Iron Brothers

"Chang'le is right. For our Great Tang, something like a walkie-talkie is already quite remarkable," Li Shimin nodded earnestly.

Wang Er spoke up, "If you want long-distance communication, it's actually not impossible. It just takes a few radio stations."

"Radio stations? What are those?" A look of curiosity once again appeared on the faces of Li Shimin and his family.

Subsequently, Wang Er explained the principles and functions of a radio. "However, this device isn't as convenient as walkie-talkies or mobile phones. It requires sending, receiving, and then translating the message."

"Roughly how long does it take? For example, if a telegram is sent from the border to Chang'an City, how long would it take to learn its contents?" Li Shimin licked his lips.

Wang Er stroked his chin. "About ten minutes or so... Mainly, the translation takes a bit longer."

"Ten minutes or so?"

"That's about a quarter of an hour," Xia Fei clarified.

Hearing this, Li Shimin could no longer sit still. He shot up from the sofa in a flash. "I want them! I want the radios! To think it only takes a quarter of an hour from the border to Chang'an City, this is simply comparable to a heavenly immortal's magical artifact!"

Separated by a span of one thousand four hundred years, the power of modern technology was naturally unimaginable for people like them.

Today's radios and wireless communications were almost entirely obsolete in this era, mostly just played with by a few hobbyists in their own circles.

But for the Great Tang, it was absolutely no exaggeration to say that this device was comparable to a heavenly immortal's magical artifact.

"No problem, I'll make a call right now to have people prepare more. Five hundred radio sets and a thousand walkie-talkies, that should be enough, right?" Xia Fei took out his mobile phone.

Li Shimin was ecstatic. "Enough, that is more than enough! Thank you, young gentlemen!"

"Ah, enough with the 'young gentlemen' talk. We don't really use that kind of address here nowadays."

Wang Er laughed and continued, "I see you aren't that much older than us. If you don't mind, how about we call you Brother Li from now on?"

Li Shimin in the sixth year of the Zhenguan reign was only thirty-three or thirty-four years old, indeed not much older than Wang Er and the others.

Richard, who was currently still in Country Y, was already in his forties or fifties, and when he was here before, he also addressed Wang Er and the others as brothers.

At this time, from inside the kitchen, Qin Fei, Cheng Weiyang, and the others walked out carrying dishes.

"Time to eat."

Jiang Yanran placed the dishes on the table.

Although there were quite a few people today, a large long table was still able to accommodate everyone.

Soon, under everyone's arrangement, Li Shimin's family of four took their seats.

Looking at the various specialty dishes on the table and smelling the mouth-watering aromas they emitted, they couldn't help but swallow hard.

"It'th meat! Little Sizi wanth to eat meat!"

Qin Fei was holding Little Mingda in her arms. The little girl stretched out her tender pink hand and pointed at a plate of braised pork in front of her.

"Alright, I'll get some meat for Little Sizi." Qin Fei couldn't resist pinching her little cheek, speaking with a face full of doting affection.

Looking at the braised pork, Li Shimin also felt a bit greedy. He couldn't help but pick up a piece with his chopsticks and put it into his mouth.

"Delicious!"

His eyes immediately lit up, and he gave a thumbs-up in praise. "I never expected the food of later generations to be this delicious. It is better than my imperial kitchen by I don't know how many times."

"That's for sure."

Jiang Yanran said with a smile, "Although the Great Tang also has spices, compared to the spices of our later generations, there is still a world of difference."

Empress Zhangsun also took a delicate bite and then said, "The taste is indeed incredibly savory. I have never eaten such a delicacy before."

"I wonder what kind of meat this is?" Li Lizhi asked.

"It's just pork," Cheng Weiyang replied.

Hearing this, Li Shimin and the others were all startled. "Pork? Isn't pork gamey and foul-smelling? To think it can be made so delicious?"

"Pigs in ancient times were mostly black pigs, right? They are different from the pigs of our later generations. Now we all have Landrace pigs here. Coupled with scientific breeding, not only do they grow fat and large, but their taste is also completely different," Xia Fei explained.

At this time, Little Sizi spoke up again, "Thith ith also yummy, like meat."

Hearing this, Li Shimin glanced at the contents of her bowl, picked up a piece as well, and put it in his mouth. After a moment, he nodded and said, "It is indeed delicious, soft and glutinous, and the taste is not much inferior to the pork just now. What is this?"

"These are potatoes."

Jiang Yanran said, "This stuff was only introduced to our land during the Ming Dynasty. Your Great Tang doesn't have it, and it seems it wasn't widely cultivated until the late Ming Dynasty."

"A new crop? Being so delicious, I'm afraid it won't be easy to plant, right? The yield probably wouldn't be too high either," Empress Zhangsun remarked.

"Exactly the opposite."

Jiang Yanran shook her head. "Potatoes are very easy to grow. They aren't picky about the soil, and their yield is extremely high."

"Not picky about the soil? Extremely high yield?" Li Shimin and the others were surprised.

Li Lizhi couldn't help but ask, "How high?"

Jiang Yanran thought for a moment and then said, "The yield of potatoes should be able to reach around five thousand jin. However, the jin we use now is slightly different from that of your Great Tang. I remember one jin in the Great Tang is about six hundred grams, while ours is five hundred grams. So, calculating it all together, using your measurement system, the yield of potatoes per mu should be around four thousand jin, which is forty dan."

"A yield of forty dan per mu!"

Hearing this, Li Shimin, Empress Zhangsun, and Li Lizhi were all shocked, their faces full of dumbfounded disbelief.

After quite a while, Li Shimin finally snapped out of it, his body trembling with excitement. "If we have this crop, wouldn't the commoners of my Great Tang never suffer from famine again?"

Wang Er added, "Besides potatoes, we actually have quite a few high-yield crops here. Rice can also reach a yield of a thousand jin per mu."

"Then there's corn, with a yield of around two thousand jin per mu, and the highest is sweet potatoes, which can reach up to eight thousand jin. I'll make a call later and have someone send over some seeds for these things too. When the time comes, you can take them back to the Great Tang along with the radios. Find a place to use as a pilot zone and see what the actual harvest yield is like. If there are no issues, you can directly promote them on a large scale."

"Thank... thank you!"

Li Shimin was simply too agitated; at this moment, even his speech had become a bit stuttered.

He raised his wine glass. "With this glass of wine, on behalf of all the subjects of the Great Tang, I thank you all!"

"Hey, hey... don't down it in one gulp..."

Xia Fei was sitting right next to him and wanted to speak up to stop him, but found it was already too late. Li Shimin had already tilted his head back and downed the wine in the glass in one gulp.

This was authentic Moutai, which was incredibly strong. Although the glass was small, for someone like Li Shimin drinking it for the first time, he definitely wouldn't be able to handle it.

Sure enough, as soon as the liquor entered his mouth, he realized something was wrong.

But for the sake of his pride, he still swallowed it down. It took him a good moment to recover. "This wine is actually this strong, but the taste is truly not bad."

...

Soon, after the meal was over, Qin Fei and the others took Little Sizi, Empress Zhangsun, and Princess Chang'le to a neighboring villa to settle them in for their stay.

Meanwhile, Li Shimin continued drinking with Wang Er and the others. By now, he was already quite drunk, his face flushed red. With one arm slung around Xia Fei's shoulder, he kept calling him "little brother" with every breath, acting as if they were the closest of sworn brothers.