Daming: I am the Crown Prince

Chapter 107 Cold Treatment

The matters of the three treasures of Jianwen were just trivial matters to Zhu Yunhuan, and it was not worth his concern too much about them.

He is now busy climbing the technology tree, but this does not seem to be that easy.

Although the gunpowder ratio and so on seem to be basically stable, they are subject to the level of purification and refining, and the charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur used contain a lot of impurities, so naturally it means that some formulas may not be the most appropriate here.

Zhu Yunhuan naturally understood that the Gunpowder Bureau or the Ministry of Works and other government offices all had their own processes, and there would definitely be no problems with the standard manufacturing process.

"I still need to continue to purify and refine it." Zhu Yunhuan muttered to himself, a little worried, "I thought this would be easy, but it's still a little more troublesome than I imagined."

There is nothing that can be done about it. We can only accept this result. After all, Zhu Yunhuan is not a military expert.

Fortunately, he now has a certain foundation, and as the crown prince, he has a lot of manpower and financial resources at his disposal. As long as he sticks to the seemingly correct path, he will definitely have the opportunity to make some breakthroughs.

"Let's try again next time. We'll talk about purification first. We must stick to this." Zhu Yunhuan planned some things. "The main thing is granulation. Otherwise, let's try the wet rolling method again."

In fact, Zhu Yunhuan also tried it. He asked people to pour powdered gunpowder into a container, add water and pound it to slightly increase the density. Then he sifted it through a sieve, dried it until it was half dry, and rolled it again.

To be honest, it does have some effect, but it's time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the output is not particularly high.

That means the process needs to be further improved, and the methods currently developed cannot be mass-produced yet.

After returning to Wenhua Palace, Zhu Yunhuan summoned Xu Huizu, "How many people are there in the mansion now?"

Xu Huizu also answered directly, "Your Highness, there are dozens of people in my family."

Zhu Yunhuan did not play dumb and said, "Your Majesty has previously granted guards to the Duke's Mansion. I think there is no need to keep so many people in the Duke's Mansion. What do you think about letting some of them return to their hometowns to farm and change their status to civilians?"

Xu Huizu immediately replied, "I am extravagant and I hope Your Highness will punish me."

Zhu Yunhuan smiled and said, "That's not the case. Nowadays, many nobles are obsessed with ostentation. Your family is considered good. Keep the people who should be used, but you don't need so many people in your house."

Xu Huizu immediately accepted the order. Although there were dozens of people in his family, if you counted the servants, guards, etc., that would be hundreds of people. This did not include some tenants on the farms, etc. Otherwise, the population would have increased several times.

Zhu Yunxun smiled and then said, "Good news came from Uncle Thirteen. Aunt Thirteen is pregnant."

Xu Huizu's eyes lit up, and he immediately knelt down excitedly, "I congratulate His Majesty the Emperor and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

The princess consort of Dai Wang Zhu Gui is Xu Da's second daughter. This year, Dai Wang Zhu Gui just became a fief in Datong. Now the princess consort of Dai has also received the good news that she is pregnant, which is naturally something worth celebrating.

Xu Da's eldest daughter was the Princess of Yan and had given birth to three sons. Now his second daughter was the Princess of Dai, and if a boy was born, he would definitely be the Crown Prince of Dai.

Although the Xu family seems to have no queen, which is not as good as the Chang family, the two princesses are also extraordinary.

Zhu Yunhuan smiled and said, "Teach Xu Qin well. He is my son's right-hand man. If he can be half as diligent, frugal and respectful as you, after my son is born, Xu Qin will enter the palace to study with him."

Xu Huizu immediately replied solemnly, "Your Highness, thank you for your praise!"

Xu Huizu's son Xu Qin is only two years old and is very naughty now.

It was not difficult to ask the Duke of Wei's Mansion to release some slaves to serve the people. It was even just a matter of Zhu Yunhuan's words, and Xu Huizu did it immediately. This was also in line with the family tradition of the Xu family.

As for the Chang family, it was easy to deal with. After Zhu Yourong and Zhu Youling went there, Chang Lan immediately dismissed some people and sent them back to their hometown, Huaiyuan County, to serve the people.

When Lan Yu returned to the mansion after attending court, he suddenly felt that there seemed to be a lot fewer people in the mansion. He quickly asked and found out that his sister had come and dismissed some people, asking them to return to Dingyuan County to serve the people.

Lan Yu sighed repeatedly. The Duke of Liang’s Mansion seemed to be short of manpower.

But I dare not complain, not to mention that this matter was arranged by my sister. More importantly, Lan Yu also knew that this must be the intention of the Crown Prince, who had raised these matters a few days ago.

The same was true for Duke Cao's Mansion. Although they were somewhat reluctant, they still sent many people back to their hometown in Xuyi to farm.

The three dukes took the lead in dismissing some people from the mansion, and Zhu Yuanzhang also took the opportunity to promulgate the "Jizhilu". He personally wrote the preface and issued it to the meritorious officials, asking them to read it day and night in order to curb their extravagance.

At the same time, Goryeo envoys Zhao Pang and Han Shangzhi were very anxious, because not only did the emperor not summon them, but the crown prince also did not summon them.

As a result, the two Goryeo envoys found it difficult to complete the task given by the king. They hoped to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty and get the name of the country from the Hongwu Emperor. They also had to bring back the Ming Dynasty envoys, issue the credence, and give the king court robes. But now, I heard that the Ming Dynasty court was still arguing about this matter. Even though Zhao Pang and others often tried to build relationships, there was not much progress.

"Korea, it's always Qin and Chu!" Zhu Yunhuan said, a little unhappy, "Although it calls itself a Confucian and calls itself Little China, it didn't have much contact with the Central Plains during the Tang and Song dynasties."

This is also true. Although Goryeo claimed to be influenced by Confucianism, it accepted the title of the Central Plains dynasty, but it had long adopted a royal system similar to that of the Central Plains dynasty, which was quite "king outside and emperor inside". The Goryeo king called himself "Zhen", and the king's orders were called "Zhao", "Zhi" and "Shengzhi".

Previously, he was often perfunctory towards the Tang and Song dynasties, but after becoming the consort of the Yuan Dynasty, he suddenly became honest and did not dare to overstep his boundaries. The queen or some ministers were also very loyal to the Yuan Dynasty.

As for Goryeo, the scholars and officials now basically understand Chinese characters. The so-called Korean language and "Hunminjeongeum" were completed and promulgated during the reign of Yi Seong-gye's grandson Yi Yeol.

Zhan Hui came out at this time and said, "Your Highness, His Majesty has already decided that the affairs of Goryeo have nothing to do with the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Yunhuan agreed and said, "That's right. If Lee Seong-gye just pays tribute, what good will it do to our Ming Dynasty? Granting him court robes is fine, but the court has not yet sent troops to attack him, and it is not appropriate to justify the name of this usurper who killed the king."

Yang Jing said with some embarrassment, "Your Highness, it is true that Lee Seong-gye usurped the throne. But Wang Shi was disloyal and perverse, and Lee Seong-gye can be considered to be supporting the country. He is loyal to the Ming Dynasty, and if we refuse to make him a vassal, I am afraid that the rulers and ministers of other vassal states will also be alienated."

This also makes sense. After the Northern Yuan Dynasty was destroyed, the King of Goryeo, Wang Shi, regarded the Ming Dynasty as his suzerain state and the Ming Dynasty's clothing and hats as orthodox. However, due to the conflict over Tieling Guard, he immediately took off the Ming Dynasty's court clothes and wanted to send troops to attack Liao.

Regardless of whether Lee Seong-gye's return to Wihwa Island was politically opportunistic, at least on the surface he did not dare to offend the Ming Dynasty. Wang Goryeo, on the other hand, was desperate and came to the Ming Dynasty for help, which was a good calculation.

Zhu Yunhuan was silent for a moment before he said, "Please discuss this later."

Looking at the Crown Prince who didn't take charge of the affairs, some civil and military officials became anxious. For such a big matter, the Crown Prince never made a decision, so that the people under his command were at a loss.

After Zhan Hui and others left, Zhu Yunhuan smiled. He continued to deal with the situation in a cold manner. He would never admit that Lee Seong-gye was a traitor who usurped the country. If he recognized this vassal state, he would have to find other excuses to use troops there in the future, which would not be cost-effective.

When the time is right, perhaps we can consider developing towards Goryeo.

Jiang Li came to report excitedly, saying, "Your Highness, the Gunpowder Department has produced some granular gunpowder, which is even more powerful."

Zhu Yunhuan became excited when he heard this and said quickly, "Come on, take me there!"

Although it may not be the best or most ideal granulated gunpowder, at least there have been some breakthroughs, which is worth being happy about.

In Wuying Palace, Zhu Chong, who had just returned to Beijing, asked, "Father, why haven't I seen Yunxun these days?"

"He's making firecrackers again." Old Zhu said weakly, "We can't control that kid. You saw him during the morning court session. He usually doesn't say a word. After court, he's either fiddling with firecrackers or with coal ash."

Zhu Chong was a little skeptical, "Not really. I've seen Yun Hun before, and he's very smart and capable!"

"He is powerful, but his nature is hard to change." Old Zhu looked helpless. "He has been raised by a woman since he was a child, and he is used to eating, drinking and having fun. Now that I am ill and can't keep an eye on him all the time, he has done whatever he wants."

Zhu Chong looked at Old Zhu. Although his father looked listless, his complexion was actually better than the last time he returned to Beijing.

Zhu Chong thought for a moment and said cautiously, "Father, I am thinking that when I return to the vassal state tomorrow, I should also ask the third son to come back for the audience."

The old actor looked sad, "Alas, the court's laws are here, I'm afraid we won't see you again."

Zhu Chong immediately knelt down and squeezed out tears for a long time, "Father will surely live a long life. I will return to the capital to serve you next year."

Zhu Chong wiped his tears and left. As soon as he left Wuying Palace, he muttered softly, "What are father and Yunhuan thinking about? It's definitely not against us!"

Old Zhu looked at the palace gate, shook his head and said, "This second son can't be appeased either."

A young eunuch seized the opportunity to report, "Your Majesty, it seems that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has ordered people to make a new type of gunpowder. It burns faster and is not afraid of rain."

When Zhu heard this, he was very pleased. His grandson was not just thinking about making firecrackers and playing around all day. His grandson was always hanging around in the Five Military Commandery, not busy taking over the military power for future use.

"This kid has ruined his reputation!" Old Zhu laughed and complained, "He's always good at doing good things, but he doesn't care about his reputation. He made good gunpowder, but people think he was just playing around."

Zhu Yunhuan rubbed the granulated gunpowder with great joy, "Grasshopper Emperor, Carpenter Emperor, Taoist Emperor, don't become Firecracker Emperor in my place!"

(End of this chapter)