Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

The main problem was that Emperor Huizong of Song was so engrossed in this matter that it had triggered a stress reaction among his ministers.

Alchemy and Taoist cultivation are just the beginning. Once one becomes obsessed with them, it leads to the construction of Taoist temples across the country, the bestowal of land upon Taoist priests, and the demand for officials from all over the country to present medicinal herbs such as Ganoderma lucidum.

Given Zhao Yuan's demonstrated wisdom and intelligence, he would not have done it that way.

But there are too many messy rumors, such as the emperor encountering immortals overseas and obtaining three volumes of heavenly books.

Zhao Yuan also had a prior offense; he once presented Emperor Huizong of Song with a lingzhi mushroom the size of a millstone.

All of these things are related to Taoist cultivation, which makes people worry.

The dynasty has just been established and the treasury is in surplus. We absolutely cannot afford to cause any more trouble. We must nip the emperor's desire to pursue Taoism in the bud!

"The emperor has arrived!"

"The Queen is here!"

“…”

A series of sounds came, and the emperor arrived with all the members of the royal family.

There were even princes who were only a few years old.

Is this a family plan to cultivate Taoism?

The officials were terrified and, disregarding the etiquette of the imperial court, Prime Minister Zhai Ruwen took the lead in kneeling, breaking the rules, and led the officials in kneeling and offering their advice:

"Your Majesty, the pursuit of immortality is nothing but a myth, and even wise rulers like Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han suffered from it."

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please think twice before you act!"

Zhao Yuan laughed heartily: "Alright, alright."

"Since you're all here, let's explore the world of chemistry together!"

Zhao Yuan strode into the hall and smiled, saying, "Please do not be alarmed, everyone. I am not seeking immortality through alchemy, but rather pursuing a kind of scholarship."

Upon hearing this, the ministers, Taoist priests, and scholars all breathed a sigh of relief.

There were quite a few people, and Zhao Yuan was too lazy to squeeze in. He only said to his wives, concubines, and children, "You can also look at the chemistry I teach. Especially the children, you should study it seriously."

The crowd gradually gathered around, with members of the royal family standing to Zhao Yuan's left, right, and behind him, while the rest formed a circle around the long table.

Zhao Yuan told everyone to spread out a bit, and then instructed the eunuchs: "Go and open all the windows."

Instead of immediately demonstrating the chemical experiment, he picked up a candle and asked, "What is this?"

"white wax!"

"Insect wax!"

“…”

Although the answers differ, they all refer to the same thing.

Zhao Yuan picked up a candle and showed it to everyone, saying, "During the Qin and Han dynasties, beeswax was used. Shi Chong used beeswax as firewood to compete in wealth, which shows that beeswax was extremely luxurious at that time."

"Nowadays, insect wax is more expensive than beeswax."

“In the early Song Dynasty, even the prime minister would light insect wax every night to read books, which was considered an extravagant act.”

"But what now?"

Zhao Yuan put the candle back and said with a smile,

"Not to mention prime ministers, even local tycoons in the countryside can occasionally afford it. Why is that?"

Most of the people present did not know how to answer, because they did not even know where insect wax came from.

Even those with some knowledge only know that insect wax is obtained from a type of wax insect.

Chapter 3279 Wax Insects

A Taoist priest from Sichuan said, "Because more people are raising wax insects, the price has become cheaper."

"Indeed, very well said."

Zhao Yuan nodded in approval.

"But silkworms, silkworms, must eat mulberry leaves in order to spin silk and form cocoons."

"I've heard that there are silkworms in the north that eat other kinds of tree leaves, but you have to find suitable food for them."

"The same goes for the white wax insect. What kind of leaves it can eat and how it reproduces are things that insect breeders need to explore and discover."

"The discovery that wax insects can be used to harvest wax likely dates back to the late Tang Dynasty."

"To this day, they are only raised in southern Sichuan, eastern Sichuan, Hunan, and Guangxi, and they can only be raised in the forest. They cannot be raised like silkworms by picking mulberry leaves to feed them at home."

"Agricultural officials in Sichuan, Hunan, and Guangxi are studying the habits of white wax insects."

"They have summarized the following key points: First, wax beetles have males and females; females rarely secrete wax, but it can be used to reproduce larvae;"

"Secondly, only the male larvae can produce wax;"

Third, two types of plants that white wax insects prefer to eat have been discovered;

Fourth, the female insect must be found on plateaus or high mountains, and the winter must be mild and dry for her to lay eggs;

Fifth, male insects will only produce wax when the temperature is high and the humidity is high in summer.

"What's the use of knowing this? It can quickly expand the breeding scale of white wax insects!"

"That is, to breed large numbers of white wax insects in places suitable for female insects to lay eggs."

"Then take the insect eggs to a suitable place for the male insects to produce wax and raise them."

"Plant plenty of plants that the male insects like to eat in their breeding area beforehand."

"Moreover, this plant is not too picky about the land and can be planted on barren slopes."

"With the research findings of the agricultural promotion officials, and the guidance of local officials."

"I believe that within ten years, white wax, which is more expensive than beeswax, will become extremely cheap, and even poor scholars will be able to read at night by candlelight!"

The ministers were all extremely pleased after hearing these words.

White wax is the highest quality candle. It burns without producing thick smoke or odor. Who wouldn't want to burn this stuff every day?

Zhai Ruwen asked, "Can white wax insects also be raised in my hometown of Danyang?"

Zhao Yuan said, "In your hometown of Danyang, female insects certainly cannot lay eggs."

"But the eggs can be brought from Sichuan and Hunan by boat, and the male insects can be raised in Danyang to produce wax."

"Even after the price of wax is reduced, the profits of raising white wax insects are probably not much worse than those of raising silkworms."

“Nowadays, raising white wax insects is ten times more profitable than raising silkworms.”

"This is something that benefits the country and its people!"

Not only the ministers praised it, but the scholars and Taoist priests were also very pleased.

Zhao Yuan looked at everyone and said, "The philosophy I propose is that the way is found in the daily lives of ordinary people."

"Raising white wax insects is certainly not the right path, but exploring their habits and enabling their rapid dissemination is the true path that benefits the country and its people!"

Everyone nodded in agreement, none of them objecting.

Firstly, this matter will benefit all people, including the powerful and wealthy;

Secondly, everyone knows that the emperor enjoys farming, so there's no need to clash with him.

Agriculture is the foundation of the nation; who dares to say that what is beneficial to agricultural development is not the right path?

Zhao Yuan continued, "Studying agronomy is the Way, studying physics is the Way, and studying chemistry is also the Way!"

Qin Hui preemptively chimed in before Li Bangyan could finish the joke: "Your Majesty, I know nothing about chemistry. Please enlighten me."

Zhao Yuan took out an iron box, took out a small wooden stick from it, and casually ran his hand lightly across the rough side of the marble tabletop.

The little stick caught fire!

Everyone was immediately shocked. Could it be that the emperor really knew magic?

Some people couldn't resist moving their feet to see if there was an open or smoldering flame hidden where the stick was rubbed.

Matches already existed in the Northern Song Dynasty, called "Yinguangnu", "Fala", or "Huocun", and were made by soaking and coating cedar wood strips with sulfur.

However, these matches cannot ignite on their own; they must be lit by another source of fire, such as touching them to hot coals.

This may seem redundant, but it is actually extremely convenient to use.

Especially in northern winters, when people need to warm themselves by fire or preserve a smoldering fire for a long time using tinderboxes, a "fire candle" can be lit with just a touch.

Holding a match, Zhao Yuan smiled and lit the white candle: "This isn't a hair candle, but it can still be called one. It's still quite dangerous for now and not suitable for civilian use. We'll have to do more research and improvements over time."

"This also utilizes chemical principles, which I won't go into detail about today. Anyone interested can come here often."

Zhao Yuan then picked up a beaker and covered the burning candle with it.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the candle in the glass flickered and flickered until it suddenly went out.

Zhao Yuan asked, "Why did the candle go out?"

The people of Longhu Mountain have studied talismans for generations, and the previous generation of Celestial Masters even invented the first generation of thunder magic. They are quite qualified to speak on the phenomenon of combustion.

Zhang Shixiu said, "All things burn because they rely on vital energy."

"When Your Majesty covered the candle with the cup, the anger turned into death, and the candle naturally went out."

Chapter 3280 Anger and Death

Zhao Yuan then asked, "What is vital energy, and what is death energy?"

Zhang Shixiu said, "Flowing water is living water, while stagnant water is dead water."

Similarly, unobstructed flow of energy is vital energy, while stagnant flow is lifeless energy.

“If a person lives in a stuffy room for a long time, surrounded by that deathly atmosphere, he may also be in danger of suffocation.”

"So, if you cover the candle with a lid, once the candle has burned out all the life energy, the inside, filled with death energy, will go out?" Zhao Yuan asked.

"Indeed!"

Zhang Shixiu was not the only one who thought so; others nodded in agreement.

Zhao Yuan said, "Let's go out."

Zhao Yuan relit the candle, stepped outside, and came to the open space in the courtyard.

He then ordered a guard to put on heavy armor and pull down his mask:

"Open this bottle and cover the candle with it."

"Don't pick up the bottle directly with your hands. Instead, tie it with a branch and cover your eyes with your other hand."

The heavily armored guards did as instructed without thinking. First, they tied the bottle with a branch, then they uncorked the bottle and covered the mouth of the bottle with the burning candle.

Standing far away, everyone could see that the candle in the bottle was burning even brighter, and even other parts of the bottle were faintly glowing with fire.

Zhao Yuan secretly thought he was lucky that it hadn't exploded.

He produced oxygen by heating saltpeter. During the continuous heating process, it is possible that the saltpeter first decomposes into potassium oxide, and then releases carbon monoxide and oxygen.

In other words, this bottle of oxygen is not very pure; it must contain carbon monoxide.

Of course, the concentration of carbon monoxide was not high, and the quantity was not large, so even if it exploded, the power would not be great.

Zhao Yuan asked Zhang Shixiu, "Is the glass bottle filled with death energy?"

Zhang Shixiu hesitated, unsure how to respond.

Everyone stared at the still-burning candle, their brows furrowed, racking their brains, but they couldn't figure it out no matter what.

Finally, the oxygen in the bottle ran out, and the candle went out.

Zhao Yuan tried to explain in a way that the ancients could understand: "Qi is everywhere, but it is not a pure thing."

"It's like fine sand and coarse sand; even after mixing them, it's still just a pile of sand."

"The mixture of many gases is the air we breathe."

"Some things in this air are necessary for people, and some things are unnecessary for people."