Chapter 186: Lamp

Yun Shu happily agreed.

After all, the craftsmanship for a Glazed Glass lamp shade is still very difficult.

Yun Shu placed all the lamps he had made recently on the table in the corner and set them out.

"I heard earlier that you wanted something fancy; I wonder if these will suffice?"

Crystal balls that can emit light, lily-of-the-valley style night lights, several flower-shaped lamps...

They were truly adorable.

Yan Ning was very satisfied: "These lamps are quite good. I will go back and see if I can find any modern lighting fixtures."

Yan Ning prepared to return, and Yun Shu gifted her two lighting fixtures.

One was a Glazed Glass crystal ball that could emit light, and the other was a small lily-of-the-valley Table Lamp.

Yan Ning happily took the two items and immediately returned to the Eastern Palace; Grand Tutor Chen was still waiting there at this moment.

He looked at the crystal ball and the lily-of-the-valley in Yan Ning's hands with some confusion and couldn't help but ask: "Your Highness, what are these?"

Yan Ning's lips curled up, very happy, "These are new things Yun Shu made; both of them are Table Lamps."

Yan Ning pressed the switch to show Grand Tutor Chen.

Seeing the lamp suddenly light up, Grand Tutor Chen walked around the lily-of-the-valley Table Lamp and the crystal ball, but still could not understand the trick inside.

Yan Ning thought for a moment and had someone go to the Imperial Academy to tell Yun Shu to remember to attend the morning court tomorrow and not to forget to bring the lamps and the Electric Fan.

At the morning court the next day, Yan Ning brought up promoting Yun Shu to Director of the Research Institute.

This was a high-ranking official position of the second rank.

Even his father was somewhat fearful.

The Minister of Personnel hurriedly said: "Your Highness, this cannot be done. He is only sixteen; he needs to stabilize his temperament."

Yun Shu had already been a graduate student at Tsinghua University in his past life; he was certainly not as rash as a teenage boy.

Yan Ning then asked Yun Shu to bring the Light Bulb and the fan to the front.

One could see that pressing the switch made the lamp light up, and pressing it again made it go out; it was truly magical.

That small thing made of bamboo looked strange.

But as soon as Yun Shu turned on the switch, the fan blades began to rotate slowly, blowing out a gentle breeze.

Yan Ning said: "Both of these items are powered by electrical energy; they are very convenient."

Seeing that several people were still confused, they looked at each other: "What is electrical energy?"

Yan Ning's explanation was simple and blunt: "Everyone should know about the Steam Train; it needs to burn coal to run. If this electrical energy is developed further, it can also drive a Train."

At this point, everyone understood.

Yan Ze also said: "It is indeed impressive. These two inventions are already very good, and promoting him to Director of the Research Institute is also appropriate."

Yan Ning brought up the railway once again, "I plan to open a lamp workshop with Yun Shu. The profits are quite considerable, so we can start building the railway now."

The Minister of Revenue's eyelids twitched.

But he dared not say anything this time.

Recently, he always felt that the way Yan Ning looked at him was wrong, and he was always worried that Yan Ning would replace him.

However, thinking about the profits from the Glass Factory, Jianyue Pavilion, and now the lamps, it should be no problem to build a railway.

But he still couldn't help but ask: "If only there were ready-made iron blocks, it would save a lot of silver. Didn't Your Highness say earlier that there was a map marking the location of an Iron Mine?"

There was indeed such a matter.

Yan Ning then said: "I will have people go search for the Iron Mine today, and we will start construction once it is found."

The matter of building the railway thus began in full swing.

Yan Ning did not take out the map that marked the mineral deposits in various places, but instead compared it with the map of Daxia and made a mark on it.

This mark was closest to the Capital.

Yan Ning thought it over and finally marked several more Iron Mines near the railway line.

After all, the cost of Yun Shu's iron ore was a bit high, so it was better to source materials locally.

This day, there was another auction, and Yan Ning and Yun Shu sat in the very corner.

The first few auction items were all things from Liuli Fang, various Folding Screens, ornaments, and teapots for brewing tea.

There really were many wealthy people in the Capital; their bids were higher than the last.

The last few items were Light Bulbs.

The auctioneer took out a transparent crystal ball, pressed the switch, and the crystal ball lit up.

The auctioneer introduced it with great enthusiasm: "Everyone, this is a crystal ball with extremely complex craftsmanship. It can emit light; placing it by the bedside will make it much more convenient to get up at night."

The starting price for this crystal ball was five thousand taels. Yan Ning was truly worried about whether it could be sold, after all, a larger Glazed Glass ornament was only worth three thousand taels.

But she still underestimated the wealth of the wealthy in the Capital.

Soon the price soared to ten thousand taels.

The two people bidding against each other even knew each other and immediately started cursing in the auction house:

"You shameless thing, competing with me for everything. Do you even have that much silver?"

"Heh, my family has plenty of money; I don't care about this little bit of money. Unlike you, stingy and only adding the minimum amount."

"You..."

The two became more and more fierce, and finally, they were stopped.

In the end, neither of them won the bid; a man wearing a mask bid seventeen thousand taels and took the crystal ball.

Yan Ning couldn't help but click her tongue.

She was looking forward to the subsequent auction items.

Next was the lily-of-the-valley small Table Lamp; the main body of the lamp was curved, with several cute lily-of-the-valley flowers hanging on it, which was very adorable.

With a press of the switch, these few lily-of-the-valley flowers all lit up.

These lily-of-the-valley flowers were also being snapped up.

These few lamps were even more expensive than the Glassware Screen she had auctioned off earlier.

Moreover, the lampshades were all frosted, and the light shining through was warm and not glaring, so everyone started bidding up the price online.

The most expensive lamp actually reached thirty thousand taels.

Did these people's silver come from a strong wind?

Yan Ning was slightly better off, but Yun Shu was simply stunned.

Good heavens, he knew Glazed Glass was expensive, but he hadn't expected that these merchants could spend so much silver to buy it.

Yun Shu secretly made up his mind that he must make lamps well in the future.

This month's auction, plus the earnings from Liuli Fang, Jianyue Pavilion, and the lamp shop, were very high, a massive sum.

On the other side, someone had already surveyed the location of an Iron Mine.

It was truly a double blessing.

Yan Ning began the intensive preparations to make the Railway.

The Railway could not be made of pure iron; it had to be made of steel, otherwise those rails left outside would not be able to withstand the wind and rain and would gradually corrode.

Using steel would be much better.

Yan Ning wrote down her concept and then asked Yun Shu to see if he could improve it.

After everything was arranged, they worked on making the Railway while preparing to build the Steam Train.

Yan Ning was watching over the Steel Mill that day when she saw the Minister of Revenue sneaking over; he was taken aback when he saw Yan Ning.

Yan Ning found it strange: "What are you doing here?"

The Minister of Revenue revealed a smile, "Coming to take a look at the steelmaking."

Yan Ning said with a smile: "Is that so?"

The Minister of Revenue stiffened his neck: "I just wanted to come and calculate the construction cost per kilometer of the railway."

Yan Ning had the same intention, but the calculations were cumbersome.

But since the Minister of Revenue had taken the initiative to help, Yan Ning tossed it to him.

What surprised her a little was that the budget was five thousand taels of silver per kilometer, but it actually only cost three thousand taels!