Looking at the unicorn in his hand, although it was not big, it was extremely beautifully carved and looked like it was made by a famous artist. Li Xiu hesitated for a moment and finally put it back. Together with the jade Ruyi, he put it away together. I originally wanted to find an opportunity and ask Wu Ziyu to hand it over to Huang Qiong and send it back. But Wu Ziyu, who saw some clues, stopped her: "Sister-in-law, you can't refuse your gift. This is the rule."
"The rewards that the Emperor and Your Majesty give to the children may not be really given to the children. Maybe they are given to your family, Your Majesty. Your Highness transferred you back to the capital, obviously to build your own team. The old man and your Majesty, and How could you not help? These two items are probably only given to adults in the name of giving to children. If you send them back, it will not be of any benefit to adults."
Hearing Wu Ziyu's words, Li Xiu's hand holding the object tightened slightly. In front of several children, how could she tell her youngest son's true life experience? I could only bite the bullet and put away the two precious things. Looking at Li Xiu's dazed expression, Wu Ziyu naturally didn't know which pot to open or pick up. Then, he put the matter aside. He stayed with Li Xiu to eat before sending her back.
When Li Xiu returned to the mansion and saw her husband, she hesitated for a long time before telling Yu Mingyuan about the things the emperor had given her children. Who is Yu Mingyuan? Although he is a bit stubborn, how can a person who has fought so many victorious battles not understand this point of view? After pondering for a moment, he told Li Xiu that since the emperor and Concubine Jing had given him a reward, he could just accept it.
But I originally thought that these were just the two masters in the palace, because the prince paid special attention to him, and Yu Mingyuan, who rewarded him in the name of a child, thought of it. The original intention of the two things that the two masters rewarded was not at all like this. And how could Li Xiu, who had something on his mind, dare to take the initiative to tell the matter? Although he felt a little uneasy, his husband accepted it since he said it.
If Li Xiu knew that because of this incident, Huang Qiong was taken to Ting Xuexuan after the children left. After being punished by kneeling in the study for half an hour, I wonder if I will still have such a mentality? After testing it out, Huang Qiong did not know that the child was his, but the mother said nothing and did not discuss the matter. He was directly asked to go to his study room, where he knelt facing the wall for half an hour.
Huang Qiong, who was so confused by the punishment, did not dare to ask anything when facing her cold mother, and could only kneel down honestly for half an hour. As for the old man, not only did he not intercede for him? He was still in the study, holding a book and pretending to be reading, but in fact he was supervising him for his mother. Are you being lazy? But after half an hour, the old man stood up.
Although he was not told what the real reason was for being punished by kneeling. But with his back turned to him, Huang Qiong said in a very dissatisfied tone: "Whether it is being a king or a driver, one must pay attention to the word virtue. As a superior, you cannot pursue your own selfish desires and ignore the face and feelings of your ministers. If If the king is unvirtuous, no matter how proficient he is in driving, he will still despise his ministers. Especially those ministers who have low buttocks."
After the old man taught Huang Qiong a lesson, he said to Huang Qiong: "Since you value Yu Mingyuan so much, I will help you again. I have decided to grant his wife a third-rank lady. I have sent someone to the Ministry of Rites to send a message to them. Buy clothes. Now that the seal is in your hands, you will issue the imperial edict yourself. In this way, your dignity and the dignity of your monarch and ministers will be fulfilled."
After hearing the old man's decision, Huang Qiong was still confused about the reason for kneeling as a punishment. But there was a vague feeling in my heart that the old man and mother seemed to have known about the past relationship between Li Xiu and herself. But just when Huang Qiong opened his mouth to explain something, the old man waved his hand to stop him: "Don't explain some things to me, just keep your mind straight."
"Remember the righteousness of the monarch and his ministers, and don't chill the hearts of those ministers, let alone hurt them. Once the heart of the people is cold, it will be difficult to repair it. If you are a monarch, you must have the righteousness of the monarch. Some people, value What matters is not how big an official you are, but whether you treat them sincerely. Whether they can serve the court without any worries. Remember what I said today, get out now."
Huang Qiong originally just had some guesses, but the old man's words confirmed that his mother and the old man knew about his relationship with Li Xiu. Moreover, being punished to kneel today must be related to this matter. But Huang Qiong has never been able to figure out how the old man knew about this? It wasn't until after leaving Ting Xuexuan that I remembered the little son Li Xiujin brought into the palace, a somewhat familiar face.
Huang Qiong was startled and was about to walk out of the palace. He had just taken a few steps, but he remembered Li Xiu's behavior when he saw his youngest son, and then remembered the old man's beating before. Huang Qiong stood outside Ting Xuexuan's door and hesitated for a long time, and finally took back his steps and turned back. Arrive at Wende Hall. He knew that it was for his own good that Li Xiu didn't tell him or let him know about this matter.
Especially for Yu Mingyuan and several children. Huang Qiong himself didn't know what the situation would be like if Yu Mingyuan, who had a strong temper, knew about this. The old man's decree to Li Xiu, a third-grade lady, was to completely annihilate himself, and even more importantly, annihilate Li Xiu's thoughts. He was almost clearly telling himself that unless he wanted to chill Yu Mingyuan's heart, that child would never recognize him.
After pondering for a long time, Huang Qiong finally sighed helplessly. Reason finally defeated emotion. I just picked up the pen and wanted to draw up the canonization decree for Li Xiu, but I couldn't write it for a long time. Thinking of that child, Huang Qiong's heart felt as painful as a knife. What made him so uncomfortable was not only Li Xiu's child, but also the child born to Zhang Qiaoer, and the one far away in Xiangyang.
Huang Qiong, who didn't write a word for a long time, finally put down the pen in his hand. Forget it, let the Ministry of Rites draft it. Huang Qiong, who was a little tired, finally took out some of the folds from the pile of books on the desk and read them. After returning to Xiyuan, Huang Qiong, who was worried, was still a little depressed. After teasing the children for a while, Huang Qiong felt better.
In the end, Huang Qiong decided to completely let go of the emotional entanglement with Li Xiu. Apart from giving some rewards from time to time, he never bothered Li Xiu anymore. The only exception was that when Li Xiu occasionally brought his child into the palace, Huang Qiong would go over to take a look and give his eldest son a hug. Li Xiu also saw the reluctance in his eyes, but in the end he said nothing.
Compared with Huang Qiong's chaotic emotions, Yu Mingyuan was even more headache and depressed. Sure enough, as he had expected, the entire Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War were looking for a lot of craftsmen who could cast all kinds of luxurious bronze wares. But there is no craftsman who can cast cannons. Not to mention knowing how to cast, many craftsmen have never even heard of the fact that there is such a thing as a cannon in this world.
But fortunately, it was in a warehouse of the Arsenal Department of the Ministry of War, among the tattered ordnance that no one cared about. I unearthed a cannon made by the King of Guilin. It has been neglected for more than a hundred years and has been somewhat damaged due to rust, but most of it is still a barely complete iron mold. Through this mold, Yu Mingyuan made a batch of imitation molds. But the subsequent casting process was extremely unsmooth.
Either it will be shapeless when cast, or it will explode as soon as the cannon is cast. The price of copper is really too high. Even with Huang Qiong's full support behind him, he can't afford this unnecessary consumption. For a long time, Yu Mingyuan was so anxious that he couldn't even return home. Squatting in Mang Mountain all day long, in a military camp specially built for the purpose of keeping cannons secret.
During this period, Huang Qiong came twice in person and saw that Yu Mingyuan was so thin that he almost lost his appearance. He also sat down and discussed the matter with him and a group of craftsmen. Yu Mingyuan was very stubborn, because the cannons used by the imperial court were all made of brass, so Yu Mingyuan still copied books and used a large number of brass to cast cannons. Of course, this is not just because of the experience provided by predecessors.
What's more critical is that nowadays, in the Ministry of Industry and the various royal departments of the imperial court, there is simply no one who can pour bronze. Since iron began to be used on a large scale, expensive bronze wares were slowly phased out. Ironware, which was easier to forge and cheaper, gradually replaced bronze. Since the collapse of the ritual system in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, ceramics and lacquerware gradually began to mature and became popular in large numbers.
Even though they were popular before the Han Dynasty, the demand for large bronze ritual vessels also gradually decreased until they were completely eliminated. Nowadays, even the bright wares have been replaced by porcelain or lacquerware. By this time, the only place where bronze was still used was to cast some bronze mirrors. In this way, bronze mirrors, which are more expensive than ordinary bronze mirrors, are slowly being replaced by ordinary bronze mirrors.
In today's world, not to mention casting such a cannon, even a small bronze tripod cannot be found. As for those bronze wares, there will be many people casting them, but the problem is that they are much easier to make. What Yu Mingyuan meant was that it was best not to waste too much expensive copper and find a way to cast a batch of copper cannons first. This can save a certain amount of time and let the craftsmen figure it out.
Huang Qiong's attitude was very resolute, either not to cast it, or to cast a bronze cannon that was more resistant to forging. Moreover, the attitude was very firm and the ratio of copper to tin was required to be two to eight. At this time, Yu Mingyuan's stubbornness came out, and he insisted on casting a batch of brass cannons first. In order to save a certain amount of time, the craftsmen can carefully consider the bronze and how to smelt it more appropriately.
The two of them argued so hard that neither one could convince the other. Finally, a junior official from the Ministry of Industry participated in the discussion. I really couldn't stand it anymore, so I reminded the two of them tremblingly, not to mention the bronze, even the brass cannon has no shadow yet. What he meant was to first use cheap iron to test how to cast the cannon. Let the craftsmen first explore a certain craft and then start to actually cast the cannon.
In any case, iron is still cheaper than copper, so you can save some copper. And his opinion is that the light cannon can walk on two legs of copper and iron. Another key issue is that he found that there are many problems with coal that melts copper and iron today. What he meant was, could we assemble a batch of kerosene or use charcoal instead? Try this, maybe it will be different?
Huang Qiong and Yu Mingyuan, who finally calmed down about this small official's opinion, looked at each other and said nothing. Only ten days later, this eighth-rank official, who had been elected as an official, was promoted to a fifth-rank Yuanwailang. When Yu Mingyuan was away, he was responsible for the entire cannon foundry. And before he could wake up from the joy of being promoted, he received another hundred thousand kilograms of charcoal.
Looking at these 100,000 kilograms of fine white frost charcoal, this porcelain merchant comes from a family. Because it was an election to select officials, he might not be able to achieve a fifth-grade position in his lifetime. The newest member of the Ministry of Industry, Wailang, was dumbfounded. After receiving 20,000 kilograms of wrought iron, being given the right to work alone, and being summoned to the Wende Hall many times, it was no surprise to him that such things happened.
