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

In May, clouds obscure the moon; in June, rain pelts the lamps.

In the blink of an eye, the winter wheat planted in northern China in the second half of last year has reached the time for a new harvest.

however.

Although the situation this year had been anticipated by the officials of Bingzhou, and they had taken precautions to prevent flooding under the orders of Crown Prince Li Chengqian.

however.

It was June, and the wheat ears, plump and ready for harvest, were now like willow branches being whipped by the rain, shrouded in a curtain of rain.

Trembling and swaying.

In the fields, the water in the previously dug drainage ditches was ankle-deep.

"Report!!!"

"Your Highness! The rain has stopped in Jinyang! Magistrate Zheng of Jinyang has organized the people and the city guards to seize the opportunity to harvest the crops!"

"Report!!!"

"Your Highness! Urgent report from Yanmen County! The water level is rising severely, approaching the warning line. The Yanmen Dam has opened its gates to release water!"

"Report!!!"

"Urgent report from Shang'an County! The county's dam is showing signs of collapse. To ensure the safety of the people, Magistrate Sun has forcibly relocated residents from three downstream villages to the county seat, opened granaries to provide relief, and organized local militia to harvest crops in the rain. The situation is urgent, and we hereby apologize to Your Highness!"

Inside a rain shelter, Li Chengqian's long hair was still damp, and his shoulders were soaked.

Upon hearing the messenger's report, he suddenly threw the confession in the messenger's hand onto the wet ground and stomped it into the mud.

Li Chengqian's eyes were filled with determination.

"Go back and tell your magistrate that the rain was too heavy and the riverbank breach was beyond his control, so he is not guilty! However, if the people of Shang'an County suffer as a result, I will be the first to cut off his head! Whether it's opening the granaries to relieve the people or relocating the people, his first priority is to protect the people!"

"Understand?!"

The messenger was startled and hurriedly bowed to accept the order.

Just as he was about to rush out of the awning in the rain, Wang De, who was standing at the door, stopped him and stuffed a silver ingot into his hand.

"You've worked hard. This is a reward from His Highness. The rain is heavy, but the safety of the people cannot wait. Please be careful on the road!"

Wang De's solemn words startled the messenger, who then turned and bowed respectfully to Crown Prince Li Chengqian, who was discussing something with several water affairs officials beside him.

Then, without looking back, he ran towards the stables not far away.

Someone over there has already changed his horse...

"Your Highness, this rain is unlikely to stop for the next two or three days. If all else fails, let's brave the rain and rush to harvest!" Wang Ming suggested with a worried expression.

Li Chengqian frowned.

Looking up at the outside of the awning, I saw that it had been raining for more than half a month.

The heavy rain turned into light rain, and the light rain turned into heavy rain, but the sky just wouldn't clear up.

He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

"Wait a little longer! Harvesting in the rain is a last resort. The rain shelters we have prepared, as well as those spontaneously prepared by the people, are simply not enough to dry so much wheat. If the wheat gets damp and sprouts or gets moldy, the losses will only be greater!"

His face was extremely pale, and this gloomy appearance had been there since dark clouds began to shroud Bingzhou, and even Hedong Road and Longyou Road, and had continued until now.

On the other side, in a secluded courtyard of the Imperial University of Taiyuan Prefecture.

Yuan Tiangang, with his gray-white eyes raised, had been looking up at the sky for two or three hours straight. If it weren't for the fact that he was occasionally muttering something that was hard to understand, he would have been even more impressive.

Princess Chang Le, Li Lizhi, standing to the side at this moment, probably wondered if her teacher had passed away like those bald monks...

"Master, master, please say something! When will this rain finally stop?"

Chang Le was losing patience.

Li Chunfeng, standing to the side, also frowned. He could predict some celestial phenomena, but the unusually long and intense rain was beyond his ability to deduce.

Everything was very strange, just like the vast Tang Dynasty being pulled into a vortex from which it was impossible to tell which way was which.

If you can't break free, you'll be destroyed.

Even if they manage to break free, they have no way of knowing where they will ultimately end up...

Yuan Tiangang remained silent.

however.

At this moment, however, a different scene was playing out in his mind.

"hold head high!!!"

The furious roar of the dragon echoed to the heavens.

The clouds and mist swirled and twisted, transforming into ferocious monsters that resembled dragons, tigers, wolves, and eagles.

They launched a frenzied attack on the majestic golden dragon that was coiled in the sky, baring its fangs and brandishing its claws.

The sea of ​​clouds was like a stormy sea, and the tsunami-like waves it stirred up instantly transformed into hordes of monsters that lunged at the golden dragon.

The golden dragon's eyes were like blazing stars in the sky, yet they also exuded a terrifying chill that could steal one's soul. With a wave of its sharp claws, it could instantly tear apart a swarm of small monsters.

however.

The gloomy sky seemed completely unaffected by the golden dragon's radiance.

The spreading clouds and mist gave rise to more and more ferocious monsters, which launched an attack on the golden dragon.

At this moment, Yuan Tiangang's physical senses were as if they were shut down. He could only watch helplessly as everything happened, unable to make any changes or have any impact on it.

It's like... this is the will of Heaven!

From the outside, the muscles around Yuan Tiangang's eyes seemed to twitch slightly, and his normally steady chest began to rise and fall inexplicably.

Is fate truly inescapable?!

Even a sage like the current crown prince, who is unlikely to exist in all of history, would find it difficult to defy this destiny.

Is it impossible to change the way of Heaven?

As the clouds grew increasingly rampant, the golden dragon was even threatened to be obscured and submerged, and the world was about to plunge into chaos and grayness once again.

"Ang~"

A dragon's roar, clearly far less powerful than the previous golden dragon's, suddenly came from beneath the deep clouds.

Yuan Tiangang's grayish-white pupils trembled violently at that moment.

It was as if something had broken free from the boundless gray fog, as if a hole had been smashed open.

A slender yet distinctly golden dragon with shimmering roots and an aura of natural majesty appeared at this very moment.

It had just let out a dragon's roar when, in the next second, it charged headlong into the cloud monster that surrounded the golden dragon.

Yuan Tiangang was still unaware of what was going on.

next second.

"Ang~"

"Ang~"

"cracking!!!"

The sounds of dragons roaring and phoenixes singing were like a volcano erupting from beneath the sea of ​​clouds. Golden light expanded and magnified beneath the gray, until it completely tore the wound into an unhealable abyss.

Golden dragons, baring their fangs and brandishing their claws, appeared like madmen or warriors, charging out and attacking the cloud monster as soon as they emerged.

Then, one after another, phoenixes that seemed to be carrying clouds took flight at this moment.

Yuan Tiangang was immediately shaken.

Such a terrifying and heaven-defying scene, passed down through the Taoist tradition for thousands of years, has probably never been witnessed by so many sages and virtuous people.

However, now, Yuan Tiangang is...

outside world.

Princess Chang Le waited for a long time, but the blind master did not give her an answer. Finally, she could not wait any longer.

"Hmph! If you're willing to sit here idly, then stay here!"

Li Lizhi snorted coldly, then suddenly called to the palace maids accompanying her, and headed towards Yangcheng Palace.

And at the same time.

Inside Yangcheng Palace, Princess Xiangcheng, Princess Nanping, Princess Suian, and more than a dozen other princesses from Yuzhang, Baling, Puan, Dongyang, Linchuan, Qinghe, Lanling, Jing'an, Ankang, Xinxing, Chengyang, and Gaoyang gathered together.

however.

In the past, when they got together, they would either watch plays or chat happily about interesting things about Taiyuan Prefecture, the Imperial University, or the First Official School.

Today, however, they all stood outside the palace, looking worriedly at the gloomy rain.

"Why is it still raining? Even in May and June, there's rain, but never this incessant..."

Princess Nanping's delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly.

Apart from Princess Xiangcheng, she was the oldest among them, and having also studied agriculture at the Imperial University, she was most aware of the extent to which such heavy rain would affect farming.

Princess Baling gripped the hem of Princess Suian's robe, looking extremely nervous.

"My fifth brother went to Jiangzhou, the area most severely affected by the disaster. I hope nothing bad has happened to him."

Perhaps it was because neither the Empress Dowager nor the Emperor were in Taiyuan.

The princes and princesses of the third generation of the Li family had very close sibling relationships; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that there was no distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children.

And that's exactly what happened, as the rain got heavier and heavier these days.

It started when his eldest brother, Crown Prince Li Chengqian, left Yangcheng Palace and could not return for days on end.

After that, Prince Li You of Chu, Prince Li Yun of Jiang, Prince Li Zhen of Yue, and even Prince Li Zhi of Jin, the youngest prince, were all busy outside trying to salvage the agricultural situation.

Just as everyone looked worried, Princess Xiangcheng frowned, hesitating whether to voice her thoughts.

From the direction of the palace gate in the distance, Princess Chang Le's carriage sped back.

I just got off the carriage.

With raindrops still clinging to her forehead, Li Lizhi looked at everyone and immediately spoke.

“I’m going to help my brother and the others to stabilize the people in various places. Eighth Prince is right. Even if we don’t have much agricultural expertise, as members of the royal family, as long as we can show the people that we stand up to support them during times of great disaster.”

"All difficulties will pass!"

As the eldest princess, and having gained experience and knowledge during her time in Taiyuan Prefecture, she...

The moment she opened her mouth, she instantly became the backbone of these princesses.

Gao Yang's eyes lit up; she had wanted to do this for a long time!

The first thing to do was to raise one's hand.

"Sister Chang Le, I'll go with you!"

Princess Chengyang hurriedly raised her hand, saying, "Me too! Me too!"

Princess Xiangcheng had this idea, but seeing that her youngest sisters, including Gaoyang, were also going, she couldn't help but feel a little worried.

Chang Le, however, made the decision at this crucial moment.

“Sister Xiangcheng, there are many of us, so let’s split into groups and each take a squad of guards. Gao Yang and I will be in one group, and Cheng Yang will follow you, Sister…”

Princess Nanping immediately chimed in, "Then I'll team up with Xinxing."

Princess Sui'an: "Ankang and I are in the same group..."

When all the princesses quickly decided to depart, their accompanying palace maids, though nervous, could only hurriedly bring over the princesses' clothes that the Empress and several concubines had previously sent.

Perhaps it's because it's been raining quite frequently in Chang'an lately.

In addition to a gorgeous and appropriate casual outfit, each princess also had a raincoat made of whale skin sent from Dengzhou, with auspicious patterns embroidered on it with fine gold thread.

At this moment, all the princesses were dressed neatly.

At first glance, it evokes a sense of inexplicable holiness and tranquility.

Even Li Chengqian, when he saw these sisters appear before him in this way, couldn't help but feel a moment of disorientation in his tired eyes.

Especially after hearing Chang Le's next sentence, Li Chengqian, and even the Taiyuan officials who were busy processing reports from various places in the rain shelter, couldn't help but open their mouths in astonishment.

"Brother, are there any places still severely affected by the disaster? We can go and comfort the people!"

at the same time.

The Taiyuan Prefecture First Machinery Manufacturing Plant, a factory under the jurisdiction of the Imperial University's School of Mechanical Engineering.

Li Yun took a deep breath, holding a booklet filled with a thick stack of information and data.

"start!"

As the steam boiler begins to heat up, the pointer on the steam gauge starts to move.

"Boom boom boom..."

The mechanical axles driven by the transmission device also began to rotate as the power was converted.

On the other side of that transmission device.

A thing with four or five huge, fan-like blades began to spin and turn along with the axle.

Gusts of wind swept in, howling and spreading as the fan blades turned.

The wind speed bag on the other side was inflated.

Li Yun looked excited, but tried to remain calm.

"Record the time! Record the wind force!"