The wicked mother-in-law doesn't try to whitewash herself; she only abuses her awful children.

Chapter 591 Our futures are intertwined
"Second Young Master, why have you repeatedly asked me to develop gunpowder for siege warfare, and now you're asking me to build heavy artillery? What exactly do you want?"

Gu Ruinian looked doubtful.

“If you’re planning a rebellion, don’t drag me into this deadly affair,” Gu Ruinian said.

Young Master Zheng sneered, "Don't forget that your life belongs to me."

Young Master Zheng didn't even raise his eyelids to look at Gu Ruinian, let alone drag him into it. Does he even deserve to be dragged into it?
Gu Ruinian's face stiffened.

Young Master Zheng pondered for a moment.

Although he held Gu Ruinian's life in his hands and forced him to manufacture high-powered gunpowder to improve heavy artillery, Gu Ruinian dared not disobey. However, he had already suspected that Gu Ruinian was planning a rebellion. If Gu Ruinian were to report him to the authorities, the Zheng family would have lost everything.

In all honesty, the Zheng family has neither the power nor the intention to rebel.

Ever since Gu Ruinian told the Second Young Master Zheng that later historical records indicated the Fifth Prince was the ultimate winner, the Zheng family has used various channels to climb up to the Fifth Prince's maternal family.

After all, the Fifth Prince came from a humble background, and his maternal family was not as difficult to approach as that of ordinary high-ranking families.

Now that the Zheng family is on the same boat as the Fifth Prince, the Second Young Master Zheng needs to demonstrate abilities that will catch the Fifth Prince's eye.

Manufacturing high-explosive powder and heavy artillery would be a good solution.

Taking advantage of the border war, if we present the heavy artillery, wouldn't the Zheng family be able to go from being merchants in Pingchuan County to becoming a new elite in Shengjing?

“I can tell you.” After thinking for a moment, the Second Young Master Zheng said, “Dasheng is at war with the border. If you can really build heavy artillery, my Zheng family can offer it to you. You will get half the credit, and you will no longer have to worry about not being able to take the imperial examinations and pursue an official career because of your leg injury. Fame and fortune will be yours in no time.”

News of the border conflict spread like wildfire, even reaching remote villages like Qinghewan.

This shows how much attention this battle has received.

Gu Ruinian gritted his teeth and said, "I will study these blueprints carefully and try my best to build a heavy artillery."

Young Master Zheng was satisfied.

He ordered his servant to hand over the frostbite ointment and twenty taels of silver to Gu Ruinian.

Knowing that Gu Ruinian's room was as cold as an icebox, he added, "I'll send someone to deliver charcoal to you tomorrow, along with the materials for building cannons. You'd better speed up the cannon-building process; our futures are tied together, so don't let me down."

Gu Ruinian calmly said "okay" and turned back into the courtyard.

He's freezing!

The news of Zheng Er Gongzi meeting Gu Ruinian reached Tong Huaqiong's ears immediately.

The person who delivered the message was naturally Gu Honglian.

Upon learning that Gu Ruinian had instructed the Zheng family to stockpile charcoal, Tong Huaqiong thought to herself that it was fortunate she had stockpiled enough charcoal.

It's obvious that the Zheng family's purpose in hoarding charcoal was to make a fortune during the extreme cold weather. They didn't care how many people froze to death or whether there would be an epidemic the following year.

"Oh, right, they also asked Gu Ruinian to build some cannons, saying they'd send them to the border once they were finished," Gu Honglian said to Tong Huaqiong.

Gu Honglian viewed Gu Ruinian's cannon-making as a joke.

Tong Huaqiong had learned from Gu Honglian from time to time that Gu Ruinian was making gunpowder at home, and occasionally he succeeded in his experiments, but the power was not as good as firecrackers.

Tong Huaqiong was skeptical about whether Gu Ruinian could build heavy artillery.

Why did the Second Young Master Zheng have Gu Ruinian build cannons? Could it be related to the border war?
This reminded Tong Huaqiong.

The credit absolutely cannot be given to Gu Ruinian.

Tong Huaqiong ran to the space, searched through the boxes, and then copied down the design principles and blueprints of bronze firearms, iron-core bronze firearms, and Hongyi cannons. The next day, she asked Qin Qingyou to deliver them to Gu Jingzhe at Wanliu Academy in the prefectural city, and Gu Jingzhe would then deliver them to Prefect Yao.

In this era, high-quality copper and iron were controlled by the government. Large cannons like these had to be manufactured by the government. There was no way Gu Ruinian could have such a shady training camp-like manufacturing method. He could only fool the second young master Zheng.

When Dasheng and Mobei went to war, Tong Huaqiong, as a Dasheng native, naturally hoped that Dasheng could win.

If Dasheng loses, the northern desert will advance along the border to Ningcheng, wreaking havoc and killing indiscriminately; no one can escape death. Regardless of whether the musket and artillery techniques she copied are useful in this war, she should submit the blueprints first; just in case they prove useful.

On the very night Qin Qingyou returned from the prefectural city, the weather suddenly turned cold.

At first, no one paid any attention.

After all, it's winter, and cold is the norm.

As soon as the weather cooled down, everyone rushed to buy charcoal.

"Those heartless charcoal merchants have raised the price of charcoal by five coins per pound this year compared to last year. Those who know them are selling charcoal, but those who don't know them are selling life-saving pills."

An elderly woman from the village returned from buying charcoal in town, cursing all the way.

The old lady's daughter-in-law worked at the weaving workshop, so she stopped by to visit her daughter-in-law.

Tong Huaqiong happened to want to know about the current situation of the charcoal market, so she struck up a conversation with the old lady.

“Mother Dashu, look at this, this load of charcoal is almost two taels of silver more expensive than last year. If it weren’t for the unbearable cold these past two days, who would burn this rubbish?” The old woman complained to Tong Huaqiong, and added, “It’s all thanks to you running a weaving workshop, and your daughter-in-law being able to earn money, otherwise we wouldn’t even be able to afford charcoal.”

Tong Huaqiong asked, "Are there many people buying charcoal now?"

The old woman shook her head and said, "Not much! The charcoal is too expensive this year. Many people go there, but few buy it. Most people don't buy it after asking the price. Anyway, winter is only two months long. We can just grit our teeth and get through it."

The old lady wouldn't have bought it if she wasn't worried about her daughter-in-law getting frostbite and losing money.

Tong Huaqiong seemed to be deep in thought.

Just a few days after the weather turned cold, the market price of charcoal had increased three times compared to the price when Tong Pandi bought it.

It seems that most of this batch of charcoal was hoarded by the Zheng family, which is why the charcoal embers rose to the surface so quickly.

The current prices are prohibitive for most people, but wearing thick clothes, burning firewood, or using hot water bottles will help them get through it.

But soon the extreme cold weather will arrive, and at that time everyone will buy charcoal no matter how high the price is.

Tong Huaqiong is determined to cut off the Zheng family's path to making a fortune from the weather.

Wait a little longer. When the Zheng family raises the price of coal to a certain level, she will release the coal.

Anyway, those who are willing to buy charcoal now are all wealthy families. Even if the price is three or four times higher than when Tong Pandi bought it, they can still afford it.

She feared that if she released the charcoal now, these wealthy people would hoard it on a large scale, and it would also attract attacks from other charcoal merchants.

When charcoal prices affect people's livelihoods, she will step in and release charcoal with Magistrate Liu. With the government's backing, the Zheng family and other charcoal merchants will not be able to find a loophole to suppress her.

You should know that making a fortune through such means is punishable by death.

They just want to make money, not lose their lives.

The weather is getting colder every day.

Every day, people in the village come to inquire about the price of charcoal. They originally planned to wait and see, but unexpectedly, the price kept rising.

Tong Huaqiong hears complaints from the villagers every day.

Some families felt fortunate that they had bought Tong Pandi's charcoal, otherwise they would not have been willing to buy it at the current price.

As the temperature dropped, it was followed by a snowfall.

First came snowflakes, then quickly heavy snowfall, and overnight it turned into a blizzard.

The whole world was covered in white, with snowflakes falling like cotton wool.

Tong Huaqiong realized that the extremely cold weather that Tong Dajiao remembered had arrived.