Li Mu kept moving, and Li Shimin couldn't sit still. Finally, on the day before the Spring Festival, he summoned Li Mu to the palace in the name of asking about the preparations for the Spring Festival.

Without any greetings, Li Shimin stared at Li Mu with his eyes and said, "What's the point of doing? You can throw away 100,000 or 200,000 yuan of money, and you'll throw it away? If you throw so much money into Lantian, you will lose all your money at that time, and it depends on how you end up."

Li Mu laughed and didn't say anything. Li Shimin was stunned and was immediately embarrassed. It was only 100,000 yuan, which was really nothing for Li Mu. He was indifferent, sighed, and said, "Okay, I won't worry about you anymore. Explain to me, what's going on?"

"Your Majesty, I have something, please give it to you." Li Mu took out a piece of gray soil from his sleeve and handed it to Li Shimin. Li Shimin frowned and reached out to take it, saying in confusion: "Isn't this just a stone... Hey? It's not like a stone, a compacted soil?" He weighed it in his hand, shook his head again, and said: "The soil is not so hard," he looked up at Li Mu and said: "What is this?"

"Haha," Li Mu smiled confidently and said, "Your Majesty, this is the rumored cement."

"Cement?" Li Shimin looked at the cement block in his hand and asked in confusion: "What is this thing for? Cement, with the word "water", where is there water?"

"The so-called cement is because this thing was originally powdery and needed to be mixed with water into mud, so it is called cement. As for what its use is, Your Majesty has seen it." Li Mu pointed to the soil in Li Shimin's hand and said, "It is a building material."

“Building Materials?”

Li Shimin glanced at the cement block in his hand, thought for a while, and said, "I probably understand what you mean, but is this thing very practical?"

Li Shimin did not explain it, but there was still a lot of doubts in his words.

Li Mu did not answer, but asked: "In your eyes, which city has the strongest wall?"

Li Shimin thought for a while and said, "If the city wall is said, it must be the best for the Great Wall. The Great Wall of the Qin and Han dynasties in the past has remained for hundreds of years and is still extremely strong. But if it is the city wall, I think the city wall of Chang'an City should be the best for the best. In the past, the general Yuwen Kai was ordered to supervise the construction and used glutinous rice mortar like the Great Wall. It is rumored that a mile of city wall consumed 60,000 kilograms of glutinous rice. In the prosperous era of the former Sui Dynasty, I cannot afford to repair it now."

Li Mu said again: "If I tell Your Majesty that the cost of cement is only 10% of that of glutinous rice mortar, what does Your Majesty think?"

"One, one percent!" Li Shimin stood up suddenly and stuttered: "One, one part one part one part?"

He made a simple calculation in his mind. The hardness of this cement is almost the same as that of glutinous rice mortar, but the cost is only one tenth. Although the current economic situation of the Tang Dynasty is not as much as that of the previous Sui Dynasty, if the cost is one tenth, it is still affordable to grit your teeth.

If you use this one-tenth-long cost "glutinous rice" mortar to repair the city walls and build forts in cities near the border, what are you afraid of thieves invading the border? If you close the city gates, everyone will spend money. No matter whether they win or lose, they will be invincible first.

"I have to see it with my own eyes!" Li Shimin looked at Li Mu seriously, and said again as if confirmation, saying, "I have to see it with my own eyes."

Li Mu had long guessed that Li Shimin would make this request and said with a smile: "Then I can only ask Your Majesty to move into the valley. I just used cement to build a dormitory for the lieutenants of the martial arts lecture hall. Your Majesty can see if it is solid with your own eyes."

"Built the day before yesterday?" Li Shimin didn't know anything at all, saying: "The glutinous rice mortar takes at least five days..."

"Your Majesty, my cement can replace glutinous rice mortar from any angle. You can see it yourself."

Li Shimin became more and more excited. If cement can really replace glutinous rice mortar at a price of one tenth, then its value will be increased by at least ten times!

Just imagine, two armies are fighting and confronting each other. In two days, one side built a city wall that takes into account. How powerful should it be to the enemy?

When Li Mu saw Li Shimin's eyes shining, he guessed that he must have thought of the military uses of cement again. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart. The longer he had contacted Li Shimin, the more he felt that Li Shimin's ambition was extremely inflated. Everything he thought about was prepared for war, including rest and recuperation, and so on.

Li Mu had no doubt that if the Tang Dynasty had the national strength of the former Sui Dynasty, Li Shimin would not have stayed in Chang'an City for a day, so he would have been in the east to goguryeo and Tuyuhun in the west.

At this point, Li Mu and Li Shimin's ideas are a bit contrary to each other.

Li Mu is not a war dealer, and he doesn't want to start a war. He just wants the people on his side to live a good life and not be bullied. No one dares to bully it. This is enough. Any war, whether it is invaded or invading others, will kill people. The only difference is that how many people die.

It took so much effort to make the people eat a full meal and make people survive. Just to let them die on the battlefield? Li Mu cannot agree with this bullshit logic.

But Li Shimin would definitely not listen to what he said now, so he did not intend to say that he was going to complete these things secretly and do them subtly without any negotiation.

...

The group left the palace and came to the valley along the way. Li Shimin asked Eunuch Gao to pay his respects to Li Yuan first, saying that he would arrive later, otherwise his father would have to make a decision. It would be impossible to make a mistake during the New Year. Li Shimin followed Li Mu to the martial arts lecture hall where he had just attended the opening ceremony a few days ago, which was the site of the former Datang Technical School. Sure enough, he saw a row of newly built houses. In just a few days, the house was built. Li Shimin couldn't help but walk forward and touched it, wanting to see if it was real.

When he got closer, he saw that the wall was made of bricks and stones, and it was completely glued together. There was a finger-wide gray gap between the bricks, which looked uneven and white frost appeared intermittently. Li Shimin raised his hand and punched him hard. Seeing that he was going to continue to harm himself, Li Mu quickly handed over an iron drill. Li Shimin took it and scratched the crack in the brick. Amid the harsh metal friction, only a shallow scratch on the top. Obviously, it could not be broken. Li Shimin changed to another brick crack and tried it. The same effect was still the same. Li Shimin walked forward without believing in the evil, pressing the solidified cement in the crack in the wall with his fingers. Every inch was the same hardness, like a stone. No wonder the iron drill could not do anything about it.

Li Shimin pushed the wall hard again, and did not move at all.

Then he kicked hard with his feet and pushed hard with his shoulders, but the wall still remained unmoved.

Seeing that Li Shimin was a little bit over, Li Mu quickly grabbed him and advised: "Your Majesty, the dragon body is important. If you can't fight with a dead person, you won't be able to do anything."

"I just want to see how strong it is!"

Li Mu hugged Li Shimin tightly and shouted. Li Chongyi, who was watching the training of the military lieutenant in the schoolyard, walked over and saw Li Shimin bowing and saluting.

Li Mu pointed to the cement wall, Li Chongyi nodded, took off the giant axe from his waist, and waved it hard, and heard a loud sound of the earth shaking, and the entire surface of the cement wall fell down.

Li Chongyi coolly put away the axe and bowed and bowed, and went back to continue watching.

Li Shimin was so shocked that his chin almost dislocated, and praised: "There is no match for such a magical power in the world."

Li Mu said modestly: "Your Majesty is wrong, you still have to learn it. Some time ago, this kid was still unable to compete with the Guest Guest. However, Guest Guest seems to have taught him a way to practice Qi recently, and this kid's strength has grown a little longer."

Li Shimin remembered something, and a sad look flashed by and said, "Stop in moderation may not be a good thing. I have one-" When he said, he swallowed it back for some reason, turned the topic back, looked at the half-wall that fell to the ground, and said, "Even if it was broken, it was the whole. It seems that this kind of cement wall is really as you said, very strong."

"The strength can be improved further." Li Mu said confidently: "What we are using now is only the samples during the development process, and have not yet reached the finished product status. And depending on the purpose of use, the formulas are also different. If the best formula is used, the cost will be too high."

"I don't understand these, but I can see that this is a treasure." Li Shimin patted Li Mu on the shoulder and said, "Tell me where can this thing be used?"

"The main uses are three: building, building roads, and building dikes." Li Mu said seriously: "I plan to initially use all cement on road construction, followed by dikes, and finally building houses or building city walls."

Li Shimin frowned slightly and said, "If such a good thing is used in the border town--"

"Your Majesty, I have already told you about the importance of road construction. The Tang Dynasty is vast and vast. Only by strengthening transportation can we better connect. The court can better influence local areas and materials from all over the country be transported. There are no provocations on all sides now. Precautions are necessary, but they are not urgent. Your Majesty."

Li Shimin knew that Li Mu was right, nodded, threw the iron rod aside, pulled the topic back and asked, "Is this house really built two days ago?"

Li Mu was amused and crying: "What else does Your Majesty disbelief? Did you see this row of houses when you came to attend the opening ceremony?"

"No."

"Isn't this going to end?" Li Mu spread his hands and said, "If Your Majesty doesn't believe it, you can ask the directors of the Office of Internal Affairs. I can't catch anyone for a while. At the same time, I also want to check whether these boys have forgotten the basic skills of the Tang Dynasty Technical School, so I called them over to build the wall. The wall that Your Majesty just knocked was built by Changsun Chong. Do you think it's okay?"

As he said that, Li Mu praised again: "How come I haven't seen that Changsun Chong, this kid, before? He has been very busy this year, but these basic skills have not been lost. I checked the Ministry of Works' archives a few days ago and found that this kid actually took time to participate in the Ministry of Works' professional skills level assessment. The skill level of the bricklayer has reached the technician level, and he has not forgotten his original intention. It really makes me feel relieved as a teacher."

"I really don't understand what you care about." Li Shimin snorted and said, "In my opinion, Changsun Chong is already a young talent who can stand alone. Is he good at tiles and carpenters? What is the difference? Putting his mind on such things is a waste of time."

"Otherwise, your majesty!" Li Mu said seriously: "It is definitely not the case. Changsun Chong is the eldest disciple of my Xiaoyao Sect. Although I teach my disciples, although they seem to be Meng Lang, they have my own rules, that is, all disciples must have their own skills, no limit on the types, but they must have them. For example, Changsun Chong has a wide range of knowledge and carpenters are not bad, but Qingque, they are much worse in this regard. He specializes in mechanical skills. I have told him that if he still fails to meet my standards this year, he will not be my disciple in three months."

Li Tai is Li Shimin's favorite son. How could he be happy when Li Mu said these words in front of him? He snorted and said, "Is my Qingque your disciple my fault or you?"

Li Mu laughed and said, "I have said it a long time ago. Qingque is of course my good brother, but when he wants to learn from me, he must be an apprentice. Each apprentice has an assessment standard. Qingque himself chooses the mechanism and he cannot learn it. That is his own problem. One thing goes one by one. I hope it can be simpler and only talk about brothers with Qingque."

"That's impossible." Li Shimin would not be fooled by Li Mu, and said, "If I hand over the Qingque to you, you must teach me well. If I want to give up, I can't agree."

Li Mu sighed helplessly. What else can he say?

Li Shimin looked at the cement again and said, "This thing is a treasure. You have to protect the formula. If it falls into the hands of aristocratic families, it will be a great disadvantage to the court."

Li Mu understood the meaning, and was implying that he wanted to hand over the recipe himself. How could this be possible? All companies have been established, and the shareholders have bought stocks with real money. They are completely a "private enterprise" and are not "national".

Li Mu said with sloppy eyes: "Your Majesty, the formula is not completely confirmed, and the formulas of different cements are different. For example, only me knows the cement formula in front of you, so you don't need to worry at all, and no one can snatch the formula from me."

After saying that, he smiled and said, "I am the one who invented cement. As long as I don't talk about it, no one will know the formula."

Li Shimin's face changed a little, but it quickly returned to normal. He also understood Li Mu's words. I only knew the formula of cement. This is another amulet. If I were not in this world, cement would disappear together!

Li Shimin couldn't help but sigh. As expected, once some things happen, they have to change something. Some things can't be returned, but they just can't be returned.

He also smiled, patted Li Mu on the shoulder, and said, "Let's go, go with me and go to the Emperor to pay my respects. Tomorrow is the Lantern Festival, let's see where the Emperor is planning to celebrate. If I return to the palace, I'd like to ask someone to prepare."
Chapter completed!