Inheriting a Taoist temple, the story begins with Wu Zetian offering incense.

Chapter 233 You have a "Have you split this?" order, please process it as soon as possible! [Requesting monthly votes]

The commotion caused by the gunpowder machine at the Ordnance Bureau quickly attracted onlookers and investigators. Zhao Ji, who had just claimed he wasn't a prince, immediately issued an order:
"Arrest all those who are investigating around the gunpowder factory and send them to Li Gefei, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, for interrogation. Also, send someone to Li Gefei's house to invite the Osmanthus Fairy to come. This matter must be kept completely secret and must not be leaked."

Adjusting the proportions according to the book doubles the explosive effect, even destroying doors and windows. If we switch to the granulation method of black powder, with a more precise proportion, the effect would be unimaginable.

This was the first time Emperor Huizong had mastered such a powerful weapon, which made him extremely cautious.

From the craftsmen who handled the work to the supervisors at all levels, everyone in the gunpowder workshop had to swear an oath before the token.

After all these events, the only people Zhao Ji could trust were the gods. No matter what kind of guarantee it was, nothing was as reliable as swearing an oath directly to the token.

The Imperial Guards, who were guarding the area, quickly took action and arrested four or five passersby who had been attracted by the explosion, intending to interrogate them thoroughly.

With the emperor's personal expedition imminent and the Liao Kingdom eyeing him covetously, the newly developed weapons must be kept absolutely secret.

Emperor Huizong of Song even planned to have his elder brother set aside a royal villa outside Kaifeng City specifically for gunpowder research.

The use of landmines demonstrates that gunpowder had a very wide range of applications and required strict secrecy. If it were leaked, the Song Dynasty's slight lead would be wiped out once again.

At noon, a carriage drove into the gunpowder workshop courtyard, and Li Qingzhao appeared, dressed in a plum-green Taoist robe:
"What's the matter with me?"

Emperor Huizong said respectfully:
"We have prepared the black powder according to the proportions. All the furniture, doors and windows in the house have been destroyed, and many tiles have been removed. Please take a look, Fairy."

Li Qingzhao felt that this guy was talented in every way except for not being able to be emperor.

He was more excited about playing with gunpowder, such a dangerous substance, than being emperor... Our Great Song Dynasty has finally produced its own Nobel Prize!

Li Qingzhao, carrying a whisk, followed Zhao Ji into the room that had been exploded. Seeing the mysterious explosion marks on the wall, she clicked her tongue and remarked:
"Why not paint such a beautiful scene?"

Zhao Ji said:

"I believe the next explosion will be even more spectacular."

Li Qingzhao was afraid that this guy had gone mad:

"Next time, I will ask the immortal to grant you a peace token, so that you will not die young."

She then examined the various equipment used for making gunpowder and, upon discovering that it was simply a matter of using a steelyard balance to weigh items, immediately promised:
"Next time I'll bring you a high-precision electronic scale, accurate to the gram, and also a solar panel, lights, fans, and the like, to make your work more convenient."

The explosion in the room filled her with anticipation for the upcoming war against Western Xia.

However, bombs alone are not enough; they have too many limitations. Li Qingzhao recalled the World War II documentary she had just watched and said to Zhao Ji:

"There's black oil near Yanzhou in the northwest. The TV said that if you put it in an iron barrel and heat it, the gasoline will evaporate. If you mix the gasoline with some adhesive, the gasoline will solidify into a jelly-like substance. Once ignited, it will stick to a person's body and cannot be extinguished until the person is burned to death... I'll look for similar information next time. You can study it. If it works, when you encounter enemies holding strongholds, you can use catapults to throw solid gasoline into them."

The military expert standing nearby was secretly astonished. He never expected that this fairy-like woman would utter such a cruel plan in such a relaxed tone.

Emperor Huizong of Song was very interested:
"I've heard that people in the Yanzhou area use black oil, and that some in the Western Army use it to attack cities. I never imagined it could be used in this way. Thank you for informing me, Fairy. When my brother personally leads the expedition, I will go with him and try my best to produce that solid gasoline to help our Great Song achieve a resounding victory!"

With explosives and solid gasoline, the chances of successfully taking over Western Xia would be much greater.

Next, starting with the Director of the Military Equipment Bureau, everyone swore an oath before Li Qingzhao's token. Of course, keeping the secret had its benefits: those who swore an oath received double the salary, and were protected by people from the Ministry of Justice.

Once the residences of some officials in Kaifeng are vacated, Emperor Huizong will petition His Majesty to build a residential compound similar to a market town for these artisans, providing them with a place to live and ensuring their safety in all aspects.

After everyone had taken their oaths, Li Qingzhao took a picture of the explosion site with her phone, then looked at the workers' working conditions. She decided to buy more relevant materials so that everyone could study them in depth and get the application of black powder on the agenda as soon as possible.

In fact, starting with Emperor Shenzong, the Song Dynasty had already begun using firearms in the army. However, due to the poor gunpowder ratio and the poor airtightness of the cannon barrel, only some solid cannonballs could be fired, causing little damage.

If black powder could be improved and the airtightness of the cannon barrel could be enhanced, the power of the cannon would be greatly increased.

Leaving the gunpowder workshop, Li Qingzhao hummed a song and strolled casually through the streets, planning to buy some snacks to take home and enjoy while watching "Haier Brothers".

Well, the Immortal Master said that "Haier Brothers" is an educational film, so it's okay for me to study it diligently, right?

As she walked, she suddenly saw several burly monks surrounding an elderly man, begging for alms. The old man seemed to be struggling financially, as he only pulled out a few copper coins. The monks sneered at her, which enraged Li Qingzhao. She grabbed her whisk and slapped one of the monks hard across the face.

"Young and strong, yet you do no productive work, constantly chanting 'Amitabha Buddha,' did Buddha allow you to bully the elderly?"

Just as the beaten monk was about to curse, another monk quickly grabbed him, bowing deeply to Li Qingzhao with a beaming smile.

"The Osmanthus Fairy's teachings are well-founded; we know we were wrong."

Li Qingzhao, who was about to take out her token, paused. She suddenly realized that being famous was not a good thing; she couldn't even secretly summon divine lightning to strike a monk anymore.

She said coldly:
“This old man just gave you three copper coins. You will work at his house for three days, doing laundry, fetching water, cooking, planting vegetables, and cleaning the latrine. Do whatever the old man tells you to do.”

Worried that the monks might try to cheat, she took out her token. Remembering how Granny Gongsun had summoned the Five Elements Protective Thunder by stirring up fire, she also wanted to explore the token's new uses. The girl thought for a moment, then held up the token and said:

"May the gods of thunder take charge of supervision!"

As soon as the sound faded, a muffled clap of thunder sounded from the sky, startling the monks so much they nearly wet themselves.

Hey, the Thunder Department has taken an order... Li Qingzhao looked up at the sky and suddenly remembered that the Thunder Department and the Buddhist sect were not the same department. If she asked the Taoist gods to supervise the Buddhist sect, would Buddha jump out and flick her on the head?
She dared not verify, so she could only continue to pretend to be a hermit and leave quickly. As for whether those monks would slack off... there were people from the Thunder Department guarding them. They would either work or get struck by lightning, so they had to do one of them.

Of course, it's also possible that you might want to slack off halfway through, only to be struck by lightning.

Meanwhile, inside the Hunyuan Palace, everyone had finished eating dumplings and was drinking the dumpling soup from their bowls, as the original soup helps digest the original food.

Zhou Yi tidied up the unfinished dumplings, intending to freeze them, but then remembered that Sun Wu seemed to have never eaten them, so he looked at Xi Shi and asked:

"when are you leaving?"

Xi Shi put down her dumpling soup bowl and said:

"I'll take a shower and change my clothes in the afternoon, and leave around four o'clock."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yi decided to freeze the dumplings and wrap up the remaining filling, so that Xi Shi could take them over and cook them.

"The Sage of War has never eaten dumplings before. Take some over so he can try them too. Also, bring some oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar as a token of gratitude from Hunyuan Palace."

"Okay... are the dumplings easy to cook?"

The Book of Changes says:

"They're easy to cook. Just use high heat the whole time. Put the frozen dumplings in when the water is almost boiling, and they're done when they float to the surface. They're even easier to cook than freshly made dumplings."

Zhou Yi discovered that he didn't have enough dumpling wrappers left, so he made some more dough.

After finishing making the dumplings, he checked Xi Shi's gasoline stove and found that there was only a little less than half a can of gasoline left. So he unloaded it, rode his motorcycle down the mountain, and went to the town's gas station to have the gas station staff refill it.

Around 4 p.m., Xi Shi bid farewell to everyone, carrying frozen dumplings, and pushed her bicycle back to the Spring and Autumn Period.

After she left, Granny Gongsun and Li Bai, eager to see the spectacle at the Buddhist temple, also left Hunyuan Palace and returned to Kaiyuan World.

Zhou Yi looked at the map and thought that by the time Xi Shi came again, she should have already reached the Yangtze River. He wondered what the Yangtze River was like during the Spring and Autumn Period. It must have been very beautiful.
While he was imagining the scenery there, Xi Shi had already started cooking dumplings in the Gusu Mountain camp.

There were many dumplings, so instead of using her own pot, she used a large cauldron from the military camp, filled with water, with firewood burning brightly. This reminded Xi Shi of the iron pot stew she ate at Hunyuan Palace.

Sun Wu looked at the whole box of salt that Xi Shi had brought, opened a bag, dipped his finger in the salt, and tasted it. His eyes were full of surprise:

"So delicious! It's no wonder it's salt from the celestial realm. It tastes much better than the salt here."

After expressing his feelings, he said to Xi Shi:
"I will send a team to take you north. There is a dock by the river, and they will take you across the river by ferry. The road north of the river is more difficult to travel, with many swamps and ferocious beasts such as tigers and leopards in the mountains. You must be very careful."

Xi Shi nodded:

"Thank you for the reminder. If you wish to live in seclusion, you can wait for me here, or you can meet me at Hangu Pass. Once I have obtained the Tao Te Ching, I will return to fetch my parents, and then we will head to our place of seclusion."

Worried that Sun Tzu might not remember the location, she also sent him a laminated map of the Spring and Autumn Period, which allowed him to accurately locate Hangu Pass.

Sun Tzu tentatively asked:

"If I were to act tyrannically based on this map, what would the Immortal Master think?"

Xi Shi held the vinegar bottle and skillfully mixed the dipping sauce:

"The immortal said, let everything take its natural course."

Sun Tzu was taken aback, then smiled:

"If it were anything else, I might feel resentful or rebellious, but the phrase 'let nature take its course' completely dispelled my anger... No wonder it's a deity; one sentence extinguished my ambition."

At this point, he suddenly felt a strong longing for a secluded life.

With Xi Shi, a beautiful woman, walking around on both sides, bringing all sorts of novel items, this kind of secluded life must be very interesting!

As he looked to the future, inside the Hunyuan Palace, Zhou Yi explained tomorrow's schedule to Wu Meiniang:
"Go to the Dragon King Temple tomorrow morning to consecrate the statue. Remember to bring two umbrellas... Consecrating the Dragon King will surely bring rain!"

(End of this chapter)