In the next few days, Xiao Rui kept smiling and smiling because of the pregnancy of the two wives.

Li Xiu'er, Zhang Ruoxi, and Xiao Qingqing all went to the palace to visit when they heard the news, and they sent their blessings and were envious, especially Li Xiu'er and Xiao Qingqing, their inner feelings were even more complicated, and they also hoped so, but unfortunately their identity was an obstacle after all.

It seems that just in time for good things to come true, Xiao Yan also explained to His Majesty the situation of Nalan Yanran, His Majesty did not stop it, and directly gave marriage, and for the sake of Nalan Yanran, unmarried pregnancy is an ugly thing after all, so the marriage was completed immediately.

Xiao Rui personally attended and sent congratulatory gifts, wishing Xiao Yan to marry the side concubine.

Before I knew it, the time had come to the light snow season.

There are poems:

The light snow and clear sand do not make mud, and the red sun makes the morning glow.

The year has been accompanied by the plum shoots late, and the spring color returns from the grass first.

In other years, the temperature only decreases during the light snow solar term, but with the advent of the Xiaoice River period, the environment between heaven and earth is harsh, and the Qi State and the Yuan Dynasty have fallen blizzard as early as more than ten days, and the first snow has finally ushered in here in Daxia.

Xiao Rui stood in front of the gate of the East Palace, looking at the scattered snowflakes, crystal clear, but the snow was not dense, and it was only dyed faintly white on the eaves of the palace in the middle of the night.

Stretched out his hand to catch the falling snowflakes, it was cold, and after holding it in the palm of his hand, Xiao Rui's heart was also silent.

Suddenly, someone behind him put a big coat on Xiao Rui, and Xiao Rui looked back and saw that it was Li Ruoxue.

"How did you get out? Slip carefully! Xiao Rui hurriedly supported Li Ruoxue.

Li Ruoxue showed a gentle smile: "Your Highness, rest assured, the concubines are already very careful." Looking at the snow, it shouldn't be raining much. ”

Xiao Rui looked at the sky, it was in a white state, not the oppressive and dim when the blizzard came, so he said: "It shouldn't rain much, but this year's winter is another cold winter, and it rarely snows so early in summer." ”

"Yes, it's really rare for it to snow during the light snow season. Your Highness, didn't you say anything about the impact of the Xiaoice period? If this year is another cold winter, the people's life will be difficult again. Li Ruoxue was also worried.

Xiao Rui nodded.

Rich and noble families can burn charcoal, burn wood, and wear comfortable clothes, but the poor people can only rub their cold hands to the bone marrow and run around for a living, just like the blizzard the year before last, Xiao Rui read out "The Charcoal Seller" in the Golden Palace, which is the truest portrayal of the poor people.

To this day, Xiao Rui turned his head to look at what he had done, and there were not many actions that really benefited this era.

Printing, bamboo paper, junior colleges, and recruitment halls are for the purpose of cultivating readers, cultivating talents, and selecting talents.

Gunpowder and Zhuge repeaters are weapons to protect the country, but they are also like opening Pandora's box.

On the contrary, the emergence of corn and potatoes is a real benefit to the people.

As for cement, which is now being invented, it is also a step forward.

But that's not enough.

The poor are good alone, and the good are both good and help the world, Xiao Rui likes this sentence very much and has always regarded it as his own way of life.

When a person has no ability, living well without dragging others and society down is the value. When you have the ability, it is also valuable to help the world. There is no superiority or disadvantage between the two values, some only bring different results.

Xiao Rui has the ability now, if he doesn't continue to do something, he will be sorry for the faith in his heart.

So after Xiao Rui sent Li Ruoxue back to the house, he immediately went to see Emperor Xia.

When he came to the Heart Nourishing Palace, Yan Xiaoxiao helped Xiao Rui take off the big hat, the underground dragon had already burned, and the hall was warm and comfortable.

"Father." Xiao Rui came to the dragon table and shouted.

Emperor Xia put down the music and asked, "Sit down and say, what's wrong?" ”

Today, if Xiao Rui didn't have something, he definitely didn't come to find him.

Xiao Rui said: "Father, some time ago, during the trip to Zhao State, the secret of gunpowder has been leaked, so Erchen feels that there is no need to continue to conceal the existence of gunpowder. ”

The recipe for gunpowder is complicated for strangers, but for an alchemist who is proficient in the method of subduing fire, as long as he deliberately studies the configuration, it is not difficult to formulate gunpowder.

So even if Huang Qilin didn't get the formula for gunpowder from Xiao Rui, he would have ordered someone to configure it.

However, fortunately, the gunpowder used by Xiao Rui is a mature formula for the advent of the system, and it is more powerful, even if Huang Qilin can prepare gunpowder, without a long time of configuration research, the power is limited, just like the development history of gunpowder in the previous life.

Therefore, Great Xia still has a divine weapon in his hands, but it has changed from "I have an enemy" to "I am strong and the enemy is weak".

Now all gunpowder is produced by the Tiger Pavilion, and every process is top secret, even if the enemy gets the gunpowder, there is no advanced equipment to distinguish the specific formula of gunpowder, not to mention that a lot of materials are added to the gunpowder, just to confuse the public and cover up the real formula.

Since secrecy can be guaranteed, and the secret of gunpowder has been leaked, it is not the same as hiding it.

Hearing Xiao Rui's answer, Emperor Xia nodded and said, "There is indeed no need to hide." In addition, it is time to let the enemy countries know the hole cards of Great Xia. ”

Although the secret of gunpowder was leaked, not many people knew about it, at least the Qi, Yuan, Qin, and Wei kingdoms were not clear, and once Great Xia announced this mysterious and powerful weapon, the enemy country would be terrified.

Only the stronger the country, the more dare other countries not to offend! This is deterrence, and it is also the law of the jungle!

After a pause, Emperor Xia said again: "Does the emperor want to use the power of gunpowder to open mountains and rivers, or even dig coal for minerals?" ”

Xiao Rui nodded and said with a smile: "Erchen has this intention!" ”

The harm of the Xiaoice River period will become greater and greater, and Xiao Rui feels that his pace should be faster. How much time does it take to dig up a mountain, how long does it take to clean up a river, and how much time does it take to dig coal for ore extraction.

With gunpowder, it can not only save manpower but also improve efficiency, so why not? Xiao Rui didn't want to use gunpowder as a tool to kill people, but as a tool to save people.

For example, in the coming winter, if there is coal in the summer to keep the people warm, will there be no need to be frozen?

Minerals are scarce in Daxia, but there is no shortage of coal, even oil!

How is coal formed? It is because a large number of trees are buried in the ground, these trees are isolated from the air for a long time, and under high temperature and high pressure, after a series of complex physical and chemical changes to form black combustible fossils, this is the formation process of coal.

The land of Great Xia is full of trees, as it was millions of years ago, but it is buried deep in the ground, and very little can be mined now.

Xiao Rui also knows that there is gas in the coal mine, and explosives cannot be used indiscriminately, because black powder is a deflagration reaction, which will be very dangerous. But gunpowder has been researched and improved, and one day slurry explosives and even emulsion explosives will be invented.

Even if the coal mine cannot be blasted directly, it can also have other uses, after all, the environment of the coal mine is very harsh, and it is necessary to open mountains and build roads, and gunpowder can be used.

In addition, there is another reason for the small amount of coal, that is, according to the system of Great Xia, only the imperial court is allowed to mine, and private mining is not allowed.

At this time, Emperor Xia looked at Xiaoxue outside the door and said with a smile: "The emperor cares about the people, this is their blessing, I naturally won't stop it." However, the use of gunpowder is a big plan, and it is not a matter of overnight, and the Ministry of Industry is not bold enough, so it seems that it has to be replaced. ”

After the fall of Xu Xianyang, the previous secretary of the Ministry of Industry, the waiter of the Ministry of Industry took over, but this Du Shangshu is old, he just wants to seek stability, and his courage is insufficient.

Xiao Rui nodded, naturally agreeing with His Majesty's suggestion, but he had other ideas, and after hesitating for a long time, he asked, "Father, can Daxia allow private mining?" ”

As soon as these words came out, Emperor Xia instantly fell into deep thought.

As just said, the imperial court does not allow the people to open mines privately, because after opening mines privately, in order to make money, the miners do not respect the law, gather all living beings, and even form their own armed forces, and it is difficult for the court to control, and the result of a long time is to compete with each other, kill people and hurt people, and also have a greater impact on national tax revenue.

Qian Silk is the most crazy, not without a target, so Emperor Xia considered opening mines for the people a long time ago, but he didn't implement it.

Emperor Xia then ordered Hai Dafu to take a piece of the music and said: "This is a mining chapter sent by the Ministry of Labor, you can take a look." ”

After Xiao Rui opened it, he found that the piece was a request from the Ministry of Industry to appoint a messenger to mine ore.

Roughly as follows:

"Sent to the Ministry of Langzhong to wear Zhao and Yang Zong, with Jinyi Wei and Yang Zong, went to Yuzhou to open a mine."

"Wu Yinglin, a hundred households of Jinyi and Wei, went to Jinzhou, Pingyang Prefecture, Xia County and other places to open mines."

"Send Wuwei to command Wang Yunjuan to open mines in Ludong, Qingzhou and other prefectures."

……

There were a total of 32 appointments in this recital, ordering the Ministry of Labor, the eunuchs, and the commanders of the forbidden army to go out to open mines, including Yuzhou, Jinzhou, Qingzhou, Qinzhou, etc., all of which were areas where coal was concentrated in Bactria .

The state sends these people to organize manpower to open mines, and the income from mining goes to the state treasury, and as for manpower, it is naturally the servitude of the people, but the number of mines opened by the state is limited, which is a drawback.

Secondly, there are shortcomings such as low efficiency, collusion between officials and businessmen, etc.

But in general, it is safe for the imperial court to control this private mining.

Xiao Rui returned the chapter and suggested: "Father, otherwise, we will not promote private mining, but we can implement franchising!" ”

As soon as the word franchise popped up, it immediately attracted Xia Huang's curiosity.

"Tell me more!" Xia Huang said.

Xiao Rui explained: "The so-called franchising refers to the permission granted by the imperial court to the operator under certain conditions, allowing him to engage in production in a certain area. At present, Daxia does not allow private mining, but the ban continues, and people in some remote areas still secretly open mines. In this case, the imperial court will specially issue the qualification to open mines, so that they can open mines in accordance with the rules, which can not only promote tax revenue, increase the number and scale of mining, but also expand the output of coal mines. Of course, while allowing franchising, it is also necessary to increase the investigation and punishment of private mines, and audit and inspect the franchised businesses. If the standard is not met, the franchise will be cancelled directly. ”

Emperor Xia was overjoyed when he heard this, and praised: "You have a lot of ghost ideas, this method is good, you can implement it in the coal mine first, and if the effect is good, it can also be carried out on other mineral deposits." ”

Xiao Rui nodded, the coexistence of public and private can not only stabilize the market, but also mobilize the market, why not?

"This matter has to find a suitable person to handle it, it seems that the Ministry of Industry does have to be replaced." Xia Huang said leisurely.

Xiao Rui remained silent, now he is no longer eager to install his henchmen in the six parts, not to mention that there is no suitable candidate.