The rise of the prince

Chapter 702
"You've been in Houshan Nest for several days, are you still going today?" Shiyu said while tidying his collar, Yue'er and Gillian were managing their garden.

"Go ahead, I've been there for the past few days, remember to deliver food at noon, don't starve your precious husband." Li Xingzhou smirked.

"Smelly." Shiyu said and let go of her hand: "You go, I will ask someone to send it over at noon."

Li Xingzhou nodded, pinched her beautiful nose happily, and avoided the poetic words: "By the way, A-Jiao and I entered the palace two days ago, and the empress asked you to consider whether to move to the East Palace. The emperor's decree It’s already gone, now we’re just waiting for the auspicious day.”

"No, I'm too busy for now." Li Xingzhou immediately refused. The prince lived in the East Palace because the East Palace was in the imperial city, close to the emperor and the court, so he could quickly learn military and political affairs and accept the emperor's test.

And the East Palace, in the order of the imperial city, is second only to the main palace where the emperor lives, so its status is lofty.

But he can't live in it now. Of course, the rules in the palace at this time are far less strict than those in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Even concubines can live outside, as long as they talk to the emperor.Just like Concubine Tian, ​​she would go home to live or live outside from time to time. The Tian family has a big business, owns a Zhuangzi, and there are many houses.

Sometimes Concubine Tian would even come to visit his home, just like relatives usually go around, but it is much more low-key, after all, it is inconvenient to be recognized by others.

In fact, it was the same in both the Song and Tang Dynasties. The concubines of the emperor could live outside the palace and had great personal freedom. The same was true for the emperor, who wanted to enter and leave the palace mostly according to his own preferences.

The reason why we have the stereotype that the palace gate is as deep as the sea, and that once you enter the palace, you will lose your freedom forever is because the era of modern people is closer to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, so they are more influenced by the two dynasties. think so.

Like Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, although it was proposed in the Song Dynasty, it was not recognized on a large scale at that time, and its peak period was in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

However, with such an atmosphere, it is inevitable that there will be many sexual and ethical scandals.Such as robbing a sister-in-law, sleeping with my father's concubine, having sex with my sister or even my mother's generation, or the scandal of a woman in the palace stealing people outside.

In the Houshan laboratory, a newcomer and Li Xingzhou's new assistant came, that is He Qian.

This little girl came to the palace to play, and after seeing those peculiar chemical reactions, she was very interested, so excited that she followed her all the time, and couldn't get rid of her.

She was originally very curious, but with her temperament, she was only curious for a few days, and the previous perfume was the same, and so was Liuli. When she saw something new, she was happy faster than anyone else, but she quickly disappeared. Not interested anymore.

But what I didn't expect was that this time was different, she came to the palace on time every day, brought tea and water with him every day, and helped with the experiments, she still took the trouble.

Li Xingzhou has been busy late every day for the past few days, and he came home exhausted, because mercury fulminate is not just produced, and anyone who knows its composition and has a high school chemistry background knows how to use various reactions to achieve the goal.

The key is that he must find out a feasible production process of mercury fulminate.

This thing is still dangerous, because it is very unstable before passivation, and it is dangerous even as a propellant.

As early as the first day, he obtained a small amount of mercury rexol through a series of reactions, which verified the possibility.

First calcined vitriol, the obtained gas was dissolved in water to obtain sulfuric acid, and then reacted with sulfuric acid and saltpeter to obtain nitric acid. This step is very suitable for large-scale operation, so it can be used in industrial production, but it is very corrosive to utensils. Fortunately, There are glassware in the palace.

The next step is to use nitric acid to react with mercury to produce mercury nitrate. There is no difficulty in this step. The mercury is still bought by the Tang family, which saves a lot of processes.

Finally, the reaction of tribute to nitrate and alcohol can produce mercury fulminate.

The final product is in powder form and must be passivated quickly, otherwise safety accidents will easily occur.

Generally speaking, everything is going according to the pre-plan. Now the most difficult thing is the first step of sulfuric acid production, and the corrosion of the equipment during the reaction between saltpeter and sulfuric acid.

This is no way is, currently only this way.

Moreover, once the Wangfu has the ability to produce nitric acid, not only mercury fulminate, but also nitroglycerin and the like can be tried slowly in the future, and sooner or later it can be produced.

Wei Chaoren touched the blue bricks on the top of the city, and looked from afar, the foothills of the Taihang Mountains in the northwest, undulating and stretching, towering toweringly, this scene made his heart full of pride.

To the north, the wilderness is vast, the smoke from cooking is curling up, and the banner of Shangjin people in Shanhaiguan can be vaguely seen flying in the distance.

How many years, how many generations, generation after generation, Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, finally, Yanshan Mansion, Zhuozhou, Yizhou, Weizhou, and Anding have all returned to the Central Plains!

Whenever he thought of this, he couldn't help but go up to the top of the city, worship the ancestors, and tell them the feats of the younger generations.

Looking at the great rivers and mountains, he was overwhelmed again, "Come here, set up an altar, I want to sacrifice to the ancestors!"

"Ah..." Wei Xingping, who was following beside him, looked helpless, "Father, at the beginning of this month, you have already sacrificed ten times."

"Nizi, what are you talking about? A dozen times a day is not too much to sacrifice to ancestors." Wei Chaoren said, then waved his hand, "Forget it, what you said is polite, it is indeed too much."

"You juniors, you don't understand the expectations of our generation. After hundreds of years, the land of Yanyun has finally returned halfway, hahaha." He said and looked at the clear sky in the distance.

Wei Xingping interjected: "Father, why don't you understand, you told us since we were young, and I'm not heartless when you tell us those things.

Fortunately, there is King Jin and his new army this time, otherwise this battle will probably return in vain. "

"That's right, this time the new army defeated the Liao army with thunderous momentum. This old man never expected. Jin Wang is a hero, Di Zhi is brave, and the new army is well-trained. These are the keys to victory."

After Wei Chaoren finished speaking, his son hurriedly added: "Father, the new army's new weapons are also magic weapons for victory. You have seen the muskets and cannons. They kill people hundreds of steps away. Even armor is hard to defend against. , It would be great if we had this magic weapon."

"What are you talking about?" Wei Chaoren frowned, looked at his son and said, "You are worthless. People are the foundation of victory. If you lose, you lose. If it is difficult to win, it is difficult to win. I don't have enough intelligence, I don't have enough training, I don't want to shirk the matter of weapons." .”

"I didn't say that intelligence is not important, but if there are muskets and cannons of the new army, the Guanbei army will be more powerful." The son retorted softly.

Wei Chaoren snorted, and didn't bother to talk to him, "Don't even think about it, the new army is the confidant of the King of Jin, the emperor's confidant, guns and cannons are precious things, costing money, how could they fall into the hands of our frontier army.

You have seen those guns and cannons before, they are finely crafted, and the fine iron used for the barrel alone must be worth a thousand dollars, let alone forging so finely and meticulously, it is unbelievable to think about it.

The new army is only 5000 people, and the Guanbei Army and the Lingjie Army have more than 5 people. How can there be so many guns and artillery. "

Seeing his son sighing in disappointment, Wei Chaoren scolded him for being worthless.

At this moment, the guards rushed up to the tower: "My lord, there is news from the capital, and it is a military order from the Privy Council."

"Privy Council!" Wei Chaoren was startled: "Quick, lead the way!"

(End of this chapter)