Yunzhong City, in the prefect's mansion.
Liu Sheng led the civil and military officials in the city to welcome the imperial court's angel.
"His Majesty has decreed that Liu Sheng, the King of Clouds, has made outstanding military achievements and greatly boosted the morale of the Han Dynasty. Therefore, he has given Yanmen Prefecture as a fief.”
"Thank you, Emperor!"
Liu Sheng received the imperial edict from the imperial court more than half a month later.
At this moment, the prefect's manor was filled with joy.
Yanmen County was a big county in the north with a population of more than 500,000.
Including Yunzhong and Dingxiang counties, the population of Yunzhong Guo exceeded one million.
According to the ratio of ten men to one soldier, the country could recruit up to 100,000 troops.
Of course, this was only a theoretical number. In reality, it was almost impossible.
According to the calculations of the officials in the country, maintaining an army of 20,000 people was a reasonable range.
Any more would increase the burden on the people and have a certain impact on the industry and agriculture.
Before Liu Sheng's arrival, Yun Zhongguo's officials did not have the concept of industry.
Liu Sheng had carved out a large area in the City Amongst the Clouds and built dozens of workshops of various sizes.
The officials here had a clear understanding of the industry.
Compared to agriculture, industry created more value and was more effective. It contributed a lot of jobs and taxes.
This caused countless officials who had originally despised merchants to change their attitudes and praise this.
Some open-minded officials even encouraged the descendants of the clan to join this wave.
At this time, the Han people's thinking had not been restricted by the rule of " rejecting all schools of thought and only respecting Confucianism ".
People's acceptance of new things was far greater than that of the later dynasties.
This was a blessing for Liu Sheng and the burly man.
Many officials had secretly poached a few craftsmen to produce stone bricks, porcelain, and other products that did not require much skill to compete with Liu Sheng.
Liu Sheng wasn't angry. He even encouraged her.
His strength alone was limited.
Only by cultivating a new class could they fundamentally transform this world.
For this reason, he even transferred some profitable workshops to some officials who were close to him.
After all, to Liu Sheng, earning money was just a means. Strengthening his own strength was his goal.
"Your Majesty, the officials of the Imperial Bureau have reported that an astonishing amount of iron ore has been discovered in the western part of the Plain in the Clouds.”
Hearing this news, Liu Sheng stood up excitedly.
Ever since the craftsmen from Chang 'an arrived, he had arranged for a large number of craftsmen to go to the designated place to look for mineral veins.
At this time, Baotou was still an undeveloped virgin land, and there was no one around.
In addition, Liu Sheng had only drawn a rough range, so the progress of the mission was not fast.
It was only recently that there was a breakthrough.
Speaking of which, he had to thank the army that accompanied him.
In order to protect the safety of the miners, there were many cavalrymen in the army.
Because there was a grassland nearby, the warhorses were raised to be fat and strong.
One day, the military camp suddenly lost a few warhorses. This was not a small matter, and it immediately reached the ears of the general of this army.
After spending a lot of effort, they finally found these lost warhorses in a valley.
According to the soldiers who had arrived at the time, these warhorses were licking a few black stones.
When the man brought the warhorse back, he also brought the stone back out of curiosity.
When he returned, he was immediately recognized by the Blacksmith. It was a piece of high-quality iron ore.
The miners used the valley as the center and finally found the location of the mineral vein.
Hearing this story, Liu Sheng understood what was going on.
That iron ore probably contained some nutrients that warhorses needed, which was why it had such strange behavior.
Finding the iron mine was a happy event, but there was a very tricky problem in front of Liu Sheng.
The place where the iron mine was located was deserted for dozens of miles. It was not easy to mine it on a large scale.
Moreover, the matter of confidentiality had to be put on the agenda.
This was not the safe mainland. Liu Sheng would not let his guard down against the Xiongnu.
"Pull all the captives that we brought back last time to mine and watch them closely.”Liu Sheng ordered.
Anyway, they were all Xiongnu people. Even if all of them died, he would not feel bad.
That was the only way for now. Liu Sheng planned to let the craftsmen experiment with new smelting methods and accumulate skills.
When there were enough human resources or when the external conditions improved, they would carry out large-scale iron mining.
At this moment, an uninvited guest suddenly arrived at the City Amongst the Clouds.
"You said you are the envoy of the King of Wu?"
Liu Sheng looked at the middle-aged man in front of him with suspicion.
He was suspicious of the other party's identity and purpose.
He felt that something bad was about to happen.
"That's right. As the leader of the dukes, the King of Wu sent me here to resolve the conflict between the King of Cloud and the King of Zhao after hearing about it.”
In terms of seniority, Liu Bi was indeed the oldest among the current dukes.
However, these words were enough to coax outsiders.
Liu Sheng knew that the King of Wu was a rebel leader and had a close relationship with the State of Zhao.
He didn't believe that this person had come with the intention of mediating.
"Oh, the King of Zhao colluded with the Xiongnu to invade our country. How much money does he intend to compensate me for my losses?”
Hearing Liu Sheng's shameless words, the messenger of the King of Wu had to use a lot of effort to suppress the urge to complain.
It was true that the King of Zhao was the one who started this matter, but in the end, the State of Zhao suffered a huge loss.
Yun Zhongguo, on the other hand, had gained a lot from this conflict.
Not only did he make a fortune in Zhao, but the imperial court also rewarded him.
Now, these words sounded like he had gotten a bargain and was still trying to act good.
If he had known that Liu Sheng had made a huge fortune on the grassland, he would definitely have given the word 'shameless' to him.
"Your Majesty, you must be joking. What my king means is that as fellow Han clan relatives, harmony should be valued.”
"That's easy. Since King Zhao has lost money, I'll forgive him!”
The messenger almost spat out a mouthful of water. He had never seen such a shameless person.
It was already good enough that King Zhao didn't ask for compensation, but you actually went along with it.
For some reason, he had a bad feeling about this operation.
........
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