participate enthusiastically when there are projects or tasks.

  Lei Meng and Yang Tian have now grown to 1.7 meters tall, both slender in build and handsome in appearance. Wherever they go, they receive enthusiastic cheers from the crowd, and sometimes even bold girls run up to confess their love. Lei Meng would quickly dodge and run away, while Yang Tian would just smile and chat with the pretty girls, but since his body had not yet fully developed, he didn't dare to take advantage of them, otherwise who knows how many girls would have fallen victim.

  The auction hall is a semi-circular building with a steel frame, made of rough concrete, over 400 square meters in size. It is located in the center of Hexi City, where the cement road is wide and flat, with four-way traffic. The arched outer wall is painted white with lime, while the inside is gray cement. The arched outer wall faces a crossroads, with three doors for easy access, and many iron-barred windows on the high walls for ventilation. Upon entering, one finds that the light is slightly dim, but the sunlight shining through the columnar windows makes it possible to see the situation inside the hall clearly. There are rows of wooden armchairs with wide backs, arranged in a descending order, stretching down to the front of the rectangular auction platform. On either side of the auction platform, there are two red cloths covering each door, which is where the auction staff enter and exit. Residents passing by often stop to admire this strange new building, and if it weren't for the soldiers guarding it, they would probably have rushed inside to take a look around.

  Lei Meng led Yang Tian, Mr. Wen and many other generals into the brightly lit auction hall filled with torches, listening to the generals' exclamations of wonder at this avant-garde architecture for the first time, his heart full of pride.

  Under such simple conditions, Lei Meng was able to build a magnificent auction hall, which made Yang Tian admire Lei Meng even more: This is the creator of miracles!

  Mr. Wen sighed and said: "Lei Meng, with such a building here, I'm afraid they would be willing to pay gold even if we don't take out the treasure sword!"

  "Yes, Huang has also been to many places, but he has never seen such a building, it's really an eye-opener!" Huang Chu also couldn't help but praise.

  "Heh heh, others don't have steel bars, no cement, and definitely not this level of mechanical calculations, it's impossible for them to build something like this. So it's very normal that you haven't seen it before." Yang Tian also basked in the glory, his face full of self-satisfied smiles.

  "Alright, now that we've taken a look around, let's discuss tomorrow's auction event." Leiming sat down in the spacious and luxurious armchair, gently patting the smooth black hardwood armrest. "Tomorrow, Mr. Huang Chu will host the auction. Lin Chong and Liao Yun will serve as the treasure guards, escorting the treasured sword out. Yang Tian can arrange for some elite brothers from the camp to stand guard outside the hall."