Chapter 214 A Mistake

Although the Jingjiao Daying (suburban military camp) is quite a distance from Chang'an, since the expansion of the outer three cities began a few years ago due to the large population, Chang'an is actually not as far from the Jingjiao Daying as one might imagine.

Therefore, the enormous sound and the strong tremors caused by Du Qinghui's gift of gunpowder to blow up the mountain were certainly felt by the people in Chang'an.

At that moment, Li San Niang, who was eating food ordered from a nearby restaurant on the second floor of the teahouse, was wiping the soup from the corner of Lu Zhu'er's mouth.

Li San Niang immediately felt the tremor coming from the ground.

Li San Niang's first reaction was that it was an earthquake. She instinctively hugged Lu Zhu'er to her chest and said to Li Er Xiong, "Er Xiong, take Xiao Si and go out quickly."

It was actually just a slight tremor in the ground, causing the wooden teahouse to vibrate slightly. If you weren't paying attention, you wouldn't be able to feel it.

However, the mistake lies with Li San Niang. She is not an ordinary person; her five senses have been exceptionally keen since childhood.

Brother Li and Sister-in-law Li didn't sense anything amiss, but they chose to believe Sister Li.

Li Erxiong picked up Xiao Silang and the whole family ran downstairs.

After a few seconds, when the entire Li family had reached the open space in front of the teahouse, Li San Niang finally felt at ease.

But after waiting a while, there didn't seem to be any aftershocks.

Facing the teahouse owner and servant standing to the side, looking at her with questioning eyes, Li San Niang felt her face burning and her heart filled with embarrassment, unsure how to explain herself.

Dewdrop was obediently held in Li Sanniang's arms. Li Sanniang bounced her around a bit to make her more comfortable.

Then, turning to the teahouse owner who was still looking at him with questioning eyes, he said, "I'm sorry to have troubled you to come out here. I was on the second floor when I suddenly felt the ground shaking, and I thought it was an earthquake. That's why I came downstairs with my family and asked my eldest son to tell you to call all the customers out."

Li Sanniang stomped her feet twice on the ground, looking embarrassed, and said, "I must have had a bad feeling. I'm so ashamed. I hope you won't take offense, shopkeeper. I was just mistaken."

The innkeeper was thinking to himself when he suddenly saw a group of people running down from the second floor. Then a young man came in and told the innkeeper to shout "Earth dragon turns over!" to call all the customers out.

This is just so strange, isn't it?

The shopkeeper noticed Li Sanniang's embarrassment and didn't know what to say. Just as he was about to offer some polite words, a man dressed in a tight-fitting outfit, clearly skilled in martial arts, walked over. He cupped his hands to the crowd and looked at Li Sanniang, saying, "Not at all, not at all. This lady's perception is correct. I was eating soup dumplings in that shop when I also felt the ground tremble. I felt like the earth was turning over, so I rushed out."

Li San Niang breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that there were others who shared the same feeling. Fortunately, she wasn't the only one who was overly sensitive, otherwise it would have been too embarrassing.

At this moment, the shopkeeper realized that the man who had interrupted must be a martial arts master from some镖行 (bodyguards' convoy), and this martial arts master might be trustworthy.

Before she was certain whether it was an earthquake or not, Li San Niang didn't want to go back to the teahouse.

The teahouse owner wasn't one to discriminate based on who they served, so he had his servants move all the food that Li San Niang and the others had ordered from the upstairs tables to the tables near the door in the main hall on the first floor.

Brother Li bowed to the shopkeeper and said, "Thank you so much for your trouble, shopkeeper."

After sitting in the lobby on the first floor for a while, Li San Niang felt that there should be no more tremors, so she said to Li Da Sao and Li Er Xiong with a helpless look, "Sister-in-law, Er Xiong, I really felt the tremors, I'm not just making this up."

Sister-in-law Li pulled Luzhu'er out of Li San Niang's arms: "Alright, alright, I know you're not lying. Let Luzhu'er out quickly, you're making the child uncomfortable holding you."

Li San Niang then realized what was happening and quickly checked on Lu Zhu'er. Seeing that Lu Zhu'er was only feeling uncomfortable because she was being held too tightly, she was relieved.

"Alright, let's head home in a bit, pick up Grandma, Grandpa, and Lan Niang, and then we'll go to the West Market this afternoon."

"Second brother, shall we not wait for the sage to return?"

Brother Li shook his head: "Didn't we see it just now? It would be more convenient for us to travel home now, as there should be very few carriages and horses on the road, and we can get home faster."

When the Nineteenth Prince arrived in his carriage, the whole family got in, leaving Li Dalang and Li Sanlang to walk alongside the carriage. It was almost noon by then.

Once outside the gate of Anyefang, on the way back, there were indeed far fewer carriages and horses than when we came in the morning, and the roads seemed much wider.

The further out you go, the louder the noise becomes.

As they passed by many food stalls, Sister-in-law Li thought that her parents must be too lazy to cook proper meals at home, so she decided to buy some food to take home.

As they approached, Li San Niang and her companions overheard customers at a small stall talking about the earth-shaking sensation they had experienced outside the city.

This caught Li San Niang's attention, and she quickly stepped forward and bowed to the man who looked to be about forty years old: "May I ask, sir, have you encountered any trouble outside the city?"

As soon as Li San Niang spoke, many people around turned their attention to the man. Seeing that everyone was quite interested and wanted to know what was happening outside the city, the man put down his chopsticks, stood up, and began to speak to the crowd.

"Oh dear, you wouldn't believe it, but when I went with the steward to the gate of the main camp outside the city, we heard a loud rumble, and half of the mountain was indeed shaved off. It really felt like the earth was turning upside down. We were quite far away, but the feeling of the earthquake was right under our feet. It really gave us a fright."

Once this person spoke up, many others who had just returned from outside the city also began to share their experiences.

With so many people speaking up, Li Sanniang finally felt relieved. It turned out that they had invented gunpowder, which was made by blasting up mountains.

It's true, if you didn't have some connections up there, you really wouldn't know anything about the news.

Although the Li family currently has an elder brother named Li who serves in the Imperial Guard, they are still just ordinary people from a small, insignificant family.

After buying some food, the group got into the car and headed back to Changshoufang.

Meanwhile, at the main camp on the outskirts of the capital, the power of the gunpowder invigorated the hearts and minds of the Tang people. Tens of thousands of soldiers stood in formation, clenching their right fists and striking their left chests in unison, shouting, "Glory to the Tang Dynasty! Victory!"

The scene was spectacular.

At the gate of the camp on the outskirts of Beijing, the people who lingered and did not leave talked to each other: "I knew that if we stayed, we could see something special. Old Li insisted on rushing back to reserve a spot to watch the presentation. Look at this scene of more than 10,000 soldiers. We will never see such a sight again in our lives."