Maybe Lu Fatzi was born to be a busy life, in Qujing organized the people to open up wasteland and spring ploughing, and Li Shuzu fought for power and profit, and when he came to Kunming, Lu Fatzi was still very busy. On the morning of the second day after returning to Kunming, Fat Lu first went to Kunming City to participate in Lin Tianqing's seal ceremony, and then thanked Lin Tianqing for his kindness in the banquet invitation, and didn't even bother to take a sip of water, so he immediately rushed back to Wuhua Mountain non-stop, and dragged Wu Yingqi, who was taking a nap with a beautiful concubine in his study, out of the bed.

"Yifeng, what are you looking for me in a hurry?" For the sake of Lu Fatzi's share of winning a lot of glory for himself in the past six months, Wu Yingqi, who was sleepy-eyed and was pulled out of the bed, didn't get angry, just rubbed his eyes and said: "If it's your family business, then you go to Yang Shanzi, I remember that my father told him to arrange it." ”

"Second Prince, if it is for such a trivial matter to arrange for family affairs, will I come to trouble you?" Fat Lu smiled bitterly and asked again: "Second prince, dare to ask, is the gunpowder used by the royal army prepared by himself or purchased from merchants?" ”

"Both." Wu Yingqi yawned and said: "I have to buy from the merchants, but I have to have a little more, why are you asking this?" ”

"Second prince, then ask again, our Pingxi Mansion dispenses gunpowder by itself, where does the soil nitrate come from?" Lu Fatzi asked: "Is it mining in Yunnan?" Or buy from merchants? ”

"Are you stupid? Acid in the south and alkali in the north, where does the nitrate come from in Yunnan? Wu Yingqi said angrily: "Even if there is a little nitrate in the deep mountains and old forests, you have to dig a hole to mine it, who is willing to spend so much effort?" By the way, Yunnan actually has nitrate mines, but the technology of this era has not been able to mine them in large quantities.

"In this way, all the soil and nitrate in Yunnan are purchased from the north." Lu Fatzi continued to ask: "Is the price expensive?" ”

"Why isn't it expensive?" The more Wu Yingqi listened, the more angry he became, "One tael of soil nitrate and one tael of silver, it is more expensive to transport it from the north, and our Pingxi Royal Mansion has to spend two or three hundred thousand taels of silver every year in order to buy soil nitrate!" What exactly do you want to do? There's nothing else I'm going to go back to take a nap! ”

"Second Prince, if you take one less nap, you can save these two or three hundred thousand taels of silver every year, are you happy?" Fat Lu asked with a mysterious face.

"What do you mean?" Wu Yingqi finally became a little interested.

"That's right." Lu Fatzi said mysteriously: "During the period when he was ordered to go to Guangdong, he saw that the merchants and soldiers of the Western foreign domain liked to use firearms, and the gunpowder cost was huge, so he tried to inquire about the source of their gunpowder, and then I learned that their Western army has a very magical method to make nitrate, regardless of season and region, as long as there are people with six animals, they can make a large amount of nitrate, and the quality is better than the quality of our Qing Dynasty. He felt that this method might be used for the second prince, so he spent a lot of effort studying the Western books he bought from them, found out this Western method of making nitrate, and prepared to present it to the second prince. ”

"And this?" Wu Yingqi's eyes lit up, and he asked nervously, "True or fake?" You're bragging, are you? ”

"Second prince, please rest assured, the humble position has already been tried, and it will definitely be able to create nitrate." Lu Fatzi took out a few pages from his sleeve, held them in front of Wu Yingqi with both hands, and said with a flattering face: "The method of making soil nitrate in the West is all written on it, please take a look at the second prince, although the raw materials stink, but we are everywhere in Guizhou ...... Yunnan, as long as we use this method to make soil nitrate, our Pingxi Royal Mansion will no longer have to be bothered by the lack of gunpowder, and the hundreds of thousands of taels of silver used to buy soil nitrate every year can also be saved ." ”

Before Lu Fatzi's words were finished, Wu Yingqi had already snatched the pages, and what was written on them was actually the method of making nitrate from toilet soil that Lu Fatzi taught Chen Jinnan at the beginning, using the characteristics of the toilet stable soil rich in calcium nitrate, dissolving calcium nitrate with water, and then adding plant ash rich in potassium carbonate, heating it to make water nitrate, and then boiling it into soil nitrate. The only difference is that Lu Fatzi added a method of further purifying soil nitrate into high-purity potassium nitrate on these pages -- Lu Fatzi is not biased towards Wu Laohan, the key is that the Taiwanese army controlled by Zheng Jing has too much contact with the original one, and Lu Fatzi does not want to spread this method to the Japanese Kou.

"Does it really work?" Wu Yingqi was both happy and surprised, "According to this method, doesn't it mean that a lot of nitrate can be boiled out in my small yard?" ”

"Absolutely." Lu Fatzi patted his chest and said: "The humble post has already tested it with his own hands, if the second prince wants to see it with his own eyes, he can immediately find a few gunpowder craftsmen in the army, and the humble post will teach them this method, let them do it according to the law, and then at most at night, the first batch of good soil can be made." ”

"What else to teach?" Wu Yingqi shouted with no conscience: "I will immediately ask someone to prepare tools and materials, and find a few craftsmen to help you, you teach them to make soil nitrate, if you can really make good soil nitrate, I will be rewarded." ”

"It's over, that ghost girl will definitely not allow me to go to her bed tonight." Fat Lu complained bitterly in his heart, but he was under the eaves, and he couldn't help Fat Lu to refuse, so Fat Lu had to remind helplessly: "Okay, but the second prince, don't blame the humble and wordy, the craftsmen you adjust must be reliable, otherwise, if this method spreads, it will be a big deal." ”

"Of course." Wu Yingqi snorted: "Such a good method is spread in vain, so won't our Pingxi Royal Mansion lose a lot?" ”

So, under the personal command and arrangement of Wu Yingqi, soon, the chickens and dogs in the Pingxi Wangfu began to jump away, and the servants of the Pingxi Wangfu took hoes, dustpans and willow baskets, scolded and scolded into the toilet stables, dug and scraped the old toilet soil, and moved the baskets to the open area on the west side of the Pingxi Palace, making most of the Pingxi Wangfu smelly and scolding, and Wu Yingqi hid in the incense room to avoid the smell, but the poor Lu Fat Man still had to be immersed in the scene, directing the more poor servants to select the toilet soil, It attracted countless blank eyes and scolding.

Of course, Wu Sangui was alarmed by such movements, and asked the guards that it was Wu Yingqi and Lu Fatzi who made the ghosts, and Wu Sangui immediately called Wu Yingqi and Lu Fatzi angrily and scolded them. And when he heard that this was to make soil nitrate, Wu Sangui, who had always had a headache because of the scarcity of gunpowder production in Yunnan, was overjoyed at first, and then scolded Lu Fatzi and Wu Yingqi, "You two fools, you won't go to the barracks to engage in this kind of thing?" Why do you want to test it in the palace? Well, now I can't even eat dinner tonight! ”

Lu Fatzi and Wu Yingqi were both speechless, and then they remembered that Pingxi Wangfu was indeed not a good place to conduct gunpowder experiments. Fortunately, Wu Sangui was obviously more concerned about whether this method could produce some unearthed nitrate, and said: "Forget it, anyway, the entire palace has been made stinky by you two stupid people, so you can continue to do it today, and come over and report it when it comes out, and I will also see it with my own eyes." Also, only this time, next time you fool around in the palace like this, you will let Lao Tzu get out and live! ”

Collected enough toilet soil and stable soil, and found a large number of cotton stalks and buckwheat stalks with the most potassium content to burn into ashes, Lu Fatzi covered his nose and instructed the craftsman to mix these things in a ratio of eight to one, add water to submerge and reheat, stop heating after stirring for fifteen minutes, place clarification, and then filter out the nitrate and discard the slag, heat and stir the nitrate again, boil it into water nitrate, filter it again, heat it again to evaporate the water, take the most concentrated brine to cool, analyze the crystals, and the most important raw material for making gunpowder, potassium nitrate, rolls out.

When the first batch of about 20 catties of soil was made, Wu Sangui's old man Jian really covered his nose and came to visit, along with Liu Xuanchu, Wang Shirong, Fang Guangchen, and Hu Guozhu, the four major think-tanks of the Pingxi Palace, Liu Yi, a financial expert, Wu Sangui's son-in-law Xia Guoxiang, and other generals Ma Bao, Gao Dejie, and Wu Guogui -- these people were also smoked. And when Lu Fatzi sprinkled a handful of potassium nitrate powder on the red-hot charcoal, a large cloud of bright sparks immediately burst out on the charcoal, showing the excellent surname of high-purity potassium nitrate combustion, and the previous anger of Wu Sangui, Hu Guozhu, Ma Bao and others was immediately swept away.

"Good stuff!" Liu Yi was the first to exclaim, "We spent a lot of money to buy the soil nitrate from the north, and there is no batch that can catch up with this kind of soil nitrate, it is conceivable that if this soil nitrate is used to configure gunpowder, the quality of gunpowder will definitely be better than before!" If this method can produce a large amount of soil nitrate, then the 250,000 taels of silver that we are going to use to buy soil nitrate this year can be saved! ”

"Lord Liu, this method can definitely produce a large amount of soil nitrate." Lu Fatzi covered his nose and said with a sad face: "Xiaguan heard from Western merchants that thousands of miles away in England, hundreds of thousands of troops are all using firearms, and the gunpowder used in firearms is also made in this way, in order to ensure the source of gunpowder, the king of England also specially appointed a toilet officer, who is responsible for collecting toilet soil and stable soil to make soil nitrate, and stipulates that no matter who the family, the toilet can only be paved with soil. ”

After that, Lu Fatzi added: "The population of that English country is actually about the same as that of our Yunnan and Guizhou combined, so the lower officials think that as long as the prince follows the example of the Western prince and appoints a toilet official to collect toilet soil in various big cities in Yunnan, the soil produced is enough for our Pingxi Palace." If we can collect all the toilet soil in Yunnan and Guizhou, then even if all the troops of our Pingxi Royal Mansion are armed with firearms, the gunpowder will be more than enough. ”

"Lord, this is a good idea." Gao Dejie said excitedly: "With such a cheap source of gunpowder, the silver saved can make countless firearms, and the number of our firearms soldiers can be increased several times." ”

Wu Sangui covered his nose and mouth and listened while nodding desperately, but he refused to open his mouth to speak—this area was too stinky. However, Liu Xuanchu, Wang Shirong, Hu Guozhu and others did not like the smell, and couldn't wait to grab the white potassium nitrate that was made first and fight for it, and also grabbed it and threw it into the fire for experiments. At the end, Hu Guozhu said again: "Father-in-law, this method is good, but in this way, it is impossible for us to make such a big move without being noticed by the imperial court, and if the news leaks to the imperial court, it will be a big trouble." ”

"Master Hu, I have already figured out a way to do it." Fat Lu covered his nose with one hand, and pointed to the slag in the distance with the other and said: "Lord Wang, Lord Hu, please see, the humble reading of Western books records that after these toilets and stables are used to make nitrate, the remaining waste residue can be used as fertilizer, so that the land becomes more fertile and more food is grown." The prince can use the excuse of making this kind of fertilizer for the military or selling it to the people, which not only quietly creates soil nitrate, does not arouse the suspicion of the imperial court, but also increases the grain output of Guizhou in Yunnan, killing two birds with one stone. ”

"Good idea." Liu Yi, who is good at financial management, was the first to agree and echoed: "Lord Wang, take the remaining slag to the people as fertilizer, and we can even save a lot of labor costs." In addition, we can also build more toilets in Yunnan and Guizhou for the people to use, which is not only convenient for the people, but also can collect soil nitrate in the name of righteousness. Ha, Master Lu, I didn't expect you to be so proficient in Western knowledge, this time, you have made great achievements for us in Yunnan and Guizhou. ”

"Go back, let's talk about it later." Wu Sangui finally spoke, and said with a sad face: "Let's go back first, and wait until I take a shower and change my clothes." Also, send someone to move all these things away, or Lao Tzu won't be able to eat tomorrow! ”

After throwing the aftermath to the servants, a large number of sperm flies from the Pingxi Mansion hurriedly left the scene, and each went back to the room to take a bath and change clothes, and smoked incense for a while, and then rushed to the Yin'an Palace to meet with Wu Sangui, and after Wu Laohan took a bath and changed clothes, this would also be much more refreshed. As soon as they met, Wu Sangui pointed at Lu Fatzi and said: "Yifeng, I can't see that you are also so proficient in Western knowledge, and you are willing to work so hard to study, which has made great contributions to this king, and also makes our Pingxi Royal Mansion no longer have to have a headache due to the lack of gunpowder." ――Of course, it stinks a little too much. ”

"Hahaha......." The crowd burst into laughter. Fat Lu also smirked, and said with a little embarrassment: "Lord Wang, I'm really sorry, I didn't expect it to stink so much before I was humiliated, maybe there were too many materials prepared." ”

"Forget it, forget it, forget the past." Wu Sangui waved his hand and said loudly: "No matter what, you have made a great contribution to this king, and this king will reward you heavily!" In this way, didn't you save more than 200,000 taels of silver for this king, and this king rewarded you with a tattoo of 10,000 taels of silver to commend your loyalty to this king! ”

"It would be nice if you rewarded Wu Xiaosu to me." Fat Lu muttered in his heart, saluted and said, "Thank you for the reward, but I don't want this reward." ”

"What? Are you too little? "Wu Sangui is a flute. Over there, Wu Yingqi hurriedly came over and kicked Lu Fatzi's heel, and said in a low voice: "Don't be stupid, there has never been a precedent for my father to take back what he said." ”

"Second prince, prince, you have all misunderstood." Lu Fatzi explained: "I don't want this reward, I want to ask the prince to give another grace. ”

"Oh, then what grace do you want?" Wu Sangui asked.

"Back to the prince, fifty miles west of Qujing, there is a mountain called Nule Peak." Lu Fatzi said: "I heard that the area is dozens of miles in radius, all of which are the feudal lands that you circled back then, but the place is remote, the land is barren, and it has not been cultivated and sown. ”

"Does this king still have a domain there?" Wu Sangui was a little surprised, and said: "If there really is, then let alone borrowing you for a few years, this king can reward you with that mountain and that piece of land, but what do you want?" ”

"Presumably the prince has heard of it, and he is very interested in Western learning." Lu Fatzi said in a deep voice: "The lowly study of Western knowledge, and are very fascinated by their screw machinery, and want to test the imitation but can't find a place, so the lowly is bold, and wants to ask the prince to lend this place to the lowly position, and then lend the lowly position some craftsmen and an army of several hundred people, and set up a small military camp there, so that the lowly can make some Western machinery for the prince without anyone disturbing him." ”

"What Western machinery? To be so troublesome? Wu Sangui didn't wake up for a while, and asked a little confused.

"It's very ordinary Western machinery, and there are some KitKat silver skills." Fat Lu replied respectfully: "For example, the more transparent and beautiful Western glass, the more powerful gunpowder, the lighter, thinner but tougher sword, the Western firearm that can hit farther and more accurately than the bird's gun, and the new Western salute that is lighter and more flexible than the Hongyi cannon, but can hit farther and more accurately than the Hongyi cannon." With these things, in the future, if the prince wants to go up the mountain to shoot a bird, greet the guest and put some salutes or something, it will be more convenient and majestic than before. ”

The Yin'an Hall was silent, and several of Wu Sangui's absolute henchmen present all looked at each other, but they didn't speak, and although Wu Sangui was very moved, he also saw Lu Fatzi's attainments in Western learning, and knew that Lu Fatzi would never dare to brag about his trust in him, but it was definitely not a joke to make these things, and Wu Sangui didn't dare to make up his mind casually no matter how high he was.

After a long time, Liu Xuanchu suddenly scolded: "Bold boy, what nonsense? This dynasty is not allowed to cast firearms privately, do you want to be raided and destroyed? ”

"Lord Wang, the old man has no way to teach, and the students he taught are talking nonsense, which makes the prince angry, please forgive the prince." Liu Xuanchu turned to Wu Sangui and said, "But it's also a good thing that the old man, a student, likes to delve into Western knowledge. The old man thinks that the prince can borrow some of his manpower to build some Western glazed workshops in the area of Nule Peak, as well as a firecracker and firecracker construction site and a few blacksmith workshops, and it is still completely feasible to make some firecrackers and farming tools for the people of Yunnan and Guizhou for the New Year. ”

"Lord Lu, can you really make the kind of Western salute you said?" Gao Dejie asked Fat Lu quietly.

"Seven or eight percent sure." Fat Lu replied solemnly.

"Then it's okay to build one or two." Gao Dejie smiled, turned to Wu Sangui and said, "Lord Wang, since Lord Lu likes to study Western knowledge so much, then let him try it." The last general heard from General Wu Guogui that the glaze workshop run by Lord Lu in Qujing has already made some good glaze, and such a good thing cannot be stolen by outsiders, cutting off the wealth of our Yungui army and people. Therefore, the last general suggested that the prince could send three or five hundred troops over to build a small military camp in the area of Nule Peak, and set aside a piece of space for Lu Da to make glass, so as not to let others steal our Yungui technology. ”

"Also, Lord Liu." Hu Guozhu also turned to Liu Yi and asked, "Last time I heard you say, there seems to be some mines in the area of Nule Peak, why don't we send someone to find it?" ”

"That's right, I heard that there seems to be coal in that area." Liu Yi comprehended, and said to Wu Sangui: "Lord Wang, the minerals in the area of Nule Peak should be carefully explored, since Lord Lu likes to study Western knowledge so much, how about sending him to explore?" ”

"Yes, yes, yes." Ma Bao was not stupid, turned to Lu Fatzi and said, "Yifeng, if you can find a good fine iron in the area of Nule Peak, why don't you give me a good saber?" And the kind of bird gun you just mentioned, can you give me a shot too? ”

"General Ma rest assured, as long as you give the subordinate time, manpower and place, the subordinate will definitely not let you down." Fat Lu replied respectfully.

"That's good." Ma Bao nodded with satisfaction, turned to Wu Sangui and said, "Lord Wang, then just lend Nule Peak to Lord Lu, anyway, it's empty there." ”

"That's right, Lord Wang, just lend Nule Peak to Lord Lu." Fang Guangchen, Wu Guogui and others echoed one after another, "It's also a good thing to make some glazed farm tools or something." ”

"I'm against it." The only one who objected was Wang Shirong, but Wang Shirong was not against Lu Fatzi making farm tools and looking for coal mines, and said: "Qujing is always a little far away from Kunming, and Li Shuzu, the eyeliner of the imperial court, is squatting in Qujing again. According to the students, they can move these workshops to the edge of Dianchi Lake, and work hard for Master Lu to run back and forth a few more times, so that nothing goes wrong. ”

"Mr. Wang, it's not that the lower officials are afraid of the crime of running around." Lu Fatzi said in a deep voice: "It's just that casting new farm tools is not as good as researching how to make soil nitrate, it will take countless time and countless experiments, and it can't be done by running back and forth a few times." Moreover, the area of Dianchi Lake has a large population, which is far less safe than the vast and sparsely populated Nule Peak. ”

"But where is Li Shuzu?" Wang Shirong asked worriedly.

"Mr. Wang, don't worry, please rest assured." Lu Fatzi said in a deep voice: "The humble position thinks so, and the humble position first imitates the Western glass mirror and sells it for a large price, and then you can receive this technology in your hands justifiably, and then under the pretext of technical secrecy, the military camp construction site in the area of Nule Peak is built to make the glass mirror, and then the humble position slowly takes the craftsmen of the Pingxi Palace, while producing the glaze for the cost, while making new farm tools and new firecrackers for the prince." And by that time, Beizhi and Lin Tianqing should also be able to join forces to drive Li Shuzu out of Qujing. ”

"So be it." Wu Sangui finally nodded and said, "When you successfully build the Western glass mirror, and Li Shuzu also gets out of Qujing, this king will lend you Nule Peak, and then provide you with enough troops and manpower to make glass and other things there." - Of course, you are only allowed to make new farm tools, Western bird guns and Western salutes, etc., but this king doesn't want it, and you don't want this king to make it, resolutely don't want it! ”

(To be continued)