It's no secret that comets appear.

Li Chunfeng could see it, and so could some other people.

Soon, the news of the appearance of the broom star spread in Chang'an City.

Fortunately, the internal situation in Datang is now very stable, and it has not caused too much trouble.

It's just that some people still have hidden worries in their hearts.

As an emperor, Li Shimin naturally asked Bai Qisi to pay close attention to him.

"Your Majesty, if His Royal Highness the King of Chu's statement is correct, as long as an article is published in the "Datang Daily", many people's concerns can be solved. Otherwise, there will always be some people behind the scenes who are adding fuel to the fire and want to achieve some of their own goals.

Special purpose.”

Li Zhong had a relatively deep understanding of what happened at the observatory and some rumors in Chang'an City.

Therefore, his attitude towards this matter is relatively clear.

"Publishing the conditions observed at the observatory and allowing some people to have the opportunity to personally use the observatory of Guanshishan Academy to observe the stars will naturally solve the comet crisis, but the stars are not necessarily all bad.

, if we say this this time, then there will be no way to talk about things related to Ziwei Star and other astrological phenomena in the future."

"This...then...should we block His Highness King Chu's statement?"

Li Zhong's heart trembled, and he suddenly realized something.

Since ancient times, there has been a saying that the power of kings is divinely authorized.

What is God?

What is heaven?

What is the emperor?

No one can answer this question.

Since there is no way to answer, it usually depends on what the royal family says and what the court says.

Now His Royal Highness the King of Chu says that all stars are natural phenomena, and their appearance and disappearance have no special meaning.

Will the common people feel that the royal family is no longer mysterious?

Although many people still believe in various gods even in later generations, astronomy is still relatively sensitive after all.

Fortunately, Li Shimin was a confident emperor. If it were someone else, he might be slandered, and Li Kuan would be in serious trouble.

"It's better to block than to block. Blockade is useless. The more blocked you are, the easier it is for others to take advantage of you. Forget it, I just want to see what Kuan'er can do, so let him do it first."

…

Following a report in Datang Daily, the observatory of Guanshishan Academy became famous immediately.

"There is no Chang'e on the moon? Then... what happened to Chang'e flying to the moon?"

"The moon is just a big bare ball?"

"Can the astronomical telescope on the observatory see clearly what's on the moon?"

Various questions arise in the hearts of the people in Chang'an City.

However, there are already a lot of "heresies" coming out from Guanshishan Academy, and everyone's ability to accept them has become much stronger.

In such an atmosphere, the second batch of Guanshishan Academy's sailing fleet left the Weishui Pier.

"Your Majesty, there are several fleets of nobles in Chang'an City following the academy's fleet this time. What if they see the gold mine and become malicious?"

Xu Jingzong and Li Kuan stood at the Weishui pier, looking at the fleet getting further and further away, and said with a little worry.

In fact, according to Xu Jingzong, since this Australia was discovered by the students of Guanshishan Academy, there is no need to tell others, Guanshishan Academy can develop it alone.

In the vast sea, if there is no one to lead, others may not have the courage to go to Australia.

Even if you make up your mind, you may not be able to find the location of the gold mine.

"Pu Luo Zhong is basically the only place to go to Australia. We control this new city. As long as other fleets are not confused, they will not have trouble with us in Australia. Besides, Australia is so big, no one can

I don’t think there can be only one gold mine, so I’m not too worried. Besides, even if they have malicious intentions, can they be our opponents?”

Australia was really too far away for Datang.

If we want to develop this continent, it is definitely not enough to rely solely on Guanshishan Academy.

Li Kuan's perspective on the problem must be different from Xu Jingzong's, so he guided other distinguished fleets to follow them to Yongping Port early.

I am not afraid that you are interested in gold mines, but I am afraid that you have no desires or desires.

"That's true. This time our academy sent out five expedition ships and recruited thousands of sailors and craftsmen. The idle caravan is no match for us."

"Other fleets within the Tang Dynasty now rely on the East China Sea fisheries, so there is nothing to worry about in the short term. What I am worried about is the merchants of Dashi. They are very aggressive and have great influence in the Western Ocean.

He is getting stronger and stronger, and if he knew about the Australian gold mine, he would definitely take action."

Li Kuan had already learned about the current situation of the Dashi Empire from some Persian and Dashi merchants.

To put it bluntly, Dashi and Tang Dynasty both rose up on this planet at about the same time. Each is the most powerful existence in the nearby continent, and they are still expanding.

Before the two empires fully collide, their respective tentacles will definitely clash sooner.

Not to mention other things, in Nanyang's spice and other businesses alone, the competition between Datang merchants and big food merchants was already fierce.

"Dashi? The prince seems to attach great importance to this country?"

This was not the first time Xu Jingzong heard the name Dashi.

Like many people in the Tang Dynasty, he didn't think Dashi was that great.

"Dashi is a completely different country from us. It will be our main enemy for the next hundred years. Even if we defeat them, it will be difficult to completely eliminate them."

Li Kuan had no intention of bringing the entire Middle East under the actual rule of the Tang Dynasty.

But at some key nodes, Datang's territory must be included.

After all, it contains the most important industrial raw materials of the future.

…

In a certain grassland in northern Shuozhou, July is the time when weeds are at their most luxuriant.

However, now it has been replaced by regular cotton fields.

The strong cotton seedlings, which are nearly as tall as a person, have begun to bear buds that are ready to bloom.

From time to time, farmers are doing farm work in the fields and removing weeds in the ridges.

And on the flower buds, a bee flies up from time to time, flaps its thin wings, stops on the flower buds, and happily collects honey.

On the official road next to the cotton fields, several carriages were parked there. A young man was surrounded by several farmers and was busy with something unknown.

"Mr. Wen, the honey in the hive has increased significantly in the past few days. Judging from this situation, it won't be long before we can harvest honey again."

"Yes, this cotton honey is really beyond my expectation. You can collect honey before the cotton blooms."

The person who spoke was none other than Wen Guang from the Agricultural College of Guanshishan Academy, who now specializes in artificial beekeeping.

According to his previous understanding, honey is collected from various flowers.

However, after this period of observation, he discovered that cotton honey does not only come from open flower buds.

Different from other nectars such as peach nectar, Wen Guang found that the leaves of cotton are distributed with large and small veins, which are different from other leaves.

There seems to be a place under the main veins of cotton leaves that secretes honey. Bees can also collect honey through these veins.

There is also honey under the bract leaves, so you don’t have to wait for the cotton to bloom, you can continue to collect nectar.

Therefore, Wen Guang concluded that when cotton is used for beekeeping, before flowering, the area under the veins of the cotton leaves will begin to secrete honeydew first, followed by the area under the bract leaves, and finally the honeydew secreted by the cotton itself.

This discovery means that around the cotton fields, at least several months can be used to collect honey, without having to chase the constant migration of various flowers, greatly increasing honey production.

"Mr. Wen, I heard that the cotton fields planted next year will continue to expand. In this way, even if our bees do not move to other places to collect honey after picking the cotton, they can still harvest a lot of honey."

All Chinese people are relocating to their homeland, let alone the people of the Zhenguan period.

So despite the fact that Wen Guang has been pulling a few carriages and bringing several beekeepers around Shuozhou for the past six months, if he could live a good life without struggling, no one would follow Wen Guang.

Migrated.

"It's possible, but after September, the bees will have no source of nectar, which is very detrimental to our expansion of breeding scale. It would be great if we could have other flowers to grow for a while."

Wen Guang has discovered that if bees can collect very little nectar, they need to leave enough honey in the hive for the bees to eat, otherwise a large number of bees will die.

But this will lead to a decrease in honey production, which is naturally not what he wants to see.

However, this problem obviously cannot be solved in an instant.

…

In the Du family's cotton fields, Li Shuguo and Du Gou were walking in the fields.

In order to do a good job in the cotton fields here, Du Gou basically stayed in Shuozhou during this period, and only returned to Chang'an occasionally.

Fortunately, all the official roads from Shuozhou to Chang'an are now cement roads. It takes five or six days to reach the destination at a galloping speed.

"Lang Jun, according to the estimates of the students at Guanshishan Academy, this year's cotton output will not be worse than last year's cotton output outside Chang'an. Although the price may not be as high as last year, the profits are sure to be huge. Basically, as long as this year's cotton output is
To be continued...