The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 483 High Place
"Your Majesty, how about this blast furnace?"

When Du Yu smiled and showed Cao Mao the blast furnace in front of him, Cao Mao was startled and hurried forward, "Ma Gong! Come down quickly! Come down!"

At this moment, Ma Jun was standing on the blast furnace.

Cao Mao estimated that the blast furnace was more than two meters high and more than three meters long.

When Ma Jun saw the emperor suddenly arrive, he also climbed down from the blast furnace in a panic.

"Your Majesty, I, your Majesty, pay my respects to you. I have no intention of overstepping my bounds. I beg Your Majesty to forgive me!"

According to etiquette, Ma Jun could not stand higher than the emperor, and the height of buildings in Luoyang could not exceed that of the imperial palace. In short, he was standing on a high place to look at the emperor, which was an act of usurpation.

But Cao Mao did not ask about this, because he was afraid that Ma Jun would fall.

This man is already very old. If he falls, the scientific level of Wei will be regressed by more than 20 years.

He quickly said, "What are you talking about, Lord Ma? I'm worried that you might get hurt. Don't do anything dangerous again. Didn't I send someone to help you?"

"Yuan Kai?!"

Cao Mao suddenly looked at Du Yu with dissatisfaction in his eyes.

Du Yu lowered his head and said: "Your Majesty, it is my fault."

Ma Jun stammered, "Don't blame Minister Du, don't blame Minister Du. I wanted to do it myself. I'm young and inexperienced, so I did it myself. Minister Du, the people you arranged for me are all very good."

Cao Mao shook his hand and said to Du Yu sternly, "Send more people to accompany Ma Gong. Even if he wants to go up, he must have two people to support him!"

"If anything happens to Lord Ma, you, the Minister, will no longer be able to do this!"

Although Ma Jun also knew that Du Yu was the emperor's confidant and these words were meant to comfort him, he was inexplicably moved when he heard the emperor say this. He was not a big shot when he was in the court, and now he was just an ordinary retired old man, yet he could receive such love from the emperor.

Du Yu took the order and repeatedly stated that he would never let the old man take any risks in the future.

Cao Mao then followed them and looked at the blast furnace in front of them.

Blast furnace smelting method.

Ancient China's steel manufacturing has always been at the forefront of the world, and the second large-scale breakthrough in steel smelting technology occurred during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.

In fact, during this period, many scientific and technological fields made great breakthroughs.

Cao Mao speculated that this was probably because of the dramatic changes in social customs and the decline in the binding force of etiquette and laws. In the Later Han Dynasty, if you spent all day studying inventions, you were not doing your job properly. Even poetry was not considered a proper job in the Later Han Dynasty, let alone scientific inventions.

But in the Wei and Jin dynasties, no one cared if you competed with pigs for food, and they praised you for being uninhibited. So what if you had a little hobby of scientific invention? No one cared at all.

As a result, scientists emerged in large numbers, and the children of wealthy families had nothing to do and began to pursue various hobbies.

Ma Jun was also from a prominent family, the Fufeng Ma family. Zheng Xuan's former teacher, Ma Rong, was from the Fufeng Ma family.

During the peaceful period of the Later Han Dynasty, if Ma Jun dared to ignore his family's classics and engage in scientific research, the elders of his clan would have broken his legs!
Cao Mao told Du Yu about this smelting method.

Ma Jun did not disappoint Cao Mao.

At this moment, Ma Jun was explaining the blast furnace in front of him to Cao Mao.

Ma Jun changed the smelting method from charcoal to coal. In addition, he added a "fire wall" inside the blast furnace.

This greatly increased the carbon content in pig iron. In addition, he also improved the steel boiling method, which was also a new thing that appeared in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. The first official record of it appeared in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and was widely used in the Wei and Jin Dynasties.

Cao Mao was extremely excited as he listened to Ma Jun's story.

Compared with those farm tools, the improvement in smelting technology is of great benefit to the entire Wei Dynasty.

With the improvement of smelting technology, both agricultural tools and weapons can be greatly improved.

Improving the quality of agricultural tools will accelerate the development of agriculture, and there is no need to say more about improving the quality of weapons.

When the weapons of the Wei soldiers collided with those of the Shu soldiers, and the Shu soldiers' weapons were cut off, what kind of scene was that?

With such a crushing technical advantage and high morale, what did Shu Kingdom have to fight against Wei Kingdom?
In other words, Cao Mao was good at cultivating his energy, otherwise, he would have laughed out loud at this moment.

The power of science.

The look he gave Ma Jun became increasingly gentle. He just told Ma Jun some ideas, including how to conserve heat, and the rest were all figured out by Ma Jun through practice.

He remembered that Shu and Wu actually had scientists, but they were not given important positions.

But I can’t remember his name clearly. But it doesn’t matter. I can recruit him after I destroy these two countries.

Cao Mao smiled and said, "Apart from smelting, we can also come up with better methods for mining."

"I wonder if Mr. Ma has ever read 'Fan Zi Ji Ran'?"

"Of course I have."

Cao Mao smiled and said, "This book records that saltpeter comes from Longdao. Nowadays, those who like to take powder like to refine various powder medicines to eat."

Hearing this, Du Yu's face changed drastically, and he hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, this Zhusan is definitely not a good thing." "Don't be afraid, I don't want Ma Gong to help me make medicine, I want him to think about another thing."

The history of gunpowder is actually very long. The first record of gunpowder formula in history was during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and gunpowder was officially used in war in the late Tang Dynasty.

In other words, gunpowder technology was most likely invented during the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

In fact, this is easy to understand. After all, in this era, there were many people who took various kinds of medicine and practiced alchemy. Everyone in this era talked about metaphysics. They believed that ghosts and gods could make people immortal. The Book of Jin is full of long chapters about ghosts and gods.

During their process of refining elixirs and living in seclusion to seek immortality, they discovered that several minerals could not be burned together. Once burned, they would immediately become immortals, and this thing was then recorded.

But these inventions were improved step by step. None of the four great inventions appeared suddenly. They all came about through a long period of exploration and development.

It took more than a hundred years for gunpowder to be invented and used in military affairs.

Cao Mao did not expect Ma Jun to suddenly invent gunpowder and use it to blow up the walls of Shu.

But the sooner it appears, the sooner it will be used in the military.

Even if Cao Mao could not use it in his lifetime, future generations would be able to use it sooner or later.

He told Ma Jun about his ideas, and Du Yu was listening.

Du Yu also came from a family of Confucian classics, but he was very interested in these things.

It seems that people of this era like to have some hobbies.

When Cao Mao left here, Du Yu followed him and continued to praise Ma Jun.

Cao Mao said, "You can't put all the responsibilities on Ma Gong alone. You need to recruit more talented people like him. Can't our Great Wei find other talented people? Even if it costs a lot of money, you must recruit them for me. You must invite them."

"I know you're very busy, but you just saw how many problems a large blast furnace like that can solve? How much of an improvement can it make?"

"The upgrading of agricultural tools alone would fill the national treasury with grain!"

"You can't take it lightly."

"only!!"

At this moment, in Zhong Hui's mansion.

Dozens of people stood in front of Zhong Hui, all with serious expressions.

Zhong Hui said seriously, "Do you remember what I said?"

"Remember what Lord Zhong reported to Your Majesty: the only person Shu needs to fear is Zhuge Zhan; the rest are nothing to worry about."

"Jiang Wei poses no threat to Wei. He's absolutely no match for General Deng. However, Zhuge Zhan, relying on his father's prestige, is greatly respected by the Shu army and the people. He is also a man of great talent. If the Shu emperor were to use this man to replace Jiang Wei, it would be a disaster for Wei!"

These people repeated Zhong Hui's words.

Hearing these words, Zhong Hui felt sick.

Zhong Hui really would not lower himself to help others gain fame, and he was even less willing to use himself as a stepping stone to lift others up.

However, for the sake of business, Zhong Hui endured it!

Jiang Wei is difficult to deal with, and his desire to attack is very strong. Although Shu may not be a match for Wei, Wei does not want to be suddenly attacked by Shu.

Compared with him, Zhuge Zhan is far inferior.

If Zhuge Zhan could replace Jiang Wei, Zhong Hui guaranteed that the winning rate would increase many times. Of course, even if he failed, it would not matter, as long as he could stir up disputes and conflicts within Shu.

Jiang Wei would never give up the Hanzhong defense line easily, and it was even more impossible for him to let a young man like Zhuge Zhan replace him. But if he refused, the situation would be different in the eyes of the Shu emperor.

Zhong Hui knew that the Emperor of Shu Kingdom valued Prime Minister Zhuge, and he was also very fond of Zhuge Zhan.

He was younger than himself, but he had already served as the Minister of the Secretariat. I heard that they were planning to promote him to the position of General of the Guards.

This is simply outrageous. Zhong Hui cannot stop his promotion, so why not just give him more fuel? He doesn't need to be a general of the guards. Wouldn't it be better to make him a general in one step?

Look at the State of Wu. They also had generals in their twenties, and wasn’t the final result also very good?

You have to keep up the good work and try to surpass the person next to you as soon as possible.

After I destroy Shu, I will show everyone in the world whether you can stand on equal footing with me!
Zhong Hui looked at the people in front of him and ordered, "Now that you know about this, spread the word everywhere. The people of Shu will find out about it, and there will be no need for you to go to Shu."

"The people of Shu are definitely more willing to believe the news I have gathered. They are in a state of panic right now. I wonder how high they will push Zhuge Zhan after hearing this news."

There was a smile on Zhong Hui's lips, but his eyes were extremely fierce.

"There are so many brave warriors in Shu. I wonder when I can finally meet them again."

"I'm really looking forward to it."

ps: Sorry for the mistake and failed to publish on time

(End of this chapter)