Li Mingjin was surprised at Luo Shuyu's understanding of hand cannon: "Hand cannon? Yu'er, as expected of someone who understands me the best, how do you know that I want to train a hand cannon team?"

    Of course Luo Shuyu couldn't say because he had read the book: "Before I saw a picture in my father's study, and I also heard that the hand cannon is very powerful. If we have a hand cannon team, we can use it to defend against foreign enemies and reduce the casualties of soldiers in battle." He didn't expect Li Mingjin to think earlier than him.

    Li Mingjin: "Father also wanted to make one before, but unfortunately the material was not good, so as long as the hand cannon was hot, it would easily explode and hurt people."

     Luo Shuyu pointed at the table: "There is still such a thing, can it be improved?"

    Li Mingjin mentioned the problems he encountered to Luo Shuyu: "There is no solution yet. Before we came here and I secretly asked three hand cannons from Father. I keep one and left the other two for the craftsmen to study."

   Regarding the hand cannon, it was written in the book. Shen Mingyun exchanged some points for a ratio formula to make this hand cannon. It was a pity that the there was no the complete contents of this formula in the novel, but the main thing was written. Luo Shuyu needed to take up time to recall and sort it out.

    If he hadn't thought about this matter today, he wouldn't have remembered that the hand cannon would encounter this problem, and he wouldn't have thought of a solution.

    From Li Mingjin's point of view, Luo Shuyu had never been in contact with this aspect, and sometimes he felt that it was unnecessary to mention it, but luckily Luo Shuyu asked about it himself.

    Now, Shen Mingyun had gained the favor of Emperor Tiansheng, and the fourth prince had many followers. The main reason was that the left prime minister who had never been in anyone team before suddenly started fighting with the right prime minister, the crown prince's team was too strong.

    In fact, after all, Emperor Tiansheng was still unwilling to let the Yan family get the world. The crown prince's personality was not strong enough. The Yan family had taken deep roots in the capital, they had to be uprooted, and small scale problem was useless to fight them.

    Emperor Tiansheng pinned his hopes on the first prince before, but it was a pity that Concubine Lin's family was short-sighted and only saw one thing but not the other, wasting his many years of planning in vain, but after he saw the forbearance and ability of the fourth child, he felt that there was still a hope to deal with the Yan family.

    Today was the eighth day of the new year.

    Li Mingjin felt that it wasn't interesting to be bored in the mansion, so he took Luo Shuyu out. They went shopping and saw the joyful smiles on the faces of the people, and they would also feel very happy. They had been here for more than a year, and their efforts were not in vain.

    The carriage passed  across the newly paved street, and it walked extremely smoothly without feeling bumpy at all.

    A year ago, a mutual market was opened in a small town not far from Gucheng. Now, many people could make a lot of money through this mutual market. There were more and more merchants coming from the south, which increased the income of the local people in Gucheng. Relying on the mutual market, Gucheng's monthly tax was higher than the tax of the previous year.

    Luo Shuyu also exchanged the useless things he had for some useful crops, and even opened some acres of land and let the old farmers to take good care of them, which should be useful in the future.

    In the book, Shen Mingyun got a lot of useful things through opening the mutual market. He also planted some useful crops, however after Shen Mingyun planted them, he sold them at a high price and successfully made money to raise soldiers and horses for the fourth prince, but Luo Shuyu thought that finding the crops that could fill the stomachs of the common people and making them have a better life was the most important.

    They took it from the common people and used it for the common people. People's livelihood was the foundation of the entire country, otherwise, a country with an empty treasury would change its emperor.

    Luo Shuyu didn't hope that Li Mingjin would follow in the footsteps of Emperor Tiansheng and other predecessors in the future. They needed to have a little change, just a little was enough.

    Li Mingjin took Luo Shuyu out of the city, it was cold outside, but Li Mingjin and Luo Shuyu were sitting in the carriage.

    When they walked to the city gate, in the winter, they saw a mother sending a young man with a bag out of the city. There was a book boy behind him. Not far away was a group of merchants. Hearing their accent and looking at their clothes, they seemed came from the capital.

    Luo Shuyu said to Li Mingjin: "This is a scholar, right? It looks like he is going to go and take an imperial examination."

    Li Mingjin explained for him: "Chunwei is coming soon, and it's just right to go to the capital now, so they can get used to live in the capital for a month."
[春闱 chūn wéi: metropolitan civil service examination (held triennially in spring in imperial times)]

    Luo Shuyu really didn't pay attention to this matter: "They have to take the preliminary round of imperial examinations for three days in the exam room and live in a small room, and when they come out, they will pass out."

    Li Mingjin also had the same idea: "Yeah, I always feel that this kind of preliminary round of imperial examinations is very torturous."

    Luo Shuyu: "They suffer cold window for ten years, and it's really not easy for everyone. If there is a better way, probably there is no need for them to suffer this kind of torture."
[寒窗 hán chuānga: cold window (idiom), a cold window in winter, which is a metaphor for a difficult learning environment]

    Li Mingjin: "We have to think about it carefully . I always feel that my ancestors have been using this method for generation to generation, but there is still no improvement."