The next morning, after Ren Baqian woke up, he washed himself up and began to pack his belongings. After which, he went to see the empress.
This time around, the meeting place wasn't the usual Yangxin Palace Hall. Instead, it was the throne room. This was the first time Ren Baqian had come here.
By the time he reached the throne room, the empress was already seated upon a golden throne on an elevated platform. There were already a few people standing beneath her.
"Greetings, Your Majesty." After greeting the empress, Ren Baqian stood to one side in a well-behaved manner and examined those people. One of them was a burly man clad in metallic armor with a helmet in his hand. There was a feather sticking out of the top of his helmet. The burly man's skin was bronze in color, and he looked as though he was thirty-something years old. He was a military officer that was of Standard class, Rank 6.
Other than him, there were two other men. One of them had a very thick beard, and he looked approximately forty years old. Right now, he was examining Ren Baqian closely.
The other man looked as though he was close to forty years old. When compared to the aboriginals, his body was considered slightly petite. However, he was still bigger than Ren Baqian.
The former was wearing a Secondary class, Rank 3 official robe while the latter was wearing a Secondary class, Rank 5 official robe.
"Ren Baqian!" The empress's cold voice resounded through the air.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Ren Baqian quickly took a few steps forward and faced the empress.
"Storyteller Ren Baqian of Qingxin Palace Hall is extremely capable, loyal, and responsible. I hereby promote you to Imperial Deputy Prefect. You are to take office immediately."
Ren Baqian was stunned. Following which, he kneeled down on one knee and replied, "Thank you, Your Majesty."
Ren Baqian was still in a daze. He was promoted after arriving here for merely two minutes. Furthermore, he was promoted to Imperial Deputy Prefect, which was of Secondary class, Rank 5. The speed at which he was promoted was faster than a rocket's.
Ren Baqian had been in this world for less than three months, but he had already completed walking a path that an ordinary Dayao citizen would take a lifetime to complete.
Even an ordinary official or general that had obtained great meritorious service wasn't promoted so quickly.
However, the three other persons weren't surprised by Ren Baqian's promotion at all.
After all, they all knew who Ren Baqian was. If nothing went wrong, this person would become the prince consort in the future. This official position was merely a stepping stone for him.
Furthermore, the position of Imperial Deputy Prefect was responsible for various important matters in the imperial palace. This position was different from an ordinary position in the six departments of the imperial court or a military position.
"Imperial Deputy Prefect Ren Baqian will be in charge of this mission and Overseer of Military Arms, Tao Jiyuan, will be his assistant. I want you to inspect Mount Damo and Mount Liucui and see if there's any solution to increasing our output of iron. If you succeed, I will reward you handsomely."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Ren Baqian and Tao Jiyuan bowed and replied.
When Ren Baqian heard these words, he knew why the empress promoted him. An official position of Secondary class, Rank 8 wasn't high enough for him to be in charge of this mission.
After he was promoted to Imperial Deputy Prefect, his rank would be similar to that Overseer of Military Arms. Furthermore, given his unique status, he was definitely worthy to be in charge of this matter.
"Teng Ji, Colonel of Winged Guards, lead three hundred winged cavalry to protect them along the way. You will be fully responsible for anything that goes wrong," the empress continued with a cold voice.
"Yes, Your Majesty," the armor-clad general immediately replied.
Naturally, he knew who the empress wanted him to protect.
If both of them encountered danger at the same time, even if he died, he had to bring Deputy Prefect Ren back alive.
Otherwise, he would have to die to atone for his sin.
"Go back and make your preparations, set off after noon. Ren Baqian, you remain here." After the empress finished speaking, Tao Jiyuan and Teng Ji left the throne room.
"I am Overseer of Military Arms, Feng Hou, I have something to ask you."
"Greetings, Overseer of Military Arms." Ren Baqian turned around and cupped his fists.
"Deputy Prefect Ren, how confident are you with regards to the matter of increasing the output of iron ores from the mine?" Feng Hou asked Ren Baqian.
"That will have to depend on the amount of iron ore and their distribution in the mines. If extraction of the iron ores is the only problem, I might have some solutions," Ren Baqian pondered for a while before replying Feng Hou.
"According to Her Majesty, Deputy Prefect Ren has means to smelt iron ores and forge weapons too? Can you tell me how are you going to do it? This way, I can make some preparations too," Feng Hou asked again.
"The main issues with smelting iron ores are insufficient heat and unstable temperature. A simple solution to these two issues is box bellows. However, if you want to do it for a long period of time, you will need a blast furnace. It doesn't require much skill to operate. Furthermore, it doesn't require many components and the stability of its temperature is very high. If the steel that is produced contains very little impurities, we can directly use it to forge weapons. This will save a lot of manpower," Ren Baqian explained.
"What is a box bellows? What is a blast furnace? What is steel?" Feng Hou furrowed his eyebrows and asked three questions in a row.
With regards to the husband chose by Her Majesty, Feng Hou shared the same sentiments as everyone else. Ren Baqian did not seem at all capable, otherwise, everyone wouldn't have raised objections to the empress's decision back then.
Ren Baqian was weak and delicate. Other than bootlicking, he did not seem to have any other capabilities.
This morning, Her Majesty summoned them and told them something.
Her Majesty wanted to increase the iron output from the iron mines.
Her Majesty wasn't the only one that had been racking her brain to come up with a solution to this matter. The entire Ministry of Works had been doing so as well. In reality, it was too hard to extract iron ores from the two iron mines.
For so many years, they had been extracting iron ore from the mines bit by bit. Countless people had racked their brains to no avail. Everyone felt that extracting iron ore from the mines bit by bit was the only way.
This time around, Her Majesty wanted Ren Baqian to inspect the mines and think of a solution.
If this was the only thing that the empress wanted Ren Baqian to do, Feng Hou had no objections with it at all. If Ren Baqian succeeded, he would benefit as well. If Ren Baqian failed, it had nothing to do with him at all. After all, he was the Overseer of Military Arms.
However, when he heard that Her Majesty wanted Ren Baqian to interfere with the matters of smelting iron ores and forging weapons, he could not help but to raise objections. If Ren Baqian interfered with these matters, what was the point of having him as the Overseer of Military Arms?
Furthermore, does Ren Baqian really know how to extract iron ore from iron mines, smelt iron ore, and forge weapons?
If Ren Baqian was truly capable, everyone in the Department of Military Arms would listen to him. Otherwise, Feng Hou would definitely not let him interfere with the affairs of Department of Military Arms.
Therefore, he decided to ask this Storyteller Ren some questions.
Ren Baqian did not mind Feng Hou asking him these questions.
"You can try making a box bellows. It's a huge box with a handle that can be pulled and pushed on one side. It must also have a valve for air to enter. A person operating it will have to push and pull the handle to channel air into it. Air contains oxygen. Sufficient oxygen will allow the fire to burn better and longer. Furthermore, if there is a person that keeps on pulling and pushing the handle, the fire will be more stable and the temperature of the fire will be higher. These conditions will improve the smelting process" Ren Baqian gave Feng Hou a rough explanation.
"Now, I will talk about the blast furnace. First, I will explain what steel is. A weapon that is made out of ordinary iron is very weak. Therefore, we will have to remove the impurities from the iron and add a little carbon to it. Eventually, we will obtain steel A blast furnace will directly remove the impurities in the iron during the smelting process and this process will produce steel. This way, we can save a lot of manpower, time and effort" Ren Baqian continued.
Feng Hou knitted his eyebrows. He did not understand what Ren Baqian had said. However, Ren Baqian's words did sound pretty awesome.
After staying in the Department of Military Arms for over ten years, Feng Hou knew pretty much everything about smelting iron ore and forging weapons. However, he did not understand anything that Ren Baqian had just told him.
When the empress saw the troubled look on Feng Hou's face, her lips curled upwards.
This was what she wanted to see.
Of course, she knew what everyone was worrying about.
It was her own decision that she chose Ren Baqian as her husband and no one else had the right to interfere with her decision. However, she was still annoyed at the fact that everyone was looking down on her decision.
Even if Feng Hou did not raise his doubts regarding Ren Baqian now, she would find him an opportunity to do so sooner or later.