The evil mother-in-law does not whitewash, she only abuses her children

Chapter 591 Our future is tied together

"Excuse me, Second Young Master, you have repeatedly asked me to develop gunpowder that can be used for sieges, and now you are asking me to build heavy artillery. What exactly do you want to do?"

Gu Ruinian looked doubtful.

"If you want to rebel, don't drag me into this head-losing thing," said Gu Ruinian.

The second son of Zheng sneered and said, "Don't forget that your life belongs to me."

The second master Zheng didn't even raise his eyelids to look at Gu Ruinian, and yet he dragged him into it. Is he worthy of it?

Gu Ruinian’s face froze.

The second master Zheng thought about it.

Although he held Gu Ruinian's life in his hands and forced him to make high-powered gunpowder to improve heavy artillery, he dared not disobey. However, he already suspected that Gu Ruinian was going to rebel. If he reported him to the government, all the efforts of the Zheng family would be in vain.

I swear to God, the Zheng family does not have the power or the intention to rebel.

Ever since Gu Ruinian told the second son of the Zheng family that later historical books would record that the fifth prince was the ultimate winner, the Zheng family has used various channels to get in touch with the fifth prince's in-laws.

After all, the fifth prince was of humble origin, and his maternal family was not as difficult to marry into as the ordinary wealthy families.

Now that the Zheng family is on the same boat as the Fifth Prince, the Second Master Zheng must show his abilities to impress the Fifth Prince.

Making high gunpowder and heavy artillery is a good idea.

If they could take advantage of the war on the border and present the heavy artillery, wouldn't the Zheng family be able to transform from a merchant in Pingchuan County into a new elite in Shengjing?

"It's ok to tell you." The second son of Zheng thought for a while and said, "Dasheng and the border are at war. If you can really make heavy artillery, my Zheng family can donate the heavy artillery. At that time, half of the credit will be yours. You don't have to worry about not being able to take the imperial examination and pursue a career in government because of your leg injury. Fame and honor will be yours directly."

The news of the border war spread like wildfire, even to remote villages like Qinghewan.

This shows how much attention this battle has attracted.

Gu Ruinian gritted his teeth and said, "I will study this blueprint carefully and try to build a heavy artillery."

Mr. Zheng was satisfied.

He ordered the servant to hand the frostbite ointment and twenty taels of silver to Gu Ruinian.

Knowing that Gu Ruinian's room was as cold as an ice cellar, he added, "I'll send someone to bring you charcoal tomorrow, along with the materials for making cannons. You'd better speed up the process of making cannons. Our futures are tied together, so don't let me down."

Gu Ruinian said "OK" calmly and turned back to the yard.

He was so cold.

The news that the second master Zheng met Gu Ruinian reached Tong Huaqiong's ears at the first opportunity.

The person who delivered the message was naturally Gu Honglian.

Upon learning that Gu Ruinian asked the Zheng family to stockpile charcoal, Tong Huaqiong thought that it was a good thing that she had stockpiled enough charcoal.

It goes without saying that the Zheng family's purpose of hoarding charcoal is to make a fortune by taking advantage of the extremely cold weather. As for how many people will freeze to death or whether there will be an epidemic next year, the Zheng family doesn't care at all.

"By the way, they also asked Gu Ruinian to make some cannons, saying that they would send them to the border after they were completed." Gu Honglian said to Tong Huaqiong.

Gu Honglian looked at Gu Ruinian making cannons with a mocking attitude.

Tong Huaqiong had learned from Gu Honglian from time to time that Gu Ruinian was making gunpowder at home, and his experiments were occasionally successful, but the power was not as strong as firecrackers.

Tong Huaqiong was skeptical about whether Gu Ruinian could build heavy artillery.

Why did the second son of Zheng ask Gu Ruinian to make cannons? Could it be related to the border war?

This reminded Tong Huaqiong.

The credit must not go to Gu Ruinian.

Tong Huaqiong ran to the space and searched the frame, then copied down the design principles and drawings of copper muskets, iron-core copper muskets, red cannons, etc. The next day, he asked Qin Qingyou to go to Wanliu Academy in the city to give them to Gu Jingzhe, who would then give them to Prefect Yao.

In this era, high-quality copper and iron are in the hands of the government. Large artillery like this has to be manufactured by the government. There is no such thing as a fake training camp manufacturing method like Gu Ruinian's. He can only fool the second son of Zheng.

Dasheng and Mobei went to war. As a Dasheng native, Tong Huaqiong naturally hoped that Dasheng could win.

If Dasheng loses, Mobei will advance along the border to Ningcheng and kill people indiscriminately, and no one will be able to save their lives.

Regardless of whether the musket and artillery technology she copied is useful in this war, she should submit the drawings first, just in case they are useful.

On the night Qin Qingyou returned from the provincial capital, the weather suddenly dropped.

No one paid attention to it at first.

After all, it's winter, and cold is the norm.

As soon as the weather gets colder, everyone rushes to buy charcoal.

"Black-hearted charcoal merchant, this year's charcoal has increased by five cents per pound compared to last year. Those who know are selling charcoal, while those who don't know are selling life-saving pills."

An old lady from the village came back from the town after buying coal, cursing all the way.

The aunt's daughter-in-law worked in a weaving workshop, so she stopped by to visit her.

Tong Huaqiong just wanted to know the current situation of the charcoal market, so she started talking to the old lady.

"Mother Dashu, look, this load of charcoal is nearly two taels of silver more expensive than last year. If it weren't for the unbearable cold these past two days, who would burn this useless thing?" The old lady complained to Tong Huaqiong, and then said, "Thanks to you for running a weaving workshop, your daughter-in-law can make money, otherwise we wouldn't be able to afford to burn charcoal."

Tong Huaqiong asked: "Are there many people buying carbon now?"

The old lady shook her head and said, "Not much! The charcoal is too expensive this year. Many people go there, but few buy. When asked about the price, most people don't buy. Winter is only for two months anyway, so we can just grit our teeth and get through it."

If the lady wasn't afraid that her daughter-in-law would get frostbite and lose money, she wouldn't buy it.

Tong Huaqiong seemed to be thinking about something.

After just a few days of cold weather, the market price of charcoal has risen three times compared to the price when Tong Pandi bought it.

It seems that most of this wave of charcoal was hoarded by the Zheng family, so the charcoal fire rose quickly.

The current prices are prohibitive for most people, but you can probably get through it by wearing thicker clothes, burning firewood, or using a hot water bottle.

But extremely cold weather will arrive soon, and then everyone will buy charcoal no matter how high the price is.

Tong Huaqiong is determined to cut off the Zheng family's path to wealth.

She will wait a little longer, and when the Zheng family raises the price of charcoal to a certain level, she will release the charcoal.

Anyway, those who are willing to buy charcoal now are all wealthy people. Even if the price is three or four times more expensive than when Tong Pan'di bought it, they can still afford it.

She was afraid that if she let them go now, these wealthy people would hoard her charcoal on a large scale, and would also attract a crackdown from other charcoal merchants.

When the price of charcoal affects people's livelihood, she will come forward and sell charcoal together with County Magistrate Liu. With the government's endorsement, the Zheng family and other charcoal merchants will not be able to find loopholes to encircle and suppress her.

You should know that anyone who makes this kind of hard-earned money will be beheaded.

They just want to make money, not lose their lives.

The weather is getting colder day by day.

Every day, people from the village go to inquire about the price of charcoal. They originally wanted to wait and see, but they didn’t expect that the price would get higher and higher as time went by.

Tong Huaqiong hears complaints from villagers every day.

Some families felt fortunate that they bought Tong Pandidi's charcoal, otherwise they would not have been willing to buy it at the current price.

As the weather cooled down, it started snowing.

First it was snow particles, then it turned into heavy snow, and after one night it turned into a blizzard.

The whole sky and earth were covered in white, and snow as thick as cotton wool kept falling down.

Tong Huaqiong realized that the extremely cold weather in Tong Dajiao's memory had arrived.