Ming Dynasty: Gain one supernatural power every day

"Your Majesty, this...this...where did this come from?"

The first to speak was Natsuhara Yoshi.

He only read a few lines before suddenly raising his head, his voice trembling: "Your Majesty! This book records irrigation methods, waterwheel construction, and famine preparedness recipes, with illustrations of over four hundred kinds of edible wild plants. If this book is true, our Great Ming will never have to worry about famine again!"

The few pages in Song Li's hand were the iron smelting and shipbuilding chapters of "Tiangong Kaiwu" (The Exploitation of the Works of Nature). After studying them for a while, he suddenly understood: "This blast furnace! What was the thought process behind this blast furnace? With this structure, the efficiency of iron smelting can at least triple!"

"And these ship blueprints, Your Majesty, where did this book come from? I have worked in the Ministry of Works for twenty years and have never seen such exquisite designs!"

Minister of War Fang Bin's brows furrowed more and more as he turned the pages. When he reached the last page, he suddenly gasped: "The gunpowder formula written here is more than ten times better than what we use now. If we make muskets according to this formula, the Tatars in the north will be no match for us."

The military officers were mostly assigned military technology and geographical maps; just looking at those illustrations was enough to leave them speechless.

Someone flipped to a page with blueprints of siege equipment and got so excited that their face turned red.

Someone stared at the simplified world map for a long time, exclaiming, "This...this...is this real? Besides my Great Ming Dynasty, there are so many other places outside?"

The civil and military officials passed the manuscript around, growing increasingly excited, and their discussions grew louder and louder.

Holding up the few sheets of manuscript paper, Jian Yi's voice trembled: "Your Majesty! If this book were published throughout the land, the strength of our Great Ming Dynasty would likely increase several times over! Your Majesty, where did this book come from? I humbly request that Your Majesty distribute the entire book to the world!"

Zhu Di leaned back on the dragon throne, looking at the shocked officials below, feeling extremely pleased. In crucial moments, they still had to rely on him, Zhu the Fourth, and his son, Little Zhu the Fourth.

He waited until the discussions in the hall gradually subsided before saying, "These pages came from Prince Rui. Yesterday he gave me several books to look at, but there was too much content to read all at once, so I only copied a few important pages. Today I'll let you take a look at them first."

He glanced at the assembled officials with their varied expressions and added, "These are just a few of them. The fourth prince has some more, such as geographical atlases, overseas products, and high-yield crop guides..."

"The sweet potatoes of Luzon and the corn of South America yield more than ten times that of wheat per acre. I intend to send people to retrieve them."

The hall was quiet for a moment, then erupted into chaos again. Whose pot explodes every day like this?!

"A yield increase of more than ten times per mu? Your Majesty must be joking."

"Your Majesty, may I ask where Luzon is?"

"Your Majesty, what is South America?"

Zhu Gaochi stood among the military officials, listening to the cacophony of voices around him. Looking at the people beside him, he had a brilliant idea. He leaned close to Zheng Heng's ear and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"You didn't see it. Yesterday in my fourth brother's study, there was something even more amazing. He made a bronze ball with the whole world drawn on it. The Ming Dynasty is just a small part of it. The old man said that those places outside will be our brothers' fiefdoms after we conquer them."

Zheng Heng was so eager to see it that he wanted to rush to Prince Rui's mansion as soon as court was over. Unfortunately, the item was already in the palace, so going there would be pointless unless he used divine craftsmanship to recreate it.

Zhu Di called out, and the hall fell silent once more.

He glanced at the books, his voice becoming more solemn, and said, "I intend to have all departments copy and distribute these books."

"The Crown Prince and the Ministry of Works should thoroughly understand the blueprints for iron smelting and water conservancy. I want to see results before the autumn harvest. The Ministry of Revenue should cooperate with the Ministry of Works and provide sufficient funds. Prince Zhao will supervise the shipbuilding. As for overseas matters, I will discuss them with you in detail later. That's all for today. If there's anything else, please speak to me."

The court session has ended.

As the civil and military officials walked out, each of them still clutched those few pages of manuscript in their hands, discussing among themselves as they went, their pace more than twice as slow as usual.

Fang Bin was still arguing with Xia Yuanji, saying that the gunpowder formula should be given to the Ministry of War for trial production first. Xia Yuanji, looking impatient, said, "Do the people in your Ministry of War even know anything about iron smelting? You can take it first then." Why were these people in such a hurry? Because they wanted to achieve political success and extend their lives! If they didn't achieve political success soon, their wives would all be going back to their parents' homes!

Before Zhu Gaochi and his son had even stepped out of the Meridian Gate, Zhu Zhanji suddenly looked up and asked, "Father, when are we going to Fourth Uncle's place?"

Zhu Gaochi glanced down at him: "My eyes are still very sore. Look at your father, how could I say I got like this from reading storybooks when we went to your fourth uncle's? Go back and rest for a while."

He rubbed his eyes as he spoke, and it didn't seem entirely fake.

"Indeed, let's all go back and rest for a while. We can talk about it later. It's not good to go to Fourth Brother's place in this state," Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Gaosui echoed.

"Father, Second Uncle, Third Uncle, you all get some rest." Zhu Zhanji's eyes darted around, his mind working even faster: Perfect timing, Father's back to rest, I'll go to the study and see what he's been reading. A good romance novel! I, Zhu Zhanji, am coming!

Zhu Gaochi returned to the East Palace, changed into a loose-fitting casual outfit, leaned back on the couch, rubbed his sore, dark eyes, closed them, and soon his breathing became even. He then turned his head to one side and fell asleep.

Zhu Zhanji slipped into the study, skillfully went around to the back of the desk, sat down, and began rummaging through the things on the table.

On Zhu Gaochi's desk were several stacks of official documents, with a few storybooks underneath. Zhu Zhanji pushed aside the top folds, pulled out one, and the cover read "After Lying Down, My Whole Family Couldn't Do Anything About Me".

He flipped through a couple of pages, read a few more, and then closed the book. It was so boring. He thought Ah Liang was utterly incompetent; as the eldest son, he couldn't even control his younger brothers. If they disobeyed, he'd give them a good beating. It seemed that people's joys and sorrows weren't truly shared.

Zhu Zhanji pursed his lips, tossed the book aside, and went to flip through the other books. The next one had a cover that read, "The Crown Prince Loves to Be Mischievous, and No One Can Stop Him."

Zhu Zhanji's eyes lit up immediately when he saw the book title: "Mischievous!" His father was already so old, what kind of mischief could he possibly be up to? Besides, he was now the eldest grandson of the emperor; after his father ascended the throne, he would definitely be the crown prince! This book was definitely prepared for him!

He flipped through several pages, finding it increasingly amusing. The book described how a young prince tricked his teacher, sneaked out of the palace, and caused trouble at banquets. Each time he got into trouble, he managed to get away with it in various ways, and no one could do anything about him. This book was clearly tailor-made for him.

He turned to one of the pages:

"When someone is talking non-stop in front of you, you can suddenly look behind them and say with a shocked look, 'Oh, what's so-and-so doing here?', and then sneak away when they turn around."

He couldn't help but chuckle, then quickly covered his mouth and continued flipping through the pages: "If you really don't want to read, you can close your eyes and pretend you're deep in thought. Others will think you're thinking and won't dare disturb you. If someone asks what you're doing..."

Zhu Zhanji's eyes lit up; he had never used any of these methods before!

He closed the book, which read "Good Books for Jazz," touched it, flipped through two more pages, and then slowly put it down.

The book was quite interesting, but I didn't know if it would be useful in practice. Hearing footsteps outside the door, he quickly stuffed the book back under the documents and sat up straight.

A young eunuch at the door said, "Your Highness, the Crown Princess says you should study harder."

"Okay, you can go now." Xiao Tai listened and left.

"I'll try these methods later." Zhu Zhanji waited until the footsteps faded away, then flipped through the book, gently closed it, put it back in its place, got up, dusted off his robes, and walked out of the study as if nothing had happened.