When it comes to blacksmithing and steelmaking, Hu Delu becomes a completely different person. He becomes so engrossed in the work that he half-lie on the ground, carefully examining the drawings on the ground.

"Is this a stove? A stove with a chimney?"

"Yes, I call it a blast furnace."

Lu Tu led him to the warehouse where Song Yuxi was, and took out paper and pen to start drawing blueprints.

"There must be a slag outlet at the bottom. From bottom to top, the furnace consists of the hearth, belly, waist, body, and throat. Before steelmaking, we must build this blast furnace first!"

Hu Delu took the blueprints, his eyes glued to them, and after a long pause, he finally asked, "Sir, can this thing really be used to forge steel that is harder than iron?"

Lu Tu shook his head and said, "No."

"Why?" Song Yuxi asked the question. She had always believed Lu Tu's words without a doubt, and she had been quite shocked when she heard Lu Tu explaining while drawing the blueprints. But now Lu Tu was actually denying her.

Lu Tu continued, "With our current conditions, we can only produce iron that is stronger than the weapons on the market. To refine it to the strength of steel, we are still missing many things. But these are not urgent; we can improve them gradually in the future."

Hu Delu looked at Lü Tu in surprise: "Sir, how did you know about this method?"

Of course, Lu Tu wouldn't tell the truth, and casually said, "This was passed down from my ancestors."

Weren't your ancestors hunters?

“Gengzu”.

Hu Delu nodded without suspicion, took the blueprints and walked out: "Sir, arrange 20 people for me, and I will build this thing within three days."

"Liu Yang!"

"Here." Liu Yang and Liu Hu were usually responsible for guarding the warehouse, which was also where Lu Tu stored his family's wealth, so they had to assign enough trustworthy people to guard it.

"Have Tiger take some men to help Hu Delu build this thing. They have to listen to Hu Delu the whole time."

"Yes, sir!"

After they left, Song Yuxi asked worriedly, "Husband, isn't it important that you go and see for yourself? This isn't like you."

Lu Tu shook his head: "It's alright, I trust Lao Hu. The most important thing is that I want him to think more and figure it out step by step. That way, he will learn more."

Song Yuxi's slightly surprised lips parted: "My husband is good at recognizing and utilizing talent; he truly has the demeanor of a great general!"

Lu Tu reached out and helped her up, then led her home: "You're pregnant now, you can't overexert yourself, you should go home and rest first. By the way, why hasn't Ye Xing'er come yet?"

Song Yuxi shook her head in disappointment: "She left us. Ten days ago she said goodbye to me, saying that she had found her family. I gave her some travel money. Husband, you won't blame me, will you?"

Lu Tu patted her pert buttocks and laughed, "How could I blame you for something like this? I'll go find someone quick and efficient to take care of you."

"Thank you, husband." Although Song Yuxi had lived in the General's Mansion since birth and had been served by others since childhood, the hardships she endured during her exile to Wuchuan had made her realize the reality of life, and she originally wanted to refuse.

But when she thought of the child of Lü Tu in her arms, she nodded in agreement.

After helping Song Yuxi home, Lü Tu went out and headed towards the refugee area. He already had someone in mind: Ban Wei's younger sister, Ban Yingying.

This little girl is pretty, clever, and quite brave; she's exactly the kind of girl we should train. Although she's here to take care of Song Yuxi, she can learn even more from being by Song Yuxi's side.

Lu Tu deliberately took a detour to the south of Kuishan Village, the site where Hu Delu and others planned to build the blast furnace. He watched from afar as Hu Delu explained the details to everyone. Lu Tu nodded in satisfaction but did not participate.

The reason he completely let Hu Delu do it was partly to train him, but more importantly, Lu Tu didn't know much about blast furnace steelmaking in his previous life. He had only heard a brief introduction from the factory's technicians during a visit to a steel plant.

In terms of iron smelting, he was only theoretically skilled, but far less professional than a blacksmith family like Hu Delu.

But he firmly believes in one principle: the worst thing you can do to get a job done is for an outsider to give instructions to an expert.

Riding a horse, I arrived at the shacks where the villagers of Daozhuang Village had just moved in, and immediately saw the Banwei siblings packing their things.

Lu Tu waved to them and said, "Ban Wei, come here!"

Upon seeing this, Ban Wei quickly jogged forward, cupped his hands, and said, "Sir, please give your orders."

Lu Tu directly told them his idea of ​​having Ban Yingying take care of Song Yuxi: "She'll eat three meals a day with my wife, and I'll give you a string of cash every month. Would you be willing?"

Ban Yingying was flattered and quickly waved her hand: "My lord, you mustn't!"

"You don't want to? That's fine, I'll ask around."

Upon hearing this, Ban Yingying pouted as if she was about to cry: "Sir, I meant just provide meals, but that one string of cash is absolutely unacceptable!"

Lu Tu didn't hesitate: "That's fine then. If that's the case, just go ahead. If you don't know the way, just ask the villagers."

"Huh? So fast? My brother and I haven't packed our things yet. Can you give me an hour?"

Lu Tu glanced at their bags of luggage, waved his hand and said, "What are you still packing for? I'll arrange a place for you two to stay. You two siblings will live there from now on."

He had already made up his mind. Ye Xing'er had already left, and since there was definitely nothing of value in her house anyway, he might as well let Ban Wei and his sister live there. It would be good for her house to have some life and prevent it from collapsing.

Upon hearing this, the Banwei siblings stared wide-eyed in disbelief: "Sir, you're going to provide us with lodging? Don't we need to cut down some timber first?"

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