Volume 1 Princess Taiping Grows Up Chapter 90: The Four-Wheeled Carriage
What Li Yuechen didn't know was that after she left Renshou Hall, Li Zhi took the glasses she had given him and looked at them carefully over and over again.
From time to time, he would reach out and touch it gently, as if he was holding a beloved treasure.
Wu Zetian, who was standing next to him, looked at him and shook her head gently: "Your Majesty, instead of fiddling with your glasses, why don't you sit down and listen to the government affairs?"
"Just you say it, I'm listening." Li Zhi agreed without turning his head, looking around with his glasses in his hand.
After hearing such an answer and looking at his expression, Wu Zetian opened her mouth but ultimately said nothing.
After returning to Anfu Temple, Li Yuechen continued to read and write. The business in the store was good recently, so she didn't have to worry too much. She just needed to listen to the account reports occasionally.
He didn't even have to listen to the accounts himself, as he handed them directly to Princess Xuancheng.
Princess Xuancheng now tries to calculate things she sees in life every day. Although she cannot calculate most of them, she seems to enjoy it.
Li Yuechen was also bored, so he took her to play sandbox war chess simulation.
At the beginning, Princess Xuancheng was indeed very weak, but by the beginning of June, she was able to fight Li Yuechen back and forth.
Such ability surprised Li Yuechen.
You know, this Princess Xuancheng has never read any military books!
Now, all the skills she had learned on the sand table were basically learned from Li Yuechen. Unexpectedly, she could apply what she had learned to other situations and fight with her back and forth.
“Tsk tsk tsk…”
After finishing another round, Li Yuechen shook his head regretfully while sorting out the chess pieces, muttering to himself in a low voice: "With this talent, maybe he can really be put in the army as a staff officer."
"What did Chen'er say?" Princess Xuancheng raised her head. "The voice was too soft, so I couldn't hear it clearly."
Li Yuechen put the chess pieces away: "I mean, sister, when you have nothing to do on weekdays, you should also read some military books."
"I don't have to go into battle to kill the enemy, so why should I watch those things?" Princess Xuancheng said with a smile.
"Sister, there is no point in wasting time. Anyway, there is nothing to do in this palace every day, so why not take a look?"
Hearing her say this, Princess Xuancheng nodded: "Okay, then let's do as Chen'er says!"
Although Li Yuechen's military book was given by Liu Rengui, there are many other military books in the palace.
But considering the ethical issues of that era, Li Yuechen still brought it up when she came to Liu Rengui's house the next day.
"I want to show my sister the military book that my master gave me."
Liu Rengui said he didn't care: "I taught you the skills, so you can do whatever you want with them."
"Hehe, thank you, Master!"
Seeing Liu Rengui being so magnanimous, Li Yuechen was grateful from the bottom of his heart.
People in this era take the issue of inheritance very seriously, and even many family heirlooms are passed down to males rather than females.
It is absolutely impossible to teach your family's skills to outsiders easily.
Not to mention that Liu Rengui is different from the royal family.
To put it bluntly, the royal family has Xianbei ancestry after all, and they are heavily influenced by the Hu culture, so they do not have as serious views on men and women as the Han people.
There are many examples of women being the head of the household, or even serving as patriarchs.
The fact that Liu Rengui agreed to this matter also shows that he really likes this disciple.
…
Once June arrived, both the royal family and the ministers began to become busy.
After all, Li Zhi's birthday is in half a month. The ministers will be busy presenting gifts, and the royal family will also have to prepare a banquet and so on.
Li Yuechen spent almost every afternoon in the workshop, participating in the final manufacturing of the carriage with the workers.
The wooden body has been completely glued together with the animal skin accordion panels and fixed to the frame.
We tried it out by having the car pulled by two horses. When turning, the car body would bend as well, pulling apart and merging at the same time.
Seeing this scene, Li Yuechen nodded and couldn't help but smile.
Fu Lai was very excited: "Your Highness, it's done, it's done..."
"Well, it's done." Li Yuechen nodded, "The next step is the final finishing touch."
The seats inside the car body have been installed and can be rotated 90 degrees, allowing the whole family to face the front at the same time, and they can also turn around to form a meeting room structure.
All the seats are covered with fine leather and filled with cotton and wool. They are soft and very comfortable.
There was no time to do the carvings and decorations on the car, so some simple patterns were just painted on it temporarily.
Dozens of craftsmen lifted the heavy body of the vehicle and connected it to the frame.
When all the slots are aligned and lowered, and then bolted together, the four-wheeled carriage is basically completed.
In the next few days, we just need to assemble some parts of the front part of the frame and everything will be done.
…
As time is getting shorter and shorter, the craftsman supervisor is also working intensively.
Finally, on the afternoon of June 13, all the processes were completed and this brand new four-wheeled carriage appeared in the yard outside the Master Craftsmen's Office.
The carriage was pulled by eight horses in a double row, and was simply coated with a layer of wax and painted with some patterns.
The four wheels are on both sides, with a total of ten seats on the carriage. There are two seats at the front that are not counted as seats and are reserved for the coachman.
There is a round plate made of wood and iron in front of the car body, so there is no need to worry about people on it being squeezed even if the car body twists.
"Someone who can drive, come up and try it!"
As he spoke, Li Yuechen grabbed the edge of the frame and jumped on it with a somersault.
Then he turned around and waved to Fu Lai: "Why are you still standing there? Come up!"
"Your Highness..." Fulai took two steps back. "How can we go up to the Saint?"
"Uh..." Li Yuechen curled her lips and forgot about it for a moment.
After all, this carriage was made for the emperor. It didn't matter if people stood on it before the body was installed. But now that the body has been installed, not everyone can get on it.
After thinking about it, Li Yuechen nodded: "Then send someone to inform my parents, my brothers and sisters, and let them come and try."
“Yes!”
Fulai agreed and ran out to notify them.
Li Yuechen could only sit on the edge of the bicycle frame, swinging his legs in boredom, drinking the yogurt handed to him by the Supervisor, and waiting.
…
Over at the Renshou Hall, Li Zhi heard that the four-wheeled carriage made by his daughter was successful, so he brought Wu Zetian over.
Since the distance was very short, it only took ten minutes to get there.
Seeing the two people coming, the supervisor and the craftsmen hurriedly saluted to greet them. Li Zhi's eyes had long been attracted by the carriage. He waved his hand casually and came to the front of the carriage.
Li Yuechen came over with a smile: "Look, Mom and Dad, how about this carriage?"
The couple took a good look at it, and Li Zhi nodded: "It looks only slightly larger than my carriage, but I didn't expect it to be so spacious!"
Wu Zetian also nodded: "Yes, it does look a bit magical."
Li Yuechen smiled and said, "The previous frame was too complicated and took up too much space, so it looked big."
Then he waved his hand, and Fulai took out a piece of wood from under the driver's seat with great tact.
Looking closely, it turned out to be five steps, inserted under the driver's seat like building blocks.
This step is hollow and very light, so one person can easily lift it.
After setting up the steps, Li Yuechen took the two people's hands and got into the car, letting them sit in the back seats.
As soon as I sat down, I felt soft under my butt and on my back, which was very comfortable.
Li Zhi twisted his body left and right, and couldn't help but nodded with a smile: "Great, this bike frame is really comfortable to sit on!"
"That's not all!" Li Yuechen smiled, stretched out his hand, passed between the two of them, grabbed the handle behind him and pulled it.
A piece of bright yellow silk was pulled out from the gap in the frame behind, and the nails on both sides that had been glued together were also pulled up, forming a canopy that completely covered the two people.
"This way, grandpa and mom don't have to worry about being overexposed to the sun even in summer." Li Yuechen said with a smile.
Li Zhi looked around and couldn't help but nodded: "Okay, okay!"
Judging from the smile on his face, he was obviously surprised and delighted by the carriage.
After a while, several children came over. Before they had time to express their admiration for the carriage, they were pulled into the carriage by Li Yuechen.
After everyone sat down, Li Yuechen waved to the Qianniu Guards beside the carriage and said, "Go and drive the carriage. Let's try!"
Qianniuwei turned his head to look at Li Zhi, and after seeing him nod, he agreed, sat in the coachman's seat, and drove slowly forward.
When the carriage started moving, Li Zhi was slightly stunned: "Huh? It seems that I can't feel the bumps at all!"
"Yes." Li Hong also felt curious, "Yuechen, why is this four-wheeled vehicle so bumpy?"
"It's not that four-wheel vehicles have less bumps, but because of the shock absorbers." Li Yuechen roughly explained what the shock absorbers are.
Li Zhi and others all had an expression that said "I don't understand, but I'm greatly shocked."
After leaving the lecture hall, the carriage started to move inside the imperial city. After a while, the Qianniu Guard in front turned his head and said, "Saint, hold on tight, we are about to turn."
"It's okay, just turn yours!" Li Yuechen waved his hand.
The carriage began to turn, and Li Zhi saw that the front of the carriage was clearly turning to the side.
The accordion leaves on the left are squeezed, while those on the right are pulled apart.
The disc on the bottom plate of the car body seemed to rotate, and the car body was instantly split into two halves and twisted to the left.
When the turn is completed, the car body returns to the straight position and the accordion leaves on both sides return to their original shape.
The whole process was extremely smooth and the people sitting in the car did not feel any awkwardness at all.
Li Zhi opened his eyes wide when he saw this scene: "Amazing!"
"hey-hey!"
Li Yuechen looked very pleased with himself: "How is it?"
Not to mention Li Zhi, Li Hong and others were also surprised.
It cannot be said that this carriage is completely free of bumps, but the impact is not great and will not cause any pain in the buttocks.
For a moment, they couldn't help but observe it, and Li Xian even leaned his upper body out to see the structure below.
As a result, Li Hong caught him back and said, "Nonsense! It will be very dangerous if you fall down."
"Don't worry, brother. No one will die from the fall at this speed!" Li Yuechen said with a smile.
Is this a question of whether it can kill someone? Li Hong didn't know how to complain for a moment.
"good!"
Wu Zetian could not help but praise it: "If this carriage is slightly modified, it can be used as a new imperial carriage."
"Well, it's indeed much more comfortable than those two-wheeled vehicles." Li Zhi also nodded in agreement.
Li Yuechen said: "In fact, the floor in the imperial city is flat, so drinking tea in this car won't be a big problem."
Li Zhi nodded, then turned his head and looked at Wu Zetian, and they saw the relief in each other's eyes.
This daughter really has a brilliant idea. Although it is just a carriage, this is a problem that no one has solved since ancient times.
But now, the problem was easily solved by their little daughter, which made the two of them recognize her intelligence even more highly.
When the carriage returned to the Craftsmen's Office, Li Zhi couldn't help but pat the carriage frame after getting off the carriage, nodded and said, "Good! Those who are responsible for the production this time will all be rewarded!"
The craftsmen were overjoyed and bowed: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for the reward!"
The Supervisor did not forget to flatter Li Yuechen: "Your Majesty, you are too kind. This carriage was designed and supervised by Her Royal Highness the Princess. We are just helping out."
"Um!"
Li Zhi nodded, looking happy, and turned to wave to the children: "You don't have to go back today, let's have dinner together in Renshou Hall."
The children nodded in agreement.
…
Two days passed in a blink of an eye, and it was June 15th, Li Zhi's birthday.
This day should have been a holiday, but all civil and military officials brought gifts into the palace to present treasures to the emperor.
The emperor also gave out many gifts, and the prime minister and officials from the three provinces and six ministries were basically given a magnifying glass.
Although this novel gadget has been manufactured for some time, the news has been kept secret and has not been leaked.
Although Liu Rengui and others had seen telescopes, this was the first time they had seen it. They were all surprised for a moment, and even couldn't help but wonder why the Tang Dynasty had brought so many transparent colored glass.
Li Zhi also told them in the court that this was invented by the princess, as an advertisement for her future glass factory.
Naturally, all the ministers took the opportunity to praise the princess, and each of them said something nice about her.
Li Zhi, sitting on the dragon throne, listened to the compliments of his ministers with a smile on his face, but in his heart he was thinking about what it would be like when he let them know that the princess had increased grain production.
I'm afraid by then it won't just be praise, but surprise.
After all, grain production is related to the country's foundation, and dropping such a bombshell should cause a huge discussion.
Those people in the Ministry of Revenue who are responsible for helping are currently being placed in the palace and have not leaked the news.
When the actual harvest came, Li Zhi really wanted to see the expressions on these people's faces.
Anyway, that day is not far away, and the results will be available in half a month at most.
Behind the screen in the side passage, Li Yuechen leaned against the wall, listening to the ministers' praises, and couldn't help but smile.
Looking up at Li Zhi on the dragon throne and Wu Zetian behind the pearl curtain, Li Yuechen could not help but nodded.
Now the couple should know how important they are, right? At least in the short term, they should not think about marrying themselves off!
