Optimus One Pillar of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 139 Chemical Research Base
After the public trial meeting was held in the meeting hall of the Ministry of Personnel, Wang Daoqiu took advantage of Yu Maojian's still talking nonsense with Xia Bangmo and the others, so he went to Wanshou Palace to take the initiative.After all, he was the one who revealed to Yu Maojian and the others the differences between the cabinet and Zhao Wenhua at today's imperial meeting.This caused the leaders of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Metropolitan Procuratorate to "petition" to Emperor Jiajing.

Entering the Longevity Palace, Emperor Jiajing was listening to Tao Zhongwen's sermon.After Wang Daoqiu entered, he knelt down in front of Emperor Jiajing to apologize.After Emperor Jiajing heard the reason for the incident, he was not angry. He just smiled and said: "Although Wang Qing is talented and intelligent, he still has a young mind. He is not calm enough and can't hide his words in his heart! It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, I don't blame him. You, a rag can be used to wipe away dust, but if the rag is dirty, you have to wash it, and if it cannot be washed back, you should throw it away."

After saying these words to Wang Daoqiu, Emperor Jiajing ordered Lu Fang, who had just returned from a business trip: "Lu Fang, send a message to Yan Song and ask Zhao Wenhua to be transferred to the post of Shaoqing of Shangbaosi. Slow down for now, and then transfer him to the post of the First Division after the news has passed. Minister."

"promise"

Faced with the outraged Zhao Wenhua, Emperor Jiajing played a trick and demoted Zhao Wenhua to the rank of Shangbaosi Shaoqing, a fourth-rank official with little real power, to appease the clear-minded people in the court.But secretly, he promised Zhao Wenhua through Yan Song that he would be appointed as a minister of the First Division after the news passed.

After hearing about Emperor Jiajing's arrangement for Zhao Wenhua, Wang Daoqiu also confirmed that Zhao Wenhua had indeed been taking the blame for Emperor Jiajing all along.

After understanding this, Wang Daoqiu didn't say anything. He was like a child who had just been criticized by his parents for making a mistake. He lowered his head with a dignified attitude and stood aside pretending to be pitiful.

Seeing Wang Daoqiu's look, Emperor Jiajing also smiled and said indifferently: "Okay, okay, it's not a big deal. Just remember the lesson next time. You talk to Master Tao about your affairs." Come on, I’ll listen next to you.”

"Thank you Your Majesty Ron"

After thanking Emperor Jiajing for not pursuing his talk, Wang Daoqiu began to inform Tao Zhongwen about his plan to send doctors to the countryside under Jurchen control and carry out peaceful evolution.

After Tao Zhongwen heard about Wang Daoqiu's plan, he hugged his beard and smiled and said to Emperor Jiajing: "Your Majesty, Pindao once served as the ambassador of Liaodong Ku, so he knows the Jurchens in Liaodong very well. Just like Wang The little Taoist friend said that the Jurchens make a living by fishing and hunting. Except for occasionally going out to exchange animal skins for some salt, iron, and cloth, the rest of the time they live as a family in the mountains and old forests isolated from the world. They basically have no contact with outsiders. There is no chance of contact, let alone any education. It can be said that the Jurchens all have well-developed limbs and simple minds, as childish as our children here."

"People who don't know them think that they are extremely vicious and like animals. But as long as you really have a heart to heart with them, you will find that those people are actually very simple and sincere, and they don't have the frivolousness of us Han people. Especially We are friends, and they can both go out of their way to help each other. So, Your Majesty, although the Jurchens are wolves and extremely vicious, as long as we show empathy and treat them with sincerity, they will be loyal to me, the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the poor Dao supports Friends Wang Xiaodao’s plan to subdue Jurchen, and promises to His Majesty on behalf of Daomen that Daomen is willing to bear all the expenses of this plan.”

In the face of national interests and national justice, Tao Zhongwen, the so-called "charlatan", turned back to an idealist without any hesitation, sacrificing the interests of small groups to fulfill the interests of the country.

Seeing the great righteousness shown by the "old liar" of the Taoist sect in front of him, Wang Daoqiu became more determined at this moment. He must lead the religious force of the Taoist sect to the right path.

Just when Wang Daoqiu was thinking about these little thoughts, Emperor Jiajing, who was also moved by Tao Zhongwen's national justice, spoke.Emperor Jiajing said: "I have wronged Master Tao. On behalf of my ancestors of the Ming Dynasty and the people of the world, I would like to thank Master Tao."

"No grievance, no grievance. I, Tao Zhongwen, and Daomen are also subjects of the Ming Dynasty. It is my duty to serve the Ming Dynasty."

"Duty, duty, Immortal Master's duty is well said. I accept the heart of Immortal Master and Taoist sect. However, everything must be done within one's ability. Conquering the Jurchen will not take a year or two, or even What can be accomplished in ten or eight years will probably cost at least tens of millions of taels. It would be too much pressure for the Daomen family to bear such a huge expense. Well, in order to conquer the Jurchen, I am here in Lili The factory's dividends will be reduced by [-]%, which will be used to send Taoist disciples to the Jurchens to provide medical services and preach the gospel."

For the eternal life of his Zhu family, for the sake of turning the Jurchen's northern wolf into a wolfdog that guards the Zhu family's gates.The greedy Emperor Jiajing once again gave up his wealth and made the right choice.

After Tao Zhongwen listened to Emperor Jiajing's words, he also smiled happily and said: "No, no, your Majesty, since Taoist friend Wang gave me the formula of good medicine and the method of making sulfur glass, my Taoist sect has been making gold every day. Now Yongding By the river, the sulfur glass workshop covering an area of ​​more than 28 acres is fully equipped with factory buildings, furnaces and molds. The auspicious day chosen is June [-], five days later. Once the workshop starts construction, the money will be even more So, Your Majesty, I can’t afford the expenses of going to the Jurchens to deliver medical treatment and preach the gospel.”

Tao Zhongwen insisted on giving the money to them, and his tone was sincere. Emperor Jiajing could tell that Tao Zhongwen was sincerely trying to save money for the country, and was not being polite.

So after Tao Zhongwen finished speaking, Emperor Jiajing did not act like a little girl on this matter, and continued to shirk Tao Zhongwen. He acquiesced to the matter without saying a word.

After being silent for a while, Emperor Jiajing did not look at Tao Zhongwen, but turned to Wang Daoqiu and said: "Wang Qing, you have many money-making ideas in your mind, think about it for me, what other industries are suitable for the Taoist sect to handle. "

Emperor Jiajing asked Wang Daoqiu to help the Taoist sect find property at this time. There is no doubt that Emperor Jiajing wanted to give the Taoist sect some compensation after Tao Zhongwen represented the Taoist sect and showed their absolute loyalty to the Ming Dynasty.

Understanding what Emperor Jiajing meant, Wang Daoqiu asked Tao Zhongwen: "Master Immortal, once this sulfur glass workshop is opened, it will use more than one million kilograms of alkali every year. Isn't it appropriate to do it in Baiyun Temple? About this One point, what are your plans?" "Oh! To be honest, friends, before the construction of the Liulicong Workshop started, our sect held a special meeting. After discussion, we decided to move the alkali making workshop to , moved to Penglai. There is our Taoist sect’s Laoshan Palace there, which has been our Taoist sect’s holy place for thousands of years, and the residents there basically believe in it. In addition, it is an island, which not only helps keep secrets, but also allows people to stay on site Get the salt you need for making alkali.”

"Placing the alkali production place in Penglai also has the advantage of convenient transportation. After the alkali is prepared in Penglai, when the Yongding River is navigable, we can use ships to transport the alkali directly from Penglai via Tianjin Wei and along the Yongding River to our location in Yongding. The sulfur glass workshop by the river. When the river is frozen in winter, we can transport the alkali to Tianjin Wei by boat first, then load it on oxen and mule carts in Tianjin Wei, and transport it to the sulfur glass workshop. To be honest with you, just When the sulfur glass workshop was being built by the Yongding River, the alkali-making workshop and salt field in Penglai were also under construction and have now been completed. We are just waiting for the auspicious day for our people to move there."

Moving the soda ash manufacturing base to Penglai Island on the Bohai Sea in Shandong will not only keep it secret, but will also be convenient in terms of transportation and raw material acquisition. Wang Daoqiu also feels that the Daomen factory site was chosen well.

However, this factory site has such good conditions. Isn't it a pity to synthesize some soda ash with light?Thinking of this, the "Chemical Research Laboratory" suddenly popped into Wang Daoqiu's mind, a thing that later generations of entrepreneurs from a large country used to defraud funds.

Thinking of this, Wang Daoqiu said seriously to Tao Zhongwen: "Master Immortal, Taoism has been refining alchemy for thousands of years, and there are many talents in this field. In the process of refining alchemy, I accidentally obtained some inexplicable things, such as gunpowder. I won't hide it. Immortal Master, I used to like to put all kinds of unrelated things together and tinker with them to see what I could come up with. How to make steel, how to make sulfur glass, how to extract medicine from steamed buns, and penicillium that rots fruits. . These were all tinkered with by me unintentionally."

"My little friend is extremely talented in the process of refining all things. He can be regarded as one of the best in ancient and modern times. I admire him." Hearing that Wang Daoqiu's inventions and creations were all made by him unintentionally, Tao Zhongwen was also convinced and praised him smoothly. Wang Daoqiu said.

Wang Daoqiu was now eager to deceive Tao Zhongwen and mobilize the power of Taoism to support his idea of ​​building a chemical research and experimental base.So he didn't worry about whether Tao Zhongwen's compliment was sincere or polite.

As soon as Tao Zhongwen finished his compliments, Wang Daoqiu continued: "To be honest with you, Master, during the years of tinkering, the things that I have inadvertently created are far more than steel making, glass making, penicillin, etc. For example, gunpowder, I once……."

Next, Wang Daoqiu began to fool Emperor Jiajing and Tao Zhongwen into improving gunpowder.Of course, given the current level of chemical industry in the Ming Dynasty, Wang Daoqiu rationally avoided those tall and powerful people of later generations, and chose the achievements of Europeans during the Industrial Revolution.

For example, what Wang Daoqiu recommended to Emperor Jiajing and Tao Zhongwen now was yellow gunpowder developed by Europeans.

The main ingredient of this yellow gunpowder is picric acid, which was first synthesized by Englishman Wolfe in 1771. It is a yellow crystal, and it was originally used as a yellow dye.Later, people accidentally discovered its explosive properties, and it was used as explosives.

Compared with the black gunpowder invented by the Chinese, the yellow gunpowder with picric acid as the main raw material is more stable and has greater explosive power.Moreover, the level of chemical industry in Britain in 1771 could also be achieved by the Ming Dynasty in the [-]th century.

What's more, Wang Daoqiu has a library, and he can point out the general direction of scientific research for the chemical experts of the Ming Dynasty.As long as the general direction is correct and more experiments are conducted, Wang Daoqiu does not believe that what the British could come up with in 1771 would not be something that the Ming Dynasty in the [-]th century could come up with.So he was here, emphatically recommending the yellow gunpowder project to Emperor Jiajing and Tao Zhongwen.

After listening to Wang Daoqiu's deception, it can be said that gunpowder is of little use to Taoism, so Tao Zhongwen was not very active about it. After hearing this, he just stood there without expressing his opinion.

After Emperor Jiajing heard Wang Daoqiu's words, he became excited. After all, gunpowder was too important to him.Let’s not talk about military matters, just talk about iron ore mining in Xuanfu and coal mining in Wanping. How much explosives are used in that year!

So as soon as Wang Daoqiu finished speaking, Emperor Jiajing just pondered for a moment, then asked: "Wang Qing, is the yellow gunpowder you mentioned really several times more powerful than our current gunpowder?"

"Yes, your majesty. Once it is made, I will try it and show it to your majesty, and your majesty will know. However, this yellow gunpowder is too overbearing. I suggest that the yellow dye used in it should be specially made by Jiaodaomen on Penglai Island. After it is ready, it will be sent to the capital, and then the workshop controlled by the palace will specially mix the yellow gunpowder. In this way, the raw materials and the proportions will be made separately. The Taoist sect does not know the final formula of the yellow gunpowder, and the capital does not know the raw materials. How to combine it, both sides can restrain each other, and no one can make it without it."

"Even I can't make that yellow dye for a while, because I tinkered with that yellow dye unintentionally. Now I only know a few things and how to make them, so that I can make that kind of thing, but the specifics I don’t know the ratio at all. So this requires the alchemists of the Taoist sect to experiment one by one, and finally try out the formula."

Control the proportion of yellow gunpowder in the palace, and leave the synthesis of raw materials to Daomen on an isolated island, so that maximum confidentiality can be maintained.So good, so good.

Thinking of the benefits of doing so, Emperor Jiajing made the decision immediately.He asked Tao Zhongwen to recruit those alchemists in the Taoist sect. The top ones were sent to the capital for alchemy, and the lesser ones were sent to Penglai Island, and they were not allowed to leave the island for life.

(End of this chapter)