The Cruel Tyrant

86

A huge explosion sounded from the back mountain of Qingye Villa. No one except the core personnel developing the explosives knew how these huge noises were made, but under such extremely strict regulations and discipline, no one asked.

Su Mu frowned when looking at the two new pits that the explosives left behind on the messy ground. Liu Xi, however, could not help but step back with a look of fear. The deafening sounds just now had caused his ears to go numb. And when seeing a huge boulder being blown up, Liu Xi could not help but think with lingering fear that facing such a powerful force, even those with strong martial arts would not be able to escape unscathed.

Liu Xi pointed to the big hole that was blown up and asked, "Your Highness, what kind of weapon is this? It's simply too amazing!"

"Explosives." Su Mu said. When the smoke dissipated, Su Mu lifted his feet and walked forward only to be immediately stopped by Liu Xi behind him: "Your Highness, it's too dangerous."

Su Mu held Liu Xi's hand and pulled him along to walk forward, "It's alright." Su Mu walked around the big pit and sighed slightly: "The power is still too small."

A middle-aged man who followed him said: "Your Highness, this is the most powerful formula that this official and the others have tested hundreds of times."

Su Mu nodded and turned to the wrinkled middle-aged man and said: "You all have worked hard, but the Qing Kingdom is at war against the Jin Kingdom. Our soldiers are bleeding and sacrificing their lives so we need such weapons. I hope you all can successively complete and mass produce the explosives as soon as possible."

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After walking out the door, Liu Xi, who was originally feeling surprised, immediately became excited. If such a powerful weapon could be mass-produced, what fear did the Qing Kingdom have? As long as Qing was not besieged by Shi, Wu and Wei at the same time, all other obstacles would be destroyed without exception! But the Crown Prince did not appear all that satisfied. Recalling the words "the power is still too small" spoken by the Crown Prince, Liu Xi suppressed the excitement in his heart and asked carefully: "Your Highness, with such a weapon, the Jin Kingdom will definitely not be our opponent, you don't need to be too worried."

Standing in the open space, Su Mu looked at the cloudless sky and sighed: "In this world there is a force that is far more powerful than the Jin Kingdom or the three kingdoms Shi, Wu and Wei."

A power stronger than Shi, Wu and Wei, Liu Xi couldn't think of any power that could be stronger than these three kingdoms even after racking his brains.

Su Mu looked at Liu Xi who was thinking hard and said: "Don't think about it, maybe we won't even be able to see it in this life. The construction of the three academies has been completed?"

Liu Xi said seriously: "Yes, Your Highness."

Su Mu nodded and said: "Leave the rest to Lin Siyuan, you have another task which is to find this world's mathematics and science talents, en......" Seeing Liu Xi's puzzled expression, Su Mu immediately clarified: "I mean people who are particularly impressive in calculating numbers as well as artisans who can design complex equipment."

Only then did Liu Xi understand, and he immediately responded: "Your Highness, please rest assured that this official will do my best."

After pondering for a while, Su Mu added: "And also those people who are particularly good at war strategy. Of course, this cannot be forced and if you can't find any then put this aside for now."

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"Yes." Liu Xi responded.

In fact, Su Mu lacked too many kinds of talents, but he understood his own capabilities and limits. Putting aside whether the Qing Kingdom could even be able to support so many people. If he reached his hand into other countries to dig too many people, he would definitely be targeted. Fortunately, at this time, many of the countries did not value mathematicians and artisans too much, and if he were to recruit these people, it would not be too eye-catching.

Looking at the Crown Prince immersed in his own world, his whole person seeming to be shining with charisma, Liu Xi's heart began to beat fiercely. He quietly approached the Crown Prince and took in the alluring scent from the other's body, and said in a husky voice: "Your Highness....."

However, he was interrupted by Qian Guan who rushed in before his voice even fell. Qian Guan's face was flushed red with excitement and was also gasping in an out of breath manner, forgetting to even salute. He was as ecstatic as if he had stumbled upon a mountain of gold, his words incoherent with excitement: "Your Highness, Your Highness....."

"Moved.....it moved....."

Liu Xi, who was interrupted, looked very unhappy. Who knew how long it would be when he would be able to come back from carrying out this new task from the Crown Prince. But there was no expression on the Crown Prince's face, and it was not good to express his anger.

After Qian Guan finally gained some calmness, Su Mu asked, "What happened?"

"Steam engine.....the steam engine....." Qian Guan answered excitedly. After Su Mu gave them a simple drawing of the steam engine and told them the various benefits of it, such as automatic water pumping, spinning and weaving, and vehicles without horses. He, who was standing in front of Su Mu at that time, was completely dazed. A formless and intangible vapor could drive a vehicle into motion? But after Su Mu explained to them some simple principles and the impact it would have on society, the enthusiasm of these people were completely incited. To the point that after seeing the progress made on explosives, this group of people's enthusiasm directly transformed to fanaticism. Because the people who participated in the development of explosives were directly awarded a gold medal by the Crown Prince.

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This gold medal was no ordinary medal. It represented certain special privileges including being key protected people of the Crown Prince's royal guards. So long as they did not commit any crime no official of the imperial court could do anything against them. Even when having an audience with the Crown Prince, they would be exempt from all courtesy. And finally they were also given priority when asking for things they needed, of course, it must be a reasonable and legal request.

In short, this gold medal represented too great of a temptation for them who were just ordinary commoners in the past.

On this side, Su Mu's eyes lit up when he heard that the steam engine moved. No one in this world better understood what a steam engine meant than him.

Su Mu followed Qian Guan closely, which instantly increased the pressure on this old man who was over half a century old. If not for Su Mu not knowing the specific location, he would have disappeared already using qinggong. Liu Xi, who followed behind, saw that the Crown Prince looked so excited that his eyes appeared to be lit alight and followed curiously. The Crown Prince was not even this excited when he saw the explosives exploding!

When the three rushed into a room full of steam and vapor, Su Mu saw a simple steam engine model four to five meters long and one meter high. Su Mu was no expert, and he only gave these master artisans a simple drawing. As for how big the thing on the drawing had to be made, what parts were needed, and the sizes that various parts should be. It was all decided by these masters after countless trial and error.

When this big guy finally moved for the first time, these people almost cried with joy. A master artisan hurriedly reported the matter to the Villa Manager Qian Guan, who then hurried to tell Su Mu.

Su Mu circled around this thing that was letting off a huge amount of heat. Speaking of which, it was actually the first time he saw a real steam engine. The parts and joints were especially imperfect, obviously, master blacksmiths had hammered out each part manually. Whether these parts were qualified or not was also what Su Mu was worried about. For example, it was difficult for the naked eye to see whether an iron pipe was straight and uniform all over. And if the quality did not meet standards, accidents were prone to occur.