Great Tang princess

Chapter 194
With Master gone, Li Yuechen lacked a joy in his life.

After all, the only person who can really spend time with her playing art of war deduction is Master.

Although the old man is willing, but he is not in good health, Li Yuechen is not willing to bother him every day.

Liu Huang had been abandoned for too long before, and now he has just started to learn the art of war, and his skills are far behind.

Originally, Princess Xuancheng could play with her, but now she has no time to go to class every day.

Bored, Li Yuechen could only read the military book by himself.

Now that the business is on track, I don’t need to keep an eye on it, so I will naturally have more time to read books and practice calligraphy.

Half a month passed in a blink of an eye, and it was mid-May.

The weather was getting hotter day by day, Li Yuechen and the others also put on the armless vest and wide-leg pants early.

After eating at noon, Li Yuechen took a military book and sat down beside the small pond under Linbo Pavilion.

He took off his wooden clogs, soaked his tender little feet in the cool water of the pool, swayed his legs slightly, and read the military book.

Xiao He was making tea beside her, and by the way, two older maids were helping her massage her body, and she felt a little comfortable for a while.

After enjoying it for about half an hour, Fulai suddenly walked in.

When he came to Li Yuechen's side, he first saluted respectfully, and then said in a low voice: "Your Highness, the Craftsman Superintendent sent a message saying that the shuttle machine has been made."

"Oh?"

Li Yuechen raised his head, licked his lips and said, "These people are really not simple...Let's go and have a look!"

While talking, he stood up, put on his little clogs, and went to the craftsman.

Fulai took the oil-paper umbrella that Xiao He handed over, put it on top of her head to shield her from the sun, and walked towards the craftsman workshop.

……

As soon as you enter the gate, you will see the loom in the main hall that you can tell at a glance that it has just been assembled.

The craftsmen of the craftsman and the maids sent by the Shangyi Bureau are watching carefully the work completed by their joint efforts.

In fact, the appearance of the shuttle machine is exactly the same as that of the ordinary loom. The only change is that a wheel is added in the middle of the shuttle, and a spring is added at the same time.

In this way, wider fabrics can be woven, and the speed can be increased by one to two times compared with the traditional loom that throws the shuttle by hand.

After all, this is essentially a human loom, not an electric one.

Seeing Li Yuechen approaching, everyone present saluted one after another.

Li Yuechen walked among them and raised his hand to excuse them.When I came to this brand new loom, I looked it up and down with my big black eyes: "Have you tried it?"

"I haven't tried it yet, I'm just waiting for His Highness to come and watch it!" The craftsman next to him replied.

"Um……"

Li Yuechen couldn't help but nodded, thinking in his heart that you guys are very sensible...

"Okay, if you're ready, let's get started!"

"Yes!"

There are quite a few elderly ladies in the Shangyi Bureau who are experienced weavers, and the one who came to participate in the experiment today is one of the best.

Her age is close to 50 years old, and her hair is half white.

The princess looked here, seemed a little nervous, and took two deep breaths after sitting down.

Only then did I start trying.

When the pedal is stepped on, with a "click", the yarn goes up and down alternately.

Gently pulling the wooden handle hanging down in his hand, the shuttle quickly slid across the track, and reached the opposite side with a "click".

Seeing this scene, the court lady breathed a sigh of relief, pulled the beating knife back with confidence, and then stepped on the pedal again...

The sound of "click, click, click..." was endless, and the loom started to operate quickly.

Li Yuechen and others were watching from the narration, a piece of blue cloth with patterns was being produced little by little at a speed visible to the naked eye.

After watching for about a quarter of an hour, Li Yuechen turned his head and looked at the maids of Shangyi Bureau and asked: "This item will be handed over to you in the future, what do you think? Don't worry, if it's not good, just say it's not good, no matter the crime!"

The maid next to me saluted respectfully: "Your Highness, this is a fetish! Although it looks like a small change, it saves a lot of time and energy spent on weaving..."

Li Yuechen nodded, and then asked the maid who had just operated it herself: "What do you think?"

"Returning to Your Highness, this servant thinks this item is excellent, and it will definitely speed up the weaving process a lot!" The other party replied respectfully.

Li Yuechen nodded: "That's good. You Shangyi Bureau can take this item and report it to the saint. If you plan to make more sets at that time, you can connect with the craftsman and supervisor yourself."

"Yes!"

……

This new loom did not cause much surprise, after all, Li Yuechen had invented all kinds of novelties until now.

Besides, the loom hasn't been modified much, it's just a shuttle, and everyone else said they are used to it.

The Shangyi Bureau immediately reported the matter to Li Zhi, but he didn't make a decision right away, and asked Li Yuechen for her opinion the next day when she went to pay her respects.

"Chen'er, you made this thing. Do you think it should be distributed to the people?" Li Zhi asked.

Hearing his own opinion, Li Yuechen thought for a while: "Baby's opinion is to say goodbye first, why not let the boy open a fabric workshop and hire some landless people as employees by the way..."

Li Yuechen did this for a purpose. Although she didn't want to squeeze the living space of other businessmen, she had to admit that capitalists seldom consider the consequences when they do things.

The current Datang is still a small-scale peasant economy and society. Before the grain output can be greatly increased, it is still necessary to ensure that most people are farming.

Think about the foundation first, then the upper layers.And Li Yuechen hired some landless people to work in order to allow them to have money to pay taxes and avoid becoming black households.

Therefore, Li Yuechen will have strict requirements on employees, they must be landless, or a woman living alone who cannot do heavy work.

And she doesn't plan to develop the low-end market right now, and she will still mainly make silk by then.

First, the emperor can use it to reward ministers, and second, it can also be sold abroad to accumulate more wealth.

Regarding the tax system, Li Yuechen dare not talk nonsense at present, after all, it is related to the interests of all nobles.

So we can only try to make ordinary people have money to pay taxes, so as to avoid becoming fugitives.

If the future plan develops smoothly and he can become a military leader, he will have the confidence to raise the issue of reforming the tax system.

……

Li Zhi asked his daughter's opinion because he didn't know much about this new thing, and he didn't know what kind of influence it could have on Datang.

So in the case of not understanding these things, we can only fully consider the opinion of the inventor, Li Yuechen.

Hearing her answer, Li Zhi nodded: "Okay, then I won't ask about this matter, I believe you can solve it."

"Hey, grandpa just watch it!" Li Yuechen smiled proudly, "This shuttle machine also has a matching set of equipment. After it is made, grandpa will understand the power of this thing."

She was talking about the Jenny machine, of course, the thing that started the first industrial revolution.

But that thing seems to be used to spin cotton thread, whether it can be used to spin silk ... we have to wait until it is made.

But it doesn't matter, even if it can't be used for spinning, materials such as cotton or wool should be fine.

Wu Zetian next to him looked very interested, and asked curiously, "What kind of artifact is it?"

"I can't explain it clearly now, let's take a closer look, Auntie, after I make it." Li Yuechen pouted.

"You girl, you've learned how to play tricks now!" Wu Zetian laughed.

"It's not just kidding, it's really hard to explain." Li Yuechen shook her arm and smiled.

Although she knew she was pretending to be cute, Wu Zetian didn't say anything else, just smiled and stretched out a finger to tap her forehead.

……

The heat of June is really hot to death. Li Yuechen hardly goes out every day. He either lets the maids and eunuchs take turns fanning himself in the palace, or sits in the Linbo Pavilion to enjoy the cool air.

Li Zhi would send someone over every day to deliver ice cubes and crispy mountains to cool her down, but even so, it was still too hot to die.

In fact, the palace is relatively good. The structure of the palace is relatively ventilated. As long as the doors and windows are opened, you can feel the breeze.

But the folks are miserable, surrounded by square walls, they are like big melting pots, and the heat is unbearable.

Li Yuechen couldn't help thinking, if there is a chance in the future, let's rebuild the city, at least remove these square walls.

Of course, it's just thinking about it at the moment, and this is not something that can be solved by talking about it.

Compared with demolishing square walls, the most important thing is to improve the living standards of ordinary people.

……

A few days later, Li Yuechen handed over the finished design of the Jenny machine to the craftsman, and let the craftsmen and the people from the Shangyi Bureau watch and ponder.

She herself won't participate, let's get through this hot summer first.

At the same time, during this period of time, she couldn't help but wondered, what method could be used to persuade the second brother to quickly dispel those unrealistic thoughts.

If it continues like this, he, the prince, will never want to do it again.

But to be honest, Li Yuechen couldn't find any good way to persuade him for a while, even in his usual letters, he only said to let him take care of his health in Chang'an alone, nothing superfluous.

On the contrary, it was my mother Wu Zetian, who perhaps felt that he should be beaten and sent him some books.

"Shaoyang Zhengfan" and "The Story of a Dutiful Son" remind him not to think too much, and be his prince well.

It's just that whether he listens...that's probably another matter.

According to Dad's reminder, these rumors should be caused by those aristocratic families.

Now that the trend of newspapers has been established, the imperial power has begun to move in the direction of high concentration invisibly.

In addition, everyone in the palace now knows that the atmosphere inside the royal room is harmonious.

In the long run, the influence of these aristocratic families will become less and less, which is naturally not what they want to see.

This kind of rumor is also to split the royal family.

Now that the Empress Dowager is very powerful, if the crown prince also stands on the same line with her, the life of these ministers will become more and more difficult in the future.

After Dad's suggestion last time, Li Yuechen can probably analyze their thoughts.

Anyone can see that the emperor is not in good health now, but because he doesn't trust the ministers, he is gradually delegating power to the Queen of Heaven.

After the death of the emperor in the future, the queen mother's family will dominate. If they unite with their son, it is definitely not what they want to see.

So now they have to find a way to freeze the relationship between the prince and the queen, so that in the future, the emperor and the queen will fight in the court, and they will become sweet pastries that both sides want to win over.

After figuring this out, Li Yuechen couldn't help but smile. It seems that the emperor himself is not the only one who knows the art of the emperor.

Originally, she didn't understand this kind of scheming.But born in the royal family, and under the deliberate training of his parents, he seems to understand now.

Looking back and thinking about it, it's also thanks to the fact that I didn't rely on my father's favor to give opinions casually, otherwise I might have been taken advantage of by them invisibly.

My first step is to control public opinion and centralize imperial power.

And this is just the beginning, they have already found out that something is wrong, and started a full-scale counterattack.

It's no wonder that the old man said that he can't investigate it with great fanfare. Once this kind of thing is made public, it will be very troublesome.

Li Yuechen now understands that the so-called scheming is essentially a game in which all players play tricks, and it depends on who can't hold on first!

Thinking of this, Li Yuechen couldn't help but shook his head with a smile. If there is a chance in the future, I'd better mention my second brother.

He is indeed a smart person, but unfortunately he is still several levels behind his mother and those people in the court who have slipped into the air.

But this matter cannot be directly explained to him. Li Yuechen is very clear that it is absolutely impossible for second brother Li Xian to admit that his IQ is not as good as others.

To put it bluntly, it's the kind of disheveled and wasteful, and he definitely won't listen to it.

Fortunately, Dad's health is not enough now, and he is still the emperor with real power in his hands, so there is no need to worry about them making too much trouble.

only……

Li Yuechen suddenly thought of what his father said, if it really happened, it means that he is not suitable to be a prince.

But besides the second brother Li Xian, who else can be the crown prince?
If the third brother and the fourth brother start cultivating well now, it should be in time, but...the parents don't seem to have that kind of intention, they just raise the two of them as idle princes.

Could it be my wife?An idea suddenly popped up in Li Yuechen's mind.

Then he shook his head, it was unlikely.

Again, unless he can guarantee that he will never marry for the rest of his life, it is impossible for the father to easily pass the throne to his daughter.

The issue of lineage, in the eyes of the ancients, was the top priority after all.

Verbal guarantees are always the most useless. At the beginning, my father's brother Li Tai also said that he would kill his son to pass on to his younger brother... This kind of words is the same for both the speaker and the listener—whoever believes whoever idiot!
Besides, from Li Yuechen's point of view, there are some things that are not so convenient to do when you become an emperor.

Li Yuechen's current idea is to make Tang Dynasty prosperous and strong in an all-round way. Compared with the emperor on the bright side, it is more suitable to have the "roots" buried in the dark.

(End of this chapter)