I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 49 Opening the Furnace

In the end, Master Luo did not draw it himself, but went to a nearby Taoist temple and asked the abbot to draw a Tai Chi Bagua diagram.

The temple master happily accepted the job. Although the alchemy furnace looked very strange, after the painting was finished, he was still not satisfied and gave away a lot of talisman papers, saying that they could assist in alchemy.

Finally, he even proposed to discuss the art of alchemy with Zhu Houxuan.

Zhu Houxuan naturally ignored him.

Just when Zhu Houxuan was busy with open-hearth steelmaking.

Boss Zheng suddenly came to Zhu Houxuan.

"Your Highness, the new play has been performed in the palace for more than ten times. Although it is still very popular, the number of people coming to each show is getting smaller and smaller. So I have an unwelcome request that you please agree to."

"Oh? Tell me."

"We have always been treated well by the prince in the palace, but we feel uneasy about receiving the prince's favor all the time, so we want to do something for the palace. I see that Qizhou City is also a place where merchants and travelers gather. We will divide our new play into two groups, A and B, during the rehearsal. Moreover, our new play is so good, it will definitely be a hit in Qizhou City, and we can also earn some money to make up for the previous expenses of the palace on us," said the troupe leader Zheng carefully.

"This is a good idea. I have been busy with other things recently and forgot about this. This is a strategy that kills two birds with one stone. You should do it now and let the young and old men in Qizhou City see our new play. It is not easy for the palace to take all the money we earn. You can take half of it and give the rest to the palace." Zhu Houxuan made a decision quickly.

"Thank you, Your Highness. Thank you, Your Highness!" Master Zheng left with many thanks.

Zhu Houxuan didn't take this matter to heart, but continued to think about steelmaking.

But two days later, when Zhu Houxun was directing the craftsmen to fill in the materials and prepare to start the first furnace, Qin Ming hurried over.

"Your Highness, something bad has happened! Something bad has happened!" Qin Ming was running with sweat all over his forehead.

"what happened?"

"My sister and Master Zheng are trapped in Changyin Tower outside the mansion. Please send someone to rescue them quickly." Qin Ming said anxiously.

Changyin Tower is the property of the Prince of Jing's Mansion in Qizhou City, and it is also the largest theater in Qizhou City.

"Who dares to touch the people from Prince Jing's Mansion in Qizhou City? How bold!" Zhu Houxuan's face changed instantly.

"They are the people of Qizhou City."

"The people of Qizhou City?" Zhu Houxuan vaguely understood what was going on.

"Yes, our play is very popular in Qizhou City. People who want to go to the play are hard to get a seat. Some people pay 5 taels of silver but still can't buy a seat. The theater is packed, and when the show starts, people gather outside the theater."

"I heard from Boss Zheng that the amount of money given as reward on stage in the past two days has exceeded a thousand taels."

Zhu Houxuan was shocked. The purchasing power of silver was very high these days. He had a weaving factory with a thousand workers and only made a profit of two thousand taels a month. However, he received more than one thousand taels in tips from this new play in just two days.

But it's not surprising if you think about it. After all, in this age of entertainment scarcity, a drama that transcends this era in all aspects and is refreshing suddenly appears. It's no wonder that the people of Qizhou are so crazy.

"Then why was it blocked by someone?"

"The play became popular, and the actors became famous too! Especially my sister and the guard Liu Hao who played Tang Monk, they became extremely popular. Today's play ended, and the troupe was preparing to return to the mansion. As soon as Liu Hao showed his head, he was surrounded. Young girls and wives all wanted to touch him. When they pulled Liu Hao out of the crowd, he was almost stripped naked. So they didn't dare to leave Changyin Tower, and quickly sent people to the mansion for help," Qin Ming said with lingering fear. emmmmmm
Is this star chasing?
Zhu Houxuan recalled the news about crazy fans he had seen in his previous life. Modern people have so many ways to entertain themselves, and there are so many crazy star-chasers. It was naturally the same in ancient times.

People in ancient times were even more crazy about chasing stars. Zhu Houxuan recalled the movies and TV series he had watched before. In the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, the pursuit of opera stars was also extremely crazy. There were even people who married photos of opera stars and remained single for the rest of their lives.

"Go find Commander Zhao and ask him to bring fifty guards to rescue them."

"Your Highness, fifty may not be enough. There are hundreds of people surrounding Changyin Tower, and the number is still increasing." Qin Ming said hesitantly.

"Then 100 people, and then take my business card to the prefect and ask him to send some yamen runners over." Zhu Houxuan said with a wave of his hand.

Qin Ming left quickly after receiving the order, while Zhu Houxuan focused his energy on steelmaking again.

However, the popularity of the new play in Qizhou City exceeded Zhu Houxuan's expectations. In just a few days, people in the streets and alleys of Qizhou City were talking about the story of Tang Monk and the Queen of the Kingdom of Daughters.

The speed at which the songs became popular was even more exaggerated. Even if you had never heard the original version, you could still sing a few lines of it.

For a time, dignitaries, peddlers and hawkers in Qizhou city were all singing the song. Anyone who could not sing a line of "What's the use of royal power and wealth? Why fear the precepts and regulations?" would be left behind.

It is quite normal for the songs to be so popular. When these songs were created, the educational level of the people across the country was taken into consideration. The lyrics are simple but contain a lot of truth, and the tunes are catchy.

What has made people discuss it for a long time is the plot holes that Zhu Houxuan deliberately left.

The question is whether Tang Seng was attracted to the Queen of the Kingdom of Women. Some say he was, while others say he was not. Both sides are arguing fiercely about this issue.

However, Zhu Houxuan only observed this secretly, thinking that the furnace in the mansion was about to start.

The first furnace failed as expected. After analysis, Zhu Houxuan believed that it was because there was too much ash in the gas produced by the gas generator, so he added an ash filter.

Then start preparing the next batch immediately.

This open-hearth furnace can basically be operated for three days, with one day for filling, one day for calcining, and one day for cleaning the furnace and repairing the furnace lining.

Although this furnace was not successful, it still shocked the people of Qizhou City.

The black smoke produced by steelmaking was discharged from the towering chimneys and could be seen throughout the entire Qizhou city. In good weather conditions, the black smoke could be clearly seen from dozens of miles away. In addition, the Prince of Jing's Mansion was close to the Yangtze River, so the merchant ships passing by could be seen clearly.

Everyone who saw the black smoke was wondering what was going on.

Other royal family members in Qizhou City also rushed over to check it out.

When the prefect Yu Zhong saw black smoke coming out of the Prince of Jing's Mansion, he was shocked and brought his yamen runners to help put out the fire.

In the end, he was persuaded to go back by Zhu Houxun, but Zhu Houxun's alchemy still aroused the interest of everyone in Qizhou City and became a topic of conversation after dinner.

Because anyone with a discerning eye can see that Qizhou City, which had not changed much in the past few decades, has undergone great changes in the past few months, and the source of all this is Zhu Houxuan.

This made the people of Qizhou have complicated impressions of Zhu Houxuan.

(End of this chapter)