Yipin Tang

Chapter 241 Explosive Pole and Firecrackers

On New Year's Eve, a heavy snowfall came, adding a bit of New Year's flavor.

On this day, there were almost no pedestrians on the streets of Chang'an City, and every household was busy at home.

Steward Wang, Aunt Lin and the others got up before dawn to take care of the affairs of the mansion. Wang Xiang did not practice Wu Qinxi with Sun Simiao today, and was dragged away by Steward Wang to prepare for ancestor worship as soon as he woke up.

The ancients paid more attention to ancestor worship on New Year's Eve than later generations can compare. All good filial piety is the first, and the end is prudent. On the occasion of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new, every household puts the genealogy, ancestors, tablets, etc. in the upper hall of the home. Incense burners, offerings.

Ordinary people usually use three animals for ancestor worship, usually pork, whole chicken, and two fish as three animals, but the Hou Mansion is considered a big family, and five animals are used for ancestor worship, whole pig, whole sheep, whole chicken, and whole duck , whole fish, to show grand.

In previous years, because the Hou's mansion was strong in the outside world, Steward Wang was powerless to make the ancestor worship grand. This year is different. In addition to the five animals, there are cloud ears, shiitake mushrooms, tomatoes and other vegetarian offerings and various exquisite snacks.

After a hasty meal at noon, all the people in the mansion put on new clothes, and the ancestor worship officially started on New Year's Eve. Others are not eligible to enter the ancestral hall. Wang Xiang, Wu Shun, and Ju Yiya are brought by Steward Wang to the ancestral hall. The ancestor worship was held, and little Lolita was very unhappy about it, but she was not from the Wang family after all.

Although there was an ancestor worship experience before, it was just that he was brought by the steward Wang to worship the ancestors when he was the supervisor of the Si Nong Temple. Firstly, it was far less grand than today, and secondly, he was under the guidance of Wang Steward The person who completed the ancestor worship in a muddleheaded manner has long been forgotten. Later, the Hou Mansion became more and more prosperous and did not pay attention to the ancestor worship. Steward Wang felt very guilty about this, so today's ancestor worship Wang Steward attaches great importance to it.

Ju Yiya didn't know anything about the customs of the Tang Dynasty, only Wu Shun knew a little bit, but only a little bit. After all, she was a woman, and she was not eligible to enter the Wu Family Ancestral Hall when she was in the Wu Family.

Fortunately, Steward Wang is very familiar with the matter of ancestor worship, and after a long time of tossing, he finally completed the ancestor worship under his guidance.

After worshiping the ancestors, Wang Xiang saw Laifu entering the mansion with a bunch of bamboos in his arms and asked curiously, "What are you doing with these bamboos?"

Laifu poked out half of his head from behind the bamboo and said, "Master, this is an explosive pole."

"Explosive pole?" Wang Xiang asked suspiciously, "Isn't this just bamboo?"

Laifu shook his head and nodded again, "It's bamboo, but it's just bamboo used for explosive poles."

He murmured in his heart: In the past, the young master liked to set explosive poles the most, why doesn't he seem to know even the explosive poles? Could it be that the injury on his head hasn't healed yet?
Wang Xiang became more and more confused after hearing Lai Fu's words, and asked, "What is this for?"

Before Laifu could answer, the little Lolita ran over and said excitedly, "Wow, there are so many explosive poles!"

"That's right, the mansion prepares a lot of explosive poles every New Year's Eve, and the young master used to like to set explosive poles the most."

"I also like to put explosive poles!"

"Then I'll go back and prepare more, so that the mansion can be lively."

Listening to Laifu and Xiao Luoli's enthusiastic discussion about the explosive pole, Wang Xiang finally understood that the explosive pole they were talking about was actually the firecracker of later generations.

Could it be that the folks have invented gunpowder?Wang Xiang was shocked at this thought.

"Show me one."

Seeing that Wang Xiang was very interested in explosive poles, Laifu quickly pulled out one. Wang Xiang took the explosive pole and observed it curiously, and found that the so-called explosive poles were actually ordinary bamboos. stuff like gunpowder.

"How does this thing work?" Wang Xiang was really curious, can this thing explode?

Little Lolita giggled: "Brother-in-law won't let go of explosives?"

Wang Xiang coughed dryly and said, "I have something more fun than popping poles."

Little Lolita's eyes lit up when she heard the words, she pulled Wang Xiang's arm excitedly and asked, "Really?"

"Of course it's fake. I don't even know how to fire a pole. How could there be anything more fun than a pole?" Wang Xiang deliberately glanced at the little loli.

"Brother-in-law, I was wrong..."

Little Lolita hugged Wang Xiang's arm with both hands and acted coquettishly. Although through the woolen sweater, Wang Xiang could still clearly feel the fullness of Little Lolita's chest, and quickly calmed down and said, "Okay, okay, I'll do it for you later."

"Yeah, brother-in-law is the best!" Little Lolita immediately beamed with joy.

Little Lolita is playful and active, first let Laifu make a few popping poles to play with. After watching it, Wang Xiang finally understood that the so-called popping poles are actually splitting bamboo into small pieces and throwing them into the brazier. When the bamboo burns, it will make a crackling sound, so it is called an explosive pole.

But this thing is too simple...Wang Xiang shook his head, he thought there was something special about exploding poles.

When the explosion pole was burning, it made very little popping noise, but even so, the little loli had a great time playing, and even Ju Yiya and Xiaoya were excitedly surrounding the brazier.

A few explosive poles made of a piece of bamboo were used up soon, and the little loli pouted unsatisfactorily, and suddenly remembered what Wang Xiang said was more fun than explosive poles, and pulled Wang Xiang's arm and urged: "Brother-in-law, What exactly are you talking about that is more fun than exploding poles?"

Ju Yiya and Xiaoya also looked at Wang Xiang curiously.

Wang Xiang chuckled and said, "That thing is called a firecracker."

"Firecrackers? Sounds like a firecracker."

Wang Xiang smiled and said, "It's really similar, but the sound it makes is more than ten times stronger than that of an exploding pole."

"Really!" Little Lolita looked very excited, "Then let's make firecrackers for fun!"

Seeing the impatience of little lolita, Wang Xiang rubbed her head fondly and said: "I need some things to make firecrackers, I'll go and prepare them, you guys ask Laifu to split those bamboos into small pieces, wait for me It will be useful."

What he needs to prepare is actually gunpowder, as long as the explosive rod is filled with gunpowder, the rod will become a firecracker.

But you can't use gunpowder like Tianleizi, otherwise it will be too dangerous. The gunpowder filled in the firecrackers has a modified formula, and its power is much smaller than the gunpowder in Tianleizi.

The mansion didn't have the materials needed to configure the gunpowder for firecrackers, so Wang Xiang went to Yuan Tiangang's place. Yuan Tiangang was in charge of making Tianlei Zi, and he collected a lot of materials such as saltpeter.

If other people went to Yuan Tiangang to ask for these things, I am afraid they would not be able to come back. Wang Xiang asked Yuan Tiangang and did not refuse, but Li Er would hear this matter. After all, Tianleizi is too important. A few days ago Demonstrating the power of Tianleizi in front of foreign envoys and aristocratic families, many people are now trying to find out about Tianleizi.

(End of this chapter)