Chapter 1 Being Followed

Standing on the outer wall of the castle, Zhang Tie watched as the construction workers operated a rail trailer and pushed a huge steam boiler at a material storage place in the distance to the gate of the castle, and then the rail crane moved it to the bottom of the castle. The steam boiler was slowly hoisted up.

Several construction workers from the Changfeng Merchant Group wearing hard hats tied a few steel ropes to the hanging plate to control the balance of the big guy, while communicating loudly with the people who operated the rail crane on the high platform.

"Slow down, slow down, a little to the left, yes, a little later to the left, okay, keep going up, keep going up, right..."

The construction site of the entire castle is in full swing, and everyone is busy with their own work. After the main project of the castle is completed, there are still a lot of follow-up projects to be carried out-the most important of which are the installation of the castle's steam power unit and various defensive weapons and debugging, as well as interior and exterior decoration and greening of the castle.

Although the current castle looks good, it's really ugly. It's just a concrete lump with no aesthetics, exposed cement and various thick steel components everywhere.

Liu Gong, the person in charge of the construction team of the Changfeng Merchant Group, and another steward of the Changfeng Merchant Group accompanied Zhang Tie to inspect the construction progress of the castle on the castle wall of the outer fort. hat, Zhang Tie looked at it and asked various questions with great interest.

"Is this steam boiler the main boiler of the castle?" Zhang Tie asked, pointing at the big guy lifted into the air by a crane.

"Yes, this is the main power boiler of the castle. The output power is 9,600 horsepower. This main boiler is usually responsible for the power output of the castle's anti-aircraft weapons and two main ballistas. It is matched with this, and there are two other units with a slightly lower output power. Smaller conventional power boilers, each with an output power of 3,400 horsepower, are mainly used to drive several distributed strike systems and small crossbows that will be installed on the castle!" Zhang Tie's question involved himself Major, Liu Gong immediately answered.

Zhang Tie pointed to the tallest defensive arrow tower in the castle, "Is this main power boiler installed under the arrow tower?"

"Yes, this main power boiler is installed in the power room of the arrow tower, and the other two boilers are safely guarded at this position and this position..." Liu Gong pointed to the two places outside the castle and inside the castle. .

Zhang Tie thought about the explosions of steam boilers he had heard before, and he was a little worried that in this era, apart from the alchemy bombs made by alchemists, steam boilers are the only thing that can explode, but although the explosion of steam boilers is powerful It's amazing, but strictly speaking, it's not actually an explosion. It's just the rapid release of high-pressure steam energy in a very short period of time, which is different from the explosion of an alchemy bomb.

But if this thing really exploded, it would be enough to make the castle drink a pot. Zhang Tie is the one who watched the castle being built day by day. With the hard and rough concrete walls, Zhang Tie still has some unreal feeling in his heart, and he still feels a little illusory about the fact that he will soon own a castle, but there is no doubt that Zhang Tie is still devoted to this castle. many emotions.

These feelings, in addition to the astronomical debt of four or five million gold coins that can make ordinary people feel desperate, are also mixed with some other things.

Because there is a word cloud in Lan Yunxi's name, and this place is also called Yunju Mountain, Zhang Tie chose this place for the construction of the castle.

Also because owning a castle is almost a dream that every man in this era will have when he was a child,

This castle will also be owned by Zhang Tie in the future.

"Will these boilers explode?" Zhang Tie asked seriously.

"Hehe, the boiler you mentioned that will explode is an old-fashioned steam boiler. This castle uses a new-style water-tube steam boiler with a relatively complicated structure. Its thermal efficiency and output pressure are higher than ordinary boilers. There are triple automatic protection switches for water level, temperature, and pressure, so you can rest assured no matter in terms of safety or performance!" Liu Gong patted his chest confidently.

Hearing this, Zhang Tie finally felt relieved.

"What needs to be considered here is actually the issue of the guards and resident personnel of this castle!" Manager Ou of the Changfeng Merchant Group who was with Zhang Tie took up the conversation, "This castle will only take 20 days at most. It will be completed, and the full-effect potion will be produced here immediately after the completion, and it will definitely attract many people to spy on it. To support the complete defense and security system of this castle, the guards here need at least 70 people. Qianlong Island, if it is on land, the traffic of people is more complicated, as an important place, the guards here must be doubled at least, I wonder what your plan is?"

Zhang Tie pondered for a while, "I don't know what suggestion Ou Guanshi has?"

"The fastest, of course, is to directly hire armed guards. The Changfeng Merchant Group has services for hiring armed guards. If you are considering long-term development, you can also directly consider recruiting family warriors!"

"Recruit family warriors!" This suggestion moved Zhang Tie's heart.

Ou Guanshi smiled, "Being able to own a castle, such a net worth, already has the qualifications to recruit family warriors. As long as the conditions are favorable, many free warriors are actually willing to find a promising family and master to join and take a bite." It's safe to eat, so it's not difficult to recruit family samurai!"

"If this is the case, the loyalty of these newly recruited family warriors will be a problem!" Zhang Tie said.

"The loyalty of newly recruited family warriors needs to be cultivated, but if you directly buy slaves and slaves, as long as you let them see hope, loyalty is easy to cultivate."

Since coming to Huaiyuan County, Zhang Tie heard for the first time that slaves could still be bought and sold here, and the term slave trade was quite new.

"Are there still slaves in Huaiyuan County? Also, what is a slave trader?" Zhang Tie asked with interest.

"There are no slaves in the entire Jinyun Kingdom, or there is no mechanism to force slaves to be produced, but Jinyun Kingdom and Huaiyuantang do not prohibit slavery and human trading. There are many countries on the Weiyi subcontinent that recognize slavery. There are also many countries on other continents that recognize slavery. Population and slave trading are very important ways of population flow and exchange between continents and countries. The so-called slave trade refers to voluntarily giving up and selling one's personal rights Those who take the initiative to sell others as slaves, those people are common no matter in Huaiyuan County or in Jinyun Country. After all, not everyone in this world can live a nourishing and valuable life. Meals and surviving are both problems, if you meet such a person, you are willing to sell yourself in exchange for a chance to eat and live, no one can control this kind of thing you want!"

Hearing this, Zhang Tie fell silent, thinking of the general history of the human race that he had been reading for the past two days. According to the general history of the human race, human beings have actually been proclaiming themselves to be the most advanced in technology and civilization before the catastrophe, and serfdom has actually been going on. It exists, but it has changed to a nice and more confusing name.

Serfs in human society before the cataclysm existed in many countries, and they were more typical in some so-called democratic countries that practiced apartheid. Those serfs did not have any means of production of their own, nor did they have any political rights. Freedom of movement, no property rights, sometimes not even their dead bodies.

They have been confined to work silently on land that does not belong to them all their lives, and have endured all kinds of injustices imposed on them-economic exploitation, political oppression, and personality discrimination. In front of the bulldozer driven by the violent machine, their dignity of life and property are not as good as that of a dog. Calculated according to the prices of this era, after the serfs in some countries in that era were arbitrarily killed and their lives were taken away, the compensation their families could get was only about 20 to 30 gold coins. In that era, the price of many expensive dog breeds has easily reached thousands of gold coins, and dogs with hundreds of gold coins can be found everywhere.

Considering that slavery still existed in various disguises before the cataclysm, it is not surprising that it existed in this era.

Zhang Tie was relieved all of a sudden, and felt that reading more books would really broaden his horizons.

"This... is there such a thing in Huaiyuan Hall?"

"This is just a joke. If all the descendants of Huaiyuantang become slaves and can sell themselves, what do you want the Zongren Pavilion to do? Otherwise, if you want to work, it is not much of a problem to rely on the family relationship to find a job that makes a living. This kind of willingness to take the initiative to be a slave trader has strict management in all Chinese countries. There is no such thing as a human slave with the same surname, and no one dares to buy such a person!"

"Where can I buy slaves and slaves in Huaiyuan County?"

"The largest population trading market in Huaiyuan County is in Guanxing City, which is also managed by the family. The price of ordinary slaves and slaves is only about 50 gold coins. Children are cheaper. Beautiful women and skilled people Men are more expensive, and the general price of slave fighters above level six is ​​more than 600 gold coins." Ou Guanshi explained.

"Are there many slave buyers and slave traders in Huaiyuan Hall?"

"Hehe, basically every rich family has several

Zhang Tiexin thought about it, and he made a decision at once. He smiled, "Since the Changfeng Merchant Group has ready-made armed guards to provide, it will be good to hire 80 guards first, and let the castle run first. It belongs to Huaiyuan Hall, so don't worry, when I have time, I will go to Yunzhou City to have a look!"

Manager Ou also laughed, "Since we want to hire armed guards from the Changfeng Merchant Group, I'll bring the agreement with you tomorrow for you to see first!"

"Is it expensive?"

"It may be expensive to others, but to you, it's just a little rain!" said Ou Guanshi.

Zhang Tie laughed, enjoying this kind of compliment very much. He found that as long as a man has money, he can gain more respect.

It feels really good to be rich!

For the next half an hour, Zhang Tie walked around the castle interestingly, looking at the construction progress of the castle, especially the various pipes laid in the castle to connect several steam power units. After watching and watching, he finally came to Heilong Town satisfied, ready to go down to the Dragon Cave on the island to gather the seventh-level battle spirit totem of the Centipede centipede.

Today's weather is very good, the sun is shining brightly, Lan Yunxi did not throw out the gift given to Lan Yunxi from Fengqi Pavilion by Lan Yunxi two days ago, this makes Zhang Tie very happy, he feels that at this moment in life, love and career have begun Walking in a good direction, it is getting more and more prosperous, and just now I went to look in my own castle again, Zhang Tie is also in a good mood today...

People came and went in Heilong Town, and it was more lively than before. Zhang Tie first went to the pharmacy that Yang Yuankang and the others opened in Heilong Town, which sold full-effect medicines, and found that it was only at noon, and the pharmacy had already The door of the pharmacy is closed, and there is a sign hanging on the door of the pharmacy - all the full-effect medicines in this store are sold out today, and the store will open at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning. The sale is limited to six, and each person is limited to one. Please queue up to buy!

Although the sign was put up, and even the quantity of full-effect potions that could be sold here tomorrow was written clearly, there were dozens of people queuing up outside the shop, and some people just waited outside with benches and bedding. Waiting, chatting while waiting.

Seeing Zhang Tie poking his head at the entrance of the store, someone in the line shouted, "Boy, if you want to buy a full-effect potion, go to the back and line up. Didn't you see so many people waiting here..."

"Let me ask, hasn't it been clarified here that only six full-effect potions will be sold here tomorrow? What's the use of all of you queuing up here?" Zhang Tie looked at the long line suspiciously.

"Ha, if you can't do it tomorrow, there's the day after tomorrow. If you can't do it the day after tomorrow, it's the day after tomorrow. Anyway, as long as you wait for three or five days, it will always be your turn. Here, you can buy a full-effect potion that costs eight gold coins, and you can resell it as you like." One or two gold coins can be sold, we are all ordinary people on the island, if we want to change to do other things, how can it be so easy to make money! You can earn one or two gold coins just by standing in line for a few days!" The man in Zhang Tie's queue replied.

"That's right, I heard that this full-effect potion was made by a elixir master in Qianlongtang. He took some time every day to make up a few potions, which is enough for us to earn for a year!" People speak.

Master of elixir, when did I become a master of elixir? I am a guy who is not even an apprentice of herbal medicine. Zhang Tie secretly felt a little funny. The information from Qianlong hall was a bit out of order when it was spread outside.

"Ask again, who did you sell these potions to after you bought them?"

"Of course it's the women who came to the island!" The guys in line looked at Zhang Tie with idiot eyes, "Don't you know that although the women who come to the island are very powerful, as long as they say As far as the efficacy of this full-effect potion is concerned, all of them are no different from ordinary women at home. Their mouths are full of words such as whitening and rejuvenating the skin, and anti-aging. I met a woman the other day. I added three gold coins to a bottle of Manjusawa, and she bought it without batting an eyelid, and it seemed cheap!"

"Then why don't you add a few more gold coins!" The people next to him also regretted it.

"How did I know that girl is so rich..."

Zhang Tie left from the door of the store amidst a lot of discussions about the full-effect drug scalpers. Women, women again, why do these women see flies one by one when they hear something that can make them beautiful and young? It’s like eating rotten eggs, it’s like this in Lingtian Courtyard, but I didn’t expect it to be like this when I left Lingtian Courtyard. If this continues, the full-effect potion I made will become a cosmetic for girls.

The shops opened by Yang Yuankang and the others are like this. Needless to say, the situation of Ma Aiyun and the others is not much better. I heard that the shop that Ma Aiyun and the others were looking for in Lanlong Town was not open at all. The medicine, among the girls in Lingtian Courtyard, has already digested it all.

Where is there medicine that can flow out.

Zhang Tie reckoned that such a situation would have to wait at least a month later, after the fermentation of the batch of medicine he had brewed was completed, and then there was a slight chance of getting better.

But thinking that the things he made are so popular with girls, Zhang Tie is also happy to see the results, secretly proud, and there will be another reason to get close to Lan Yunxi in the future.

Leaving the pharmacy here, Zhang Tie wandered around Heilong Town casually. His mental power and senses were too much for ordinary people, and he immediately discovered the abnormality.

Zhang Tie felt that he was actually being followed...

(To be continued, "This text is provided by the breaking dawn update group x-on:w苏颜". If you like this work, you are welcome to go to (m) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)