Tang Dynasty Little Godfather

Chapter 270 Sparrow's Open and Honesty
In fact, Wang Xi and his group were very clear about how to deal with Madam Zixia from the very beginning: to sow discord among them.

This has never changed.

Because what Madam Zixia has always been maintaining is her network of relationships, the Beauty Wine is only meaningful to her in this way; she doesn't care how much money she can make in the process.

Based on this, if you want to hurt her or conquer her, it's not about making her earn less money, which she doesn't care about, but about destroying their relationship.

They were very confident about this, because this group of former Xianbei tribes was actually very loose, mainly relying on intermarriage. Moreover, when they united, they often did so to prevent the court from suppressing merchants or to promote some of the court's policies that benefited merchants.

But that's all. It's not a real alliance, even more fragile than Su Qin's alliance of states. However, now, with Lady Zixia's coordination, this force is becoming increasingly cohesive because they have more interests tied together.

Take, for example, wine.

Following a series of actions related to the prohibition of alcohol, Meiren Wine quickly gained a monopoly over the entire Guanzhong region.

As for the marketing of the Beauty Wine, Lady Zixia entrusted it entirely to these former Xianbei tribes, including purchasing raw materials from them.

The Yuan family was undoubtedly the biggest beneficiary.

Because the Yuan family started managing orchards during the Northern Zhou Dynasty, these orchards are now almost entirely contracted by the nameless winery, and the prices are even higher than before.

Faced with enormous profits, everyone becomes amiable and kind when dealing with Madam Zixia.

At this moment, Lady Zixia's reputation truly reached its peak.

But people...

They're all greedy.

Moreover, Lady Zixia was an extremely ambitious woman.

That's far from enough. We must create more benefits to bind them together, so that the alliance can become even stronger.

She set her sights on coal again.

Her vision was undoubtedly very farsighted; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to shoulder this heavy responsibility.

But there was also an element of luck involved, because she was simultaneously running a fertilizer factory and a brewery.

A quick glance at the bills reveals that a revolution is necessary in fuel policy; otherwise, further expansion will be extremely difficult.

The current mining industry is extremely labor-intensive and requires strong connections and capabilities.

This is an excellent opportunity to win over a group of nobles.

After investing a great deal of manpower and resources to develop a completely new set of coal mining rules, Madam Zixia couldn't wait to use her connections to discuss with Wang Maozhong, hoping to be granted more mining rights.

Mining was almost entirely managed by the Ministry of Industry.

The Ministry of Revenue was only in charge of revenue.

For Wang Maozhong, the greatest benefit was actually the fuel revolution, and he didn't intend to profit from it.

As long as he can increase his fuel supply, it will be very beneficial to his career.

Based on this, the agreement provided by Wang Xi was very much in Wang Maozhong's best interest.

Whoever can mine more coal will be given the task of mining it.

If you have the ability, you deserve to be rich.

The Dou family.

"That's not fair."

Lady Zixia said, "We do our best to mine coal, which is also helpful to the imperial court. We can't just hand over the coal mining rights to others if they do a better job than us."

"In that case, who would dare take on this job?"

Dou Xiguan said, "Of course I know that. I also mentioned this to Wang Maozhong, but Wang Maozhong believes that doing it this way will lead to a better solution."

Moreover, the imperial court will not reclaim the coal you have mined during this period; it will simply transfer the mining rights to someone with better methods.

Madam Zixia said, "Coal mining is not like other industries. It requires a lot of money and manpower. If we cannot guarantee that mining can continue indefinitely, who would dare to invest so much? This would only make everyone afraid and would be detrimental to Minister Wang's policies."

Dou Xiguan, however, said, "I think this is even better. In terms of financial resources, who can compare with us? No one could possibly come up with a better solution than us."

Is it true?
Lady Zixia frowned slightly. She didn't even need to think about anything else; a bunch of brats were squatting right next to her.

Feeling uneasy.

Therefore, Lady Zixia has not yet agreed to the Ministry of Works' request.

But that doesn't mean she's giving up.

An unnamed academy.

"Aunt?"

When Wang Xi arrived at the academy, he was surprised to see Madam Zixia sitting in the hall.

Madam Zixia smiled and said, "Are you surprised to see your aunt?"

"A little!"

Wang Xi nodded, then stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Que'er greets Aunt."

Madam Zixia said earnestly, "Que'er, although we had some unpleasantness before, now that we are cooperating in brewing wine, shouldn't we work together wholeheartedly?"

Wang Xi shook his head and said, "Impossible."

Madam Zixia was used to Wang Xi's way of chatting, and asked with a mixture of amusement and exasperation, "Why is it impossible?"

Wang Xi said, "We are still students. We brew wine purely to earn tuition fees. Auntie, how ambitious are you? If you want Que'er to work with you, it will exhaust Que'er."

"Sparrow wouldn't do something so foolish. No, no, absolutely not. Actually, Sparrow doesn't care whether that damn winery opens or not."

Lady Zixia was speechless.

It seems that this is really the case.

At the time, Wang Xi intended to give her the winery and was unwilling to cooperate with her.

This was also why she had a headache back then; these guys only cared about their own pleasure and didn't care about money at all.

From this perspective, relying on them really depends entirely on luck!
After much deliberation, Madam Zixia said again, "But since you are willing to help Minister Wang, why are you unwilling to help your aunt?"

Wang Xi asked in surprise, "Help with what?"

Lady Zixia said, "It's about coal mining!" "Oh, is that all?"

Wang Xi said, "We're willing to help Auntie too. If we come up with a solution, Auntie can use it!"

Lady Zixia asked, "Have you thought of a solution?"

"I'm thinking about it."

Wang Xi said, "Auntie, why are you just like Uncle Wang? He just came back from Luoyang and hasn't even had a chance to catch his breath before urging us to come up with a solution. But we're not gods; these things can't be rushed."

Madam Zixia asked, "Do you have any leads now? Could you tell Auntie?"

"Of course!"

Wang Xi readily agreed, "How about I take my aunt to see her?"

"Okay!"

Lady Zixia immediately stood up.

Wang Xi said, "Now?"

Lady Zixia said, "Of course."

Wang Xi said dejectedly, "But I still have to dance with Mi'er and the others."

"???"

Madam Zixia said, "You can dance any day. Your aunt will only take up one day of your time at most."

"Fine, whatever!"

Wang Xi sighed and said, "I'll go tell Mi'er and the others."

"Then go quickly."

"Um. Oh, I'm still a student!"

After grumbling for a moment, Wang Xi walked out listlessly.

Upon seeing this, Lady Zixia frowned and said, "It seems I really overestimated them."

After a while, Wang Xi returned to the main hall and went out with Madam Zixia.

On the carriage.

Wang Xi whispered, "Auntie, I'm not afraid to tell you, we've been researching a powerful coal mining tool recently. If it succeeds, hehe."

Lady Zixia's face lit up with joy, and she asked, "What kind of weapon?"

Wang Xi asked, "Auntie, do you know about gunpowder?"

Madam Zixia said, "I've heard about it before."

Wang Xi said, "According to our aerodynamics, combustion will generate airflow, and airflow will generate force. Imagine, in a closed room, when the force increases rapidly, it will cause an explosion. So we thought of using gunpowder to blast ore."

Towards the end, he became so excited that he gestured wildly.

After a long moment of shock, Lady Zixia exclaimed excitedly, "That's a really good idea!"

Wang Xi said smugly, "Isn't that impressive?"

Madam Zixia said, "So, how is your research going?"

Wang Xi chuckled and said, "It's already achieved some initial success."

Lady Zixia couldn't help but feel secretly glad that she had come. At the same time, she thought to herself, "Could it be that what they mean by balancing work and rest is the right thing to do? This Taoist thought is truly profound. None of the people on my side have thought of this method."

However.!

When Lady Zixia arrived at the edge of the field and saw Li Jieman and the others frying loaches in small bamboo tubes, she felt utterly hopeless.

Wang Xi said smugly, "Auntie, aren't you amazing?"

Lady Zixia glanced at him, then at the small hole in the field, and asked, "Can this be used for blasting?"

Wang Xi said somewhat awkwardly, "We can't do it yet, but the idea is definitely right. We can blast such a small hole now, so if we can develop more powerful gunpowder, we can blast mines."

Lady Zixia nodded and said, "That's true!"

"And more! And more!"

Wang Xi suddenly grabbed Madam Zixia's hand, "Auntie, come with me quickly."

Li Jieman, squatting in the field, was acting innocent and carefree. Wang Xi, who had been secretly watching him out of the corner of her eye, saw Wang Xi start again and muttered, "No way! This vulture doesn't even spare its own aunt?"

Wang Shuang said, "What nonsense are you talking about? What's wrong with holding your aunt's hand? Haven't you ever done that before?"

Li Jie said, "Of course I didn't. I only have my aunt, who is the current Empress. I wouldn't dare to go and touch her. Besides, what kind of person is that dog-headed vulture? He's capable of anything, especially when it comes to women. He's despicable."

Wang Shuang also agreed with this.

In the end, facts speak louder than words.

Madam Zixia didn't mind, after all, Wang Xi had helped her with beauty treatments. She followed Wang Xi to a small courtyard next door.

There, Cui Gu'er and his companions were gathered around a furnace.

Wang Xi asked, "Auntie, do you know what they're doing?"

Lady Zixia shook her head.

Wang Xidao said, "They are studying coal."

"Researching coal?"

"Exactly."

Wang Xi nodded and said, "Our Taoist philosophy is about asking why. As far as we know, coal usually needs to be calcined to remove its odor. Why is that? We believe there must be some poison in it. We need to find out what the poison is. Once we figure out what the poison is, we can find a way to get rid of it, right?"

Lady Zixia nodded and then asked, "Have you thought of anything?"

"Uh, not yet."

Wang Xi shook his head and said, "Currently, we are still trying to refine different materials with coal to see if there will be a reaction. One day, we will succeed."

(End of this chapter)