Discuss with you

Chapter 223 Man-made Disaster
Seeing this, Zhu Feng hurried over, and Lu Qing and Zhu Yu followed behind to see what was going on.

Ever since Zhu Feng arrived here, he had always asked a guard who had been with him for many years to come forward with the token of Prince Shuo's Mansion to gather people and arrange various matters. He himself had never shown up in person, and now he was wearing only a cloth robe. No one could connect him with the second son of Prince Shuo's family.

He walked up to the middle-aged man, squatted down, picked up the broken pickaxe from the ground, and asked, "Hey, big brother, why don't you bring a more practical tool? Using this thing to work is not only laborious, but it's easy to hurt yourself if you're not careful."

"Brother, what are you talking about! Is it because I have a good pickaxe at home and I don't want to use it, so I deliberately use a broken one to mess around with it?" The middle-aged man was annoyed because the pickaxe was broken. When he heard what Zhu Feng said, he was also a little angry and spoke in a bad mood, "You look unfamiliar, are you a craftsman from the capital?

There's not even a decent blacksmith in our area. I took out my treasured pickaxe at home to help with the canal repairs, and now the pickaxe head is broken. I don't know how I'm going to do my farm work! I'll have to find that half-hearted blacksmith to make me a new one!"

"No blacksmiths?!" Zhu Feng's eyes widened in shock. He had never heard such an outrageous statement since he was a child. "Is there a shortage of blacksmiths in Shuodi?!"

"You young man! Why would I lie to you!" The middle-aged man was also unhappy when he heard this. "In the past, we had no shortage of blacksmiths here. Every village had a few blacksmiths. But I don't know what happened later. It's as if all the blacksmiths disappeared overnight, without a trace!
And it wasn't just one or two that disappeared, but all of a sudden it seemed like all the blacksmiths in the village, whether they were masters or apprentices, had disappeared! No one saw them alive, no one saw them dead!

Later, we had no other choice but to force the village carpenters and bricklayers to learn how to smelt iron and forge iron. Only then did we make these few iron tools, which are good enough to be used."

Zhu Feng was confused and wanted to ask more questions, but Zhu Yu pulled him aside and said, "Brother, we heard something similar when we came here."

"What's going on?" Zhu Feng asked hurriedly.

Zhu Yu turned his head to look at the open space in the distance. Lu Qing was standing there alone, gazing at the dark Sunrise Ridge in the distance.

Zhu Feng understood and nodded, and the two of them slowly walked towards Lu Qing.

"What's going on? Why is there a shortage of blacksmiths in our Shuo country? Are there similar incidents elsewhere, like what that person just described, where blacksmiths suddenly disappear?" Upon arriving at the open space, Zhu Feng couldn't wait to ask before he even stood still.

Zhu Yu did not answer him immediately. Instead, Lu Qing turned around and asked, "Just now you said that the Pang family had just completed a batch of weapons according to the court's requirements?
Are you referring to the batch of weapons that the Ministry of War requisitioned from the Shuo Kingdom? They weren't made by your Shuo Kingdom's weapons bureau, but by the Pang family?"

Zhu Feng was stunned and looked at Lu Qing's expression carefully, trying to guess what his intention was in asking. Was he simply trying to understand the situation or was he trying to find fault with him?

After all, the imperial court issued an order to instruct the Shuo Kingdom to supervise the manufacture of weapons, and his father Zhu Cheng was responsible for supervising the manufacture.

Now that the weapons are made by the Pang family, Zhu Cheng naturally cannot be the person who supervises the production in person. However, those weapons have all been put into storage. Not only are there enough numbers, but they are also made in a sparkling state. They are just waiting to be shipped to Jin State on a chosen day, which can be considered as a completion of the task.

This matter can be big or small, it all depends on whether the other party wants to make a fuss about it.

But Lu Qing's expression was calm, unperturbed, making it impossible to discern any clues. "Indeed," Zhu Feng thought for a moment, deciding it was safer to answer truthfully. After all, he had already accidentally let the matter slip. Lying again would only escalate the situation and cause unnecessary trouble. It would be better to be frank, "It's mainly because this batch of weapons doesn't have any special requirements; they're just ordinary swords, not difficult to forge."

Something like this, not to mention the Pang family, even a skilled blacksmith in the Shuo Kingdom can make it well.

The Pang family said that the largest workshop besides the weapons bureau was also under the supervision of my father. This batch of weapons was huge in quantity, and entrusting it to the Pang family was the best way to ensure quality and quantity.

There has never been a problem over the years.”

After hearing this, Lu Qing smiled slightly and nodded: "So, King Shuo has handed this matter over to the Pang family for several years."

Zhu Feng twitched his lips awkwardly and nodded, "Father is getting older now. He's completely focused on creating a unique and unparalleled weapon. He really doesn't have the time to worry about other things."

"After finishing things here and returning to the capital, could you let me see the weapons that are being stored and prepared to be sent to Jin State?" Lu Qing asked.

"If I could make the decision on this matter alone, I could agree to it now..." Zhu Feng said with a troubled expression, "But those weapons have been counted and stored away. Not just anyone can reopen the warehouse door and unpack and inspect them..."

How about this, after this matter is settled and I return to the capital, I will report to my father immediately.

You are the prince of Jin State and a close relative of His Majesty. I believe that if you want to personally inspect it, your father will definitely not stop you."

After listening to this, Lu Qing nodded and said, "Thank you very much."

"Second sister, you just said that when you were all the way to the capital, you also heard about the disappearance of a blacksmith similar to the one here?" Zhu Feng saw that Lu Qing didn't seem to have anything else to ask him, so he asked Zhu Yu again.

Zhu Yu then told Zhu Feng about the strange thing they had discovered earlier.

Zhu Feng heard that not only blacksmiths had disappeared elsewhere, but many young men had also mysteriously disappeared. The only ones left were the elderly, the weak, women and children. He was so shocked that he didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Why would such a strange thing happen? How could a perfectly healthy person just disappear in the middle of the night as if possessed by a demon?!" He felt that this was simply a fairy tale. "Why haven't we heard anything about this in the capital?!"

"There are no strange things in this world." Zhu Yu shook his head at her, "There are only man-made disasters."

Thanks to Xiaoqingkanmao x2, Qianshi Zijie, book friend 20210301105365700752 x2, Sakura x2, Sweet Salad, book friend 20241204083231331 x2, Vegetarian Pig x3, Say Novels and Read Novels, Minako Tanaka x2, and 573602869 for the monthly ticket!