Steam trains in ancient times (7): Smash that household

After the meal, the Fourth Prince and his wife left in disgrace, while Si Qi and the Crown Prince stayed to continue discussing the issue of increasing farmland production with the Emperor.

A group of ministers summoned by the emperor met Si Qi for the first time. After a brief conversation, they were shocked by the young man’s rich talents that were unimaginable for ordinary people.

Afterwards, under the emperor’s gratified gaze, the ministers, whose hair had already turned gray, humbly asked Si Qi about all the details, completely forgetting that the other party was just a commoner with no official title, who was not even twenty years old and had not even performed the ceremony of coming of age or taken a courtesy name1¹.

Thinking of this, the emperor issued an imperial decree to give Si Qi a three-story house, twenty maids and servants, and two hundred taels of gold. For a commoner from a poor family who had never passed the imperial examination, this was almost a sudden turn of events.

The emperor assigned the task of selecting servants to guard the palace to the crown prince. This deepened the relationship between the crown prince and Si Qi, and tacitly acknowledged Si Qi as one of the crown prince’s subordinates.

This meant that the emperor would credit all of Si Qi’s contributions before and after this to the prince as bonus points.

Prince Chu quietly boarded a fast train that led directly to the throne, perhaps without even knowing it.

“Are there any other rewards you want?” the emperor asked with a pleasant face.

Si Qi answered bluntly, “Yes. When I research new things, I need a lot of ore and materials.”

“Ore?”

Now that the iron smelting rights had been given away, giving them some ore would naturally not be a problem.

The emperor hesitated for a moment and said, “I will send someone to inform the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Salt and Iron to ask them to cooperate with you.”

It was the Ministry of Revenue again…

It was normal for the Daughter of the World to have a good relationship with the Ministry of Revenue since she was so good at making money. No one would dislike the God of Wealth, right? The quartz sand and lime used in making glass were most likely obtained by the Ministry of Revenue.

A while ago, Si Qi and the son of the Minister of Revenue had a feud, and both sides had offended each other thoroughly. If they went to them to ask for ore this time, they may run into some trouble.

But not being able to do so was impossible.

After discussing the matter with the ministers, Si Qi went to the Ministry of Revenue with the written list of materials.

As expected, after hearing Si Qi’s name, the official’s face turned arrogant and he said directly: “No!”

Si Qi: “His Majesty has personally given you instructions to cooperate with me. Do you want to disobey him?”

The official looked at the ignorant young man in front of him with a half-smile, and said in a sinister tone: “How come, just because His Majesty has given an order, can we make something out of this storehouse and send it to you? If you want it, you can go to the mine and mine it yourself!”

The officials who were watching laughed along and pointed at Si Qi and said, “However, even if you mine it, you are not allowed to embezzle state property without authorization. You must send it to our Salt and Iron Department for registration.”

“As for when to register, it depends on how important the ore is. Our Ministry of Revenue is very busy, and there are more important things waiting to be dealt with. I guess the things we can give you are not important things. Wait for a year or so, and maybe you can get a number from us.”

Seeing Si Qi being humiliated like this, the people who were watching the joke also said, “Of course, the right to use the minerals after registration must be in order. If someone happens to need these minerals, I’m afraid that it won’t be the turn of a nobody like you! Who knows, in the future, you might be able to get one or two of them to use as marbles to amuse your children, hahahahaha!!”

Several people laughed wildly, without any intention of saving face for Si Qi. The officials of the Ministry of Revenue around them all looked like they were watching the excitement. They gloated over Si Qi’s embarrassing situation of being besieged, and felt a sense of comfort as a bystander.

Si Qi remained calm, turned his neck, pinched his wrist, raised his arm and punched the official in the face who was sneering at him.

All they heard was that man screaming, blood spurting from his nose, and his teeth breaking. He flew backwards two or three meters with a bang, and fell to the ground, groaning.

The people around were suddenly silent, staring at the boy in astonishment, as if they couldn’t believe their eyes.

Si Qi said coldly: “You are just a bully. What do you think you are? The only son of the Minister of Revenue tried to frame me, and was finally thrown into a cell. He has not been released yet! Do you still want to bully me?”

The officials around looked at Si Qi with indignation, as if they wanted to refute the young man who was talking nonsense. Si Qi sneered: “What, you think it’s not enough to offend me? Do you want that minister to live in prison for the rest of his life? Either give me what I want now, or I will turn around and leave. If the minister fails to save his son, he will hold you accountable. Don’t blame me for not giving you a chance!”

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment and all were silent.

The official who fell to the ground and had a front tooth broken by Si Qi’s punch covered his mouth with grief and anger. In this era, losing a front tooth was equivalent to being disfigured. He was afraid that he would never be able to get a promotion in the future, and might even lose his job.

He roared in grief, “You want to take things from us? You’re dreaming!”

“Oh?” Si Qi did not refute. He looked around, took a wooden chair from the side, picked it up and walked straight towards the official.

The people around him were so frightened by his behavior that they dared not to move, fearing that this madman would do something insane and hurt them.

The official who was missing his front teeth was so frightened that he quickly crawled to his feet and ran inside.

Someone asked sternly, “That’s enough! You are a nobody, you don’t even have the qualifications to enter the Ministry of Revenue, get out now!”

Si Qi put the chair in the middle of the hall with a bang, sat on it with his arms around his shoulders, raised his chin slightly, and said disdainfully: “The Ministry of Revenue is under the control of His Majesty. When did it become a place for you bunch of dog officials to show off your power? I came here on His Majesty’s orders to ask for the ore. Why do I need your approval? Not to mention that there is ore in the warehouse, even if there is not, you must give me all of them today! If you can’t, it’s deceiving the emperor and disobeying the order! I will ask His Majesty for permission to take your dog lives one by one!”

The group of people looked at the young man in front of them who was speaking with a sneer on his face, and finally began to feel uneasy.

One of them gritted his teeth, took a step forward, and was about to say something.

Si Qi looked at him and said directly: “Why, you have something to say? Fine! Then come with me and go before His Majesty and see what you have to say!”

The man stood still, two or three drops of cold sweat appeared on his pale forehead. After a moment, he slowly retreated stiffly under Si Qi’s gaze.

Everyone around was silent, and no one dared to look down on the young man in front of them.

No wonder even if the Minister personally took action against Si Qi, he couldn’t do anything to him. This young man was really so stubborn that fighting him was like hitting a rock with an egg, and the losses would be greater than the gains.

Si Qi looked at the people sweating and sneered.

He would need to come to this place frequently to get things in the future. If he didn’t scare these people away in one go, he would inevitably waste time in the future.

Just as he was about to continue speaking, he suddenly felt the expressions of the officials around him change drastically, and their eyes all turned behind him.

Si Qi subconsciously turned around and looked over, then saw the crown prince in a four-clawed python robe striding towards him.

The prince had originally wanted to come over to support the young man, but when he got here, he found that a group of people from the Ministry of Revenue had been forced into a corner by Si Qi alone. After being stunned, he suddenly realized.

That’s right… The young man was always so arrogant and confident in front of outsiders. No one could do anything to him, not even the extremely wise Fourth Princess.

Recently, he had seen the young man being docile and well-behaved in front of him and His Majesty so often that he almost forgot how rebellious he was by nature.

He glanced at Si Qi with a smile, then raised his head, his expression changed back to the cold and dignified one that everyone was more familiar with, and said lightly: “Si Juren has been here for so long, and the Ministry of Revenue has not made any movement. Those who are unwilling to work should resign. The court does not need useless people who can’t do anything.”

The prince was still the prince after all, even if he had been a little down and out recently, it was not something that a subject could resist.

Even the Fourth Prince, who has been gaining great power recently, had to stop and greet the Crown Prince when he saw him, otherwise he would be considered as insubordination and would be accused of not knowing how to respect hierarchy. The officials around did not expect that Si Qi could even invite the Crown Prince, so they quickly apologized and ran to the warehouse with the list Si Qi put on the table. They were so busy that they were sweating as they carefully counted the nearly 100 kinds of ores on the list several times. 

Then, they came to Si Qi and Chu Feng with a guilty smile and kowtowed: “Your Highness, the things are ready. Where do you think they should be sent?”

The prince glanced at Si Qi, who asked, “Does the iron smelting workshop have a warehouse?”

Since it was Si Qi who took the initiative to ask for it, the prince did not hand it over to others to handle. He knew this very well and answered directly: “Yes.”

Si Qi: “Then send it there.”

After saying that, he glanced at the man in front of him with a flattering smile, patted his head with his hand, and said to him: “Be smarter next time. Send me what I want immediately. Do you understand?”

“I understand, I understand.” The official smiled very attentively, without even a hint of reluctance, which was completely different from his attitude just now.

It must be because Chu Feng was here. Si Qi knew it and thought that it was more relaxed with a backer behind him.

If Chu Feng became emperor in the future, what minerals and materials would he not be able to get?

Suddenly, he was more eager to help Chu Feng ascend the throne.

The prince picked up the list of materials written by Si Qi and found that it was full of strange things. He asked curiously, “Sand? What do you want this for?”

Si Qi said: “To make glass.”

The prince looked in astonishment, not understanding how cheap and inconspicuous sand could be made into crystal clear glass.

The official from the Ministry of Revenue standing nearby was stunned for a moment, then showed a look of sudden enlightenment.

No wonder the Fourth Princess always asked them for a lot of sand in recent years. Who would have thought that this sand was actually the raw material of the priceless colored glass! !

This was really unexpected…

The prince became more and more enthusiastic about Si Qi’s seemingly endless talent, and couldn’t help but ask: “Do you want to make glass objects and sell them like the Fourth Princess? Do you need me to find a professional craftsman to help you make them?”

“Glass is different from porcelain. It is not made by hand.” Si Qi shook his head: “However, I do need professional craftsmen to help make related utensils. But those utensils are not for selling.”

The prince asked curiously, “What is that for?”

What uses did glass (gemstone) have besides looking good?

Si Qi smiled slightly: “It has many uses.”

The first was the test tube beaker used in chemical experiments.

That is something far more powerful than a few glass tea cups.

Unfortunately, it fell into the hands of the Daughter of the World and could only be exchanged for a little gold and silver.

The prince was very interested in how the Fourth Princess made glass, and wanted to see in person how Si Qi turned the sand that could be found everywhere into transparent and flawless colored glass.

Si Qi recalled the weapons of this era that he had seen before, shook his head, and said, “We need to do some preparations.”

The level of ironwork production could roughly tell how high the furnace temperature of the ironworks of that era could be raised. Being able to smelt iron ore meant that 1300C was no problem, but it couldn’t go any higher.

The main raw material for making glass is quartz sand, and the melting point of quartz sand is 1750C. This is also the fundamental reason why ancient glass refining always resulted in glass mixed with various impurities, which was more like colored stones than glass.

Not hot enough.

There were two solutions here. One was to simply increase the furnace temperature directly, and the other was to lower the melting temperature of quartz sand by adding a solvent.

The most commonly used solvents are pure alkali, wood ash or lead nitrate, which are not rare. Add a little limestone as a stabilizer during the firing process, and the three together can make simple glass. The Daughter of the World probably  also used this method to make glass.

However, since Si Qi wanted to build a steam engine, simply avoiding the furnace temperature and adding solvents would not solve the fundamental problem. Therefore, before refining glass, he first had to transform the furnace in the iron smelting plant into a high-speed furnace that could produce molten iron.

It was not difficult to make that kind of blast furnace. Si Qi already had the design in his mind, and what he was lacking were the materials.

In addition to stone bricks, the manufacture of a blast furnace also required refractory clay to continuously build the furnace higher. When it reached a height of about five or six meters, molten iron could be produced.

Si Qi had a whole country behind him, so whatever he wanted would be delivered to him, and things from all over the country could be transferred to him at the fastest speed. So he just drew the design and supervised the work, and step by step, he would eventually make what he needed.

Si Qi said to Prince Chu, “Your Highness, I need some craftsmen to help me.”

The prince liked the feeling of being relied on by Si Qi, and readily agreed: “Okay, I’ll find you a craftsman with whatever skills you need.”

Si Qi thought about it for a moment, then smiled mischievously and said, “First… we need someone who can blow candy figures.”

Prince: “…………?”

Half a month later, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince finally understood what blowing sugar figures meant.

However, although the color of this “sugar” looked very similar to maltose, orange-yellow, and also had a soft, semi-fluid appearance, its temperature was so high that it was completely inedible.

A trained craftsman who had just applied for the job held a thin and long iron pipe in his palm and kept rotating it. He blew air steadily into one end of the pipe with his mouth, while the other end was stuck to the semi-molten glass.

In the era without industrialized machine manufacturing, people blew glass into bubbles by blowing, and then used gravity and external processing to make the bubbles into various required shapes.

After a little cooling, you could get the final glass product.

Ever since the craftsman learned that what he was making was priceless glass, his enthusiasm for the work became incredibly intense, and he was extremely careful and cautious every time he blew the glass.

Fearing that his employer would waste a huge amount of money due to a single mistake, the craftsman privately trained himself for a long time using other methods, demanding that every detail and every technique be perfect.

Therefore, even Si Qi couldn’t find any major faults with the final product.

It was not just similar to the design drawing, it could be said to be exactly the same.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince looked at the various strange and bizarre test instruments placed on the laboratory table, and lifted up a thin and long test tube to look at it in front of his eyes. He really couldn’t understand what the beauty of such things was and what their use was.

Seeing that the Crown Prince was standing in this crude smelting factory, enduring the high temperature of the furnace and refusing to leave, Si Qi thought that he liked these glass products.

Returning a favor, and at the same time giving a gift to a friend in his heart, Si Qi asked with a smile: “Your Highness, may you allow me to give you a gift?”

The prince’s eyes flickered slightly, and he tried his best to suppress the corners of his mouth that kept rising up, and said reservedly: “Oh? What is the gift?”

Si Qi asked the craftsman to stop making the cups at hand, and he stood in front of the fire, picked up the iron pipe and took out some semi-molten glass, and asked: “Your Highness, do you like cups or decorations?”

——Was Si Qi going to make a gift for him himself?

Prince Chu couldn’t help but smile, and said with restraint: “Cup.”

This way he could enjoy it on his lips every day.

He saw with his own eyes how glass was made, which was made by blowing air into it with the mouth.

A glass cup blown by Si Qi himself… Hey.

Si Qi imagined in his mind the appearance of the cups and plates that Chu Feng would like, nodded, picked up the iron pipe, and took a breath.

“Wait!” Upon seeing this, Prince Chu hurriedly shouted to stop him.

Si Qi:?

Prince Chu tried his best not to sound too anxious or obvious. He took out a silk handkerchief, handed it to Si Qi, and said, “Wipe it.”

Si Qi: “…”

Si Qi suddenly realized: “Thank you, Your Highness.”

It seemed that this Crown Prince Chu had some cleanliness obsession.

Why would a germophobia patient let him make cups? Didn’t he mind that he was the one who blew up his life?

Wiping the mouthpiece of the iron pipe with a handkerchief, Si Qi skillfully held the blowpipe and spun it in his palm. He blew slightly into it and observed the shape of the glass attentively.

It didn’t take long to create a cup with a simple and beautiful shape and exquisite details.

He took  this cup with a hint of red in color and put it aside in a ventilated place to cool down.

After returning, Si Qi saw the prince holding the iron pipe in his hand, standing motionless in front of the hot stove.

Wasn’t it too hot? Si Qi asked, “Are you interested in this?”

The sudden sound startled the prince. He subconsciously took back the iron pipe in his hand and looked back at Si Qi in a panic: “Yes, yes.”

Si Qi smiled and said, “If you don’t mind, you can give it a try.”

The prince’s face seemed to be a little red under the firelight, and he nodded: “Okay.”

Following Si Qi’s example, the prince ordered some glasses and came over. He turned to look at Si Qi and said, “I’ll make you a cup, too.”

Si Qi heard this and smiled faintly, “Thank you, Your Highness.”

A smile appeared on Chu Feng’s lips. He just liked Si Qi’s way of handling things, not being surprised by insults and being generous and magnanimous.

It made him feel like… he was the other person’s close friend, without any barriers in terms of status.

It was indescribably comfortable and at ease to be with each other.

Si Qi picked up the handkerchief and tried to pass it over, but Chu Feng turned around and blew at the iron pipe, as if he didn’t see it.

Si Qi: “…”

The prince was so excited to try new things that he forgot about it for a moment, right?

It was better not to remind him, lest he got annoyed with it later.

Si Qi put away the handkerchief silently and observed the shape and direction of the glass.

But maybe because he was too cautious or what, Chu Feng’s lips were pressed against the edge of the iron pipe, but he didn’t breathe out much, and there was no change until the liquid fell to the ground.

The prince looked at Si Qi with a hint of embarrassment.

“Just practice more.” Si Qi encouraged as he saw that there were still a lot of raw materials.

The prince said nothing, and silently ordered some more glass.

Perhaps because he felt embarrassed by the failure just now, the prince rotated the iron tube extremely quickly and his movements were very irregular, which caused the shape of the blown glass to be deformed and unable to achieve a round and symmetrical appearance.

Seeing this, Si Qi took two steps closer, touched the back of the prince’s hand with his palm, indirectly controlled the speed of the iron pipe, and whispered to Chu Feng: “Your Highness, don’t be too nervous, relax a little…”

With a “puff” sound, the prince’s breathing suddenly became heavy, and this time he blew the cup directly into a twisted hollow test tube.

Si Qi looked at the prince’s forehead, which was sweaty and his face was red from the fire. His breathing seemed a little rapid, so he said, “If you feel uncomfortable, can you take a rest?”

The prince’s eyes dodged and he turned around to avoid Si Qi’s gaze. “No, I don’t feel uncomfortable…”

Still quite stubborn, Si Qi nodded and instructed in a slow tone: “Try to slow down your breathing and keep it even. When rotating the iron tube, the speed should not be too fast or too slow. Too fast or too slow will cause the produced glass to deform and distort.”

The prince lowered his head, looking at Si Qi who was instructing him on the cooking method with his eyes lowered, his heart beating faster and faster unconsciously.

It must be too hot in here, which was why he was sweating all over and had this flushed face and dry mouth.

The prince was trying to find an excuse to deceive himself. His voice was hoarse and he pleaded, “Can you show me how to do it again?”

“No problem.” Si Qi took out a handkerchief and wiped the mouthpiece of the iron pipe in front of the prince’s inexplicably hurt eyes. He demonstrated it to the prince as slowly as possible.

This time he made a single-handled teacup for the prince, which was not common in that era.

Explained: “This makes drinking water more convenient.”

The prince looked at the teacup which looked a little strange because of the handle and said, “Then I will make one for you.”

They must be the only two people in the world who would use such a uniquely shaped cup.

There were only two of these in the world, and they were made by each person for the other.

Thinking of this, the prince’s ears turned red from the heat of the fire.

Si Qi saw it inadvertently and thought to himself that he had never thought Chu Feng was so sensitive to heat. He might as well make him a refrigerator and put some ice cream in it as a gift for him.

He wondered if he would return the favor?

Like making some pudding for him…

But could His Royal Highness make pudding?

We couldn’t assume that people had the same personalities just because they looked alike.

After working for half an hour, Chu Feng finally made the teacup. He watched Si Qi put it next to the teacup that Si Qi had made for Chu Feng before. Thinking that two almost identical glass cups would be delivered to another person’s hands, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince smiled particularly happily.

Seeing this, Si Qi thought to himself, this was the charm of labor! He sighed with a completely wrong train of thought.

After touring the glass-making workshop, Si Qi took the Crown Prince to the iron smelting workshop not far away.

Looking at the two-story-high furnace, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said curiously, “This is what you said, the one that can smelt iron ore into molten iron, and even smelt out…”

Seeing that the other party had forgotten what the noun was for a moment, Si Qi said, “Steel.”

“Yes, steel.” Chu Feng asked, “Is steel really as magical as you said?”

“Yes, both its hardness and density are far superior to iron.”

Steel can be made by removing the carbon from molten iron, a process called annealing. Of course, the hardness of this material could not reach the modern level of the last century, and calling it steel may be a bit of a stretch, but it could definitely crush the ironware of this era.

The main reason for the low production today was that the efficiency of manually grinding iron ore into iron powder was too low.

When the steam engine came out, power issues were no longer a problem. It was a power monster that had unlimited power and would never get tired.

During the days of waiting for the molten iron to be turned into iron sheets of corresponding shapes by the craftsmen, several carts of sugarcane pulled from thousands of miles from the south finally arrived in the capital.

Because the matter was so important, even the emperor came to the scene in person to observe Si Qi’s sugar-making process.

He thought it would be a complicated and arduous project, but it only took half a day to make brown sugar from sugarcane. The process is to squeeze juice → boil → evaporate water → separate brown sugar → pack into a bowl.

The well-informed emperor was so shocked that he was stunned. While eating the brown sugar, he kept exclaiming, “How can it be so sweet, how can it be so sweet?” Looking at the pots of brown sugar, it seemed as if his eyes were shining.

With so many good things, the emperor, who was always kind and loved his family, happily immediately called the concubines and underage children in the harem and gave each of them a piece of brown sugar at least the size of a fist.

Everyone was laughing so happily that the palace maids and eunuchs nearby were drooling with envy.

The princes and princesses surrounded the emperor, saying sweetly that their father really loved children and was kind, giving them all such precious things. The emperor smiled like a loving father when he heard this.

Only the careful Si Qi discovered that he had clearly made four pots of brown sugar for the emperor, but only two were taken out.

Um…………

It was better not to say anything.

Later, Si Qi made MSG and presented it to the emperor for him to taste.

The emperor, who had experienced many ups and downs in recent days, had learned to look at everything related to Si Qi with a calm eye.

That was to say, he ate a few more bowls of rice calmly and accidentally ate too much.

They were all small things.

After dinner, the emperor, who had originally turned a blind eye and watched Si Qi and the prince teach the Ministry of Revenue without showing favoritism, summoned the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue and scolded him severely that day.

The reason was not only that the brown sugar, MSG and glass produced by Si Qi could bring huge benefits to the State of Chu, but also because Si Qi’s wisdom and talents, which seemed to have no end, were absolutely incomparable to those of a mere Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

From then on, no matter what Si Qi wanted to get from the Ministry of Revenue, no one dared to interfere and make Si Qi unhappy.

Other ministers who were loyal to the Fourth Prince, even if they disagreed with Si Qi because of party struggles, would be more or less considerate when doing things and would not dare to go too far. After all, Si Qi was a favorite of His Majesty.

Just one month after traveling back in time, Si Qi successfully became an important figure in the State of Chu.

That day, Si Qi asked a craftsman to make a wind chime with an elegant shape and clear and pleasant sound and brought it back for Si Peihuan, who always stayed at home and rarely went out, to play with.

Because of the emergence of MSG, his sister now liked to cook more and more. Even though she had a cook, she still chose to cook for her brother herself, and always liked to act like a cooking god in front of Si Qi with an excited look on her face.

It’s no wonder she was so excited. Once people in ancient times had tasted the power of MSG, they probably couldn’t bear to live without it for the rest of their lives.

“Your sister’s cooking skills are probably even better than the chef at Piao Xiang Lou.”

Si Peihuan, who had always been shy, couldn’t help but brag about herself to Si Qi in such a tactful way.

Piao Xiang Lou was a restaurant opened by the daughter of the. This talented woman was not only a good poet, but also a good inventor. Her “self-created” dishes such as pickled radish, pickled cucumber, lemon chicken feet, and hibiscus chicken slices had attracted many wealthy businessmen and royal families. The business was booming and everyone who had eaten there said it was good.

Si Qi was so busy making steam engines and conducting chemical experiments that he almost forgot about Zhao Er’s existence. This was not good. Si Qi took a few bites of food and thought that he had to find something for the Daughter of the World to do, right? It was also a way to repay her for the evil she had done over the years.

Not to mention cutting off all of the other party’s financial resources at once, it was still possible to reduce her profits by 80% or 90%.

Notes

1. Courtesy name, also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. The true given name was reserved for the use of one’s elders, while the courtesy name was employed by peers on formal occasions and in writing. ↩︎