My cultivation disguise has been exposed by Xiao Sizi.

A cold wind was howling in the backyard.

Lu Dongzan stood under the moon gate, half of his body still in a forward-leaning posture.

He stared intently at Sangza, who was sitting on the stone slab and wailing, feeling as if hundreds of dull knives were scraping back and forth in his mind.

He knew Sanza's abilities better than anyone else.

On the snowy plateau, this five-year-old could pin a newborn calf to the ground and make it roll around. An ordinary, strong adult man wouldn't be able to subdue this wolf cub without real strength.

But now?

Lu Dongzan stiffly turned his neck, his gaze falling on the little Tang Dynasty girl next to him, who was wearing a pink padded jacket and whose height barely reached Sangzha's chin.

The little girl was rubbing her hands, looking a bit lost, with a hint of innocence in her big eyes.

"The Prime Minister..."

Sangza sobbed as she looked up, her face bruised and battered.

He pointed a trembling finger at the little ox and, in Tibetan, incoherently recounted his miserable experience of flying twice in the sky.

Lu Dongzan understood.

Because he understood, his pupils, deep in his eye sockets, instantly shrank to the size of a pinhead.

Was he thrown out like a sack of potatoes?

Was he taken by a young girl from the Tang Dynasty who hadn't even finished growing her baby teeth?

A bone-chilling coldness shot from the soles of Lu Dongzan's feet straight to the back of his head. In the blink of an eye, his wool jacket was soaked with cold sweat.

He slowly turned his head and looked down the corridor.

monster.

This family is full of monsters in human skin!

Lu Dongzan felt his mouth and tongue were dry.

If even a nursing princess of the Tang Dynasty possessed such superhuman strength, how deep must the Tang Dynasty's true strength have been if the two armies were to clash?

We must not be enemies! We must absolutely not be enemies!

"His Royal Highness the King of Qin."

Lu Dongzan took two quick steps, not even bothering to help Sangza, and directly crossed his hands in front of his chest, bending deeply at the waist, his forehead almost touching his knees.

"The Tibetans' teachings have been inadequate, causing distress to Your Highness and the Princess. Your Majesty, I will certainly prepare a generous gift and personally deliver it to you tomorrow to apologize!"

Li Chen threw the fire tongs back next to the stove and patted the dust off his hands.

"Alright, take your child back now."

Li Chen yawned and waved casually.

"Keep a close eye on them in the future. The flowers and plants in my yard are quite delicate. If they get damaged, Da Xiang's family probably can't afford to pay for them."

Lu Dongzan felt as if he had been granted a general amnesty.

He grabbed Sangza, who was still sobbing, like a chick, and fled from the Qin Prince's mansion without looking back.

That frantic figure looked as if a man-eating beast was chasing him.

……

Winter goes and spring comes, the snow melts away.

On the banks of the Wei River outside Chang'an City, weeping willows sprout tender green buds.

Spring plowing is the most important event of the year in a major agricultural country.

In previous years, at this time, the Tang emperor would lead his officials to the Jitian field outside the city to personally perform the ceremony of plowing the fields, in order to show his emphasis on agriculture and the foundation of the nation.

The area around Jitian this year is even more lively than in previous years.

Not only were all the civil and military officials present, but even the envoys from various countries who had not yet left Chang'an were specially invited to attend the ceremony.

Along the edge of the field.

Cui Ming, the head manager of the Cui family in Qinghe, led a group of men in blue robes to set up a long row of sunshades early in the morning.

Several officials from the Lu family of Fanyang and the Cui family of Boling stood at the other end, watching the Cui family's obsequious manner, and snorted coldly.

"Have you heard? The Prince of Wei is going to show the Emperor some new farming tools today."

"Hmph, just trying to attract attention. The design of that iron plow has been fixed since the Han Dynasty. What kind of innovation could a prince who has never worked in the fields possibly come up with?"

Several powerful officials lowered their voices, their words filled with contempt as they waited to see the spectacle unfold.

On the other side of the crowd.

Gar Tongtsen, wearing a thin long robe, stood at the front of the Tibetan delegation.

During his months in Chang'an, he witnessed firsthand how that thing called "honeycomb briquette" pulled the poor people of the entire Tang Dynasty back from the brink of freezing to death.

At that moment, his sharp eyes were fixed on the center of the field.

"His Majesty has arrived!"

Under the yellow parasol, Li Shimin, dressed in coarse peasant clothes with his trousers rolled up, trudged into the muddy spring field.

Beside him, Prince Li Tai of Wei was also dressed in short clothes, leading an old yellow ox.

Behind the cow, a strangely shaped wooden farm tool was being dragged along.

The originally long and straight plowshare had been transformed into a graceful arc. A wooden disc that could rotate flexibly was added at the very front. The plowshare itself gleamed with a dark, refined iron luster.

There were no two oxen side by side, nor were there two strong men pressing down the plow from behind.

There was only a yellow ox that looked rather old, plus a chubby prince.

"Blue Sparrow, let's begin."

Li Shimin stood on the edge of the field, hands on his hips, looking at the strange plow.

Li Tai grinned, revealing a set of white teeth.

He walked to the back of the curved plow, gripped the wooden handles with both hands, and shouted at the old ox in front.

With a gentle flick of his wrist, he swung the bamboo stick.

The old ox snorted and started walking.

"laugh--"

The dark, fine iron plowshare cut into the hardened soil, which had been compacted all winter, as easily as cutting tofu.

The black, oily soil rolled outwards like waves along the plowshare.

Li Tai didn't even use much force to press down on the handrail; he simply followed behind the old ox, walking leisurely.

We reached the end of the field.

With a slight flick of his wrist, Li Tai used the rotating wooden disc to make the plow draw a tiny semicircle on the spot, instantly turning it around.

The whole process was as smooth as flowing water, so fast it was dazzling.

The assembled civil and military officials instantly erupted in uproar.

Those aristocratic officials who were just waiting to see the joke were now craning their necks, their eyes almost bulging out of their sockets.

"How...how can this turn be so easy?!"

"Just one cow? It's turning the soil more than twice as fast as it usually does with two cows!"

The Minister of Revenue was so excited that he didn't even bother to straighten his crooked official hat. He rushed into the muddy ground, grabbed a handful of freshly turned soil, and his fingers trembled.

Lu Dongzan, standing on the edge of the field, suddenly began to breathe heavily.

His Adam's apple bobbed up and down, his eyes fixed intently on the bent piece of wood in Li Tai's hand.

The land on the snowy plateau is even colder, harder, and more barren than that of the Tang Dynasty.

The serfs in Tibet were risking their lives to plow the land. If this plow could be brought back to Tibet, the grain yield on the plateau could at least double!

Food is the foundation of an army. Food is the foundation of national strength!

Lu Dongzan's hands were clenched into fists inside his sleeves, his nails digging into his palms.

He knew that the Tang Dynasty would never give away the blueprints for such a vital national instrument to a foreign country for nothing.