The next day, Wu Yanzhi began refining mercury thunderate. The materials required for this thunder mercury have been described earlier. I won't go into more detail here. The general procedure is as follows:

Alum is roasted to obtain dilute sulfuric acid; dilute sulfuric acid distillation and concentration to obtain concentrated sulfuric acid; The reaction of concentrated sulfuric acid and saltpeter will obtain nitric acid gas, which is collected and then dissolved in water, which is nitric acid.

Nitric acid reacts with mercury (mercury) to get mercury nitrate, and then reacts with alcohol (ethanol) to get mercury thunderate! Roasting it yields mercury powder. If you add hydrochloric acid and copper, you get white mercury thunderate!

Of course, this manufacturing process is very, very dangerous, and Wu Yanzhi specially asked people to guard the door and carefully develop it behind closed doors alone.

……

The time soon came to September 28, which was the sixtieth birthday of Wu Yanzhi's eldest mother and one of his mothers.

Of course, Wu Yanzhi has to do it for his mother once, after all, his eldest mother is also a lady who is expensive by mother and son, and is a second-class lady.

The secretary Jiang Shipeng let out the news a month ago, so on his birthday, naturally there were many people. In addition to the large and small mine owners, officials, and landlords in the state, even the neighboring states and counties, there are also quite a number of officials, gentry, and mine owners who come to join in the fun.

Excluding his own staff, two metallurgical supervisors, and an official of the silver field, there are still more than 300 people in total.

His mother's birthday, Wu Yanzhi was not too taboo, and felt that it should be done in line with Huaxia etiquette.

Of course, I also received a lot of gifts......

……

After another six days, he saw that Lei Mercury had been preliminarily developed more than four catties, which was enough to match tens of thousands of catties of gunpowder, which was more than enough.

So he decided to rush to Shaozhou, Lingnan on the second day with the completed guns, black powder, thunder mercury, bullet parts and other things; The bullet hadn't been encapsulated with a primer.

Two thousand warheads were produced; Bullet shells and primer shells are all produced using molds, and 2,000 have been produced. Yao Kuan, Zhang Cheng and others dismantled the parts on the simple machine tool, loaded them on horseback and carried them to Shaozhou, ready to continue processing the barrel.

Anyway, there are dozens of guards now, and it is very convenient to carry the transport. Because Wu Yanzhi's personal money was paid for those thirty-eight guards to be equipped with mules.

This mule is also relatively cheap, six or seven times a horse, and can be used in both the south and the north. When the time comes, when you return to the capital, you have to sell it and exchange it for a horse.

The reason why he went to Shaozhou in person was that he was afraid that Qi Xuan or Cui Yu would go, and he couldn't figure it out. Because the indigenous forces there are very strong, and many times they don't even obey the emperor's orders!

Shaozhou's copper ore resources are better than those of the lead mountain farm, and if it is done well, there is no problem with producing millions of catties a year.

If he didn't hurry up, his plan to return to Shendu in the first half of next year would be in vain. Because he also had to go to Hongzhou and Fuzhou near Raozhou and the three prefectures near Hangzhou to investigate Wu Zetian's assassination and rebellion.

Although he thought it was nonsense, the emperor's order was not child's play, and if he didn't investigate, it would be a big crime.

Before leaving, he asked the inspector Cui Yu to lead a few people to Tanzhou to supervise the bile water copper mine. There is also an abundance of bile water resources. I don't have time to go, and I don't have much need.

Na Cui Yu's task is also very heavy, in addition to handling the Tanzhou Bile Water Copper Mine, he also has to supervise the iron mine in several nearby states and counties. Because this refining of bile copper must be replaced with iron, the craft consumes a lot of iron.

When Cui Yu heard this, Wu Yanzhi was relieved to let him go, indicating that he was naturally very happy that his ability to do things was recognized.

On the second day, he set out with six servants and miscellaneous servants.

……

Shaozhou is located in the eastern part of Lingnan Road, next to Chenzhou, Qianzhou and other prefectures in Jiangnan West Road. This place is one of the richest places in terms of water resources and copper ore resources.

Along the way, Wu Yanzhi surveyed five or six small and medium-sized iron ores in Hongzhou, Jizhou, Qianzhou and other prefectures along the Jiangnan West Road, and let the local large households mine them, and the government can purchase them!

Since there is no metallurgical supervision, they don't have to pay that percent of the tax, which is a lot higher! Of course, if there is an agreement signed in advance, it must be sold to the government in its entirety.

In this way, more than half of the pig iron of bile copper will be replaced with iron in the entire south of the Yangtze River, and there is no need to transfer it from the north on a large scale. Those big households were naturally very happy to see that Wu Yanzhi provided them with smelting and production technology for free.

By the way, he also secretly investigated the assassination history of Hongzhou and Fuzhou along the way, and found no signs of rebellion against them, but the assassination history of these states is very clean.

As for the other three states, they will only be investigated after returning from Shaozhou.

Because of the opening of the iron mine, there was a delay, and it took 42 days in the afternoon to arrive at the county post house in Qianzhou. It's mid-November.

It's winter, but it's not cold in the south, so it's almost impossible to snow here. In addition, there was hardly any heavy rain, and the road was not too hard.

A few people rested in the post house, preparing to cross the Da Yu Ridge, one of the five ridges in Lingnan, on the second day.

……

October 24, including the Yuan Hall side hall.

Roasting its four large stoves, Wu Zetian was not cold, she was discussing with the two prime ministers. Today, she is in a bad mood, because Wang Xiaojie, the third rank of the Tongzhong Shumen, is not good for the army, and is blocked by the army of the Tubo Prime Minister Qinling, and the situation is not good!

The famous Tibetan general Qinling gave Wu Zetian a headache. When this person faced the generals of Da Zhou and Da Tang, he was sure to win almost every battle, and he had become a confidant of Da Zhou.

Fortunately, the four towns of Anxi restrained him, so that he did not dare to plot against Guanzhong. Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to lead his troops to attack Guanzhong.

"The two ministers, I just went to see the Qitian Road and the Great Sage Road built by Wu Yanzhi the day before yesterday, and they are really very good! It's a hundred times smoother than the dirt road before!

It's a pity that now that the Ming Hall and Tianshu are being built, and the soldiers are used again and again, the money has been spent! Otherwise, it would be better to build all the roads in the palace into those cement roads! "Wu Zetian said.

"Yes! Your Majesty, Wechen has also been to see it many times, and the road is flat and straight, but it is a thousand times better than the previous dirt road!

But Your Majesty, the roads in this palace, I'm afraid you don't have to worry too much about running out of money! Didn't Ambassador Wu smelt copper and iron in the south? In September alone, nearly 50,000 catties of bile water copper have been produced, and zinc has increased by more than 30,000 catties.

In the next three months, there will definitely be more. Moreover, he has already said that he will send Inspector Cui Yu to Tanzhou in October to supervise the refining of bile water copper, iron, zinc, etc., which is estimated to have already arrived.

He himself will go to Shaozhou, Lingnan to handle copper mines and zinc smelting, and according to Wu Shaoqing's estimate, by next year, there will be no problem in adding five or six million catties of copper.

Not only that, but now that zinc is produced in large quantities, the price of the hammer has fallen, and he also recommends the mass production of copper coins.

In this way, there will be no more copper money tension in the country! Even the bad money on the market will disappear! Yao Xuan saw that Wu Zetian seemed to be depressed, so he said.

"Hmmm! This grandson is really not bragging, and he really did it! Everything depends on Him.

However, I want to remind him that the Feng clan and the Wei clan in Nashao Prefecture are very powerful, and each has two or three thousand armed tribes. Eight or nine out of ten copper mines in Shaozhou are occupied by it, and we must pay attention to proportion!

If he is in a hurry, he is afraid that the gangsters will cause trouble, and he will be given instructions to mobilize the Lingnan garrison if necessary to restore order in Zhengzhou in Shaozhou, and now it is like a fetter state!"

"Yes! However, the garrison in Lingnan is too far away from Shaozhou, and I am afraid that he is the only one who should be careful, so as not to offend the local tribes too much.

In the land of Lingnan, not to mention most of the prefectures, it is Zhengzhou, and there are many county officials who are not complete. As the election envoy of the Southern Election and the supervision of the imperial history, there are many people who take bribes and bend the law.

State affairs and county affairs are all controlled by local wealthy families! In the future, I am afraid that I will have to send more officials from Tianguan to Lingnan! Yao Xuan said.

"Yao Xianggong's words are reasonable! Then appoint Li Qianli, the assassin of Puzhou, as the envoy of Lingnan to pacify and attack, and rush to Guangzhou to assist Wang Fangqing, the governor of Guangzhou, in dealing with the Feng, Chen, and Wei Hao clans of Lingnan; Mu Wen told him that he should be severely cracked down, not tolerated! "Wu Zetian said.

"Yes!" Yao Xuan heard that this Li Qianli was the son of Li Ke, the former king of Wu, who had been in Lingnan for a long time, and was very familiar with Lingnan, so it was most suitable for him to go.

Seeing that Yang Zaisi hadn't spoken, Wu Yanzhi asked, "Why didn't Yang Xianggong speak?" What's the matter? ”

"Your Majesty! Weichen just received a report from Ji Zhine, the assassin of Raozhou, saying that Wu Shaoqing took advantage of his mother's 60th birthday to accept bribes!

Not only that, but also planted cronies to mine copper mines, presumably including shares! He pleaded for a severe punishment according to the law! As soon as Yang Zaisi said this, he was taken aback.

The two were silent for a long time, and finally Wu Zetian said lightly: "What do the two prime ministers think about this matter?" ”

Yao Xuan said: "Weichen thinks that it is normal for Wu Shaoqing to celebrate his mother's 60th birthday. As for what kind of shares are planted by cronies to mine copper mines, it is difficult to judge the authenticity without investigation at this time.

However, Weichen thought that it was unlikely, and our dynasty strictly prohibited officials from doing business. He had just joined the ranks, so it was impossible for him not to know about this rule. And he doesn't seem to be a greedy person.

Besides, Weichen got a report from the Leping Metallurgical Supervisor that Wu Shaoqing took back several of the best mines in Yinshan, and it is said that those mines have something to do with Ji Thorn History.

However, Wu Shaoqing did not mention it in the report, and I am afraid that this matter will have to be investigated by the supervision of the imperial history to find out! ”

He didn't jump to conclusions.

When Wu Zetian heard this, he understood most of it, and thought to himself, one of the two of them was serving the imperial history, and the other was Su Taizhongcheng, but it was much higher than the position of ordinary superintendent of the imperial history. It's not a big deal, what's the deal?

So he said: "Both sides have their own opinions on this matter, so put it aside for the time being!" Wu Yanzhi's mother, who was also my nephew and daughter-in-law, rewarded her with 500 brocades, plus a set of eight flowers and hairpins, eight Zhai clothes, etc.

By the way, Nian Nian has made meritorious contributions to his copper smelting, and he also has a great merit in building the two roads of the Monkey King, so he gave his biological mother from the Sipin Junjun to Hua Hai, Zhai Yi, and give it to the meeting as usual! ”

"Weichen obeys the order, let the company handle it immediately!" Yao Xuan replied.

Giving his biological mother Sipin Junjun made him get rid of the status of a concubine, which was of great benefit to his younger brother Wu Yanping and sister Wu Xiaoyue, and of course had no impact on Wu Yanzhi, because he himself was raised under the name of his eldest mother.

(Note: Flower hairpin eight trees, Zhai Yi eight, etc., are the court clothes and jewelry of the second-grade women; According to the level, it will be lowered to seven trees, six trees, etc. ）

…………………………… Dividing line ..............................

The Southern Election System of the Tang Dynasty:

The imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty were generally held in Chang'an and occasionally in Luoyang. Another way is to directly go to Lingnan, Qianzhong Province and other places to select officials, which is the "southern election".

Southern election: a system of electing officials in Lingnan and Qianzhong Province in the Tang Dynasty. He did not require locals to come to the capital to take the exam.

Rather, it is a system in which every three or four years a Wupin Beijing official is sent to the local area to select officials from among the locals!

In addition, a superintendent will be sent to oversee the imperial history! Of course, locals can also participate in the imperial examination normally, such as Zhang Jiuling, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty.