Chapter 250: Top-Tier Commercial Goods

Silence, still silence.

Three hundred students stared, dumbstruck, at the Glass Cup on the table.

This Glass Cup was naturally stunning, but now they completely ignored the existence of the Glass Cup.

Their eyes were fixed only on the water that had suddenly risen.

If the person standing before them were not Yan Wang, but a Daoist priest, they would certainly believe this was sorcery.

Wang Chong sat in the middle of the first row.

He had been waiting for this day to arrive.

At this moment, meeting the expectant gaze cast by Yan Wang, he suddenly felt a bit flushed.

Why did the candle go out? Why did the water rise up?

He truly had no clue.

After all, from his birth until now, no one had ever performed this in front of him.

"Can no one answer?" Zhao Xu asked again.

All the students remained silent, their expressions shocked.

"Then let this King explain this phenomenon. The air that you and I breathe contains many components, and among them is a component called oxygen."

"It is precisely this oxygen that allows you and me to survive, and it is also this oxygen that allows all things to burn. So, when the oxygen in the cup was exhausted by the candle, the candle went out, and the water occupied the space that the oxygen should have occupied," Zhao Xu said slowly.

"Oxygen."

This word was instantly deeply branded into the minds of the students.

The door to a new world seemed to open before them following Yan Wang's explanation.

So it turned out that breathing was not so simple.

"Oxygen cannot be seen or touched, but it truly exists. The books distributed to you have an introduction regarding oxygen; read it yourselves," Zhao Xu said, holding up the textbook in his hand.

Purely textual content would only make these students, who understood nothing of scientific knowledge, feel confused.

That was why he had performed this experiment.

The students opened their books,

and began to read, gaining a deeper understanding of oxygen.

Next, Zhao Xu brought over a pot of vinegar and brought it to a boil.

He reached his hand into it in front of the students, which caused a burst of exclamation from them.

Street performers sometimes performed this, and they had always believed that these performers truly knew magic.

After Yan Wang let them each reach their hands into the pot and experience it for themselves, he explained a term to them: boiling point.

Only then did they understand that all things have a boiling point; the boiling point of water is 100 degrees, while the boiling point of vinegar is 60 degrees.

Next, Zhao Xu lectured on some other basic scientific concepts.

This was also the main purpose of his first lesson: to overturn their perception of a life filled with feudal superstition.

"So this is science."

After one class, the students felt their world had collapsed.

Things they had once firmly believed existed were nothing more than simple scientific phenomena.

Thunder and lightning were not the Thunder God and Lightning Mother, but the collision and friction of clouds.

The earth was not square, but round.

Even after Zhao Xu left with his textbook, the students in the academy were still reluctant to disperse.

They needed to calm down and calmly think about everything they had heard in this half-hour.

Wang Chong was the first to come to his senses; after all, he had not spent his time in the Armory in vain.

Before Yan Wang left, he had given him a task.

Standing up to face the students, he said, "Below, everyone discuss what His Highness has spoken about. Today's task is to memorize the concepts in the book; I will check them tonight."

The students nodded.

Yan Wang had designated Wang Chong to be in charge of the academy, so they naturally obeyed his orders.

Over here.

Zhao Xu left the Armory and went to the Government Academy and the Military Academy.

At the Government Academy, his first lesson was on agriculture.

For example, the characteristics of various grains and how to plant them, requiring officials to go down to the fields to guide the commoners in farming.

There were quite a few incumbent officials in the Government Academy.

After listening to the lecture, they had to return to the Government Office to work, which counted as learning while practicing.

At the Military Academy, he lectured on battlefield command, teaching the generals to recognize Flag Language.

On ancient battlefields, the transmission of orders had always been a problem.

Besides using messengers, he believed it was necessary to popularize Flag Language in the army.

What the eyes see is faster than what legs can run; only in this way could one command with ease on the battlefield.

Thus, he lectured for one hour, which is an hour, at each of the three academies every day.

If there was extra time, he would add temporary lessons.

The remaining time was left for them to study on their own, mastering the content of that hour through discussion among the students.

Questions about things they did not understand were to be raised in the next day's class.

The reason he arranged it this way was because the students were generally over sixteen years old and did not need to be taught every detail like primary school students.

Therefore, he packed a lot of knowledge into this one hour and let them digest it slowly on their own.

He was busy all morning.

Zhao Xu returned to the Prince's Mansion, his mouth and tongue parched.

He hurriedly had Luan'er pour him water to drink.

Seeing him gulp down a teacup of water, Feng'er shook her head and said with heartache, "Your Highness, why must you work so hard? Teaching the apprentice until the master starves is a thankless task."

"A while ago, when Your Highness was working personally at the Armory, you were not this tired," Luan'er said softly while kneading Zhao Xu's legs.

Pinching Feng'er's nose, Zhao Xu said, "You two don't understand this; you will naturally understand in the future."

To him, he did not currently expect these students to do anything for him.

He was simply treating them as a reserve of talent.

Currently, in the struggles against Da Song or the surrounding nations, his personal guidance of the Armory was enough.

But the dark forest of the world is very dangerous.

The hunters walking within it are not just nations like Northern Di or Western Liang, but also more vicious bandits cloaked in the guise of civilization.

If one day he collides with them, he fears it will be a contest of comprehensive strength.

By then, these students will be like a single spark, lighting up Yanzhou and catching up rapidly in every aspect.

The three of them were chatting.

At this moment, a maidservant entered to report that Yang He had arrived.

Carrying the water pot and drinking as he walked, Zhao Xu went to the Council Hall.

Seeing this, Feng'er and Luan'er both wore expressions that were a mix of wanting to cry and wanting to laugh.

"Your Highness, please look!"

In the Council Hall, Yang He was full of vigor, with six Glass Bottles filled with White Wine placed on the table before him.

The stoppers of the Glass Bottles were made of Glass, and the whole thing looked extremely perfect.

Beside the Glass Bottles were Glass Cups; this was a set.

To the side of the Glass Cups was the Perfume contained in small Glass Bottles.

"Hmm, not bad, the craftsmanship of the artisans in the Glass Workshop has improved," Zhao Xu said.

After the Glass Workshop resumed production, he had specifically written a manual on blowing techniques and ordered Wang Yingnian to read it to the artisans of the Glass Workshop.

By combining theory with practice in this way, the craftsmanship had indeed become increasingly refined.

"Your Highness, once this Wine reaches Jingshi, it will absolutely cause a sensation; even this official cannot put it down after seeing it," Yang He said with an intoxicated look.

Zhao Xu nodded; some wealthy people of the current era would drink nothing but Moutai.

It is evident that the top-tier rich of any era are not short of this money.

And this time, the comprehensive upgrade of Yanzhou's goods was targeted specifically at them.

This Glass packaging is extremely high-end in Da Song, and no one will be able to surpass it.