How could my childhood sweetheart be the current empress?

There were only dozens of boxes of silver and some gold, silver and jewelry in the huge treasury, which was even poorer than the families of some ministers.

"Is this all the treasury has?"

"Well, in fact, as of today, the treasury has been empty."

Xue Yuan couldn't help but shrugged and said helplessly:

"For this reason, Your Majesty had to disband 50,000 Dayan troops, and now there are only 200,000 Dayan troops left."

"I understand."

Xu Chengling nodded, thinking about something.

It seems that the empress's decision to forcibly expand the army was just a bluff, with the purpose of telling those powerful ministers and princes who were eyeing her covetously that she still had money and they should not have any bad intentions.

But the little money in the national treasury, even with the wealth of the prime minister's mansion, is not enough to promote reform.

No wonder the empress gave him the golden key to the treasury. It turned out she was not afraid that he would steal it.

Looking at the miserable state of the national treasury, Xu Chengling couldn't help but ponder for a while, thinking of some ways to make money.

At this time, Xue Yuan, who was standing aside, couldn't help but say:

"Mr. Prime Minister, Your Majesty actually has a few deposits. If you are in urgent need of money, you can withdraw it."

"Deposit? What deposit?"

Xu Chengling was stunned. Could it be that His Majesty had some private money?

So Xue Yuan explained to him:

"If you are short of money, then just go and confiscate the homes of a few corrupt officials. I happen to have evidence of their crimes here. After such a long time, these corrupt officials should be fat and juicy now, so you can kill them now."

My goodness! Xu Chengling couldn't help but gasp after hearing this.

It turns out that the empress deposited the money with corrupt officials, and then confiscated their property after they were fattened up.

Although the means used were a bit unsavory, what Dayan lacks the least is corrupt officials. If they plundered all of them, wouldn't the national treasury be full of money?

Xu Chengling acted immediately and went to the corrupt official's house based on the information provided by Xue Yuan.

Over the next few days, more than a dozen corrupt officials in the capital were raided and their crimes were uncovered.

After several rounds, the treasury was full again.

However, the money obtained by these corrupt officials was not enough, so Xu Chengling came up with a new idea.

……

Accompanied by Xue Yuan, Xu Chengling came to Qingshan Town, the location of the official kiln.

After arriving at Qingshan Town, there are tall chimneys everywhere with thick smoke billowing. Only a small amount of fine official porcelain is produced here every day.

The official kilns produced in Qingshan Town were usually used as decorations in the mansions of princes and nobles, or used for trade with the Western Regions.

After arriving here, Xue Yuan followed behind Xu Chengling and asked curiously:

"Master Xiangguo, what are we doing here?"

"Of course I'm here to make money."

Xu Chengling said concisely that he came here from far away, definitely to make money.

Along the way, nothing unexpected happened because Xue Yuan was following them.

As Xu Chengling walked along the small road in Qingshan Town, he asked:

"Xue Yuan, how many pieces of official kiln porcelain are produced here every day?"

"The official kiln porcelain produced in Qingshan Town is strictly controlled by the government. There are about 100 pieces a day. After all, things are valuable because they are rare."

"Ah."

Xu Chengling nodded. He looked at the roadside and saw many local people in ragged clothes.

Logically speaking, Qingshan Town, as the hometown of the official kiln, should not be so poor, so he asked Xue Yuan.

Xue Yuan knew a lot, so she told him;

"Although Qingshan Town is the hometown of official kilns, the number of official kilns produced every day is fixed. In addition to the official kilns controlled by the government, there are many private kilns here. Compared with the porcelain produced by official kilns, the price of porcelain produced by private kilns is only one thousandth, and it is impossible to make money."

In fact, the porcelain produced by folk kilns is not bad, but the price will change greatly depending on whether there is an official seal on the bottom of the porcelain.

After walking around Qingshan Town with Xu Chengling, Xue Yuan finally couldn't help but ask:

"By the way, Lord Xiangguo, what are we doing here?"

"I have a brand new technology that can replace the current official kilns. Even those folk kilns can earn income with this technology."

In fact, Xu Chengling had an idea in his mind, but he never had the chance to implement it.

This process is called glass making.

In fact, the ancients mastered the firing technology very early, that is, porcelain. This kind of porcelain is not only beautiful in appearance, but also has good heat resistance and high practicality.

But porcelain and glass are like a fork in the road. The ancients strived for perfection in porcelain making, but forgot about the production of glass, which is really regrettable.

In fact, the firing methods of glass and porcelain are similar. By just slightly improving the process, more practical glass can be produced.

In Dayan, colored glaze is extremely rare and expensive, and is very popular among people from the Western Regions.

Artificially made glass is an excellent substitute for colored glaze.

If we could sell these artificial glasses as colored glaze to the Western Regions, we would definitely be able to make a fortune!

This would require severe blackmail on the people of the Western Regions.

Chapter 204: A Ring

In addition to being used to blackmail people from the Western Regions, glass products can also be used in all walks of life.

As the craftsmanship of glass products continues to improve and become popular among the public, the price of glass will gradually drop.

But this is not the point. The point is that the first pot of gold earned from glass can be used to develop more profitable products.

At first, Xu Chengling looked disdainful at the routine used by those authors in writing time-travel historical novels. It was the same old three things they were writing about: perfume, glass and soap.

But now he finally realized that the reason why a routine becomes a routine is because it is easy to use!

If we talk about the thing that is easiest to make money from, it has to be perfume. After all, everyone loves beauty.

Extracting perfume requires a distillation device, and the heat resistance and thermal conductivity of glass products are undoubtedly the best choice. Condensers made of glass will also greatly improve the efficiency of distillation.

In this way, the perfume extracted by distillation can be sold to the nobles of Dayan or people from the Western Regions, making a huge profit.

Compared with glass products, the price of perfume can be guaranteed only by keeping the raw materials of the perfume confidential.

Besides, perfume is aimed at rich people, and whoever has money will make money.

At the same time, the optimization of the distillation device will further improve the yield and purity of allicin and accelerate the research and development of allicin so that it can be popularized throughout Dayan as soon as possible.

It can be said that the glass products were just the first step in Xu Chengling's plan, laying the material foundation for the subsequent extraction of perfume and allicin.

Of course, allicin and perfume both require a distillation apparatus, but not together.

Unless you want a bottle of perfume that smells like garlic.

With Dayan’s current firing technology, it is entirely possible to produce glass products.

At this time, the time traveler's guide that Xu Chengling saw on the forum that year can play a big role.

The time traveler's guide just happened to have information about the glass making process, and it was very simple.

It can only be said that the ancients were so obsessed with firing porcelain that they ignored the existence of glass. As a result, such a convenient thing was not introduced from abroad until later.

During this period, Xu Chengling stayed in Qingshan Town and rented a private kiln to study glass.

So, Xu Chengling gradually mastered the firing process from scratch, from being a layman who knew nothing about firing porcelain.

During this period, Xue Yuan also stayed by his side and helped as his assistant.

As a result, every time they walked out of the kiln, they were covered in dust and looked miserable due to the thick smoke.

After coming here, Xue Yuan also changed into a green short shirt and lotus-colored trousers. Her pretty face was tanned every day, and she looked like a country girl.

Originally Xu Chengling thought that a woman like Xue Yuan, who came from a life of luxury, could not endure hardship at all. It turned out that he was wrong. Xue Yuan was even more hardworking than he imagined.

In Qingshan Town, people all knew that a couple came from other places and were busy in the kiln doing something unknown, and no porcelain was produced every day.

But I have to say that this young couple is quite a good match.

Sometimes, when Xue Yuan came to the lake and saw her own clothes, she thought she was seeing things. Where did this country girl come from?

After a closer look, I realized that the village girl was actually me.

In response to this, Xue Yuan just smiled bitterly. She didn't expect that things would turn out like this after coming here. She could also understand to some extent the difficulties faced by the people in Qingshan Town.

In the blink of an eye, a month passed.

Finally, after countless failures, they finally succeeded!

"Finally it worked!"

Looking at the red-burning square sheet in front of them, which turned into a transparent object after cooling down, Xu Chengling and Xue Yuan couldn't help but hug each other with joy.

But soon, Xue Yuan's pretty face turned red, and a hint of shyness appeared on her dusty face.

After a month of hard work, they finally made the first piece of glass, which was a huge breakthrough from scratch.

Immediately afterwards, Xu Chengling fired it several more times according to the successful method and proportion, and it was successful without exception.

In this way, they also cracked the technology of making glass!

Xue Yuan looked at the glassware in front of her, thinking of all the failures and setbacks before, and finally getting the joyful results. She couldn't help but ask:

"Master Xiangguo, do you really want to make this glass-making process public?"

This is the result they developed with great difficulty. Before this, they had also suffered doubts and misunderstandings from many people in Qingshan Town.

If this technology is not made public, they can make more money with these handmade imitation glass products. After all, this technology is currently only in their hands.

But if this technology were made public, glass fired in official kilns and private kilns would soon become popular among the general public, and glass would soon lose its original rare value.

After all, Xue Yuan must be somewhat unwilling in her heart.

Xu Chengling looked at the woman in front of him who had shared the joys and sorrows with him, and said to her:

"Xue Yuan, this technology must be made public. Compared to the value of glass itself, its usefulness is the most important. Glass products can be used in all walks of life and make people's lives more convenient. This is its most irreplaceable value."

If he were an ordinary person, he might choose to take this technology into his own hands.

The properties of glass and colored glaze are similar, and colored glaze is very expensive. He can make a fortune by mistaking glass for colored glaze.

But he is the prime minister of a country, so he cannot just think about himself, but must focus on the general public.

His goal is to promote glass products so that ordinary people in Dayan can also afford this convenient product.

At the same time, he can also make heavy profits from the people in the Western Regions by using these glass products.

When the people from the Western Regions found out that the things they bought at such a high price were now everywhere in Dayan, they must have been so angry that their faces turned green.

But Xu Chengling could understand Xue Yuan's feelings to some extent. After all, this was the result of their hard work.

Without her help, I don’t know when I can succeed in the research and development.

Xu Chengling looked at Xue Yuan, who looked like a country girl, and gently placed his hand on her shoulder and said to her:

"I'm sorry, Xue Yuan, this is a bit unfair to you, but glass and colored glaze are different. Glass is destined to be popular among the public in the future, and this is its greatest value. As for colored glaze, its value will never change."

As he spoke, Xu Chengling took out a shiny little gadget from his sleeve and put it on the index finger of her slender hand.

"Master Xiangguo, this is..."

Xue Yuan couldn't help but widen her pupils as she looked at the little gadget on her hand and stood there in a daze.

It is a gem with a crystal clear surface and can be worn on the finger without falling off.

Seeing her surprised expression, Xu Chengling smiled and said:

"Of course this is real glass. What you wear on your hand is a ring. Xue Yuan, this glass ring is for you."

Chapter 205: Xue Yuan's Feelings