Chapter 10: The Way of Wealth Creation

  The people of Wujiacun are all honest and kind-hearted farmers, except for one exception, that is Wu Liang. He is a notorious playboy who spends his days idling around, being lazy and gluttonous, and likes to bully others. The villagers have not been spared from his bullying.

  "Wu Lang, stop chasing him, okay? Wu Liang is a rascal, his fists and feet are fierce..." Yang Xiuxiu hastily pulled Wu Ji, very worried.

  Her worries were not unfounded, with Wu Liang's rascal temperament, even if Wu Jie caught up, he would beat Wu Jie, and with Wu Jie's small build, there was no way he could win.

  "It doesn't matter!" Wu Jie didn't care, carrying his firewood, and chased after him.

  "But what if Wu Liang uses force?" Yang Xiuxiu had to point out.

  "Haha! Fighting is all about momentum, although I'm physically weak and don't have much strength, my momentum is strong, while Wu Liang's is weak at the moment, so I can take advantage of that to overpower him." Wu Ji said with great confidence.

  A man who has been in a fight. What is being fought? Not strength, but momentum! As long as you have enough momentum, even if the other person's fist is stronger than yours, they won't be able to beat you. If your momentum is weak, no matter how strong your strength is, it doesn't necessarily mean you can win.

  "What's gotten into Wu Lang? He's actually speaking such reasonable words." Yang Xiuxiu found it somewhat strange.

  If this had happened with the former Wu Xiuciai, he would have acted in accordance with the principles of the sages and would not have bothered to deal with a scamp like Wu Liang.

  Wu Jie's momentum was sufficient, but his strength was too weak, and he couldn't catch up with Wu Liang. Before long, Wu Liang had vanished from sight.

  "Wu Lang, let's go back!" Yang Xiuxiu hastily persuaded: "It's so cold today."

  "We can run away from the monk, but we can't run away from the temple. Let's go to his house. Hmph, this kind of person, if you don't give him a good scare, he'll become more and more arrogant. Xiuxiu, I'm telling you, when you encounter a rascal like Wu Liang, you can't back down. If you do, he'll take advantage of it! You have to teach him a lesson once and for all, or else he'll keep causing trouble!" Wu Ji understood that Wu Liang had come to spy on Yang Xiuxiu, and if they didn't give him a good scolding, who knows what kind of trouble would arise.

  "It seems... reasonable!" Yang Xiuxiu hesitated for a moment, but still followed.

  Wu Liang's home is not too far from here, and Wu Jie arrived quickly with Yang Xiuxiu's support. This is a three-room thatched hut, much larger than Wu Jie's thatched hut, and much brighter.

  "Is it a good boy?" A hoarse voice came from inside the house.

  He was Wu Liang's father, Wu Qi's uncle Wu Yuan. He is a honest and kind-hearted farmer, originally the family situation is not bad, just because of Wu Liang this unfilial son, the family situation has been declining day by day, until later, he rarely contacted with relatives.

  "Great Uncle, I am Wu Jie, I've come to find Wu Liang, there's something I need to discuss with him." Wu Jie didn't want to hurt this honest and kind great uncle, so he tried to speak as gently as possible.

  "Ah!" Wu Yuan's voice was somewhat unexpected: "It's Jie Er! Has Wu Liang been giving you trouble? He hasn't come back yet."

  The door opened immediately, and an old man with a head full of white hair and a face full of wrinkles appeared at the door, holding a torch in his hand. It was Wu Yuan.

  "See Big Brother!" Wu Ji went forward to pay his respects, but before he could say anything, Wu Yuan spoke up and led him into the house. They searched everywhere inside, but really couldn't find Wu Liang anywhere. It seemed that Wu Yuan hadn't lied, Wu Liang really hadn't returned.

  Wu Yan was about to follow up and speak, but Wu Ji took the lead and said: "I'll wait for him! This matter, I must make it clear with him!" If Wu Liang dares to come back, Wu Ji will definitely beat him.

  Wu Yan was busy adding firewood, serving hot water, and was afraid of freezing Wu Jie. Seeing Wu Yan hunching over, busily moving back and forth, coughing from time to time, with an air of old age, Wu Jie couldn't help but feel a pang in his heart, stood up and said: "Uncle, take a rest. I'll talk to Wu Liang about this another day."

  He had intended to take good care of Wu Liang, but couldn't bear the thought of letting Wu Yuan suffer, so he changed his mind. Without saying a word to Wu Yuan, Wu Ji walked out the door and returned home with Yang Xiuxiu's support.

  "Ji'er, you rarely come back, stay a bit longer. Second Uncle still has some meat, to nourish your body." Wu Yuan's voice came from behind him.

  Wu Jie heard it in his ears, and his nose turned sour. Wu Jie walked even faster. The people of Wu's village were not easy to get along with, and Wu Yan had an even harder time with a son like Wu Liang, who was such a prodigal son. They didn't know how many ways they had thought of to save a piece of meat, just to deceive Wu Liang.

  Back home, Yang Xiuxiu guessed the reason for Wu Liang's visit and felt down, trying to speak several times but was interrupted by Wu Ji each time.

  It's not a crime for someone to be born beautiful, but in this era, that is a calamity, it attracts bees and butterflies, it's unchaste, the mistake lies with Yang Xiuxiu, not Wu Liang. Wu Jie knew what she was going to say, so he had no choice but to interrupt her.

  Wu Ji was also tired and had to rest. Yang Xiu Xiu helped Wu Ji onto the bed, and only then did she carefully snuggle up against him and fall asleep.

  The next day, before dawn, Wu Ji got up. The first thing he did after getting up was to check the saltpeter, but it wasn't dry because of the cold weather, and instead had frozen into ice, so he needed to use sunlight to dry it out.

  Wu Jiaolong really wanted to improve his life, a good physique was very attractive, but the saltpeter wasn't dry yet, and it couldn't be rushed, so he had to be patient. After breakfast, Yang Xiuxiu took out the saltpeter to sun it.

  Today they are going to mix gunpowder and make weapons, Yang Xiuxiu needs help, she didn't go to work, but was busy at home, not stopping for a moment.

  A poor family's child has a lot on his plate. With just that small of a household, there are so many chores to do. Wu Ji really can't believe it.

  Until the sun was high, the saltpeter had dried. Wu Ji's spirit suddenly surged and he felt invigorated, directing Yang Xiu Xiu to mix the gunpowder. Wu Ji himself wanted to take action, but Yang Xiu Xiu didn't want him to get tired, and she almost snatched the task away from him, leaving Wu Ji no choice but to let her do it.

  There are many methods for producing gunpowder, but the most effective is wet production. Wet production has two advantages: safety and uniformity, which are crucial due to the immense power of gunpowder.

  For Wu Jie at the moment, it's still too far away, so he can only take the simplest approach and mix saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal evenly.

  Yang Xiuxiu did a particularly good job, being especially meticulous, Wu Ji repeatedly praised her, Yang Xiuxiu has great potential in this aspect, if she were in modern society, after reading university, she would definitely be a good engineer.

  There are many formulas for gunpowder, Wu Ji wants to hunt bears, the greater the power of gunpowder, the better. Wu Ji decided to use a military formula, saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal, mixed in a ratio of 3:3:3.

  The entire preparation process was very simple, just a uniform mixing process that was quickly completed. Next came the crucial part, where Wu Ji personally took action. Despite Yang Xiuxiu's repeated insistence on taking over for Wu Ji, he did not agree.

  Wu Ji wanted to take matters into his own hands because the process was too dangerous, one careless move could lead to an explosion, hurting or killing someone. Yang Xiu Xiu was clever but lacked experience in this area, Wu Ji didn't want her to take risks.

  Wu Ji first laid out the oil paper, laying several layers in a row, and then poured the gunpowder on top. The fine porcelain bowl was smashed to pieces, and Yang Xiuxiu, under Wu Ji's guidance, smashed out small pieces of fine porcelain the size of fingernails. Then, she carefully placed the fine porcelain pieces into the gunpowder.

  Then wrap the oil paper again, this is the most dangerous process. The oil paper must be tight, if it is not tight, the explosive force will be weakened. Moreover, during the wrapping process, try to avoid collisions, squeezing, and pinching, otherwise, it will explode.

  The reason is that there are fine ceramic fragments inside. Once subjected to force, friction will occur, sparks will be generated, and the gunpowder will ignite, causing an explosion.

  Here, using fine porcelain fragments is more effective than using ordinary plate fragments because they are easier to ignite and explode. Of course, this also increases the power of the explosion.

  Wu Jia was extremely careful and spent a great deal of effort, only completing it after a long time, with sweat dripping from his forehead. This process was truly perilous, one misstep would have meant certain death, Wu Jia was really too tense.

  Yang Xiuxiu busily wiped away Wu Ji's cold sweat and softly advised, "Wu Lang, rest for a while. Have a drink of water." A bowl of hot water was handed in front of him.

  Wu Jie took the bowl and drank it in a few gulps, unable to contain his excitement: "The most dangerous moment has passed, there's only one last thing left. Just add the sheep oil on top, and it's done."

  "Why use mutton fat?" Yang Xiuxiu was puzzled.

  "Bears love to eat sheep and have mutton oil. Only when bears are deceived will they fall for it." Wu Ji said confidently, "The most important thing about this weapon is to deceive the bear."

  It was the most difficult part of the whole process to let the bear take the bait. If ordinary bombs were used, sparks would appear and the bear would be scared away, not biting or waiting to be bombed. So, Wu Ji thought for several days before finally coming up with this method.

  Looking at the fist-sized weapon, Wu Ji's eyes lit up, shining with excitement: "If it's wrapped in iron skin and equipped with a fuse, it's a bomb! Making bombs in the Song Dynasty, even if it's the most primitive one, is still an extraordinary thing! Great invention! If I set up an ammunition factory to mass-produce this kind of bomb, I'll definitely make a fortune. No mistake, this is absolutely a promising way to get rich!"