Chapter 44: We’ll strike first

As Xiao Hanzheng lowered his head, he saw her clear eyes looking at him curiously.

His heart beat even faster.

Although answering would expose his secret, he still nodded and said, “Yes, Mo Qingling ‘s achievements in the future will not be too bad.”

When he died, Mo Qingling had already established a firm foothold in the Ministry of War.

If nothing unexpected happened, Mo Qingling would take over after the current Minister of War resigned.

Shi Qingluo’s eyes lit up. “Then we can find an opportunity to build a relationship with him in advance.”

The instruction manual for refining iron and steel were in her hands.

After Mo Qingling mined the iron ore, she would find an opportunity to pass him the instruction manual to build a relationship with him.

In the future, they would also have someone in the capital to rely on.

Xiao Hanzheng read his little wife’s plan. He smiled lightly and said, “Alright!”

In this life, his immediate family members were still alive.

Now that he also had a little wife, he decided to take a different path.

Revenge was no longer his only goal in life.

He wanted to lead a better life with his mother, wife and younger siblings.

At the same time, he wanted to make up for some of the regrets he had in his previous life.

Let’s see if befriending Mo Qingling would translate into a friendship this time.

Shi Qingluo realised that her young husband was really very good.

Not only did he understand what she meant, but they were also very compatible with each other.

He wasn’t a machismo and was very accommodating towards her.

She might not even meet such a man in modern times.

She asked, “Did the ex-magistrate have a deep relationship with the Wu Family? I heard from the servant of the Bai family that the Bai family is very happy with our new county magistrate.”

Xiao Hanzheng replied, “Their relationship is very deep. That county magistrate is greedy, incompetent, and very timid. The Bai family is afraid of the magistrate backing the Wu family. Hence, he was previously able to make the majority of the decisions in Nanxi county.

“Even if the Bai family has a fourth-rank official to rely on, they still have to avoid him.”

Shi Qingluo nodded. “No wonder the Wu family hasn’t come to stir trouble recently. It seems like they are too busy with the sudden change of magistrate.”

Xiao Hanzheng wasn’t surprised that the Wu family would want to provoke his little wife.

Not only did his little wife not marry in, but she also stopped his younger sister from the marriage.

The Wu family was narrow-minded and insolent.

They would definitely want to settle the matter next time.

“When they are free, they will definitely come and make a nuisance.”

In his previous life, the Wu family was backed by that magistrate.

At first, he could not do anything to them.

Later on, he rose through the ranks and managed to destroy him with some evidence.

Afterwards, he sent all the villains in the Wu family to be beheaded and exiled.

Shi Qingluo’s eyes turned cold. “Then we will strike first.”

Based on the Wu family’s style of doing things, they probably had done a lot of harm and misdeeds over the years.

They could use the Bai family and Xinzhi county to suppress the Wu family.

If the Bai family wanted to regain their position in Nanxi county and prosper further, they had to trample the Wu family.

If Mo Qingling wanted to gain a firm foothold in Nanxi county, he would suppress the Wu family, who had colluded with that problematic and arrogant ex-county magistrate.

Therefore, she wasn’t misusing both parties.

Instead, she was helping them.

Her enemy’s enemy was her friend.

She continued, “It’s just that I don’t know if the Wu family will try to snatch my little black balls when Mozhi county keeps a tight watch out on them.”

If the Wu family were to hand over the earth bomb to the magistrates, their efforts would be recognised wholesomely.

Even if Mo Qingling had a marvellous background, he wouldn’t be able to do much with them.

Xiao Hanzheng asked, “What are the little black balls?”

Shi Qingluo replied, “It’s a very destructive earth bomb. You know about gunpowder, right? They were the ingredients for them.”

Historically speaking, gunpowder had existed since the Spring and Autumn period (770-476 BC).

It was only in the Tang dynasty that black gunpowder officially appeared for military affairs.

Now that there was no Tang Dynasty, and the Daliang Dynasty had already made a turn, gunpowder hadn’t been used in military affairs yet.

Xiao Hanzheng was very smart. “Previously, when that old Taoist ascended, there was a huge sudden sound, and flames soared into the sky. It was actually caused by these small black balls, right?”

He heard the loud noise and saw the flame shooting into the sky, but he didn’t believe that it was because someone ascended to immorality.

He had been curious about what caused such a big commotion, but now he knew.

Shi Qingluo nodded. “Yes,the explosion was caused by the gunpowder in his refined pills. There were also many earth bombs piled up in the main hall, which had all detonated to create that so-called ascension phenomenon.”

Xiao Hanzheng thought for a moment and asked, “Do you know how to make that?”

Shi Qingluo did not hide anything. “Yes, and I know more, but we don’t have the ability to protect ourselves yet, so we shouldn’t take it out.”

Not only did the ‘time travel encyclopaedia’ contain instructions on concocting gunpowder and earth bombs, it also showed how to make flintlocks and so on.

If they took it out now, they would probably be under the direct control of some influential people or the emperor.

They were still too weak at the moment.

It was better to keep a low profile while developing it at the beginning.

They would only take these out only when they had sufficient financial assets that even the emperor would not dare to touch.

Xiao Hanzheng discovered that when his little wife was arrogant, she was really arrogant.

When she was cautious, she was extremely cautious.

She was very good at judging the situation, and her actions were especially wise.

He did not know what kind of family would be able to raise such a woman.

“Your cautiousness is right. We shouldn’t take it out now.”

Xiao Hanzheng thought for a moment and said, “But you can make a few that have weaker explosive power first. Then, add some impurities into them. You can deliberately mislead the Wu family to take them.

“After they try them, they will find that their uses are limited and not suitable for military purposes. Naturally, they will give up.”

He said meaningfully, “I’m not afraid that others would steal it, but I’m afraid that the potential thieves will keep thinking about it.”

Shi Qingluo felt that it made a lot of sense. “Right, it’s better to let the Wu family give up on it first so that they won’t keep thinking about it.”

She still had a lot of things to do after this, so it wasn’t great if the Wu family kept thinking about it.

She snapped her fingers. “Then I’ll start by adding some ineffective ingredients. I’ll get my eye-sore fourth uncle to send them to the Wu family. We can even extort them a sum of money.”

Xiao Hanzheng smiled knowingly, “That’s not a bad idea.”

Since they had already made enemies, it didn’t matter if they made more.

After saying that, the two of them went to the backyard together.

Mother Xiao had already led Xiao Baili and Xiao Erlang in building a few straw sheds.

Obviously, the three of them were very happy raising the chickens and ducks.

Xiao Erlang said excitedly, “Sister-in-law, from now on, I’ll dig earthworms every day to feed the chickens and ducks.”

When these chickens and ducks grew up, they would be able to eat chicken eggs, duck eggs and meat

Shi Qingluo smiled with encouragement, “Then from now on, I’ll let you handle the poultry’s diet.”

Xiao Erlang nodded excitedly. “I’ll do it well, sister-in-law!”

Shi Qingluo added, “We will raise these chickens and ducks first. When we have some money, we’ll buy the mountains behind us to raise a whole mountain of chickens and ducks.”

The chickens and ducks would be healthier and tastier when they moved around the mountain to search for food.

Moreover, it would be more interesting if they did it on a large scale.

When Mother Xiao and her two younger children heard that, they were filled with anticipation. “Really? That would be great.”

Shi Qingluo said confidently, “Definitely.”

Then, Shi Qingluo stayed behind to help while Xiao Hanzheng went back to write his novel.

After setting up the nest, Shi Qingluo took the initiative to fetch water to feed the chickens and ducks.

She added quite a lot of spring water so that the chickens and ducks would not die.

Of course, she would also prepare medicine that would prevent poultry diseases.

When they scaled it up, she would go to the county to get the medicine.

This also explained why her family’s poultry had zero death and did not fall sick.