Tang Dynasty: Feeding Chang Le, Emperor Li Er exclaimed that she was a true immortal!

Li Shimin was a man of great initiative and action.

This can be seen from the Xuanwu Gate Incident.

Once you've decided to do it, there won't be a second day.

That afternoon, he returned to Ganlu Palace, and the first thing he did was summon Zhao Dequan.

"Go and open the imperial treasury."

Zhao Dequan was taken aback for a moment: "Your Majesty, which room should we open?"

"all."

Zhao Dequan's legs went weak for a moment.

all?

The Imperial Treasury was the emperor's private coffers, managed separately from the national treasury.

It contains not ordinary gold and silver, but treasures accumulated by the royal families of past dynasties—calligraphy and paintings by famous artists, ancient bronzes, jade carvings, and rare and unique books.

Each of these items could be exchanged for a manor.

"Your Majesty...what do you wish to retrieve?"

"Move everything. Move it to Chang Le Palace."

Zhao Dequan thought he had misheard.

But Li Shimin's eyes told him that he hadn't misheard.

"What are you all standing there for? Get someone to move it! Pack it in the biggest boxes, and hurry!"

Zhao Dequan ran out, trembling.

An hour later, seventeen large red-lacquered wooden boxes appeared in the courtyard of Chang Le Palace.

Each one requires four strong men to lift.

When the box was opened, the contents inside made Chang Le gasp in shock.

The first box contained a complete set of Tang Dynasty tri-colored horse figurines.

The glaze is so vibrant it looks like it just came out of the kiln, and the image of the horse with its head held high and neighing is incredibly lifelike.

Even high-ranking officials in the imperial court might not have seen a genuine copy of this, let alone ordinary people.

The second box contained calligraphy and paintings.

The rolls were neatly stacked, each wrapped in fine silk and labeled with a yellow paper tag.

Chang Le recognized several of the names—Wang Xizhi, Gu Kaizhi, and Zhan Ziqian.

Any one of these volumes would be a priceless, unique piece.

The third bite, the fourth bite... all the way up to the seventeenth bite.

Goldware, jade pendants, ivory carvings, glass cups, sandalwood screens, gemstone-inlaid belt buckles, sterling silver wine vessels…

Dazzling.

Piled up like mountains.

All of these things combined probably emptied one-third of the Tang Dynasty's royal family's private wealth.

Chang Le looked at the courtyard full of national treasures, and her lips twitched several times.

"Father...this is too much!"

Li Shimin stood in the center of the courtyard, his hands behind his back, speaking in a calm tone as if he were asking what he would be having for dinner.

"Not much. If we can exchange these things for Mr. Lu's creation techniques, they are not worth mentioning."

He looked in the direction of the light screen.

"Go ask Mr. Lu if this is enough. If not, I'll move more."

Chang Le turned around and quickly walked into the bedroom.

On the other side of the screen, Lu Ming was researching information on his computer.

He looked up when he heard the noise.

Then he saw the seventeen boxes in the yard.

There was a two-second silence.

"What's going on?"

"Father has brought the imperial treasury here." Chang Le's expression was complicated. "He said he wants to use these to exchange for your creation techniques."

Lu Ming stood up from his chair and walked to the light screen.

He glanced at the colorful items in the boxes, his eyes sweeping over them.

As a modern person, his ability to appreciate antiques is practically zero.

But he knew one thing—

If these items are genuine.

That's beyond what the word "valuable" can describe.

That's a priceless treasure.

In the modern auction market, a calligraphy work confirmed to be an authentic work by Wang Xizhi has a starting price in the hundreds of millions.

And inside that box—

He counted them.

Wang Xizhi alone has three scrolls.

Lu Ming's Adam's apple bobbed.

He tried to keep his face calm.

"Open that box and let me see the calligraphy and paintings."

Chang Le opened the second box as instructed.

Lu Ming made a quick look through the light screen.

I saw the label for the first volume—"Wang Xizhi's copy of the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection".

Then I saw the second volume – "Zhan Ziqian's Spring Outing".

There were no slips of paper for Volume 3, so Chang Le carefully unfolded a corner of it.

It is a long landscape scroll, with ancient and elegant brushstrokes, and the ink on the silk remains vibrant despite the passage of time.

Lu Ming's fingers trembled slightly.

It only trembled slightly.

Then he raised his hand and casually took the painting from Chang Le through the light screen, shaking it in his hand.

I turned it over and looked at the back.

I flipped it back over and looked at the front.

He nodded.

"The paper is well preserved."

He placed the scroll on the table.

It's placed right next to the keyboard.

If someone who didn't know better saw this, they would probably think he had just casually placed a delivery slip on the ground.

"Alright, I've taken the payment."

Lu Ming sat back down in his chair, speaking as if he were discussing an ordinary business deal.

"The steel torrent base you requested will be delivered to you this afternoon."

In that instant, Chang Le saw something.

Her father, Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, actually breathed a sigh of relief when Lu Ming said "Alright".

He breathed a sigh of relief.

It was as if they were afraid Lu Ming wouldn't like these things.

Chang Le suddenly felt a little dazed.

Her father, the proudest man in the world, now looked like a small merchant who had spent all his money to buy goods.

Lu Ming was the dealer who monopolized all the supplies.

Lu Ming spent three days processing this batch of antiques.

He dared not go through a legitimate auction house.

The quantity is too large, and they are all genuine national treasures. Going through official channels would bring countless troubles.

He was looking for a different path.

Through the pawnshop owner he met when he sold the gold phoenix hairpin, he got involved in an underground high-end antique circulation chain.

The other party is a group of Chinese collectors who operate overseas for many years.

They don't ask where it came from, they only look at the things.

Lu Ming first released a painting titled "Spring Outing" by Zhan Ziqian as a test.

After the other party conducted the appraisal, they remained silent for a long time.

Then he reported a number.

Lu Ming stared at the string of numbers on his phone and counted the zeros before the decimal point three times.

Eight digits.

RMB.

A painting.

This is only because the price was significantly reduced due to using underground channels.

If it were put on a legitimate auction, the price would be more than ten times higher.

Lu Ming took a deep breath.

Subsequent transactions proceeded at an extremely rapid pace.

Tang tri-color pottery, goldware, and jade carvings—these items are not as valuable as calligraphy and paintings, but they are all hard currency.

Within three days, Lu Ming's bank account received a number he never dared to dream of.

He became a billionaire.

But he didn't buy a house, he didn't buy a car, and he didn't even have a decent meal.

The first thing he did was rent an abandoned logistics warehouse in the suburbs.

Three thousand square meters.

The annual rent is unbelievably cheap because the location is so remote.

But Lu Ming wanted something different.

The more remote the better.

The more remote the location, the safer it is.

Then he started making purchases.

It is not about purchasing consumer goods.

It's the procurement drawings.

He found a website online that specializes in selling industrial technology information.

The products sold there are all publicly available, basic-level industrial technology solutions that have already passed their patent protection period.

Construction drawings for small-scale traditional blast furnace steelmaking – complete set, including windbox heating system and furnace refractory brick masonry scheme.

Water-powered forging hammer structure diagram - A mechanical hammer driven by waterwheel power, which can repeatedly forge red-hot iron blocks into shape.

Basic casting mold design – for mass production of standardized swords, arrowheads, and armor plates.

He always chose the simplest and most basic version of each drawing.

The complexities of the Tang Dynasty are beyond the comprehension of the people there; giving it to them would be pointless.

But these basic versions—as long as there is enough iron ore and manpower, the craftsmen of the Tang Dynasty can easily replicate them.

After Lu Ming printed out all the drawings, he spent most of the day adding traditional Chinese annotations on the side with a brush.

The handwriting is very ugly.

But I can understand it.

This stack of drawings is more than a foot high.

He divided the blueprints into several batches and sent them to the Tang Dynasty one by one through the light screen.

Chang Le was responsible for handing it over.

When Li Shimin laid out the first blast furnace construction plan in the imperial study, his expression changed.

He couldn't understand those Arabic numerals and precise proportional lines.

But he could understand the traditional Chinese annotations written by Lu Ming next to him.

"This furnace can be used to smelt steel."

"Steel is a hundred times stronger than iron."

"It can be used to forge swords, armor, and siege weapons."

Li Shimin's fingers traced over the incredibly smooth paper.

Flip through them one by one.

A diagram of a blast furnace.

Bellows diagram.

Forging hammer diagram.

Mold drawing.

Each one was an industrial miracle he had never seen before.

Each one signifies a dramatic shift in the military strength of the Tang Dynasty.

His lips slowly parted into a smile.

It gets bigger and bigger as it stretches.

Finally, it stretched out in an almost manic arc.

"well……"

His voice was hoarse, as if it were being squeezed out from deep within his chest.

The fingertips caressed the paper with extreme gentleness.

It's like touching the most precious thing in the world.

"Summon Duan Lun, Minister of Works, to the palace immediately!"