Making you a son-in-law is not about making you conquer the world.

As evening approached, the workers finally returned with truckloads of limestone and plaster, which soon piled up into a small mountain.

In order to complete the tasks assigned by Lin Ping as much as possible, these people worked desperately, and you could tell from their disheveled appearance that they were working hard.

Working at sunrise and resting at sunset is a way of life that has been passed down for thousands of years, and these workers are all waiting to go home.

But Lin Ping disagreed!

"Ten taels of silver each. Before you go home, break these limestone stones into small pieces," Lin Ping said arrogantly, once again displaying his spoiled and arrogant demeanor.

Everyone opposed this exploitative practice, but the ten taels of silver were too tempting, equivalent to three months' wages. So, they all grabbed sledgehammers and started smashing the metal like crazy.

The task of making thousands of barbells was simply too much to handle without working overtime. Moreover, besides making barbells, concrete had an even more important use. He even considered dividing the workers into two groups to work at night as well.

Of course, Lin Ping was inherently opposed to this evil shift work model. If it were to be implemented, workers would have to be paid enough, or even have their monthly wages doubled.

Before long, Lin Ping placed small pieces of limestone and clay into the kiln according to a certain ratio and fired them. Soon, crackling sounds were heard.

"My lord, how big of a fire do we need?" the stakeholder asked, puzzled.

The temperature of the flame during the firing process of ceramics is very important; otherwise, there would be no specialized master craftsmen to control the firing process.

The man speaking was quite old and clearly had a lot of experience, but he had never calcined limestone and clay together, so he couldn't pinpoint the exact temperature.

"The bigger the flame, the better," Lin Ping replied, glancing at the sparse pieces of wood.

In an era before coal was widely mined and used, various handicrafts required wood, such as iron smelting, ceramic firing, salt production, and even papermaking required bamboo. Therefore, wood was in extremely short supply.

Although Lin Ping was not short of money and could buy enough timber, this was not a long-term solution. Moreover, the burning temperature of wood was relatively low, and even with the help of bellows, it could only barely melt iron, which seriously hindered the development of iron smelting technology.

Therefore, Lin Ping believed it was necessary to mine several coal mines. With his memory of mineral resources and his X-ray vision, he could easily find them.

The income will be unimaginable, even comparable to that of rock salt mines.

However, in Lin Ping's memory, Jiangcheng did not have any large coal mines, and the scattered coal deposits were not worth mining, so the matter had to be put on hold for the time being.

Upon hearing Lin Ping's instructions, Master Zhuang reluctantly stuffed a few pieces of firewood into the stove, then frantically pulled the bellows, making the flames inside the steamed bun kiln much fiercer.

With his right eye activated, Lin Ping stared expectantly at the furnace, where much of the limestone had already begun to crumble.

Modern cement calcination is carried out in large rotary kilns. Due to the high flame temperature and high heat utilization rate, the first calcination can be completed in just twenty minutes.

The steamed bun kiln cannot be compared with the rotary kiln, but after improvements over the centuries, its energy utilization rate has reached a considerable level, far more advanced than that of Western countries at the same time.

Therefore, according to Lin Ping's judgment, it would take about half an hour to complete.

"Husband!" Just as Lin Ping was concentrating, Jiang Yunying suddenly appeared behind him and patted his shoulder.

Lin Ping was startled and broke out in a cold sweat. Just as he was about to explain to the other party that people would die, he froze.

Under the moonlight, Jiang Yunying appeared even more dashing and heroic.

"The moon rises bright. The beautiful one is graceful. Her figure is elegant and charming, yet my heart is troubled. The moon rises bright. The beautiful one is captivating. I feel sorrow and anxiety. The moon rises and shines. The beautiful one is dazzling. Her figure is graceful and charming, yet my heart is filled with sorrow."

Whether it was the beauty of the moonlight that moved people's hearts, or the beauty of the woman that captivated them, the song "Moonrise" came to mind without hesitation.

Jiang Yunying also stared blankly at Lin Ping, not only attracted by his handsome appearance, but also intoxicated by his beautiful poetry.

Although this poem, "Moonrise," was not Lin Ping's original work, reciting it in this context is definitely a display of great talent.

"Husband, why don't you take the imperial examination and become the top scholar?" Jiang Yunying said without hesitation. In her opinion, Lin Ping's talent was no less than that of any other talented scholar of the time, and if he were to take the imperial examination, it would be difficult for him not to become the top scholar.

Lin Ping nodded and replied, "My husband will go and take the imperial examination to become the top scholar, and then the king will bestow a marriage upon him."

As we all know, the current emperor values ​​talent and is fond of matchmaking, having bestowed marriages upon the top scholars in the imperial examinations on several occasions, which can be seen as a means of winning people's hearts.

Jiang Yunying was so focused on admiring Lin Ping's talent that she forgot that once he became the top scholar in the imperial examination, he might sever ties with the city lord's mansion and even choose a marriage bestowed by the emperor.

"You dare!" Jiang Yunying pouted and reflexively pinched Lin Ping's waist, just like a jealous person whose jealousy had been overturned.

Lin Ping winced in pain, but a warm feeling welled up inside him. This at least proved how much Jiang Yunying cared about him.

"Husband, what are you doing?" Jiang Yunying asked suspiciously, feeling that her restless husband was about to do something big again.

Lin Ping didn't answer directly, but instead asked, "Wife, how high a city wall can a master like you climb?"

Jiang Yunying hadn't really thought about this question. After pondering for a moment, she replied, "A height of four zhang shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Four zhang?" Lin Ping gasped, regretting that Jiang Yunying wasn't born in modern times, otherwise she would definitely have swept all the gold medals in the high jump events at the Olympics.

Of course, this chill was not one of joy, but rather of worry. In other words, the city wall of the main city, three zhang high, could not stop her at all, and it was also very likely that it could not stop the Lotus Palace disciples hiding in the shadows.

Lin Ping finally understood why Xia Linglong was able to follow him; she could easily scale the three-zhang-high city wall.

"My lady, I think the city walls of the main city are a bit dilapidated and need repair," Lin Ping said in a serious tone. This unexpected change of heart left Jiang Yunying speechless.

“Husband, perhaps your understanding of repairing the city wall is somewhat biased…” Jiang Yunying looked at Lin Ping, her expression somewhat speechless. How could her all-powerful husband be so ignorant about this matter?

The current city wall was built over a century ago. While damaged sections can be repaired, repairing the entire wall would be a massive undertaking. Given the current financial resources of the city lord's mansion, it's simply impossible to complete.

"I don't care, I'm going to fix it." Lin Ping said, hands on his hips and head turned, as if Jiang Yunying owed him a tael of silver.