Tang Dynasty: Father, if you don't rebel, I will!

night.

Yangcheng Palace.

At several large round tables, Li Shimin, Li Chengqian, and their entire family finally sat together, a rare occasion.

During the banquet, Li Shimin, Li Chengqian, Empress Zhangsun, and several of Li Shimin's concubines sat at one table.

Princes Li You and Li Yin sat at a table.

On the other side were Princesses Chang Le and Princess Yu Zhang.

"Your Highness, let me offer you a toast. Regarding the matters concerning my maternal clan, I must thank Your Highness for your leniency..."

As the dishes were served, Consort Wei suddenly raised her cup with a solemn expression.

Before Li Chengqian could even react, he downed the rather strong Bingzhou Dao Fenjiu in his cup on the spot.

Li Shimin waved his hand.

"Oh dear, my beloved concubine, what are you doing? We're all family..."

Li Chengqian smiled faintly, raised his cup and said, "It's good that Your Highness doesn't blame me. The law of the land is such, and Wei Ting's crimes are too serious. There is no way that the Wei family of Jingzhao can get away unscathed."

Consort Wei's eyes were slightly red, but she nodded repeatedly upon hearing this.

"It's already quite good that we've managed to survive; at least we've saved our lives. It's all my cousin's fault for being so foolish..."

Empress Zhangsun reached out to comfort the other person.

Meanwhile, Consort Yin looked on with curiosity.

"Your Highness, what is that rubber tree? Is it important?"

Li Shimin also looked over, only to see Li Chengqian, who had just picked up his chopsticks, suddenly become serious and nod emphatically.

"Important! Comparable to the salt and iron of a nation!"

Upon hearing this, everyone, including Consort Wei, looked at him in disbelief.

If the rubber trees are truly that important, then the Wei family of Jingzhao only needs to do their best to manage these tree species and operate the rubber planting industry well for the Tang Dynasty.

Who knows, after the crown prince ascends the throne, he might one day return to the court...

Li Chengqian took a deep breath.

"Father must have heard about the mechanical engineering department at the Imperial University that recently created a huge machine, right?"

Li Shimin frowned: "You mean that coal-burning thing?"

Li Chengqian nodded.

"That's a steam engine, proposed by your son, a device that converts the force of steam pushing a mechanical piston into external mechanical force..."

Li Shimin, Empress Zhangsun, and the others all seemed to understand but not quite.

Having never seen a steam engine in person, they could only imagine a rough outline based on what they had seen and heard during this period.

Li Chengqian, however, only realized this after seeing how curious everyone was.

Suddenly, he waved to Wang De, who was standing to the side.

The latter soon returned from Li Chengqian's palace, carefully carrying a wooden ornament of a steam locomotive that would be easily recognized by later generations.

"Father, Mother, look! This is a major direction for the future use of the steam engine. Your son calls it a train!"

On two round tables to the side.

The princes and princesses shoveled food into their mouths, but their eyes also turned curiously in their direction.

Among them, Li Yun, who was most interested in machinery and, besides Li Chengqian, knew the most about steam engines, was the most serious.

Li Shimin played with the toy train that Li Chengqian handed him.

This wooden train consists of two parts: the locomotive and the rear carriages.

One locomotive and two carriages, all painted green as Li Chengqian had instructed.

Even the rails, levers, and axles below were made to look quite realistic thanks to the carpenter's superb skills.

Li Chengqian served his mother a piece of food and then invited everyone to eat.

He then addressed Emperor Li Shimin, who was curiously observing the object, with a solemn expression.

“Father, even though there are now very smooth and wide cement roads and some sections of expressways along the way from Taiyuan to Chang’an, it still takes at least two or three days to travel from Taiyuan to Chang’an by fast horse.”

"This is still for transmitting military intelligence by fast horse and fast report. If it were by carriage, it would take at least five or six days."

"If we load some heavier cargo, it might take half a month..."

Li Chengqian pointed to the object in his hand.

“But if we had this, with the power level of steam trains, all we would need to do is lay a single track from Taiyuan to Chang’an, I dare say.”

"One day! We can reach Chang'an in just one day!"

"What?!" everyone exclaimed.

Even Empress Zhangsun couldn't help but stare in astonishment at the little trinket that Li Shimin was holding in his hand.

His face was filled with disbelief.

Li Shimin was also speechless. As an emperor who rose from the ashes, geographical knowledge was practically ingrained in his mind.

"It's over a thousand miles from Chang'an to Taiyuan, and you can get there in a day?! Chengqian, are you kidding me?"

Li Chengqian gently shook his head, but then waved to the Seventh Prince, Prince Jiang, Li Yun, who was sitting at another table.

"Seventh brother, come and explain this to Father and the others..."

Sitting at this table, Wang, the biological mother of Jiang Wang, who had a very low profile, couldn't help but tense up.

She, who had always been a timid person, suddenly became nervous when she saw her son being mentioned.

however.

Back in Chang'an, Li Yun, who was timid and seemed the least promising among the princes, changed after hearing his elder brother's summons.

But he immediately put down his rice bowl.

He walked over with a confident and excited expression, and respectfully bowed to Emperor Li Shimin and Empress Zhangsun.

I took the model train from the other person.

"Father, Mother, what my elder brother, the Crown Prince, said is not untrue. I am currently studying at the Academy of Mechanical Engineering. Although my skills are still only superficial and I lack knowledge in many areas, the principles of the steam engine are not that difficult to understand..."

"A steam boiler burns coal, and the heat generated turns water into steam. The steam pushes a piston, which reciprocates within a cylinder. The crank-connecting rod mechanism of the transmission device, linked to the piston, then transfers the power to wheels or other machinery..."

Jiang, Wang, and Li Yun spoke eloquently.

Even though he would only be a junior high school student in later generations, he now enjoys an environment of royal elite education created by Li Chengqian.

But it changed his former timidity, and he seemed to have been reborn.

Li Shimin listened intently to the explanation of the principles, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

Empress Zhangsun and her concubines, who had already given up, looked at Prince Jiang in this state and nodded to themselves with satisfaction.

Consort Yin turned her head with some anticipation to look at her son, Li You.

Even the timid and cowardly prince Li Yun has become so outstanding.

What about his son, Li You, who has been wild since childhood and is truly fearless in the face of trouble?

Sitting at the very edge of the table, Madam Wang's eyes were brimming with tears as she looked at her son and then at Li Chengqian sitting there.

I couldn't help but feel grateful.

Consort Yang sat beside Empress Zhangsun and said with a soft laugh.

"It is a blessing for the Tang Dynasty to have such a wise and virtuous crown prince as His Highness, not only for the people of the world, but also for the princes like Yin'er and Yun'er. The Empress is the greatest contributor to the Tang Dynasty."

Empress Zhangsun smiled and gently patted her hand.

But it was on the other side.

Li Yun had basically finished speaking by this point.

“Father, so all we need to do is follow what my elder brother, the Crown Prince, said: lay a railway track on the road from Chang’an to Taiyuan, and let this steam train run on it. All we need to do is add coal and water to it, let alone just one or two carriages.”

"Even ten or eight can be delivered to Chang'an in a day, covering a thousand miles!"

After Li Yun finished speaking, he instinctively looked at his elder brother, the emperor.

But Crown Prince Li Chengqian smiled and nodded, his eyes filled with undisguised praise and encouragement.

"Indeed, Seventh Brother, you haven't disappointed your elder brother. You truly have a talent for mechanics. Study hard. The School of Mechanical Engineering has already started building steam locomotives, and you can participate in that as well. Learn and ask questions..."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Li Yun nodded excitedly.

At this moment, when he looked at his mother, Wang, his eyes couldn't help but redden slightly.

Li Shimin, however, was preoccupied with what Li Yun had said about the steam train that could travel 60 kilometers non-stop in an hour. If that were converted, wouldn't that be 120 li per hour?

More than two hundred li in an hour?

Taiyuan Prefecture is only a thousand miles from Chang'an, how could it really be possible to arrive in a day?

And what they said about the carrying capacity of the train carriages...

"hiss!!!"

Li Shimin suddenly looked up, and his gaze met that of his crown prince, whose eyes, now almost identical to his own, were filled with a fierce and aggressive intensity.

“Father, apart from the Jiangnan region, our Great Tang still uses the old weapons and armor. Now, the Guanzhong region, Bingzhou, Shandong, Longyou, Hebei and Henan have all completed the replacement of their weapons and armor.”

"Conquering the world is an easy task for our Great Tang Dynasty... What we need to do now is not only to conquer it, but also to hold it in our hands for a long time, and even to completely annex it!"

Li Chengqian smiled and tapped his finger on the model train in Li Shimin's hand.

"Father, if our Great Tang had a railway that extended directly to Goguryeo, the Western Turks, and places like Linyi, with such transportation capacity, who among the local natives would dare to rebel?"

"Who can rebel?"

Li Shimin took a deep breath: "Then, that rubber tree..."

"Rubber can be used to make many things. It's used in steam engines, as well as in medicine, weaponry, and many everyday items..."

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin pondered for a long time.

Suddenly, he turned to look at Consort Wei beside him.

"My beloved consort, write a letter to your relatives... If you can ensure that the Tang Dynasty has a sufficient supply of rubber for fifty years, I will pardon them!"

Li Shimin ate a few bites of dinner hastily, and as everyone finished their meal, they all left the table.

But suddenly he grabbed his own crown prince.

"Chengqian, tell me honestly, are you planning to beat someone?"

Li Shimin's eyes burned with a fierce fighting spirit.

"If you don't like someone, tell me, and I'll beat them up for you!"