On September 15th of the eighth year of the Xuanli calendar, Fu Xiaoguan received a note from Fu Daguan.
There was a single line of words written on the note: Son, Dad is going to take five concubines at a time. You have to come back and see them, recognize their faces and make sure you don’t call the wrong person.
So fast?
After being surprised for a moment, Fu Xiaoguan thought again that this matter must be done quickly, because the imperial edict stated that Fu Daguan must have five children before August 15th next year. If he didn't hurry up, he might be convicted of deceiving the emperor, which would be a big deal.
He thought carefully about the current situation in Xishan. The houses in Wangjia Village were almost completed, the perfume workshop in Xishan was also completed, and the glass equipment shipped from Linjiang was being installed.
I have taught Zhang Xiaomei several times in the past two days, so she should be very familiar with it.
Jasmine and osmanthus are also entering the warehouse these days, but the flowers planted by the farmers will take another month or so to bloom.
The new wine-making workshop has also been built, and its scale has expanded ten times more than he had previously planned. It was put into production two days ago. The production capacity of Xiangquan and Tianchun has increased a lot, while the output of Xishan Qiongjiang has only increased by 20% because alcohol has to be refined.
What is being built now is the R&D center and school. The soap workshop has been put on the next step, and the papermaking workshop has been put on the last step.
The letter sent back by Feng Laosi said that the road to Fenglin Mountain has been opened, but due to the terrain, the progress is slow. It is expected that it will not be connected to the foot of Duanhun Mountain until the end of the year at the earliest.
The letter also said that he had selected more than 20 blacksmiths and hundreds of strong men from the group of people who were building the road and entered the Broken Soul Mountain again. He needed manpower to further explore and research mining methods. He did not tell the young master about this in advance, and hoped that the young master could understand.
It seems that we need to put explosives on the agenda in advance.
Fu Xiaoguan thought about it and called Zhang Ce, asking him to call Li Yi.
Li Yi was helping out in the back hills of Xishan and returned to Xishan Villa around noon.
"That's great. Come and have dinner together." Fu Xiaoguan greeted warmly.
Li Yi was startled, and quickly waved his hands, saying, "I dare not. Master, just tell me if you have anything to say. I will go back to the shed to eat later."
"Don't waste time. Just sit down and eat when I tell you to. Xiu'er, serve Li Yi some rice."
"This..." Li Yi was very conflicted. This was the young master. Wouldn't it be against the rules for me to sit at the same table with him and have a meal?
"I have no rules. You'll understand after spending time with me."
Li Yi sat down nervously, and Chunxiu brought him rice and chopsticks.
"Eat first." Fu Xiaoguan said as he picked up a piece of food for him with chopsticks, "I'll do it myself." Li Yi quickly picked up the bowl and started eating.
"That's right... Where was your home before?" Fu Xiaoguan asked casually while eating.
"In Huishui County, Ningzhou."
“Oh, you live in the county?”
"Well, this time the Yellow River flooded, submerging the entire Huishui County in the middle of the night. We had no choice but to flee."
"Are there any relatives?"
Li Yi paused for a moment and said, "I don't know either. I couldn't see anything at that time. We all ran our own way. I don't know whether my parents and brothers are dead or alive now."
"Good fortune will come to those who are lucky. I'll ask Xishan Express to find out later."
"Thank you, Master!"
"It's a small matter."
Fu Xiaoguan didn't ask any more questions. The two of them finished their meal in silence. Chunxiu cleared the table and made a pot of tea for them.
"I remember you said your family makes fireworks and firecrackers?" Fu Xiaoguan asked while drinking tea.
"Master, that's right. My family makes really good fireworks."
"Well, I need you to prepare black fire and medicine. Can you tell me how you mix the black fire and medicine?"
Fireworks and firecrackers already existed in this era, so black fire and powder were not uncommon. So Li Yi quickly replied, "It's the same as everyone else's. One is saltpeter, two is Huang, and three is charcoal."
Fu Xiaoguan nodded and continued, "Write down the recipe I gave you and try it out. The ratio of nitrate to sulfur and charcoal is 75:10:15. Be bold and experiment. I'm not asking you to make fireworks. I want something that's not easily affected by moisture and burns stably. Also, when processing, my advice is to purify the nitrate and sulfur impurities as much as possible, and to crush and mix the ingredients as finely as possible. In other words, I want this to generate much more heat than your formula for the same amount."
Li Yi scratched his head. Young Master actually knew this?
But his formula is different from mine? I must have followed the young master's formula. Also, what is this calorie? How do I evaluate it?
Fu Xiaoguan did not explain to him, and said, "You may not know the rules of our Xishan yet. This project is handed over to you, and you are the person in charge. You only need to report to Zhang Ce, the steward, how many people, how much money, how much raw materials, etc. you need, and he will implement it for you. All you have to do is research without any worries."
"I need to go back to Linjiang. The R&D center is under construction. You can choose a laboratory in the existing one. You can do whatever you want with it, just don't blow up my building. Of course, you must ensure your own safety."
Li Yi roughly understood that the young master meant that he wanted black fire/powder with strong enough power.
"Master, don't worry. I'll go find Butler Zhang right away and make sure to sort this thing out for you."
"Go ahead."
Fu Xiaoguan lay on the lounge chair and thought for a while, then decided to leave. "Xiu'er, get ready to go back to Linjiang!"
…
At nightfall, Fu Xiaoguan and his party returned to the Fu Mansion in Linjiang.
The house has been decorated with lights and colorful decorations, adding a festive atmosphere.
Mr. Fu was in high spirits but somewhat embarrassed. He, Mr. Fu and Mrs. Qi were having dinner together in the main hall.
"Son, I burned the imperial edict for your mother."
Fu Xiaoguan was shocked. Fu Daguan said, "How can I explain this to your mother clearly? Only by burning this imperial edict for your mother and letting her see it with her own eyes will she believe it."
"I say...actually, you don't have to be like this. Mother has been gone for more than ten years. I think she hopes that the Fu family will be lively and prosperous."
"Ah... Anyway, I'm sorry about this to your mother."
"Dad, did you pick these five mothers yourself? Don't just pick five randomly just to get by."
"It's strange to say, there are quite a few matchmakers who have tried to arrange this for me, and the ones who are willing to marry me as a concubine are all girls from decent families. One of them is the daughter of the cloth merchant Qu family, so there are five of them all at once. If we marry each of them with a big ceremony, my family can collect more gifts, but people will gossip about it, so Dad thought of just doing it all at once. We don't lack that kind of money, right?"
Fu Xiaoguan was happy and thought to himself, you have done everything. On this wedding night, five women are waiting for you. Can your young bones handle it?
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