Chapter 11 Vulgar Shortcuts

"Since the eldest brother will be the governor of Dongjun sooner or later, in my opinion, it is better to recruit some young men from Dongjun first..."

Cao Hong interrupted at this time.

Chen Gong immediately objected: "It's impossible. The area around Luoyang was plundered by Dong's thieves and plundered by the princes. Those who fled fled and those who were forced to conscript had few young men left. If we recruit troops from Dongjun again, It's not a good thing, but a bad thing. If Duke Cao takes over Dongjun in the future, he will definitely be opposed by the people."

Cao Mengde nodded: "What Brother Gongtai said is true."

Then he said to Cao Ren and Cao Hong: "Don't mention the forced conscription. However, we will announce the recruitment of troops and do it. But it will be done on a voluntary basis. As many as we can recruit."

Cao Ren agreed: "Brother, what you said makes sense. I brought 500 soldiers and horses from Chenliu, plus the hundreds in the city, it's just over a thousand. If we can recruit 3,000 and train them rigorously, the thieves will be counted as tens of thousands." Even if we attack, we can defend it."

Cao Mengde stroked his beard with satisfaction and said with a smile, "That's exactly it."

Then he looked at Zhao Yu: "What do you think, Mr. Zhao?"

Zhao Yu waved his hand quickly: "Recruiting and training troops is none of my business."

Cao Mengde was helpless.

But then I heard Zhao Yu say something else: "However, what you need to recruit and train troops is money and food. In this regard, I have two methods."

"oh?!"

Cao Mengde was overjoyed: "Please teach me, sir!"

Zhao Yu smiled slightly: "The bet I made with Mr. Gongtai before was related to this. But let's leave the bet later. The method I want to give Meng De came up with ease."

As he spoke, Zhao Yu opened his palms. First, a bright mirror appeared on the table in front of him, and then a piece of snow-white soap also appeared on the table.

These two objects immediately attracted the attention of the four people present.

Cao Mengde walked out of the desk, came to the front, picked up the mirror, looked at himself, and was shocked: "What kind of precious mirror is this? It's so clear!"

Zhao Yu smiled and said: "Be careful. This thing can't be compared to a bronze mirror without being dropped."

Then he said to Cao Mengde: "Mengde must know that. In the past few days, you and I have been wandering around the county. I occasionally asked Brother Mengde to pay for some random objects. I also asked Brother Mengde to search for water jade, cinnabar, and feldspar. .This is how this mirror came about.”

Shuiyu was the name for crystal in this era. As for cinnabar, it was cinnabar, which could be used to refine mercury. etc. are all relevant materials.

Four people gathered around and passed the palm-sized mirror around, marveling at it.

Cao Mengde said: "It's actually made of water jade cinnabar? Is it an immortal trick?"

Zhao Yu laughed: "What are these immortal methods? When I made the first piece, I did use magic. But later I figured out a method. As long as I follow the steps, I can make it in batches. Meng De, look at the value of this mirror. geometry?"

"At least 10,000 yuan! Otherwise, you can't buy it!" Cao Mengde was also a profiteer. His eyes lit up and he shouted loudly.

Chen Gong on the side nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes. As long as you get hundreds or even thousands of dollars, and you can raise three to five thousand soldiers and horses for a year, it won't be a problem."

Cao Mengde took the mirror from Cao Hong: "I thought Mr. Zhao wanted these things to practice immortal magic, but I didn't expect it was for my great cause, Cao Mengde. Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Zhao!"

Zhao Yu smiled and said: "This is nothing. There will be more good things in the future, so don't be surprised."

Then he said: "Don't just look in the mirror, look at this piece of soap."

Only then did the four of them turn their attention to the snow-white soap.

"Soap?"

Cao Mengde picked it up and didn't see why.

Zhao Yu called to the door: "Come here, bring a basin of water in."

When the waiter brought the water, Zhao Yu asked Cao Mengde to make his hands dirty and oily, and then asked him to wash them. The effect of the soap was immediately apparent.

"I asked Meng De to prepare lard and alkali for me, and fumbled to create soap. This thing is best at removing oil stains. Just like a mirror, if flower petals are added during production, it will still have a fragrance. Once popularized , must be liked by wealthy families. Eat wealthy families, these days, only wealthy families have money and food."

Cao Mengde put down the soap, straightened his clothes, fitted them and bowed to the end: "Sir, you are my timely rain!"

"Hey, I told you not to be polite to me, and here you are again!" Zhao Yu waved his sleeves and helped Cao Mengde up: "Now, here are the formulas and manufacturing processes. You can find someone to do it yourself, and I won't care."

He took out two more pieces of paper and threw them to Cao Mengde like garbage: "I can't stand you being like this the most. I'm leaving."

Gone in a flash.

Cao Mengde clutched the formula tightly and was stunned for a long time.

Chen Gong said aside: "I, Chen Gongtai, are really blind. I misunderstood Mr. Zhao. I really shouldn't have. Ming Gong, Mr. Zhao is really an extraordinary person! With these two formulas, I will not be short of money and food!"

Cao Mengde sighed: "Meeting Mr. Zhao is like Ji Fa meeting Jiang Shang."

Then he handed the formula to Cao Hong: "Zilian, you will handle this matter throughout the whole process without making any mistakes."

Cao Hong quickly took the formula and put it in his arms like a treasure: "Brother, don't worry! I'll go down and summon the craftsmen immediately to study the formula and make sure that the thing is made in the shortest possible time."

"Yes." Cao Mengde nodded, pondered for a moment, and said to Cao Ren: "Zixiao, please quickly invite Wei Zixu..."

Before he finished speaking, Cao Mengde was stunned again, and then said in frustration: "Zixu is dead, I have lost a good friend..."

Then he said: "Zilian, I asked you to send Zixu's body back to Chenliu, have you done it yet?"

Cao Hong said seriously: "I asked my son and my wife to go, now I have returned to my hometown."

"Hey..." Cao Mengde suddenly lost his interest and fell down, sighing again and again: "I recruited troops to start a rebellion, and it was Zixu who funded it... I just thought that Zixu is a big businessman, leave this matter to him. Go and do it, it will be done properly, then you remember that he died in battle..."

He looked up again: "Zixu has a son, how old is he this year?"

Cao Hong said: "My son Xu's name is Zhen, and he has just reached the crown."

"Okay. You arrange for the craftsmen to study the formula, and then go to Chenliu in person and invite Wei Zhen." Cao Mengde made a decision immediately.

"Yes, brother."

The person Cao Mengde lamented was Wei Zi, who sponsored his rebellion against Dong. Wei Zi, whose courtesy name was Zi Xu, was born in Chen Liu. It's a pity that Wei Zi's life was short. Just before, he died in Xingyang in the battle to pursue Dong Zhuo. Cao Mengde was then ambushed and defeated by Xu Rong.

Wei Zi was a big businessman from Chenliu and had a rich family. He was able to help Cao Mengde raise thousands of soldiers and horses at one time. When Cao Mengde got the formula, his first thought was to hand it over to Wei Zi to run it, but he suddenly remembered that Wei Zi was dead, so he felt sad.

Speaking of which, Cao Mengde is also a temperamental person. He is said to be suspicious. Which high-ranking person is not suspicious? Those who were not suspicious would have been played to death by their subordinates. The so-called suspicion is not used, it is just a facade. If there is no suspicion, the subordinate will be unsafe.

Cao Mengde himself is a bit of a literary youth, and he is also a sweet-tempered person. He also sheds tears often, but certainly not as good as Liu Bei. Liu Bei cried when he thought of it.

At this time, Wei Zi was dead. Cao Mengde thought of compensating his son Wei Zhen and took action immediately.

"Zixiao, I leave all the recruitment and training to you."

Seeing that Cao Mengde was not very interested, Cao Ren nodded and agreed, then resigned and left with Chen Gong and Cao Hong.

Zhao Yu hummed an unknown tune and walked all the way back to the yard.

The old woman at home was cooking. Zhao Yu suddenly became interested and walked into the kitchen quickly. Not paying attention to the horrified look of the old woman, he took out a lot of ingredients and condiments such as chili peppers. He grabbed the old woman and taught her how to cook.

So lunch finally had a bit of a modern flavor.

Zhao Yu didn't care about his appetite at first, but it was better to eat well than to eat casually. Before coming to this time and space, Zhao Yu made some preparations. There is a world of Chaos Beads, what can’t be prepared?

And now, he eats three meals a day. Instead of two meals a day.

A matter of habit.

As Zhao Yu himself said, apart from hanging out and chatting with Cao Mengde these days, he was actually not really idle at all.

When you have free time, go into the small world of Chaos Bead and do things in it.

For example, burning glass and making soap are all by-products of this process.

In ancient times, as written in novels, people often started with glass and soap. Although it is a bit cliché, it is a shortcut. Zhao Yu doesn't need to start a business or anything. But if these things are given to Cao Mengde, they should still be of help to him. Whether it is firing glass or making soap, craftsman Zhao Yu knows that reading books is not free.

But those who know know that it took even Zhao Yu a long time to fully explore the craftsmanship and adapt it to this era.

Fortunately, the speed of time in the Chaos Bead small world is different from that outside, with a gap of twenty times. So despite the fact that it has only been a few days from the outside, Zhao Yu has already achieved a lot on the inside.

Burning glass, in the beginning, also required mana. Later, I gradually explored and figured out the process completely, and I can still bake it without using magic power. As for soap, it's much simpler.

But things like this are just side effects.

What Zhao Yu really experimented with in the small world was steel forging and crop cultivation.

Agriculture is the foundation of the country, and this cannot be circumvented. We must let Cao Mengde unify the world as soon as possible, complete Zhao Yu's goal as soon as possible, break the so-called three-legged alliance, and put an end to the so-called five chaotic flowers, thereby stirring up time and space and allowing Zhao Yu to understand that the cultivation and improvement of crops is the key to transforming this era. Agriculture is Zhao Yu’s first choice.

When Zhao Yu came, he did not prepare the seeds of modern time and space. He directly asked Cao Mengde to provide some grain seeds, and he cultivated and improved them in the small world of Chaos Bead.

Firstly, the time flow rate in the small world of the Chaos Bead is different, and there is enough time for improvement and cultivation. Secondly, the small world has abundant energy, which is most suitable for improvement. Nowadays, it is quite obvious that the improved grains have much higher yields than modern ones. However, it is not very stable yet and needs to be cultivated for several generations before it becomes stable.

As for steel, in this era, it is about armaments. It is also extremely important.

Zhao Yu knows how to make steel, but he also needs to find a method suitable for the productivity of this era before he can use it.

These two things were exactly what Zhao Yu planned to bet with Chen Gong. No matter which one, it is something that can have a huge impact on the world, so Chen Gong is destined to lose!

In addition to these, Zhao Yu will do more experiments in the future. In general, he will use all means to help Cao Mengde conquer the world and use all means to change history.

And Zhao Yu would never go into battle in person if he had no choice but to do so. Once he loses his status, if he, a monk, is determined to kill someone, who can escape, like Yuan Shao, Dong Zhuo, or Liu Bei, or Sun Jian? Maybe there is some obsessive-compulsive disorder in it. I always feel that this historical matter needs to be changed by the people of history before it will be as Zhao Yu intended.