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

Chapter 237 I am the Emperor of the Great Han Dynasty, dedicated solely to the well-being of my people! [Seeking monthly votes]

On one side of Weiyang Palace, Yiyuantai was completely renovated and became the most important religious site of the Han Dynasty.

Although its name contains the character "台" (tai), it is actually a temple. However, a high platform is built in the very center of the temple, and the other buildings are just there to complement the platform.

The entire platform is octagonal in shape, with a huge Bagua (Eight Trigrams) array carved on it, and a Taiji (Tai Chi) diagram paved with black and white pebbles in the center.

Dongfang Shuo and the officials waited and waited. When they saw Liu Che arrive, they quickly waved to everyone to get ready. After the ceremony, they were going to watch the killing of the Xiongnu. This was going to be a big event today.

The old ministers had complicated expressions, especially when they saw the Xiongnu people being escorted in. Their eyes were full of pity, but they dared not speak out... If they did, Liu Che would surely put them in a very difficult position.

By now, these veteran officials had completely seen through Liu Che's true intentions. Although he claimed to respect Confucianism, he didn't believe in it at all and even scoffed at some of its proposals.

For example, Confucianism advocates benevolence and righteousness, and His Majesty often talks about benevolence and righteousness, but when he encounters officials who make mistakes, he is ruthless in killing them.

Using the Confucian virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness as governing slogans, and then discarding them after use... Your Majesty is quite like Emperor Gaozu in this regard.

Liu Che strode over, followed by Huo Qubing, who was dressed in Tang-style Mingguang armor.

Many court officials were somewhat surprised:

"Wasn't Huo Qubing fighting a war? Why has he suddenly returned?"

"Could it be that he broke military discipline and was sent back?"

"Maybe she's homesick. It's her first time on the grasslands, and she might be secretly shedding tears in the middle of the night."

"Couldn't he just be unable to endure hardship?"

"..."

Huo Qubing was a member of the imperial family's maternal relatives. During Emperor Wu's reign, court officials mainly held the maternal relatives in contempt... Of course, this did not mean that they did not want to be members of the imperial family's maternal relatives. On the contrary, it was the maternal relatives who squeezed their living space, so they were quite resentful.

For example, if it weren't for the sudden emergence of this stable boy, Wei Qing, the military power of the Han Dynasty would most likely be firmly in the hands of the Li family of Longxi.

Unfortunately, Wei Qing, being a relative of the emperor, directly shattered some people's dreams of becoming a great general, making him the target of criticism and condemnation from nobles and families in Chang'an.

They thought they could just outlive Wei Qing, but now Huo Qubing has emerged as a rising star... With talented people constantly emerging from the imperial relatives, what else can they do? They can only smear him to death!
Led by Dongfang Shuo, Liu Che arrived at the offering table, performed the rites, and began to recite the prepared sacrificial text.

This eulogy was drafted by Dongfang Shuo and revised by Sima Xiangru and others. After careful consideration of every word, it was finally handed over to Emperor Wu of Han.

After the sacrificial text was read, several senior ministers also read their prepared sacrificial texts. Then came the highlight of today's ceremony—the killing of the Xiongnu.

These Xiongnu people were carefully selected; they were tall, strong, and powerful, and each of them had the blood of Han people on their hands.

When Huo Qubing saw them, he couldn't help but want to draw the sword hanging at his waist and cut off their heads.

Fifty people stood in a circle around the Yiyuan Terrace. Each Xiongnu was escorted by two burly Han guards, and an executioner in charge of beheading stood beside them.

With a command given, the heads of fifty Xiongnu people were simultaneously severed.

Liu Che spoke aloud before the Yiyuan Terrace:
"Today I swear here that those who sympathize with foreign tribes shall be killed! Those who plead for the survival of foreign tribes shall be killed! Those who call for peace through marriage shall be killed! Those who advocate leniency shall be killed! I am the Emperor of the Great Han, and I only seek the well-being of the people of the Great Han... This oath is proclaimed to the world, and any official in any region who disobeys it shall be killed without mercy!"

After saying this, he bowed and left, leaving a group of courtiers looking at each other in bewilderment.

Several veteran officials began whispering among themselves, curious as to why His Majesty had suddenly issued such a forceful edict... They had guessed many possibilities, but they never expected that the Han Dynasty would have divinely bestowed grain seeds and no longer need to worry about food.

Since we have no shortage of food, there's no need to be polite to the foreign tribes; we'll just kill them!
On the way back to Weiyang Palace, Liu Che asked:

"Can these seeds help the people of the Han Dynasty escape hunger?"

Huo Qubing thought for a moment and replied:

"Before we came here, my master led me to place all the seeds in front of the statue of Shennong the Great as an offering... Seeds personally blessed by the Great Emperor should have a higher yield."

Then, Huo Qubing mentioned the collected works he had brought and the purchase of household appliances, which greatly pleased Liu Che:
"The household appliances can be placed in Weiyang Palace, where I usually handle state affairs. As for the anthology you mentioned, I will read it first and then decide when to let Ju'er study it."

Back at Weiyang Palace, Liu Che began arranging for people to plant potatoes, while Huo Qubing went to find his cousin Liu Ju.

He brought a soccer ball with him when he came. In the afternoon, when he had nothing to do, he played soccer with his cousin to get some exercise.

Meanwhile, inside the Hunyuan Palace.

Huo Qubing took all the potato seeds with him. Zhou Yi calculated that once these potatoes were harvested, the potato planting area in the Han Dynasty would reach more than 100 acres next year. If a few more cartloads of potatoes were bought and Huo Qubing took them over, the planting area would exceed 1,000 acres next year.

For a country, a thousand acres may not seem like much, but if promoted properly, potato cultivation will quickly spread throughout the Han Dynasty.

More importantly, potatoes do not require fertile land to grow; they can be grown on slopes, in depressions, on hills, in valleys, or anywhere there is soil.

Compared to grains that require intensive cultivation, these potatoes are practically free. If planted for five or ten years, they will definitely become a staple food for many people.

Just then, Mao Cong's uncle, Ding Zhenhua, the owner of the flour mill, called:

"Master Zhou, are you busy today?"

Zhou Yi said, "I'm not busy. Is there something you need, Boss Ding?"

As an old-fashioned businessman, Ding Zhenhua prefers to speak indirectly rather than directly address issues.
"It rained all day yesterday, and a batch of flour got damp. The customer wanted to return it, but I was too lazy to deal with it, so I just donated it to you. Are you at Hunyuan Palace? If you are, I'll have someone deliver it to you right now."

Zhou Yi never expected that praying for rain yesterday would instead bring financial losses to the flour mill owner.

However, he probably didn't call me specifically to donate flour... Zhou Yi said:
"I'm at Hunyuan Palace. Mr. Ding, come with me. I'll recite a scripture to soothe your spirit and calm your soul as a token of my gratitude for your kindness."

Since Mr. Ding hadn't explained things clearly, Zhou Yi couldn't just pat his chest and make a big promise. He had to sit down and have a detailed chat with Ding Zhenhua under the guise of reciting scriptures to express his gratitude, so that he could find out exactly what kind of help was needed.

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Yi said to Wu Meiniang:

"Boil a pot of water and bring over the tea that Boss Fang gave us. We'll treat Boss Ding to a proper meal in the pavilion later."

Not long after, Ding Zhenhua arrived at the mountain in a Range Rover, leading two semi-trailers.

Zhou Yi directed the semi-trailer into Hunyuan Palace and instructed them to unload the flour at the entrances of Changsheng Hall and Wenxuanwang Hall. If there was not enough space, they piled it up at the entrance of Daxiong Hall and in the doorway.

After arranging these matters, Wu Meiniang placed the prepared fruit platters and snacks in the pavilion, filled them with tea, and then went back to her room to study.

Ding Zhenhua is a discerning person; upon smelling the aroma of the tea, he exclaimed in admiration:
"Good tea, it must be expensive."

Zhou Yi said with a smile:

"It was given to me by the owner of Jin Taiyang. I was the one who orchestrated their renaming to Wan Ke Lai."

The reason for bringing up Fang Hongyan was not to show off, but to dispel Ding Zhenhua's doubts.

This big boss has been going in circles since he donated flour, probably because he thinks Hunyuan Palace is a small Taoist temple and can't handle his big problems.

Sure enough, before Zhou Yi had even finished speaking, Ding Zhenhua looked surprised:

"Good heavens! Everyone says that after Jin Taiyang changed its name, things turned around and its business suddenly became much more prosperous. It turns out that Master Zhou made a move."

After expressing his feelings, he mentioned one of his worries:

“A distant relative of mine owns a small share in the Lushan County Crane Equipment Factory. He was a minor shareholder and made some money when the infrastructure was good a few years ago. But in recent years, business has been declining and the big boss’s family has run into trouble. He wants to invest some money to take over the crane equipment factory, but he is worried about failure, so he came to me and asked me to invest some money.”

Zhou Yi felt he had a special connection with the Lushan County Crane Equipment Factory, as he had been receiving related business ever since Mao Cong started selling cars.

Without wasting words, he directly examined Ding Zhenhua's face and said to him:
"Don't venture into industries you don't understand, especially since you're currently in the prime of your career. You could easily squander all your wealth and even drag your flour mill down with you."

Ding Zhenhua's heart skipped a beat:
Will my relative also lose money?

This question really stumped Master Zhou. For the sake of the two truckloads of flour, he said:
"Tell me your relative's birthday. If you have a photo, show it to me. No photoshopped ones, please."

Ding Zhenhua hurriedly took out his phone and sent a message to a relative. Soon the relative sent his birth date and a selfie.

After using the Eight Characters (Ba Zi) to deduce the fortune of this relative, it was discovered that he had been enjoying good fortune recently and there was no sign of him losing money.

Then he looked at his face. He was a middle-aged man with a prosperous appearance, nothing special. After reading the I Ching, he was about to return the phone to Ding Zhenhua when he suddenly realized that there was something shadowy behind this relative.

"Huh? What's going on?"

His curiosity was piqued, and he decided to go to the Sanqing Hall to ask for the Eight Trigrams Abacus to do some divination.

On the other side, Zhao Ji, his face blackened by gunpowder, squatted in front of the stove in the gunpowder workshop of the Military Equipment Bureau, stirring saltpeter and water evenly like a chef, then adding charcoal powder and starting to boil.

Next, add the pre-weighed white sugar.

Once the mixture has cooked to the consistency of black sesame paste, turn off the fire in the stove and let the temperature in the pot drop slightly. Then add sulfur and continue stirring.

The officer in charge of military equipment, standing to the side, was also covered in soot, and his official robe had been burned with many large holes, but he paid no attention to these things and was quickly winding cotton thread.

While wrapping the cloth, he also kept an eye on the situation in the pot:

"Is it thick enough? It won't make our faces splatter again, will it?"

Zhao Ji said:

"This time I followed the instructions in the book exactly. If it's successful, we'll be able to make a high-quality fuse with a uniform burning speed, which is the key to using gunpowder!"

The Military Equipment Bureau asked:

"How were those explosive charges in 'Bright Sword' that could be automatically ignited with a single pull made? Is there any record of them in the books?"

Zhao Ji nodded and said:

"Don't worry, there are detailed instructions... Our Great Song Dynasty will soon have its own explosives, stay tuned!"

(End of this chapter)