Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 37: Forbidden Garden Test Explosion
In the northeast corner of the tiger circle, there is a pothole, which is the test site.

Wang Jishan has been waiting here for a long time with the Jinwu Guards.

According to Li Zhi's instructions, they had already moved a huge stone weighing thousands of pounds in advance and placed it in the center of the pothole.

Li Zhi had specifically requested that this stone must be the hardest rock from the Forbidden Garden.

A quarantine line was drawn with ropes around the boulder, a safety distance prepared in advance to prevent gunpowder from accidentally igniting and splashing officials.

The ministers looked at the scene before them and could not guess what the emperor was going to do.

Li Zhi glanced at Lu Chengqing and said, "Minister Lu, take a look at this stone. How does it compare to the reefs in Sanmenxia?"

Lu Chengqing bowed and said, "Please allow me to come closer and take a look." He stepped over the isolation rope, came to the stone, touched it with his hand, and knocked it with his fingers.

Yan Liben's curiosity was also piqued at this moment, and he bowed and said, "Your Majesty, could you allow me to go and take a look as well?"

Li Zhi said, "Go ahead."

Yan Liben stepped over the rope and came to Lu Chengqing's side. The two of them whispered a few words and then returned to the crowd together.

Yan Liben said, "Your Majesty, this is a black stone. The large reef in Sanmenxia is gray stone. They are about the same hardness, but the size is dozens of times different."

The names of rocks in the Tang Dynasty were all based on their colors. For example, the hardest quartz stone was called white stone, and marble was called blue stone.

Black stone is basalt, and gray stone is limestone. Strictly speaking, black stone is slightly harder than gray stone.

Yan Liben did not dare to speak too confidently in front of the emperor, so he only said that the two were about the same.

Li Zhi nodded and said, "If you can break this huge rock, are you sure you can break the two large reefs in Sanmenxia?"

The two men exchanged glances, and Yan Liben asked, "May I ask, Your Majesty, how do you intend to break the stone?"

The methods used to break rocks during this period were all done by using tools and manpower to dig.

It is recorded in the Records of the Grand Historian that in order to control the Yellow River, Dayu led his people to open up mountains and clear land. The magic axe he used to open up mountains was the ancient farming tool, the plow.

This requires a large group of people, with the willpower and spirit of Yugong moving mountains, to succeed.

When Yang Guang dredged the river channel left by the previous dynasty, he mobilized millions of laborers to finally connect the Grand Canal.

Of course, the difficulty now is much smaller, it's just a matter of digging out two large reefs blocking the way.

If the water flow nearby was not too fast to build a wooden bridge, the previous emperor would have sent people to flatten the two reefs long ago.

Li Zhi knew that it would be difficult to make his ministers understand the power of gunpowder with just words. Only by demonstrating it in person could they understand.

He waved his hand and said, "It's a bit troublesome to explain. Just try it and you will know the result."

There are two ways to blast rocks with black powder. One is to chisel holes along the grain of the stone, pour gunpowder in, thread a fuse, and then plug it with lime.

This method is the most efficient and uses the least amount of gunpowder to achieve the best results.

However, the purpose of Li Zhi's test explosion this time was not only to break the stone, but also to let the ministers see the power of gunpowder.

So he planned to use a more brutal method, directly using a large dose of gunpowder to blow it up and see what the effect would be.

He had asked his guards to prepare two hundred kilograms of gunpowder in advance, which he wrapped into five gunpowder bags using sewn sheepskin and placed around the boulder.

Then cut a hole in each package to expose some of the gunpowder for easier ignition.

"Duohai, take this bag of powder and sprinkle it all the way from here, so that the powder will connect with the gunpowder exposed in the sheepskin."

Zhang Da Hai was unaware of the danger and thought that the emperor wanted her to show her face, so she excitedly agreed.

He scattered the gunpowder as he walked, and even stood in the pile of gunpowder, waving at Li Zhi.

"Your Majesty, I am ready."

Li Zhi had already hidden behind a rock farther away and ordered his ministers and guards, "Everyone find cover and hide."

All the ministers were puzzled. Looking at the emperor's expression, could something terrible have happened?
The Qianniu Guards didn't have so many ideas. They just did whatever the emperor ordered. Led by Xue Rengui, they all hid beside Li Zhi.

Many people lay in front of Li Zhi, ready to stand in front of the emperor in case of danger.

The alert Jinwu Guards also dispersed under the leadership of Wang Jishan.

Li Yifu said loudly: "Since His Majesty has given the order, there must be a reason. Let's all find a place to hide."

So all the ministers went away and found shelter.

Only Zhang Dahai was standing near the gunpowder. He also noticed something was wrong and shouted from a distance, "Your Majesty, should I hide?"

Li Zhi waved to him.

Zhang Duohai ran over quickly, and Li Zhi asked, "Do you have a flint?"

Zhang Duohai nodded, "Yes." Li Zhi said, "Go to the isolation line and light the black powder there with a flint. Once you're done, run over here. Do you understand?"

Zhang Dahai realized that this task was dangerous and nodded solemnly.

Although he was fat, he was very flexible. After using a flint to ignite the gunpowder near the isolation line, he rolled over like a ball.

I saw sparks moving along the line of gunpowder, approaching the boulder, like a small red snake crawling on the ground.

All the ministers and the Qianniu Guards looked up curiously. Soon, the fire snake was about to approach the boulder.

Li Zhi put his head on the ground and covered his ears with his hands. Seeing him do this, Wang Fusheng also followed suit.

When the ministers saw the emperor in such a state, they were secretly shocked and held their breath.

Only Liu Rengui was a naturally brave man. He half-knelt and stared at the boulder without blinking.

In an instant, a fiery red spark suddenly rose up and disappeared, followed by a loud "boom" like thunder, which made people's ears buzz.

Because the distance was too close, the moment I saw the fire, I heard the explosion.

The wind was blowing violently, rocks were flying everywhere, black clouds were rising, stirring up a large amount of yellow smoke and dust, and heat waves were sweeping in all directions.

Zhang Duohai suddenly screamed and rushed in front of Li Zhi.

Li Zhi saw that the explosion was over and was about to take a closer look, but was blocked by him. He said angrily: "You fat guy, get out of the way quickly and don't block my view."

Zhang Duohai smiled awkwardly and stood up to move aside.

After a while, the smoke and dust finally cleared. Although the huge rock had been blown into pits, the main part was still there, about two-thirds of its original size.

Gravel and dirt whizzed down, hitting everyone like raindrops.

Most of the ministers were stunned and stood there, some of them clasped their hands together and prayed silently.

Han Ai was still in shock and asked, "Your Majesty, is it safe now?"

Li Zhi was very satisfied with the results. Since it could be blown up from the outside, drilling holes would be even more effective. It was only a matter of time before the entire reef was blown up.

"The test explosion is over, everything is fine now." He waved his hand.

Yan Liben and Yan Lide looked at each other, and both brothers' faces were full of surprise.

After the two men discussed in low voices for a few words, Yan Liben said to Li Zhi, "Your Majesty, as long as there is enough of this material and we have researched a plan for breaking the rocks in advance, we should be able to break through those two reefs."

He was the Minister of Works, and Yan Lide was the Chief Engineer. Both of them were experts in architecture, and what they said was convincing.

Li Zhi said, "Very good. The specific plan for blasting the reef will be jointly undertaken by the Ministry of Works and the General Supervisor of Works. Once the plan is finalized, it will be presented to me."

He decided not to tell them how to drill the hole first, to see if the ministers could think of a similar method.

Xue Rengui suddenly asked, "Your Majesty, can this thing be made more powerful?"

Li Zhi said: "This thing is called gunpowder. The more you have, the more powerful it is."

Han Ai asked curiously, "Your Majesty, how did you know the formula for this medicine?"

Li Yifu laughed and said, "I guess it was donated by a local official."

Li Zhi had already thought of his words and sighed, "To be honest with you, my dear ministers, this was given to me by an official in a dream a while ago."

During this period, superstition was rampant and people were easily persuaded by the idea of ​​sending messages in dreams.

Han Ai was greatly surprised and asked, "Who presented it to Your Majesty?"

Li Zhi said slowly, "It's a young man who calls himself Di Renjie. He's from Bingzhou. I don't know if there's such a person in our dynasty."

Yan Liben's face changed drastically, and he hurriedly asked, "Your Majesty, are you talking about Di Huaiying, the deputy general of the Bingzhou Military Governor's Office?"

Li Zhixi said happily: "Yes, his name is Huaiying. Is he in the Bingzhou Governor's Office?"

Yan Liben smiled and said, "Your Majesty, do you remember two years ago when you appointed me as the Commissioner for Promotion and Demotion in Henan Province? At that time, I met a minor official in Bianzhou who had been falsely accused by a petty official. During my interrogation, I found him to be calm and composed, possessing both talent and virtue, a true pearl of the sea. So I recommended him."

Many ministers were whispering among themselves.

The story of Yan Liben was widely circulated among the people, and because of this beautiful story, the phrase "a pearl in the ocean" was used to describe a talented person.

Of course, the ministers were more concerned about Di Renjie's future, or to be more precise, envy of him.

Regardless of the power of the magic medicine just now or the emperor's joyful expression now, all the ministers have seen that Di Renjie is bound to soar to the sky.

　Recently, reading comments from fellow readers, I've realized my knowledge is lacking. Many readers have been so kind to me, and I've been able to avoid many mistakes. Please leave your comments in the comments section, and I'll do my best to avoid any errors. Some readers have previously commented that this book feels like a female-oriented novel, and I've acknowledged this, so I'll try to minimize the harem plot. This book will try to cover all the major events of Emperor Gaozong's reign, and I'm open to any suggestions you might have about the plot. Thank you for your continued support.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)