Li Hong followed Yan Liben to the main hall of Daming Palace. A huge wooden pillar even exceeded his imagination. He saw a huge pillar that was 15 meters long and could barely be hugged by three or four people lying horizontally under the steps.
"Lord Yan, don't tell me it is this giant pillar!" Li Hong asked.
Yan Liben heard the shock in Li Hong's mouth. The old man was a little embarrassed and coughed and said, "Prince is wise. This is the one in front of you."
I am not smart at all. If I were smart, I shouldn't have come with you. Given the conditions in today's era, even if I do it myself, it will probably take some time.
"Lord Yan, you are such a joker. I haven't offended the Ministry of Works recently, have I? Why do you want to drag me into this? Do you think my father won't be angry if you drag me into this?" Li Hong touched the giant pillar that was almost as high as his shoulder. He thought for a long time but couldn't think of a way to solve this problem in a short period of time.
"Where is the huge rock you mentioned? Don't tell me it's the one I'm standing on. This is a whole piece of floor, not a huge rock." Li Hong asked as he looked at the huge rock that was ten feet square under his feet, and he felt like he had been cheated.
"Your Highness is wise. Yes, it is this huge rock." Yan Liben said with embarrassment on his old face.
"No, this...how did you transport it here? It's such a big rock, why didn't you cut it before transporting it here?" Li Hong asked.
"Your Highness, if this huge stone is cut, it will destroy its integrity and beauty. In order to build the great cause of the Tang Dynasty for a hundred years, we naturally need to strive for perfection."
...
...
"So how did you transport it here?" Li Hong asked again.
"Prince, do you know that Cao Mengde had a counselor named Lou Gui?" Yan Liben pretended to be mysterious and asked with a smile.
Li Hong nodded thoughtfully and said, "Lou Zibo suggested pouring water to freeze the city wall overnight, and you used the water to transport the boulders, is that right?"
"Your Highness is wise, that's right. The one who performed this method is the descendant of Lou Gui, Lou Yu." Yan Liben waved to a craftsman not far away, and saw a man in his fifties walking over.
"Lou Yu greets His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Lord Yan."
"The soldiers carried earth and poured water, and by dawn, the earthen city was completed. Ma Chao led his troops to watch and was greatly surprised, shouting that it was divine help. But is this true?" Li Hong said.
"Thank you for the compliment, Your Highness." Lou Yu bowed and saluted.
"Okay, then I'll give it a try. Mangzhong, let Yuwen Rong and Liang Xiaoren go to Daming Palace immediately." Li Hong said to Mangzhong with his back turned.
Watching Mangzhong leave, Yan Liben asked in confusion, "Are these two students from Chongwenguan?"
"Yes, they are the students from Chongwenguan. Let's see if they have a more feasible solution." Li Hong knew in his heart that his ideas would be more or less extreme and might even destroy the already established structure.
Moreover, the method he knew was also known by Yuwen Rong and Liang Xiaoren, but he had neither the talent nor the foundation in this area. So when faced with such difficulties, perhaps only people like Yuwen Rong and Liang Xiaoren who had the foundation and advanced technical concepts could think of a way to have the best of both worlds.
These are exactly what Li Hong has been imparting to Chongwen Hall, including to the craftsmen in the restricted area of Taiyi City. He uses all the knowledge he knew in his previous life to open the door of inspiration for all disciplines for them, and then lets them build on their existing academic achievements to slowly open a path to the avenue of knowledge he has given them.
In this way, no matter which path is taken, there will be no technological gap, and the complete technology can be reserved to make real technological reserves for the next step of pioneering and innovation.
Take glass as an example. Back then, I only taught Ren Lao Ren Yuan how to make it and what to use, but the subsequent proportions were basically figured out by Ren Lao Ren Yuan and I, which led to the glass today that is as big as the floor-to-ceiling windows in the previous life.
Although this process is relatively slow, it at least allows them to figure out the properties of all substances and master all the basic knowledge of glass making. It will at least avoid any gaps in glass technology and give them a complete system.
In this way, I deliberately gave them a development period of ten years. During this period, whether it was the Western Regions, Goryeo, or Japan, they would not be able to access this technology.
But on the other hand, even if they keep it secret, it will accelerate their curiosity about glass and intensify their desire to refine glass themselves. This will give them the opportunity to reserve glass technology and allow them to gradually accumulate all the technical reserves.
So after working hard to develop the glass craft for more than ten years, I sold the glass to them. Firstly, I could make a lot of money in these years, and secondly, I could effectively curb their development of their own technology.
Even if one day they can produce the same glass technology as the current Tang Dynasty, it will become extremely difficult for them to move forward because they do not have enough technological reserves. If there is a technological gap, they will need to start all over again. At least they have worked hard and bought themselves several years of development.
As for the Taiyi City Medicinal Kitchen, which he valued the most, Li Hong adopted the same method, but the confidentiality level was reached to the highest level, and outsiders were not allowed to know about it.
That is to teach them the most basic production of gunpowder, and then let them continue to develop and research on this basis, and ultimately achieve solid progress from the most basic gunpowder technology in accordance with the historical development trajectory.
What I provided was just a prototype of gunpowder that was developed more than 100 or 200 years earlier. According to this rule, I only laid the foundation for future generations' research and development a hundred years in advance in this life, and overall I was ahead of this era. In this way, there would be no gaps and stagnation in development. The benefits to the Tang Dynasty would be much greater than directly taking out the best I could do.
What I want to build is a team of truly great craftsmen who can support the industry, economy, military, etc. of the Tang Dynasty! Pure elite craftsmen who can make the Tang Dynasty far ahead of other countries in all industries!
Li Hong believed that Yuwen Rong and Liang Xiaoren could solve this problem completely independently, but obviously, Yan Liben did not think so.
Yan Liben stroked his gray beard, thought for a while and said, "Your Highness, please forgive me for what I said, but I'm afraid this method is difficult to implement. Before I asked you to come here, I called the Hongwen Academy and the Imperial College, and even the Japanese students who were stranded in the Tang Dynasty, and I looked at them all. No one could come up with an effective method. Could it be that your Chongwen Academy..."
"You'll know after you try it. By the way, Lord Yan, how about this? If my students put it up, I know that Duke Wei Zheng of Zheng lost the Goose Swapping Post to you. How about you bet with me using the Goose Swapping Post?"
Yan Liben was horrified, his beard trembling as he stepped back several steps in shock, trembling and saying, "How did the prince know that the Huangting Sutra was in my hands?"
This has always been a secret. I made a bet with Wei Zheng and after Wei Zheng lost, I followed my brother Yan Lide's advice and asked for Wang Xizhi's handwritten "Huangting Jing". I have never mentioned this to anyone before. Now that the prince asked me about it, I was naturally shocked.
"The historian said so." Li Hong said calmly, "Others may not know, but that doesn't mean I don't know. Some of the historians from my grandfather's time are still around. I chat with them when I have nothing to do, so I know. It's very simple."
Yan Liben looked at Li Hong's harmless eyes and felt uneasy. But he looked at the project that was about to be postponed, sighed, gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, I'll make a bet with you, but what if you lose?"
"Do you know who has Wang Xizhi's "Lanting Preface"? " Li Hong threw out a big bait.
Yan Liben said in disbelief: "Impossible, that is something the late emperor treasured. I'm afraid even Your Majesty has never seen the original, so how can you own it?"
"Now that the Emperor is gone, who do you think this thing should be left to? Shouldn't it be given to my father? Do you remember the bet my father made with me in the Linhu Palace?" Li Hong asked, blinking his bright eyes.
"Of course I remember. Your Majesty did lose that time, and you also made better glass for the Tang Dynasty, which is now used in the Daming Palace. Could it be that the stakes you bet with Your Majesty were..." Yan Liben's eyes began to become hot and sparkling, without any sign of old age at all.
Yan Liben was skilled in crafts, calligraphy and painting, and knew architecture. What is most well-known about his work is "The Procession of Emperor Taizong to Meet Princess Wencheng", which is now collected in the Taiji Palace. The painting was created in the 15th year of Zhenguan and depicts the scene when Emperor Taizong met Lu Dongzan, the Tibetan envoy who was going to marry Princess Wencheng.
The bait thrown by Li Hong had a huge magical power over Yan Liben, who regarded calligraphy and painting as his life. Without saying a word, he made an agreement with Li Hong that whoever lost would give up his collection.
The two of them laughed, as if they had seen each other's treasures and had already gone into their own pockets.
Liang Xiaoren and Yuwen Rong came quickly, both with a hint of nervousness and excitement. After paying their respects to Li Hong, Li Hong pointed at the huge tree and said, "Put it on the beam. If you can't put it on, take the sign and stand outside Jiafu Gate for seven days."
"Ah?" They were both shocked when they heard Li Hong's punishment. Standing for seven days? How could they face people in the future?
"And this small stone under your feet, move it up the stairs. Since you know the serious consequences if you fail to do it, I will give you three days. If you can do it, everything will be fine. If you can't, seven days will only be the beginning of the punishment." Li Hong warned calmly and relaxedly.
Yan Liben looked at the two men's frightened expressions and thought that they had no way to deal with the difficulties before them, so he joked, "Your Highness the Crown Prince has made a bet with me. If you can't do it, Your Highness will lose a very important treasure to me, so you'd better do your best."
After Li Hong finished speaking, Yuwen Rong and Liang Xiaoren began to stare at the huge wooden pillar in front of them. They had listened to Yan Liben's words to some extent. They only knew that the prince had made a bet with someone else. They didn't care about the bet. What they cared about was how the prince would punish them if he lost!
"Okay, Your Highness, two days. Just give me two days and I guarantee I can do it!" Yuwen Rong obviously already had an idea in his mind.
"Ah...? Can you put such a huge tree up intact?" Upon hearing the two students' words, Yan Liben's vision went dark and he nearly fainted.
How is this possible? This is a difficult problem that has troubled the great scholars and talented people in the Imperial College, the Hongwenguan and other great schools, but two teenagers who are no more than fifteen or sixteen dare to make such a solemn guarantee!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
