Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

After an on-site inspection of the newly opened experimental area in the fertilizer workshop, Jiang Xinghuo finally felt relieved. It can be said that the preparations for praying for rain have reached a stage where the results are very effective and can be seen. The hot air balloon only needs to be repeatedly debugged. After ensuring success, you can proceed to the next step of public demonstration.

Later, Jiang Xinghuo took Zhang Yuchu and Yuan Gong into the palace to report the phased results to Emperor Yongle.

"If this thing is sprinkled into the clouds, it will make it rain?"

Zhu Di looked at the silver iodide powder in the glass bottle presented by Yuan Gong with some curiosity.

"able."

Jiang Xinghuo answered: "Clouds are made of liquefied water vapor. The function of this thing is to become the condensed nucleus of raindrops, causing rain to occur in the clouds. The hot air balloon flies to a low altitude of 1,000 feet to 1,500 feet, and is manually controlled These powders are sprinkled into the clouds, and when the powder spreads at high altitudes, water vapor will quickly condense around them, and when it reaches a certain volume, rainfall will occur. These powders may seem tiny, but they can produce tens of billions of ice crystals in cold clouds."

After listening to Jiang Xinghuo's explanation, Zhu Di lowered his head and looked at it for a moment. The powder was bright yellow. Zhu Di shook the bottle and asked, "Is it poisonous? Can you smell it?"

"Your Majesty, this thing is not poisonous." Zhang Yuchu quickly bowed and replied.

"Okay, Third Brother, please smell it."

Zhu Di nodded, turned around and handed the bottle to Zhu Gaosui.

Zhu Gaosui was startled, but he was probably used to being tricked by his father, so he took it directly, pulled out the cork and smelled it.

"No, just smell it. Why are you sticking your tongue out and licking your lips?"

Zhu Di frowned slightly and looked at Lao San.

"It smells pretty good." Zhu Gaosui replied honestly.

"roll roll roll!"

Well, according to Zhang Yuchu and Yuan Gong's aesthetic standards for elixirs, it's not surprising that chemical fertilizers can give you a bright red-colored pill, and some licorice-flavored spices are added to the silver iodide powder.

To be honest, sometimes Jiang Xinghuo felt that they were not refining elixirs, but cooking, or in other words, engaging in some kind of art, and it must be an art that has both color, flavor and taste.

After taking back the glass bottle, Zhu Di played with it for a moment and asked.

"How did these two real people make this thing?"

"Taught by the Imperial Master."

Zhang Yuchu did not dare to be greedy for credit, and reported truthfully: "First, we found a large amount of well-growing seaweed from Yuan Zhenren's hometown in eastern Zhejiang, burned it into seaweed ash, and extracted a white bitter-salty powder (potassium iodide) from it. "

"Then what?" Zhu Di gradually became interested in this magical alchemy process.

"Then it is diluted with the green vitriol (sulfuric acid) that Your Majesty saw last time, and mixed with saltpeter to refine the saltpeter green vitriol solution (dilute nitric acid)."

"Next, melt the silver into the elixir, and a new light yellow liquid (silver nitrate) will come out. Mix this new yellow liquid with the white bitter salty powder extracted from the seaweed ash, and the final The product is this in His Majesty’s hands.”

Zhu Di nodded and said, "Well, it doesn't sound complicated."

"The Imperial Master teaches well, otherwise we would not be able to practice just by practicing here, which would cost a lot of manpower and material resources."

Zhang Yuchu's praise was so obvious that Jiang Xinghuo felt a little embarrassed. However, Zhang Yuchu obviously had his own purpose. He had been looking for him recently to find out whether there was any new "prescription", even if it was not effective. Chemical fertilizers that increase soil fertility and silver iodide that makes rain fall from the sky are so abnormal.

If you can buy one, even if you sell the Great Shangqing Palace, Zhang Tianshi won't even frown.

After all, this kind of thing can be passed down as the treasure of Longhu Mountain.

"However." Yuan Gong said cautiously, "This thing is easy to get, but the messy costs add up to a lot of money."

"oh."

Zhu Di waved his hand and said: "Use it as you like. When I conquer Japan, I will have as much silver as I need."

The eldest prince Zhu Gaochi, who had two panda eyes next to him, raised his head and looked at his father.

Sure enough, when a man is about to get rich, his waistline will immediately become hardened.

Zhu Gaochi couldn't help but pour cold water on him: "Father, the money for the Yongle Grand Ceremony/Encyclopedia of the Ming Dynasty has been spent in the early stage. Confucian scholars in the south of the Yangtze River have responded to the edict. Duke Rong Guo opened a new building in the Datianjie Temple. A new place dedicated to this.”

Having said this, Zhu Gaochi couldn't help but count with his fat fingers.

"Zheng He spent a lot of the money donated by the nobles during the Mid-Autumn Festival last year. Of course, the sale of fertilizers is now a stable income for the court. This part is offset, and there is even a surplus. However, the year-end rewards given to the clan are huge. Not coming back."

"You need money to attack Annan. We can't expect to get much property directly from Annan. According to the National Master, we have to make money by selling textiles and other goods to Annan, but the textiles have not yet reached a large scale."

Not knowing how expensive firewood and rice are, Zhu Di quickly stopped his grievances.

"Where's Nei Kuli? Are you out of money?"

"No more, we can all run away from the mice."

Zhu Di was about to say something, but looking at Zhu Gaochi's face, he immediately realized why the money in the inner treasury was gone.

Of course, it was not because of corruption. At this time, the emperor's inner treasury was not quite separated from the treasury of the Ministry of Revenue. There were no eunuchs to manage the inner treasury. It was the low-level officials of the Ministry of Revenue who took turns to supervise it. The money in it was changed once a year. It was Jianwen who used it to beat him as "Yan Ni" and burned it.

Zhu Di slowly looked at Jiang Xinghuo.

The meaning is also obvious.

——National Preceptor, making money.

Of course Jiang Xinghuo couldn't conjure money for Emperor Yongle unless he started printing money again, but that would undoubtedly be digging his own grave.

As for other methods, perfume glass and the like, which are common among time travellers, are also luxuries sold to the rich. How much money the current Ming Dynasty can really make is still a question mark, and it is probably the first batch of people who can Make more money and things will get back to normal later on.

Therefore, if we want to avoid internal friction and truly put the economy on a recycling path, we still have to build large-scale textile handicraft workshops and use new textile machines to make textiles high-quality and affordable, and then export them through export trade. Get money from foreign hands.

After all, the surrounding countries in this era have a large population and their purchasing power is not bad. Ming Dynasty has a population of 66 million, Japan has a population of more than 10 million, Annan has a population of more than 3 million, North Korea has a population of more than 6 million, plus Champa For example, the traditional tribute trade circle alone had the purchasing power of about one-third of the Ming Dynasty's population.

Further outside, although there is no exact population data, the entire Pan-Tianzhu region seems to have more people than the Ming Dynasty at this time. Although there must be poor Dalit untouchables (untouchables) who cannot afford to wear clothes, other leaders Dhara and Vaishya can always afford clothes, and these are potential customers.

In a market as big as Tianzhu, in Jiang Xinghuo's previous life, Yinggelan didn't even finish the food.

In general, as long as the products are of high quality and low price, better than the local homespun cloth from foreign countries, and the cost is cheaper than the local homespun cloth after deducting the sea transportation fee, then the textile industry really does not have to worry about losing the market.

"Establishing a new manufacturing method depends on Songjiang Mansion. I wonder how the officials sent out are doing?" Jiang Xinghuo looked at Zhu Gaochi.

"There is great resistance to the establishment of textile handicraft factories in Songjiang Prefecture."

As the person directly responsible for the reform in Southern Zhili, the eldest prince Zhu Gaochi gave a cryptic answer.

In fact, it is no longer a matter of great resistance, it is simply that it cannot be implemented. The officials from Songjiang are almost going to write a collective letter of blood. However, the Imperial College was too violent a while ago, which temporarily suppressed the limelight of this matter.

If we want to effectively promote the reform, it is inevitable to develop a large-scale handmade textile industry. The textile industry can absorb a large number of employed people and create a large amount of income.

But population has been inseparable from cultivated land since ancient times, and this is even more true in a place with intensive farming like Songjiang Prefecture. If you want to snatch people from the hands of the gentry, you don't have to use any means and expect them to hand over the people themselves and send them to the handicraft area. Weaving is simply a fantasy.

Although Songjiang Prefecture is now prosperous, it has not yet sprouted to the point where a large number of people will be freed from the farmland and come to work in the city.

Moreover, it is true that South Zhili is the first experimental field for reform, and Songjiang Prefecture is also a key pilot area selected. It is the top priority and the hardest nut to crack. If Songjiang Prefecture cannot promote the reform, I am afraid that other places will be in vain. It has its appearance.

Jiang Xinghuo was silent for a moment. Everything was difficult at the beginning, but he had already expected this.

So, now things are becoming interconnected. If you want to reform, if you want to inspire a large-scale handmade textile industry, you must first settle the public opinion in the center. You cannot let Jing Qing’s blood oath come true. If God doesn’t If it rains, then artificially help it rain.

Fortunately, the two necessary conditions for artificial rainfall are hot air balloons and silver iodide. The latter has been solved, and the former should not be a big problem. At that time, a saturated lift will be adopted, and each hot air balloon will carry a bottle of silver iodide powder. There is a high probability that it will be possible to fly a few more hot air balloons at once.

"So I ask the National Master one last time whether artificial rainfall is possible or not?"

"It will definitely happen." Jiang Xinghuo said firmly.

There must be no intention of retreating at this time, and Emperor Yongle must not be allowed to feel that he lacks confidence.

Zhu Di got accurate information from Jiang Xinghuo, and after confirming that artificial rain could be made if it really didn't rain, he asked Zhu Gaosui, "Third brother, how is the public opinion going?"

Zhu Gaosui replied: "In terms of public opinion, with the preliminary work of Duke Rong Guo presiding over the Yongle Ceremony, those old scholars stopped making troubles. In the script of "Journey to the West" compiled by the national master, Sun Wukong and the national master Che Chi fought with each other to pray for rain. Now it is widely circulated among the people, and in Shilin, where the Imperial Academy is the main body, the method of studying things proposed by the Imperial Master in Taiping Street has also caused great controversy."

"In short, public opinion has been fully mobilized now, and everything is ready, just waiting for the rain."

Zhu Di sighed: "Artificial rainfall is always risky. It would be great if God could make it rain by himself."

"It's not necessarily a good thing. You have to be careful about flooding."

Jiang Xinghuo reminded: "With years of war, water conservancy projects in the Yellow River, Huaihe River, Yangtze River, and Wusong River have been neglected for several years. Once it rains heavily, the rainwater will pour into the main stream of the river without the relief of tributaries and flood discharge lakes. It will be very difficult It is easy to cause floods, and these four rivers are surrounded by food-producing areas, so disaster relief food must be stocked from now on."

Hearing this, not only Zhu Di, but also Zhu Gaochi frowned. Bad things seemed to be happening one after another in a foreboding chain reaction.