Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 13 Explosion
After hearing what Zhu Houzhao said, Liu Jin couldn't help but shudder in his heart. He had never thought of murdering a veteran of four dynasties.

But because of this, Liu Jin began to feel a little strange and afraid of his Majesty, but at the same time, he also knew that he must be ruthless, so he nodded and said, "Your Majesty is right!"

At this time, Qiu Ju came running over and said, "Your Majesty, I have followed your instructions and used concentrated nitric acid and glycerin and concentrated sulfuric acid to catalyze the reaction. Now we have finally produced a new liquid, but I don't know if it is nitroglycerin."

Zhu Houzhao hurriedly asked Qiu Ju to take him to have a look, and then he saw a conical flask filled with the reacted liquid.

Zhu Houzhao only asked Qiu Ju to take 10 milliliters of liquid into another conical bottle, and specifically told him to be gentle. Then he asked him to put the conical bottle with 10 milliliters of liquid in the woods beside Taiye Lake, five miles away from the Leopard House. Then he asked Qiu Ju to hang a large stone slab on a tree close to the conical bottle.

"Now, you stand a hundred steps away and hold this rope, then watch my gestures. When I wave my hand and tell you to loosen the rope, you will loosen it. Do you understand?"

After Zhu Houzhao said this, he handed the rope to Qiu Ju, and then he and Liu Jin ran frantically for a long time. They stopped only after they were out of breath, hid under a big tree, and waved to Qiu Ju.

After all, nitroglycerin is a high explosive. Basically, even a small amount can cause an explosion when hit with a hammer. Therefore, he cannot guarantee that he will not be blown up during the experiment. He can only let Qiu Ju do the experiment while he hides in the distance and watches.

Liu Jin, who followed Zhu Houzhao, also looked at Zhu Houzhao with some curiosity. He didn't understand why his emperor looked so frightened and uneasy.

At this time, Qiu Ju loosened the rope. He didn't understand why his emperor was in such a hurry to run so far.

However, at this moment, the stone had already fallen sharply and, under the action of gravity, hit the conical flask containing the reaction liquid at a rapid speed.

boom!
Suddenly there was a loud explosion, and a tree where the conical bottle was placed was blown up. The rocks burst open directly, and dust flew everywhere. After the smoke cleared, only a big pit was left.

In addition, Qiu Ju was also blown away by the air wave and fell heavily to the ground.

Zhu Houzhao had never seen the explosive power of nitroglycerin in his previous life, but he knew that the explosive power of nitroglycerin was sixteen times that of gunpowder, while TNT was only fourteen times that of black powder. Now, only ten milliliters, or about ten grams, were used to blow up a big hole and blow away a hill a hundred steps away. If it was a pound of nitroglycerin, Zhu Houzhao believed that it would be no problem to blow up a two-story building.

But Zhu Houzhao was also a little scared at this time. He felt numb all over and thought that if he added a few dozen milliliters more, he would be dead at this moment. But then he felt a little surprised, because now he had nitroglycerin, which was equivalent to having a more powerful explosive than black powder. However, nitroglycerin was really a bit dangerous. It would explode by violent collision and high temperature. The development of gunpowder in the future of Ming Dynasty would definitely not be satisfied with this.

Qiu Ju looked at Zhu Houzhao with blood all over his face at this time: "Your Majesty, didn't you say that this nitroglycerin is a medicine? How come it is more powerful than the gunpowder from Wanggongchang? This eunuch almost died."

Qiu Ju did not dare to blame Zhu Houzhao, but he was more scared than Zhu Houzhao because he had stayed in the same room with hundreds of milliliters of nitroglycerin for several days.

"Gunpowder is also medicine! Go back and keep your experimental records. This is our Ming Dynasty's top secret, understand?" Zhu Houzhao patted Qiu Ju's shoulder and said to Liu Jin beside him: "I will give you 50 milliliters of nitroglycerin. Find a chance to blow up the Minister of War Liu Daxia! I only give you three days!"

Liu Jin was confused and didn't know how much 50 milliliters was, but he nodded hurriedly: "I obey your order!"

That night, Zhu Houzhao asked Qiu Ju to take only two drops of nitroglycerin and put them in a sealed brown bottle to prepare for esterification to make nitroglycerin ester, a drug for treating heart disease.

Of the rest, except for the 50 milliliters given to Liu Jin to blow up Liu Daxia, the rest were secretly taken out of the capital and buried in an empty place. After all, the chemical laboratory was too close to the Leopard Room, and Zhu Houzhao was afraid that this thing would explode accidentally.

After the Battle of Tumu, the army of the capital was divided into the Twelve Regiments and the Imperial Guards. The Twelve Regiments were jointly led by the eunuch admiral and the Minister of War. If Zhu Houzhao wanted to control the army, he had to control these two positions. This was why Zhu Houzhao wanted to get rid of the Minister of War, Liu Daxia. The Minister of War Liu Daxia didn't know that he had been targeted by Emperor Zhu Houzhao, but Zhu Houzhao's dissatisfaction with the military affairs of the Ming Dynasty caught his attention. He couldn't help but go to Wenyuan Pavilion and said to the chief minister of the cabinet, Liu Jian: "Prime Minister, His Majesty seems to be dissatisfied with the Ministry of War, and he is quite enthusiastic about military affairs in his words! If this continues, it will not be a good thing!"

Liu Jian snorted, "It was the eunuch Liu Jin who instigated Your Majesty! It is said that Liu Jin not only seduced Your Majesty to play games all day, but also secretly befriended civil officials to build up his power. He was also very close to Zhang Cai from the Ministry of Personnel. Now he wants Your Majesty to promote him. He has to go to Wang Yue. Your Majesty asked him personally, and Wang Yue had no choice but to let him take charge of the Bell and Drum Department first."

"I'm afraid it was his idea to trick Your Majesty out of the palace. This eunuch wants to be the second Wang Zhen. He must have instigated Your Majesty to engage in warmongering. Otherwise, why would Your Majesty suddenly care about military affairs? We should find someone to demote this eunuch to Nanjing. It is not a good idea to let him stay with Your Majesty!" Liu Daxia also said in agreement.

"Now is not the time to take action against him. As long as you are in charge of the Ministry of War and the Imperial Stables are under the control of Eunuch Wang, Liu Jin will not be able to cause much trouble. What we should guard against most now is the eunuch and Ma Wensheng's party joining forces. That would be quite troublesome! Eunuchs have never been able to become powerful, only eunuchs' parties will become powerful!" Liu Jian said.

Liu Daxia agreed with this, and then he gritted his teeth when he thought of the fact that Ma Wensheng had not resigned and was still occupying the position of Minister of Personnel. He said, "Ma Wensheng, this old man is just a figurehead, why doesn't he just die?"

Liu Daxia bid farewell to Liu Jian and returned to the Ministry of War. Coincidentally, Xu Jin, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of War, came up to him and said, "Master Liu, the governor of Shaanxi, Yang Yiqing, just reported that he would like to ask for 400,000 taels of silver to repair the border wall. The border wall in the Yansui area has not been repaired for several years and is in disrepair in many places. We are afraid that it will be invaded by the enemy in the future."

"I don't have any money. The Tartars will leave when they come. The Ministry of War cannot always ask the Cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue for money. The Prime Minister also has to reserve money for disaster relief. We cannot make things difficult for the Prime Minister at this time!" Liu Daxia said.

Xu Jin knew that Liu Daxia was always reluctant to ask his superiors for money and basically liked to brag to his superiors about how well he was doing. Seeing this, he had no choice but to agree to step down and rejected the request of Shaanxi Governor Yang Yiqing to repair the border wall.

"By the way, Minister Xu, have you asked someone to find the blueprints of Eunuch Sanbao's voyage to the West?" Liu Daxia asked, suddenly remembering something.

"I haven't found it yet," Xu Jin replied.

"If you have found it, give it to me. I cannot let His Majesty see the blueprint. Who knows if the eunuchs like Liu Jin who follow him will instigate him to go to the West!" Liu Daxia said.

"I understand, my lord. I don't know when you will leave the yamen. I heard that it will rain tonight, so you should go home early. It would be a pity to neglect your new wife, Madam Ru," Xu Jin said with a smile.

Liu Daxia recently took in a sixteen-year-old concubine, which has become a refined affair in the officialdom. When Xu Jin mentioned it, he smiled slightly and said, "Thank you, Minister Xu, for reminding me. Today, I will leave the yamen early at the beginning of the evening hour. You should also go back and rest early."

Xu Jin nodded in agreement, then left the Ministry of War on the pretext of having a headache, and then asked someone to pass the news to Liu Jin.

By the time it was You time, the sun had set and none of the officials from the six ministries had left. The Minister of War Liu Daxia left the yamen first because Xu Jin reminded him to. But just as he left the yamen, he saw a large sedan chair carrying a bride outside the yamen. It was covered with red cloth and looked very festive.

Liu Daxia could not help but get furious: "Who is getting married and coming to the six ministries to pick them up? This is ridiculous! Who did this?"

As soon as Liu Daxia finished his shout, two cows rushed over and directly hit the red sedan chair.

boom!
A violent explosion sounded.

(End of this chapter)