Great Tang Southern Emperor

The following days were relatively simple. After obtaining the metal prospecting and smelting rights licensed by Li Shimin, Li Zhen focused on buying a piece of land outside Chang'an City, and hired more than 20 skilled blacksmiths and other craftsmen from the Shaofu Supervisor with high salaries. , Let them start trying to build a small blast furnace.

It's just that the construction of the blast furnace is not as simple as imagined. Although Li Zhen knew that there might be difficulties in the process of building the blast furnace, he still underestimated the difficulties-not to mention other difficulties, just people died two.Anyway, for the remaining few months, Li Zhen devoted herself to the blast furnace. After the first blast furnace was completed, it was already the end of December, and it almost missed the Chinese New Year.

At this time, the Great War to Exterminate the Eastern Turks has already begun. It stands to reason that Li Zhen should also go out with the army, and Li Jing has written more than once to ask Li Zhen to go out. I don’t ask you to go to the battlefield. You should show your face in front of the soldiers anyway. Well, otherwise, you are obviously leading the position of Changshi, but you live in Chang'an to enjoy the blessings. It's a bit outrageous. I can't explain it to the soldiers here.

Li Zhen begged Li Shimin and Concubine Yan more than once to let her go. Concubine Yan couldn't get rid of Li Zhen, so she had to agree. The problem was Li Shimin's. Maybe it was because she was bullied by Li Zhen last time, so this time was considered revenge. return.

She has always kept Li Zhen in Chang'an because her birthday is approaching and the king of Yue is young. She just promised to let the king of Yue go to the battlefield when the weather gets warmer after her birthday in spring. Almost killed me, this time on my birthday, if you don't give me a satisfactory gift, let alone going to the battlefield, if I can get you out of Chang'an City, I will be considered a loser.

This is indeed a big problem. As the emperor, Li Shimin has all over the world, what treasure has he not seen?There are too few gifts that can really satisfy him.

Either it was his dream, such as "Lanting Preface", Li Shimin even used the trick of stealing for this treasure, and he didn't care about the emperor's shame, but Li Zhen couldn't do such a shameless thing;

Either it can prove his orthodox status, such as Heshibi, which means that the orthodox treasure of the royal family is now in the hands of Empress Xiao, but Empress Xiao lives in the grasslands, and the only way to get it is to destroy the Turks first;

Either it is beneficial to the stability of the country, such as the policy of governing the country and the people, but this cannot be done by one or two people in a short while;

Either it can strengthen the tranquility of the court, such as cement, which can greatly shorten the time for Datang to reach the border, which is very beneficial for Datang to control the border, but unfortunately, Li Shimin has already obtained it;

Either it is conducive to enlightenment, such as learning classics or printing and papermaking;

Either it can improve the combat power of the army, such as explosives, but Li Zhen has no intention of giving the explosives formula to Li Shimin for the time being, so he can only deny it for the time being.

Fortunately, there are many things that can improve the combat power of the army. After all, even cold weapons have not yet reached their peak in this era. Just throwing out a new gadget can make Li Shimin drool.

The only problem is that it would be a bit unlucky to offer weapons on birthdays, so this idea was also rejected by Li Zhen because he had a better and more suitable gift.

"Time flies so fast, and it will be Chinese New Year in a blink of an eye." Today, Li Zhen has nothing to do, so she climbed up the wall of the palace city by herself, pretending to be arrogant when she climbed high and looked into the distance: "Speaking of which, standing on a high place Looking down, the feeling is really different, no wonder so many people try their best to climb up."

"Standing higher can indeed see a better view, but standing higher also means that there are fewer people around you."

Li Zhen showed helplessness: "I have seen Father."

Is it really good to listen to someone's corner?Or is it a tradition in our family?But how come I don't have this problem?

"Get up, why does Zhen'er have the time to come here today?" Li Shimin and Li Zhen stood side by side: "Aren't you busy these days?"

"I'm done." Li Shimin didn't wear a dragon robe, and Li Zhen didn't bring too many honorifics, and only said in the usual father-son tone: "The blast furnace was finally completed yesterday, and it's enough to let it run on its own, my son." On the contrary, I was idle, and I couldn’t find anything to do for the time being.”

"It's done, let's rest for a while." Li Shimin looked at Li Zhen's slightly darkened face with distress. Li Shimin knew how hardworking Li Zhen had been these days. When I saw his hard work, even I couldn't bear it.

"I obey." Li Zhen was just about to take a rest. To be honest, he was really tired this time. None of those things could make him spend so much effort before. Although the cement kiln took a long time, he didn't have too much Participation is just an occasional opinion, and more artisans are doing their own research.Originally, the small blast furnace was also planned in this way, but I didn't expect the blast furnace to be so difficult, even to the point where Li Zhen was not on site, and the research and development could not continue.

"By the way, Zhen'er, in another month, it will be the father's birthday. Are you ready for the father's birthday gift, Zhen'er?" Li Shimin originally felt sorry for Li Zhen, but suddenly thought of being betrayed before, The pity in my heart disappeared, and I threatened with gritted teeth: "You must know that the father is very picky. If the father is not satisfied with your gift, then the battle against the Turks will be over."

"Understood, the child will naturally prepare a gift for the father." Although his teeth were itching with hatred, Li Zhen still held back. The conquest of the Turks was the first national-level annihilation that happened when he came to the Tang Dynasty. It's a pity not to participate in the war, but Li Shimin's right to participate in the war is in the hands of Li Shimin, and he offended him because of the grenade incident, so that he was missed by Li Shimin, so he can only find ways to please him.

"Oh? I don't know what gift it is? Could it be the formula of grenade explosives?" Li Shimin raised his eyes and smiled.

"Of course not. It's Father's birthday. Explosives are not suitable for killing people. Don't ask me, Father. I want to give you a surprise." Of course, Li Zhen knew that Li Shimin always missed Shoulei, but He really didn't mean to take out the explosives now.

First of all, Datang's military strength is strong, and hot weapons are just icing on the cake. Even if they are used, Li Shimin estimates that they will be hot for 3 minutes.

Second, thermal weapons are Li Zhen's only life-saving means at present, and rashly developing them for others is irresponsible for her own life.

The third is not the third, Li Zhen thinks the above two reasons are enough to explain everything.

"Well, I'd like to see what gift you can give me that satisfies me." Li Shimin didn't ask too much, just like Li Zhen said, he was just interested, the Tang army was invincible, Peerless, there is no need to develop thermal weapons.

"Farewell to my father." Sending Li Shimin away, Li Zhen didn't stay on the palace wall too long, turned around and returned to the palace.

"Little Fuzi, it's New Year's Eve in the market today. It's almost time to bid. Why didn't I see you lighting firecrackers?" Back to Changchun Palace (Li Zhen's residence, I made it up, I didn't find out until now that Ben San didn't tell everyone What is the name of the protagonist’s residence, failed), Li Zhen found that there was a fire in front of the door (there are no firecrackers now, and all the burning bamboo at this time is to make it burst and make a sound to expel the plague god, because the burning bamboo makes a "beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep! ", so it is called firecrackers, so if you want to set off firecrackers, you must light a fire first), and asked strangely.

Unexpectedly, when Li Zhen heard this question, Xiao Fuzi asked instead: "Your Highness, are you not going to set off firecrackers today? This servant thinks that the sound is louder."

"Firecrackers? Don't let them go, my gunpowder is not for you to make firecrackers. Besides, do you really want my mother and concubine to scold me? Hurry up and light the fire for me." Li Zhen immediately understood, and immediately Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, he quickly scolded Xiao Fuzi to light the fire.

It turned out that once Li Zhen finished frying the gunpowder, she was idle and bored, so she simply used the ready-made gunpowder to make a string of firecrackers.

It happened that Concubine Yan was also going to see Wu Meiniang, and it was night, and most of the people were asleep. Li Zhen's string of firecrackers went down, and the result was obvious. The guards thought there was a war, so they ran around blah, waving their weapons, The serving maids were even more unbearable, and some of them pissed in fright. Anyway, the whole palace was in a mess, and even Li Shimin came over to inquire about the situation in person.

Concubine Yan, who finally understood everything, directly twisted Li Zhen's ear to reprimand her, and ordered her not to set off any more cannons in the palace.

"Snapped!"

"Snapped!"

"puff!"

"Snapped!"

""

"Hey, it's really boring. If I knew it, I would have made some firecrackers." Li Zhen took a bundle of firecrackers wrapped in red paper and stuffed them into the fire one by one.

I originally thought that the royal bamboo should be louder, but who knows that the packaging should be better, the bamboo is still ordinary bamboo, the sound is not much louder than a fart, occasionally there will be a squib, it is almost like a fart, Li Zhen is real I regret not making some firecrackers beforehand.

"Your Highness, Your Majesty is here to ask you to have a New Year's Eve dinner." Li Zhen was bored when Wang Tingchu came.

"Okay, let's go." Li Zhen threw all the firecrackers into the fire, and followed Wang Tingchu to Daxing Hall slowly.

The Daxing Hall was already overcrowded, almost all of Li Shimin's sons and daughters had already arrived as long as they were born, and Li Zhen was a late arrival.

"I have met my father." Li Zhen still looked listless, and then said hello to his brothers and sisters: "I have met all my brothers and sisters."

"Eighth brother, why are you listless? Could it be that you are sick?" Seeing that Li Zhen was weak, Li Ke asked worriedly.

"Hmph, eighth brother, it's your fault. Today is New Year's Eve. Everyone should be happy and happy. Who are you showing this look to?" Li Zhen knew without looking up. Except for Li Chengqian, no one would say such a thing.

"The big brother's lesson is that it's the younger brother who gave the gift. Please also invite the father, queen, mother, concubine, and all the empresses (I don't know what the prince should be called except the queen and his mother), and all the brothers, sisters, and brothers. Sisters, don’t be offended, please make amends.” Li Zhen bowed obediently to the surroundings, but sneered in her heart, Li Chengqian, Li Chengqian, I think you are really jealous, my rudeness is my business, If the emperor wants to punish, he will also punish me. You can just sit by and watch. Now that you want to interfere, your evaluation in the emperor's heart will probably be a few levels lower.

Looking up slightly, I saw Li Shimin's frown furrowed: "Okay, today is the New Year's Eve dinner. Our family is not divided into emperors, concubines, concubines and princesses. There are only fathers, mothers, sons and daughters. How can you be rude? Zhener, you Get up too, don't do this in the future."

"Yes, thank you, father." Li Zhen's mouth flashed an undetectable smile, and she sat between Li Yun and Li Zhi in sequence.

Ordinarily, Li Zhen was the last one to arrive. Since he came, he should have started the banquet. Who knew that everyone sat quietly in their seats, showing no intention of starting.

After a while, a sharp voice sounded: "The emperor is here."

Li Zhen suddenly realized that she was waiting for Li Yuan, that's right, today is New Year's Eve, as an elder, Li Yuan would come here due to emotion and reason.

"Hahaha Erlang, I'm not late, am I?" Li Yuan's hearty voice sounded with a certain power.

"Where is the father, you are an elder, you can come anytime." Li Shimin said respectfully.

"I've seen Grandpa Huang." Li Zhen and his fellow juniors also got up and saluted quickly.

Li Yuan laughed heartily: "Hahaha, they are all good boys, and Grandpa Huang has rewards for them."