Mother, I have returned to the throne.

Chapter 239: Saltpeter

In the second half of the night, Song Yuan made enough money from Situ Jing.

As the day dawned, I felt refreshed.

With a bit of nonchalantness, he jumped off the bed and turned away, leaving Situ Jing alone looking at Song Yuan's back, her eyes full of annoyance.

This little bastard has provoked me to the point of being neither up nor down.

Now look what happened, he just walked away!

Thinking of what had just happened, Situ Jing touched her burning cheeks and didn't have the courage to chase after him. In the end, she could only bury herself in the quilt, fearing that outsiders would see her current situation.

If I really get bumped into by Ye Xuan, how should I explain when she asks me?

If I tell the truth, it would be too embarrassing. I can't tell anyone about this kind of thing no matter what!

Song Yuan didn't care about anything else. After washing up with the help of his personal maid, he walked out of the courtyard and stretched.

Because he went to bed early, Song Yuan still felt very energetic even though his hands were busy in the second half of the night.

I immediately decided to take this opportunity to stroll around and see what the servants in the mansion were doing.

Song Yuan walked along the corridor and around the mansion, and soon noticed something was wrong.

Some servants were sweeping the walls with brooms. What were they doing?

Seeing this familiar scene, Song Yuan shuddered and a light bulb went off in his head.

The white ash swept down by the servants...

"What are you doing?" With a serious look, Song Yuan immediately stepped forward and asked softly to the busy servant.

When everyone saw the prince wake up, they immediately bowed and greeted him, then carefully said the answer: "Your Highness, we are cleaning the white lime on the wall!"

"After winter began, the weather in Mohai City has been a bit strange; it's rather damp. A lot of white dust has grown on the walls. We cleaned it up three days ago, but it's sprouting again now. We don't even know why."

Suddenly, with a bit of panic, he told the whole process of what happened, but he didn't notice at all that Song Yuan only listened halfway and then shifted his gaze.

Staring intently at the white ash collected by the servants!

How can this thing be treated as garbage?

This tnd is basically nitrate!

This thing is a key item in making gunpowder. With saltpeter, my previous plan might be able to come true!

Thinking of this, Song Yuan hurriedly stopped the servants' rude behavior and stretched out his hands to stop everyone.

"Stop, everyone stop!"

"Your Highness, is there something we did wrong?" Upon hearing Song Yuan's order, the servant who had explained before came forward immediately, with a hint of uneasiness in his eyes.

But Song Yuan did not give any explanation. Instead, he walked past the servants and went to the wall as soon as possible.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Song Yuan was seen scraping the white ash off the wall one by one with his fingernails.

In order to verify it, he even put it close to his nose, sniffed and rubbed it again and again, and then a look of joy appeared on his face.

That’s right, it’s saltpeter!

I really found a treasure this time!

No wonder I was always puzzled after traveling through time and space, and I couldn’t find anything related to gunpowder in this world.

It turns out that all the reasons were because I got up too late!

When I opened my eyes, the saltpeter had already been cleaned up.

As the saying goes, the early bird catches the worm. The ancients were right!

Saltpeter is definitely not unfamiliar to Song Yuan. He was born in the countryside in his previous life. When he was a child, he stayed in his hometown and collected this white powder from the walls.

If this thing is mixed with combustible materials, it will immediately catch fire at the slightest spark.

If you add charcoal, it will bloom into stars.

It’s also thanks to me that I got up early today, otherwise how could I have encountered such good things?

Thinking of the use of saltpeter, Song Yuan didn't dare to hesitate for a moment. He hurriedly and solemnly ordered his men, "From now on, be careful with your movements. Collect all the white ash on the wall in a clean wooden barrel!"

"Remember, what I want is the white ash floating on the surface, not the lime powder!"

Seeing everyone nodding, Song Yuan immediately gave the order, and then without stopping, he hurried to the courtyard where Fatty Zhao was.

bang bang bang...

With a bit of excitement, Song Yuan knocked on Fatty Zhao's door immediately, but was met with a roar from the other party.

"Who is this? Are you still going to sleep? Take your dog paws back, or I'll get up and make you pay!"

"Fatty Zhao, wake up!"

The fat man was very irritable when he woke up. The house began to shake as he roared. Fortunately, he heard Song Yuan's voice and was startled and came to his senses in an instant.

"Your Highness, is there something urgent that's bothering you?"

Seeing Song Yuan's panicked look, Fatty Zhao's eyes showed some doubt. The two had been together for such a long time, and Song Yuan had always been calm.

It was the first time he saw Song Yuan lose his composure like this. Could it be that the barbarians had invaded?

Song Yuan had no time to explain to Fatty Zhao. He was furious at the moment. Seeing that the fat man was naked, he urged him in a bad mood.

"It's already late, and all you do is sleep. Wake up and get dressed and follow me!"

"By the way, don't you have charcoal in your room? Bring the charcoal brazier over!"

Faced with Song Yuan's inexplicable instructions, although the fat man was confused, he immediately did as he was told and quickly put on his clothes without saying a word.

He carried the basin to the front yard.

Just before the fat man sacrificed himself, the noise made by Song Yuan had already alarmed everyone. Even Situ Jing, who was too shy to leave the room before, now came forward with a messy head and a curious look.

"Song Yuan, what the hell are you doing?"

"Don't talk yet, all of you step back!"

Seeing everyone's curious eyes gathered around him, Song Yuan stretched out his hands and warned everyone.

Seeing everyone leaving one by one, Song Yuanzhi squatted down, picked up a piece of charcoal from the charcoal basin brought by Fatty Zhao, polished it, and mixed it with saltpeter.

During this process, Song Yuan was quite casual. After all, it was just for demonstration and there was no need to adjust the precise proportions.

While Song Yuan was operating, Situ Jing stretched her neck, but she was unable to suppress the restlessness in her heart and could not help but ask.

"What are you doing? You've made your hands look like coal. How can you even show yourself to others?"

"You want to know? If you want to know, just kiss me!" Song Yuan teased without even raising his head.

Upon hearing this, Situ Jing was so angry that she gritted her teeth and wanted to go up and teach him a lesson.

"What are you talking about? You are a prince, don't you know shame?"

There are so many people around. This guy is really brave, but I really can't bring myself to do that!

"Shame? What is that? How much is one pound?" Song Yuan deliberately spoke to Situ Jing.

Situ Jing suddenly jumped up and finally couldn't hold back any longer and raised her fist to teach him a lesson.

"Alright, alright, one or two of you are enough!"

At the critical moment, Ye Xuan stepped forward and stretched out her arms to block her niece behind her.

Then he looked at Song Yuan again: "Song Yuan, what on earth are you up to? It's so early in the morning, are you going to let everyone rest?"

"Okay, done!"

It happened that Song Yuan had completed a series of operations at this moment. He picked up a piece of burning firewood and spoke with a bit of mystery.

"The next step is to witness the miracle!"

The moment he finished speaking, Song Yuan held the firewood and threw it into the mixed powder from a distance.

blah blah blah...

The black and white mixed powder reacted violently the moment it came into contact with the sparks, and balls of white flames burst out in all directions.

In just a moment, everyone around was covered in a layer of silver light.

Looking at the scene of fireworks in front of them, everyone's eyes widened for a moment.

Ye Xuan exclaimed from the bottom of her heart: "How beautiful!"

Hearing such comments, Song Yuan couldn't help but curl his lips. Speaking of beauty, it is indeed a woman's first sense.

But in my eyes, this reaction has nothing to do with beauty.

On the contrary, if you can use this reaction to the extreme, it will definitely be a powerful weapon in your hands!

Considering the chemical reaction involved, it would take a lot of time to explain it in detail. Song Yuan waved his hand to interrupt everyone's surprised gaze.

"You've seen how this white ash, mixed with carbon, can instantly ignite anything when it encounters a spark. This stuff is incredibly important, and to me, it's priceless!"

Having said that, Song Yuan suddenly turned to look at Fatty Zhao and said, "From today on, you will spread the news and look for this white powder everywhere. But remember, I want something that can be ignited. I can't use white ash to make up the number!"

"If you can't tell, just use the same method I used just now to verify it. If you can't ignite it, then it's fake, no need to say anything more!"

Fatty Zhao rubbed his hands. As a smart man, he naturally saw the purpose of the white powder. Hearing Song Yuan's arrangement, he asked with some doubts.

"Your Highness, how much do you think we should spend on the acquisition?"

"A pound of white ash, piled in a wooden basin, would take up most of it. Collecting it wouldn't be easy. If there weren't a high price, those people wouldn't necessarily be willing to do it. So, one pound of white ash for one penny!"

"If you collect enough by then, there will be another reward!"

What is the value of a penny?

Hearing this, everyone's eyes flashed with surprise.

"You have too much money and have nothing to do, right?" Ye Xuan, the manager, complained in a bad mood.

Normally, those who work in Mohai City only earn a few dozen coins a day.

This one ounce of silver is equivalent to one thousand coins!

Compared with the workers' daily income, it is definitely a huge sum of money!

However, Song Yuan didn't care about these things. He just waved his hand calmly: "You have just seen that this kind of thing is very useful. In addition, it is really troublesome to collect it. If you want to accumulate a certain amount, you must tempt it with a large sum of money!"

For Song Yuan, the mere money is nothing at all, because these saltpeter powders can unleash greater lethality!

In Song Yuan's plan, if these saltpeter powders could be mixed with sulfur, they could completely replace gunpowder. On the battlefield, this kind of hot weapon would definitely be like a natural enemy to the enemy.

Mastering this thing is equivalent to mastering the victory, so what does spending some money matter?

However, considering modern technology, Song Yuan did not have too much extravagant hope to achieve the kind of lethality he knew in his previous life.

It is totally impossible to do so with the means available today.

Even so, the fact that it can emit fire and make noise is enough to be of great use on the battlefield.

For example, the war horses of the barbarians would inevitably be affected if they suddenly encountered such a loud noise.

Just a small mistake on the battlefield could lead to defeat.

This is what Song Yuan really values!

"Your Highness, leave this matter to me. I also want to tell you something!"

Facing Song Yuan's solemn gaze, the fat man nodded at this moment, then pulled Song Yuan aside and talked about the previous things about war horses.

"The guy over there has lowered the price to twenty gold per horse. According to him, this is already the bottom line. After all, he doesn't take all this money alone!"

"As for the number, there's really no room for negotiation. There's only 20 war horses at most. Any more and we'll be in trouble!"

After all, the control over war horses is too strict, and even those in charge of war horses dare not go too far.

Hearing this, Song Yuan frowned and thought, and finally nodded.

"Now that we've come to this, let's buy them. Remember, you must check the quality of those war horses when the time comes. If they're not good, you can return them!"