Every time he was unaware, but this time he won more times, and he won at the small-stakes gambling table. You must know that at the small-stakes gambling table, the maximum daily gain or loss is 350 taels. Gamblers If you can win fifty taels of silver at a time, you have to burn incense and worship your ancestors when you go home at night, thanking your ancestors in heaven for blessing you with your good luck today!
But this Tongshou Taoist priest is a stubborn person. He can pull out the wool of a sheep. Moreover, this sheep is the thinnest and smallest one in the flock. At that time, if he had won twenty or thirty taels downstairs and then went up, Upstairs, if you go upstairs to win a hundred or eighty taels on the high-stakes gambling table, it won't attract anyone's attention at all. Most of the gamblers upstairs are well-known people in the new capital. They win or lose hundreds or thousands of taels of silver a day. It's a common thing. If he wins these one hundred taels of silver, I'm afraid people won't even raise their eyebrows.
After he was caught in the casino, the casino gave him two choices. First, chop off the hand where the magnet was hidden, and second, pay the casino a thousand taels of silver. Now he was dumbfounded! The first option is to chop off the hand. If the hand is really chopped off, let alone the pain that he cannot bear, how can he continue the great cause of alchemy in the future? Helpless, he had no choice but to plead with others for less silver! "The people in the casino looked at the rags he was wearing and knew that he really had no money, so they gradually reduced the compensation to 500 taels, and then refused to go any lower. As a result, he took out A few so-called Tongshou Pills came out to ask for credit, which almost made the people in the casino angry to death. After talking for a long time, it was fine without seeing half of the money. The old man actually took out a few pills and claimed that if he took them, he would be able to compete with the world. The same longevity pill comes to offset the debt, isn't this guy treating people like two fools? If it is as he boasts, eating it can live as long as heaven and earth, let alone selling it for 500 taels, even if it is sold for 500 taels There are a lot of people who want ten thousand taels, so why bother wearing rags and coming to the casino to win a few small coins! In anger, several people imprisoned him in Wu Guanglu's special dungeon and told him that a Within a month, if no one comes to redeem him with money, he should not even think about leaving his job. Let him quickly think about his relatives and friends outside, and write a letter quickly asking for money to redeem him.
Hearing this, Chen Xiaomu couldn't help laughing and said: "You just planned to use a Longevity Pill to extort 500 taels of silver from us, just to compensate for the money in the casino, right?"
Taoist Tongshou nodded when he heard this, and said over and over again: "Exactly, exactly. Don't look at the fun you are having right now. I heard from Wang Er in the same number that Mr. Wu, who runs the casino, has a big backer!" He is Lord Zhuge, the first-rank Taiwei of the current dynasty! I’m afraid it will be the officials and you guys who are unlucky then.”
Chen Xiaomu smiled slightly, stepped forward and loosened the rope on the Taoist's body with his own hands, and said gently: "Taoist Master, can you take us to your Taoist temple?"
The old Taoist was stunned when he heard this, and then said with a sad face: "Master, the poor Taoist's Three Wonderful Temple has collapsed under the weight of snow, and I haven't raised enough money to repair it. There is really nothing to see!"
Chen Xiaomu waved his hand, "It's okay. I'm just taking a look out of curiosity. Also, I'll pay for the money to repair the Taoist temple on your behalf. How about it?"
''real? The old Taoist was surprised when he heard this and said, "Is it possible that the official also likes to make alchemy?" "
Chen Xiaomu said humorously: "Of course it is true, who doesn't want to live forever."
The old Taoist suddenly felt as if he had found a confidant, and his skinny face burst into laughter. Without any regard for etiquette at the moment, he stepped forward and took Chen Xiaomu's hand, and said excitedly: "Master, you can take the poor Taoist with you right now."
Chen Xiaomu immediately called Yifang and gave her some instructions. He left Lian'er and Zhou Huanhuan to look after Lu Siniang. Then he took Wei Yuxin and followed the old man to the outside of the hospital. Just as he stepped out of the door, he happened to see a long carriage. Stopping in front of the door and seeing Chen Xiaomu coming out of the courtyard, Mao Su, who was sitting on the carriage, immediately jumped off the carriage, came over and said with cupped hands: "Master Chen, I found you. Last night you ordered your subordinates to arrange ten vehicles this morning. When the carriage came to pull the goods, it only gave a rough direction, which made my subordinates wander around here for nearly an hour before they found it!"
Chen Xiaomu smiled and said: "Stop complaining and get a carriage quickly. I need it urgently."
Mao Su pointed at the long carriage behind him and said, "Master Chen, you should choose it yourself. The one you choose will be the one you choose."
Chen Xiaomu didn't care. He pointed at the carriage that Mao Su had just jumped off and said, "This is the one."
The next few people climbed onto the carriage. The old Taoist told the coachman a location outside the city. The coachman was a local. After the old Taoist said that, he just nodded without asking any more questions. Then he shook the reins and said, "Oh, "Oh!" Two sounds, and the packhorse pulling the cart started to run.
Since this was a carriage specially designed to pull goods, although it was covered with a wooden carriage and the space inside was very large, all the seats inside had been removed to facilitate loading. When a few people got on the carriage, Chen Xiaomu had to ask everyone to sit on the carriage board. Go up and let the carriage stagger around.
The carriage ran on the road for about half an hour. As the driver in front made a sound of "oh, oh", it slowly stopped. At this time, Chen Xiaomu was already in the carriage, dizzy from being shaken. As soon as the carriage stopped , quickly opened the car door and jumped out of the car first, held on to a big tree by the roadside, bent over and retched for a long time, and then came to his senses out of breath.
This is a small village at the foot of a mountain. There are about forty or fifty households in the whole village. Because there is a large wheat field between the road and the village, the carriage cannot pass through, so a few people had to get out of the car and walk on a small road next to the wheat field. On the way, Chen Xiaomu learned from the introduction of the old Taoist that the village where his Taoist temple is located is called Kaoshan Village. Although it is very close to Xinjing City, it is not under the jurisdiction of Xinjing Prefecture, but under the jurisdiction of Wangcheng County under Yangshan Prefecture. People were talking side by side with their heads lowered when they suddenly heard someone on the opposite side say in shock: "Master Shichi, where have you been these days? The county government official came to see you twice a few days ago, but you were not there. Go to the village to inquire." , no one knows where you went."
"Shitou, did you say that the official from the county government came to see me?" The old Taoist raised his head and asked in surprise.
"Yes." Opposite a man in his thirties, with a full beard and a farmer's outfit, quickly looked at Chen Xiaomu and nodded: "At first we thought you had committed something outside, but later we heard from the official that you A few months ago, I borrowed 20 taels of silver from Zhao Yuanwai of the county seat, but now I have not paid it back when it is due. I heard from two servants that Zhao Yuanwai has already sued you in front of the county magistrate!"
"What?" Upon hearing this, the old Taoist stretched out five fingers and said anxiously: "I only lent him five taels of cash at that time. It has only been a month, how come it suddenly became twenty taels?"
Shitou shook his head and said with concern: "Who knows? Anyway, that's what the official said. You'd better go to the county office and ask the county magistrate for clarification! Twenty taels of silver is not a small amount of money."
The old Taoist nodded repeatedly, "Brother Shitou is right. Pindao will go to the county government office right now to find out the truth from the county magistrate." After saying that, he turned around and cupped his hands to Chen Xiaomu and said, "Master, Pindao, can you please go with me?" The county government meets the county magistrate."
Chen Xiaomu felt funny and knew the old Taoist's little tricks. He just wanted to use himself to show off in front of the county magistrate, because after all, they were all officials under the current imperial court. For such trivial matters, they only needed to buy each other face.
"No." Chen Xiaomu immediately refused: "I have a tight schedule and have important matters at hand. I will go back to the capital after seeing the place where you make alchemy."
When the old Taoist heard this, he was disappointed in his heart and said with a forced smile: "It's okay. It's already a rare thing that the official promised to repair the Taoist temple for me. Now I have to bother the official to come out to see the county magistrate. It's really hard for me to do it."
Chen Xiaomu waved his hand and said nonchalantly: "It doesn't matter, let's go see your alchemy place first."
In fact, the real purpose of Chen Xiaomu's rush this time was to get the tree brain used by the old Taoist in Tongshou Dan. This thing is really important to him now, because as long as he adds tree brain to the black gunpowder, he can use the tree brain. The principle of super volatility can not only eliminate the thick smoke emitted when black powder explodes, but also increase the intensity of the explosion several times. It is said that this is what Nobel, the inventor of smokeless gunpowder, did at the time.
He was thinking the same thing, but when Chen Xiaomu actually faced the scene of the old Taoist alchemy place, he was simply stunned. The three main halls of the Taoist temple had already collapsed into a state of disgrace. The beams were leaning against the remaining walls, and the roof tiles were even more damaged. After falling to the ground, several Buddha statues were smashed into pieces. Only the two side rooms next to them looked dilapidated, but they were well preserved. There were piles of stones of various colors and sizes around them. Chen Xiaomu squatted down and I casually picked up a piece of black stone weighing about seven or eight kilograms, raised my hand to brush off the falling snow on it, and took a closer look. I couldn't help but be shocked. This was actually a piece of tungsten stone. It can be used to extract tungsten, the metal with the highest melting point. Although a complicated generator is not yet available, it should not be difficult to make a simple dry battery. It seems that flashlights of later generations will appear in advance!
Putting down the tungsten stone in his hand, Chen Xiaomu's eyes were immediately attracted to a gray-white boulder standing next to him. He hurriedly stepped forward to check. This sight made him even more shocked. It turned out to be a piece of nepheline. , I once had a good friend who was a top student who graduated from the engineering department of a famous mining university. The mineral resources company where he worked had a specimen showroom filled with ore specimens from all over the world, and this friend happened to be in the company. He is the one who manages this mineral specimen showroom. During the few years they have been dating, during this period, under the guidance of his friends, Chen Xiaomu got to know no less than two hundred kinds of minerals, and roughly understood what substances these stones can extract and where they are used, such as in front of him. From this piece of nepheline, a substance called silicate can be extracted, which is an indispensable material for making special lenses for white-light telescopes. But later, his friend accidentally came into contact with a stone containing radioactive elements, and unfortunately passed away prematurely!
Seeing Chen Xiaomu staring blankly at the white stone, the old Taoist came over and asked, "Does the official think this white stone looks like a piece of jade?"
Chen Xiaomu raised his head and smiled: "Why did the Taoist Master say this?"
The old Taoist sighed and said: "Alas! To be honest with you, when I found this white stone at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains in the Liao Kingdom, I thought it must contain mutton-fat jade, so I transported it back thousands of miles away, thinking that it could I sold it for a good price, but when I smashed it open, I found that there was not even a single jade inside, so I threw it outside the house in anger and let the wind and rain corrode it."
Chen Xiaomu smiled, said nothing, stood up from the white stone, and couldn't help but secretly thought: "Actually, this white stone is much more valuable than that jade, but it's a pity that this old man doesn't know the goods!"
