Inside the armory warehouse, a row of twenty cannons lay quietly. These cannons were a batch produced by the military workshop for export.
“Royal Uncle, these cannons were custom-ordered by Prince Liang and Prince Zhao. They are about to be delivered soon. I’m afraid they can’t be sold to Your Highness,” Xiao Ming said with a smile.
Prince Yong was quite disappointed. Every prince was stockpiling weapons to strengthen their power. Compared to them, he was falling behind, especially after learning these cannons were for Prince Liang. He felt a strong sense of crisis.
Although he was unhappy that Xiao Ming was selling cannons to Prince Liang, he understood that his nephew sold weapons to whoever had money. He even suspected that if the barbarians offered a high price, Xiao Ming would sell to them too.
Thinking of this, Prince Yong’s eyes shifted. “Nephew, since we are all part of the royal family, business should be more personal. Why don’t you sell this batch of cannons to Your Highness first, and produce another batch for him?”
Those cannons were purposely left by Xiao Ming in the warehouse. They weren’t actually prepared for Prince Liang but were set as a trap for Prince Yong because Yong’s territory was a treasure land rich in mineral resources.
To get the rights to mine these resources, Xiao Ming had to come up with some sly ideas. So he said, “Your Highness wants cannons, that’s easy. I will produce another batch just for you. If that doesn’t work, I’ll transfer some cannons from the army to you.”
“Really?” Prince Yong was overjoyed.
Xiao Ming nodded slightly and hinted, “Prince Liang bought 400 cannons from me this time, so I have to take care of Your Highness as well, right?”
“Four hundred?” Prince Yong was shocked and immediately said, “Nephew, Your Highness wants more than Prince Liang. I want 500 cannons!”
“Five hundred? Your Highness, these 500 cannons won’t be cheap,” Xiao Ming said seriously. “I heard your treasury doesn’t have much silver. These 500 cannons will cost at least six or seven million taels of silver. This…”
Prince Yong suddenly felt uneasy. Xiao Ming had hit his sore spot. He indeed had little silver now. He suddenly remembered last time when Xiao Ming made him exchange coal mines for cannons and said, “Nephew, if it’s really impossible, can you send some coal mines instead?”
Having experienced the shortage of iron ore, Xiao Ming now deeply resented the lack of iron ore. Also, with the steam engine about to be used, coal consumption would greatly increase. The current mining output of the Great Yu Empire could not meet the demand.
However, he did not want to use too much manpower on mining. Instead, he planned to trade industrial goods for mineral resources, getting other princes to provide ores for him.
After all, even if he claimed mines in their territories, those mines were still under their control. If relations soured, they could take them back at any time.
So it was better to directly name cannons as the price to exchange for ores, making those princes his miners. He said, “Your Highness, I really want to help but I have no power. Your territory has few people, so how can you have so many miners? Since you sincerely want to buy cannons, why not exchange coal and iron ore directly?”
“Coal and iron ore?” Prince Yong hesitated. “Nephew, I do have some coal mines, but very little iron ore.”
Prince Yong’s territory included the current Hebei region. In modern times, this area has the largest iron ore reserves in the country. Because of this, it became a steel production base. Prince Yong was like a man in a treasure mountain who did not know the real value of the mountain.
Xiao Ming smiled and said, “Your Highness, you underestimate yourself. Your territory has more iron ore than coal. If you don’t believe me, I can help you find some. But mining the iron ore can only be done by Your Highness.”
Prince Yong was always a person who relied on the resources around him. Since coal and iron ore could be sold for money, why not? Excited, he said, “Nephew, is what you say true?”
“True,” Xiao Ming said.
Prince Yong nodded. “If it is as you say, then I will send people to mine and exchange ores for cannons.”
“Your Highness is very generous. It’s settled then,” Xiao Ming’s eyes narrowed. His first plan was complete. To make the Great Yu Empire become the resource supplier of Qingzhou, he had worked very hard.
For him, the world’s resources were limited. If he ate more, others would eat less. That’s why countries kept scheming against each other to get more resources.
The current wealth of the Western countries was built on controlling living resources. Xiao Ming understood this very well, so he was preparing to start a journey to make the whole world work for Qingzhou. Now it was time for him to trade high-tech products for one hundred million shirts.
While Xiao Ming was busy planning the resource acquisition, an unexpected event suddenly made the atmosphere in Qingzhou tense.
“Doctor Sun is dead!” When Pang Yukun said this, his expression was grave.
“Dead? How did he die?” Xiao Ming was shocked.
Pang Yukun said, “According to the official investigation, it is confirmed that Doctor Sun was poisoned with arsenic. Now there are rumors among the people that Doctor Sun was forced to death by His Highness. I suspect someone is stirring trouble to slander His Highness and pressure him.”
Xiao Ming’s expression turned cold. He had only asked Doctor Sun to go back and think things over. It had only been a few days, but Doctor Sun was dead. Not only Pang Yukun, but Xiao Ming also found this very strange.
“Tell me what happened,” Xiao Ming said irritably. Although he disliked Doctor Sun’s rigidity, Doctor Sun was a good doctor. It was painful that he died for no reason.
“Doctor Sun was highly respected in Qingzhou City. After this incident, many Confucian scholars talked, accusing His Highness’ Bowen Academy of being heretical. They implied that His Highness’ Bowen Academy broke the rules, disobeyed the ancestors’ laws, violated heaven’s principles, and committed great treason.”
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