Chapter 507
The turbid eyes stayed on Yuan Jing's face, revealing a bit of nostalgia, then he asked Yuan Jing to sit down, and actually pulled Yuan Jing's parents together.
Yuan Jing rarely responded and mostly listened to what the old emperor said. He and Jing Lie saw the current situation in the court very clearly. It was also related to the old emperor's tight grasp on power. He was getting older and older, and he was unable to do things as he wished. However, the princes under him were not only younger and stronger than him, but also kept jumping around in front of him. This made the emperor, who was unwilling to accept his own aging, very unbearable, so he tried his best to torment these princes.
It's just that originally the Fifth Prince was hidden in the background and not at all conspicuous, but the identity of the owner of the glass shop made the Fifth Prince immediately stand out from obscurity. Perhaps because of the successful experiment of gunpowder, the Fifth Prince's self-confidence also swelled, and he lost his original low-key mentality and actively joined the competition, but the result was worse than before.
"Yuan Jing, which of my princes do you think is better?"
If it were someone else, they might be terrified after hearing such words, but it had nothing to do with him. Yuan Jing just raised his eyebrows and said, "I have not had any contact with the princes, so I don't know them. I don't know who is better and who is worse. The princes are all sons of His Majesty, and His Majesty should know better than anyone else."
"Yes," the old emperor laughed, "I should know better than anyone that these sons wish I would die sooner so they can take my place. These are my sons."
"I thought the fifth brother was an honest man, but I didn't expect that I was wrong. He is not much better than his brothers. He is so secretive. Did he really think that I don't know what's going on with his glass shop? I'm afraid that my private treasury is not as rich as the fifth brother. I think he is more restless than his brothers."
Yuan Jing felt disdainful. When the old emperor was still a prince, was there any difference between his mentality and that of the princes today?
And as for the Fifth Prince, the old emperor had indeed misjudged him before, but the Fifth Prince used to be able to remain calm, but because of the time-traveling girl, he became impatient.
"But as long as His Majesty is here, the princes can only be princes."
"Yes, haha, Yuan Jing said it well." The old emperor laughed, and his trusted eunuchs were very pleased. Except for the Fourth Young Master Zeng, no one else could make His Majesty laugh.
"You, child, have rejected the title I gave you twice. When I am gone, you will have no one to protect you."
Yuan Jing smiled and said, "As long as your majesty lives a hundred years, you won't have to worry about this."
"Haha, may you live a hundred years, may you live a hundred years."
After Yuan Jing's visit to the palace, the old emperor's health actually improved, which made Yuan Jing almost suspect that he was a walking panacea. Moreover, after he came back from the palace, those princes actually sent gifts to Zeng's house. Even the Fifth Prince who was under house arrest had people send gifts. It can be seen that the Fifth Prince was imprisoned in the mansion, and his heart was also uneasy, and he was always paying attention to the movements outside.
Although the old emperor's health was improving, he was getting older year by year. It seemed that the emperor was deliberately not wanting him to have a peaceful life. Ministers kept submitting memorials to the emperor asking him to appoint a crown prince as soon as possible, for fear that the old emperor would die without an heir, and then the princes would fight to the death again, making the court chaotic.
The old emperor got angry again and refused to listen to the court officials. He disliked any of the princes and didn't want to establish any of them.
Then Yuan Jing heard a piece of news from Li Yan and others that the Imperial Household Department had actually made transparent colored glaze, and before that, transparent colored glaze had appeared in other places. Li Yan suspected that those places were operated by other princes. When the fifth prince was making a lot of money, the recipe for the colored glaze had actually been figured out by other princes and the emperor.
"Hehe, once there are too many of these things, the price won't go up. Actually, my mother and her friends have long wanted to build a glass flower garden, so that they can grow flowers that bloom in spring and autumn in winter. It's just that the price of glass is too high, so it's too extravagant to build a glass flower garden."
Yuan Jing had been staying in the capital, so he really didn't know what was going on outside: "So many people know about it? Then there's no need for Aunt to buy it. Find a way to get the recipe and make transparent colored glaze yourself. After it's made, you can build a colored glaze house of any size you want."
Li Yan was dumbfounded. Just to build a glass house, he had to come up with a recipe and make the glass himself?
Yuan Jing smiled and said, "What's the big deal? Anyway, the water is muddy enough now. It won't be a problem if there are more people who can make colored glaze."
Li Yan looked outside and asked carefully, "Yuan Jing, you didn't know the recipe a long time ago, did you?"
Yuan Jing smiled without saying anything. Li Yan almost exclaimed "Oh shit!" Then Yuan Jing picked up a pen and wrote down the recipe for making colored glaze, including the firing method and precautions. It was written in great detail, and one could directly make glass according to the steps written on the paper.
Li Yan treated the paper as a treasure, took it home carefully and presented it to his mother.
Yuan Jing didn't know how the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion would react, but he gave one or two anyway, so he simply included a recipe for making glass in the letter to Uncle Yu. This thing was cheap in itself, but the Fifth Prince sold it at such a high price that glass and mirrors became luxury goods that only a few people could use. Since the water was already muddy, he might as well add some fuel to the fire to make the water even muddier. Maybe he could lower the price of glass and ordinary people would be able to afford to install glass windows.
So during the time when the Fifth Prince was under house arrest, not only did a glass shop that did not belong to the Fifth Prince appear outside the capital, but a second and third glass shop also appeared in the capital. When some powerful people found out what the raw materials for making transparent glass were, they were so angry that they wanted to destroy the Fifth Prince's mansion. But that was not what the Fifth Prince said at the beginning.
When the news reached the Fifth Prince's residence, it was said that the Fifth Prince first smashed things in the study, breaking many things, and then ordered a thorough investigation into who had leaked the recipe.
That night, Han Miao's courtyard was not peaceful either, because the Fifth Prince came and raged, saying that the recipe for transparent colored glaze had been leaked, and asked Han Miao if she had any other recipes. In the past, transparent colored glaze was the Fifth Prince's biggest money-making tool, which made him no longer have to worry about money, but seeing that this money-making tool was about to be lost, he hoped that Han Miao could come up with another good idea.
She even knew the recipe for gunpowder, how to make soap, and those lip balm and skin care products. In the eyes of the Fifth Prince, she must have a lot of things in her mind that she didn't reveal to him. This made him feel dissatisfied with Han Miao while using her. Han Miao was hiding something from him. What did she want to do? Wasn't she satisfied with the position of concubine that he gave her?
"Now that I am under house arrest, what will happen to me if I can't come up with something that will satisfy my father? If I'm not well, what good will happen to the women around me? I heard that my father is not in good health, but I have been under house arrest and I don't know when I will be released. Don't you understand my current situation? How long do you want to keep it a secret from me?"
Han Miao bit her lip, she could hear the dissatisfaction of the Fifth Prince, even she herself began to doubt whether the Fifth Prince could be the final winner, but now she was already on the Fifth Prince's ship, if the Fifth Prince sank, what good would it be for her as a concubine? Maybe she would be imprisoned with the Fifth Prince for the rest of her life, thinking about that result made Han Miao shudder.
So now she has to help the fifth prince gain more benefits.
Gritting her teeth, she said, "I know there is something that will be of great benefit to the people's livelihood and the court, but..."
The fifth prince was impatient, thinking that this woman was really showing one thing to him and hiding another. He didn't know which of her words was true, but now he needed to coax her: "Don't worry, you are the most important woman to me. When I win, that position will be yours."
"I'm not doing this for this. I just want Your Highness to win. I want Your Highness to be glorious." Han Miaomiao added, then took out the recipe for cement and explained the wonderful uses of cement. The Fifth Prince was overjoyed when he heard it. Although it could not make as much money as transparent colored glaze, this thing was indeed of great benefit to the court and the people's livelihood.
“Don’t worry, I will never let you down, Miao’er.” The Fifth Prince took the cement recipe and ran out in ecstasy.
Han Miao at the back was not so optimistic. She felt like something was going to be thrown away after being used, but she had to continue along this path because there was no turning back.
This time, the Fifth Prince has found all his confidants to test the cement recipe, and then after the test is successful, he will present the cement to his father at an appropriate time. This time the cement is different from the transparent glass. What he wants is fame, and he will use this fame to compete for the position of crown prince.
Unfortunately, just when he had people testing the cement recipe, transparent glass recipes appeared everywhere outside. To make matters worse, the outbreak of another incident dragged the Fifth Prince into the whirlpool of public opinion.
After Yu Jinkai struck the drum last time, the Dengwen Drum was struck again, shocking everyone in the capital. What year was this? Why was the Dengwen Drum struck one after another?
It turned out that the person who struck the drum this time was a lame man who could not walk. Looking at his thin face and the shabby clothes he was wearing, some people thought he looked familiar.
"Who on earth is this? He actually came to the capital to file a complaint again."
"It has nothing to do with us ordinary people, we just watch the fun."
A man came out hesitantly and asked the man beating the drum tentatively: "Are you... Brother Xie Boli?"
The man beating the drum turned around and saw that it was the scholar he had met at the literary gathering. He nodded and said, "Yes, I am Xie Boli."
"What? He's Xie Boli? But what's wrong with his legs?"
Seeing that everyone's attention was drawn to him, Xie Boli seized the opportunity to angrily accuse him, "My legs were broken by the Fifth Prince, and then I was thrown out of the capital. I, Xie Boli, crawled back on my own two feet. I want to seek justice from the Fifth Prince. I studied hard for ten years, but I don't know when I offended the Fifth Prince, and he ordered his men to break my legs and ruin my future!"
With a loud "bang", the scene exploded.
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