Chapter 291: The Glass Scam
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Jin Ping Mei ended with Ziwan running out of the main hall, her face flushed with embarrassment.
Of course, Xiao Ming hadn’t told Jin Ping Mei for the sake of lecturing about feudal moral codes—he was simply using it as an excuse to tell some risqué jokes and take a bit of playful advantage of Ziwan.
In truth, Xiao Ming wasn’t in a hurry to overturn feudal traditions. Such deep-rooted things could only be changed slowly, like boiling a frog in warm water.
Besides, in his mind, the cultural renaissance he envisioned wasn’t simply about building a theater. Forced artistry would never achieve the results he wanted.
His sudden interest in building a theater was mainly to add entertainment options in Qingzhou and boost the government’s revenue. It was part of his broader urban development plan.
Naturally, he couldn’t say that publicly. Those who pretended to be refined would sneer at him behind his back.
To Xiao Ming, theater could help spread certain ideas among the populace, but the true foundation of the renaissance lay with Bowen Academy—in education.
As long as the students at Bowen Academy absorbed his teachings, the cultural renaissance would already be half complete. After all, even in the West, the Renaissance first took hold among the educated elite and then spread downward.
Thus, for Xiao Ming, theater was only a small card in his hand. His real priorities were three things: building up commerce, spreading education, and strengthening the military.
After leaving the theater project entirely to Ziwan, Xiao Ming threw himself fully into another weapon project following the cannons: the flintlock musket.
According to the knowledge he possessed, in modern history, the first tubular metal firearms appeared in Europe during the 1330s. These early firearms were called “hand cannons,” evolving later into matchlock smoothbore guns, which remained in use in Europe until the 16th century.