Great Tang princess

Chapter 237
After seeing the two exploding grenades, Li Zhi was obviously interested and wanted to try it himself.

However, his strength is not that great, so he may not be able to throw it that far, so Li Yuechen didn't stick stones, so let him throw the bamboo tube directly, just throw it like a big firecracker.

Li Zhi has no objection either, the key is that he just wants to operate it himself.

After lighting the fuse with a torch, he shook his hand vigorously and threw it out.

Seeing that the bamboo tube rolled twice after falling to the ground, and then exploded with a bang, Li Zhi looked satisfied.

There's a reason why most men grow up watching big machines like excavators at work.

Generally speaking, men have a desire to destroy in their bones, and their resistance to weapons and many large machines is always very low.

Dad has tried it all, and Li Yuechen doesn't want to favor one over another, so there are just a few left, let a few brothers and sisters try too.

Many women in the Tang Dynasty were female men, and they also looked eager to try this thing.

Even my mother Wu Zetian took one, and the family started a big firecracker battle.

……

Listening to the occasional explosions in Tao Guangyuan, everyone in Qianniuwei who had already exited outside fell silent.

They all knew that the princess was a member of the Taoist sect, but they had never made such a big noise when they saw other Taoist priests doing it occasionally!
In this society without noise pollution, the sound of this kind of explosion can be heard far away, and even many ministers who live not far from the imperial city can vaguely hear it.

There were continuous explosions in the palace, and these ministers didn't care about dressing up, fearing that something unexpected would happen, they hurried to the palace on horseback.

After all, it wasn't long after Taizong's incident, and Datang was still very sensitive about coup d'état.

After all, strictly speaking, the rebellion incident of the former prince Li Chengqian has not passed for a long time.

Many ministers came to the palace, but they were all stopped outside Yingtianmen, and then sent to report.

In Taoguang Garden, the whole family basically threw it once, and the ground was covered with black marks of explosions.

The smog in the air also became much thicker, and the smell of gunpowder continued to drill into the nostrils.

"Cough cough cough..."

Li Zhi coughed a little uncomfortable, raised his hand and fanned it in front of his face a few times, turned his head to look at the eunuchs and maids serving the narrator and said: "What happened today is caused by the princess's actions, you can understand ?”

"Saint, don't worry, I will understand!"

These people have been serving Li Zhi for many years, not the eunuchs and maids who can be seen everywhere in the palace, so they still have some credibility.

At this time, a young eunuch ran in from the outside and came to salute Li Zhi: "Saint, there are many ministers outside Yingtianmen, saying that they are worried about the safety of the saint..."

"Hmm..." Li Zhi nodded, "Take them to Huiyou Hall, I'll be there in a while."

"Here!" The little eunuch agreed and turned to leave.

Li Zhi grinned suddenly: "Hmph, it's pretty quick, Chen'er, go change into a Taoist robe, and go with me."

"Okay!" Li Yuechen agreed, waved his hand and told Fu Lai to go back and bring his Taoist robe.

The Huiyou Hall is not a formal hall for discussing the dynasty, and the discussions here are not as serious as in the hall, and it is generally much more relaxed.

The ministers who are qualified to come here are basically at the prime minister level, and ordinary ministers, even at the level of the six ministers, rarely have the opportunity to come here.

Li Zhi even brought the whole family here today. Li Yuechen took the Taoist robe and put it on, and walked in behind his father.

……

The ministers waiting in the hall brewed a cup of tea in front of each of them. This kind of tea is rarely sold in the market at present, and it is still a secret formula of the royal family. It is usually used for rewards.

Usually, among the ministers, only Li Yuechen's master, Liu Rengui, can drink without limit.

If it was normal, they would definitely have a good taste, but today they thought they were worried about what happened in the palace from time to time, so they were all nervous.

The tea placed in front of him basically didn't bother to taste it, and even if he wanted to drink it, he drank it down in one gulp.

After a while, with the announcement of "the arrival of the sage", the ministers stood up one after another.

Seeing the emperor coming, they all breathed a sigh of relief, but then they looked puzzled.

Because the emperor was followed by other big families, it was normal for the empress to follow, but what does it mean to bring all the sons and daughters here?
Do you feel that only one prince and one powerful princess are not enough, and you plan to train the left and right children to become dragons and phoenixes?
Seeing the ministers with nervous faces, Li Zhi smiled, first waved to the children and asked them to find a place to sit, and then sat with the queen in their exclusive seats.

Before the ministers in front of them could speak, they were interrupted by Li Zhixian.

"Ah, the explosion in the palace today was caused by the princess praying for blessings and resonating with the heavenly thunder. Don't worry about it." Li Zhi explained casually, "It's rare to come here on this resting day. Qing is also quite tired, let's go back after some tea break!"

Li Zhi's words directly sent back the suffocated curiosity of the ministers.

Many ministers' Adam's apples moved up and down, as if the excuse of wanting to complain was a bit too bad.

But how can you easily question what the emperor said in person?Not everyone has Di Renjie's guts, let alone his tough fate.

So in the end, the ministers still didn't ask anything, they could only go back in despair after drinking some tea.

Li Yuechen, who was sitting next to him, looked at the aggrieved expressions on the faces of the ministers, and almost couldn't help laughing out loud.

She also knew very well that this excuse could not last forever, and when the military camp was completed, training would begin, and the sound of explosions would definitely be heard on Mang Mountain every now and then.

But it doesn't matter, when this thing is known to them, it's time for everything to fully mature.

The ministers didn't get the result, and they all went back in despair after drinking a cup of tea.

……

In the next few days, Li Yuechen continued to study smoke bombs and tear gas bombs.

But before that, it is still necessary to engage in the sugar making process.

At this time, there was already a sugar-making process, but what was made was brown sugar, so Li Yuechen told them to add some yellow mud to make white sugar first.

At the same time, he went to the gold and silver workshop and asked Wang Gangdan to try to see if he could improve the tool for making small steel balls. It would be better to increase the output.

If the production of steel balls can be increased, it may be much easier to make broadsword mines in the future.

This thing is something that will be banned by international law in the future, because its lethality is too terrifying.

Many veterans have said in their memoirs that when fighting in the jungle, the last thing they want to see is the words "this side faces the enemy".

If this thing can really be made, it can be regarded as a supreme weapon in this era whether it is dealing with cavalry or infantry.

It's a pity that with the current technology, the time and money required to make this thing are too high, and the gains outweigh the losses.

In fact, it doesn't matter if the military equipment is more expensive, but the key is that this is a one-time consumable, so the cost issue must be carefully considered.

Among other things, even the cost of smoke bombs and tear gas bombs is quite expensive. In this era, pepper can basically be used directly as money, and its value is very high.

So this kind of thing only needs to be equipped with a small amount, and it is not used most of the time anyway.

As for the relatively better smoke bombs, after about a week of experiments, by the end of the month, basically several smoke bombs of different colors had been produced.

Considering that it is experimental in nature after all, they are all made very small, and the amount of natural smoke is not large.

But even so, the people of Dongdu can still see the smoke of different colors rising in the palace for the past few days, and they are discussing why there are gods descending to the earth to communicate with the emperor.

There are even many people who go to the gate of the palace to kneel and worship every day, still muttering something in their mouths.

After hearing the news, Li Yuechen lamented that it was the imperial palace, so he didn't go to Mangshan for the experiment.

Otherwise, when the time comes, the smoke of various colors will rise on the mountain, and there may be many people going up the mountain to look for the gods.

The ministers in the court were thinking about what the explosion and the colorful smoke were all about that day, but they couldn't force them to ask if the emperor didn't say anything.

Considering the confidentiality, Li Yuechen didn't even tell his master Liu Rengui about these things.

Fortunately, Liu Rengui was considered a veteran of the two dynasties, he knew what to ask and what not to ask, and did not cause any embarrassing things to happen.

On the last day of the first month, after a day of experiments, Li Yuechen stretched in Linbo Pavilion.

Looking at the sun at dusk, he grinned lightly, the experiment was finally completed, and this is already a mature military product.

Just as he was about to go back to rest for a while, and waited for the meal to be finished, Gao Yanfu suddenly trotted in.

Seeing Li Yuechen in the Linbo Pavilion, he walked over quickly and said, "Your Highness, someone in the palace is asking about the sound of explosions and colored smoke..."

"It's okay, just keep an eye on it first, it's best to find out which one is for whom." Li Yuechen replied, "Don't worry about the rest."

"Yes!" Gao Yanfu agreed.

From Li Yuechen's experiments, all he knew were those who worked in the Anfu Palace.

There are only a few servants in the Anfu Palace, and she remembers them all clearly, and those who can get to this point are all smart people, so naturally they dare not talk nonsense.

There is no need to worry about those around the emperor. It is absolutely impossible to inquire about any valuable information just by relying on the little eunuchs and maids bought from outside.

……

Just because there was no news from the palace, this also made many ministers even more nervous.

If there is no news from the palace, it means that the emperor has issued a sealing order, which further proves that this matter must be very important!

Everyone knows that the emperor doesn't trust ministers, and the various policies over the years also show that he has the idea of ​​centralizing imperial power.

If he does something behind the scenes, and if he succeeds in the future, they will be very passive.

But after all, they have no way to know what to do, they can only try their best to try their best to insinuate.

These days, many people still believe in ghosts and gods.So many ministers came forward, saying that the palace is so bright these days, there must be some gods coming down to earth, and some sacrificial activities should be carried out in the palace, etc...

The priest will hold a banquet, and the ministers who hold the banquet will be able to enter the palace, and maybe they will be able to find a way to find out what is going on here.

However, Li Zhi seemed to have thought of this trick a long time ago, and replied that it was just the princess doing it to pray to heaven and so on...

Anyway, the two sides are arguing with each other, Li Zhi is now determined to get the mystery to the end.

Li Yuechen was too lazy to take care of these things, and was thinking about the weapons factory.

In the future, there must be a factory responsible for the production of hand grenades and the like.

And the personnel among them are very important. Fortunately, the production of grenades is not complicated, and there is no technical threshold. The slaves bought back at the beginning can be used as skilled workers for producing grenades.

These people's identities and backgrounds are very simple, and they have no way to contact outsiders. They can be locked up in the factory and they are responsible for this.

This production factory is built next to the military camp, and the army is in charge of guarding it every day, keeping the secrecy to the greatest extent.

At that time, glass workshops and ceramic workshops can be added together, so it will be difficult to deduce the formula from the materials brought back from outside.

Of course, Li Yuechen also knew that this thing would be cracked sooner or later, but it would be a little later. At present, Datang really needs this thing to change the status quo.

Li Yuechen recorded his thoughts one by one and wrote them down on paper in English.

……

The time came to February, and Li Yuechen did not participate in this year's spring plowing ceremony, but Prince Li Xian followed.

After coming back, the expression on his face was obviously unhappy, and he was also taciturn in Renshou Hall.

Sensing that the second brother's mood was a little off, Li Yuechen went to the East Palace after having lunch with his parents, intending to ask him what was wrong.

After entering the East Palace, Fang Qing'an led her into the hall and sat down, making a cup of tea.

The second elder brother Li Xian came out from behind: "Chen'er is here today, do you have something to tell Brother Wei?"

"It's just that brother doesn't seem happy when he came back today, so I came here to ask." Li Yuechen smiled, "Tell me, who bullied brother? Little sister, go beat him to vent your anger!"

Li Xian was amused by his appearance: "What about A Niang?"

"Aniang?" Li Yuechen frowned, "What's the matter, Aniang?"

"Today's Spring Plowing Ceremony, I don't know what Ming Jing said to my mother..." Li Xian actually gritted his teeth when he said this, "Then my mother changed her eyes when she saw me..."

Li Yuechen raised his eyebrows: "Could it be that brother is too sensitive? It doesn't necessarily mean brother?"

"Yuechen doesn't believe in being a brother?"

"I believe it! But..." Li Yuechen always felt that this matter should be his problem. Isn't it normal for ministers to communicate with each other?Why must it be you?
However, with the principle of wanting to solve the problem, Li Yuechen decided to ask his parents to see if it was the case.

At the same time, I also thought, or just tell him everything I know.

I don't know if I think it's too much pressure to be a prince, but I always feel that he is really different from before.

(End of this chapter)