Chapter 877 The Truth - Entering a Desperate Situation

When someone brought in coal briquettes, Erhua, the cook in the kitchen, didn't say anything and just carried some of the things over.

Little did they know that, as always, the missing piece of fire would cost them their lives the next moment when they threw in a coal briquette.

A loud noise came, and Xu Menglong quickened his pace upon hearing it.

As soon as he stepped into the courtyard, Xu Menglong saw the box that had been moved. Most of the black balls were still inside. Xu Menglong quickly went forward, grabbed a few from the box, and put them in his pocket.

Before anyone could react, Xu Menglong quickly slipped away again.

Because of the chaos, no one noticed that something that was originally placed in the corner was missing.

The emperor, already feeling depressed, had just lain down to rest when he heard a deafening noise. Not only the emperor, but almost half the people in the capital were startled by the bang.

"What happened?"

The emperor had just finished asking the eunuch beside him, and before the eunuch could answer, several more explosions rang out.

The emperor panicked. "Go quickly and see what has happened!"

After the emperor finished speaking, the eunuch quickly ran out. A short while later, the eunuch returned and reported to the emperor: "Your Majesty, the Imperial Kitchen is gone."

"What?"

The emperor sat up abruptly, forgetting his anger, and hurriedly headed towards the imperial kitchen.

When the emperor arrived, the empress also arrived. Seeing the chaotic state of the imperial kitchen, neither of them looked too pleased.

"Tell me, what exactly happened?"

The Empress had never seen anything like this before; it looked even worse than being burned alive.

A palace attendant who knew the inside story rushed over and said, "Your Majesty, it seems that the coal briquettes exploded."

"Nonsense, how could a coal briquette explode? What really happened?"

Faced with the Empress's pressure, the eunuch was so anxious that he was covered in sweat.

"Your Majesty, this servant, this servant is not lying, it really was a coal ball that exploded."

To prevent the Empress from disbelieving him, the eunuch even pointed to the box full of "black coal balls".

The emperor arrived just in time to hear the eunuch's last words. Following the gaze, he saw that it was the very thing he had ordered to be carried away from the main hall.

You mean that thing exploded?

Upon hearing the emperor's words, the eunuch felt even more pressured, but he still nodded obediently, "I don't know what happened, but when that thing was thrown into the fire, it instantly destroyed the imperial kitchen."

The eunuch was trembling as he said this, and after he finished speaking, he swallowed hard, fearing that he would die right there.

However, the emperor did not blame him upon hearing this. Instead, he ordered him to gather a few people and carry the object to the main hall.

Those adults who hadn't yet left the palace heard the commotion and returned. As soon as they entered, they saw the boxes that had been carried away placed back in their original spots, and they immediately understood what was going on.

The emperor resumed court, and everyone in the court was completely baffled, circling the black ball.

After arguing for a long time without reaching a conclusion, and with noon approaching, Xu Menglong finally stepped forward.

"Your Majesty, if I am not mistaken, this should be a kind of gunpowder!"

"gunpowder?"

The emperor had obviously never heard of this term before, but Xu Menglong was not in a hurry. He slowly explained to everyone, "That's right. When I was young, my grandfather mentioned that there was a skilled craftsman in our country who used a unique mineral to create a weapon that could explode and was extremely powerful. He named it gunpowder. Unfortunately, this craftsman disappeared not long after he became famous."

If Xu Menglong had said this beforehand, the emperor certainly wouldn't have believed him.

But now that his imperial kitchen has been blown up, he has no choice but to believe it.

"Prince Xu, are you saying that gunpowder... is a powerful weapon? Used for fighting?"

Facing so many people, Xu Menglong had no reason to lie, so he nodded in acknowledgment.

The emperor frowned slightly. This thing was brought back from Jade Peak Mountain by Bai Xu and his son, who said it was the only box of it in the tomb. If this thing really was Lao Shenzi's black gunpowder, then it wouldn't be surprising that it was the treasure left behind by the previous dynasty.

After a moment of silence, the emperor whispered something to the eunuch beside him. The eunuch nodded, took out a piece of gunpowder, and left.

Next to the main hall was a wide-open open space. The eunuch carried the gunpowder to the open space, lit it, and before he could turn around and run away, a deafening explosion came from behind him, and he was knocked to the ground by the shock.

Everyone witnessed this scene, and suddenly no one dared to underestimate this small box of things anymore.

The emperor, who had initially felt deceived, felt much better. Looking at the black ball, he no longer showed annoyance, but rather a sense of surprise and delight at having obtained a priceless treasure.

It is said that people are the most fickle. The emperor rewarded everyone in the group that very day, and for Bai Xu, the emperor even promised to marry the eldest princess to him on a chosen day.

At that moment, no one could have predicted that this box of gunpowder would eventually become the decisive weapon that changed the course of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Bai Xu was overjoyed to know that the wedding was approaching. He led the Seventh Prince and Gu Jin to a restaurant. The three of them grew closer as they traveled together. After three cups of wine, Bai Xu became a little dizzy.

Just then, Xu Menglong arrived. Seeing the three joyful people, Xu Menglong curled the corners of his mouth.

Compared to these people, Xu Menglong was the happiest today. He had obtained the black powder that had been lost for many years! If he remembered correctly, making this weapon required the mines unique to his Jin Kingdom. As long as he got his hands on the technology, how could he not dominate the world?

So, everyone got drunk that night in high spirits, and when Bai Xu woke up the next day, he had already returned to the inn.

He assumed it was his subordinates who had brought him back, but when he saw the princess slowly walking in from outside, Bai Xu blinked and asked, "The princess brought me back?"

The princess placed the hangover soup on the table and nodded to him. "Yesterday, I was chatting with Sister Baiyun and forgot the time. I was just about to return to the palace when I heard that you and your brother had gotten drunk at the restaurant, so we went to bring you back."

The princess kept her head down as she spoke. Bai Xu had vomited all over himself yesterday, and his dirty clothes had all been taken off. At this moment, he was only wearing a light undergarment.

Seeing her blushing and shy expression, Bai Xu couldn't help but smile and pull her over.

Caught off guard, the princess fell straight into his arms.

Their eyes met, and the two, who already had feelings for each other, embraced in such an ambiguous way, their breathing naturally becoming rapid.

Bai Xu looked at her bright red lips, and whether he was still drunk or not, he kissed her there.

The princess was clearly not expected Bai Xu to do such a thing. She was so frightened that she pushed Bai Xu away. However, because of the big movement, she lost her balance and fell straight to the ground.