Chapter 190: Shooting Aye on the Beach (asking for monthly ticket)

According to the original plan, Li Xiang intended to build a wide road from Dengzhou to Chang'an.

If the steel production was not insufficient, a railway would have to be built. Even without a steam engine, using horses to pull the carriages should be enough.

Although steam locomotives are difficult to make, as the saying goes, as long as your mindset remains stable, there are always more solutions than problems.

In fact, as early as the 16th century, horses were widely used in tunnels and coal mines to haul goods.

In fact, in most mines established in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, horse-drawn railcars were the only mode of transportation.

Wooden tracks were used to service mines in Germany around 1550. Before the Industrial Revolution, horse-drawn carriages used wooden tracks until 1760, when iron-reinforced tracks appeared, and in 1767, iron tracks appeared.

The significant advantage of horse-drawn rail wagons was that they could move more freight using the same amount of power.

These are all tentative plans for the future. Before leaving, Li Xiang asked Feng Qing to prepare and build a temporary palace in Dengzhou City so that Old Li could come here to escape the summer heat and vacation when he had nothing to do.

In addition to Dengzhou, Li Xiang also planned to develop Lulong City, which is now Qinhuangdao.

To the south of Lulong City, there is a 4A-level scenic spot - Beidaihe.

To the north of Lulong City is the legendary Shanhaiguan, which is the one sold by Wu Sangui.

However, the Lulong City is not very developed nowadays, and Li Tai and Li Zhi have not yet developed that area.

The purpose of developing Lulong was to control Hebei Province, and then radiate to Liaodong Province, and further control the former Goguryeo and Baekje regions.

In history, after the Tang Dynasty conquered Goguryeo and Baekje, it was soon gradually eroded by Silla. This was certainly due to the fact that Li Zhi and Wu Meiniang were too weak, but this lesson must also be remembered.

When the convoy arrived in Chang'an, it was almost the New Year.

It has been more than a year since he left Chang'an City, but this capital of the Tang Dynasty has not changed much and is not much different from the Chang'an in Li Xiang's memory.

The city of Chang'an has not changed, but Li Xiang has changed a lot.

Besides being two years older, he is also over 1.7 meters tall.

Although he is sixteen years old this year, he is only fourteen years old in actual age.

The age of the people in the Tang Dynasty was calculated by adding two years to their age.

At this age, being 1.7 meters tall is already very rare.

It was noon when Li Xiang returned to the capital. After bidding farewell to his second uncle and youngest uncle, his first thing was to go to the East Palace to pay his respects to his parents.

The Eastern Palace had a new addition some time ago. Crown Princess Su Yi gave birth to a daughter, and Li Chengqian named her Li Xi.

Li Chengqian, who originally complained that his father was a daughter-slave, has now turned into a "daughter-slave" warrior and can't wait to be around his daughter every day.

In Lizheng Palace, Li Chengqian was teasing the giggling little Li Xi, but he didn't expect Li Jue to rush in from outside.

"Aye! Aye!"

Li Jue ran behind Li Chengqian with his teeth bared. Li Chengqian frowned and scolded him, "How can you be so rude!"

"Yeah, big brother is back!" Li Jue immediately sent Li Xiang out to share the firepower.

Upon hearing that his eldest son had returned, Li Chengqian asked the wet nurse to take good care of Li Xi, and then he went out with Li Jue in his hand.

Li Xiang stood at the gate and saw his father carrying his younger brother out.

Li Chengqian's image management is much better now than before. He no longer looks dull, but much more handsome.

Li Xiang smacked his lips. My dad is really becoming more and more like me. He's becoming more and more handsome like me!
(16th year of Zhenguan)

(The 18th year of Zhenguan)

Li Chengqian put Li Jue on the ground, stood with his hands behind his back, looking as lonely as snow.

Don't talk, pretend to be an expert.

"Aye! My brother!" Li Xiang waved his hand.

As he said that, he walked up to the two of them.

"You've grown taller." Li Chengqian patted Li Xiang's shoulder in a muffled voice, with a fatherly look on his face: "Good boy, you're almost as tall as Ye Ye!"

"As the saying goes, the waves behind push the waves ahead, and each wave is stronger than the last..."

Li Xiang stopped talking here.

Don't say anything random after that...

"Go on." Li Chengqian didn't know and continued asking with a smile.

Li Jue suddenly said, "Throw Aye on the beach..."

Hearing this, Li Xiang jumped back and immediately distanced himself from the matter: "Aye, I didn't teach him that!"

It was definitely not taught by Li Xiang. The key point is that Li Jue’s grandfather’s surname was not Bi, but Su!

Li Chengqian kicked Li Jue on the butt.

Li Jue felt pain, rubbed his buttocks, and looked at Li Chengqian with a breath of cold air.

"Where is mother?" Li Xiang asked quickly to change the subject.

"Your mother is taking a nap," Li Chengqian still had a fierce face and looked at Li Jue with a bad look: "It's just right that you are back, come into the palace and see your sister."

Li Xiang naturally knew that the Crown Princess had given birth to a daughter. Li Chengqian had already mentioned this matter when he wrote to him some time ago.

"Let's go together, let's go together." Li Xiang grabbed the sleeve of Li Jue, who was about to run, and brought him into the hall.

When he got closer, Li Xiang leaned over to look. The little person stared at him curiously with his big black eyes. He was not afraid and even giggled.

"Is this my sister?" Li Xiang looked at her lovingly.

Suddenly Li Jue complained again: "It's so ugly..."

Li Chengqian took a deep breath and pointed outside the palace: "Get out!"

If the occasion wasn't inappropriate and he wasn't afraid of scaring his good daughter, Li Chengqian would have grabbed Li Jue and beat him up to show him what fatherly love is like.

Li Jue turned around and walked away angrily. Halfway through the walk, he did not forget to make an appointment with Li Xiang: "Brother, I will come to see you in the evening. I want to listen to your story——"

"Okay." Li Xiang nodded with a smile.

Not long after, Crown Princess Su Yi also woke up from her sleep. After hearing the maid say that Prince Hengshan had returned, she tidied her clothes a little and walked out of the side hall.

"Mother." Li Xiang bowed his head when he saw Su Yi.

"Kid, you are still so unfamiliar with me." Su Yi looked at Li Xiang with a smile and asked him to stand up.

Looking at Li Xiang, who is now much taller than himself, Su Yi couldn't help but say, "When we left Dengzhou, the elephant was only as tall as my nose, but now it is so much taller than me..."

"Children grow up fast." Li Chengqian said with a smile.

"Really, Xiang'er is already an adult now." Su Yi looked at Li Xiang and decided to discuss Li Xiang's marriage with Li Chengqian in the evening. The child has grown up and will eventually get married.

"No matter how old he is, he is still my son." Li Chengqian patted Li Xiang's shoulder, "Now that you have met your mother, hurry to Lizheng Palace. Your aunt misses you so much. Every time she comes to Lizheng Palace to visit Ye Niang, she keeps talking about you to us. I see she has lost a lot of weight."

Ye Niang is Li Xi's nickname.

The night before Su Yi gave birth to Li Xi, she dreamed of a leaf floating to her side, so after waking up she told Li Chengqian about it and gave Li Xi the nickname Ye Niang.

The word "mother" at this time also means daughter.

There is a saying that goes, "When it rains, my mother will get married." The word "mother" here means daughter, not mother...

"Then I'd better go quickly." Li Xiang originally wanted to stay in the East Palace for a while longer, but since Li Chengqian said so, he couldn't delay any longer and the right thing to do was to go and take a look.

Old Li was discussing state affairs with his ministers, as well as Prince of Wei Li Tai and Prince of Jin Li Zhi in the Liangyi Hall, and was not in the Lizheng Hall.

In the Lizheng Hall, only Li Mingda was present.

When they arrived at Lizheng Hall, Li Xiang saw Luoluo's surprised look and quickly made a gesture to her to keep quiet.

"Shh-"

"Okay." Luluo bowed softly, "I greet the prince."

Li Xiang didn't say anything, but tiptoed towards the side hall of Lizheng Hall.

In the side hall, Li Mingda was looking out the window with his chin in his hand, bored, and no one knew what he was thinking about.

Li Xiang walked over quietly, and seeing that Li Mingda didn't notice, he suddenly covered Li Mingda's eyes with his hands and said in a rough voice: "Guess who I am!"

"Xiang'er!" Li Mingda recognized Li Xiang's voice almost instantly.

She turned around in surprise and hugged Li Xiang in her arms.

"You little bastard, I thought you had forgotten about your aunt and were enjoying yourself in Dengzhou and would never come back!"

"I'm back, aren't I?" After being held for a while, Li Xiang came out with a smile, took out an exquisite conch from his arms, and handed it to Li Mingda: "Dangdangdangdang, auntie, look what this is?"

"Wow, this conch is so beautiful." Li Mingda took the conch, held it up to look at it, then called Luoluo over and handed the conch to her with great care, asking her to hide it in a safe place.

"Where did you find it?" she asked again.

"I got it from the Goguryeo palace. My grandfather said this thing is very beautiful, so he gave it to me." Li Xiang shrugged and answered truthfully.

It would have been fine if he hadn't said anything. As soon as he talked about it, Li Mingda got angry.

She snorted, "You still say that, just to show that you are the most capable! With only 40,000 people, you dare to fight against Quan Gaisuwen's 250,000 people. How can you be so bold!"

At this point, she sobbed, "If anything happens to you, what will I do..."

"I won't do that again, auntie." Li Xiang said honestly, "I won't go to the battlefield anymore. I'll just command from behind and I won't take any more risks!"

Li Mingda didn't say anything, and he grabbed Li Xiang to ask about the battlefield, whether Goguryeo was cold, and whether he was afraid on the battlefield.

Of course Li Xiang couldn't say that he was afraid, and of course he wasn't afraid either. He just said nice things and described the dangers of the Battle of Phoenix Mountain in vivid detail.

It must be said that Li Xiang's ability to describe is very strong. He described a smooth battle as full of ups and downs, which frightened Li Mingda so much that his face turned pale. In the end, he even grabbed Li Xiang to see if he was injured.

Li Xiang had no choice but to confess the truth, saying that he was just bragging. In fact, although the Tang army was at a numerical disadvantage in the Battle of Phoenix Mountain, it had the advantage from beginning to end on the battlefield. Even Su Dingfang's right wing was always in an advantageous position.

Hearing this, Li Mingda stretched out his little fist and punched Li Xiang, then took out a small bowl of oranges from the side and placed it in front of Li Xiang: "These are mandarin oranges from Lingnan, try them."

"Could it be sour oranges again?" Li Xiang suddenly became alert.

"Do you want to eat it?" Li Mingda pouted.

"Eat, eat, eat." Li Xiang had no choice but to peel the orange and swallow it in one gulp with a heroic look on his face.

Hey, don’t tell me, oranges are sweet.

"It's so sweet..." Li Xiang exclaimed in surprise and ate the whole orange.

He likes eating oranges very much and has done so since he was a child.

"You don't believe me, huh." Li Mingda snorted, "I knitted so many clothes and pants for you, but it seems that some people don't appreciate my kindness at all - Luluo, take down all those clothes!"

"Hey, stop it!" Li Xiang hurriedly stopped her, "Luluo, don't listen to her! Keep the clothes..."

"Don't keep it. You've grown so tall. Those clothes are too small for you." Li Mingda said helplessly, "Who would have thought that after not seeing you for more than a year, you've grown so tall..."

As she spoke, she stretched out her hand and raised it high: "You were still a little elephant before, but now I can hardly touch the top of your head."

“No matter how tall it is, it is still my aunt’s elephant.” Li Xiang laughed.

"You're so funny." Li Mingda smiled and asked, "You're back at this hour, have you had lunch yet?"

"No." Li Xiang spread his hands. "I entered Chang'an at noon and stayed in the East Palace for a while. I didn't have time to eat."

"Then let's eat some cakes first. Xueqing and I learned how to make them." Li Mingda gestured for Luluo to bring the plate of osmanthus cakes: "Try it, this is osmanthus cake."

Li Xiang didn't hesitate to take the plate of osmanthus cakes and stuffed them into his mouth.

You know what, he was really hungry.

I didn’t eat much in the morning, and even less at noon. I’ve been here till now, how can I not be hungry?

"Look at you, you're eating like a wolf." Li Mingda scolded him and poured him a bowl of water: "Drink some water quickly."

"It's delicious." Li Xiang took a gulp of water and praised: "This is the most delicious osmanthus cake I have ever eaten."

It wasn't a compliment, nor was it a lie, after all, Li Xiang had never eaten it before.

Even if the dessert made by Li Mingda was not tasty, it was still the most delicious osmanthus pastry Li Xiang had ever tasted.

Of course, it can be said to be the most unpalatable thing I have ever eaten...

However, the snack tasted quite good and temporarily relieved Li Xiang’s hunger.

"Have you eaten enough? I'll ask someone to make you some food." Li Mingda asked with concern.

"No need, auntie. I've had enough food. Let's eat in the evening." Li Xiang said, shaking his hand.

"Well, OK." Li Mingda nodded, and then said to Li Xiang: "I have asked the Grand Music Officer to bring people to practice the music score you asked me to repair. I believe we will be able to enjoy the "Colorful Skirt and Feathered Coat" soon."

"Well, I remember mentioning this matter when I wrote to you half a year ago." Li Xiang nodded.

Li Mingda wanted to say something else when he saw Li Shimin walking in from outside the hall.

"Old Man." Li Xiang was very depressed and had no intention of getting up to greet Old Li. He just waved at his old man in a relaxed manner.

Old Li's face turned dark. Hey, this kid is really...conceited and arrogant!

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(End of this chapter)