Tang Dynasty Little Godfather

Chapter 235 When something goes wrong, there must be a monster

It was early summer, and the weather was quite hot. Wang Xi, Wang Shuang, Li Jieman, Xue Jun, Linghu Baodi and the other boys were playing by the water with their shirts off. Huangfu Sengnian was also there, but he did not go into the water.

When they suddenly saw Li Longji and his group arrive, Linghu Baodi and the others were startled. Only Wang Xi and his fellow disciples' eyes flickered a few times.

"His Majesty?"

"Uncle?"

"Daddy?"

The boys, not even bothering to put on their clothes, rushed forward and bowed respectfully in a flustered manner.

You might even bump into the emperor while playing in the water here.

People were frightened.

Wang Maozhong scolded, "Put your clothes on quickly! What kind of behavior is this?"

Born into a humble background, he actually cared more about these details. If it were Wang Shouyi, he wouldn't care. Even if Wang Xi wasn't wearing clothes, he was still a member of the Wang family of Taiyuan.

Li Longji first stopped Wang Maozhong, then laughed and said, "It's good to put on some clothes so you don't catch a cold."

Both Wang Maozhong and Li Longji dressed their children, but for different reasons. Wang Maozhong did so because of his inferiority complex, while Li Longji did so out of concern, worried that Wang Maozhong might frighten them or that they might catch a cold.

Of course, the main reason was that my beloved nephew was also there.

After they were dressed, Li Longji asked again, "Que'er, what are you playing?"

Wang Xi replied, "Uncle, I am doing my studies."

People immediately laughed.

He lies without batting an eye, but he's a jackal-headed vulture, so it's understandable.

"Homework?"

Li Longji asked, "What kind of lessons?"

Wang Xi said, "It was a lesson about buoyancy. The teacher asked us to use buoyancy to make a small toy."

"This coursework is quite unusual."

Li Longji chuckled and asked again, "So what little toys did you make?"

"It's this birdwing plate."

Wang Xi suddenly bent down and picked up a large wooden frame. The frame was quite peculiar, with a wooden board on top, a small handrail on the board, and a device resembling a bird's wing below, all connected by a piece of wood.

Li Longji asked curiously, "What is this used for?"

Wang Xi said excitedly, "Uncle, you don't know this, but with this, we can walk on water."

"is it?"

Li Longji asked curiously, "Then why don't you take a walk and see?"

"Uncle, you'd better watch carefully!"

Wang Xi tossed his head and said, "Shuang-ge, Xiaoman, let's demonstrate it for His Majesty."

"it is good!"

Several young men immediately grabbed their bird wing boards, lined up on the shore, pushed their boards into the water, and leaped in.

thump! thump! thump!
Several sounds followed in succession.

Linghu Baodi and Li Jieman, the two fat men, were the first to fall into the water. Then Xue Jun, Dou E, and the others swayed a few times and also fell into the water one after another, blaming each other and even punching and kicking each other.

It's a rare opportunity to show my face in front of the emperor, and you bunch of noobs have ruined it.

Anyone who has played games knows that if you lose, it's always because the other person is bad.

"Ha ha!"

Seeing them all fall into the water and thrash around, Li Longji was amused and burst into laughter.

But then, he couldn't laugh anymore.

Li Tong, Cui Gu'er, Wang Xi, and Wang Shuang rode the wind and waves, cutting their way out, their little hips swaying as they sped along the river.

Not only Li Longji, but even Zhang Shuo and the others were dumbfounded. This was truly amazing!
Subsequently, Li Tong and Cui Gu'er also fell into the water, leaving only Wang Xi and Wang Shuang in the competition.

Wang Shuang suddenly turned and rushed towards Wang Xi, startling Wang Xi into jumping into the water.

A moment later, he surfaced from the water. "Brother Shuang, you're so despicable! You actually resorted to underhanded tactics."

Wang Shuang said, "Sorry, but we father and son have to steal the spotlight today."

"Hold!"

This birdwing board is actually a hydrofoil, which Wang Xi brought. However, since he made it himself, it took him a long time to get used to it. On the other hand, Wang Shuang, that young man, has an incredibly strong sense of balance. He learned how to use it in just one morning and is even more skilled than Wang Xi.

There's no way around it; no matter how strong you are, there will always be a Chinese person stronger than you.

Seeing that only Wang Shuang remained on the river, Wang Maozhong couldn't help but laugh and scold, "When will this kid be able to use this playful nature for studying?"

Li Longji quickly replied, "Isn't this what they're doing—learning?"

As he spoke, he rubbed his hands together and said, "They seem to be having a lot of fun, Your Majesty!"

Gao Lishi turned pale with fright and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, your health is of utmost importance. This is too dangerous."

Zhang said that they all hurriedly tried to persuade him.

This looks dangerous!

Li Longji coughed and said awkwardly, "I know, I know, I was just saying it casually, don't make such a fuss."

How can this not be a big deal?

If anything were to happen to you, it might be a great blessing for the country!
After Wang Xi and the others swam back, Li Longji hurriedly asked, "Que'er, quickly tell your uncle the reason why these bird wings allow you to walk on water."

Wang Xi said, "Uncle, it's actually quite simple. We've discovered that a ship experiences greater gravity when it's stationary than when it's gliding at high speed."

However, gravity is constant, and buoyancy is independent of motion. Therefore, we believe that the ship experiences an upward force while moving. After some experiments, we learned that this force is from the water flow, which we call lift.

This is actually aerodynamics, the principle of airplanes. It is the upward force generated by water pressure or air pressure difference, but that is too profound, so Wang Xi made up this explanation.

Modern physics is like a little girl who can be dressed up however one pleases, but then again, physics itself started from mistakes.

Even in later physics, much of what is said is not necessarily correct; it's just that we cannot prove it wrong for the time being.

Li Jie said, "We also plan to put this device on a small sailboat, so that we won't have to wiggle our butts."

Yu Qin exclaimed in surprise, "This thing can be used on a ship?"

"Of course, as long as it's fast enough," Li Jieman chuckled.

Li Longji couldn't help but exclaim, "The Taoist philosophy is truly astounding!"

Yu Qin glanced at Li Longji, feeling somewhat puzzled. Did Taoism even have this kind of thinking?
Many officials were also speechless.

It's just a small toy, why is it considered so amazing?

Zhang Shuo and Yuan Qianyao exchanged glances, seemingly sensing something unusual about the situation.

Li Longji chatted with Wang Xi for a while, then returned to the palace.

On the way back to the city, Zhang suddenly pulled Yuan Qianyao aside and whispered, "Do you think what happened today might be..."

Yuan Qianyao nodded and said, "I have the same idea. His Majesty obviously wants to promote this Taoist thought, but we need to prove first that this knowledge is really useful."

Zhang Shuo frowned: "Minister Liu is quite old and bedridden, which gives Wang Maozhong an opportunity."

Yuan Qianyao also thought of this. Something unusual must be going on. Li Longji had gone to such great lengths, so he must not have come to check on the ship. He asked, "I wonder how Minister Zhang plans to deal with this?"

Zhang said, "This matter cannot be taken lightly; we must proceed with caution to avoid making things worse."

Neither of them liked Wang Maozhong.

Back home, Zhang felt something was off about the whole thing. Was the buoyancy really that magical, or was it just a smokescreen to get Wang Maozhong appointed Minister of Works? This was mainly because he had already guessed Li Longji's purpose; if he deduced it from that perspective, the buoyancy seemed very strange.

As for himself, he had heard of buoyancy, but he had not associated it with shipbuilding, and no one except Wang Maozhong had made the connection.

Are all the geniuses in the court not as good as a horse steward?

Zhang said he really didn't believe it.

"Father is back!"

"Your son-in-law greets your father-in-law."

Just then, the children and sons-in-law all came into the hall to greet Zhang.

Zhang looked up at them, nodded, and suddenly remembered something, "Oh right, didn't Ling'er and the others go to Qingyun Temple for beauty treatments a few days ago?"

"Yes."

"Did you take Dai'er and Yun'er with you?"

"It's worth it."

Zhang Ji quickly explained, "It's because we have to bring it."

He was afraid that his father would be unhappy about this, thinking that he had not managed his education well and that he had to explain himself clearly.

However, Zhang said that it wasn't because of that. After thinking for a while, he said, "Call Dai'er and the others over. I have something to ask them."

"Yes."

Whether it was the son or the son-in-law, they were both somewhat apprehensive.

Their son is only six or seven years old. What could they possibly ask them if they were called here?

But they quickly summoned all of Zhang's beloved grandsons and granddaughters to the hall.

"Grandson pays his respects to his grandfather."

The children bowed to Zhang with endearing clumsiness.

Zhang smiled and nodded, saying, "I heard you went to Qingyun Temple with your mother a few days ago?"

"Ah."

Have you read "100,000 Whys"?

"some."

"So, what did you learn from this?"

The boys looked at each other in bewilderment.

Zhang laughed and said, "What? You're only interested in the fun and haven't learned anything from it?"

"But there are some."

The grandson Zhang Dai suddenly said, "I have learned about aerodynamics, which is about gravity and buoyancy."

Zhang said, "Really? Then tell Grandpa Weng about that buoyancy, what exactly is going on?"

Zhang Dai's small eyes darted around, and he said, "Grandpa, this kind of knowledge requires experimentation; you can't just talk about it."

His mother was Princess Ningqin, daughter of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (Li Longji).

The princess said, "You child, you clearly want to learn from Wuweizi."

Realizing his mother had seen through him, Zhang Dai lowered his head and dared not utter a sound.

"It doesn't matter."

Zhang chuckled and said, "Why don't you do an experiment for Grandpa to see?"

Zhang Dai immediately looked up and said happily, "Then we must prepare a heavy piece of wood and a large basin of water for our grandson."

"Row."

Zhang immediately ordered someone to find a piece of wood and a basin of water.

Zhang Dai picked up the piece of wood in his small hands and weighed it. "No, no, it needs to be heavier, preferably square."

Zhang said he would have someone bring over a heavier one.

After considering it a few more times, Zhang Dai decided that this was feasible.

Zhang Dai said, "Wang, this buoyancy is amazing. Gravity is downward, and buoyancy is upward. So as long as the buoyancy is greater than the gravity, things can float on the water."

As he spoke, he placed the piece of wood in his hand into the water, and it immediately sank. Zhang Dai asked, "Grandpa, do you know why this piece of wood sank?"

Zhang also smiled and said, "Because the weight of this wood is greater than its buoyancy."

"Correct!"

Zhang Dai said, "But as long as you understand buoyancy, you can make the wood float. Grandpa, could you give your grandson a knife?"

Zhang hurriedly said, "That won't be necessary. Just find someone, and you can direct them."

Zhang Dai seemed reluctant, saying, "Wuweizi was all made by himself."

The princess quickly replied, "I will listen to my grandfather."

Zhang Dai reluctantly uttered an "Oh".

Zhang Shuo also summoned a servant, and Zhang Dai directed the servant to cut the piece of wood in half, then tie it together with a cloth, and put it into the water, where it immediately floated.

“Old man, it’s the same piece of wood, so why is it floating now? Do you know why?” Zhang Dai asked with a chuckle.

Zhang stroked his beard and looked at his son and son-in-law.

Zheng Yi said, "I understand this principle, but I can't explain why."

Zhang Ji nodded awkwardly.

Zhang Shuo looked at Zhang Dai and asked, "Uncle doesn't know, why do you think it is?"

Zhang Dai chuckled and said, "It's very simple. The amount of buoyancy is related to the extent to which the wood is submerged in water. So, as long as you change the extent to which the wood is submerged in water, you can increase the amount of buoyancy the wood receives. It's that simple."

Simple?
This remark made the elders, including Zhang, feel slightly embarrassed.

This made Zhang feel a little doubtful. Could it be that the buoyancy was real?

The residence of Liu Zhirou, the Minister of Works, was located north of the East Gate. Liu Zhirou, who was already in his seventies, was suffering from a chronic illness and had been bedridden at home since the beginning of spring.

Liu Zhirou, who was being helped out by her son, coughed a few times and then bowed to Gao Lishi, who had come to visit, saying, "Please forgive me for being unwell and unable to come out to greet you."

Gao Lishi hurriedly replied, "How dare I? How dare I? I am here today on orders. If I have disturbed you, I hope Minister Liu will forgive me."

Liu Zhirou asked, "What are Your Majesty's instructions?"

Gao Lishi hurriedly explained, "It's like this: today, Wang Maozhong built a new type of cargo ship. His Majesty wanted to invite Minister Liu to go and take a look, but he heard that Minister Liu was bedridden and unable to go. Therefore, he sent me to bring some tonics to visit him."

Liu Zhirou's eyes flickered a few times before he said, "I am grateful for Your Majesty's concern, but unfortunately I am old and plagued by various illnesses. I am afraid I will no longer be able to serve Your Majesty."

Gao Lishi hurriedly said, "Minister Liu, please don't think like that. His Majesty also said that if needed, the imperial physician can come and take a look at you."

Liu Zhirou waved his hand and said, "Your Majesty is blessed with great fortune. I am unworthy of such praise. I know my own body best. No one can cure me."

After seeing this, Gao Lishi offered a few more words of comfort and then left.

As soon as he left, Liu Zhirou excitedly said, "Quickly, quickly, go and prepare the brush and ink."

His son asked, "What does Father need pen and ink for?"

Liu Zhirou said, "Of course, I will submit a petition to retire. His Majesty's inquiry this time is an implication that he will allow this old man to retire and give way to Wang Maozhong. Alas, I don't know if my frail body can survive until I can return to my hometown. Hurry up and make preparations, and give more instructions to people to pack their things immediately. After submitting the petition, we will set off immediately."

In ancient times, people always longed to return to their roots when they were about to die.

Liu Zhirou had been requesting to retire last year, but Li Longji had repeatedly tried to persuade him to stay. Now that the opportunity had come, he quickly made preparations.

(End of this chapter)