My father, Li Shimin, please call me Crown Prince

Chapter 33 The Prince's Secret Weapon

East Palace, parade ground.

Li Chengqian held up a large stone lock in each hand and was exercising his strength.

The guards around were so shocked that their eyes widened.

This is the largest stone lock, weighing two stones.

One stone in the Tang Dynasty was equivalent to about 79 kilograms in later generations, or 158 jin.

A two-stone stone lock means it weighs three hundred kilograms.

At this moment, the prince held a stone lock in each hand. Such a scene was simply horrifying.

Li Chengqian did it on purpose.

He deliberately called all the guards to train, with a scale of about 500 people.

This is already the maximum number. Excluding the palace soldiers, the Eastern Palace has two thousand guards, including patrolling, standing guard, gatekeeping, etc.

There are only about 500 people who can be mobilized at any time.

Li Chengqian just wanted to perform in front of them.

After practicing for two quarters of an hour, he felt that he was about ready, so he asked Wen Zhong to bring the horse over.

With a push of one hand, he climbed onto the horse and no longer needed to climb the ladder.

Picking up a Mo Dao from the weapon rack, Li Chengqian began to practice riding and slashing.

The guards only saw the prince riding a horse with a Mo Dao flying in his hand, the wind whistling, running around the wooden stakes, and all the wooden stakes were cut in half.

If it was a person standing there, he would probably be cut in half like a wooden stake.

After finishing the Mo Dao, the next step is horse archery.

The Juquetian bow was hung on the horse, almost level with the ground. These two stone bows could be pulled open directly on the horse simply by relying on arm strength.

The targets eighty steps away were shot through one by one, making the guards feel cold all over.

They felt like little chickens in front of the prince.

If you rub it with a little force, your bones will be broken into pieces.

After practicing for more than half an hour, the white horse was even panting heavily. Li Chengqian finally ended his morning exercise.

Then go to the bedroom to take a bath and enjoy breakfast.

"Your Highness's prestige has now spread among the Sixteen Guards."

"Some people didn't believe it at first, but as more and more people saw it with their own eyes, no one doubted it anymore."

"I heard that two days ago, Duke Lu heard the rumors and went to see His Majesty, asking him to whip him with a horse whip just to improve his archery skills."

Li Chengqian was lying in the bathtub, and two palace maids were massaging him to clear his meridians.

The eunuch Wen Zhong reported the news from the palace to the prince.

Duke Lu is Cheng Yaojin.

"and then?"

Li Chengqian tilted his head slightly and glanced at Wen Zhong.

Has this guy learned to keep me in suspense now?

You dare to keep me in suspense today, and you dare to assassinate me tomorrow. You are so bold.

Wen Zhong sensed the prince's unfriendly gaze and quickly said, "After Duke Lu was whipped by your majesty, he immediately rushed to the training ground to practice archery."

"Seven out of ten arrows hit the bull's eye. Duke Lu was extremely happy."

"But when I went to practice archery at noon, I was back to the way I was before."

"Duke Lu said that it was because he was not your Majesty's son that the effect was so poor."

"I heard that Duke Lu suggested that the King of Wei should also be whipped a few times."

puff.

Li Chengqian was drinking milk with the help of a palace maid. When he heard this, he spat it out all over the tub.

"Okay, no need to wash, change your clothes."

Li Chengqian stood up, and the palace maids brought him a towel to wipe him and helped him get dressed.

After putting on his clothes, Li Chengqian waved his hand and asked all the palace maids to leave. Only he and Wen Zhong were left in the room.

"How's the situation in the ice cellar now?"

"A lot of ice has come out, about seven or eight stones."

Li Chengqian frowned slightly, the output was a bit too little.

The method of making ice with saltpeter is to wrap a small jar with a large jar. The large jar contains saltpeter, and the small jar contains boiled drinking water. The jar is then wrapped with cotton cloth to keep it warm, thus forming ice cubes.

One stone of saltpeter can only produce a few dozen kilograms of ice.

"How about Xiaoshi? How many are there now?"

"Thirty-two stones are still being purchased. Almost all the Xiao stones in Chang'an City have been sold out, and some merchants are taking the opportunity to raise the price."

Li Chengqian said: "It's not enough, keep buying, including the others."

"We also need to increase the purchase amount of stone yellow and charcoal."

"The price in Chang'an has gone up, so I'll go buy it in Luoyang. There are many Taoist temples in Luoyang, and there are also many of these things."

Wen Zhong hesitated and said, "Your Highness, the treasury expenditure has reached 360,000 coins in the past few days."

Li Chengqian asked: "Didn't His Majesty say that the restrictions on my treasury would be lifted? Could it be that the restrictions have been put back on again?"

Wen Zhong replied, "That's not the case. It's just that the treasury is over-expended. I heard that many censors are writing memorials to Your Majesty, impeaching Your Highness for his extravagance."

Li Chengqian sneered, "These imperial censors do nothing. You don't need to worry about them. Unless His Majesty issues an imperial decree to limit the expenditure of the treasury, you can continue to purchase them."

Saltpeter can be used to make ice, and more importantly, it can be used again after it is made.

Shiliuhuang was the name of sulfur in the Tang Dynasty.

There is no shortage of charcoal.

If Li Chengqian wanted to conquer Goryeo and achieve unprecedented feats, gunpowder was indispensable.

Cannons, matchlock guns, etc. are too expensive to make.

Li Chengqian planned to use a simpler method, explosive packs.

Tie the explosive pack to the crossbow and use it directly as a rocket.

As long as the equivalent is enough, the city gates will be blown away.

Moreover, this thing makes a loud enough noise to directly suppress the enemy's morale and create a deterrent effect.

In ancient times, sieges were extremely difficult. Often even ten times the number of troops was needed to capture a city. It was common for the city to take months or even years.

Goryeo was able to resist the Sui army because it relied on defending its cities.

There are 176 cities, big and small. Just imagine how troublesome it would be.

The root cause of the demise of the Sui Dynasty was the three expeditions to Goryeo, which consumed countless manpower and material resources, resulting in the emptiness of the rear area, the people's resentment, and the aristocratic families took the opportunity to revolt.

But now there are explosives, it's completely different.

Today's cities have no measures to prevent gunpowder, and with Li Chengqian's unparalleled archery skills, wouldn't it be a massacre?

We don’t need to bring much logistics, because our army’s food can be found in the enemy’s city.

"Yes, Your Highness."

In fact, the eunuch Wen Zhong wanted to advise him, after all, the money was too much and he was a little scared.

The Eastern Palace had never spent so much money in the past.

The main one is the censor.

The prince has finally regained some reputation. It would be a huge loss if that censor messed it up.

After all, Wen Zhong still hoped most that His Highness could ascend the throne. He also wanted to become a eunuch like Zhang Ananda, in charge of the imperial guards, which was a role model for all eunuchs.

The Central Plains during this period was different from the Little Ice Age in later generations. It was much hotter, which is why Goryeo was able to develop rapidly.

However, as October approaches, the summer heat subsides and the weather begins to turn cooler.

But Li Chengqian was not very worried about selling Su Shan. Would no one eat Su Shan when the weather got cold?
In fact, for ordinary people, and even most people, Sushan in winter is a seasonal product, while it is summer that is considered a luxury product.

At this moment in Chang'an City, six ice shops were ready and just needed to wait for the ice from the East Palace to be delivered so that they could open for business.

(End of this chapter)