With so many important things lost, Prince Duan must be extremely anxious!
Jiang Tangtang was right. Right now, Prince Duan is frantic with worry.
He tortured Huan Jinmo and the others to the point of near death, but no matter how he questioned them, they all gave the same answer: they did not conspire to steal anything from the warehouse.
The reason he wanted to escape was because he saw that the things in the warehouse were gone, and he knew he couldn't explain himself, so he wanted to just leave.
Prince Duan did not believe it, but no matter how he threatened the family members of the people or interrogated the guards of the warehouse, he always came to the same conclusion: it was impossible for the people to have moved the contents of the entire warehouse without anyone noticing.
But where did the things in the warehouse go?
Ultimately, this became an unsolved mystery.
While Prince Duan was racking his brains over where to put the treasures in the treasury and was losing his appetite, Lu Shiyan escorted Jiang Tangtang back to the valley.
The Prince Duan's treasury contains grain, gold, silver, and weapons. However, Lu Shiyan does not intend to use these things for the time being.
Firstly, Prince Duan's treasury was suddenly robbed, and since the interrogation yielded no results, he would inevitably send people to search everywhere.
The sudden appearance of large quantities of grain and weapons in Puzhou at this time would inevitably arouse suspicion.
Secondly, Puzhou is not yet at its wit's end, and he wants to try other paths.
Now that the Western Rong people have occupied Minhe and are confronting Prince Duan, the situation in Puzhou is not as critical as before.
He planned to proceed step by step according to the previously established plan.
Of course, although the situation is not as critical as before, we dare not relax our vigilance in the slightest.
Puzhou is far too weak. If it weren't for its lack of ambition, it would have been easily swallowed up once the other parties realized what was happening.
In terms of military strength and other aspects, Puzhou is far inferior to the forces of Prince Duan and Prince Rui.
To expand their influence, besides using stratagems to extract resources from both sides and compete for manpower, they can only find other ways to break through.
For the time being, Lu Shiyan did not want to confront the various parties, and Jiang Tangtang's suggestion to make gunpowder and break through in weaponry was, in his view, a very good approach.
Therefore, in addition to recruiting soldiers and expanding his power, Lu Shiyan plans to devote some of his energy to developing new weapons with Jiang Tangtang.
Jiang Tangtang was overjoyed when she learned of his idea.
She had a book, and by following the recipes in the book, she was able to make gunpowder.
But what happens after it's made?
We can't always go to the clinic to find raw materials like we did this time, can we? Besides, even if we brought all the sulfur and saltpeter from all the clinics in the Great Zhou Kingdom, it still wouldn't be enough!
Therefore, it is very important to develop our own raw material production areas.
Jiang Tangtang originally planned to develop the raw material production area after the gunpowder was made. But since Lu Shiyan was willing to help, she decided to bring it forward.
Jiang Tangtang's first issue was the manpower problem.
"Houses are being built in the valley right now, and there's a lot to do after that. If we make more weapons, I'm afraid we won't have enough manpower. It would be best to bring in some more people from outside, like the Li family, who have a skill and are not likely to cause trouble."
"I'll find a way to solve the manpower problem!" Lu Shiyan said.
Hearing him say that, Jiang Tangtang immediately felt relieved. Now all that was needed was to find the source of the sulfur and saltpeter raw materials.
Jiang Tangtang didn't know if the valley had any raw materials for sulfur and mirabilite, so she decided to turn on the scanning system and scan the valley first.
Just as Jiang Tangtang was planning to find an excuse to have Lu Shiyan accompany her for a stroll in Shanggu and scan the entire valley, a sudden clap of thunder rang out in the sky, and it actually started to rain.
Jiang Tangtang felt the rain came rather suddenly and couldn't help but look at the dark clouds in the sky. She then asked the system, "Can't you provide a weather forecast service?"
The system said: [The host can activate this using points.]
Jiang Tangtang was eager to try it out. [How many points are needed to activate the weather forecast service?]
[Not much, just 100 points per month.]
Jiang Tangtang almost shouted out loud, "[One hundred points per month?]"
[Yes, 100 points per month. Host, this is a special price I negotiated for you! Would you like to activate it?]
Thank you, but I don't need it!
She felt that she didn't really need the weather forecast that much.
Unlike Jiang Tangtang's composure, the villagers were all excited when they saw the rain.
Someone shouted excitedly, "It's raining! It's raining!"
Some people were also busy grabbing luggage.
Although they have been living in the valley for a long time, many villagers have left their belongings on the ground because it has not rained and the houses have not been built.
Seeing that it was raining, many villagers hurriedly moved their belongings to prevent things that couldn't get wet from being damaged by the rain.
Jiang Tangtang watched Lu Shiyan running back and forth in the rain, then ignored the system and joined him in the effort to salvage the luggage.
Although the earthen houses are not yet fully completed, they provide shelter from the rain. The villagers, all huddled inside the completed earthen houses, watched the heavy rain outside, their hearts filled with joy and hope.
Everyone was happy, and with rain falling and nothing else to do, the villagers looked at Jiang Tangtang and Lu Shiyan and started asking them about the situation outside.
"Valley Chief, what brings you out of the valley this time? How's it going outside?"
Jiang Tangtang naturally wouldn't tell the villagers that she and Lu Shiyan had gone to Baiyue.
Her eyes lit up, and she remembered the plan she and Lu Shiyan had discussed to send more people into the valley.
To prevent the villagers from becoming xenophobic, Jiang Tangtang decided to take this opportunity to give them a heads-up.
She said, "It's nothing. I just thought the new farm tools I made last time were very useful, so I wanted to ask Master Li to make a few more sets, but I didn't expect that there was no pig iron."
I told my husband I wanted to go out and see the world, but iron is really hard to find these days. Now that the Western Rong have occupied Minhe, any iron available outside is mostly being used to make weapons. For ordinary people like us, getting iron to make farm tools will be very difficult.
The farm tools Jiang Tangtang made last time were all considered useful by the villagers who used them. However, there were too few of them; to use the new tools, one had to queue up with Village Chief Song, and even then, there was no guarantee of getting one.
Who wouldn't want a set of farm tools like that?
Upon hearing Jiang Tangtang's words, the villagers instinctively asked, "Then what should we do?"
Jiang Tangtang deliberately tilted her head and pondered for a moment before saying, "Actually, we don't necessarily have to go outside to find pig iron. If we can mine iron ore ourselves, wouldn't we have pig iron?"
Most villagers thought Jiang Tangtang was dreaming. That was iron ore mining! Unlike lime kilns or brick kilns, which ordinary people like them could never get involved in.
In the past, iron mines were all controlled by the imperial court; they belonged to the government.
How could ordinary people like them dare to covet iron ore?
However, a very small number of people believe that Jiang Tangtang has been enlightened by the gods and is a blessed person.
I've heard about this from her; she might actually be able to get it done.
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