Tang Dynasty Little Godfather

Chapter 286: Fierce or not?

硬？
When is it hard? It's fucking thick, hard, and dark black.

Not to mention that the image of several teenagers squatting in the field frying loaches kept flashing through Madam Zixia's mind, even Yuchi Jin, who had always trusted Wang Xi and the others, couldn't help but have his mind go blank when he saw the scene of the earth seemingly shaking.

He was stunned for a long time.

He had imagined the successful scene, but he never expected it to cause such a commotion. He felt as if his soul had left his body.

"This is fire, fire, fire!"

The medicine was stuck in his throat and he couldn't get it out.

"You bunch of brats."

On the contrary, Wang Maozhong was the first to come to his senses. He excitedly patted Wang Shuang on the shoulder and then pulled Wang Shuang tightly into his arms. "I knew it! I knew you guys wouldn't let me down! The power of your gunpowder is really too strong! I like it! Wahahaha!"

excitement!
This is so exciting!

But it was Wang Shuang who suffered the most, clutching his father's arm tightly with both hands, crying out, "Oh dear, Father, I can't breathe! I'm out of breath! Cough cough cough!"

"You've studied pneumatics, so how come you can't breathe? Haha!"

Even so, Wang Maozhong still let go, excitedly waving his arms and legs, "Your gunpowder is really amazing, it's terrifying! Hahaha—!"

At this moment, Guo Peng, Qu Congwu, and Han Dachui also came to their senses and, like their children, embraced and wept.

The Yuchi, Guo, Qu, and Han families were already suffocating under the pressure of their relatives, but this thunderclap was like a shot of adrenaline injected into their bodies.

With this treasure, what are we afraid of?

Dry!
Go all out!

Give it your all!
Not convinced?

I'll blow you all up.

Just as they were overjoyed, they were unaware that the commotion had already reached the palace.

It was already autumn, and the sky was cloudless. So where did this rumbling thunder come from? Li Longji quickly sent people to investigate whether there was any unusual phenomenon.

"His Majesty!"

Gao Lishi strode into the hall. “Your Majesty, the sound is coming from the northwest. Could it be related to Que’er’s coal mine? They said they were going to officially start mining today.”

Li Longji said irritably, "Are you scared out of your wits? Mining can't produce this much noise!"

But as soon as he said it, he paused and said, "It's impossible for others, but it's not certain for this kid, Que'er. Here's what you do: quickly order Guo Ziyi to lead a troop of imperial guards over to check it out."

"The villain obeys your orders."

"lady."

Seeing Madam Zixia gazing towards the mine with endless anxiety in her eyes, Guang Sheng couldn't help but say, "This was within our expectations, and everyone was prepared for it. It won't have a significant impact on our strategy."

Lady Zixia paused slightly, glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, and said, "Then do you know how many other methods similar to this gunpowder they have hidden away?"

Guang Sheng frowned and said awkwardly, "I am incompetent and have been unable to find out where they are developing these methods."

In fact, he had been investigating all along, using every means imaginable, even bribery, but he still couldn't find the source of the problem.

This is all thanks to Wang Facai. You see, Wang Facai had always been in charge of defense in the palace. Although he didn't participate in the research and development, he was the one protecting the entire research and development team.

It can be described as watertight.

"Ugh!"

Lady Zixia couldn't help but sigh deeply.

Although she had prepared herself mentally, the loud noise still filled her with a sense of powerlessness.

Although, up to now, her struggle with the Nameless Academy has been seen by others as nothing more than an egg hitting a rock, a case of the strong bullying the weak, and Mount Tai crushing an egg.

But they couldn't stop the other party from playing these tricks.

What good is having a lot of people if you just blow them up like that?

"Why are they the only ones who could come up with this gunpowder?" Lady Zixia asked, puzzled.

Guang Sheng lowered his head and remained silent.

They were also working hard to study the gunpowder, but the result of their research was that they once thought it was a smokescreen by Wang Xi, because according to the test results, it was not suitable for blasting mines at all.

But today they were completely proven wrong.

Just by hearing the sound, you know it's definitely useful.

There's really nothing to say about this. They tried their best but got nothing in return. They could only admit that the other side was indeed formidable. Any further arguments would seem weak and futile.

Madam Zixia gave a bitter smile. "Let's go back. We still have a lot to do today."

Guang Sheng understood, of course, that they needed to hurry back and appease the various families.

This is terrifying.

Fortunately, they had warned those families beforehand.

Just as they arrived at the foot of the mountain, they saw a dignified young general leading a troop of imperial guards, speeding past on the road and heading straight for the mine.

Upon seeing this, Lady Zixia felt an even greater headache.

She suddenly realized that this gunpowder could be of great help to the country.

Inside the mine, after the smoke cleared, Wang Maozhong, Yuchi Jin, and Han Dachui were already down there, checking the effects of the explosion.

This type of gunpowder was not as terrifying as later versions, but if the angle was right, it could still loosen the top layer of solid rock. Don't underestimate this; it saved a great deal of manpower and resources.

Everyone was overjoyed.

Everyone was speculating about what to explode with the gunpowder.
Many people suggested going to fry fish, but they were instead beaten up by Wang Maozhong and his elders.

idiot!

Use this thing to fry fish?
A violent thing!
Just then, a group of imperial guards suddenly burst in, and Wang Facai couldn't stop them.

The leader was Guo Ziyi. After learning that the thunder earlier was related to this place, he escorted all the "ringleaders" into the imperial city, including Wang Maozhong.

Inside the palace.

When Li Longji saw Guo Ziyi and Wang Maozhong bring Wang Xi in, he was shocked and asked, "Que'er, what have you done?"

Wang Xi quickly explained, "Uncle, we were just using new technology to mine coal. We didn't expect the noise to be a little loud and disturb your afternoon nap. Sparrow really didn't mean it."

"Uncle didn't mean to blame you, it's just...!" Li Longji asked, puzzled, "How could you make such a commotion while mining coal?"

Wang Xi said, "This time we're using gunpowder to mine coal, so it's a bit more noisy."

It was more than just a little bit; I even thought it was some kind of strange phenomenon.

"Can this gunpowder be used to mine coal?" Li Longji exclaimed in astonishment.

"can."

Wang Xi nodded and said, "We have been studying Taoist alchemy, which includes records about gunpowder."

Furthermore, according to records, there were several explosions. Later, based on our research, we found the pattern of stable explosion of gunpowder. Some students in our college took gunpowder, put it into sealed bamboo tubes, and then went to the fields to fry loaches.

Later, my nephew saw this and suddenly had a flash of inspiration: if they could blast loaches, they could blast coal mines too! We've been trying to figure out how to use gunpowder to blast those big rocks.

Fried loach?
Exploding mines?

Although Li Longji possessed a wealth of artistic talent and imagination, at this moment he seemed somewhat lacking in imagination and could not connect the two in any way.

Wang Maozhong, standing nearby, hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, what Que'er said is true. I saw it with my own eyes. The power of gunpowder is immense, making it ideal for mining, and not just coal. Currently, the most difficult thing for us in mining is dealing with those large rocks underground. We currently use methods like calcination and hard chiseling, but these are extremely time-consuming and labor-intensive, and sometimes we have to give up. But now, with gunpowder, this can be done in half a day. In other words, we can not only mine more coal, but also mine much faster."

They each spoke their own words, and Li Longji still didn't understand. No, he did understand, but he still couldn't believe it. So he simply said, "Alright, Que'er, go and make the arrangements. Your uncle wants to go and see for himself."

Wang Xi said happily, "Uncle wants to see it? I'll arrange it right away. Perfect timing, we're going to blast another mine tomorrow."

Li Longji immediately said to Guo Ziyi, "Make arrangements immediately; I want to go and see for myself."

"I will obey my orders."

Wang Xi had planned this all along. He chose that mine to blast in order to alarm Li Longji, because in the world today, nothing is more publicity-worthy than Li Longji's approval.

Once Li Longji approves, it will be a huge blow to the other party.

This news quickly spread throughout the court. Many officials had heard of gunpowder, but had never heard of it before. They found it incredible that gunpowder could have such great power.

So they all expressed their desire to go and see what was going on.

The next day.

Li Longji personally led his court officials to another newly opened coal mine, thirty miles west of Chang'an.

However, due to the immense power of gunpowder, the emperor was not allowed to visit the mine in person, but instead watched from a nearby hilltop.

Little did they know that this was also a carefully planned scheme by Wang Xi.

The order in which mines to bomb was determined by Li Longji.

Upon seeing dozens of small red flags waving inside the mine, Li Longji hurriedly asked, "What does this mean?"

Wang Xi, who was standing next to him, said, "This is a warning, indicating that an explosion is about to take place. Anyone still in the mine should leave immediately or take cover in the designated shelters."

"Is it really that powerful?" Li Longji was starting to get nervous.

Wang Xi nodded, "But he's grown up now, otherwise we wouldn't have arranged for my uncle to watch from such a distance."

Li Longji nodded, his eyes wide as he looked down at the mine.

After the red flag disappeared, a large green flag was waved.

Wang Xi immediately said, "The green flag means that the demolition is about to begin."

Li Longji's expression gradually became excited.

The time has come to witness the miracle.

Suddenly, a loud bang was heard.

"Ouch!"

"what!"

Although they were mentally prepared, some ministers were still so frightened that they sat down on the ground.

Although Li Longji didn't fall to the ground, his heart trembled violently. Staring blankly at the mushroom cloud rising below, he exclaimed, "Gunpowder!"

Wang Xi chuckled and said, "Uncle, this is the power of gunpowder, isn't it great?"

Li Longji turned his head to look at him, swallowed, and said, "You...you use this to fry loach."

"Uh!"

(End of this chapter)