The Empress’s Gigolo

“The iron ore mine at Mount Damo is completely open-pit mining. Transportation is accessible as well. The biggest problem is its high iron content. It is too hard, making extraction very difficult from the beginning. By building a few large-scale solar furnaces, they can melt Mount Damo bit by bit. That will immediately increase the speed of extraction. The increment will depend solely on the size and the number of solar furnaces.” Ren Baqian assured the people.

By this moment, no one could be bothered with examining the mirrors any longer. All attention was set on Ren Baqian as what he said had attracted all of their interests.

The lack of iron ore had always troubled Dayao. Even though they could purchase them from the Yun Nation and the Chen Nation, the amount was still too little. The merchants were also more interested in transporting goods that were small, light, and had a higher value, such as salt, fur, precious stones, cloth, and porcelain.

Any ironware had always been very precious. To an ordinary aboriginal, a one-kilogram fine iron knife would be considered a treasure that could only be obtained after many years of savings.

The empress wanted to expand the army by 20,000 soldiers, and she had to find a way to prepare more weapons as well. If not for Ren Baqian, she would have traded the treasures from the palace’s internal warehouse for weapons from the other nations.

During this period of time, it was very difficult for commoners to buy any ironware. But, there was no other choice. After all, making preparations for the new army was of the utmost priority at the moment.

That was why the imperial guard acted like he lost his son when Ren Baqian used his standard weapon for an experiment just now. It was just short of the verse: the man exists as his blade does, so much as he dies when it does. To him, the blade was closer to him than his son.

Under such circumstances, when Ren Baqian said that the production at Mount Damo could be increased a hundredfold, everybody was in disbelief.

If that was the case, Ren Baqian would indeed reap great merits. Even if he were to solely rely on this contribution and not do anything else in future, it would already be sufficient for him to be established in the courts of Dayao.

If Ren Baqian were to say that he was able to increase the production of iron ores at Mount Damo by a hundred fold previously, they would have definitely not have believed him as they were simply afraid to be interrogated by the empress.

However, he had just demonstrated melting part of a steel sword by using this disk. Adding on the characteristics of Mount Damo, everyone felt that he exaggerated his words, but somehow still felt that there was a possibility.

“Deputy Prefect Ren, are you serious?” Minister of Works, Tong Zhenye, stared at Ren Baqian with an intense glare. He was a burly man with a plaited beard.

“Of course, but before that, we need to build a glass factory. After the glass factory is completed,only then will we be able to produce enough mirrors to facilitate the solar powered furnace.”

“What is needed for the glass factory that you have mentioned? As long as it can be done, the entire Ministry of Works will serve your bidding,” Tong Zhenye said in a deep voice.

“Same for the Ministry of Revenue.” Tu Wan the Minister of Revenue, seemed older than Gu Yue the Imperial Treasurer, but she was a lady full of elegance.

Presently, everyone knew the reason why the empress brought them here.

One reason was to observe this treasure and coordinate with all parties in building the glass factory at the same time. The other reason was probably to request for assistance from the various departments. Money and manpower were what they must have at this point in time.

However, in order to benefit from the plan that Ren Baqian had devised, nobody would say no even if they had to help out.

“I will not be troubling everyone with other matters. This glass factory will be considered as property of the palace, and of course, the money to build this factory shall be supplied by the palace.” Ren Baqian said on behalf of the empress.

“Huh?” Everyone was surprised, not knowing what that meant.

They all successively became pensive soon after. For instance, Great Xia, the Yun and Chen nations had their own industries in fact. But, Dayao was economically backward. Both the former emperor and the empress had very little material demand and were not lavish. In addition, their thoughts were not focused on that either. That explained why the imperial family never had any industries.

Needless to say, the words spoken by Ren Baqian were definitely his own idea. The empress wouldn’t have thought this way.

“I will make arrangements for the solar furnaces for Mount Damo. There’s no need for all of you to do anything. I shall require a few smiths during the building process. At the same time, I will also need to gather a few skillful aboriginals. They must be skillful with their hands.”

After listening to that, the Minister of Works, Tong Zhenye did not seem to object. Not to mention Ren Baqian claimed that he could increase the extraction rate at Mount Damo by a hundred-fold. Even if it was just tenfold, he would readily support whatever manpower Ren Baqian required.

Increasing the speed of extraction was most beneficial for the Ministry of Works.

Tu Wan frowned a little. She was skeptical about what a glass factory like that could do. But, she felt more at ease after thinking about it for a bit. Besides, this was the idea of Deputy Prefect Ren, who was also the husband chosen by the empress. By using the authority of the palace to do that, the others had no say as well.

By doing that, the glass factory would be the empress’s property in future.

Could she possibly take away anything that belonged to the empress?

For that reason, nobody had any objections.

“That it shall be,” the empress announced the final verdict, seeing that everyone kept silent.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” the crowd replied.

Initially, no one expected much from Ren Baqian. But after this event, they actually looked up to him more. After all, he was able to do such things, it was clear that he had the capabilities. Unfortunately, he was still too weak. He would be choked to death with just one hand, and wasn’t a suitable candidate for Her Majesty.

“We shall start on the glass factory’s matters tomorrow. Deputy Prefect Ren will be in charge, and all other departments shall cooperate.”

“Yes.”

With that said, everything have already been confirmed. The people had not made a wasted trip to the palace. At the very least, it was an eye-opener for them as they managed to witness something miraculous.

Everyone conveniently took the sunglasses with them. That bunch of people didn’t even think of returning the sunglasses to Ren Baqian. With the sunglasses on their heads, they nodded to Ren Baqian and left immediately, afraid that he would want them back.

Those sunglasses were considered rather good stuff to them. Besides, they didn’t understand much about glass. They thought that those lenses should be made out of precious stones with refined workmanship and would make a pretty good heirloom.

Naturally, they wouldn’t have known that Ren Baqian bought those sunglasses by the roadside for 30 yuan a pair. If he wanted, he could easily bring back a sackful anytime he desired.

Everyone nodded to Ren Baqian before they left. This proved that the big shots in the palace had come to acknowledge him more, and it was actually a good thing.

He went to Yangxin Palace Hall in the evening and had a quick chat with the empress. He spoke about the things that were required to build the glass factory. Even though it sounded pretty simple during the afternoon, it was not a small matter in actual fact.

Firstly, he needed fuel. It would be best if coal or some other suitable substitutes could be obtained from this world. If not, they could only rely on using charcoal.

Next would be a blast furnace. Both steel and glass making would require that regardless.

Since a blast furnace was required, then they would have to obtain cement and bricks too.

Also materials that were required to produce glass, such as sandstone, sodium carbonate, feldspar, dolomite, limestone, mirabilite, etc. were required.

Most of which needed to be obtained from within Dayao. Of course, he didn’t need to source for those materials himself. He only needed to bring back a few samples from Earth as a reference for the people of Dayao, and they would accordingly find a source for them.

However, he still needed to make the sodium carbonate himself.

Hence, even though it was only building a glass factory, many materials were in fact required.

Ren Baqian had assigned the Ministry of Works to prepare the cement and bricks. There was no need for him to conceal such techniques. After some time, after reaping the biggest profits, he was even prepared to reveal the techniques for making glass.

Cement could also be used in many applications such as building the city or repairing roads.

There were many applications for bricks as well. For example, casting metal from blast furnace smelting in future. Also, building houses for the commoners would not call for big rocks to be grinded and transported back to the city either.

Besides, brick houses were waterproof, fireproof, anti-corrosive, and they protect against the cold as well. They were much better than wooden buildings in all aspects.

The empress did not have any objections regarding all these issues. She only wanted to see the results.