When it comes to intelligence, the ancients were no worse than the modern people, what they lacked was vision.

In the same way, the knowledge reserve of modern people is all based on the observation, summary and research of predecessors, and relies on the efforts of generation after generation to continuously accumulate and pass on, and create a huge cognitive system.

This is where the greatness of the pioneers lies in this, they grope in the darkness, find a path of light, point out the direction for future generations, guide more people to come in, go forward one after another, and accomplish great feats one after another.

Zhu Qizhen's level of professional knowledge is not high, and in later generations, he is just an ordinary science and engineering man.

However, it is these most basic scientific theories that are enough to become a beacon for the development of science and technology in the Ming Dynasty.

As if witnessing a miracle, Tong Xuan immediately rekindled his hope and devoted himself to the research and development of electricity.

It is not clear why copper coils and magnets can be put together to create electricity, as if you don't understand why thunder strikes before rain, but if you know this phenomenon and understand its operation, you can use it.

Just imagine, when the ancients discovered fire, did they know what chemical reaction was?

However, this did not affect the use of fire by the ancients, who took it from the place where it was found and brought it back to the cave, where it was used to heat food and drive away wild beasts, and regarded it as a gift from the gods.

This kind of fire caused by the fire of heaven will eventually be extinguished, but the spirit of human exploration is far more than that, and the Suiren invented drilling wood to make fire, and in this first Mars, a brilliant civilization burst out.

Now, Zhu Qizhen has personally pointed out the direction of the Academy of Sciences' electric power research, and the rest is completed by Bei Lin and Tong Xuan.

Back in the Qianqing Palace, it was already dark.

Queen Qian greeted her and stretched out her hand to help Zhu Qizhen remove his coat.

"The queen hasn't slept yet?"

Queen Qian smiled and replied: "The emperor's official duties are heavy, and the concubine can't help much, so she has to do something to serve tea and pour water, this is freshly boiled bird's nest porridge." ”

】

As she spoke, she stretched out her slender jade hand and brought the bird's nest porridge to Zhu Qizhen.

"Well, it's delicious!"

Zhu Qizhen took it, sniffed it, then picked up the spoon and dried it in two clicks.

Empress Qian was a little dumbfounded, and asked tentatively, "Does the emperor want to ...... Another bowl? ”

In fact, she only cooked one bowl.

Originally, it wasn't that I hadn't eaten, but eating a bowl of bird's nest meant something, but the two mouthfuls were gone......

"No, I'm full!"

Zhu Qizhen waved his hand, this is a habit he developed after going to sea, because he doesn't know when the battle will start, and he must be fast when he eats, otherwise, he will be hungry when he fights halfway through eating.

Now, whether he is eating or sleeping, he is clean and neat, and as soon as his head touches the pillow, there is a slight snoring sound.

Queen Qian sighed helplessly, pulled half of the quilt over her body, but couldn't fall asleep after turning it over.

Over the years, the emperor's changes have surprised her, from the battle of Tumu Fort, the original youth and childishness have all disappeared cleanly, as if suddenly become mature.

In the past five years, the Ming Dynasty has continued to expand its territory, and the development of science and technology is changing with each passing day, all of which are inseparable from the emperor's contributions.

But......

Queen Qian has been distressed because ...... She has no children.

The crown prince Zhu Jianshen was born to the concubine Zhou, the second son Zhu Jianyan was born to Concubine Chen's Wan, and the third son Zhu Jianshu was also born to the Zhou family.

As the crown prince grew up, the concubine Zhou began to be unable to sit still.

Secretly, the Zhou family began to contact some ministers, intending to take the title of empress from himself, if it weren't for his younger brother Qingyunhou who died by himself and was involved in the Jin merchants' capital enemies, I am afraid that he would have launched an offensive long ago.

Queen Qian is a responsible person, and she doesn't want to be an enemy of the Zhou family, and even thinks that if she has nothing to do, it doesn't hurt to give up the title of queen to the Zhou family.

is the prince's mother-in-law, no matter how close she and the prince are, after all, they are still outsiders......

"Let's go out of the water!"

"Come on!"

"Fight the fire!"

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside.

Queen Qian hadn't slept at all, so she sat up all of a sudden, put on her clothes, and came to the door.

"What's going on out there?"

The little eunuch on duty replied: "Go back to the queen mother, the palace is watery!" ”

"Where?"

"The slave and maid don't know either, look at the direction...... It seems to be the East Palace. ”

"...... of the East Palace"

Queen Qian's willow eyebrows were slightly frowned, and just now she thought of the Zhou family and the prince, and something happened in the East Palace.

"Send some more people to help extinguish the fire, and you must ensure the safety of the prince!"

"Yes!"

The little eunuch outside agreed and hurried away.

"What's wrong?"

Queen Qian's attention was outside, and a voice suddenly came from her ears, and she was suddenly frightened, and when she looked back, she saw Zhu Qizhen standing behind her in pajamas.

"Your Majesty, why are you up?"

Zhu Qizhen pushed open the door, looked at the firelight in the southeast, and said, "There is such a big movement outside, how can I not hear it, is it the East Palace that is running water?" ”

Queen Qian nodded and said, "I heard that it was in the direction of the East Palace, and the concubine body just heard the movement before getting up." ”

Zhu Qizhen nodded, but he was still not at ease, so he sat down at the table.

Seeing this, Queen Qian hurriedly stepped forward and poured a cup of tea and said, "The emperor doesn't have to worry, the fire is not big, and it should be extinguished soon." ”

The Forbidden City was built in the Yongle Dynasty and uses a large number of wooden structures, so if you are not careful when using fire, you will inevitably have some accidents.

However, in order to prevent fires, there is a large water tank at intervals throughout the Forbidden City, which is filled with clean water on weekdays, which can be regarded as the earliest fire-fighting equipment.

With these safeguards, even if a fire breaks out, it can be extinguished as soon as possible.

About half an hour later, Wynne hurried over.

"Slaves and maids knock to see the emperor, knock to see the queen!"

"Get up and talk back!"

Zhu Qizhen waved his hand and asked, "What's going on?" ”

Huaien's face turned a little pale, and said: "The East Palace is in the water, and the slave maid has already led someone to extinguish the fire, but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince ......."

Zhu Qizhen's face became ugly, and he asked, "What's wrong, tell me quickly!" ”

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince fainted and has been sent to the Tai Hospital......"

Wynne buried his head low, and he didn't dare to come out.

Zhu Qizhen stood up and asked again, "Is the fire very big?" Why did it take so long to extinguish? ”

"It's not big, it's just ......"

"If you are so spittering, be careful that I will send you to Fengyang to guard the mausoleum!"

Zhu Qizhen is really anxious, if you have something, hurry up and say it, doesn't it mean that it didn't happen?

Huai En didn't dare to hide it anymore, so he had to tell the plate: "It's His Royal Highness the Prince...... His Highness is studying ...... Gunpowder! ”

"What?"

Zhu Qizhen was shocked, Zhu Jianshen was only six years old, what kind of gunpowder was studied?

With an innocent expression, Wynne said: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince likes to listen to the classes of the Academy of Sciences on weekdays, especially interested in gunpowder, and I don't know where to get a large amount of saltpeter and sulfur, and burn charcoal in the East Palace, and the result is ...... Didn't control ......"

Zhu Qizhen looked surprised, making gunpowder in the East Palace, is he preparing to rebel?

You're only six years old, what's the hurry?

"Go and find out at once, how did saltpeter and brimstone get in? Also, the prince refining gunpowder, whether he was greedy for fun, or someone instigated it, find out together! ”

"Yes, slave and maid are going!"

Wynne bowed backwards and went out, closing the door with his hand.

Zhu Qizhen picked up the teacup on the table and drank it all, and said angrily: "This little cub, I'm not at home, he's going to turn against God!" ”

"The emperor must not be excited......

Queen Qian hurriedly appeased: "The prince has been enlightened since he was three years old, and the concubine said something that should not be said, those great Confucians taught, talked about some Confucian and Mencian ways, and the concept of governing the country, and the prince was not interested at all. It wasn't until last year that the Academy of Sciences began to teach, and the prince seemed to have opened his mind, listening to lectures very seriously on weekdays, and he would do it himself, so he developed this habit. ”

Zhu Qizhen couldn't cry or laugh, a six-year-old child, it's a good thing to learn some scientific knowledge, but what kind of thing is it to secretly configure gunpowder by himself?

If there is no misfire today and the gunpowder is successfully configured, is the next step to assemble the bomb?

Looking at this trend, today's fire is still God's help, otherwise, one day there will suddenly be a flat thunder, and the Forbidden City will blow up and I won't even cry......

Early the next morning, Zhu Qizhen pushed open the door and saw a group of people kneeling in front of the Qianqing Palace.

There is Zhu Jianshen's biological mother, the concubine Zhou, as well as Huaien and Belin......

Zhu Qizhen was a little stunned and asked, "What are you going to do?" ”

Zhou's crying pear blossom brought rain, and said: "The concubine came to confess, and I hope that the emperor will remember that Shen'er is not sensible, don't punish him, what's the matter...... Let the concubine bear it......"

Wynne then said: "Yesterday's incident was a dereliction of duty on the part of the slave maid, and I implore the emperor to punish him!" ”

Zhu Qizhen looked at Belin and asked, "What's your situation?" ”

Belin bowed her head and said, "The minister is wrong, the minister should not teach His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to make gunpowder......"

Zhu Qizhen was so angry that he wanted to laugh and asked, "How is the prince?" ”

Wynn said: "The doctor has seen it, and said that it is mainly due to the fright, and he will be fine after recuperating for a while, and he is still recuperating in the hospital." ”

"When he comes back, let's see if I clean him up!"

Zhu Qizhen shook his head helplessly, then changed his words and asked, "Have you found out what happened last night?" ”

Wynne replied: "It has been ascertained that the saltpeter and sulfur were brought into the palace by the maidservant Wan Shi. ”

At this time, a palace maid kowtowed and said: "The slave knows that it is wrong, and the slave knows that it is wrong!" ”

Her voice trembled a little, because she knew very well that such a big thing had happened, and she was afraid that her life would not be saved.

Zhou said: "If the emperor wants to blame, blame the concubine, Wan was originally the concubine's maid, and the concubine was worried that the prince was not used to it in the East Palace, so she transferred Wan's body." ”

Zhu Qizhen was not interested in these, but looked at the trembling Wan Shi and asked, "Where did you get the saltpeter and sulfur?" ”

Wan Shi said tremblingly: "Buy ...... Bought ......"

Zhu Qizhen asked again, "Where did you buy it?" ”

These things belong to the resources for war readiness, and their circulation is strictly controlled in the civilian sector.

It's hard for the average person to get it, unless there's some special channel.

Wan didn't dare to hide it anymore, and said: "The slave maid has two younger brothers, who they helped buy, but they only said that they were from the black market, and the slave maid didn't know where the black market was......"

Zhu Qizhen thought for a while and said, "Huaien, go check immediately!" ”

Wynne hurriedly replied, "Yes! ”

"Wait a minute...... Emperor! ”

Wan Shi panicked and hurriedly said: "The emperor is gracious, the two younger brothers of the slave and maid don't know anything, they are just entrusted by the slave and maid to buy those things, and the fault is ...... The slave is willing to bear it alone! ”

Zhu Qizhen looked at her and said with a smile: "Can you afford it?" ”

Wan didn't know what to do all of a sudden, so he had to kowtow vigorously and beg for mercy.

Seeing her expression, Zhu Qizhen was a little surprised in his heart.

Not to mention that she is willing to bear all the consequences for her younger brother, the eldest sister is like a mother, this feeling and sense of mission is still understandable, and surprisingly, from beginning to end, she did not mention the prince.

If this matter is traced to the source, the crown prince is the culprit.

Wan Shi was just an errand runner and went to buy something outside the palace.

Of course, these things are contraband, and she has to bear this crime.

Now she never mentions the prince, and she bears all the blame for her crimes.

Wan's face turned pale, and he said cowardly: "The prince is frightened, and the slave and maid can't bear this guilt alone, wish, wish...... ...... to Death as Aponement for Sins"

Zhu Qizhen secretly said in his heart, this person is still loyal, go back and let Huai En check what her two younger brothers are doing, if it is not a great crime, it will be against the Wan family, and it will not hurt to spare them......

Wait a minute!

Zhu Qizhen seemed to think of something, and his face became solemn again.

He looked at Wan Shi in front of him carefully, but the other party lowered his head tightly and couldn't see his face clearly.

Who is this man......

Zhu Qizhen suddenly remembered that this person's name was ...... Wan Zhen'er!

was originally a maid beside the Empress Dowager Sun, but once she was favored by the Zhou family, so she begged to come over and take her with her.

Because Wan Zhen'er was born well-behaved and clever, she was deeply appreciated by the Zhou family, especially taking care of the young prince, it was not easy for anyone to coax her to cry, but as long as Wan Zhen'er appeared, she would stop crying immediately.

When the prince moved to the East Palace, the Zhou family sent Wan Zhen'er over just to take care of the prince's food, clothing and daily life.

Zhu Qizhen had seen this person before, but he didn't take it to heart.

History has been rewritten, Zhu Jianshen's status as the crown prince is as stable as an old dog, and he no longer needs to rely on a woman who is twenty years older than him.

If it weren't for this experience, nothing would have happened.

However, at this moment, he still felt that he was negligent.

Wan Zhen'er is still by the prince's side, and the relationship is still very close.

Zhu Qizhen pondered in his heart and treated this woman...... Be cautious!

"Wynne, you go and check the black market, mainly for secret visits, don't startle the snake."

"Yes!"

Huai'en retired, Wan Zhen'er's face was anxious, and she was asking for mercy, but she saw the emperor beckoning to her.

"I have something to ask you, come in and say!"

Everyone looked at each other, what did the emperor want to ask a palace maid alone?

Zhou didn't understand, Belin didn't understand, and Wan Zhen'er didn't understand even more......

Zhu Qizhen saw that everyone was stunned, so he ordered: "Wan Zhen'er stays, and the others are scattered!" ”