Chapter 113: The Human Touch in the Imperial Palace

Waking up once more, Zhu Gaoxu went to the glass factory.

Arriving at the workshop, Zhu Gaoxu reached out his hand and summoned the steward in charge.

"Is everything going smoothly?"

"Replying to my master, everything is being manufactured according to your instructions... the glass manufacturing is all going smoothly."

After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu nodded with satisfaction, then said again: "Bring two finished products for me to take a look at."

Previously, after Zhu Gaoxu had created the glass crystals, he had paid no further attention to them.

After all, he had already prepared the subsequent molds and similar items, and this time he had mainly come to see how the finished products actually turned out.

Hearing Zhu Gaoxu's words, the steward did not dare to delay and trotted over to fetch two glass bottles.

Carefully handing them into Zhu Gaoxu's hands, the steward looked at Zhu Gaoxu with eyes full of admiration.

In his entire life, he had never imagined that such a crystal-clear treasure could exist in this world.

As a servant in the Wangfu, he was certainly not someone who had never seen fine things.

On the contrary, he had seen many good treasures in the Wangfu, and he had also seen plenty of items from the Imperial Palace.

But even so, he had never seen this treasure called glass in all these years.

One could actually see the other side from this end; such a treasure was actually created by his own Little Prince.

How could this not make him admire him?

Zhu Gaoxu, of course, did not know the steward's thoughts, and even if he did, he would likely only smile faintly. He still had many more good things he hadn't brought out yet.

Picking up the two small transparent glass bottles in his hands, one of the glass bottles had eight large characters engraved on it.

Sun and Moon, Mountains and Rivers, Eternal Prosperity for Ten Thousand Ages!

The other glass bottle was also engraved with eight large characters.

Great Ming's Rivers and Mountains, People Healthy and Goods Abundant!

These were all characters Zhu Gaoxu had engraved on the molds; as the glass crystals melted and were poured into the molds, they would naturally form after cooling.

Nodding with satisfaction, Zhu Gaoxu intended to fill the first small glass bottle with high-proof liquor, and the second with lower-proof liquor.

Doing this was, firstly, to distinguish between the two proofs of liquor, and secondly, to invite good fortune.

Of course, the main reason was that Zhu Gaoxu intended to use this to raise the price of his liquor.

Zhu Gaoxu planned to release a new version every year, changing the idiom for each version, and each version would only be manufactured for one year.

He would only sell half each year, keeping half for himself.

When the next year came and a new version was released, he would then sell the old version at a high price.

And all he had to pay was the cost of changing a mold once a year.

Nodding, Zhu Gaoxu ordered the steward to increase production intensity.

At the same time, they were also to produce glass bottles that only had the name of the liquor on the bottle body.

The reason Zhu Gaoxu did this was entirely to engage in hunger marketing.

Vigorously producing liquor bottles with idioms on the body was mainly to supply the needs of the Imperial Palace.

After all, Lao Zhu's birthday was coming up soon, and if he sent in liquor with auspicious words, Zhu Yuanzhang would certainly be happy.

As for what was actually sold to outsiders, Zhu Gaoxu planned for the total of both types of liquor not to exceed one thousand bottles.

And the glass bottles with the liquor names would also not be made in large quantities, at most five or six hundred bottles a month.

Giving a signal with his eyes, the steward immediately understood.

He trotted over and brought back another glass bottle.

Taking the glass bottle in his hand, there were three large characters printed on it.

Drunken Immortal Brew.

"Not bad."

Zhu Gaoxu nodded with satisfaction, then inspected the glass factory as usual, and seeing that everything was going smoothly, Zhu Gaoxu returned to the Military Camp.

Looking at the two thousand warhorses that had been added to the Military Camp, Zhu Gaoxu became even happier.

Thinking of something immediately, Zhu Gaoxu called Mao Xiang over.

"Find some people to go to the North and recruit a batch of wolfhounds; the fiercer, the better."

Although Mao Xiang did not know what Zhu Gaoxu wanted the wolfhounds for, he still nodded.

After busying himself for half a day, Zhu Gaoxu had finished what needed to be done and given the necessary instructions.

Then, Zhu Gaoxu walked toward Song Lian's large tent...

Time passed like a white horse galloping past a crack; in the blink of an eye, a month had passed.

At this time, it was less than twenty days until Zhu Yuanzhang's birthday.

Over this past month, Zhu Gaoxu had followed a set routine: the glass factory, the Military Camp, and the Xianniangfang.

Occasionally, Zhu Gaoxu would be called into the Imperial Palace by Lao Zhu to chat, and in his spare time, Zhu Gaoxu would also take the initiative to visit his teacher, Song Lian.

Every night, he naturally practiced the Nianhua Finger before sleeping.

At this point, Zhu Gaoxu was no longer exhausted every time he finished practicing.

He had roughly mastered this Qi within his body, and occasionally, on dark and windy nights, Zhu Gaoxu could not help but secretly test the power of the Nianhua Finger.

No one guided him, and he did not know what his current combat strength was.

But he could now easily pierce through a half-meter-thick tree with one finger.

Overall, Zhu Gaoxu had spent this month quite fruitfully.

In the early morning, Zhu Gaoxu got up from his bed.

The sounds of soldiers training, mixed with some dog barking and horse neighing, reached his ears.

After washing up, just as he stepped out of the large tent, he saw a eunuch standing at the entrance waiting.

"Your Highness, His Majesty summons you to the palace."

"Understood."

Zhu Gaoxu nodded, then followed the young eunuch into the city and walked toward the Imperial Palace.

Just after entering the Imperial Palace, Zhu Gaoxu sensed an air of celebration permeating the palace.

Compared to the usually stern and cold Imperial Palace, this truly possessed a bit more human warmth.