In the Three Kingdoms period, the opening scene features the killing of Huang Gai, shocking Zhou Yu!

My hand feels numb.

The knife in his hand was trembling.

Ma Chao stood still.

Not moving.

I didn't look closely, I just frowned slightly.

A little impatient.

Who is it?

"Are you crazy?"

"Don't you know that unauthorized personnel are not allowed on the construction site?"

Xu Chu lowered his head.

He looked at his precious broadsword.

That was a gift personally bestowed by Cao Cao; it was forged from refined steel and could cut through iron like mud.

But now?

On the blade.

A hole the size of a soybean popped out.

It's chipped.

Let's take another look at the "strange weapon" in Ma Chao's hand.

Not even a white mark was left.

"this……"

Xu Chu was dumbfounded.

"My knife..."

"It crashed?"

"What kind of demonic soldier are you?"

Ma Chao then recognized Xu Chu.

Then he caught a glimpse of Cao Cao peeking out from the bushes, with half his head sticking out.

I was taken aback.

In the past, he would have had to say a few words to Cao Cao.

Now, get as far away from me as possible.

The only annoyance was having my work interrupted.

"Xu Chu?"

"The traitor Cao?"

Ma Chao slammed his pickaxe into the ground.

"Want to fight?"

"I'm busy."

"Today's quota hasn't been fully allocated yet."

Cao Cao realized he could no longer hide it.

We had no choice but to bite the bullet and move forward.

I tidied up those two fake mustaches.

We cannot lose our momentum.

"Meng Qi!"

"Didn't you jump off a cliff back then?"

"I led a large army to search for you for three days, but I never expected to meet you here. Now I can rest assured and finally report back to your father."

"But what you're holding... is that big hammer!"

"It smashed the stone open in one go; could it be a siege weapon?"

Ma Chao looked at Cao Cao as if he were a fool.

How could someone as intelligent as the Prime Minister not even recognize a coal mining tool?

"This is where the coal is mined."

"Designed by Zhao Yu."

"Specifically designed to break through rock strata."

"fart!"

Cao Cao was furious.

"Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Do you think I'm ignorant of quality?"

Who uses manganese steel in their coal mining operations?

"Whose coal mining could break Xu Chu's sword?"

"And these people too!"

He then pointed to the villagers working around him:

"The hoes in their hands!"

"So bright! So sharp!"

"It's clearly a variant of the halberd!"

Where is Zhao Yu?

"Make him come and explain to me in person!"

……

"Oh dear."

"What's all the noise about?"

"I could hear you shouting from far away."

"Don't do anything that could undermine unity, don't you understand?"

A lazy voice came from behind.

From far to near.

Everyone turned around.

Zhao Yu walked over slowly.

He was not carrying any weapons or documents.

I took half a taro.

Peeling as they walked.

There was still some black ash on his lips.

"Yo."

Zhao Yu was not surprised to see Cao Cao.

I took a bite of the taro.

To put it vaguely:

"Father-in-law, what brings you here?"

Seeing his nonchalant attitude, Cao Cao's anger flared even more:

"Why am I here? Your business is huge!"

What? You don't want to buy brothels anymore, so you've switched to robbery?

"What makes you say that?"

Zhao Yu looked completely innocent.

Upon hearing Zhao Yu's words, Cao Cao immediately realized that most of the secret report was just empty talk.

But the scene before him was too dazzling.

He then kicked aside the idle hoe at his feet, which landed right at Zhao Yu's feet:

"The group of people around Meng Qi, their posture..."

And the weapon in his hand.

"Mengqi said those were farm tools, but who would use steel to make farm tools?"

"Explain! Explain to me!"

So that's what it was about...

Zhao Yu was completely speechless.

"Some things."

"Seeing is not necessarily believing."

"A person with a guilty conscience sees everything as a knife."

"My fiefdom is full of pebbles, how am I supposed to cultivate it?"

"How can we farm without good steel?"

"How do we produce food?"

"How do we pay taxes to the big man?"

"you……"

"You're using this steel, capable of cutting through gold and jade, to farm?"

"Go dig in the dirt?"

"Go cut down the tree roots?"

"Zhao Yu!"

Cao Cao covered his forehead and sighed deeply.

"What a waste!"

"Utterly devoid of conscience!"

"c"

"Do you know how many soldiers' lives could be saved if this steel were made into armor?"

"You actually used it for an old farmer to hoe the field?"

Zhao Yu didn't take it seriously and shrugged.

"Food is the most important thing for people."

"There's plenty of steel."

"It's flowing inside that blast furnace over there."

"It's worthless."

"Not worth the money..."

Cao Cao clutched his chest, his body swaying slightly.

Xu Chu and Jia Xu quickly helped him up.

"Prime Minister, Prime Minister, please take care."

Zhao Yu leaned closer.

He pulled another roasted taro from his pocket.

It was handed to Cao Cao:

"Prime Minister."

"Calm down."

"Here, have a bite of taro."

"Extra sweet."

"Now that we've finished eating, shall we talk business?"

"For example... how about I send you some steel?"

钢？

Give it to me?

That would be great!

My heart, I command you, do not be agitated.

Cao Cao took a big bite of the taro.

"talk!"

"We must talk!"

"I'll take all of this steel!"

"If you dare to use it to make a hoe again..."

"I'm not leaving this place!"

……

Ice Crystal Pavilion.

On the main road leading to the Marquis's residence.

This is a road that is only 200 meters long, but it is one that will be recorded in history.

Cao Cao stood with his hands behind his back.

My feet were on the asphalt road.

With each step, he had to stomp twice.

There was no dust flying around, and no muddy slumps.

It's even better than the slag road at the entrance of the village.

He crouched down and touched the ground.

"Black as ink, hard as iron, yet not as hard as stone to hurt your feet."

"Zhao Yu, what kind of rare and precious materials did you use to pave this road?"

"Isn't that too extravagant?"

Zhao Yu followed beside him, still carrying the steel hoe in his hand.

"Oh, Prime Minister, this is hardly a treasure."

"This is garbage."

"Industrial waste."

"scrap?"

Cao Cao's eyes widened.

All of them are unbelievable.

"yes!"

"When making coke, a black and smelly oil will flow out, which is called coal tar."

"Boil the oil, mix the remaining residue with pebbles, spread it on the ground and compact it, that's it."

We call it—asphalt road.

"Currently, production capacity is insufficient, so we can only deploy this much."

"When there are more blast furnaces and more coal is mined in the future."

"I plan to build a Bingye Expressway."

"Pave it directly from here to the entrance of the Prime Minister's residence in Ye City."

"When the time comes, you can come to eat hot pot by carriage. It might only take a day to get there, without even a bump in the wind."

Cao Cao had already pictured his army marching rapidly along such a road.

From Yecheng to Xiangyang, it's a journey of a thousand li a day.

Wherever the troops fought, roads were laid out.

cow.

If Qin Shi Huang knew that later generations had invented the new imperial highway, he would be laughing in his sleep.

……

Inside the Hou Mansion courtyard.

The aroma is tangy.

A black pot was placed in the center.

It was cast by Zhao Yu using newly refined pig iron.

It has a diameter of one meter.

There were honeycomb briquettes at the bottom of the pot.

Inside the pot was a goose cut into large pieces.

These days, geese can be used to guard homes and property; they're quite fierce.

In Zhao Yu's opinion, a guard goose is no better than a goose cut into pieces.