Chang'an and Luoyang are the most important core cities of the Tang Empire, and there are seven or eight hundred miles between these two cities, which is a relatively long distance. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Every time the emperor went out to visit Luoyang, he had to spend half a month on the road, and it was more than a month to go back and forth, and the commercial transport convoy between the two cities also needed the same time to reach the destination.

The transportation volume of the carriage is very limited, and it takes half a month to travel a long distance, in order to guard against bandits and bandits, there must be a large number of guards along the way to protect, so that the cost of transportation is naturally expensive, and the price of goods naturally soars, which greatly increases the burden of ordinary people's lives.

If you want to change this situation, you must use a new mode of transportation, and the railway is the best mode of transportation, even if there are no trains for the time being, the horse-drawn carriage can be transformed on wheels and travel on the tracks, and the efficiency can be doubled, thereby reducing transportation costs and benefiting the people of the two cities of Chang'an and Luoyang.

Luoyang City in the Sui Dynasty, is the capital of the empire, Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty sent the people of the world, dug the world-famous Grand Canal, this Grand Canal is different from the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in later generations, but the starting point has not changed, but the middle position is in Luoyang intersection.

In this way, a large number of materials from the northeast and southeast of the empire could reach Luoyang City by water, which greatly reduced the pressure on land transportation and reduced the cost of transportation.

A poem by the Tang Dynasty poet Pi Rixiu is well written, 'The Sui Dynasty died as this river, and it has been a thousand miles to this day.' This poem affirms the great role of the Grand Canal in people's livelihood.

Of course, whether the real reason for the fall of the Sui Dynasty is not only the digging of the Grand Canal and the loss of national strength, but also related to comprehensive factors such as the three conquests of Goryeo and the struggle for power among the families, not just because of the digging of the Grand Canal, and after the founding of the Tang Dynasty, in order to show the rationality of replacing the Great Sui, it is natural to belittle Emperor Yang of Sui by a few points, so even if Emperor Yang of Sui digs the Grand Canal for the people's livelihood, it will be said to have become his own pleasure.

This is obviously a paradox, for example, some people say that the fall of the Great Qin Empire was because Qin Shi Huang built the Great Wall, which made the people complain, is it possible that the Great Wall was built for enjoyment, in order to stand on the Great Wall and see the scenery? Obviously, the Great Wall is to defend against the Xiongnu and is for national defense purposes, and the Grand Canal can only be used for the purpose of people's livelihood, and it is also natural for the emperor to inspect the construction of people's livelihood, but it was deliberately blackened.

Of course, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was so happy that he was a little too impatient to do things, ignoring the reality that the empire had just been established and the country was still unstable, and he was requisitioning the people to dig the Grand Canal, and he was transferring the army to conquer Goryeo three times, and he was spending a lot of money to build dragon boats, etc., which exhausted the national strength and made the people miserable, which led to the death of the country step by step.

If you don't go to Goryeo and just dig the Grand Canal, it is very likely that the Great Sui will be a different scenario.

History cannot assume that the Great Sui Dynasty is over, and now is the era of the Tang Empire, and the Tang Empire has been established for a hundred years, and the national strength is strong enough, coupled with the technology brought by Li Ang, it is fully capable of bearing the manpower, material and financial resources required to lay the rails.

After hearing this, Li Longji was overjoyed, and immediately ordered: "In the near future, Li Shilang can go to the front line of Luoyang City with everyone from the Ministry of Industry to inspect the road, and a month later, he will start paving the road to Luoyang City." ”

"We're in command."

Ang Lee ordered with the officials of the Ministry of Labor.

Since laying the railroad track is a great thing for the benefit of the country and the people, and Li Longji has already made up his mind, for this reason, naturally not a single minister raised any objections, and the new railway track project was successfully approved.

The next feast is to drink and enjoy singing and dancing, and compliment each other and talk about something pleasing to the people.

After it was late, Li An and the ministers were arranged to rest in the hot spring palace, while Li Longji took Yang Yuhuan to Huaqing Pool to bathe, take a hot bath and then sleep, which naturally felt much more comfortable than sleeping directly.

I don't know if it was a change of place, or what, Ang Lee couldn't sleep, so he could only lie on the bed and think about what to invent next.

The Tang Dynasty is now the first powerful country in the world, and no country has the ability to provoke the Tang Dynasty, but the Tang Army faces more opponents, and there are enemies in all directions, although after the railway is paved, the strategic mobility of the Tang Army will be greatly improved, but the use of backward cold weapons is still difficult to form an overwhelming advantage over the surrounding enemies, especially in a plateau country like Tubo, it is difficult to conquer with cold weapons, and the casualties on both sides will be very large.

The development of artillery seems to be on the agenda, after all, black powder has begun mass production, since there is black powder, of course, it is necessary to build artillery, so that the power of black powder can be better reflected on the battlefield, so that the enemy is terrified.

Regarding the casting of artillery, Li Ang still knows some common sense, as long as he tells the most basic idea to the relevant talents of the Ordnance Superintendent, it is completely possible to build a usable artillery, and Li An believes that he will be able to build it.

For a whole hour, Li Ang wrote down all kinds of knowledge about artillery, as well as drawings and technical parameters, on paper, and constantly revised them to ensure that the people in the ordnance supervisor could understand them.

After the middle of the night, Li An fell asleep sleepily.

On the morning of the second day, after breakfast, Li Longji and the ministers took five carriages again and returned to Daming Palace along another parallel track.

Because on the way here, he did not suffer from bumps, and took a hot spring last night, Li Longji's complexion looked very good, and Yang Yuhuan's complexion was even more ruddy, obviously, he was pampered by Li Longji last night.

After getting on the train, Li Longji compensated Yang Yuhuan for a while, and then walked to the second carriage and sat in the second half of the carriage.

"Call Li Shilang."

Li Longji ordered the will.

Soon, Li An walked in from the third carriage, in fact, there was no need to communicate, after all, the third carriage where Li Ang was and the second carriage where Li Longji was were only one step apart, and when Li Longji spoke, Li Ang heard it.

"What does Your Majesty command?"

Li An asked respectfully.

"Li Shilang, please take a seat!"

Li Longji waved his hand and motioned for Li An to sit down.

Seeing that Li Longji really let himself sit down, Li An was not polite, sat down directly, and waited for Li Longji's question.

"Hey, Li Shilang didn't seem to sleep well enough last night."

Seeing that Li An's eyes were bloodshot, Li Longji was slightly surprised.

"Your Majesty, Weichen was busy drawing pictures last night, and he said it late."

"Drawing? Li Shilang must be doing research again! I don't know what kind of good stuff it is? ”

Li Longji suddenly became interested.

"Artillery."

"Artillery? What is Artillery? ”

Li Longji was even more curious, and his eyes were full of anticipation.

"Your Majesty, this Weichen has also mentioned before, that is, to invent a thing that can throw a large round iron ball a thousand steps away, causing great damage to the enemy army."

Ang Lee immediately explained.

"Oh, if it can really be invented, it will definitely greatly enhance the strength of my Tang army, but can this kind of thing really be invented?"

Li Longji said happily, and at the same time, there were still some doubts in his heart.

"Your Majesty, Wei Chen intends to use the thrust generated by the explosion of black powder to push the big iron ball to a thousand steps away, in addition, the big iron ball can be a solid iron bump, or a flowering bullet with black powder in the middle, as long as there is a bamboo knot-shaped metal cylinder, it can be launched."

Li An explained the basic principle of artillery softly.

"Artillery, it's good, Li Shilang can develop it as soon as possible, I don't know how I can help?"

Li Longji asked with a smile.

"Your Majesty, Weichen has made too many inventions, and there are still not enough manpower, so it is better to let the ordnance supervisor be responsible for the development! Wechen can provide guidance and assistance. ”

Li An fell in love with the people of the ordnance supervisor again, and wanted to pull some of them over to be responsible for research and development.

Li Longji thought for a moment, nodded and said: "Okay, Li Shilang's proposal is very good, I agreed, and let the people of the Ordnance Supervisor be responsible for the development, and I will transfer the best talents from the Ordnance Superintendent to the R&D Center, and in the future, these people will be handed over to Li Shilang for training." ”

"Your Majesty, rest assured, Weichen will not let you down, within a year, the artillery will definitely be successfully developed, and when the time comes, my Tang army will be able to run rampant all over the world."

Ang Lee said excitedly.

Subsequently, Li Longji asked some more questions about the railway line of the Hot Spring Palace, as well as questions about the miniature version of the carriage and the open-air carriage, and Li An'an answered them one by one, and the answers made Li Longji quite satisfied.

An hour later, the group arrived outside the Chongxuan Gate of Daming Palace, and a large group of people who had received the news in advance greeted them outside.

Li Longji and Yang Yuhuan, who sat on the chariot, returned to Daming Palace, while Li An went directly to the Ordnance Superintendent, took Li Longji's holy decree, asked for the best talents, and even some of the equipment of the Ordnance Superintendent was moved to the R&D center.

Under the existing technical conditions, it is not easy for the ordnance supervisor to be able to create such a fine weapon, and Li Ang admires this, but in the eyes of Li An's later generations, of course, he can find out some problems and find out some ways to improve them.

"This is Mingguang Armor! It's mighty. ”

Li An picked up a piece of Mingguang armor and looked at it for a long time, praised it, and took off the helmet on it.

"Li Shilang, this is the Mingguang armor that has just been made, and it is ready to be sent to Anxi."

The craftsman whispered.

"Well, it's very well done, do you know where the cover door of the Mingguang armor is?"

Ang Lee asked.

"Back to Li Shilang, it is the wrists and ankles, these places are inconvenient to cover the armor, so they are easy to be injured by the enemy's sword."

The craftsman spoke.

"No, even if these places are injured, they can only be minor injuries, at least they will not endanger their lives, but if the cheeks and eyes are hit by a sword, they will be seriously injured, or even their lives will not be guaranteed, this is the real cover door of the Mingguang Armor, and it is the most likely part to cause injury."

Ang Lee offered his opinion.

"Li Shilang, if the cheeks and eyes are wrapped in armor, the soldiers will not be able to see anything, how can they attack the enemy."

The craftsman was puzzled.

"What if you could make a helmet that covers your face and eyes?"

"If this can really be done, it will definitely greatly enhance the combat power of my Tang soldiers and horses, and make the enemy army change color when they hear the Tang army."

The craftsman said excitedly.

"Very good, what you said is very well, this official can invent such a mask, which can not only block the enemy's sword, but also see the enemy's face clearly, your skills are good, follow me! I'll take the command, and you'll make it. ”

Li An Zhengse said.

"Yes, Li Shilang, the villain understands."

Li An happily left the Ordnance Superintendent, took the technical talents he was satisfied with, went to the R&D center, and arranged a special place for these people, so that they could be responsible for the research and development of artillery, of course, including new helmets.

With the popularity of the medicinal jade mirror, Ang Lee has made a lot of money, and the funds on hand are more and more, and they are still growing, and after having money, it is more convenient for Ang Lee to develop various practical things.

Although the imperial court has established a research and development center in accordance with his requirements, Li An also retains his own personal research and development center, after all, Li An does not want to dedicate all the technology to the imperial court, and some technologies should be kept for himself.

As the weather continues to warm, the business of the solar stove is better, and Li Longji's small treasury is gradually enriched, in the past, in order to reward more finances to the concubines, Li Longji does not know how much cold eyes he has received from the ministers, but now, he only needs to allocate some money from the small treasury to buy reward items, and he no longer needs to look at the faces of those ministers, which makes Li Longji feel very good, and of course, he values Li An even more.

And Li Longji values Li An, which means that no one should use means to frame Li An, because Li Longji needs him, so he will do everything possible to protect him and let him continue to serve himself.

In his idle time, Ang Lee asked craftsmen to build a distillation crucible, which was of course used to make distilled spirits, and with the improper improvement of distillation technology, not only distilled spirits could be produced, but even alcohol could be produced, and alcohol could be used to disinfect and reduce the infection of injuries, which could be directly applied to the military field to reduce the proportion of casualties among soldiers.

Ang Lee's body is very good in this life, and for this reason, he still likes to drink very much, so he invented this liquor purification technology, but it was unintentionally spread, causing the princes and nobles to come to buy wine and drink, which made Ang Lee unexpectedly make a lot of money, and even started the name of the spirit, and even the name was called, called five steps down, which means that after drinking, you will fall down after walking five steps.

Good wine must be paid tribute to the emperor, which Ang Lee will not forget, after the fame spreads, he will pay tribute to a batch of spirits every few days as a royal wine, and it is completely free, without charging a penny from the palace.

"King Guangping, Shiro, you are stealing my wine again." (To be continued.) )