"I, Fan Wan 'er, am as beautiful as a flower, but I'm hooking up with such a bumpkin." Fan Wan' er looks at Li Shuwei next to her with disgust.
It's been several days since they arrived in Jinzhou City, and Yuan Qingying has been gone for a long time, but Fan Wan 'er still hasn't seen Zhou Qingfeng. It's okay that she can't see the future marshal of the "Revolutionary Army", but Li Shuwei comes to ask Fan Wan 'er to go out to "play" every day. Fan Wan' er follows this bumpkin to inspect the fields every day, or goes to the cowshed to be a veterinarian.
Other talented men and beautiful women make vows of eternal love under the moonlight. They are deeply attached to each other. Fan Wan 'er is used to being a popular female cultivator. She is beautiful and refined as if she doesn't eat the food of the mortal world. Li Shuwei, on the other hand, had Fan Wan'er as his mistress at work every day. Every day, they would sit in the ox cart and run back and forth. Not only were they covered in sweat, they were also dirty.
After a few days, Fan Wan 'er also knows that she must have screwed up this time. She wants to leave but can't. She only hopes that her cold words can make Li Shuwei back off and let her go. But Li Shuwei doesn't know what's wrong with him. He takes Fan Wan 'er everywhere every day, and he is very energetic.
"Look, that's the reservoir we are building. It's my engineering team from the Ministry of Agriculture. They are not skilled enough, so they can only carry soil to build a dam. Now is the dry season, and the water flow is not big. We will use the earth dam to store water first. After the earth dam is built, we will build a stone dam downstream. Don't look down on this earth dam which is only a few meters high. It can also store water. "
In the past few days, Li Shuwei has made Fan Wan 'er's mind full of knowledge about irrigation and water conservancy. The dignified female cultivator is contaminated with the air of the earth. She can't even wear her black feather coat, so she can only change into a set of plain clothes. Other pursuers are all elegant and have beautiful gifts. However, Li Shuwei only talks about farming, and gifts are extravagant. It's strange that Fan Wan 'er can't be nice to him.
The two of them were in a mountainous area to the east of Lushun. A river flowed out of the hills and passed by them. Hundreds of workers were building a small reservoir here, which could be used to store water for irrigation. Downstream of the reservoir, there would be several water conservancy workshops, from mills to sawmills, all of which would be powered by water. After all, steam power would not be sufficient for the next decade or so.
Li Shuwei was very proud of the plan. He stood next to the dam and discussed the technical details with the head of the dam construction. However, Fan Wan'er did not feel anything. She was very bored. Talking about a dam was boring enough. What happened next was really interesting.
Li Shuwei actually brought Fan Wan'er to a cesspool. After the Revolutionary Army took control of the entire Liaodong Peninsula, they attached great importance to the development of agriculture. Collecting manure and composting was a must. However, the purpose of building a manure yard was not to collect fertilizer, but to collect saltpeter.
The history of the use of black gunpowder would last for a very long time. Even if a large number of high-performance explosives appeared in the industrial era, there were still many weapons that used black gunpowder. For example, the famous RPG-7 rocket launcher used black gunpowder because it was cheap and easy to use.
Among the black gunpowder ingredients, fine charcoal and sulfur were relatively easy to obtain. Only saltpeter was troublesome. Before the British obtained the Chilean saltpeter mine, the only way to collect potassium nitrate was to pile manure — using nitrifying bacteria to decompose humus to obtain nitrate ions. Before industrialization, European countries did this.
The official name of the cesspool was' saltpeter field '. If you looked at it directly, you would see a large cesspool. In addition to the collected feces, there were all kinds of animal corpses, such as mollusks and fish that were picked up from the sea. The specific process of producing saltpeter required a considerable amount of chemical knowledge to understand. However, this method of producing potassium nitrate had the biggest characteristic — it was too stinky!
Fan Wan'er's expression changed greatly before she even got close to the saltpeter field. When she saw the disgusting 'field', she pointed at Li Shuwei and was speechless. Li Shuwei proudly said, "It's a little stinky, but this is the best way to collect saltpeter. In the future, we will have an inexhaustible supply of black gunpowder."
Fan Wan'er turned around and ran away in tears!
"I want to go, I want to leave. I don't want to see this stinky man anymore."
Fan Wan'er did not understand why she followed Li Shuwei to see the saltpeter field. She had been running around with this stinky man for the past few days. What she saw and heard was completely different from the people and things she had seen in the past. She had experienced many hardships and seen many kinds of ugly things. She thought she had seen through everything. However, when she was next to Li Shuwei, she found that she did not understand anything at all.
Fan Wan'er was proud of her beauty. Other than hating women who were more beautiful than her, she felt that there was nothing else in this world that could move her. She had seen many high officials who talked big in order to please her, many handsome scholars who begged for mercy at the corner of her skirt, and many greedy businessmen who forsook morality at the sight of profit. However, she had never seen a man who could change the world.
Fan Wan'er obviously hated Li Shuwei's rustic style. However, as long as she saw the explosives exploding, the canals being dug, and the people cheering, she felt that she had entered a different world. She could not help but be attracted. Her master Xu Hong's Confucian school's sinister human nature, sinister tricks, and conspiracies were nothing compared to this open and aboveboard plot.
To put it simply, other people always made things worse. Romance could not hide the hidden decay and decline. However, Li Shuwei could make things better. Although Fan Wan'er felt that Li Shuwei was rustic, she knew that the things this man did could benefit countless people.
This was the right way of the world.
Fan Wan'er had seen a lot of boasting, but this was the first time she saw hard work.
The more experiences she had, the stronger and more shocked Fan Wan'er felt now. Many seemingly unsolvable contradictions were easily solved by Li Shuwei. She had always believed that 'the heavens are lawless, and that human nature is evil'. However, these principles became absurd and ridiculous in front of Li Shuwei. The White Lotus School's actions in the past few centuries were laughable and hateful.
It was not the darkness of this world, but the darkness around you.
Fan Wan'er's heart was broken.
After escaping from the 'nitro fields', Fan Wan'er had been crying. As she ran through the mountains and fields, her tears fell on the soil. Ever since she finished her apprenticeship, she had never really cried again. Even when she was ridiculed, cursed, and cursed, she could still respond with a cold smile. But now, she was crying for no reason. She was crying with extreme sadness. Only when she was about to reach Jinzhou City did she stop crying. Only then did she understand why she was crying.
'That guy is very stupid. How could he bring a girl to a stinky place like the nitro fields? He and I are not the same kind of people. If he knew about my past, he would definitely abandon me and even brandish his sword at me. Forget it. It's better for me to leave. The Revolutionary Army is much more powerful than Master. We are no match for them at all. '
After escaping back to Jinzhou City, Fan Wan'er wanted to pack her things and leave quickly. However, when she reached the city gate, she saw a ghost face drawn on a brick at the foot of the wall. At first glance, this ghost face looked like a child's graffiti, but her heart tightened. This was the contact pattern of the White Lotus School's internal believers. According to the pattern, the identity of the person who drew it was not low.
'Oh no, Master has sent someone.'
Jinzhou City was the current administrative capital of the Revolutionary Army. There were Imperial Guard troops stationed around the city. There were also newly established security personnel patrolling the city. Any suspicious face would be stopped and their ID checked. No matter who they were, no matter how high their cultivation was, they would be monitored by the people.
Fan Wan'er had only been in Jinzhou City for a few days, but she already knew how powerful this monitoring system was. The Revolutionary Army brought benefits to the people just by reorganizing the city. The people in the city were all loyal to the Revolutionary Army. Even the slightest movement would be reported.
Looking at the ghost face on the brick, Fan Wan'er quietly erased it. She followed the direction of the ghost face pattern and walked west. Soon, she saw some conspicuous patterns carved on the tree trunks and stones. Following the pattern, she actually arrived at the seaside not far west of Jinzhou City. She walked for a while outside a village by the sea. Immediately, a wretched man came out of the village and shouted to her, "Junior Sister Fan."
This wretched man was medium height. He had messy hair and was dressed sloppily. His ragged clothes were only tied up with a straw rope. He waved his hand and looked behind Fan Wan'er. He shouted, "Junior Sister, come into the house."
Fan Wan'er frowned when she saw this person. "Fourth Senior Brother, if you have something to say, just say it. I won't enter your house."
The wretched man grinned and said, "I haven't seen you for half a month. Junior Sister, why aren't you wearing your favorite gauze dress? But you look really good in this outfit. But you are still so careful. Do you think I will hurt you? "
"You have hurt too many people." Fan Wan'er was not polite to this man at all. She looked cold and serious. "If you have nothing else, I will leave."
Seeing that Fan Wan'er was really going to leave, the wretched man hurriedly shouted, "Junior Sister, don't go. Master has arrived in this Jinzhou. He specially ordered me to find you. "
Hearing the word 'Master', Fan Wan'er inexplicably felt extremely disgusted. This had never happened in the past. She stood and asked, "What order does Master have?"
"Hehe …" The wretched man laughed again and said, "Junior Sister, you don't know. I came earlier than you. Every day, I collect marine goods by the seaside to feed the soldiers of the 'Revolutionary Army'. I have investigated the 'Revolutionary Army' more than you.
Junior Sister is also very capable. After you came, you hooked up with the minister of the 'Revolutionary Army's Ministry of Agriculture. That's a big thief. When I went to Jinzhou to deliver goods the day before yesterday, I saw you two going out in a carriage, talking and laughing happily. Master was also very happy to know this.
However, Master has encountered some trouble in sending people to Jinzhou to set up the Incense Hall. I don't know what kind of evil magic this' Revolutionary Army 'has used, but the ignorant people here are so convinced. Your several Senior Brothers have been walking everywhere and bumped into obstacles everywhere. It's so distressing. "
Fan Wan'er couldn't help but snort coldly in her heart. She thought to herself, 'What do you know? Do you think the' Revolutionary Army 'is as useless as the Ming court? They rule the place very strictly. Kill all the local gentry and cut off the people you colluded with. If I ask you to preach to the poor people at the bottom, you won't be able to recruit many people even if you work yourself to death. '
The ancient gentry of China could be said to be a big cancer in the grass-roots management. This cancer was especially powerful in the Ming Dynasty, completely hollowing out the foundation of the country. The reason why the White Lotus Society was able to continue despite being banned was because of the protection and support of the local gentry. Only the local gentry could provide the White Lotus Society with manpower and material resources. Otherwise, the White Lotus Society couldn't bear the poverty by relying on those poor farmers.
Fan Wan'er didn't understand this, and the people of the White Lotus Society also didn't understand this. But they knew that when they came to the territory of the 'Revolutionary Army', the grass-roots managers were all sent by the 'Revolutionary Army'. They were not the original landlords at all. This made them lose the soil to take root, which was very uncomfortable.
Fan Wan'er knew that her Master would not give up easily. Xu Hongru had been entrenched in Shandong for so many years, and he had all kinds of sinister means. The wretched man said to Fan Wan'er, "Master feels that the way the leader of the 'Revolutionary Army' controls the local area is a little too powerful, especially that Minister Li of the Ministry of Agriculture. If we can kill this person, we might be able to break the situation. "
The wretched man laughed, but Fan Wan'er was stunned. But she quickly replied coldly, "Okay, I'm currently charming that Li Shuwei. I'll go kill him in a few days."
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