"Uncle Ma, what's the harvest this time?" Li Xiu asked Master Ma in front of him while making tea. He only came back from another place yesterday and came to chat with him today. After all, Princess Pingyang is not very concerned about the coal mine, and the only person who can discuss this with him is Li Xiu.

"It's okay. Anyway, I have purchased all the open-pit carbonite mines that I can see, but most of them seem to have low reserves, and there shouldn't be many real large coal mines." Ma Ye replied with a smile. After purchasing so many coal mines, he finally felt relieved. After the honeycomb coal was promoted, he could count the money with peace of mind.

"Haha, just be content. Open-pit coal mines are rare, and it is already very good for you to seize the opportunity. If others want to dig coal mines in the future, they can only dig those coal mines buried deep underground. Such coal mines are not easy to dig, and there is no way to compare with you in terms of cost alone." Li Xiu smiled again when he heard this.

Humans must start with simple open-pit coal mines. In the Tang Dynasty, the large-scale utilization of coal had not yet begun, so the number of open-pit coal mines was relatively large. However, by later generations, there were relatively few real open-pit coal mines. After all, after more than a thousand years of utilization, even if the mining technology of the ancients was backward, it was possible to mine some coal mines completely.

While speaking, Li Xiu had also brewed the tea in his hand. He immediately handed a cup of tea to Mr. Ma and said, "Uncle Ma, please try it. This is a new tea that has just been fried. After tasting it, the princess and Princess Qin both agreed that it has not been circulated yet, but in the future, it will definitely replace the current tea cake!"

Mr. Ma noticed Li Xiu's tea making move just now, and he took it and tasted it curiously, but he frowned and said, "This taste is too light, and it is bitter and astringent, and it is not delicious at all!"

"Uncle Ma, please try it again!" Li Xiu thought Ma did not taste the tea seriously, so he suggested again.

However, what Li Xiu did not expect was that Ma Ye still said it was not good to drink after taking a sip again, and then put down the tea cup. This made Li Xiu stunned and suddenly realized that stir-fried tea is not omnipotent. Everyone has different tastes, so there are naturally some people who like tea. Even in later generations, there are still many people who don’t like tea. Moreover, it is the first time Ma Ye drinks it, so it is normal for him to not like it.

In addition, this incident also reminded Li Xiu, that is, the promotion of fried tea is definitely not that easy. After all, it is not easy to change the taste of most people in this era. He was lucky before, and Princess Pingyang and Changsun, who he met, liked to stir-fry tea, but it did not mean that everyone liked it. Fortunately, he did not intend to make money with fried tea, but it was just for the angel and the powder to improve their lives. Having himself and Princess Pingyang and others liked to drink tea is enough for their master and servant.

Mr. Ma didn't like drinking tea, and Li Xiu did not force it. He asked Yuechan to bring him sour plum soup. This thing is almost a must-have summer heat relief drink for nobles. Especially when drinking tea is very troublesome, sour plum soup can also be used to entertain guests.

After Yuechan brought the sour plum soup, Ma suddenly blinked at Li Xiu and said, "Boy, I found that Yuechan is getting more and more beautiful. How about it, did she ask her to warm the bed for you?"

"Uncle Ma, don't joke. You don't know what kind of person I am?" Li Xiu shook his head and smiled bitterly when he heard this. As a man, he could understand the concept of ancient nobles like Ma Ye towards women, but the moral concept he developed since childhood made it difficult for him to act completely based on instinct like them.

"I doubt whether you are a monk. If you don't drink or play with women, how can you say there is no man like you?" Ma Ye said with great criticism at Li Xiu. Then he suddenly thought of something and said in a low voice, "Are you scrupulous about the princess' attitude? In fact, you are thinking too much. It is normal for a few beautiful maids around a man, and the princess won't say anything."

"Forget it, let's talk about it later." Li Xiu said laughing and crying again when he heard this.

Seeing that Li Xiu could not be persuaded, Ma Ye couldn't help but shook his head in a pity, and then talked to him about the promotion of honeycomb coal. In order to acquire coal mines at a low price, honeycomb coal has been in a confidential state. Now that the acquisition of coal mines has finally been completed, the next step is to promote honeycomb coal, and those coal mines will definitely be worth a hundred times the price.

"Uncle Ma, the weather is so hot now, the promotion of honeycomb coal may not be very smooth, right?" Li Xiu said hesitantly when he heard this. In his plan, it is best to promote honeycomb coal with the heating stove after the weather is cold, so as to achieve the best results.

"It's okay, don't look at it being very hot these days, but I asked someone to ask about it. The weather will cool down in a while. Then it's time to prepare for winter. In addition, those heating stoves also need time to build, so I plan to promote honeycomb coal first. When it gets cold, the heating stove will be built. At that time, there should be many people using honeycomb coal, which can be promoted more conveniently!" Mr. Ma said in a hurry. He was still waiting for the honeycomb coal to make money, so he could buy land everywhere.

"This... Since you have decided to do this, I have no objection. But at the beginning, how to open up the sales of honeycomb coal? I wonder if you have thought about it?" Li Xiu finally agreed, but asked another question.

"Hehe, I have thought about this question a long time ago. Just as you reminded me before, honeycomb coal is simple to make and can easily be copied. The power of our princess's mansion cannot stop others from imitating it. However, our family cannot do it, but we can join forces with several more companies. I plan to find a few powerful nobles to sell honeycomb coal together. In this way, with their influence, honeycomb coal can be quickly promoted. In addition, all the carbonite mines are in our hands, so the real big head is ours!" Ma Ye said insidiously.

People who do big things understand the importance of cooperating with others. This is the same as the principle on the battlefield. Only by relying on their own efforts can you make small fuss at most, especially new energy sources such as coal, which require others to participate.

"Good and smart, it will benefit both sides. With those people participating, there is no need to worry about the promotion of honeycomb coal." Li Xiu couldn't help but praise him when he heard this. In fact, his previous idea was more radical, that was, to let the Princess' Mansion completely withdraw from the production and sales of honeycomb coal, and only supply coal. However, after thinking that if the honeycomb coal sales were completely withdrawn, someone might be snatched from the sales of sales in the future, so it is also a good thing for the Princess' Mansion to participate in part of the sales.

In the next period of time, Ma Ye was so busy that he was nowhere to be seen again. When he encountered some problems, he would come to discuss with Li Xiu. After the two of them agreed to find a result, he ran away again. It was difficult for Princess Pingyang to find him.

In contrast, Li Xiu seemed very leisurely. He spent fishing almost every day throughout the summer vacation. Occasionally, when the weather was too hot, he would go to the small pond in the valley to swim. This place was originally discovered by Ma Ye, but unfortunately he didn't have time to come, and instead became Li Xiu's best leisure place.

However, just one month passed quickly. After the summer vacation, Li Chengdao and Li Chengqian came here to class again, which made Li Xiu feel reluctant to cheer up. However, Li Xiu also learned to be smart this time. He began to deliberately slow down his education, and more to take them to participate in some practical activities, such as going out for a picnic, getting to know nature, using a telescope to observe the moon, etc., and this way, Li Xiu was happy and the children learned easily.

The hot summer has finally passed, and autumn seems to have suddenly come. One day after Li Xiu celebrated, he found that he was covered with a thicker blanket, but he didn't feel the heat. Without asking, he knew that it must have been Yuechan who helped him cover it in the middle of the night. When he opened the door in his small clothes, he suddenly felt a sense of coldness, which made people feel that autumn has finally come.

"Autumn is here, I wonder how the bearded guest is doing?" Li Xiu looked at the gloomy sky outside and suddenly thought about the bearded guest going to America. According to his estimate, the bearded guest should choose to set off in the autumn and winter seasons, because the wind and waves in the Pacific Ocean were the least at that time, but I don't know when he would come back?

Just as Li Xiu thought of the bearded guests, there was also a scene of rushing in a large port at the southern end of Zhuzi Island. A group of sailors with open clothes and exposed dark and strong chests shouted horns, carrying various supplies onto the ship like rows of ants. The heavy iron anchors were also pulled up, waiting for the sail to set sail.

The bearded guest stood on one of the largest ships, looking at the busy scene in front of him, and couldn't help but show a passionate expression on his face. As the uncrowned king on the sea, he had been to almost all known places on the sea, but now there is an America that he had never reached before, and there are high-yield crops mentioned by Li Xiu. If he could bring these crops back to the Central Plains, his achievements would be compared with the Shennong who tasted hundreds of herbs. No matter how the Central Plains dynasty changed in the future, the merits of his help to save the people from hunger could not be erased, and his name would be remembered forever.

Thinking of these above, the bearded guest couldn't help feeling the heat in his chest. After all the prepared materials were transported onto the ship, he immediately said in an uncontrollable excitement voice: "Set up!"

Only when the bearded guest was ordered, Zhang Shiyi, who was standing behind him, immediately agreed, and then conveyed the order. Amid the sound of war drums when the army set out, the fleet finally slowly left the port. They wanted to go to the east side of Honzhou Island to find the ocean current that went straight to the Americas, and then follow the ocean current to the Americas! (To be continued.)

...
Chapter completed!