Thankfully, children have short memories. Li Jingyun had forgotten what Li Shimin said after hearing it just once.
More than half an hour later, they arrived at the gate of a mansion in Yongyangfang as Li Shimin had mentioned. It had red walls and black - tiled roofs, with elegant yet imposing decorations. It was regularly cleaned, so even though no one had lived there for a long time, it remained clean and tidy.
A group of old servants greeted them at the gate. "Welcome, Your Majesty, and Your Highnesses."
"Rise," Li Shimin said.
"This is Hongxuan's mansion. What name do you want to give it? How about the Mansion of Princess Chengyang?" Li Shimin took Li Jingyun's hand and asked with a smile.
Li Jingyun scratched her head. After much deep thought, she finally gave up. "The Mansion of Princess Chengyang is fine. People will know at a glance who lives here. Sixth Brother and Sister Mingda live nearby. If it's not clearly marked, what if someone goes to the wrong place?"
"Hahaha," Li Shimin laughed heartily. He was greatly amused by this lively daughter of his.
"Let's go. Let's go in and take a look."
Li Shimin walked in front.
All the princes followed behind.
The mansion was extremely large. Even a thief would worry about getting lost if they came in at night. They had to cross a courtyard with pavilions, rockeries, and flowing water before reaching the main hall, which was used for banquets and receiving guests. Behind the main hall was a back garden with a beautiful lotus pond so large that Li Jingyun would be able to row a boat and pick lotus pods on it in two or three months.
There were also two swings in the back garden under the peach trees, shaded by greenery. Not far away was a beautiful green lawn, neatly trimmed.
Li Jingyun was very satisfied with this lawn. "Father, I can bring Big Goat Li here to raise it!"
"Big Goat Li?" Li Shimin heard this and thought it didn't sound like a person's name.
He started to recall the news from the villa yesterday, but there was so much trivial information that he couldn't remember who this was.
"It's the goat that Sixth Brother and Sister Mingda brought back from hunting. It's almost giving birth to lambs. A pregnant one should have the best." Li Jingyun clapped her hands and smiled with her eyes bent.
Li Shimin also laughed. In this beautiful green lawn, Hongxuan first thought of raising a goat! His daughter was truly different from others!
Li Zhi kept pulling Li Jingyun and asking what Big Goat Li looked like, whether its fur was soft, and if he would be kicked over if he touched it.
Li Shimin scratched her head. It should be okay. Big Goat was pregnant and it was inconvenient for it to kick.
They strolled in the garden for a full two quarters of an hour. It was worthy of being the mansion bestowed by Li Shimin's generous hand. It was indeed large and imposing.
Li Yin, who was following in the crowd, was already extremely excited. His mansion should at least be as good as his sister's, right?
He didn't expect that there was such a beautiful and magnificent mansion hidden in a corner of Chang'an City.
After strolling around, they returned to the main hall to rest. Li Shimin pointed to the surrounding decorations and asked, "Do you like it?"
"I like it. This place is really nice." Li Jingyun was so satisfied that she couldn't close her mouth from smiling.
There was a stall selling silver - thread candy across from here! And a stall selling flower - shaped rice cakes!
You could smell the sweetness of the sugar frosting just passing by!
In the palace, where could she be as carefree as here? She could eat silver - thread candy openly if she wanted!
Father and several sisters had told her many times, "Be careful with your food. Especially at your age, eating too much sugar will cause tooth decay."
They had said it so many times that she could almost recite it.
"Greetings to Your Highness!"
A group of servants, old and young, men and women, ranging in age from seven or eight to thirty - seven or eight, came and bowed deeply.
Seeing that Father didn't say anything, Li Jingyun then realized that these people were specially found by Father to serve her and manage this mansion.
She took the list of names and finally recognized the people. Then they moved on to the next place, which was Li Mingda's yard. It was about the same in specifications as Li Jingyun's. The pavilions, flowers, and plants were also similar, just a matter of arrangement.
After that, they went to Li Yin's mansion, which was a bit larger than the other two, but there was nothing special otherwise.
What Li Jingyun envied the most was the small stall selling cold noodles made with sophora leaves at the gate of Sixth Brother's mansion. The noodles were made from the dough mixed with the juice soaked from sophora leaves and then soaked in well water.
"Is it enough if we buy six servings?" Li Chengqian asked.
"Enough!"
Li Jingyun held a bowl of noodles and ate with great relish. One bite and it was cool and refreshing.
A row of people were sitting neatly at the cross - road eating noodles. No one could tell that this large family was the emperor and his children.
After visiting the three mansions and lingering on the road for a while, it was almost lunchtime when they finally reached the villa.
Yan Lide, the Chief Craftsman, led the craftsmen waiting at the gate. When they saw the carriage coming, they quickly bowed. "Welcome, Your Majesty! Welcome, Your Highnesses!"
When Yan Lide saw Li Shimin at the front, there seemed to be visions of future rewards in his eyes. Maybe he could even be promoted from his position as the Chief Craftsman.
"Everyone, rise. Is the cement ready? Where is it?" Li Shimin had no time for small talk and got straight to the point.
The smile on Yan Lide's face was as sincere as could be. "Your Majesty, it's already made. It's right here. Please take a look."
An abandoned large fish tank was filled with grayish fine powder.
They had indeed ground it extremely finely as Li Jingyun had said.
"In the back yard, we mixed the cement with stones and paved a section of the ground. It's just dry enough to walk on. Your Majesty might as well go to the back yard and take a look?"
Seeing that Li Shimin's expression remained unchanged and it was hard to tell whether he was happy or angry, Yan Lide immediately pointed to the back yard and said.
They just wanted to test whether the cement was as miraculous as the little princess had said. They thought it would take a long time to dry, but unexpectedly, because His Majesty and the princess had lingered on the road for a while, that section of the ground was just dry.
They had just tried running and jumping on that section of the ground. Dozens of strong men could stand on it without any change to the ground. Master Tian even suggested pulling a carriage over. With three people sitting in the carriage, it was still the same.
When Li Shimin reached the back yard, half of it had already been paved with a cement ground. It had to be said that these people were really efficient.
Later, Master Tian said to Li Jingyun, "Your Highness, the effect of this cement is even better than what you said. Running a horse in the back yard is more than twice as fast as in the front yard."
Another young man murmured in a low voice, "Falling off the horse, your butt hurts more than twice as much. If this road is built, it's not suitable for those who are not good at horse - riding."
Hearing this, Li Jingyun smiled with her eyes bent, showing her two dimples. "That's great. If we repair the road from Chang'an City to Shangzhou, there will be no reason for Taoist Priest Sun not to enter the palace."
She hadn't forgotten the purpose of making cement.
After taking the pills given by the immortal, Mother's health had visibly improved, but she still hadn't fully recovered.
Taoist Priest Sun Simiao was highly skilled in medicine. Wouldn't it be better to have him take care of Mother?
At this time, a voice came to Li Jingyun's ear: Congratulations to the host for getting sixty points. The current score is seventy - two points.
Li Jingyun clenched her small fist and cheered, which attracted everyone's attention.
Only then did she look at the blue sky, humming a tune she didn't know where she heard, extremely happy.
Li Mingda pulled Li Jingyun. "Come on, let's go and see what the cement ground looks like."
"Let's go, let's go."
After being "tortured" by the five children in turn, that section of the ground still remained intact. This made Li Shimin even more interested in cement.
Li Jingyun suddenly remembered what the immortal had told her. Now the Turks were eyeing them covetously. Cement could be used to reinforce the city walls and resist foreign enemies...
"Father, the immortal told me that cement can reinforce the city walls. Then the Turks won't dare to attack us."
She chose to convey this information to her father immediately.
It would be best to finish the repair before winter. Once winter came, those barbarians would come down to rob when they had no food!
She had heard all these things when Father was handling government affairs. Father and many ministers had repeated them many times, so she remembered them.
"Hongxuan, you've really given Father a big surprise," Li Shimin said happily as he picked Li Jingyun up. In his heart, he was already calculating how to make the best use of this treasure like cement to maximize its benefits.
Whether it was for building roads or reinforcing city walls, it needed careful planning.
The current production of cement was still unknown, and there were only about twenty people who knew how to make it. In the future, the demand for cement would surely be great, and more people would have to be assigned.