novelden Chapter 2708 Buying a Carriage
Chapter 2708 Buying a Carriage
"Your Majesty, this wine is indeed better than the tribute wine we drank in the palace before."
"I wonder if Your Majesty could bestow upon me, Old Cheng, a few jars so that I may return and savor them carefully."
The conversation between Li Shimin and Li Shen was clearly heard by the people at the other tables, and Cheng Yaojin at the next table immediately stood up, bowed, and asked for it.
The others watched all this silently, waiting. As long as His Majesty agreed to give Cheng Yaojin, they, the old ministers who had served His Majesty, would also join in demanding it.
Your Majesty cannot be so biased, giving only Cheng Yaojin and not the others.
"Don't even think about it, I won't give it to you."
How could Li Shimin not know what these people were thinking?
In private, Li Shimin was quite easygoing with these people, treating them as equals and not being bothered by trivial matters.
After all, we used to eat and live together, inseparable, and friends in adversity.
They were comrades-in-arms, fought together, drank and revolted together.
Otherwise, Cheng Yaojin wouldn't have dared to so openly demand things.
However, Li Shimin was also very decisive.
"Your Majesty, how about two bottles? You see, this old minister has old wounds that often ache."
He usually relieved the pain by drinking alcohol, back in the day...
"What about your old wounds? If we're talking about old injuries, you can't possibly have as many as I do. I was wounded many times during the attack on Luoyang."
Even so, I have always stayed by Your Majesty's side.
Even if His Majesty were to bestow a reward, it would be for me last time; how could you possibly get one?
Cheng Yaojingang wanted to reminisce about the past, but Yuchi Jingde retorted and attacked Luoyang. Yuchi Jingde had saved Li Shimin twice.
Upon hearing Yuchi Jingde's words, Li Shimin's face immediately darkened, fearing that Yuchi Jingde would reveal that he had saved him.
Although it was true, the emperor was still concerned about his reputation, and fortunately, Yuchi Jingde was smart enough not to say it aloud.
"You two shut up. If we're talking about serious injuries, can yours be more serious than Shu Bao's? Shu Bao has many hidden injuries. If it weren't for Prince Ji, Shu Bao would have passed away many years ago."
You still have the nerve to compare yourselves?
Li Shimin reprimanded the two men, but Qin Qiong was the one with the most hidden injuries.
Li Shimin would send Qin Qiong to do many tasks that he couldn't complete. Every time, Qin Qiong would come back covered in wounds. His greatest skill was charging into battle, slaying generals and capturing flags.
After hearing this, the two smacked their lips twice, wanting to argue, but ultimately sat down dejectedly.
It must be admitted that Qin Qiong was indeed more capable than the other two, and his military achievements were also greater than theirs, which was something the other two could not match.
"Father, please reward your son with two jars," Li Tai shamelessly demanded.
"You get out too." Li Shimin said to Li Tai without any politeness, and Li Tai shut up sullenly.
But then she remembered Li Shen, turned to look at him, and was about to speak when Li Shen rolled his eyes and preemptively said:
"No."
Seeing Li Chengqian's gaze, he added, "One thousand strings of cash per jar," causing Li Chengqian to swallow back what he was about to say.
Next, everyone ate and chatted, saying some trivial things, mainly the old ministers and Li Shimin boasting to each other.
Li Shen ate meat bite by bite, and from time to time told the two younger brothers, Li Fu and Li Ming, to eat more, saying that it would be a waste not to eat.
After several rounds of drinks and dishes, the banquet was cleared away and replaced with a tea table.
Two maids served tea to everyone at each table.
Li Shen's table was served by his two personal maids, Chunxiang and Dongmei.
Everyone had just finished drinking wine and was now having a cup of hot tea, so they didn't feel cold even in this ice house.
Li Shimin took a sip of hot tea, leaned back comfortably in his chair, and thought, "This life is really quite nice."
Those literati and scholars often gathered with a few close friends to drink and chat, indulging in a life of pleasure and carefree living.
As Li Shen said, life is short, so seize the day.
"Your Majesty, I have something I wish to discuss with Prince Ji."
Just then, Tang Jian stood up, bowed, and said...
Li Shimin looked over:
"Oh? What do you want to discuss?"
Everyone else also looked at Tang Jian.
Tang Jian bowed to Li Shen:
"Your Highness Prince Ji, the imperial court plans to purchase four-wheeled carriages from Prince Ji's residence this year, but we wonder if the price can be reduced."
An ordinary carriage costs less than ten strings of cash, but the four-wheeled carriages of Prince Ji's mansion are too expensive. Manager Wang is asking for a thousand strings of cash per carriage. The imperial court needs many, at least a thousand carriages.
That's a million strings of cash!
"puff!"
This time, no one criticized him; Li Shen criticized himself. A thousand strings of cash for a carriage—Wang Hongfu really dared to ask for that much.
In the Tang Dynasty, an ordinary carriage cost around ten strings of cash, or even less.
Even considering the quality, the official carriages were only worth between fifteen and twenty strings of cash.
"Your Highness Prince Ji, this is..." Tang Jian could also see that Prince Ji was very surprised.
"It's alright, Minister Tang. I'm just curious. After all this time, shouldn't the court have been equipped with four-wheeled carriages by now?"
Why are you only starting to think about buying it this year?
Li Shen inquired, saying that his carriage had been developed for many years, and he remembered that his father had said he wanted to use this four-wheeled carriage.
"Your Highness Prince Ji, we did purchase some, but because it required a huge amount of money, the court discussed it for a long time and decided not to make a large-scale purchase."
The imperial court already had thousands of carriages, and some felt that purchasing more four-wheeled carriages would be wasteful.
Tang Jian turned around and scanned the crowd. Li Shen knew that there must be people who were against it.
Indeed, the imperial court already has many carriages, thousands of them, and buying more would certainly be considered wasteful by some.
"Then why are you buying in large quantities again this year?" Li Shen asked curiously.
“Because of the Western Expeditionary Army, because of the severe drought in Guanzhong, and because of the earthquake in Jinzhou,” Li Chengqian said.
Upon hearing Li Chengqian's words, Tang Jian then explained:
"Your Highness is right. The Western Expeditionary Army has conscripted 100,000 local laborers to transport grain and fodder. From the supplies that Prince Ji sent to Xizhou, we found that Prince Ji's army has a very strong transportation capacity."
All of this is related to this four-wheeled carriage.
There was also a severe drought in Guanzhong and an earthquake in Jinzhou. The imperial court needed to transport disaster relief grain, but the transportation costs were too high, and a lot of corvée labor was also conscripted.
According to our verification, the four-wheeled carriages of Prince Ji's residence can carry a load of about 4,000 catties, and only require three or four horses to pull them.
Our carriages weigh no more than 1,500 jin (750 kg) and cannot be used for long journeys, otherwise they will easily be damaged.
"Isn't that the same? Three horses pulling three carts weigh 4,500 jin, which is more than my cart."
Upon hearing the data provided by Tang Jian, Li Shenyi felt there was no difference, and it was even less effective than pulling a cart individually.
Li Shen's carriage was mainly sturdy and had a good load-bearing capacity, but it didn't save much effort.
According to the law of conservation of force, enough horses or oxen are still needed to pull the cart.
If it weren't for the bearing's load-bearing capacity, his car could easily carry 8,000 kilograms.
“No, Your Highness Prince Ji doesn’t calculate it that way. We can save a lot of manpower.” Tang Jian shook his head.
(Attend class:
Regarding the question about making soy sauce mentioned in the comments section.
The earliest recorded history of soy sauce dates back to the Zhou Dynasty, more than 3,000 years ago. Liquid soy sauce officially appeared during the Northern Wei Dynasty, with specific documented records.
Soy sauce was already in use during the Tang Dynasty, when it was called "jiangqing" or "chizhi". It was mainly used for cooking and medicine, and there is a clear record of it in the "Qianjin Fang" (Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold Pieces).
Li Bai and Du Fu also described it in their poems.
It became popular after the Song Dynasty, and was introduced to Japan by the monk Jianzhen who traveled eastward to Japan.
get out of class dismissed.