The wheels of the carts rolled, rolling over the pebbles on the ground. The slaves pushed the carts loaded with all kinds of supplies out of Heculun slowly. The troop of more than two hundred people marched on on foot, disappearing on the road without looking back. Of the three hundred and fifty subordinates of Zhou Qingfeng, more than two hundred and twenty followed him to plunder, and the remaining one hundred or so were stationed at the fortress outside the city that had just been repaired.
When the troop left, many slaves wanted to follow Zhou Qingfeng, even if they had to go to war. Without him as their backbone, the slaves who stayed behind always felt that Heculun, which was only separated by a river, was a huge threat. Psychologically speaking, as long as the slaves had been educated by Zhou Qingfeng, they had obtained a certain degree of freedom and began to consciously reject the original Jurchen slave owners.
Standing on the wooden fence of Heculun, the Jurchen nobles, including Uța and Chu Ying, also had mixed feelings. They really did not expect that Zhou Qingfeng, a foreign Han, would have such a huge impact on them, and even determine the rise and fall of a tribe. Before Master Zhou left, they greedily planned how to annex him, but after Master Zhou left, they felt anxious.
"Chu Ying Baylor, will Jianzhou's army really come?" Uța was a little hesitant, and even his mind was in a mess. He felt that the originally simple relationship between Ehrkulun and the Jianzhou Division had become complicated after Zhou Qingfeng's arrival. "Shouldn't we head west as well and fight a few battles to plunder more things first? At least we can't let that guy run away. "
The plan of Uța and others was actually very simple. They recognized Zhou Qingfeng's ability, but they wanted to seize the industries and wealth created by Zhou Qingfeng even more. Uța wanted to take Zhou Qingfeng to war, consume his strength, and let his subordinates die outside. Without subordinates, Zhou Qingfeng's industries would naturally be unable to operate. Uța and others could give him slaves in exchange for industries such as iron smelting furnaces.
If Zhou Qingfeng came back, no matter how strong he was, it would just be the same process again.
It was a good idea.
But seeing Zhou Qingfeng leave so easily, Uța felt a little worried …
"Zhou Qingfeng doesn't have enough horses, and his subordinates are all soldiers on foot. How can they run?" Chu Ying only sneered and glanced at Uța with disdain. If Zhou Qingfeng saw this scene, he would also laugh at Uța for being 'fierce in looks but cowardly in schemes'. The situation was already planned. Hesitating without reason and going back would be the same as seeking death.
Seeing that Chu Ying was ignoring him, Wucha was filled with hatred. He stomped his feet and left. He privately gathered his subordinates and requested them to immediately send troops to the north to wipe out the other wild Jurchen tribes and gather more resources and people. After all, he would those who were poorer and had more. than him.
Chu Ying, on the other hand, was much more straightforward. After watching Zhou Qingfeng's two hundred men leave, he could not be bothered to hide or wait any longer. He personally took over the stronghold that Zhou Qingfeng had built and the slaves that were left behind to guard the stronghold. He also forcefully stuffed over a hundred of his soldiers and over four hundred slaves into the stronghold. In his opinion, regardless of the outcome of Zhou Qingfeng's expedition, he would definitely take advantage of all this.
The stronghold was not big, and none of the slaves guarding it could resist Chu Ying. They could only hand over control of the stronghold. But the stronghold was a defensive structure that could only be lived in alone. It was also made of wood. What Chu Ying valued the most was the iron smelting furnace built by Zhou Qingfeng.
This iron smelting furnace was five meters tall and one and a half meters in diameter. Chu Ying walked up the slope that transported the iron ore. He stood next to the mouth of the furnace and looked inside. From the outside, the furnace did not seem to be different. Chu Ying did not know how to make iron. He was satisfied to see that the tall iron smelting furnace was still there.
According to the private plan of Chu Ying and Uța, the stronghold and the iron smelting furnace would belong to Chu Ying, the pottery kiln would belong to Uța, and the craftsmen would be equally divided between the two parties. At most, Zhou Qingfeng would keep some slaves.
Chu Ying felt that he was the one who brought Zhou Qingfeng to Ekulun and taught him many things. Naturally, he could occupy Zhou Qingfeng's property. Uța also felt that he was the leader of Zhou Qingfeng. He had given him a place to settle down. Naturally, he could occupy Zhou Qingfeng's property. They did not feel ashamed at all.
It was just that Master Zhou took the initiative to propose an expedition to the west, and the reason was very reasonable. Uța was even considering whether it was an act of 'caring about the head but not the tail' to wipe out the wild Nüzhen tribes in the north. After all, the threat was Jianzhou in the west.
But he did not dare to ask Uța to lead the army to find trouble with Nurhachi. In the end, he let Zhou Qingfeng try. If it was easy to fight, he would lead the army and follow. If it was not easy, he would hand over Zhou Qingfeng to atone for his crimes. In short, the Baylei of Ekulun did not suffer any losses.
Chu Ying sent people to occupy the iron smelting furnace. Uța quickly followed and occupied the kiln. They had coveted these two 'tall' production buildings for a long time, and both sides were very satisfied after obtaining this property. This was because as long as they had the two big buildings with chimneys, they would be able to make money continuously. This was a rare good thing in a poor place like Ekulun.
"Good, good, good!" Uța walked around the second pottery kiln built by Zhou Qingfeng a few times, and could not stop laughing. Compared to the first one built by Zhou Qingfeng in the city, this second one was much larger, and the output was also much higher. "Send those slaves who can make pottery over. Tell them to start working immediately and work hard for me, your master."
Zhou Qingfeng had trained some pottery slaves for the Nüzhen nobles in the city. After a while, these slaves were sent over after being whipped. On the other side, Chu Ying was also very satisfied and determined to do a big job. He also forcibly sent some slaves to Zhou Qingfeng to work and learn, especially the operation of this iron smelting furnace.
In order to learn the secret techniques of military formations, Zhou Qingfeng also helped Chu Ying train many iron smelting apprentices.
Now that the two production buildings had a new owner, the scene of hot work appeared again.
They dug clay, crushed ores, kneaded pottery, and burned charcoal. Pottery still needed to be dried in the shade before it could be burned, but the iron smelting furnace could be lit immediately after the fuel and ores were prepared. It took them a whole day to prepare. The next day, Chu Ying personally supervised the slaves to push the ore carts and pour the crushed ores into the mouth of the iron smelting furnace. After a while, the chimney of the furnace began to emit smoke and flames.
Excited, so excited!
This was the first iron smelting furnace in the hands of the Nüzhen Master in hundreds of years. Before this, the ironware of the Nüzhen Master was supplied by Daming.
This was the second day after Zhou Qingfeng left with his team. All the nobles in the city came to see the start of their iron smelting furnace. Especially when they saw the rising flames jumping at the mouth of the furnace, they all laughed and were extremely happy. If the temperature around the furnace was not too high, they would even go up to take a look.
"If that kid on the goat can come back alive this time, we must make him build a few more iron smelting furnaces for us."
"We also need to teach more slaves who can smelt iron. Right now, we don't have enough slaves."
"It's easy to teach slaves. If the city doesn't have enough, we can go to the north to catch them."
A group of Bei Lei and Bei Zi in the city talked non-stop, all hoping that their families could also have more property. But the longer they stayed beside the iron smelting furnace, the hotter they felt. The slaves who were responsible for looking after the iron smelting furnace could not stay beside the furnace and all retreated.
"What's going on? Is the furnace going to produce molten iron? "
"Master, the molten iron hasn't come out yet. But I don't know why it's too hot around the furnace, it can't be used. "
"You slaves just want to be lazy. Didn't Zhou Qingfeng's slaves work like this before? Why aren't they hot? Go up and watch, if you can't produce molten iron, I'll throw you into the furnace to smelt. "
The slaves kept retreating. Chu Ying waved his whip and kept lashing. His hand was so strong that the slaves who looked after the iron smelting furnace screamed and had no choice but to walk towards the furnace. But the temperature was too high when they got close. The heat was so strong that it even made their hair stand on end. When they got close, they couldn't even open their eyes.
After Chu Ying whipped a few times, even he felt that something was wrong. Previously, when Zhou Qingfeng organized the iron smelting, he had personally come to see it. Several times when he got close, he didn't feel that it was too hot to stay. But today, the temperature was too high, the flames seemed to be coming out of the furnace.
Fire, the furnace is on fire. "
"Why is the fire coming out from around the furnace?"
"What's going on? I didn't see this before! "
The slaves could no longer stay and fled. Chu Ying also saw that the flames were not coming out from the chimney of the iron smelting furnace, but from the refractory bricks of the furnace – this was clearly the furnace cracking!
"There are so many cracks on the furnace."
"Oh no, this furnace is broken."
"We've been fooled. This is clearly a broken furnace."
The iron smelting furnace finally burned like a torch, and the blazing fire in broad daylight could be seen for miles around. Chu Ying and the others all had to retreat until all the charcoal in the furnace was burned out. And when the charcoal was burned out, the iron mixed with it really turned into molten iron. But because there was no one operating it, when the temperature dropped, the molten iron solidified in the furnace again.
Now, the entire iron smelting furnace was completely ruined, and there was nothing left to play with.
This scene made Uța, Chu Ying, and the others all furious. One by one, they shouted and grabbed the slaves who were in charge of the iron smelting and interrogated them. It was just that none of the slaves could tell what had happened. Only the Jurchen blacksmiths under Wucha gave a rough idea of the truth. The furnace must have been poured with water from the top of the furnace when it stopped burning, and the furnace wall burst open, causing a crack to appear.
Water? Who poured the water?
Did it need to be said? It must have been Master Zhou's people.
When Uța learned the reason, he hurriedly ran to the pottery kiln he had occupied. But when he looked carefully, he found that the inside of the kiln was also full of cracks. This must have been the water that was poured into the kiln when the furnace was burning hot.
This time, the Jurchen nobles were completely at a loss. Only then did they realize that while they were plotting against someone else, the other party was also secretly on guard against them. They could teach you the techniques of firing pottery and the techniques of smelting molten iron, but the techniques of building kilns and iron furnaces were not something that could be learned and memorized at a glance. It involved rather complicated mathematics and construction science.
Zhou Qingfeng had spent a lot of time and effort to build these two buildings, and the Jurchen Daoist wanted to copy him from the beginning? Could they please popularize the nine-year compulsory education first?
When it was finally determined that these two fired buildings couldn't be repaired or rebuilt, Uța and the others gathered again and angrily scolded Zhou Qingfeng for being too cunning.
"I'll immediately send people to chase after that boy and catch him." His plot had been seen through long ago. Uța was already angry. When he remembered that his son had died in the hands of the other party, he wanted to settle old and new grudges together.
Only then did Chu Ying realize that he had been fooled by Zhou Qingfeng. He also understood that this boy's cleverness in the past was all for him to see, but in fact, he had ulterior motives – he originally wanted to train an obedient slave, but now he realized that it was not the case at all!
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