A Little Shock to the Ministers

"This..."

Hearing Li Shimin's words, the officials were all shocked.

Zhangsun Wuji said, "Your Majesty, since ancient times..."

"Do not speak such useless nonsense to me. I am informing you, not discussing it with you."

Li Shimin waved his hand, unceremoniously interrupting him.

In the past, he might not have spoken so bluntly.

Although he was the emperor, many things were not up to him alone to decide. A true autocracy did not exist.

As a ruler, there were many things to consider.

Sometimes, a simple sentence could cause a massive upheaval in the royal court.

But things were different now.

After a trip to the future, many things and events there had profoundly shocked Li Shimin.

He knew very well that some things had to be changed, and absolutely must be changed.

Most importantly, now that he had Qin Ning's support and the backing of the future generations, even if the court experienced a massive upheaval, it would be easy for Li Shimin to smooth things over.

At this moment, not far outside the city, two giant steel beasts slowly drove over.

These were two massive trucks loaded with goods, which eventually stopped in front of the city gates.

After the rear cargo doors of the trucks were opened, twenty to thirty figures jumped out.

They wore uniform attire and gave off the aura of soldiers, but they were not troops of the Tang Dynasty; they were from the future Huaxia.

These were also people Qin Ning had brought along earlier.

In less than ten minutes, these twenty or thirty future soldiers unloaded all the cargo from the two trucks, placed it on the open ground outside the city gate, and then got back into the trucks and drove far away.

"Your Majesty, those people just now..."

"Why were they dressed so peculiarly? Moreover, they didn't look like people of our Great Tang. What are the things they unloaded?"

The officials finally snapped out of their daze and could not help but ask.

In truth, apart from Li Shimin's family, no one else in the Great Tang knew Qin Ning's identity or origins, let alone that Li Shimin had visited the future a few days ago.

Everything they witnessed here today was incredibly shocking to them.

Especially those two giant steel beasts from earlier. No matter how hard they thought, they could not understand why those things could move on their own without needing horses to pull them.

More importantly, if such massive constructs were to ram into the gates of Chang'an City, the entire gate would surely be smashed open.

This was definitely a lethal weapon for sieging a city!

Where on earth did His Majesty get these things?

Facing the officials' questions, Li Shimin did not reply. Instead, he picked up three items from the pile of goods, held them up in front of the crowd, and said with an excited look on his face, "My beloved ministers, guess what these are?"

"Looks like some kind of fruit? No, no, why is there so much mud on them?" Cheng Yaojin leaned in closer, examining them carefully.

Li Shimin smiled and said, "These are corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. They are all crops."

"Oh? They are actually crops? We have never seen them before." The crowd was surprised. They all gathered around, touching and looking at the sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn Li Shimin mentioned, finding them very novel.

"This crop is actually so gorgeous, just like jade!"

Yuchi Gong, wearing armor and having dark skin, held an ear of corn in his hand and spoke in astonishment.

"This is corn, a type of staple food. It can be eaten boiled, or dried and ground into powder to make noodles."

Qin Ning explained, "The yield of corn per mu is around two thousand catties, which is twenty piculs."

"A yield of twenty piculs per mu?!"

Hearing this, everyone was greatly shocked. "Divine objects! These are divine objects!"

Zhangsun Wuji said excitedly, "What divine objects! This is an auspicious omen! It is simply an auspicious omen for our Great Tang!"

"Your Majesty, can this corn really yield twenty piculs per mu? Doesn't that mean that from now on, no commoner in our Great Tang will ever go hungry again?"

Seeing everyone's excited faces, Empress Zhangsun stepped forward. Holding a potato and a sweet potato in her hands, she smiled and said, "Compared to potatoes and sweet potatoes, the yield of corn is actually on the lower side. Potatoes can yield thirty to forty piculs per mu, and sweet potatoes are even more abundant, yielding at least seventy to eighty piculs!"

"This, this, this..."

As soon as she said this, everyone gasped, their faces full of disbelief.

"My beloved ministers, there is no need to doubt. What Guanyinbi said is absolutely true. From today onwards, our Great Tang will begin to promote the cultivation of these three crops."

Li Shimin stepped forward. "Besides this, I have also brought back many other things this time."

Saying so, he picked up a few binoculars from the ground and handed them to Cheng Yaojin, Zhangsun Wuji, and the others.

"These are binoculars, but I prefer to call them Thousand-Mile Eyes."

Li Shimin said, and then taught everyone how to use them.

When they put the binoculars to their eyes and looked at the distant mountains, they were shocked once again.

Li Jing spoke excitedly at a glance, "Your Majesty, if we have this item on the battlefield, wouldn't we be able to perfectly observe the enemy's movements? A divine object! A divine object indeed!"

Qin Qiong also said, "Yes, Your Majesty. Furthermore, this item will provide tremendous help for our army's communications. At that time, even if two armies are far apart, they can use this to communicate with flag signals."

"In the future, our Great Tang won't even need flag signals."

Hearing this, Li Shimin chuckled. He picked up two walkie-talkies from the ground, handed one to Yuchi Gong, and kept the other in his own hand.

"Your Majesty? What is this?" Yuchi Gong held the walkie-talkie in his hand. This black box didn't look like a weapon, and it wasn't heavy enough to be used as a brick to smash people with.

"This is a walkie-talkie."

Li Shimin briefly explained how to use it to Yuchi Gong, and then asked him to run a hundred paces toward the inside of the city.

After seeing Yuchi Gong stop from afar, he held the walkie-talkie, pressed the button on it, and said, "Jingde, can you hear my voice?"

Beside him, Zhangsun Wuji and the others all had looks of confusion on their faces.

Why was His Majesty talking to this black box?

And from such a distance, how could Yuchi Jingde possibly hear him?

But the next moment, Yuchi Gong's voice suddenly came out from the black box in Li Shimin's hand. "I can hear you! Your Majesty! I can hear you!"

"How is this possible?"

Everyone was stunned. Yuchi Gong's voice had actually come out clearly from the black box, as if he were right in front of them.

Such a thing completely subverted their understanding of the world.

"That's enough, Jingde. You can come back now," Li Shimin said into the walkie-talkie again.

"Yes, Your Majesty. This old minister will return at once."

After responding, Yuchi Gong, who was on the distant street, sprinted back at maximum speed.

Panting heavily, he said with an excited face, "Your Majesty, this item can actually transmit sound across space. If it is used on the battlefield..."