Cooperation

Hearing this, Elder Zeng laughed heartily, "Haha, you must all be tired from the journey. I've already had someone prepare the food. Let's have a drink later and chat while we eat."

With that said, he led everyone toward a nearby building.

At this moment, Wang Yousheng was seen jogging over. He first saluted Elder Zeng, then curiously glanced at Li Shimin and his family before saying, "Elder Zeng, they are preparing to fire a few anti-aircraft guns over there. The noise might be a bit loud, so I came to give you a heads-up so you wouldn't be startled."

"Alright, we understand. Tell them to go ahead and fire. The weather around the base has indeed been a bit dry lately," Elder Zeng nodded.

"Yes, sir."

Wang Yousheng saluted again, then turned and left.

Seeing the curiosity on the faces of Li Shimin and his family, as if they wanted to see what was going on, Elder Zeng didn't rush to take them upstairs.

"Elder Zeng, the anti-aircraft gun you just mentioned, could it be that thing over there?"

Li Shimin's gaze followed the direction Wang Yousheng had come from. In a nearby open space, there was a cannon-like object. He had seen something similar on Xia Fei's phone before, but this one seemed a bit different.

"Yes."

Elder Zeng nodded, "An anti-aircraft gun, also known as a weather modification gun. These are usually modified from retired military anti-aircraft guns and are used to fire shells containing catalysts into the clouds."

"Fire into the clouds? What is the use of that?"

Li Shimin looked puzzled. In his understanding, weren't the cannons of later generations used on the battlefield? Why were they picking a fight with the clouds?

Elder Liu smiled and explained, "The main purpose is to make it rain. We generally call it artificial rainmaking."

"Artificial rainmaking?"

Hearing this, not only Li Shimin, but Empress Zhangsun and Li Lizhi also showed expressions of immense astonishment. "Can later generations actually do such a thing?"

In the minds of these ancients, rain was supposed to be controlled by the Dragon King.

"This is technology. You have to believe in science," Jiang Yanran said with a smile from the side.

Soon, the artillery shells were fired.

Qin Fei helped cover the little princess's ears to prevent her from being frightened.

Elder Liu spoke up, "Let's go. It's going to rain soon, so let's not stay outside. We can go in, eat, and chat."

With that, the group entered the building.

Inside a huge private dining room, after they sat down, Elder Zeng ordered the food to be served immediately.

Li Shimin sat between Elder Zeng and Elder Liu. The three of them drank and chatted about the construction of the Great Tang.

"I believe the development of the Great Tang should start from the ground up. Many things cannot be achieved overnight. For things like infrastructure, we can help by sending people over to build it first, but you also need to select people to learn the relevant knowledge from scratch. The development of technology requires the accumulation of generation after generation."

"In the early stages, we can help the Great Tang a lot with necessary infrastructure, but in the later stages, your people will have to handle it themselves. Of course, we will provide all the relevant knowledge."

"For example, we can build factories, hospitals, and educational facilities over there. We can just move the equipment straight over, and we can also help build power plants. However, if the Great Tang truly wants to develop, you will need your own industry to support it. All the equipment, parts, and things like that—you will have to make them yourselves from scratch."

"This process might be a bit long, but as long as we build the power plants first, many things will see a leap in progress. Electricity is the foundation of everything."

"As for communication and such..."

At this point, Elder Zeng fell slightly silent, as if carefully pondering something.

Qin Ning chuckled, "There is no need to rush with communications. Building base stations cannot be rushed, and it requires widespread electrical support. We can talk about that later. Previously, Xia Fei and his team already found a batch of radios and walkie-talkies. When the time comes, the Great Tang can just use those for now. However, the amount Xia Fei found probably is not enough, so I might have to trouble you, Elder Zeng, to have people send over more radios and walkie-talkies. I will deliver them all together when the time comes."

Saying this, he looked toward Li Shimin again. "Besides that, the most important thing is that education must keep up. It has to be completely popularized. The development of science and technology is not the work of just one or two people; it requires the joint effort of the entire nation."

Elder Zeng said, "Then let us talk about what the Great Tang can offer in return. Right now on our side, after coming into contact with Wei Planet, we are also vigorously developing many cutting-edge technologies that require many different resources. Therefore, we would like to mine some minerals from the Great Tang to bring back and use."

"Of course, the minerals and resources I am talking about are not just within the borders of the Great Tang, but also outside of them. When the time comes, whether the Great Tang sends troops to conquer those places, or we take action directly, either is fine. I personally think the latter would be faster and more convenient."

At the mere thought of the world over in the Great Tang, with its countless, unexploited resources, Elder Zeng and Elder Liu could wake up laughing from their dreams these past few days.

"No problem," Li Shimin nodded.

They drank and talked until midnight.

Empress Zhangsun, Qin Fei, and the others had long since been arranged to stay at the base.

Only Li Shimin was still holding onto Elder Zeng and Elder Liu, discussing matters related to the development of the Great Tang.

The next day, at noon.

A large number of personnel were secretly gathered at this base. At the same time, Elder Zeng had people transport various types of equipment from all over.

Qin Ning stood in a square. With a grand wave of his hand, he directly vanished from the spot, taking all the people and equipment with him.

The Great Tang.

The outskirts of Chang'an City.

On a vast, empty stretch of flat land, a large number of people and equipment appeared out of thin air.

In the morning, Qin Ning had already brought Li Shimin back for a trip and had him arrange for the soldiers here to cordon off this massive area, forbidding ordinary people from approaching.

At this moment, Wang Yousheng had also followed them here. Qin Ning intended for him to take full charge of matters on this side, having him first establish basic infrastructure like hydroelectric power stations.

Afterward, he found a relatively large space nearby, preparing to construct a portal that would allow them to travel back and forth between the modern world and the Great Tang.

About an hour later, the portal was completed. Qin Ning called Wang Yousheng over and said, "From now on, you can travel back and forth to the Great Tang directly through this portal. Equipment and such can also be transported directly through it."

"Understood, Young Master Qin," Wang Yousheng nodded.

After giving him a few more instructions, Qin Ning drove an off-road vehicle with Li Shimin and Empress Zhangsun toward Chang'an City.

Li Lizhi and Little Sizi temporarily stayed behind in the modern world and did not return with them this time.

Outside the city gates, the off-road vehicle slowly approached.

Many officials of the Great Tang had received the news earlier and were all waiting there.

When they saw a steel behemoth approaching, even though they had been informed beforehand that this was His Majesty's ride, they still could not hide the absolute amazement on their faces.

In the crowd, Cheng Yaojin could not help but speak up, "Why is this carriage so strange? And why is it moving on its own without any horses pulling it?"

Unfortunately, faced with his question, no one present could provide an answer.

Soon, after the vehicle came to a steady stop, Li Shimin, Empress Zhangsun, and Qin Ning stepped out.

The officials immediately went up to greet them, saying, "Greetings, Your Majesty."

"Good, good, you may all rise. I announce that from now on in our Great Tang, except to one's own parents and elders, no one is required to perform the kneeling bow anymore, and that includes to me."

Ever since his trip to the modern era, Li Shimin truly realized that there were far too many things in the current Great Tang that needed to be completely changed.