172 Chapter 172
◎ Dissatisfied. ◎
Everyone was stunned for a long time.
Li Chengqian looked at them, stroking his chin and saying, "Are you all scared silly? I told you, this is not my responsibility... Ouch!"
Li Chengqian raised his head and glared: "Why are you hitting me?"
Li Shimin coughed and asked, "Cheng Qian, what is this thing? How can it shatter rocks?"
The rest of the people came back to their senses, and Yuchi Jingde said, "Your Highness, I want to go over there and take a look."
Li Shimin nodded and said, "You go." Seeing that everyone was staring at him, unable to hide their curiosity, he smiled and said, "Everyone go."
Everyone said happily: "As you command, thank you, Your Highness."
Li Chengqian was speechless and said, "Can't you look back? Where are your horses? Everyone, where are your horses?"
Everyone looked back, but the horse had vanished. The guard who had followed stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, the horse got spooked and ran away. I've already ordered someone to chase it."
Cheng Zhijie laughed and said, "If you don't have a horse, then run over there. Your Highness, I'll go check it out for you!"
Yuchi Jingde immediately said, "Your Highness, I will run over too!"
"Forget it, forget it. You and I, the king and his subject, will just go over and take a look." Li Shimin said with a smile.
Li Chengqian immediately said, "I'm not going!"
Li Shimin took his hand with a smile and said, "Don't be afraid, Master, take care of Cheng Qian."
Li Chengqian shivered and got goosebumps all over his body.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Li Shimin asked again, "Cheng Qian, you said this thing is gunpowder. How can it be so powerful? It can actually shatter rocks!"
Explaining it was too much trouble, so Li Chengqian simply shook his head and said, "I don't know." Then he continued, "I only know that gunpowder can be made with saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal. The ratio is 75:10:15."
The people following him just wanted to cover their ears. Could they just listen to what he was saying? Ah, could they?
They all looked at Li Shimin's expression, but the prince just smiled and said, "These seem to be things used for making elixirs."
Li Chengqian said, "Sometimes the furnace explodes during alchemy because of a reaction between these things."
Li Shimin nodded thoughtfully: "The furnace can be blown up. If the quantity is large enough, the city gate and the city wall can also be blown up."
The people who followed were all shocked. Even though they had realized the power of gunpowder, these words still made them break out in cold sweats.
Fortunately, gunpowder was in their hands.
Thinking of this, everyone's eyes turned to the King of Zhongshan and changed. Changsun Wuji asked first, "May I ask, King of Zhongshan, did you make this yourself?"
"Yes." Li Chengqian said, "Doctor Zhangsun, do you need the recipe and preparation method?"
Changsun Wuji's current official position is Bibu Langzhong in the Ministry of Justice. Li Chengqian's title is correct, but they have a closer relationship, which seems too inhumane.
Fang Xuanling thought of what Zhangsun Wuji had just said and glanced at him calmly. Zhangsun Wuji remained expressionless, only shaking his head and smiling, saying, "Your Majesty, I don't need it."
The foreign relatives of the Han Dynasty were rampant, and our dynasty had to be on guard. Fang Xuanling nodded secretly, thinking that the Crown Princess was a virtuous and sensible person.
With a wise ruler and a virtuous queen, and an outstanding crown prince, at this moment, Fang Xuanling was full of infinite longing for the future of the Tang Dynasty.
When they reached the gravel, everyone stopped. Li Shimin bent down and picked up a sharp-edged stone, then looked at the various rocks in front of him.
"It's true..." Li Shimin was shocked again. The others looked at this chaotic scene and sighed.
Several generals, including Yuchi Jingde, all gave advice to the crown prince, which was to produce more gunpowder and keep it strictly secret to prevent it from being stolen.
After a heated discussion for a while, Li Shimin returned to Hongyi Palace with his eldest son and court officials only after his attendants found the horses.
Then they met Kong Yingda.
Li Chengqian grinned at him, and Li Shimin suddenly remembered that his son had classes in the afternoon and he had not asked for leave for him, so he took him away.
After Kong Yingda paid his respects respectfully, he asked the King of Zhongshan why he did not go to study.
Li Chengqian tilted his head and smiled, "Mr. Kong, I was taken out of the palace by the Crown Prince. You have to ask him."
Kong Yingda looked at Li Shimin and bowed again.
Li Shimin coughed awkwardly and said, "I had some important matters to attend to and forgot to ask for leave, sir. It is indeed my fault, and I will definitely remember it in the future."
Kong Yingda said, "Your Highness, I dare not say much about the important matters. However, the King of Zhongshan is still young, and I believe that his most important thing is to study."
Someone in the crowd laughed, and Kong Yingda frowned.
Li Shimin also smiled and said, "Mr. Kong is right. It's just that the King of Zhongshan...has made a great impression. Today's matter can be done without anyone except him."
Without his knowledge, the King of Zhongshan, who was determined to anger him to death, seemed to have done something extraordinary.
Kong Yingda had his doubts, but since his lord didn't mention it, he couldn't ask, so he could only ask, "Your Highness, may I ask the King of Zhongshan to come and study with me?"
Li Shimin smiled and said, "I'm afraid it won't work, Mr. Kong. I'm afraid your trip today will be in vain. I still have things to do for the King of Zhongshan."
Li Chengqian said with a smile, "I'm so sorry, Mr. Kong, I can't attend the class today. I'll share my thoughts on the Analects with you tomorrow."
Kong Yingda: “…”
Kong Yingda bowed and said, "I will take my leave."
Watching him leave, Li Chengqian thought for a moment and said, "So this is what it means to treat people differently based on their appearance."
Li Shimin was about to call him in when he heard this and asked, "Cheng Qian, what dish are you talking about?"
Li Chengqian kindly explained, "I said I couldn't attend the class. Your Highness wanted to see me for something, and Mr. Kong would definitely get to the bottom of it. If I didn't explain it clearly, he would definitely not believe me. He might even come to you for confirmation. But since you said you had something to ask, he didn't ask anything."
"That's called choosing the right dish for the right person."
There are no fools here, so everyone immediately understood the derogatory meaning of this proverb. Thinking of the dispute between King Zhongshan and Kong Yingda yesterday, they all thought that King Zhongshan was still thinking about the fact that Kong Yingda had wronged him yesterday.
If it weren't for the gunpowder incident, most people would have just sighed and said that the King of Zhongshan had the mind of a child and needed to be taught well in the future. But since the King of Zhongshan could make a killing weapon like gunpowder, these people regarded him as more than just a child.
Therefore, in the eyes of these people, making such a fuss over a small misunderstanding is obviously not the demeanor that a crown prince should have.
But they are not Kong Yingda, who would not do such things as giving direct advice to others in person without giving them face. This matter will have to be dealt with slowly in the future.
Fortunately, the King of Zhongshan is still young, and if he is taught well, he will surely be able to get on the right track.
What they could think of, Li Shimin could naturally think of as well. He looked at everyone calmly, taking in their expressions.
"Childish talk." Li Shimin took his eldest son's hand and led him over the high threshold of the main hall. "Mr. Lu praised you to me today, saying that at such a young age you've already read both the 'Records of the Grand Historian' and the 'Book of Han'. When did you do that? You don't even know."
Tian Khan was making up for him. He wanted to tell others that Li Chengqian was very outstanding. Even though he had some minor problems, his strengths could cover up those minor shortcomings.
Naive, Li Chengqian thought.
He didn't know how picky and how good at forcing others to do things these people were. What they needed was not a qualified successor to the Tang Dynasty, but a clay statue of a saint who would always be perfect and would never do anything wrong.
Even if Li Chengqian had ten thousand advantages, they would find the thousandth and first disadvantage, and then point at Li Chengqian and say that if he could not correct this disadvantage, he would be the Second Emperor of Qin, and the Tang Dynasty would perish in his hands in the future.
Oh.
Li Chengqian said, "I don't remember when I read it, but I have some understanding of a section of the record about Emperor Xuan of Han."
Li Shimin didn't know what his eldest son was about to say. Wanting to prove that his son's heart had the upper hand, he asked, "Oh? Which part?"
Li Chengqian said, "Emperor Xuan of Han once said, 'The one who caused chaos in my family was the crown prince.' He knew full well that Emperor Yuan of Han was incapable of ruling the Han Dynasty, but he failed to decisively depose the crown prince, leading to the downfall of the Western Han Dynasty from that point on."
"I believe that some people's shortcomings are too obvious. Even if they have one or two good points, it doesn't mean they are qualified for major responsibilities. Don't even think about trying to change them. Perhaps they are stubborn and will never change. It's better to give up the idea of letting them take on major responsibilities early on to prevent them from bringing disaster to the country and chaos to the court and the world in the future."
After these words were spoken, no other sound could be heard in the main hall except the sound of breathing.
What does King Zhongshan mean by this?
Following Li Shimin for all these years, they had all struggled in the court. They had all experienced the difficulties faced by the sage, the former crown prince, and the former King of Qi, but this was the first time they had encountered such an illogical person as the King of Zhongshan.
They are not enemies, and it’s not a big deal, so... why did they say such a thing as if they were going to break up the relationship?
The Crown Prince was still just the Crown Prince, and the King of Zhongshan was still just the King of Zhongshan. What was he saying all this for? Could it be that he was sensing their discontent and trying to scare them?
If you are dissatisfied, you should ridicule others. Why do you insist on taking it personally?
Well...looking at what King Zhongshan did to Kong Yingda, it is indeed possible.
At this moment, they felt that the King of Zhongshan was indeed a child, who spoke without thinking and was very careless.
At this moment, many people had the same thought. It turned out that the King of Zhongshan still needed more guidance from a good teacher.
They didn't understand Li Chengqian, so they thought so, but Li Shimin, who knew him, frowned deeply.
"My lords..." Li Shimin said, "Please take a short break. We can discuss this this afternoon. I will send the King of Zhongshan back."
Everyone said, "As ordered."
As for the gunpowder-related matters that some people are grumbling about in their hearts, they will have to wait for the prince to return before they can discuss them further.
After leaving the main hall, Li Shimin remembered to order people to take the people in the hall to rest and prepare hot soup and hot dishes for them.
Li Chengqian commented leisurely, "The harmony between the ruler and his subjects, Your Highness, will surely be recorded in history books and passed down through the ages as a legendary story."
Li Shimin glanced at him and said, "The love between father and son is deep. In the future, you and I will become a legend that will be passed down through the ages."
Li Chengqian: "..."
If you remove the deep love, it will indeed be a negative example of a legend that has been passed down through the ages, Li Chengqian added in his heart.
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