Chen Ajiao also came over at this time, looked ahead and hesitated for a moment before saying, "What is this? A stone road? Where did such a big stone come from?"

Liu Che stepped on it and said, "The ground is flat. It's not something that ordinary stones can achieve."

Liu Tan explained: "It's not stone. This is made by adding quicklime and something else."

"Quicklime?" Liu Che looked at Liu Tan in surprise, and immediately a picture of the entire road filled with rising steam appeared in his mind.

No, if there really was such a vision, someone would have seen it no matter how far away it was. At least the embroidered messenger would have reported it.

At first, even Emperor Wu of Han mistakenly thought that it was a sign of an immortal descending to the world, let alone an embroidered robe messenger. However, Emperor Wu of Han did not receive any report.

He looked at Liu Tan with some suspicion, almost thinking that Liu Tan was also lying to him.

Liu Tan knew immediately that Liu Che must have misunderstood, so he said, "It is really quicklime. It's just that some other things were added, and then after mixing and burning, adding water will stop the smoke."

Liu Che nodded as if he understood, but he didn't want to understand it. He was just somewhat interested in this new thing.

The most important thing is that in order to make the road look better, Liu Tan planted trees on both sides of the road while Liu Che was busy, and used low shrubs to make a dividing belt in the middle, which looked very similar to the cement roads of later generations.

After Liu Che walked around the spot, he said, "It's quite flat."

But that's all. The roads in the imperial city, and even the roads in the entire Chang'an, are all smooth. They are all rammed earth roads that were built with great effort.

Liu Tan invited him into the car and said, "Flatness is secondary. The most important thing is that it is strong and does not easily carry away soil. If we build a lot of it, the labor and price will be much lower."

After Liu Che got in the car and looked out the window, he felt the advantages of this kind of road. First of all, it was pleasing to the eye. It looked much better than rammed earth and smoother than stone roads.

At this point, he finally showed some interest: "You said this kind of road is easy to pave and cheap?"

Liu Tan nodded and directly told Liu Che the time required to pave the road and the cost he spent. He had prepared this long ago. If he wanted to highlight the advantages of cement, he had to use these data to impress Liu Che.

After hearing this, Liu Che did not react much, but just nodded and said: "It is true that the construction period is short and the cost is not high."

And then nothing happened. There was no such thing as promotion at all.

Liu Tan was puzzled for a moment. If the emperor knew about such a useful thing, shouldn’t he be very happy to promote it nationwide?

But he soon figured it out.

This was the Han Dynasty, not the later dynasties in which Confucianism was dominant and the monarchs had the world in mind.

Although Liu Che admired Confucianism, what he valued was that Confucianism could make his rule more stable.

To be objective, whether Liu Che fought against the Huns or did other things, it was all for the purpose of making his rule more stable.

As for social development, whether people's lives are convenient and whether people are happy, these are things that only socialism will care about.

Not to mention Liu Che of today, even capitalist countries in later generations would not care about how ordinary people live. They only care about whether they control politics and economy.

Liu Tan calmed down a bit and said, "Actually, cement might not only be used to pave roads, but also to build houses. It's very strong, and should be stronger than houses made of wood or rammed earth."

Liu Che became interested again after hearing this: "Oh? Really?"

Liu Tan nodded: "It should be possible, but I haven't tried it yet. If I succeed, I will build a palace for you!"

Liu Che was amused by him: "You are quite arrogant. Fine, I will wait."

Chen Ajiao, standing by, could no longer bear to watch and taunted Liu Che, "Your Majesty, how shameless! You don't even spare your own son! Your palace is worth three years' worth of taxes. Where is Tan'er going to get that much money?"

Liu Che glanced at him and sneered: "You, as a mother, don't know as much as I do. My palace does cost a lot, but he also earns a lot."

Liu Che said this, turned to look at Liu Tan and asked: "Why? Didn't you tell your mother how much money your shop made?"

Liu Tan was a little bewildered. "Ah? I don't know. I asked them to report their expenses once a month. It hasn't even been a month yet, so maybe they haven't reported it yet."

Liu Che raised his eyebrows in surprise. He knew that Liu Tan was always busy with other things and didn't care much about his shop. He said he cared about it because Liu Tan would often bring some new candies and often make limited editions.

A flat lacquer box filled with different kinds of candies. Even the molds for placing the candies are specially made according to the shape of the candies, which looks very beautiful. Some more expensive ones are made of crystal or glass as the outer shell. This limited edition is basically snapped up once it is launched.

So what if it's hundreds of times more expensive than regular candy? It's limited edition, one-of-a-kind. Many styles are only released once, with a maximum of ten boxes at a time. When a limited edition is released, people scramble to get it. Yet, to date, Liu Tan has only released two limited editions.

It can be said that even if he did not sell ordinary candies, the money he earned from these two limited editions was equivalent to half of Liu Che's palace. Of course, it was only half a palace. A temporary palace is composed of an entire complex of buildings. If Liu Tan wanted to build a temporary palace, he had to continue to make money.

Chen Ajiao knew that Liu Che never acted without a purpose, and from what he said, she knew that Liu Tan's shop must be very profitable.

She asked curiously, "You don't even know it yourself?"

Liu Tan thought about it, then turned around and asked Miao Rui to sort out the accounts and then report later.

Miao Rui was instantly overwhelmed. He could read, but accounting... who could understand that?

Liu Che waved his hand and said, "No need, that's yours, no need to show it to me."

Chen Ajiao was just curious about how Liu Tan could make a lot of money in a short period of time. She was not short of money, so why would she have to look at her son's accounts?

The matter of the cement road seemed to have passed, but it did cause a little ripple among Emperor Liu Che, because after knowing the low cost, he decided to pave the new Jianzhang Palace with this stuff.

Liu Tan was stunned after hearing this, and immediately said with some fear: "But... Father, in addition to building the chariot road, you also want to build a flying pavilion, right? You can't use cement for this."

It is better to make a flying pavilion from wood. After all, it is off the ground and the supporting force must be precisely calculated.

By the Han Dynasty, wooden architecture had basically matured, and at least the requirement proposed by Liu Che could be realized by craftsmen.

But if cement is used, cement is heavier than wood, and in order to make it strong in the air, it may need steel bars as support. In this way, the weight of the entire building will increase significantly. If the connecting plank road cannot provide support, let alone building a flying pavilion, it may not be possible to build it at all.

Even if it is built without experienced craftsmen, it is likely to collapse soon.

The Bailiangtai had just caught fire. Although he didn't know what method Emperor Liu Che used to suppress the matter, he didn't want to hear the news of the collapse of the flying pavilion in the Jianzhang Palace again. When the time came, Emperor Liu Che would definitely deal with him in anger.

Liu Che was surprised: "Didn't you say this thing is very good?"

Liu Tan had no choice but to say, "It's OK to build a chariot path, but not a flying pavilion. Even the road leading to the flying pavilion might be problematic. After all, this is a new thing, and I haven't studied it thoroughly."

Liu Che frowned slightly: "If that's the case, then wouldn't it be impossible to coordinate and unify?"

Liu Tan said, "If Father only wants to make the surface consistent, then it's simple. After the plank road of the flying pavilion is completed, just coat it with a thin layer of cement to make it look the same as the chariot road."

Liu Che said impatiently, "That's it. Send someone to tell the Shaofu later."

Liu Tan didn't dare to continue spinning on the cement, so he asked, "It's getting late. Does the Emperor and the Empress want to have dinner?"

Liu Che nodded indifferently, Liu Tan raised his hands and clapped his hands, and suddenly everyone from the kitchen to the main hall became busy.

Liu Che didn't have high hopes for the food here with Liu Tan, and Liu Tan didn't tell him in advance. He stayed for dinner purely to give Liu Tan face.

But when the first dish was served, he looked at the whole green vegetable standing in the center of the copper basin and said in surprise, "Are you asking me to eat it raw?"

Liu Tan laughed and said, "No matter how bold I am, I would not dare to let Father eat raw food. This dish is actually already cooked."

Liu Che observed it closely and found that the vegetable was indeed cooked, but... it was just one vegetable, oh, or should I say, the heart of the vegetable can also be considered a dish?

Liu Che was very suspicious that Liu Tan was just trying to get by with him.

Liu Tan did not explain, but watched the maid carefully carry the copper pot, which contained the broth that had been simmered for a long time.

Speaking of the broth, Liu Tan actually felt a little regretful, because he couldn't find the right seafood, so the soup was actually missing a flavor for him. In the end, he could only use river fish instead, which barely added another flavor.

The maid held up a copper pot and carefully poured water over the top of the vegetable.

The rich smell of the soup made Liu Che couldn't help but sniff it. In an instant, he realized that the soup must have been carefully cooked, and the taste was somewhat different from the broth cooked in the palace before.

It was also because of this that he felt a little less perfunctory.

When he saw that as the thick soup was poured in bit by bit, the vegetable gradually loosened from being tightly clumped at the beginning, and then the few leaves on the outside began to slowly open up and fall to the bottom of the basin, only then did Liu Che realize that the leaves of this vegetable had been carefully trimmed, and after spreading out, they looked like petals.

After the outermost leaves open, the inner leaves also begin to open slowly after being impacted by the broth.

It opens layer by layer, and the whole process is like a flower blooming little by little. When the broth has absorbed half of the vegetable, the vegetable also appears to be in a fully bloomed state.

At this time, the green vegetable is like a fully bloomed flower, part of the flower is immersed in the golden broth, and the other part is exposed outside, with some broth contained in the stamens.

This process is not only pleasing to the eyes, but also smells delicious.

At this point, the dish is completely finished.

After the maid left, Liu Tan said, "Although this dish looks light, it has quite a rich flavor. It's perfect as an appetizer. Father and Mother, please try it."

However, Liu Che and Chen Ajiao were reluctant to pick up their chopsticks. After a while, Chen Ajiao said, "This dish... is quite novel. Where is it from?"

Liu Tan smiled and said, "This is a new dish I made. It's rare for your Majesty to come to my house, so I have to make something new and exciting."

Liu Che had already picked up a piece of green vegetables with his chopsticks. After taking a bite, he couldn't help but squint his eyes: "Hmm, not bad, fragrant and delicious, not greasy and not too bland."

After finishing speaking, Liu Che looked at Liu Tan and said with a smile: "You have quite a few novelties here. It seems I should come here more often."

Liu Tan: ?????