Daily Intelligence System: Don't Kill Me, Honey!

Chapter 415: Chapter 152 Master Chen, the Gang Leader Invites You! (10,000 words, please subscribe)_4

Chen Jie looked at him, ”What? Researching gunpowder?”

The young man said, ”Hall Master, did you know that during the Tang Dynasty, there was a strange book called ’Miscellaneous Records of Youyang’ that mentioned people living on the moon? And that there are people living on the stars in the sky as well.”

Chen Jie asked, ”Is there such a record?”

Xiao Hu piped in from the side, ”People living on the moon, I know about that; isn’t Chang’e living on the moon?”

Chen Jie, having heard this, remained silent, and the young man said, ”Don’t know, do you? We’d have to go up there to find out.”

”Eh, you want to go up there?”

The young man said, ”Yes, I want to go there. I thought of many ways, but in the end, the only feasible one was this method.”

”What?”

Chen Jie was curious about what exactly the young man was thinking. At this point, the young man immediately said, ”Hall Master, could you give me some paper and a pen?”

Chen Jie, hearing this, waved his hand, ”Bring the paper and the pen.”

After saying this, a maid immediately brought over the writing materials, and Chen Jie handed them to the young man, ”Here you go.”

At this point, the young man took the pen and first drew a chair on the paper, then filled the legs of the chair with rockets, and on the chair, he drew several Kongming Lanterns.

Chen Jie, looking puzzled, watched as the young man explained, ”Hall Master, look, with just one chair aiming at the moon, and by strapping all sorts of rockets to the chair legs, and hanging some Kongming Lanterns above it, when the rockets are ignited below, the gunpowder inside will lift me into the sky. Then, when I’m close to the moon, I will light up these massive Kongming Lanterns, and I will be able to fly in the sky, and maybe even reach the moon!”

”Eh?”

Chen Jie was bewildered. Manned space flight? No, an unmanned moon landing.

And why did this plan sound so familiar? It seemed like he had seen a similar scheme in a history textbook.

Thinking this, Chen Jie looked at the young man, ”You aren’t surnamed Wan, are you?”

The young man was taken aback and looked at Chen Jie, ”My surname is not Wan. I am Tao Guangyi. I once went to the mountains to seek cultivation, but unfortunately I failed. I left the mountains, encountered disasters, and sought refuge here. I think you are looking for someone surnamed Wan.”

Chen Jie murmured to himself, Tao Guangyi?

”Oh, no, it’s just that your plan is similar to one devised by someone I know; hence the question.”

”Oh, there’s someone else in the world who thinks like me? Who is it?”

Chen Jie replied, ”Oh, it’s a friend named Wan Hu; his plan is almost exactly the same as yours.”

”Wan Hu?”

Upon hearing this name, Tao Guangyi murmured, never imagining that there was someone else in the world who shared his dream; he longed to chat with this person all night.

Wan Hu!

Chen Jie also murmured, this man from the transition between the late Yuan and early Ming, despite his plan being laughable and even leading to his explosive demise, had a commendable spirit.

And Tao Guangyi, with a plan identical to his, was indeed talented; he needed to be nurtured carefully.

Actually, Chen Jie had fallen into a trap of misunderstanding.

It was also connected to his inadequate knowledge of history; he did not know that the man wanting to go to the moon in the late Yuan did not go by the name Wan Hu.

His real name was Tao Guangyi, who later surrendered to Zhu Yuanzhang and helped him research cannons, giving Zhu Yuanzhang a chance to create the Divine Machine Camp and dominate.

And when Zhu Yuanzhang was pleased, he bestowed upon him the official title of Wan Hu.

So, in later generations, he was frequently called Wan Hu, and over time, everyone began to think that Wan Hu was his name, while it was actually his title.

Thus, Chen Jie asking if he knew someone surnamed Wan was utterly absurd, as at that time, Wan Hu was merely a displaced individual who failed in his pursuit of cultivation, harboring nothing but lofty ambitions.

However, Chen Jie knew that having such a vision in this era was incredible.

Although his moon-landing plan sounded somewhat ludicrous, the spirit of scientific research was commendable.

Chen Jie looked at the young Tao Guangyi, ”Tao Guangyi.”

”Present.”

Tao Guangyi bowed with his fist in his palm, and Chen Jie said, ”First, focus on researching this clear Liu Li. Once you succeed, I will promote you to Manager of the Artisan Workshop. If you want to research gunpowder, I will also provide financial support. How does that sound?”

”Really?”

Tao Guangyi’s eyes widened, shining with anticipation as he looked at Chen Jie. Chen Jie slapped his chest and said, ”Don’t worry, I, Chen Jiusi, always keep my word.”

”Thank you, Hall Master.”

Tao Guangyi was taken away to focus on his research of transparent glass. If he really made progress, Chen Jie had indeed decided to give him a chance to research gunpowder.

Because of the flourishing Martial Arts, the development of gunpowder was not smooth. Historically, gunpowder had only two uses: the first was for making fireworks and firecrackers, at which the Han people were very experienced, especially during the Pre-Song Period...

...with varieties of fireworks not much fewer than present times, able to display various effects.

The other use was for cannons, however, the role of cannons was not to kill the enemy but more so as signal cannons.

Moreover, due to the prosperity of martial arts in the world, the role of these cannons was very limited. Ordinary Fragmentation Bombs could deal with cultivators below the Dark Force level, but for those above Dark Force, as long as the cannons did not hit directly, they would generally not be injured.

Additionally, the accuracy of cannons in this era was very poor.

Even surpassing the Iron Bone Realm, if one got hit by a Fragmentation Bomb, it would only be a minor injury.

For Energy Transformation, they were practically useless, as Energy Transformation Masters generally had Gang Qi protecting them, making them hard to harm with cannons.

As for levels above Energy Transformation, they had no fear of any cannons.

However, there was a premise to this, which was having the Cultivation of Energy Transformation.

And Energy Transformation was not something commonplace; in all of Mianshui County with its population of over a hundred thousand, there were less than twenty with Energy Transformation Cultivation, showing a rate of appearance of roughly one in ten thousand.