Chapter Ninety: The Four-Wheeled Carriage

After Princess Li Yuechen left the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity, Emperor Li Zhi took up the spectacles she had given him and studied them over and over again.

From time to time, he would even reach out and gently stroke them, as though they were a cherished treasure held in his hands.

Empress Wu, standing beside him, watched this with a faint shake of the head. “Your Majesty, rather than fussing over those spectacles, why not sit down and attend to state affairs?”

“You speak, and I am listening,” Li Zhi replied without turning his head, still turning the spectacles this way and that.

Hearing that answer, and seeing him like this, Wu opened her mouth, but in the end said nothing at all.

Back at the Hall of Peace and Fortune, Li Yuechen returned to her reading and calligraphy. Business at the shops had been good lately, so she no longer needed to worry excessively; she only had to listen to the occasional report on the accounts.

Even that did not require her to hear it personally. She simply handed the task to Princess Xuancheng.

These days, Princess Xuancheng spent her time trying to calculate the things she could see in daily life. Though most of them could not be worked out, she seemed to take great delight in it.

Li Yuechen, idle herself, took her along to play military strategy games on a sand table.

At first, Princess Xuancheng was truly terrible. Yet by the beginning of the sixth month, she could already spar with Li Yuechen in a back-and-forth struggle.

This ability astonished Li Yuechen.

After all, Princess Xuancheng had never read a single military treatise!

All her current skill on the sand table had basically been learned from Li Yuechen, and yet she could actually think things through, turn around, and meet her in battle as an equal.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk...”

After finishing another round, Li Yuechen was tidying the pieces while shaking her head in regret, muttering to herself under her breath, “With talent like that, she might really be able to serve in the army as a strategist.”

“What did Yuechen say?” Princess Xuancheng across from her lifted her head. “Your voice was too soft; I did not hear clearly.”

Li Yuechen put the pieces away. “I said that since you have nothing to do each day, you ought to read some military books.”

“But I do not need to go to war. Why would I read such things?” Princess Xuancheng said with a smile.

“My sister, there is no useless learning in this world. Since we have nothing to do in the palace each day anyway, why not read a little?”

Hearing her say that, Princess Xuancheng nodded. “Very well, then I shall do as Yuechen says!”

The military books Li Yuechen had were given by Liu Rengui, but the imperial palace itself also had quite a few.

Still, considering the customs of the age, the next day when she went to Liu Rengui’s residence, she mentioned it in passing.

“The military books Master gave me—I wondered if I might let my sister read them?”

Liu Rengui was unconcerned. “The skills I have taught Your Highness naturally belong to Your Highness to dispose of as you see fit.”

“Hehe, thank you, Master!”

Seeing Liu Rengui so generous, Li Yuechen was sincerely grateful.

In this era, matters of inheritance were treated with great seriousness; many family traditions were even passed from father to son and not to daughters.

The skills of one’s own household were absolutely not to be taught lightly to outsiders.

Much less was Liu Rengui like the imperial family.

To put it plainly, the imperial clan still had Xianbei blood, and with such strong steppe influence, attitudes toward men and women were not as rigid as among the Han.

There were no lack of examples of women running a household, or even serving as clan leaders.

That Liu Rengui would agree to such a thing showed just how much he truly valued this disciple.

...

Once the sixth month arrived, both the royal family and the officials grew busy.

After all, there were only half a month left until Li Zhi’s birthday. The ministers had gifts to prepare, and the imperial household had banquets and other arrangements to make.

Li Yuechen spent nearly every afternoon at the Ministry of Crafts, working alongside the artisans on the final assembly of the carriage.

The wooden body had already been fully bonded to the leather bellows panels and secured to the frame.

They tried it out with two horses. When turning, the body would bend along with the motion, one side extending while the other drew in.

Seeing this, Li Yuechen nodded, unable to suppress a smile.

Fu Lai was thrilled beside her. “Your Highness, it’s done, it’s done...”

“Yes, it is done,” Li Yuechen said with a nod. “What remains now is only the final finishing.”

The seats inside the carriage had already been installed. They could rotate ninety degrees, allowing a family to face forward together, or turn inward to form a sort of meeting chamber.

All the seats were wrapped in fine leather, stuffed with cotton and wool inside, soft and wonderfully comfortable.

The carved decorations on the carriage had not yet been completed; for the moment, only simple patterns had been painted on temporarily.

Dozens of craftsmen lifted the heavy carriage body and joined it to the frame.

Once every slot was aligned and lowered into place, and the iron bolts were fitted, the four-wheeled carriage was basically complete.

Over the next few days, only the front section of the frame would need to be assembled, and everything would be finished.

...

As the deadline drew ever nearer, the Ministry of Crafts became increasingly tense.

At last, on the afternoon of the thirteenth day of the sixth month, all the procedures were completed, and the brand-new four-wheeled carriage appeared in the courtyard outside the ministry.

This carriage was meant to be drawn by eight horses in two rows. Only a simple coat of wax oil had been applied, along with some painted patterns.

The four wheels were arranged on both sides, and the carriage body held a total of ten seats, with two more places at the very front that were not counted as seats and reserved for the driver.

At the front of the carriage there was a round plate made of wood combined with iron, so that even when the body twisted, there was no need to fear the passengers being crushed.

“Find someone who knows how to drive a carriage and have them take it for a test!”

With that said, Li Yuechen grabbed the edge of the frame and sprang up in a single flip.

Then she turned back to Fu Lai and waved. “Why are you still standing there? Come up!”

“This... Your Highness...” Fu Lai took two steps back. “This is the Sacred One’s imperial carriage. How could we possibly go aboard?”

“Ah...” Li Yuechen pursed her lips; she had momentarily forgotten that.

After all, this carriage had been made for the emperor. Before the body was installed, it had been fine for people to stand on it. But now that the carriage body was fitted, it was no longer something anyone could mount at will.

After thinking it over, Li Yuechen nodded. “Then do this: send someone now to inform my father and mother, along with my elder brothers and sisters, and have them all come try it.”

“Yes!”

Fu Lai answered at once and hurried out to spread the word.

Li Yuechen could only sit on the edge of the frame, swinging her legs idly and drinking the yogurt handed to her by the deputy overseer while she waited.

...

At the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity, when Li Zhi heard that the four-wheeled carriage his daughter had made was a success, he came over together with Empress Wu.

Because it was so close by, it took only ten minutes to arrive.

Seeing the two of them approaching, the deputy overseer and the craftsmen hurried forward to bow in greeting. Li Zhi’s attention had long since been captured by the carriage, and he merely waved his hand before going to stand before it.

Li Yuechen came over with a grin. “Father, Mother, what do you think of this carriage?”

The couple examined it carefully. Li Zhi nodded. “It looks only a little larger than my own imperial carriage, yet I did not expect it to be so spacious!”

Wu also nodded. “Indeed. It is quite marvelous.”

Li Yuechen smiled. “The earlier frame was too complicated and took up too much space, which is why it looked so large.”

Then she gestured. Fu Lai, quick-witted as always, pulled out a section of wood from beneath the driver’s seat.

On closer inspection, it turned out to be five steps, stacked beneath the driver’s seat like building blocks.

These steps were hollow and very light, easy for one person to lift.

After arranging the steps, Li Yuechen took both of their hands and led them up into the carriage, seating them in the back.

The moment they sat down, they felt the cushions beneath them and the backs against them were soft and extremely comfortable.

Li Zhi shifted slightly from side to side and could not help laughing as he nodded. “Good! Sitting in this frame is truly comfortable!”

“And that is not all!” Li Yuechen said with a smile. Reaching between them, she seized the handle behind her and pulled.

A length of bright yellow silk was drawn out from the gap behind the carriage frame, and the nails that had been joined on both sides rose with it, forming an awning that completely covered the two of them.

“In this way, Father and Mother need not fear the summer sun anymore,” Li Yuechen said with a smile.

Li Zhi looked left and right, then nodded again and again. “Good, very good!”

His face was full of an unconcealed smile; it was clear he was both astonished and delighted by the carriage.

Soon after, several of the children arrived as well. Before they could even express their amazement, Li Yuechen pulled them aboard.

Once everyone was seated, she waved to the imperial guards beside the carriage. “Go on, drive it. Let us see how it moves!”

The guard turned to look at Li Zhi. After receiving a nod, he answered and took the driver’s seat, slowly urging the carriage forward.

As soon as it began moving, Li Zhi froze slightly. “Eh? It feels as though there is almost no bumping at all!”

“Yes,” Li Hong said, equally intrigued. “Yuechen, why is the jolting of this four-wheeled carriage so slight?”

“It is not that four-wheeled carriages are naturally smooth,” Li Yuechen explained roughly. “It is because it has shock absorbers.”

Li Zhi and the others all wore expressions that said, I do not understand, but I am deeply astonished.

After leaving the lecture hall, the carriage began to travel through the imperial city. After a short while, the imperial guard in front turned back and said, “Your Majesty, please sit steady. We are about to turn.”

“No matter, turn as you please!” Li Yuechen waved a hand.

The carriage began to turn, and Li Zhi could even see the front of the body visibly twisting sideways.

The left bellows panel was compressed, while the right side opened out.

And the round plate on the bottom of the carriage body seemed almost to rotate, the body split instantly as if in two, and twisted to the left.

When the turn was complete, the body straightened again, and the bellows panels on both sides returned to their original shape.

The entire process was extraordinarily smooth, and the passengers felt no awkwardness whatsoever.

Seeing this, Li Zhi widened his eyes. “Incredible!”

“Hehe!”

Li Yuechen wore a proud expression. “Well? What do you think?”

Not only Li Zhi, but Li Hong and the others were also astonished.

This carriage could not be said to eliminate every trace of jolting, but the effect was slight enough that it would not make one’s backside ache.

Before long, they could not help studying it closely. Li Xian even leaned his upper body out to look at the structure underneath.

He was then pulled straight back by Li Hong. “Nonsense. What if you fell off? How dangerous would that be?”

“Big Brother need not worry. At this speed, one would not be killed by falling!” Li Yuechen said with a laugh.

Was that even the issue? Li Hong did not know how to respond for a moment.

“Excellent!”

Wu could not help but praise it. “With a little modification, this frame could serve as a new royal carriage.”

“Yes, it is indeed far more comfortable than the two-wheeled one,” Li Zhi said, nodding in agreement.

Li Yuechen said, “In truth, the ground in the imperial city is flat, so even drinking tea in this carriage would not be a problem.”

Li Zhi nodded, then turned and exchanged a glance with Wu, each seeing the relief in the other’s eyes.

Their daughter truly was full of extraordinary ideas. Though this was only a carriage, it was nevertheless a problem no one had ever solved from ancient times until now.

And yet their youngest daughter had resolved it so easily, which lifted both of them to an even higher regard for her intelligence.

When the carriage returned to the Ministry of Crafts, Li Zhi got down and could not help patting the frame before nodding. “Good! All who took part in making it shall be rewarded!”

The craftsmen were overjoyed and hurriedly bowed. “We thank Your Majesty for your generosity!”

The deputy overseer did not forget to flatter Li Yuechen as well. “Your Majesty praises it too highly. This carriage was designed and supervised by the princess; we merely lent our hands to the work.”

“Mmm.”

Li Zhi nodded, looking very pleased, then turned to the children and waved. “None of you need return today. Supper will be taken together at the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity.”

The children all nodded and agreed.

...

In the blink of an eye, two days passed. The fifteenth day of the sixth month arrived, Li Zhi’s birthday.

This day should have been a day of rest, but the civil and military officials all entered the palace carrying gifts to present to the emperor.

The emperor, in turn, bestowed many gifts upon them. The chancellors and the officials of the Three Departments and Six Ministries were basically each rewarded with a magnifying glass.

This curious device had been made for some time already, but news of it had been kept tightly sealed and had not leaked out.

Though Liu Rengui and the others had seen telescopes before, this was their first time seeing such a thing, and they were all amazed, unable to resist wondering where the Tang had found so much transparent colored glaze.

Li Zhi also told them in court that it had been invented by the princess, which served as an advertisement for her future glass workshop.

The ministers naturally praised the princess without reserve, saying only the finest things.

Seated on the dragon throne, Li Zhi listened with a smile to the ministers’ praise, though in his heart he was thinking about what their faces would look like when they learned that the princess had also increased the grain yield.

At that point, there would probably be more than praise alone; they would be stunned.

After all, grain production concerned the very foundation of the state. Dropping such a thunderbolt would surely provoke a great uproar.

The aides in the Ministry of Revenue had all been stationed in the palace for the time being, and the news had not been allowed to leak.

When the real harvest came, Li Zhi very much wanted to see what expressions these people would wear.

In any case, that day was not far off now. In at most half a month, there would be results.

Behind the screen along the side passage, Li Yuechen leaned against the wall, listening to the ministers’ praise for her, and could not help smiling as well.

Looking up again at Li Zhi on the dragon throne and Wu behind the pearl curtain, Li Yuechen nodded to herself.

Now this couple ought to understand just how important she was, should they not? At the very least, for the time being, they surely would not be thinking of marrying her off anytime soon.