Don't be a prince

Early this morning, Li Taicai rushed back to Chang'an and entered the East Palace. Yesterday coincided with the laying of the first pillar of the bridge. After learning that he could postpone his return, he decided to wait until the bridge pillar was fully formed before leaving.

Ouyang Shuo from the Armament Supervisor also entered the East Palace with Li Tai.

When he got the news, Ouyang Shuo immediately regained his spirits. Judging from the fact that the prince wanted several elite craftsmen, he probably had a new idea.Thinking about the eight-ox crossbow that was modified before, Ouyang Shuo's heart became hot, and he recalled several elite officers from the Military Weapons Supervision overnight, and rushed to the East Palace after opening the door with black eyes.

As soon as he entered the East Palace, Li Tai felt different from usual.

Usually, there is no sense of depression in the Eastern Palace. The maids and eunuchs who work are all talking and laughing. Unlike the Imperial Palace, laughing for no reason will be punished.But today, there are twice as many guards at the main entrance of the East Palace as usual, and the inner gate is also guarded by heavily armed soldiers.The court ladies and eunuchs who come and go are all in a hurry.

What's going on here?

Different from the confused Li Tai, Ouyang Shuo strengthened his conjecture after seeing this scene, clenched his fists excitedly, and led by the eunuch who led the way, through the heavy gates, to the Yiqiu Palace in the East Palace.

Yiqiu Palace is located in the northwest corner of the East Palace. Due to years of disrepair, it has been dilapidated, and was even used as the cold palace of the East Palace.

Compared with the deserted Yiqiu Palace on weekdays, it is much more lively today, surrounded by layers of soldiers. The most confusing thing is that there is a lot of sand and soil around, and there are even water tanks. a lot of.

What is this for?Fire prevention?

A group of more than ten people, led by the eunuch, passed through the encirclement of the soldiers and entered the Yiqiu Palace.

Inside the main hall, no lights were lit, because it was unnecessary, and the broken doors and windows here would throw a lot of light.And Li Chengqian, dressed in sackcloth, was staring at the pile of supplies in front of him in a daze.

"Brother Huang, why are you wearing this suit?"

Li Tai didn't salute, but walked directly to Li Chengqian's side to ask questions.

"There's too much dust here, change your clothes too, go to the next door, I have something to tell these people."

Li Tai still wanted to say something, but seeing Brother Huang's eyes were firm, he quickly shut up and honestly went to the next door to change.

After Ouyang Shuo bowed his hands and saluted, he asked: "Your Highness, you asked the minister to come over today, but do you have any ideas for modifying the military?"

Li Chengqian didn't return the gift, turned around, and didn't answer: "Gu called you here today and I have a very important matter for you. It's very important. Although the emperor is not here, Gu can make a wish for you. If it is done, you will become real officials, not officials in the artisan system. Even if you don't want to use this qualification, the children of your family can also become officials because of your patronage.

However, once you take over this matter, your freedom will be completely deprived. Whether you are eating, going to the toilet or with your wife Dun Lun, you may be watched by special people, other people, or even at home on weekdays. The relatives of the family can no longer communicate with each other.If something goes wrong, losing your head is trivial, and it may even affect your family. Think carefully about whether you should agree. "

Li Chengqian's repeated words shocked everyone. Do one thing in exchange for merit, and is it a merit that can protect future generations?For us artisans?

They are still very clear about the difficulties of craftsmen becoming officials. Craftsmen are inferior to the common people, but they are only a little better than merchants. If the ancestors became craftsmen, the descendants will also be craftsmen. Want to be an official?Poor scholars also have a slight possibility, but craftsmen's children should not be too whimsical!

Under such temptation, they naturally ignored the following conditions. As long as future generations can become officials, let alone lose their freedom, they don't care even if they die immediately!

The originally imperceptible breathing sound immediately became heavy.

Ouyang Shuo looked back at his subordinates, saw that no one shook his head, so he led his subordinates to kneel on one knee and said, "His Royal Highness, please entrust this matter to me! If we divulge any of the matters you entrusted, The whole family is dead!"

Li Chengqian nodded, Tang people never promise easily, let alone make such a poisonous oath.Except for some hypocrites with human face and animal heart, almost everyone's oath can be believed.

"Get up, wait a moment, wait for the people from Baiqisi to come over, and then we can start. Tonight, I will give you the last night of time to prepare, go home and say goodbye to your wife and children, and say goodbye to Gaotang, and tomorrow will be real. Start. When it really starts, it will be difficult for you to return to the crowd."

Li Tai poked his head in from the outside and said, "Brother Huang, what are you going to do? Why do I feel the feeling of the pulley block period? It's even worse than that, you won't lock me up too, right? Come on, I don't want to be locked up!"

What Li Tai valued most was his own freedom. For this reason, the officials of Prince Wei's mansion were beaten.

Li Chengqian smiled, patted Li Tai on the shoulder and said, "Brother Emperor, I won't cheat you. I told you to come here because I have new work for you. The construction of the bridge is not a matter of a day or two. You are always there." It's boring to watch on the construction site, so I found you a difficult job. Come, you all come here."

Calling everyone to the desk, Li Chengqian took out the blueprint, pointed to the arrow drawn on it and asked, "I ask you, can such a hollow arrow shaft be produced on a large scale with the existing forging technology of the Tang Dynasty?"

Ouyang Shuo took a look at the blueprint without hesitation, and said in confusion: "Why does Your Highness want to build such a bow and arrow? The shaft of the bow and arrow is hollowed out, and its weight will drop. Even if it is made of iron, it will affect the flight of the arrow. Nondescript!"

"Shut up! Just ask if you can make it on a large scale!"

Only then did Ouyang Shuo realize that his occupational disease was on the rise, and quickly said: "Of course, we now have a hydraulic giant hammer, and the forging ability has improved a lot!"

Li Chengqian nodded, handed the drawings to Li Tai and said, "Qingque, you take this drawing to the weapons workshop of the Military Weapons Supervision, organize some craftsmen, and start making such arrows, as small as bows and arrows." Yes, crossbows as large as eight oxen are required, and after the inside of the arrow shaft is hollowed out, no air leakage is allowed on the surrounding walls, understand?"

Li Tai immediately agreed, took the blueprint and left.

After sending Li Tai away, not long after, the people from the Baiqi Division also arrived, and the leader was Duan Yunzhi, the mysterious leader of the Baiqi Division.

For the prince's order, Duan Yunzhi originally refused. A person like him should only obey the emperor's order. Even the queen didn't know his existence, but Li Jian personally ordered, so he could only bite the bullet and come to see the prince. .

After bowing his hands and saluting, Duan Yunzhi said: "Duan Yunzhi, the leader of the Baiqi Division, has seen His Highness the Crown Prince, but I don't know His Highness is rushing down to the East Palace, why?"

Glancing at the members of the Baiqi Division brought by Duan Yunzhi, Li Chengqian asked without answering: "How about these people you brought? Are they loyal enough?"

Duan Yunzhi said without hesitation: "As long as His Majesty orders, we can all judge ourselves here!"

Seeing that Duan Yunzhi's words were categorical, Li Chengqian nodded, pointed to the craftsmen of the Military Weapons Supervision and said, "From today on, these people don't need to participate in other work of the Baiqi Division. Don't contact other people, don't send letters to the outside world, as long as one of these people leaks the secret, the person in charge will be punished with the same crime. As for what Gu is going to do, let Gu be closed first, and you will see it tomorrow. Now, they can Go home with these craftsmen, you follow Gu, Gu still has something to tell you to do."

Duan Yunzhi really wanted to resist, but when he saw the prince's order was cold and blunt, he immediately knew that his work would be very important, so he endured it.

Leaving Duan Yunzhi aside, Li Chengqian said to Ouyang Shuo and the others: "Gu knows that this order is a bit unreasonable, but after you know what your job is, you will be able to understand Gu. When you leave the palace, go to the East Palace to manage things Each person there receives [-] guan, which is considered as compensation for you alone!"

Ouyang Shuo quickly evaded: "Your Highness, no, since we have already agreed, naturally we don't care about this little money."

"Take it away, go home today and arrange the housework well. Starting tomorrow, even if you want to go home, you won't be able to go back."

Chapter 256 Gunpowder

Watching Ouyang Shuo and others leave, Li Chengqian could only stretch out his middle finger for his own caution.

But there is no way around this. The original gunpowder only appeared in the late Tang Dynasty, and it was only after a period of exploration that it began to be used in practice.Moreover, the initial use of gunpowder was not in the military, but in the acrobatic performances of the army circuses in the Song Dynasty, and the pyrotechnic acrobatics in the puppet show-powder hair puppets.

Acrobatic programs such as holding gongs, hard ghosts, and mime shows in the Song Dynasty all used the newly emerging gunpowder products such as firecrackers and fire-breathing to create a mysterious atmosphere.At the same time, the Song people also used gunpowder to perform illusions, such as spraying out fireworks and clouds to escape people and change things, etc., to achieve magical and blurred effects! Gunpowder was introduced into medicine and became a medicine for treating sores and ringworm, as well as killing insects and warding off moisture. plague.

However, it has not been widely used in war.Even, the invention of gunpowder was listed among the four great inventions of ancient times, which is simply a kind of irony. The thing was invented by the Chinese, but it was perfected and used by foreigners.When the Eight Banners cavalry were turned on their backs, did they feel a little helpless?

"Duan Yunzhi, you should immediately send someone to find a place near Chang'an that is close enough to ensure that there are no people in it. From now on, this place will become the lifeblood of the Tang Dynasty, so we cannot slack off."

Seeing that the crown prince spoke seriously, Duan Yunzhi cupped his hands and said, "Your Highness has ordered you, and your subordinates will definitely follow them, but what exactly are you going to do?"

What are you going to do?

Sitting on the dusty steps, Li Chengqian also wanted to know what he was doing.The appearance of gunpowder is too early, and it is not known whether it is good or bad.The Tang Dynasty is not the Song Dynasty, especially now, those generals, those government soldiers, eager for war, their eyes will glow green at night.Tubo and Western Turks can only make them jealous? Is it really going to war? No one will be cowardly.

Release gunpowder in such a dynasty, and wait for them to taste the sweetness? I don't know how far the territory of Datang will expand.

At the same time, gunpowder is bound to produce countless dead souls, making him bear boundless murder.

Thinking of killing evil? Li Chengqian suddenly no longer felt guilty.

How many people die is none of my business!As long as the person who died was not a Tang person, would it be all right?

Standing up, Li Chengqian looked at Duan Yunzhi, who was still waiting for an answer, and said, "You should remember the matter of Gu's modification of the Ba Niu Crossbow? Gu will show you the truth? The new weapons that will appear will gradually make weapons such as horizontal knives obsolete." , if it is not for the sake of saving trouble, even the eight-ox crossbow will be discarded. What is more important? You should be able to tell the difference!"

"My subordinates know! From now on, I will never question His Highness again!"

Duan Yunzhi doesn't need a complete answer, he just needs to know that what he is doing is important enough.As the emperor's most trusted organization, Baiqisi is indeed the best choice for doing these things.

After Duan Yunzhi left, Li Chengqian returned to the Lizheng Hall to change his clothes, and returned to the study to start processing the memorial.

The screen of the emperor's entire apse? In fact, it didn't all appear because of the secret report of Baiqisi.At least, a memorial? Can largely express the character of an official.Stealing, raping, playing tricks, etc., a memorial is mostly flattering words? There are probably only a few words of real practical things.

The diversion of the Yellow River? Even in reality, it would be a catastrophe? But it is also a memorial from Dingzhou? The memorial of one county tried its best to whitewash the peace, but the memorial of another county told the truth, so that a memorial could not be finished , to send two letters.

When a catastrophe occurs, the county magistrate may have the power to file a memorial, and the memorial at the county magistrate level can be closer to the real situation.

"Singing meritorious deeds, don't go further, the Yellow River diverted, the imperial court should truthfully provide disaster relief, but this memorial will change the order of disaster relief. Do you think it is appropriate to see the people under your rule being rescued?"

At the beginning, he had to write classical Chinese, but in the end Li Chengqian decided to reply in vernacular.The trend of whitewashing the peace cannot last long!When one or two entrepreneurs can cover a village or even a county with their faces, ordinary people have no place to cry.

This trend must be restrained. The prosperous age of the Tang Dynasty cannot be a prosperous age for one person or a few people. If not everyone has a place in the prosperous age, such a prosperous age is nothing but a fake.

Pick up the pen and start writing the Prince's Teaching, preparing to issue such a decree.

"Remove the false and keep the true", this is Li Chengqian's proposition.

Fang Xuanling of the Zhongshu Province was not surprised to receive the crown prince's teaching. The emperor issued such a decree every year, either advocating frugality for officials, or asking officials to speak directly. The crown prince just asked officials to tell the truth. Nothing.

After the crown prince got the seal of the old house in Zhongshu Province, he was sent to Menxia Province. After Wei Zheng stroked his beard and admired it, he stamped the seal and sent it to Shangshu Province.As long as a decree is passed through the Menxia Province, it is legal. A decree passed through the Menxia Province is more majestic than a strong order issued by the emperor.

The next day, together with the Prince's teaching, there was also a disaster relief fund.The prince's request of "not leaving a single household and not one person" for disaster relief was immediately sought after by the people all over the world.

There has been no shortage of disaster relief procedures in all dynasties, and it is rare to do things as solemnly as Datang.

Just when the people in Chang'an were praising His Highness the Crown Prince for being wise, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was doing the worst thing right now.

Li Chengqian always thought that depriving a person of his freedom was one of the most severe punishments, but at this moment, he imposed such punishment on more than thirty people.

"Everything at home has been arranged!"

Ouyang Shuo said solemnly: "Reporting to Your Highness, the tombs for us are all ready, but it's a pity that we can't enter the ancestral grave..."

"It's a bit too much for you to do this, and I don't want you to donate all your corpses. You still have to enter the ancestral grave. Well, come in, and I will show you what you are going to do."

Following Li Chengqian's order, the crown prince who surrounded Yiqiu Palace led the team, drew his sword out of its sheath, and immediately became vigilant.

There are no maids and eunuchs left in the East Palace today, and they were all kicked out by Li Chengqian.

Duan Yunzhi's hairs were about to stand on end, he knew that the more serious the prince was, the more important it was.In just one day and one night, he still couldn't think of any weapon that was more terrifying than the eight-ox crossbow.

The Yiqiu Palace was still dilapidated, in order to keep it secret, Li Chengqian didn't even ask someone to clean it up.

With a trace of longing and fear, everyone followed Li Chengqian to a huge table.

There were a lot of things on the table, all of which Li Chengqian asked Fang Sheng to purchase back to the East Palace during this period.All but three things, though, are pretense.

"Today I'm going to teach you something called gunpowder. This pile of granules is the finished product. As long as this thing is ignited, it can produce a lot of smoke and heat. However, it is only the foundation. What really makes it What produces lethality is still a closed environment. For example, when we stuff gunpowder into a bottle, then cover the mouth of the bottle with a layer of sand, and apply cement to complete the complete seal..."

After finishing speaking, Li Chengqian took out another finished product.

It was a ceramic bottle, only the size of a palm, but the fuse attached to it was several meters long.

There was no way to do this. Although Li Chengqian knew the formula of gunpowder, he didn't know how to make a fuze, so he could only rub gunpowder with hemp rope to make a fuze.In the case of uncertainty about the burning speed after ignition, he still wants to be conservative.

"Your Highness, is this what you said? Gunpowder can produce smoke and heat, which is useless in combat, right?"

Duan Yunzhi asked his own question. Not only him, but the craftsmen also felt that they were cheated by the prince. Is it worth giving up their freedom to learn from this thing?It's not as powerful as the original pulley block.

"Didn't you hear what Gu said. It's a different story when this thing is sealed. It just so happens that Gu has a finished product here. Let me show you the power first."

After finishing speaking, Li Chengqian walked to a corner of the hall.

Here is the protective wooden board that he ordered the craftsman to be the supervisor to make. Layers of wooden boards form a circle like a gossip diagram, which can protect the surroundings very well. As for the top, there is no need for this. As for blowing through the roof.

After going through layers of wooden boards, the porcelain bottle was placed on the ground, and Duan Yunzhi helped pull out the fuze.

"Whoever wants to light a fire, go to the fire box outside the hall and come in."

The craftsmen looked at each other, and Duan Yunzhi went out without hesitation, and asked Yu Tai at the door for a bundle.

Blowing on the torch, he ignited the fuze without hesitation.

There are no fools here, so there is no need to tell them about the function of the fuze.

Seeing the fuze sizzling with sparks and starting to burn, Li Chengqian immediately hid behind a pillar and put on his helmet.

Seeing that the prince was so scared, the few people just worried for a while, and it didn't matter.How powerful can a small thing the size of a palm have?

Seeing the contempt of several people, Li Chengqian did not remind them to open their mouths and cover their ears.

Although the porcelain bottle is small, it is filled with gunpowder. In order not to let the cement wet the gunpowder, he also filled some sand into it.Coupled with the fact that the wall of the bottle is thick enough, he is not surprised that the power of this thing catches up with the grenade.

The fuze slowly burned into the protective wooden board. After waiting for a long time, Duan Yunzhi turned around and said, "Your Highness, I know that you intend to improve the ordnance, but how can such a thing compare with the Ba Niu Crossbow? This humble job will cover it up for you, wait..."

boom!

A violent roar directly interrupted Duan Yunzhi's words, making him involuntarily cover his ears with his hands.

Those wooden boards were only supported on the ground with their feet, and could only be scattered in front of the shock wave.But fortunately, the surrounding wooden boards just swayed and did not fall down.

Pretending not to hear what Duan Yunzhi said before, Li Chengqian walked up to the protective wooden boards and pushed them away one by one, revealing the inner circle.

When they saw that many wooden boards were inlaid with ceramic fragments, and even two boards were pierced, everyone gasped.

"Well, the power is not bad. How about it? Seeing the gunpowder in a sealed state, how powerful is it? Think about it, if this thing explodes in the enemy's line, what will it look like? If you replace the ceramic bottle with an iron one , What will it look like? As for the Gu said that the eight-ox crossbow is still useful, in fact, it is to provide power for its launch. Think about it, if the arrows of the eight-ox crossbow are hollowed out, and this thing is installed, tsk tsk tsk, a Hair can make the enemy call mom~”

After imagining this scene, everyone shuddered.This is too frightening, the wooden boards are all penetrated, I am afraid that ordinary armor cannot stop it, even the bright light armor may not be able to completely stop it.Once this thing comes out, will Datang's enemies still have a way out?

Looking at the several damaged central planks, Duan Yunzhi knelt down on one knee without hesitation: "Your Highness, this subordinate is so reckless that he doesn't believe His Highness. He will go back to Baiqisi to ask for punishment. But, It is better for Baiqisi to keep such powerful weapons, so please allow Baiqisi to enter the East Palace."

Ouyang Shuo and other craftsmen also knelt down on the ground without hesitation, not only because of suspicion, but His Highness will teach them how to make such a weapon, which is a matter of extreme trust.As for the lost freedom, they were less sympathetic.They know very well that as long as they learn how to make such weapons, they will be controlled for the rest of their lives, but at the same time, they can also achieve unparalleled feats. No wonder His Highness is confident that they themselves, and even their descendants, can become officials!

Li Chengqian kicked Duan Yunzhi without hesitation: "Fuck off, you forgot to find a place to hide? If it is mass-produced, how could it be in the East Palace? If it is accidentally lit, someone who doesn't know I thought the royal family did something immoral and was punished by God. Don't tell Gu, you didn't take Gu's order to heart."

Duan Yunzhi's face immediately turned red: "Reporting to Your Highness, I really want to see the whole story today, and then decide whether to follow what you said. But don't worry, I will make arrangements now!"

After finishing speaking, Duan Yunzhi ran out of the palace regardless of his appearance.He knew that even if he was the leader of the Baiqi Division, he could only supervise these craftsmen and could not know how gunpowder was made.Contaminated with this thing, it is true that if one is not careful, the whole family will be lost!

Seeing that Duan Yunzhi was gone, Li Chengqian walked to the square table, sat on a chair and said to Ouyang Shuo and the others: "See? This is what Gu wants to teach you to make. Now if you feel embarrassed, you still have a chance to go back. , as long as you promise not to spread what you saw today, if you really agree, I am afraid that your grandchildren will not be able to remember your names!"

Ouyang Shuo knelt down on one knee without hesitation: "Thank you for your trust, I am willing to serve you!"