With a bit of anxiety, Zhu Di walked in from outside the hall carrying a cowhide bag.
When he entered the palace, he raised his head and saw Zhu Yuanzhang staring at him.
When their eyes met, Zhu Di suddenly felt that his calves began to twitch again.
Even a simple glance from his old man was enough to frighten him.
"My son, Zhu Xi, pays homage to my father."
"My son, Zhu Zhen, pays homage to my father."
"My son, my son Zhu Di, pays homage to my father."
Logically speaking, as the fourth child, Zhu Di should be the first to be greeted.
But as soon as he entered the hall, he was startled by his old man's gaze and was slightly stunned for a moment.
However, Zhu Rui, who was still on the side, was still aware of what was going on, and was the first to remind his fourth brother.
"Your Majesty, I may not be able to think of any good solution for today's matter. Why don't you go back and check the military books first to see if you have any countermeasures?"
After seeing three more princes arriving, Xu Da knew it was almost time to leave.
His Majesty took him to discuss the matter of facing the North all morning.
But in the face of this historical trend, the wisdom of the two people was ultimately more than enough.
What's more, Xu Da's situation is that he has already reached the end of his life.
There are some things that are even beyond our capabilities.
At this time, when the three princes came, he knew without thinking that there must be something else that needed to be reported to His Majesty, and it might not be appropriate for him to be around at this time.
Especially after what happened in the morning, Xu Da understood this deeply.
Some things in the future, even if they will never happen, are not suitable for you to know.
"Okay, Tiande, you have been tired all day today, so go back and rest first. But when we were discussing before, you should think about it. If you have a way or an idea, come and tell us as soon as possible. We old guys, You can do as much as you can, and the rest can only be left to the younger generations.”
Regarding Xu Da's resignation, Zhu Yuanzhang had no intention of forcing him to stay.
Zhu Di knew that he was unhappy today, but he still came back at this time. He knew without thinking that something must have happened and he had to come to see him.
And this guy left with Chu Ze, and it was probably related to that guy Chu Ze.
It might be a good thing for everyone to let Xu Da avoid it.
Just like what happened in the morning, if the person beside him in the morning was not Xu Da, I'm afraid Lao Zhu would not let him see the sun the next day.
"Your Majesty, your highnesses and ministers will take your leave first."
After getting Zhu Yuanzhang's permission, Xu Daye also breathed a sigh of relief.
After bowing slightly to everyone, he turned around and left without looking back.
Looking at Xu Da's leaving figure, Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes narrowed slightly.
But then, he turned his attention to the three Zhu Di who were standing in front of the hall, their bodies straight and tense.
"Let's talk. The three of you came to see us together. What's the matter?"
As Zhu Yuanzhang spoke, he couldn't help but look at the cowhide bag in Zhu Di's hand.
After hearing his old man's words, Zhu Di breathed a sigh of relief. His father had no intention of settling a score with him after the fall.
After knowing that the old man had no intention of continuing to whip him, Zhu Di breathed a sigh of relief, but his tense nerves still did not relax.
He knew that at this time, his father could only suppress the anger in his heart.
At this time, he must not foolishly mention what happened earlier, otherwise, he will probably get beaten.
After taking a deep breath, Zhu Di respectfully handed the cowhide bag in front of his elder brother with both hands.
After his elder brother took the things, Zhu Di spoke.
"Father, since the vassal affairs have been finalized, I am thinking of setting up an ammunition production line outside Nanjing to use for the daily training of the escort army and to reserve ammunition for future wars in the fiefdom."
"I have reported this matter to my eldest brother before. I only started preparations after my eldest brother agreed."
When Zhu Di stated his plan, he did not forget to report to him in advance before starting to prepare for the construction of the ammunition production line.
Although he now has the title of a vassal outside the territory, he can train his personal guards and build weapons openly.
But don’t forget, you still have to follow the procedures that need to be followed.
As a vassal king, you must not break the rules.
Especially the Emperor Yongle who has a criminal record and should be regarded as a criminal.
"For the record, my father, my fourth brother has indeed reported this to me."
After Zhu Biao heard Zhu Di's report, he also helped confirm it.
After Zhu Yuanzhang heard Zhu Biao's words, he nodded slightly and signaled Zhu Di to continue speaking.
"Father, because the new ammunition was improved by Chu Ze, I invited Chu Ze to help him inspect the location of the ammunition production line."
"During this process, Erchen invited Lao Liu to build the production line together in order not to cause financial trouble to the eldest brother. We spent all our remaining money to build the production line together."
"In the process, we accidentally discovered a poisonous salt mine. However, after Chu Ze confirmed it, he said that the poisonous salt we had always thought could actually be made into edible salt."
"We took some samples, and what the eldest brother is holding is the salt that Chu Ze taught us to make."
"My son, I haven't tried it before I came here. I just wanted to tell my father the news as soon as possible and ask him to make a decision!"
Before coming here, Zhu Di had thought about whether he should take all the credit for the mineral salt.
But after thinking about it for a while, he finally felt that it was better to tell the truth.
His father is such a shrewd person, if he lies about this kind of thing, let alone the credit, once he is seen through, let his father know that he actually dares to lie in front of him.
I guess all the old accounts from the morning will have to be settled together.
So Zhu Di didn't hide anything at this time and told everything exactly as it was.
Of course, he still concealed the fact that Lao Liu had privately formed a caravan.
It's better not to say anything about this matter.
"What did you just say? The poisonous salt mine can actually be made into edible salt!"
"Yes, Father, we have brought the samples. The production methods and steps are detailed. I can also record them later."
"Biao'er, bring it to us to see!"
Zhu Yuanzhang, who had a gloomy expression at first, suddenly became a little excited after hearing Zhu Di's words.
Salt, like food, is a necessity for people to survive.
Compared with food, the storage and transportation of salt is much more troublesome.
Especially when salt meets water or tide, it will melt directly, causing many people a headache.
It was also because of the necessity of salt and how troublesome it was to transport it.
This has also resulted in the price of salt always being relatively high.
Especially if someone maliciously hoards it, the price of salt will soar to an unimaginable level in a short period of time.
And it was difficult for the court to control its price.
Because once the salt panic begins, the imperial court's official salt reserves may not be enough.
Almost 99% of salt comes from coastal areas.
This also leads to the fact that the closer to the mainland, the more uncontrollable the price of salt is.
Now if there is a new way to obtain salt, it will definitely be a great joy for the court.
"Father, please take a look!"
"Come here, bring some pen and ink to King Yan."
After hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's words, Zhu Biao quickly handed over the cowhide bag in his hand.
And as soon as he turned around, he immediately ordered someone to send him pen and ink.
"Fourth, this matter is of great importance. Please hurry up and write it down."
"Hey, I'll write it right now."
After hearing his eldest brother's instructions, Zhu Di didn't waste any time. After the workers brought tables, chairs, pens and ink, he sat down directly and started writing in a hurry.
Zhu Zhen, who also participated in the whole process, also came over and reminded Zhu Di when he saw something he had missed.
However, when the two of them got busy, Zhu Rui, who was standing aside, felt a little embarrassed.
While Zhu Di and the others were busy learning techniques, he was playing nonsense with Chu Ze
He doesn’t know how to make salt!
But now that he is standing aside like this, it seems that he is superfluous.
"Have someone send it over to try."
After Zhu Yuanzhang took the cowhide bag handed over by Zhu Biao, he reached out and grabbed some fine salt in the bag, observed it slightly, and then put a little directly into his mouth.
The salty and somewhat bitter taste made him frown slightly.
But this is not a sign of dissatisfaction, but a natural human reaction.
On the contrary, while his brows were furrowed, a hint of joy flashed in his eyes.
"The salt taste is very strong, and the quality is excellent. There is almost no gravel. This is definitely the best table salt, of course, if it is non-toxic."
Zhu Yuanzhang simply tasted it and then gave his own evaluation.
Then he directly handed the cowhide bag in his hand to Erhu beside him, asking him to take the things down and find someone to try the effect.
Of course, it is unknown who to try specifically.
And when Zhu Di finished writing the refining method he got from Chu Ze.
Zhu Yuanzhang also took what Zhu Di wrote with great expectation, and then looked at it carefully.
When you see that the process is simply crushing, making brine, then filtering, settling, and then reducing.
He couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief.
He originally thought that there would be something extremely complicated that would take 7749 days to refine, or go through 9981 processes.
The result is this!
If it were just these simple methods, then this poisonous salt mine could not continue to be called poisonous salt now.
Because, if the salt is refined according to Chu Ze's refining method.
I can't say whether it's poisonous or not.
So now we can only call it a salt mine.
As long as it is certain that these mineral salts will not harm the body, this will be a good thing for the court!
"Biao'er, please keep this recipe for now. Test the effect first. If it's really edible, then arrange the recipe and let people start learning how to make it."
"As for you two."
Whether mineral salt is toxic or not, we still need to try it before we can get the result.
Zhu Yuanzhang did not jump to conclusions.
A more conservative decision-making is something that a superior must consider.
After all, if one of his decisions goes wrong, countless people may die.
Just like smallpox. It is still being tried.
After the decision was made, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Di and Zhu Zhen below.
He also saw the scene just now. When he was writing about the method of refining mineral salt, Zhu Ru just stood aside silently.
Obviously, he had no involvement in this matter.
The two brothers Zhu Di and Zhu Zhen probably came here not just to present the formula.
After all, this formula was obtained from Chu Ze. If it was just to pass on the formula, Chu Ze could have given it to Zhu Biao directly.
"In this matter, regardless of whether the mineral salt is edible or not, the two of you can be considered a meritorious service. Tell me, what do you want?"
When they heard Zhu Yuanzhang's words, Zhu Di and Zhu Zhen couldn't help but flash a hint of joy in their eyes.
Based on the intentions of these two people, it would not be good to come to his father today and ask for the reward himself.
As for asking for rewards, there is still a high chance of failure.
But now that his father has spoken, it will be much easier!
"Father, my son, my son, and my sixth brother have recently heard that the situation at my eldest brother's side is quite tense. And if we build an ammunition production line, my financial resources and my sixth brother's may not be very sufficient."
"What we mean is, can we temporarily borrow the veins of the salt mine next to the site we selected? We are not intending to use it for profit, we just want to temporarily use the income from the salt mine to move the ammunition production line first Build it up.”
"We don't want this place to produce ammunition in the future. We just have a place to produce ammunition first so that it can be used for training and the subsequent vassal affairs."
"When it comes time to seize the feudal lordship, we won't be able to take away the ammunition fields and salt mines."
"Just borrow some temporarily."
"Please allow me, Father."
After Zhu Yuanzhang spoke, Zhu Di did not hesitate and made his purpose clear.
Zhu Zhen, on the other hand, stood aside and said nothing the entire time.
His fourth brother was going to join a vassal outside the territory, but that was not the case with him.
It was a bit inappropriate for him to hang around like this.
At this time, he naturally could not speak, so he tried his best not to speak.
"King Chu, where is your fiefdom?"
"Reporting to the emperor, my son's fiefdom is here."
Zhu Zhen, who was still trying to reduce his presence on the sidelines, was suddenly called out by Zhu Yuanzhang without any warning.
Zhu Zhen was so nervous that he had no time to think about it, so he subconsciously stood up and answered Zhu Yuanzhang's question.
However, midway through his words, he realized that something seemed not quite right.
He hasn't received the order to move the fiefdom yet.
Deciding on a fiefdom at this time is an act beyond one's authority!
The author is adjusting his work schedule and has been having trouble sleeping recently. If there is an update, the late night schedule will probably be canceled in the future.
If I stay up late again, the author feels like he's going to have sex!
(End of chapter)
