Don't be a prince

You have to keep in mind that your biggest problem is always trying to achieve your goals with cleverness.As everyone knows, only an upright conspiracy can keep you on the safe side. Conspiracies are just for outsiders to use. "

Tang Jian is very close to this high-achieving college student he dug out by himself, and he doesn't even mind that he is called "Mr."However, in fact, he did treat Wang Xuance as a disciple.

Soon, the emperor turned to Jiusi Siqing, and even Wang Xuance, who "looked at the world", was not let off by the emperor, and accompanied Tang Jian to drink a big glass of wine.

After turning around in a circle, the emperor also staggered back to his original position.If someone pays attention, he will find that the emperor's pace changes only on the way back.

After returning to his seat, Li Shimin breathed a sigh of relief, and then continued: "I'm too drunk today, and I've left out the rest of my lovers. I hope all my lovers don't mind."

This is the talk of the scene, the officials who have not been toasted know very well that their status is not as high as being toasted by the emperor himself.But it is absolutely impossible to say this, so all the ministers had to say that "the dragon's body is the most important" and "we will talk about it next time".

"Phew... I am very happy today, not only for the addition of a new daughter-in-law, but also for the coming of the prosperous age. Gentlemen, I have an idea. Since I have accomplished what no one has accomplished in the past hundreds of years No matter what, we should celebrate. I just drank today's wine, which is too crude. How about this, I intend to go to Mount Tai to enshrine Zen, and you can also appear in the list of worshiping heaven during the ceremony of enshrining Zen, so that , all of you can be included in the annals of history with me, what do you think?"

"Good fellow, it turns out that His Majesty is waiting here!"

Wang Xuance murmured, and when he looked at Tang Jian again, he realized that he had put his face on the plate...

Pretend to be drunk!

Wang Xuance realized immediately that this was the best way to not offend the two. Just as he wanted to be like Tang Jian, he realized that he was just a passerby in the court.From the official position of seventh rank, it is already lucky to be able to participate in today's banquet and get a seat in the main hall.There is no room for him to participate in the real court affairs, and there is no chance for him to speak when it really needs to be discussed.It doesn't matter if you pretend to be drunk or not!

Thinking of this, Wang Xuance opened his eyes and looked at the ministers in the court with piercing eyes.Today, I am afraid there will be a good show to watch!

As soon as the emperor said this, Wei Zheng was the first to react.

With a sound of wow, Wei Zheng vomited on the table, which shocked everyone. This is a state banquet, and he couldn't spit it out even if he was suffocated!This is a crime of disrespect, not just for the emperor.

However, the emperor didn't mean to question the crime at all, but kept shouting: "Come on, send Wei Shizhong to the imperial medical office! Order the imperial doctor to treat him well!"

Hearing the emperor's already excited voice, Wei Zheng ignored the sour smell in his mouth and nose, pushed away the eunuch who stepped forward, staggered out of his seat, and said anxiously: "Your Majesty, will we discuss the matter of enshrining Zen later?" ? Today we are all drunk, drunk words cannot be true, it is better to discuss it another day!"

another day?Seeing many courtiers who were shocked but couldn't stand up immediately, Li Shimin gritted his teeth and said, "It's decided today! It's okay if you don't enshrine Zen. I can go to Dengzhou. It doesn't cost the state money. I use my private money to pay for those on the way." Expenses, I only want to see the little princess, and it is justified to spend my own money!"

Wei Zheng wanted to say something more, but he suddenly felt a surge of rebellion in his stomach, fearing that he would lose his appearance in the hall again, he hurriedly covered his mouth and ran behind the screen, holding the spittoon brought up by the eunuch and spitting violently.

He didn't find out until he finished vomiting and returned to the main hall.

The banquet....is over....

This was the result the emperor wanted. During the three rounds of drinking, he made two drinking scenes that the courtiers could not refuse, just to make them be more honest.Wei Zheng can say so many words in anxiety, which is already very good. If you know that Fang Xuanling and others are close, you will be disgusted by the things he spit out, and you will struggle with your own throat. Speak out to persuade.

After the banquet, no one could change the emperor's order to go to Shandong.The reason the emperor used was very simple. He went to Shandong to see his youngest daughter, both of whom were parents. It is human nature to worry about children.As long as someone dared to speak out to persuade him, he would be spit on by the emperor.

Even Wei Zheng couldn't continue persuading the emperor when he vomited like this.

The emperor said that he would pay for it himself, and he would not slow down to handle government affairs on the way.If the hat of wasting the country and slacking off the government can't be put on, then no one can do anything about the emperor.

Chapter 362 Progress

What happened in Chang'an is a big event for the world.The news that the emperor was going to visit Dengzhou spread like wildfire, and the biggest reaction was the businessmen.Every time the emperor travels, for them, it is an opportunity to make a lot of money.When the Son of Heaven travels, there are forty to fifty thousand people accompanying him. For such a large team, eating from Chang'an to Dengzhou is a lot of money.

And this is not the biggest consumption.

You must know that wherever the emperor went, countless people would flock to him, whether it was local gentry or ordinary people, or even officials near the state capital.This led to the emperor's travel route, just like a magnet rolling across an iron powder road, rolling all the way and attracting all the way.As long as you can figure out the emperor's route, hehehe...

Anyone can make a fortune in the emperor's travel activities!

When many people were cheering for the emperor's trip, the news had not yet reached Dengzhou.

After confirming that the eldest grandson, mother and daughter were safe, Li Chengqian and Li Taicai rushed back to the shipyard.As for the results of Yan Shi and Qi Shi's disposal, they had to think behind closed doors for a month.This was a punishment personally imposed by the eldest grandson, obviously with the intention of stopping here and turning major events into minor ones.

After this incident, it was Li Ke who was really relieved.Obviously, the empress had no intention of punishing him at all, otherwise, in terms of this matter alone, not to mention his throne, even Concubine Yang's status in the palace might be lost.After all, many people understood that the value of all the concubines in the harem was inferior to that of the empress in the eyes of the emperor, and the sum of all the princes under his knees was also inferior to the crown prince and the king of Wei.

"Depressed, without the mother's troubles, I guess I can see the whole process of shipbuilding. Now a month is fleeting, and I don't know how the shipbuilding is going!"

Sitting on the slow-moving carriage, Li Tai looked depressed.

"If you say this in front of your mother, you will definitely be knocked out. Okay, next time the same thing happens, you will still rush back? Since no matter how many times you make the same choice, then Stop complaining."

The eldest grandson recovered and confinement, and the younger son is also safe and sound. The most important thing is that Sun Simiao has not been diagnosed with congenital diseases. This is what really makes Li Chengqian feel at ease.

Yes, that's right, this little girl is still called "Sizi".Li Chengqian didn't expect that the sentence "Now is Zishi" inspired the eldest grandson, and gave the little girl a nickname of "Sizi".

The second one, Rhinoceros, gave the little girl this name, and the eldest grandson hoped that she would be as strong as a rhinoceros.Since it's a nickname, it doesn't pay that much attention.People in ancient times liked to give their children a humble name when they raised their children, such as "Gousheng" and "Er Mule", mainly because it was easy to raise children with such a humble name.Not to mention the family of the common people, it is the royal family. Li Tai also has the nickname "Qingque", and Li Zhi also has the nickname "Pheasant Slave".

Li Chengqian was very fortunate that he was given the name "Chengqian" by Li Yuan on the day he was born. He had a big name first, otherwise, the ghost knows what nickname Li Shimin and his wife would have given him at that time.

After walking through the ghost gate, Li Ke also felt physically and mentally comfortable at this time. Seeing Li Chengqian and Li Chengqian bickering, he interjected: "You guys, when you have a bickering, you might as well hurry up, especially Qingque. The carriage is comfortable, but It’s not as fast as riding a horse. It’s not like you can’t do it, so it’s better to ride a horse instead!”

It's a very reasonable analysis, but when it comes to Li Tai, it won't work.

Hearing Li Ke's words, Li Tai immediately lay down in the carriage and pretended to be dead: "Ah, no, I can't bear it. I have only taken care of my mother for a month. Now I am exhausted and can't ride a horse... "

Hearing Li Tai's sly voice, Li Chengqian and Li Ke looked at each other and smiled, but they could only shake their heads.

The carriage behind carried Su Yuan and Xiuxiu.Ashina and the three, since Li Tai had no intention of going ahead, Li Chengqian stopped riding the horse and returned to the carriage.

Because of the success of the eldest grandson's confinement, this time Li Chengqian and the three of them will take turns to bring their wives out to play at the shipyard.Don't look at the remote location of the shipyard, but in fact the beach here is not comparable to Dengzhou.When you get to the beach, how can you not play with the sand?

In the case of slow travel, it will take two days from the state capital of Dengzhou to the shipyard.With such a long journey, the supply was naturally delayed.But for the sake of confidentiality, Li Chengqian felt that even a little further away would not be a problem.

When he arrived at the shipyard, it was Li Chengqian who reacted the most.

In fact, he was forced to return to the state capital when the shipyard was about to be excavated. Now seeing the brand-new shipyard again, it feels a bit like "three days away".

Right by the sea, three wide and deep ditches have been dug.This is the ship way, without it, after the ship is built, would it be carried into the sea?

Walking along the ditch, after about a mile, there is the dock. At this time, the dock has been covered by the factory building. On the side of the boat, two large excessive mechanism doors are opening at this time, and the shed of the factory building The top, even opened it.

"Hey, Brother Huang, how about the roof and door I designed? Although the mechanism has a great risk of wear and tear, as long as you check and replace parts frequently, it will not be a problem. On days, it is much more convenient to close it. On weekdays, when the sun is shining, you can open the roof and work under sufficient light.”

Li Chengqian nodded, patted Li Tai on the shoulder and said, "Good design, without tempered glass, this is the best way."

Looking back at Zhang Yun, Li Chengqian pointed to the east and said, "Send the princess and the others to the beach to play for a while, and I just want to visit the shipyard."

After speaking, Li Chengqian was dragged into the workshop by the excited Li Tai.

The dock, which was excavated more than ten meters deep, is now covered by cement, and there are many square and circular holes around it, which are used to build scaffolding.In this deep pit, the prototype of a large ship has appeared among the densely packed scaffolding.

Seeing these two from a distance, Yan Liben immediately put down what he was doing, and ran all the way over: "Your Highness, King Wei, this place is too dangerous, you two can see it if you want, but don't lie on the guardrail." Above, the lower officials are frightened when they look at it!"

It is a good habit to be kind, so Li Chengqian left the guardrail, looked at the busy figures in the factory building and asked, "Are all the three docks under construction now? How is it going?"

Yan Liben replied: "Reporting to Your Highness, the construction of the three docks was not carried out at the same time, but sequentially. The first to start construction was the Prince. It's the King of Wu. Although this is a bit troublesome, it can best avoid problems. Even if there are problems on the Prince's side, they can be quickly resolved by the two ships behind.

After all, the drawings you designed are truly unprecedented. Even a shipbuilding family that has been around for hundreds of years has never seen such a large ship.Leaving aside the laying of the keel, we reworked the bottom of the ship four times. "

After listening to Yan Liben's answer, Li Ke was not angry because his ship was the last to be built, but felt like he was taking advantage of it.

Looking at the decked boats in the pit, Li Chengqian felt hot inside.

For an ordinary river boat, three or four people standing on it is already the limit.It is the current warship of the East China Sea Division. In terms of length, 20 meters is already very good.But when it comes to the Prince, the length of the hull directly exceeds 50 meters, and even the sails that are hung on it need to be specially customized for the silk industry of the Jiangnan family.The sails of the three ships alone fill up the operating time of the largest silk company throughout the year.

Big is not the last word, the most important thing is sturdiness, followed by the weapon module.

Seeing the iron eight-ox crossbow that had been placed on the ground on the other side, Li Chengqian immediately became interested.

Taking a closer look, although it has not been wound, but I don't know if it is the craftsman's bad taste, adding a hideous wood carving to the eight-ox crossbow universal platform, it looks enough to catch people's hearts.

"Has it been tested? What is the lethality of the eight ox crossbow arrows on sea ships?"

"Your Highness, this is just a joke. The lowly position is just the head of the craftsman. How can you know this. The experimenter under your order is the Duke of Yun, and the results should have been produced by now. Duke Yun is at the shipyard. He must have heard the news of your coming. They will be found soon. Why don't you go to the lower official's room and drink tea while waiting?"

Li Chengqian nodded and followed Yan Liben into his office.

Most craftsmen and scientific researchers have a bad habit of living a sloppy life.Li Tai is like this, and so is Yan Liben.After entering the office, Yan Liben found that his room was full of waste drawings, drawings and construction progress reports hanging everywhere.

Smiling embarrassingly, Yan Liben said awkwardly: "Your Highness is laughing. I have no intention of embarrassing Your Highness. I really didn't know that you came here today and you haven't cleaned up yet."

Seeing that Yan Liben was about to start tidying up, Li Chengqian said: "No need, you won't be able to find it later if you want to look for it again. Just order someone to bring the tea over, and we'll wait outside."

Just after leaving Yan Liben's office, Zhang Liang arrived.

Yan Liben left in a hurry under the pretext that he still had something to do, and ordered the craftsmen not to approach.What he was going to say next was classified as confidential, and he didn't want to get involved too much.

Zhang Liang also failed to go home for the New Year, and even missed the annual visit to Chang'an to see his mother.

After clasping his fists and saluting, Zhang Liang happily said: "His Royal Highness, I have already secretly experimented. The gunpowder arrows of the Eight Bull Crossbow can cause effective damage to ordinary warships. As for people, there is no need to experiment. Even such a thick deck can't withstand the bombardment of a crossbow arrow, let alone people. After His Highness's warship is built, the general can say that it is absolutely invincible at sea! The only thing that can threaten it is the The power of heaven and earth!"

Zhang Liang said this sentence with great certainty. Based on his years of experience in sea and water combat, what he dared to assert was that he was fully sure.

Li Chengqian also felt that his ship should look like this. Since he wanted to build it, he had to aim for the goal of being invincible at the same time. Otherwise, it would be better not to build it.

The power of Datang Sea is basically enough after these three ships are built.In fact, Zhang Liang's words are still a bit flawed. In terms of attack power, these three warships are indeed invincible, but battery life is a big problem.There is no doubt that gunpowder is afraid of the tide, and naturally it cannot be carried too much on the ship.And because of its instability, once a mistake occurs, there is no need for others to do it, and you will ruin yourself.

Under such circumstances, once the enemy uses ship-to-sea tactics, they can still be exhausted to the end and return to the traditional ramming and gang fighting.

but....

There is no possibility of this kind of situation happening at all. The national power is comparable to that of Datang, but the construction capacity is not comparable. The rest, even the island country of Wa, does not have the ability to build enough ships.

As for what will happen in the future... there is no need to think about it.

The prosperity of a country does not mean that it will turn when it declines. The foundation laid by the predecessors will never be replaced by the descendants unless they are always prodigal.

Thinking of this, Li Chengqian said to Zhang Liang: "Mr. Yun, you go back and pick out some innocent and loyal soldiers from the East Sea Navy, and start training the operation of the eight-ox crossbow based on personal leadership. No matter how sharp Weapons are useless if they don't work on the enemy. You don't need to use gunpowder weapons. Ordinary arrows are enough for their training. In two months, you have to train [-] of the best Ba Niu for Gu. Crossbowman!"

Zhang Liang cupped his fists and said, "The general understands!"

After speaking, he turned and went out.He also acted together with the Sky-Changing Monkey and the Ba Niu Crossbow, which he had never trained before, so he was also very curious about it.

It didn't take long for the talents to go out, but they went back and forth.

Seeing Zhang Liang with an anxious expression on his face, Li Chengqian greeted him in confusion and asked, "Mr. Yun, what makes you so anxious?"

Zhang Liang took out a letter from his arms while walking, handed it to Li Chengqian and said, "This is a letter sent by Tang Jian. Since the border city of Gaoli was destroyed, Gaoli not only expressed absolute surrender to Datang, Even the frontier soldiers are no longer arrogant, and pretend not to notice Tang Jian's occasional small moves. Thanks to this, Tang Jian has made many arrangements on the border. But since this year, the frontier soldiers in Korea It started to come alive again. It not only destroyed many of Tang Jian's arrangements, but also..."

"What else?"

Listening to Zhang Liang was faster than reading the letter, so Li Chengqian just held the letter in his hand, but didn't read it.

"There is also a letter from the spies saying that many soldiers of the Koryo frontier army were transferred away, and did not return to Pyongyang and other places, but went to Muddy Water Bay. In addition, many craftsmen and timber merchants in Koryo have moved to Muddy Water Bay. According to Tang Jian's analysis, it is very possible that Koryo is also building ships."

"Goryeo is also building ships? Pfft, what kind of ships are they building? You don't think you can fight our warships by digging a hole in a tree trunk!"

Hearing Zhang Liang's words, Li Tai was the first to laugh.

Chapter 363 Yuan Gai Su Wen

In his opinion, the shipbuilding technology of the Koreans is simply not comparable to that of the Tang Dynasty.

Of course, this is comparing the entire Goryeo with the folk craftsmen in the Tang Dynasty. As for the warship jointly built by the Institute of Engineering, the General Superintendent, and the Ministry of Industry, he even feels that it is a shame to compare it with the Goryeo people.

Ships that are not at the same level, the number cannot reach endless levels, how can they fight against Datang?

Zhang Liang nodded and said, "I also think there is no comparison, but they gathered in Muddy Water Bay to build warships, most likely to guard against our Tang Dynasty. Like Dengzhou, Muddy Water Bay belongs to this inland sea Inside. Not too far to the south, we will reach our Dengzhou territory. If we send troops to Korea, in terms of waterways, Muddy Water Bay is also a must-take place."

Like Zhang Jian, Zhang Liang knows exactly what he does in Dengzhou all year round.In addition to consolidating his own armed forces, he has also been investigating the situation in Korea.The sea is different from the land. Even on the land, without a city as a support, the layout is like a rootless tree, let alone the sea.Therefore, even if he clearly knew the plan of the Korean people, Zhang Liang couldn't deal with it.

Opening the map of Bohai Sea and asking Zhang Liang to point out the location of Muddy Water Bay, Li Chengqian thought about it, and finally whispered something in Zhang Liang's ear.

After listening, Zhang Liang was very shocked, and only tried to dissuade him twice, but was persuaded by Li Chengqian instead.

"Don't stop the spies' investigations. You just want to know their scale, and who is in charge of all this! Gao Jianwu was scared by us like his grandson before, and it is impossible to make such a big move to make himself uncomfortable. It is very likely that someone else is leading this series of actions."

Zhang Liang took the order to leave, and Li Tai immediately leaned over and said with bright eyes: "Brother, take a look, since the three of us were built together, this time, do you want to bring my King of Wei along with you?" superior?"

Looking at the north, Li Chengqian said with a slight smile: "Of course we have to take it with us. There must be no less than three ships. With these three ships, there is no need for the original broken ship of the East China Sea Division to be unable to sail. Now let's see Tang Jianzhang Can Liang and the others figure out the situation, as long as it is confirmed that the Koreans are building ships, we have a reason to attack them!"

What makes Li Chengqian proud of Tang Dynasty is that when he can do it, he basically can't bb. If the inland side still has concerns about dealing with Goryeo, fighting at sea is completely different.Clans like Shiwei Mohe had no room to intervene even if they wanted to.Without the worry of mobilizing his whole body, Datang can really do it whenever he wants.

It's okay for Goryeo to build ships in other places. Building in Muddy Water Bay, which is obviously aimed at Datang, is an excuse to come to your door.If it is built on the Korean Peninsula, there is an excuse to say that it is to deal with Silla, Baekje or even Japan, but in Muddy Water Bay, the idea of ​​​​targeting Datang is already on the verge of coming out.

At least on the surface, Goryeo is a subsidiary state of the Tang Dynasty. As a subsidiary country, the construction of warships is not angry at a small scale, but it is a rebellion at a large scale.Although everyone knew what was going on in the real situation, but when Datang seized this and sent troops, others still had no way to refute it.After acting for a long time, the script on the stage can only be read according to the script.

Walking to the guardrail under the guard of two leading soldiers, Li Chengqian looked at the ship in the deep pit with fiery eyes.

The wooden deck laid now is just the foundation, and when the iron plates are loaded, it will be a real warship. Just thinking about commanding such a warship to fight on the sea makes people feel excited!

"Your Highness, it's better for you to stay away from here. The pit is so deep, the subordinates will feel dizzy when they look at it."

Looking back at the worried Liu Mang, Li Chengqian had no intention of making things difficult for him, and left the factory shed with a wave of his hand.

Li Tai and Li Ke had already gone to his factory to see his warship.Now the deck of the Prince is about to be laid, and it will be their turn soon.After the deck is laid, the equipment of the wooden ship stops here, and the rest is the installation of the iron plate.Compared with the shipyard, the newly built ironworks are the most difficult.

Building an ironworks from scratch, despite the assistance of a hydraulic sledgehammer, the amount of three warships still needs to be processed and overtime to be forged within the specified time.

In terms of iron smelting, Li Chengqian has no right to dictate to those people.The little chemistry knowledge I have learned has long been returned to the teacher.It is already very good to be able to remember the formula of gunpowder and remember that the properties of steel are related to its carbon content.

The improvement of ironmaking requires contemporary blacksmiths to explore on their own.What he can do is to provide them with a better environment.