Steam trains in ancient times (5): His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Blessed by God

After dinner, Si Peihuan went to boil the medicine enthusiastically under Si Qi’s hidden despairing gaze.

Si Qi walked back and forth in the yard, looking at her, thinking about how to find an excuse to refuse her later.

The porcelain pot on the small stove was bubbling, and the lid on top of the steam kept rising up. The pungent, strange smell penetrated into the nose and the bitterness went into the heart.

Si Qi sighed and tried to deceive himself by shifting his focus: [How do you think I can gain more world power in this world?]

Xiu Xiu thought for a while and came up with the answer: [Assist the King of Chu in governing the country and help the State of Chu become more prosperous than ever in history]

Si Qi: [It’s a correct answer, but it’s too narrow. I can do more than that.]

Xiu Xiu thought about it, and guessed: [Then develop guns and ammunition to conquer other countries? ]

Si Qi: [It’s still too small]

Xiu Xiu boldly thought: [Then conquer the world! ]

Si Qi was helpless: […Is this the extent of your imagination? ]

Xiu Xiu was frightened: [Isn’t it enough to conquer the whole world? ]

Si Qi pointed at the medicine jar and said, [What do you see?]

Xiuxiu said in a very low voice: [Master’s great enemy? ]

Si Qi: […………]

Xiu Xiu smiled flatteringly: [I mean, the little troubles in your life that are not worth mentioning? ]

Si Qi said unhappily: [It’s a steam engine!!]

A strange cry came out: [Ah!?]

Si Qi looked at the bubbling lid, and said with a slightly excited tone: [I studied the cultural history of the last world and found that the reason why human technology in that world could advance so rapidly was the steam engine. Because of the emergence of the steam engine, mechanical energy began to replace human power, and electrical energy entered the stage, and society entered an era of technological explosion!]

[If I can pull ancient civilization directly into modern civilization before my life ends, the world power brought by this will not only be 180, but even 280 will not be a problem! ]

Si Qi laughed and said [Assist the king? Conquer the world? That’s nothing! If my life span wasn’t limited, I could even take humans into space! To another planet!]

The knowledge he had acquired over thousands of years of diligent study was not meant to be seen only for show.

Xiu Xiu was fascinated by Si Qi’s idea: [Master is really amazing! ! ]

Because not only did he dare to think so, he would actually dare to do so!

The key was, he could actually do it!

Xiu Xiu said: [However, is the steam engine really that easy to manufacture? ]

[Have you seen a kettle before?] Si Qi smiled and said, [To put it simply, a steam engine is just a kettle, but it is more airtight.]

He walked to the study, picked up the brush on the table, drew a few simple and clear lines on the paper, and said: “Look, this is the design of the steam engine.”

Xiu Xiu took a look and said in surprise: [So simple? ]

[Yes, it is very simple, even a junior high school student can design it. The difficulty lies in the creativity from scratch and the idea of ​​utilizing the kinetic energy of steam] Si Qi said: [At first I wanted to skip the steam and go directly to the electricity stage. The initial power generation step can be supplemented by water power. However, the step is still too big. Many technical difficulties are difficult to overcome. We must do it step by step… The war is about to break out, and there is no time. As for materials, it is not a problem for Chu Feng, the future king, to find them for me, such as sulfuric acid and aluminum plates used as batteries, and the most important marine chemical industry…]

Xiu Xiu felt more and more confused the more he listened, and said with a wry smile: [Um… Master, when you were studying, Xiu Xiu was always playing games…]

Si Qi was speechless: [How dare you say that you are an auxiliary intelligent system? ]

Xiu Xiu said with a cheeky smile: [isn’t it true that every profession has its specialties?]

Although he was not good at assisting, he was good at sucking up to others!

It was okay to risk his life occasionally~~

Si Qi thought about it: [Is there any future technology like “intelligent system” in the golden finger of the child of the World? ]

Xiu Xiu became nervous at that moment, and said aggrievedly: [Master TnT, don’t you want me anymore? ]

Si Qi: [can replace the functions of those systems? I don’t need to rely on the power of that thing… But If I borrow that system temporarily and use the knowledge stored in it to change the world, would it be considered a violation?]

Xiu Xiu breathed a sigh of relief, and after a moment passed the judgment system installed in the body, and replied: [It is considered a violation, because the main auxiliary ability of that system to the child of the World is the knowledge stored in it, which is the same concept as the old man in the ring.]

Si Qi said helplessly: [Okay, it seems I still have to rely on myself]

Xiu Xiu flattered him: [With the master’s strength, of course, he does not need the help of a system that is in cahoots with the child of the World.]

Si Qi: […………]

Xiu Xiu’s tone was just like a wife whispering to her husband, saying that the wild flowers on the roadside were of questionable quality.

It was also at this time that Prince Chu sent someone to bring good news that the emperor had approved the right to manufacture ironware and the use of coastal territory.

Si Qi immediately said that such an important matter could not be delayed. Amid the anxious shouts of his sister behind him, “You haven’t taken the medicine yet!”, he made an excuse that he should put the cause of the country first, and slipped away without looking back.

Such a righteous and awe-inspiring look made the person who came over to report the news to him quite emotional, and his eyes were full of respect when he looked at Si Qi.

In the East Palace, the staff were gathering together to discuss matters.

Seeing Si Qi coming, these famous bigwigs immediately smiled happily, as happy as a group of children.

The East Palace was well-informed. Many things that had just happened in the outside world and hadn’t even had time to be spread out were already known clearly to them.

Someone immediately said to Si Qi: “He said he was recuperating at home, but I didn’t expect him to do such a big thing without making any noise!”

Si Qi thought back and felt that he had not even invented a steam engine, which seemed like he had not done anything great. He asked in confusion, “What are you talking about?”

Many people held pieces of rice paper covered with words in their hands, and they couldn’t let go of them. They said to Si Qi with great joy, “Of course, we want to make the fourth princess lose her reputation and flee in disgrace!”

“Look at this poem, it’s so well written!”

Someone looked at Si Qi expectantly, asking who wrote the collection of poems. Si Qi still said the same thing: “I picked up the collection of poems, I don’t know.”

Many people who loved poetry were anxious, while others looked at Si Qi deeply, feeling that they had seen through the truth, and smiled profoundly.

“I understand. We all understand. You don’t have to pretend in front of us.”

“You don’t want the Fourth Princess to realize that you are framing her, so you made up this excuse, right?”

“I’m sorry for you. You wrote so many masterpieces, but you can’t put your own name on them.”

Si Qi was so overwhelmed by their loving looks that he couldn’t feel better.

Others might think, “Si Qi alone cannot write so many famous poems. He was not the mastermind behind this. He just discovered the collection of poems and exposed the Fourth Princess’s conspiracy in public.” Or, “Si Qi and the Fourth Princess have no grudges. Why would he target her? The Fourth Princess is at fault for deceiving the world and stealing her reputation.” And for reasons such as “Didn’t Si Qi read out the Fourth Princess’s ‘One Year, One Withering and Flourishing’ in advance? She did plagiarize works from the poetry collection”, For these reasons, they believed Si Qi had nothing to do with this matter.

But in the eyes of the staff who had fought with the Fourth Princess several times, the Fourth Princess was not only able to write poetry, but also single-handedly helped the Fourth Prince to such a high position. She was a truly capable person.

The reason why Si Qi targeted her was because she was the Fourth Prince’s person and because she almost killed Si Qi and his sister.

It would probably take some time to make them believe that the Fourth Princess was actually a thief.

Si Qi couldn’t really explain the existence of time travel to his colleagues, or lie that there really were gods in this world.

When they find out that the Fourth Princess could no longer write poetry, they would probably believe that she was a liar.

Thinking of this, Si Qi changed the subject and asked, “What were you discussing just now?”

Talking about business, the group of people finally got out of their previous enthusiasm and said helplessly: “It’s still because of the fourth princess.”

“In recent years, famines have occurred repeatedly, and the people are hungry, which has caused great headaches for His Majesty. The Fourth Princess invented something called fertilizer, which can actually increase food production! This made His Majesty very happy, and he rewarded the Fourth Prince with many treasures, praising him for marrying a virtuous wife and loving the people like his own children.”

“Glass, soap, chess, fertilizer… I really don’t know what’s in this woman’s head and why she is so smart…”

“What a pity, she married the Fourth Prince.”

Seeing the sad faces of the few people, Si Qi chuckled and said, “That’s it?”

After hearing this, everyone’s eyes suddenly lit up and they asked eagerly, “Do you have a solution?”

“Yes! The Fourth Prince has the Fourth Princess, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has Si Qi!”

“Why does it feel weird when you say that…” Si Qi felt a little awkward after hearing that. He glanced at Crown Prince Chu who was sitting at the top of the table. He saw that the other party was looking at him as if he was laughing, which made Si Qi feel a little embarrassed for some reason.

It felt like he was being teased indirectly.

Si Qi asked: “Do you know what materials are used in the fertilizer?”

Everyone asked directly: “How can we know such a secret? Your Highness the Crown Prince…?”

Chu Feng shook his head slightly: “I have never asked my father.”

He looked at Si Qi and said, “If it’s important, I’ll go ask later.”

Si Qi said directly: “No need, I can roughly guess it.”

In the original owner’s memory, it was five or six years after the Daughter of the World came to this world that she “invented” black gunpowder at a critical moment when the enemy was about to invade. Things like glass and soap were not introduced until one or two years later.He guessed the Daughter of the World’s knowledge reserve level should be the level of ordinary people.

The only fertilizer that ordinary people could squeeze out is probably to use feces to increase the nutrients in the soil, which is a simple method.

It was impossible to be nitrogen fertilizer, urea and other production-increasing tools of later generations.

Making these advanced fertilizers was not a problem for Si Qi. The simplest way was to use sulfuric acid to process phosphate ore to make phosphate fertilizer. This thing was very beneficial to vegetables, fruits and melons. The extracted phosphorus could be used as war supplies and would not be wasted in any way.

The difficulty was that it would take a certain amount of time to create these things from scratch in the ancient world, and what people were worried about was the current situation. Si Qi thought for a moment and said, “If you want to increase the yield of fertile land, there are more ways than just fertilizers.”

He took the paper and pen from the table and wrote as he spoke: “Farmers need to go to the river to fetch water repeatedly to irrigate the soil, which takes a lot of time and energy. In winter, they even have to break ice to fetch water. However, if the villagers work together to dig a canal, they can save the trouble of going back and forth in the future, and use the extra time to cultivate more land. Similarly, the canal can also adjust the temperature difference between day and night for the plants, and the fertile silt can be used as fertilizer or burned into bricks. The continuous flow of water can drive the waterwheel, which can be used to thresh the husks and grind flour…”

There was no end to the talk, so Si Qi stopped talking and changed the subject, “Farm tools and oxen are also a problem that needs to be solved. Many families don’t even have an iron plow…”

The staff on the side had already been dazzled by Si Qi’s previous words that contained so much information. Now it was finally their turn to have a say, so they said directly: “Iron tools are controlled items, and only large landowners can approve their use.”

Si Qi nodded slightly, indicating that he understood. In ancient times, ironware was equivalent to weapons and was an essential tool for rebellion. There were even stories in history of people using wooden knives to cut vegetables, or several families sharing one kitchen knife.

Si Qi: “So, we can let them obtain the right to use, not the right to own. Let them rent farm tools and oxen from the government office, and the price is a portion of the grain from their future farmland. In this way, farmers can produce more grain, and the government can also get more benefits.”

Anyone who could become the prince’s aide was definitely not stupid. They were immediately enlightened by Si Qi’s words, as if their eight extraordinary meridians were opened, and they trembled all over.

The look they  gave Si Qi at that time was as if they were looking at a god.

Many things, like the steam engine, would remain uninvented even after thousands of years unless someone first suggested it.

In their eyes, Si Qi was now the Wright brothers who were the first to fly into the sky. It was simply amazing.

Si Qi didn’t stop there. He recalled the knowledge he had read in books and used a brush to sketch out the designs of several improved agricultural tools. Not only would they save time and effort than the commonly used agricultural tools, but they would also be able to cultivate larger areas of land.

To give a more vivid example, it was like replacing the daggers in the hands of soldiers with rifles and machetes, which were sharp weapons on the battlefield. The effect was absolutely different.

Si Qi casually took the design drawing and put it aside, then continued: “Then it’s field management…”

No one listened to what Si Qi said next. They all crowded in front of the drawings, their eyes wide open, and discussed it heatedly, saying loudly: “Do you understand? You don’t understand! I don’t understand either! Go and ask the officials from the Ministry of Agriculture to come over!!”

Si Qi, who was pushed aside, said: “…”

Well, wait until they had digested what was already been said before he talked about the rest.

Things like improving high-quality seeds, introducing high-yield varieties, scientific picking and cultivation… He guessed they would just be confused if he told them.

Si Qi had just thought of improving the breeding industry, but right now the planting industry alone was enough to keep these staff busy for a long time.

Seeing how ecstatic they were now, they seemed to be eager to do something big.

He hoped that in the future when he drives them around and don’t have a moment of leisure, they won’t complain about how they did everything.

Thinking of this, Si Qi looked up at the Crown Prince who was sitting above and carefully reading the notes written by Si Qi. He thought that if it was the King of Chu in history who trusted Si Qi wholeheartedly, he would definitely be happy to cooperate with him to make this country more prosperous.

He would definitely understand him and support him.

Thinking of this, Si Qi couldn’t help but feel particularly relieved.

At this moment, a servant came in with sweat on his forehead, holding a bowl of hot Chinese medicine in great excitement, and said to Si Qi as if he was presenting a treasure: “Sir! Your medicine!”

His eyes were full of admiration and respect, and his smile was so brilliant: “I came here knowing that you didn’t have time to take the medicine! His Royal Highness the Crown Prince specially sent a carriage to let me bring the medicine to you!”

“My Lord, His Highness is so kind to you!”

Si Qi: “…………”

Si Qi looked at Chu Feng with despair, feeling betrayed and unable to say anything.

The prince, who never showed his emotions, suddenly burst out laughing when he saw Si Qi’s expression, his face full of joy.

Si Qi stared at him expressionlessly and thought, what safe haven, this guy was the source of his pain!

The young man, who had always been confident and fearless, now looked worried because of a bowl of Chinese medicine. The contrast was so great that the prince found him particularly adorable.

The staff were busy sorting out the various plans that Si Qi had just proposed, and had no time to pay attention to this. The prince stood up and ordered the servants to bring maltose, and said to Si Qi as if coaxing a child: “Be good, after you drink the medicine, I will give you some candy.”

Si Qi said sullenly, “What candy? Those candies are not sweet at all.”

The prince didn’t mind Si Qi’s resistance at all, and asked, “Do you like eating honey?”

The attendant holding the medicine bowl nearby was secretly astonished when he heard this, wondering when had His Royal Highness the Crown Prince ever spoken to anyone in such a gentle voice, or even used that extremely precious honey to coax someone into taking medicine obediently.

Such kindness was truly unheard of.

Si Qi struggled again and again, but seeing that Chu Feng was determined to persuade him to take the medicine, he could only compromise helplessly: “If it’s honey… okay.”

Chu Feng then relaxed his frowning brows and said with a smile, “Like a child.”

Si Qi said cunningly: “I am not afraid of taking medicine. I just said that the candy is not sweet.”

Prince: “Oh?”

In this era, sugar was an absolute luxury item. The maltose that the prince had gifted to Si Qi was even more expensive than herbs, and was basically something that only the royal family could enjoy.

In foreign countries, and even for a long time, sucrose was regarded as a miracle medicine, a treasure given by God, which could cure colds and fevers.

Not to mention honey. In the absence of perfect beekeeping technology, all honey was collected from the wild. You could imagine how scarce the quantity was. Even the prince’s East Palace may not have much in stock. This was real liquid gold.

But he just used it to make Si Qi happy, and his love and care were obvious.

Seeing Chu Feng being so gentle to him, Si Qi’s initial depression soon disappeared, and he said to the prince, “Your Highness has given me so much honey, I will definitely make a mountain of honey for you in return.”

Prince Chu laughed: “Your sweet words are sweeter than sugar.”

Si Qi said, “I am telling the truth. I know how to make sugar sweeter than honey, and I also know how to get a lot of honey.”

Upon hearing this, the prince looked intently at the young man in front of him.

He really didn’t know how many unknown treasures the person in front of him had waiting for him to dig. He found him more and more lovable, and he wanted to hold him in his hands and cherish him. “Then, tell me in detail.”

Si Qi explained: “The source of maltose is nothing more than sweet potatoes, sorghum, malt and other things. However, there is a thing in the south called sugar cane. The juice of sugar cane is sweet, and after boiling over high heat, it can leave cinnabar-like particles, which is brown sugar. It is sweeter than honey and is good for the human body.”

The staff members who were originally discussing farm tools suddenly fell silent and lowered their voices. In the huge hall, you could hear a pin drop.

Was this something they could just listen to casually?

If such a precious secret were to be leaked…

The staff’s eyes suddenly became fierce, staring at the guards outside the door and the trembling servants holding the medicine bowls, like tigers choosing their prey.

Si Qi noticed this and quickly said, “It’s okay. In just one or two years, sugar will be produced in large quantities and available in every household. The sugar-making process is simple and can be made in private workshops. It’s not a big deal.”

The staff looked at Si Qi in silence, completely speechless at Si Qi’s nonchalant tone.

This, this, this guy was really, did he know how much benefit his words could bring? That was candy! One piece of candy could easily be exchanged for a lot of silver!

Si Qi added: “There is sugarcane in the south and beets in the north, both of which can be made into brown sugar and white sugar. The fourth prince has the fourth princess to help him run his business and finances and win people’s hearts. Your Highness naturally needs dozens of ways to make money…”

The staff members slowly came to their senses and looked at Si Qi with eyes filled with shock after being overjoyed.

Perhaps, in Si Qi’s eyes, “just” the most luxurious maltose was really nothing.

Everyone was talking at once: “We need to plant sugarcane and sugar beets as soon as possible…”

“Buy a lot…”

“Secretly manufactured…”

Si Qi listened and said to the Crown Prince with some doubt: “Does it need to be kept secret?”

Wasn’t this kind of thing necessary? His Highness did not criticize Si Qi’s naivety, but asked: “What do you think?”

Si Qi: “Perhaps it is hard for Your Highness to believe, but in my opinion, sugar is nothing. I can think of thousands of things that are far better than this.”

The prince smiled and said, “I have never not believed what you said.”

As soon as the staff around him saw the prince’s attitude, they knew how things would develop next. They felt extremely sad, and their faces turned into bitter gourds, as if they had missed out on countless mountains of gold and silver.

Si Qi persuaded them, “The sugarcane has not yet been produced. His Majesty will definitely let Your Highness supervise this matter personally. Would His Majesty share in the profits without Your Highness’s share?”

The staff carefully pondered the connection and admitted after a moment: “What you said makes sense.”

Seeing that they had figured it out, Si Qi smiled and said, “There is also the method of raising bees.”

Also?

Everyone was shocked, their eyes sparkled, and they wished Si Qi would quickly tell them everything he knew! It would open their eyes!

However, this time, they dismissed all outsiders in advance and listened to Si Qi’s eloquent speeches with great interest, and their respect for his rich talent and knowledge was constantly refreshed.

Even the prince began to feel that these matters were too important, so he simply said, “Forget it, just come with me to see my father and tell him the story in person.”

After hearing this, all the staff members had no intention of objecting. Indeed, although Si Qi had no achievements, the many good strategies he had offered in the past few days were enough for His Majesty the Emperor to treat him with courtesy.

Such a person was brought back by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince when he was out for a trip. God was really blessing His Royal Highness!!