Chapter 188
On the eighth day of the lunar new year, the spring breeze blows and all things recover. This is a new year's celebration, but the atmosphere in the palace is not festive. The palace ladies and eunuchs walk in a hurry, bow their heads and dare not speak loudly. Living in the back hall.

The Kunning Palace was always brightly lit, and the emperor had not slept peacefully for several nights, and the reason for this was the Empress Dowager's affair.

The Empress Dowager's [-]th birthday was like a flashback. After two days, her energy gradually deteriorated. During the past two days, she was panting heavily at night. There were times when she couldn't breathe unless someone helped her.

The imperial doctor saw it several times, and was trembling. He whispered something to the emperor, but it was definitely not good news.

The emperor summoned all the concubines in the harem to accompany the queen mother in turn, but she was still getting worse day by day. Up to now, she couldn't speak every day and could only be fed some clear water gruel.

"Your Majesty, Mao Luan, the judge of the Ministry of Industry on the right, and Meng Zhiye, the judge of the Ministry of Rites on the left, are waiting outside." Fu'an in the side hall of Kunning Palace reported to the emperor.At this time, the New Year's Eve was over and the weather was getting warmer, but there were still hot charcoal fires in the four corners of the hall, and the whole hall was very warm.

"Let them in." The emperor rubbed his temples.

After a while, the two hurried in one after the other.

Meng Zhiye walked in front with his head upright, Mao Luan was half a step behind, with his head bowed and walked hurriedly.

The two saluted one by one, then Meng Zhiye walked to the desk and sat down, cupped his hands and said, "I don't know why Your Majesty summoned us?"

Mao Luan didn't dare to sit down, the emperor nodded to signal him to sit down, and the maids on both sides brought tea.

"The imperial physician said that the Empress Dowager will not live long. This time, I have summoned you to attend the mausoleum of the Empress Dowager. I have decreed this matter five years ago. The Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Industry are working hard together. How is the progress so far?" The emperor held a cup of tea ask.

As soon as the words came out, Mao Luan was a little flustered: "Your Majesty, it will take some time before the Mausoleum of the Empress Dowager is completed."

As soon as the words came out, the emperor narrowed his eyes immediately, and the air became cold: "It will take time? The decree I issued five years ago, the treasury allocated millions of dollars, and now the queen mother's deadline is approaching, you tell me to pay back the money?" takes time"

The emperor stared at him and said calmly: "Mao Luan, don't you think that I dare not kill you."

"Your Majesty, please forgive me!" Mao Luan hurriedly got up and kowtowed, and then hurriedly explained: "The Mausoleum of the Empress Dowager was originally completed in June of the previous year, but after seeing it, the Meng Juan said that the top stones on the tomb passage were scattered, and the walls of the tomb were white stones. It is too small and not in accordance with the etiquette, so the minister had to demolish and rebuild.

But it just so happened that there was a war in Guanbei last autumn, and a lot of supplies had to be sent from Jiangzhou to help Guanbei, and most of the corvees were transferred to the area of ​​Ningjiang Mansion in Jiangzhou, so there was a shortage of manpower, so, so.”

The emperor glanced at Meng Zhiye, and the old man didn't quibble, and said straightforwardly: "According to ancient records, the wall of the emperor's tomb was built with stones no less than one foot long and no less than five feet wide, and the top stone of the tomb passage was no less than seven feet long and no less than wide. Three feet. The Empress Dowager's mother honors the world, has virtue and blessings, and has no shortcomings, so naturally this system should be followed."

The emperor frowned, and glanced at Mao Luan, who was kneeling on the ground with a mournful face: "Last year, there were thieves who made trouble first, and then suffered war disasters. There is a reason for this."

"Your Majesty!" Meng Zhiye's face was serious, and he rushed to say: "Etiquette is the foundation of a country, how can we abolish it because of the expediency of a moment, abolishing the etiquette is to shake the foundation of the country, if we ignore it in a small way, we will definitely be Wang Gang in the long run." Undoing the knots endangers the country, this is the teaching of the sages."

The emperor frowned and asked: "This matter is jointly taken over by the Ministry of Industry and Rites. If this is the case, what crime should the Rites ask?"

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Rituals is only concerned with rectifying errors and corrections. All matters related to the etiquette and laws of the mausoleum are the responsibility of my Ministry of Rites. The rest of the labor is arranged by the Ministry of Industry. If Your Majesty wants to be held accountable, please ask the Ministry of Rites for the responsibility for the lack of etiquette. If so, old minister I am willing to accept the crime, and I will never refuse." Meng Zhi Ye Yizheng clasped his hands.

The emperor was expressionless, and the muscles on his face moved. He looked at the Ministry of Industry and Judgment and said, "Mao Luan, what's going on in the mausoleum, I want to listen to the truth."

Mao Luan knelt on the ground and reported: "The tomb passage has been completed, only the tomb chamber is left, and the stone materials have been dragged into the imperial mausoleum, but each piece weighs several thousand catties, and it can only be moved a short distance every day, and it will take time."

The emperor said blankly: "Do you want me to find a way for you?"

"Don't dare, I dare not!" Mao Luan was so frightened that he almost cried.

The emperor closed his eyes and said slowly: "The mausoleum must be completed before the Queen Mother dies. Whether you want it or not is entirely up to you."

"Yes, I obey the order." Mao Luan said with a trembling voice.

"You all go down, I'm tired." The emperor waved his hand after speaking.

The two bowed to each other, and then slowly exited the palace.

When the two went out, the expressionless emperor pushed back the court ladies and eunuchs, and suddenly threw the exquisite teacup in his hand to the ground, cursing: "Old man!"

Fu An hurriedly patted his back to comfort him, the emperor gasped for breath, and calmed down after a while: "Old thief Meng Zhiye, if I hadn't remembered that he was my first teacher, I would have killed him long ago."

Li Ye was carrying a teapot and a bamboo hat, and Yue'er was wearing the same one, and followed him with a porcelain cup in his hand. This is the back mountain of the palace, and there are clusters of bushes. Going forward, because the mountains are densely covered with rocks, the bushes are sparse. many.

And between the rocks, a main wooden structure was built, with a thatched roof, and a small courtyard enough for a dozen people to live in. In fact, this small courtyard started a long time ago, but it was delayed during the Chinese New Year. After the year, Li Ye invited people from around the palace. A large number of workers in order to complete the project quickly.

Sure enough, money is everything. With the cooperation of many laborers, this kind of project without too much technical difficulty was built in a few days.

Natural soil contains nitrate, but potassium in potassium nitrate is also an important nutrient for plants. Later generations have potassium nitrate as the main component of potassium fertilizer.

The soil to make nitrate needs to meet two conditions: First, there is no or little soil that has been washed by rainwater and the soil erosion is not serious.Nitrate is soluble in water, which is also an important principle for extracting it from the soil. If the soil is eroded and heavily washed by rain, the content of nitrate will be very low.

The second is places with little or no luxuriant vegetation, where potassium will be absorbed by plants.

All in all, Houshan is the best place.

As soon as I came here, there were rocks everywhere, and the rain was blocked by the rocks, and a lot of soil was useless to wash away.In addition, the plants in this place are sparse shrubs, there are no tall trees, and the potassium nitrate rich in the soil will not be absorbed.

Finally, this place is only five or six hundred meters away from the Wangfu in a straight line, which is only one mile away, which is very convenient.

After walking for a while with the little girl, the two soon arrived at this small nitrate factory. Saltpeter will burn when exposed to fire, and melt when exposed to water. For this reason, Li Ye specially ordered these huts to be built with wood, and the equipment used in the entire construction process They are all made of wood or ceramics, and they have been repeatedly told and strictly warned about various precautions.

At this time, everyone in the small courtyard was very busy, seeing Li Ye came to say hello, Yan Shen also hurried over, put down his work to meet him, his head was still wrapped in gauze.

This is a complete nitrate production line designed by Li Ye, and he taught everyone how to use it only yesterday.

In the three filter sheds, people are constantly drying the gauze filter screens hanging above, washing the soil with water from the mountain, fully dissolving the nitrate in the soil, and then the filtrate flows into the confluence pool along the water tank.

Then the filtrate flows from the confluence pool to three different clarification pools. The three clarification pools are designed to have a large area but a very shallow shape, so that the mud and impurities mixed in the water can sink to the bottom faster.

A water outlet is provided at the place where the water level of the pool is high, from which the water flow on the upper surface can be released quickly, and the water flow on the upper surface can be clarified quickly, so that the progress will not be slowed down, and large-scale production can be realized.

On the other side, several pots used to evaporate the water were also specially made by the blacksmith of the Wangfu. The common feature of the pots is that they are shallow, but the bottom is large, so as to increase the heating area as much as possible and increase the efficiency.

At the same time, Li Ye gave up using firewood and directly bought more expensive coke, that is, coal for heating.

This will help control the temperature, which will undoubtedly greatly increase the cost, but Li Ye does not hesitate, because coal is more controllable than firewood.

Controllability and high efficiency have always been the key to mass production.

Black powder would be meaningless if it couldn't be produced on a large scale.

(End of this chapter)

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