Tianliangyuan

Chapter 85 Cut off the beard

After thinking it over, Xu Han decided to do as his daughter suggested.

Of course, you can't just send anyone to mine iron ore; you have to send your own son with a trusted confidant.

In this way, when the emperor's reward comes down, it will fall on one of our own people.

The next day, Xu Han came to see the Emperor in a mysterious manner. Emperor Yong'an knew from his appearance that he had good news to share.

"Bring the stuff up."

Xu Han stared wide-eyed. He hadn't even spoken yet, how did the Emperor know that he was going to present something?

Emperor Yong'an snorted. This old fellow's thoughts were too easy to guess. He didn't even need to look at him twice to know what the old fellow was thinking.

"Alright, if it's a good item, I will naturally reward it handsomely!"

Xu Han's expression returned to normal: "Your Majesty, this is an iron mine discovered outside the city. My men have only managed to dig up this one piece of ore so far. I have not confirmed the exact size of the mine or how much it can produce. Besides, my soldiers are all roughnecks. They obtained this by chance, so they can only come to Your Majesty to claim their reward. The rest must be handled by someone knowledgeable."

Emperor Yong'an looked at the fist-sized iron ore and thought it must be real.

"Summon the Minister of Works immediately."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Well, last time it was a curved plow that helped with farming, and this time it's iron ore. This Xu Han must have had incredible luck; he seems to run into all sorts of good things.

"Explain in detail how this was discovered?"

Xu Han dared not hide anything and repeated the words he had rehearsed countless times the night before. In the middle of the recitation, he deliberately acted as if he were both calm and excited. In short, he wanted to make the emperor think that he was not lying.

Emperor Yong'an trusted him.

And this is iron ore!

"Alright, that's a great achievement. I'll remember it."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. I dare not claim such a great merit. However, my soldiers have indeed worked very hard. Perhaps you could grant them a favor?"

Xu Han was so overwhelmed by the good news about the iron mine that he lost all reason and immediately agreed.

"Since they are your soldiers, you can promote them as you see fit. I will also reward each of them with one hundred strings of cash as a commendation!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty! Your Majesty is wise and mighty, a great blessing to our Great Xing!"

"Haha! Alright, I know you can talk. Go and collect your reward on my behalf. You've done a good job as general, leading your troops skillfully. I'll reward you with a thousand strings of cash. Go count your money and have some fun!"

This is actually a joke about Xu Han, who is always obsessed with money, and it also mocks him for being a money-grubber, yet he can't control the money in his household.

To put it bluntly, it's a joke that he's henpecked!

But Xu Han didn't mind. He didn't care what happened; as long as he got the money, that was the most important thing.

Moreover, to be teased by the Emperor is a great honor, which means that the Emperor treats him as one of his own. This is imperial favor that others can only envy!

Back home, Xu Han took the opportunity to promote several soldiers he had long admired, and then distributed the money to them.

When soldiers are fighting, they can't just rely on the general to make empty promises. Occasionally, they need to receive some tangible benefits to motivate the others.

Look, isn't it a benefit that comes to the person who is usually most loyal to the general?

A good general gets promoted and receives a lot of money!

Xu Han, having received the reward, smiled and called his eldest son over.

The matter of the eldest son leading people out of the city last night cannot be kept secret. If His Majesty is determined to investigate, he will find out the truth immediately.

Therefore, Xu Han simply confessed that someone had reported finding something yesterday, but the soldiers below didn't recognize it, so he sent Xu Jun'an to check it out.

As a result, the credit was given to the eldest son, and the emperor would not think that Xu Jun'an had stolen the credit.

In fact, Xu Han's prediction was correct.

After Emperor Yong'an calmed down, he naturally sent people to investigate.

This investigation naturally uncovered the fact that Xu Junan led his men out of the city last night, and it was also learned that they had left in a hurry and headed straight for the mountain.

It must have been around that time that the iron ore was discovered, but his men didn't recognize it. It was Xu Jun'an who had a keen eye and identified the item.

Xu Han received a reward of a thousand strings of cash, but it was just for show. Emperor Yong'an had also spent his youth in the military camp, so he naturally knew how expensive it was to maintain an army.

A thousand strings of cash sounds like a lot, but if you throw it into the army camp, it's probably just enough for everyone to have a meat meal together.

Xu Jun'an's reward came down quickly.

Xu Jun'an was the heir of a marquis's family, but he did not pursue a military career. Instead, he worked in the Ministry of War.

Although the Ministry of War is mostly staffed with military officers, it also has a considerable number of civil servants, and Xu Jun'an is currently one of them.

In fact, Xu Han intended to change the family tradition. It is true that military officers can make meritorious contributions and get promoted quickly, but their family's glory was already at its peak, and there was no need for their children and grandchildren to risk their lives.

Most importantly, you can't let your superiors become suspicious.

Xu Jun'an was promoted one rank for his meritorious discovery of the iron ore and was also rewarded with a set of writing implements, which shows how much the emperor favored him!

The news spread quickly and many people lamented that the hill wasn't too far from their own village, so how come they hadn't noticed it?

Some people even think that Xu Han, a rough and uncultured man, just got lucky by sheer chance, and that he got such incredible good fortune.

Regardless of what others think, everyone in the Marquis of Anxin's mansion is living in harmony.

The study of the Prince Zhong's residence.

boom!

"roll!"

The Prince of Zhong paced back and forth in his study, his face filled with disbelief.

His men did indeed discover iron ore there, and the quality was quite good. So he thought that Jiang Ning was indeed quite capable and lucky. If he could bring her into his household, she would definitely be a great help in the future.

But he never expected that just as he was about to send his trusted confidants to buy that barren mountain, this kind of thing would happen!

That's iron ore!

How many weapons could they make!

How did it suddenly become part of the imperial court?

The Daxing Dynasty explicitly stipulated that iron mines could only be subordinate to the imperial court.

Whether it's an official or an ordinary citizen, anyone caught mining illegally is committing a serious crime!

Moreover, Prince Zhong is a prince, and if he is found to be illegally mining iron ore, he will most likely be accused of treason.

The loyal king was filled with hatred!

"What kind of ridiculous luck is the Marquis of Anxin's family! They're just deliberately making me their nemesis!"

At this moment, an aide entered and whispered, "Your Highness, don't be angry. It's fortunate that we haven't had time to take any action yet, otherwise, that would be a real problem. Now that the imperial court has discovered this iron mine, we can only find another way."

The Prince of Zhong was still angry, but he tried his best to calm his tone: "Please teach me, sir."

"Your Highness, although we can't buy iron ore, we can stockpile grain."