After parting with Xiao Feng, Wan Jinlan took Old Man Lu back to the mountain village.
"Cousin, just let you leave the house by yourself without sending anyone to follow you?"
Old Man Lu didn't want to mention Lu Yan, the unfilial son who only cared about Wang Shi and not him as his father. "He sent a servant to tell me to hurry back."
"What if he comes looking for you?"
Lu Yuan glared at her angrily, "Niece-in-law, can't you think of a solution? I'm here to do things for you."
Wan Jinlan was speechless. She thought the old man had arranged everything, but she didn't expect him to just come out without caring about anything.
She was really impressed.
"How about this, I'll buy you a small house in Gu'a Town. After a while, you can send someone to send a letter to your eldest cousin. He'll know where you are, and he'll just send you some things in the future. He won't ask what you're doing."
"Oh, by the way, uncle, didn't my cousin know that you can make firearms?"
Lu Yuan glanced at her and said, "He knew I loved to tinker with those things, but thirty years ago, my hand was injured in an explosion, and he forbade me to do so. After he passed the imperial examination and left home, I secretly started to do it again."
The two chatted while riding on horseback, and Wan Jinlan learned more about Old Man Lu's past.
Suddenly she thought of the killers sent by the Chen family who had been chasing Old Man Lu all the way, and also of Lu Yan, the county magistrate in Hua County. She was always a little worried.
Prince Shun is dead, so why did the Chen family arrest Old Man Lu? With the Chen family's means, it would be easy to find Lu Yan.
"Uncle, will the people chasing you find out about my cousin and come to threaten you?"
Lu Yuan hesitated and said, "Shouldn't it be... No way, Liangzhou is a border area, who can reach so far?"
Wan Jinlan was not optimistic.
After returning to the mountain stronghold, she sent Yu Song to Hua County to secretly keep an eye on the Lu Mansion. If there was anything unusual, she would report it directly to Yu Xiaofeng.
The blacksmiths Wan Jinlan found were short of manpower, so she found a few reliable and strong men from the mountain stronghold to obey Lu Yuan's command, and paid them fifty cents a day. Lu Yuan didn't let them do anything else, and they just worked on forging iron and copper over and over again.
The firearms workshop has begun to take shape, and Wan Jinlan attaches great importance to it. He goes there several times a day and watches Old Man Lu working diligently.
The iron and copper she brought back were certainly not enough in the long run, but they couldn't be used up so quickly in a short period of time.
Old Man Lu had many ideas, including the idea of making a mechanical crossbow, and he had already drawn up the blueprints. The Wei army already had mechanical crossbows, but their lethality wasn't as strong as the one Old Man Lu had improved.
With no qualified personnel in the firearms workshop, Old Man Lu was slow to make any progress. He decided to first create the fire caltrops. After his refinement, they were small but powerful, capable of unleashing devastating damage when the enemy was least prepared. He guaranteed they were twice as powerful as the fire caltrops in the army.
Wan Jinlan had just returned from transporting a batch of saltpeter and was washing his hands as he prepared to eat when he heard the sound of the ground shaking.
Her heart skipped a beat and she subconsciously went to the back mountain. When she arrived there, she saw Old Man Lu with a black face crawling up from the ground and brushing the dirt off his body.
The blacksmith was far away and was also scared at this time.
"Uncle, are you hurt?"
Lu Yuan spat out the dirt in his mouth and shook his head as calmly as possible, "Nothing, no need to make a fuss."
Wan Jinlan looked at the house in the corner and felt that this house would probably go through a lot of hardships in the future.
While Wan Jinlan was busy with his firearms workshop, Xiao Feng had already received news that Prince Shun would come on behalf of the emperor to reward the three armies and handle matters such as pensions.
Yu Song followed Wan Jinlan's orders to keep an eye on the Lu Mansion, and also met Xiao Feng to tell him about Wan Jinlan's concerns.
Xiao Feng felt something was wrong when he received the news that Prince Shun would come to Liangzhou.
He didn't think that Prince Shun couldn't find out that Lu Yuan's son was a county magistrate in Liangzhou.
Prince Shun had been in the court for many years. Although he was placed in a defensive position by Emperor Jian'an, he was not a fool.
Putting aside the fact that Lu Yuan was his uncle, if his method of making muskets were to be spread out, it would definitely cause a fight among all parties.
Xiao Feng tapped the table lightly with his fingers, his brows furrowed.
Prince Shun must die.
Xiao Feng's guess was correct. Before leaving for Liangzhou, Prince Shun found out that Lu Yuan's son was the magistrate of Liangzhou. It just so happened that the people sent by the Chen family reported back that they were in Yongzhou before they died. Yongzhou was adjacent to Liangzhou. Lu Yuan had no other choice but to go to Lu Yan for help.
The thousand imperial guards led by Prince Shun have entered the territory of Liangzhou. This time, there was no danger along the way like the one Xiao Minghuan encountered last time.
He was not worried about the official road that Prince Shun led his troops on. With the lesson learned from the last time, he knew that unless the Governor of Liangzhou openly wanted to rebel, nothing unexpected would happen to him.
Li Wei also attached great importance to Prince Shun's entry into Liangzhou. Before Prince Shun entered Liangzhou, he sent his eldest son Li Bozhen with 500 soldiers to welcome him.
When he arrived in Hua County, Prince Shun moved into the house arranged by Li Wei.
That night he sent people to Lu Yan's residence. Yu Song saw with his own eyes a group of two men in black jumping in like clever monkeys. The aura of these two men made Yu Song realize that they were also secret guards.
Yu Song did not act rashly, but listened quietly.
Prince Shun's two secret guards searched the Lu Mansion but couldn't find Lu Yuan, so they tied up a servant who was stealing food in the kitchen.
The two men easily took the man out of the mansion and brought him back to Prince Shun's residence. After interrogating him, they came to the conclusion that Old Man Lu had run away from home in anger and was nowhere to be found.
Prince Shun thought he had misheard.
The Wei Dynasty ruled the world with filial piety, and he had never heard of a father-in-law running away from home due to a conflict with his daughter-in-law or son.
"Could it be that Lu Yuan did this on purpose?"
He wanted to use this to distance himself from Lu Yan and him.
The secret guard twisted the boy's neck casually. After hearing Prince Shun's words, the secret guard asked, "Do you want us to capture Lu Yan and interrogate him?"
Prince Shun shook his head and said, "No rush. We can only move forward after the king issues an order tomorrow and Li Wei goes to Kyoto."
As long as Li Wei was around, he didn't dare to act recklessly in this area. The lesson of Xiao Minghuan was still there. He only had a thousand people, and compared with Li Wei, he was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
Li Wei ordered a secret guard to keep an eye on Lu Yan's house.
Late at night, Yu Song entered the Song residence where Xiao Feng was currently staying.
Xiao Feng had not gone to bed yet. After seeing Yu Song, he nodded after listening to him.
"Go back to the village and tell Jin Lan to tell your uncle to stay hidden for the next few days and never contact Lu Yan."
Yu Song received the order and withdrew.
Xiao Feng knew what Prince Shun was worried about, and it was a good thing that he was worried about it.
The next day, Prince Shun changed into a prince's dragon robe, holding the imperial edict in his hand, and went to the governor's mansion with great fanfare.
Li Wei had already been waiting in the mansion with his family.
After the imperial edict conferring the title of Marquis of Zhenbei was read, Li Wei and his family accepted the edict and expressed their gratitude.
Prince Shun changed the subject, "Your Majesty has ordered the Marquis of Zhenbei to come to the capital to attend the celebration banquet."
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