Xin Yue was extremely anxious to meet Lu You immediately to discuss in detail the cooperation between Cambodia and Shanzhai.
Yes, it is cooperation. It is no longer the Cambodian “unconditional” support for the copycats out of “friendship”.
When Xin Yuetu mentioned the word "cooperation," Lin Hai truly realized that he was a complete pragmatist. Normally, a kingdom supporting a bandit stronghold would be considered condescending, and requesting the stronghold become a subordinate force would be a commonplace request, at least requiring it to nominally pledge allegiance to the kingdom. However, upon hearing that the stronghold had access to iron ore, Xin Yuetu immediately placed the entire Khmer Kingdom on an equal footing with a small stronghold. This not only highlighted Xin Yuetu's pragmatic approach, but also demonstrated the Khmer's severe iron shortage.
Yes, if Cambodia was not short of iron, how could it be pinned to the ground and rubbed in various positions by our armored infantry?
Lin Hai immediately stated that since King Zhentian was good at military force but not good at foreign affairs, he had granted him full authority to negotiate with Xin Yuetu on the details. After the negotiations were completed, King Zhentian would naturally end this foreign attack and return to the village to celebrate with everyone.
The two budding conspirators had a friendly and frank conversation, well, at least that's what they said.
Lin Hai understood Xin Yuetu's general situation in the Khmer Empire. Although Xin Yuetu failed to state many pieces of information explicitly, Lin Hai could sense the feeling of "neither up nor down, neither full nor starving, if he were an idiot he would be very happy, but he is indeed an ambitious person" and "to inherit the Khmer throne, he only needs to wait for the twenty-two idiots who came before him to die."
Xin Yuetu also truly believed Lin Hai’s promises that “he is second to none in the stronghold, but he has no martial arts skills, otherwise the military power would be mine” and “iron ore is not a problem at all, the reserves are huge, we have ready-made craftsmen, and we will be able to mass-produce it soon.”
Lin Hai summed it up: "The two sides have reached a high level of mutual trust, laying a solid foundation for good cooperation in the future."
Lin Hai could not rest after returning to the county town, not only because of the Cambodian incident, but also because with the success of steelmaking, it meant that any process that required high-temperature firing could be tried, and cement and glass would be put on the agenda again after the failure.
In the steel plant's conference room, Shi Zhener, the chief smelter manager, was complaining to Lin Hai.
"The steel production is definitely sufficient, whether we're making weapons or farm tools. For now, I really don't see the need for continued mass production. Even if there's so much iron piled up there, it's not enough to feed us."
Lin Hai looked at Shi Zhener carefully.
After all, she was just a sixteen-year-old girl. Lin Hai had no choice but to choose her as the general manager of smelting. After all, most of his sworn brothers were illiterate. It would be fine if they were used to maintain order in the steel plant, but asking them to use the manuals written by Lin Hai to train workers and record various processes would be a life-threatening task.
In fact, Master Shi is also an option. After all, there are only a few people in Qinghe County who are both reliable and educated. But Master Shi is old after all, and the county school also needs people.
Of course, Lin Hai also has his own selfish motives. All the smelting techniques come from his mouth. Would you rather face Shi Zhener or Shi Fuzi every day? This is a question with a very obvious answer.
As for letting Shi Zhen'er be in charge of smelting, the sworn brothers agreed wholeheartedly. The few who had some objections seemed to suddenly understand after being educated by Wang Liang, and then said that there was no one more suitable than Shi Zhen'er.
Of course, Master Shi disagreed at first, and then Wang Liang went to the county school with gifts. I don’t know what they said, but for Lin Hai, Shi Zhener appeared at the steel plant site that afternoon, and that was enough.
Although it was a very cruel thing to throw a young girl into steelmaking, fortunately she did not have to do physical work. Lin Hai could see that the black marks on Shi Zhener's face and hands must have been smeared on them because she knew he was coming. There were even fingerprints on her neck where the black ash had been smeared all the way to the end.
Thinking of this, Lin Hai couldn't help but laugh and said, "You said we burn blast furnaces, not boilers, let alone firewood. Where did this black ash come from?"
"There's no place where there can't be black ash. Doesn't the cafeteria burn firewood?" Shi Zhen'er was so anxious that she almost told the truth.
"Okay, okay." Lin Hai thought about it. It was indeed difficult for a girl to be busy in a steel mill every day. Even if she wanted to express her "grievances and dissatisfaction" now, she could only protest by smearing a little dust on her face, so she really couldn't ask for too much.
Lin Hai continued, "You've certainly worked hard lately. Although I've been at the steel mill most of the time, I haven't had the time to look after you. Every time we produce an ingot of iron, you contribute a little. But it's really too much for you to work on your own. Let's see if any of the kids you've been training as technicians can show any talent. A lot of the basic work can be gradually transferred to them."
"But they are still young. I am afraid the workers won't listen to them."
"It's okay. We're not that old either. We still got the job done. Skill is key to success. What's the use of looking at age? Besides, the workers who are still alive and working in the factory today are all aware of the current situation. They may not recognize the technicians we sent, but they must recognize our knives." Lin Hai was not worried about this.
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