After Zhang Xiaoâbao and Wang Juan came up with that idea, they sent people to go ask. When the people who went there came back at night, the expressions on their faces were not very good. They said to Zhang Xiaoâbao, "Young Master, Young Miss, when I went to ask, the people were not at home, and the only people that were there did not have power to make decisions.
So I waited for them to come back, but before I could tell them my intentions, they happily told me that they sold the land today at a good price. They also say that they don't have to leave and will continue to farm on this land in the future. They only have to pay 10% more rent than before. "
"Ah? Who bought it? How could they beat us to it?" Zhang Xiaoâbao was stunned when he heard this. If it weren't for the fact that he knew Shiâliu and the person from the inner courtyard would not tell anybody else, he would have thought that there was a spy.
"I heard from the farmers that the buyer is from the Capital. They sent a butler, and a few maids and manservants. The buyerâs surname was Li. They also said that they had purchased 3000 mu of land from the surrounding area too. That was all I managed to find out."
The person that was sent there replied to Zhang Xiaoâbao's questions.
"I see, you have worked hard, you can leave now, If they sold it already, then so be it." Zhang Xiaoâbao didnât have any other choice. His and Wang Juanâs plans fell through because that person was one step ahead of them. From the looks of it, they will have another neighbor in the future, but how do they fare in comparison to the Ge Manor?
After they waited for that person to leave, Wang Juan pouted her lips disappointedly and said to Zhang Xiaoâbao, "That personâs surname is Li--- this surname is not ordinary. Could the person be related to the Emperor1? That's troublesome. Who knows if they want to fight against our Manors or not? The matter regarding our 100 fiefs is not settled yet. What if they use as an excuse to take our lands too?"
"Take my land? They can keep dreaming. I will fight with them until the end. If they really want to use that as an excuse, then they shouldnât blame me for being ruthless. I will let them know what it means to use ploys. I do hope that they arenât related to Emperor Li Longâji; this way, I can mess around with them."
Zhang Xiaoâbao was a little nervous. If he wants to fight against political power, he has to do it in a round-about way, otherwise they can crush you to death with just a few words.
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Wang Juan was worried that Zhang Xiaoâbao would use some amoral tactics so she asked, âWhat do you want to do? Donât tell me you want to bomb them using gunpowder? Thatâs not good. After you bomb them, our families would be doomed too.â
"I wonât do something like that. If someone buys my land forcibly, then I will help them sanitize the place. Limestone is so cheap, I can buy a whole bunch and mix it into the soil, and let them deal with the aftermath. They can try to wash it away with water, but they will still be left with saline alkali soil. If they want to deep plough the land, I will make sure that the limestone powder is incorporated deep into the ground.
If they can think of transporting soil from other places, then thatâs quite remarkable of them. Although it would be bad if it rains since the limestone powder will dissolve in the rain water. It's hard to improve the quality of a piece of land, but there are plenty of methods to ruin a piece of land.
Zhang Xiaoâbao was very angry. He knew that if someone bought his familyâs land, then his grandparents and parents would become really sad. This was his last boundary and he refused to let anybody touch it. It was not easy for him to have a family, so he refused to let anyone bully them.
Wang Juan listened to him talk and she finally understood that international con-men were not ordinary people---they could come up with all sorts of bad ideas. If that much limestone powder was buried in the soil, then not a single blade of grass could grow on the land. He was right about saying that itâs hard to improve the soil quality but it was easy to ruin a piece of land.
"Youâre just saying that out of anger. What if they arenât from the royal family? Letâs wait and see first. If they really are, then we can exchange some benefits with them. Worse comes to worse, the two of us can go discuss with them. They wouldnât put two kids on the spot, would they?"
After Zhang Xiaoâbao said those threatening words, he calmed down. He decided that since those people were aiming to reap benefits, then he could cooperate with them to earn money together. It was the same mentality when they decided to work with Zhou Xiâhu. It didnât make a difference if they gained another partner; furthermore, they can use each other. His goal was to gain benefits, not enemies.
When wise men unite, they use their power to gain more power and turn money into more money. Building a monopoly was not suitable for this era since power was not necessarily given to those that were capable. When something is given out, something else can be gained in return.
Wang Juan felt that Zhang Xiaoâbaoâs proposal was good. If someone comes to forcibly take the land, then they can try to teach them some techniques instead. âWe canât teach them how to grow wood fungus though, this item is too valuable. We can teach them how to grow cucumbers in the winter. But we should only do this if these people actually have a strong background and insist on taking our land."
"Yes, if the worst thing does happen, then we will use this method to deal with them. We will also give them the houses we have in the Capital, and give up on farming. We can just buy food instead of growing our own. We shouldnât care too much about anything else.â
After all, Zhang Xiaoâbao did not have the mindset of a child. He was able to endure whatever he had to endure. Sometimes, suffering losses may not be a bad thing.
The two of them came up with a solution for the worst case scenario first, and the rest was simple. No one knew that right after the farmland was purchased, there were two kids analyzing the possible outcomes and coming up with corresponding solutions.
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After another day passed, the three masters of the Zhang, Wang and Ge manors learned of this news. They didn't think as comprehensively as Zhang Xiaoâbao and Wang Juan did, and they only thought that it was a relatively normal thing.
However, on the next day, Zhang Xiaoâbao got people to use hundred taels of silver to buy quicklime. Everything depended on that Li familyâs response. If they were too greedy, then they would be engaging in a life-and-death struggle with Zhang Xiaoâbao. If they were willing to compromise, then the quicklime can be used for sanitizing and for construction instead.
Even though limestone is only slightly soluble in water, it was particularly damaging towards soil and it could even cause dirt to clump together in large chunks. The benefit of it is that itâs a good desiccant so it can be used to help dry places that are moist and humid. If the quicklime is made into slaked lime by mixing it in water, it can be used to cure some diseases and illnesses.
Only Wang Juan could understand why Zhang Xiaoâbao was doing this, and their family didn't understand. When everything was ready, Zhang Xiaoâbao felt relieved, but Wang Juan was in contemplation.
"Wang Juan, what are you thinking of? Focus on reading." At night, Zhang Xiaoâbao had already turned the page of the book, but he noticed that Wang Juanâs eyes were not moving so he nudged her with his elbow and asked her.
"Turn it back, I haven't looked at it yet. Iâm trying to think of a way to help you earn money. You bought so much quicklime. What if we don't need it? You can't just throw it away. And it will become slaked lime after it absorbs the moisture in the air over time." Wang Juan was not reading at all just now. The one hundred taels of silver worth of quick lime occupied so many warehouses; she couldn't let it go to waste.
The quicklime could be used as an 'atomic bomb' by Wang Juan and Zhang Xiaoâbao. If the situation can be resolved by other means, then they would absolutely not use the quicklime on them.
Quicklime had many other uses such as being used as a desiccant, disinfectant or be used in building materials, paint, etc. The most direct application is to use it in welding and this was what she was thinking of. When she heard Zhang Xiaoâbaoâs voice, she replied to him,
"Do you think if we find a jar that has a tight seal, we can use it in welding? We can put quicklime and a carbon source inside, and then try to make it into calcium carbide. Then, we can use it for welding, and in the future we can make items with tighter seals. Are there any items with tight seals right now?"
"Does welding need that kind of thing?â Zhang Xiaoâbao didn't know anything about these things. He had never undergone proper education and all of his knowledge was obtained through self-research.
He had never researched this area of knowledge, so when Wang Juan said all of these things, he felt confused for a while.
Then he asked, "How is calcium carbide made then? Does it require electricity? So in other words, we need to figure out how to produce electricity first?"
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"Why do you have to use electricity? There are two methods. One method is to use high temperature. When carbon and limestone is heated to the right temperature, then calcium carbide is produced. It's easy to reach the high temperature---we just need to add oxygen."
Wang Juan was clear about this matter and she explained it to Zhang Xiaoâbao.
"Add oxygen? Where does the oxygen come from? We can heat up potassium permanganate, but where do we get potassium permanganate?" Zhang Xiaoâbao was still very skeptical about this.
"In theory, itâs like that, but the most important thing is to reach the right temperature. We can find other ways to increase the temperature. When people make steel, they came up with the hot forging technique, and this requires heating the metal. For example, they increase the temperature by blowing charcoal. If we donât try, then how do we know it wonât work?" Wang Juan guided Zhang Xiaoâbao through the steps.
Zhang Xiaoâbao still didnât understand. He knew about charcoal blowing, but what can be used as the container? Where can they find a suitable container that can withstand high temperatures like that?
"What kind of container can we use? Wonât it melt as soon as itâs heated?"
"Donât be stupid, of course we will use ceramics."
"What about the pressure? Can ceramics withstand that much pressure? I know you want to put a container on the inside, but I'm afraid it will explode." Zhang Xiaoâbao was sort of able to keep up with Wang Juan's thinking process now.
"Thatâs easy to resolve. We can make the ceramic wall thicker. Some of it will be directly broken, some will explode, and some of course will remain intact. As long as one of it is intact, then we can continue on with our plan. As long as we get one to work out of a thousand trials, then it is a success."
Wang Juan also understands how difficult it is to do this, but now that she has conceived teh idea, she refused to give up before trying. Even if they failed, they would be able to gain some experience out of this.
"Okay. Tomorrow, I'll get someone to work on this. I don't think it would cost too much money. If we do succeed, it will definitely be a major advancement towards the development of our Manor. We have to keep this confidential; we canât let anyone else know about this technique.â
Zhang Xiaobao roughly estimated the cost of making ceramics, and felt that as long as they werenât making high-quality porcelain, it was easily affordable.
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When Wang Juan heard Zhang Xiaoâbaoâs words, she felt that he was very supportive of her, so this made her feel happy. After thinking about it a bit more, she said, âWe shouldnât always use ceramics. When we test the pressure, we can use some of the preexisting items that we have here. Perhaps, we might get unexpected gains. "
"Yeah, letâs do what you say. Itâs fine as long as itâs safe, and that we donât harm anyone.â Zhang Xiaoâbao entered an unfamiliar area of knowledge so he could only go with what Wang Juan said.
Translator Notes
The royal family of the Tang Dynasty was surnamed Li.
If youâre confused about this whole welding thing, I am equally confused. The author was really vague when describing this, and the terminology that was used cannot be found on the internet, so I couldnât do more research and give a better explanation. Thus, I ended up just translating what the author wrote, and I couldnât add in any other supplementary information. If anybody understands more about âweldingâ, please leave a comment to help clear things up.
Also, the author of the novel included a note at the end of the chapter saying,
"Thank to the reader: Jiangtl has pointed out the mistake in this chapter. I have learned from this incidence, and in the future, I will not randomly talk about topics I don't understand. Thank you for everyone's support."
With that said, please read this chapter with a grain of salt.