The carriage of Prince Chen's mansion stopped at the palace gate. Zong Zhengchen was waiting for her in the carriage, while Qin Ye followed the eunuch who led the way and entered the palace.

When I was almost reaching the imperial study, I ran into Mr. Gu.

"Oh, isn't this Princess Chen?" Master Gu was also surprised.

In the morning, they met at the Dingguo Marquis Mansion and parted on bad terms.

In the afternoon, we ran into each other again in the palace.

This was truly the unluckiest day in his past forty years.

Qin Ye glanced at him coldly. On the surface, he was smiling and looked heroic, but in fact, he was sarcastic and veiled. She didn't want to say more to him and walked towards the imperial study.

Eunuch reported.

The emperor had just finished reviewing the memorials and was taking a rest when he saw the two of them coming together. He stood up and said, "Master Gu, Seventh Wife, why are you here together?"

"I saw him outside." Qin Ye replied and bowed.

"You are pregnant, don't pay attention to these unnecessary etiquettes. Come, please take a seat."

"Thank you, Father."

Qin Ye sat quietly aside, waiting for Master Gu and the Emperor to do their work first.

The emperor ordered someone to serve Qin Ye a cup of tea, and then said to Master Gu: "Master Gu has mined so much pig iron during his return to the capital, enough to make 5,000 weapons. Thank you for your hard work."

Master Gu raised his thick black eyebrows, grinned, and a proud light flashed in the corners of his eyes.

As the king of a country, you have to be polite when talking to him. Who else in the world deserves this treatment except him?

"It's not hard." He cupped his hands and replied in a loud voice, "It is my duty to serve the emperor."

The Gu family wanted to open a mountain and mine, but the mountain belonged to the Dongling Kingdom, so they had to get the country's approval before they could mine.

The mined iron ore was sold to the royal family at a certain price.

The emperor walked to the dragon table, picked up a yellow book, and asked, "I have read what you said. Can the Yulong Mountains in the eastern region really produce at least fifty boxes of pig iron?"

Iron can be used to make weapons.

Only with good weapons can the army be good.

If the army is good, the country will be stronger.

All of these links are closely linked, and iron is extremely important.

"Your Majesty, when has my Second Master Gu ever broken his promise? My survey team has already done the survey, and the conservative estimate is fifty boxes, but if we mine it, sixty or seventy boxes is also possible."

Master Gu patted his chest and said with confidence.

When mentioning the Gu family's surveying team, his eyebrows flew up and his face was full of confidence.

His Gu family makes their living by using surveying technology. In hundreds of years, when have they ever failed?

The emperor's eyes lit up slightly.

With so much iron, making it into various weapons and deploying it into the army can greatly enhance the strength of the army.

Recently, the Huns on the border have been invading frequently and have been very restless. Sooner or later, there will be a big war, and he needs weapons very much.

"I have approved the memorial agreeing to open the mountain, Master Gu, go and do it."

The emperor handed the memorial with a red seal to Master Gu.

This certificate is equivalent to a pass, which allows you to dig the mountain.

Some people secretly mined in the mountains and mined, which was called private business. The royal family did not allow it. If caught, they would be fined at the very least and executed at the worst.

Qin Ye was sitting on the sidelines, and when the two of them had almost finished talking, he interrupted:

"Father, what is the price of iron?"

The Emperor and Master Gu both looked at Qin Ye.

"Fifty copper coins per pound, and more for better quality ones," said the emperor.

Qin Ye roughly calculated the price of one pound of pig iron. A large wooden box could hold hundreds of pounds of pig iron. Iron is very heavy. If he wanted to buy fifty boxes, it would cost at least hundreds of thousands of taels.

“It’s really expensive.”

When Master Gu heard these two words, he laughed.

No matter what kind of weapon it is, it cannot be separated from iron. Knives, swords, guns, hammers... All eighteen kinds of weapons require iron. How can they not be expensive?

Relying on iron mining, the Gu family’s assets are almost as good as the Ling family, the richest family in Dongling State, also known as the Dingguo Marquis Mansion.

Qin Ye suddenly said: "Father, buying iron is too expensive, let's mine it ourselves."

When these words were spoken, everyone in the imperial study was stunned.

Especially Mr. Gu.

After realizing what was happening, he burst into laughter:

“Haha. Hahaha!”