Seven days later, Li Ling had Fang Xuanling present the curved-shaft plow, horseshoes, papermaking, and movable type printing to Li Er.
"Brother Li, are... are these all real? With these things, my Tang Dynasty will surely have enough food for everyone to eat and books for everyone to read."
Upon seeing these items produced by Li Ling, Fang Xuanling was utterly thrilled. He immediately had people load them onto a carriage and set off toward the imperial palace.
Inside the palace, Li Er was keeping company with Empress Zhangsun.
"Guanyin, how are you feeling?"
"Your Majesty need not worry about your concubine. The imperial physicians frequently come to treat me, so Your Majesty can rest easy. Cough, cough~"
Seeing Empress Zhangsun break into a violent fit of coughs after saying only a few words, Li Er grew extremely anxious and hastily called out, "Someone come! Summon the imperial physicians!"
Just then, a young eunuch stepped forward to report.
"Your Majesty, Empress, Prime Minister Fang is here to see you."
Hearing this, Li Er frowned and looked at Empress Zhangsun.
"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Fang has surely come here for an important matter. Your concubine's health is fine; I will be just fine once I go back and rest for a while."
Li Er hurriedly ordered attendants to help Empress Zhangsun back to her chambers to rest before going out to meet Fang Xuanling.
As he waited, Fang Xuanling saw Li Er approach, immediately stood up, and said with great excitement: "Congratulations, Your Majesty! Rejoice, Your Majesty! Brother Li has already made the curved-shaft plow, the horseshoes, movable type printing, and papermaking. I have come specifically to present them to Your Majesty."
Li Er was startled and quickly said, "Are all the things he spoke of true? Quick! Bring them here for Us to see."
As Li Er finished speaking, several guards strode into the hall and presented the items brought by Fang Xuanling.
Fang Xuanling stepped forward to explain how each of these items was used. Hearing about something is one thing, but seeing it with one's own eyes is another. Li Er immediately ordered his men to summon Zhangsun Wuji, Cheng Yaojin, Wei Zheng, and the others.
Once everyone had arrived, Li Er spoke up: "My lords, take a look! These are the items brought by the Prime Minister."
Hearing this, the ministers stepped forward to examine them. Cheng Yaojin picked up a horseshoe and said, "Just this tiny piece of iron can keep a horse's hooves from wearing down? In this old Cheng's view, Prime Minister Fang, aren't you being duped by that Li Ling?"
After saying this, Cheng Yaojin saw that everyone else remained silent, staring intently at the curved-shaft plow and the small blocks for movable type printing, and curled his lip. "What are you all staring at here anyway? Can you stare flowers out of them? In my view, whether it's a mule or a horse, you take it out for a trot to find out."
"Zhijie is right. My lords, follow Us to the imperial garden. Junxian, go find an ox."
Li Junxian acknowledged the order, and not long after everyone arrived at the imperial garden, he led over an old yellow ox.
Without waiting for Li Er to give further instructions, someone naturally harnessed the ox to the plow. At Li Er's command, they began tilling the soil right there in the imperial garden.
Watching the eunuch guiding the plow stride along briskly, the onlookers felt a quiet surge of amazement.
Li Er hurried over to the freshly plowed earth, squatted down to rake through the soil with his hands, and nodded slightly. Then he shooed the eunuch aside and took hold of the plow handles himself.
A moment later, Li Er said to the crowd with some excitement: "That Li Ling truly did not deceive Us. This curved-shaft plow requires only one man and one ox to till the fields, and its efficiency is several times higher than the straight plows currently used in our Tang Dynasty. Hahaha!"
Seeing Li Er burst into laughter, the rest of the ministers also wore delighted expressions and bowed to offer their congratulations: "We congratulate Your Majesty! Rejoice, Your Majesty! With such a divine plow, everyone in our Tang Dynasty will surely have enough to eat."
At that moment, a guard walked over leading a warhorse. "Your Majesty, as you commanded, all four hooves of the warhorse have been fitted with horseshoes."
Li Er nodded upon hearing this and looked at Li Junxian.
"Your Majesty, why not let this old minister test this warhorse fitted with horseshoes?"
Without waiting for Li Er to nod, Cheng Yaojin stepped forward, took the reins of the warhorse, and vaulted effortlessly onto its back. After galloping back and forth across a specially prepared gravel path several times, he finally reined the horse back and led it before Li Er.
"Men, inspect the hooves."
A group of guards stepped forward to cast the warhorse down, displaying its four hooves to everyone.
The ministers stepped forward to look, and saw that on the hooves of the warhorse—which had galloped back and forth across the gravel path several times—only the faintest marks were left.
"Your Majesty, with these horseshoes, our Tang Dynasty will save tens of thousands of warhorses every year."
Hearing this, Li Er smiled and said: "Yaoshi is right. Although this horseshoe is simple in design, the person who could conceive such a clever idea is truly a rare talent indeed."
"Who is the person that presented this item? Should Your Majesty not bestow a title upon him so he can serve our Tang Dynasty?"
"Hahaha! Bestow a title? What this person wants is to be the National Preceptor of our Tang Dynasty, Yaoshi. That curved-shaft plow was also presented to Us by this same person."
As soon as Li Er finished speaking, the officials who did not yet know who Li Ling was were all deeply shocked.
"Your Majesty, the position of National Preceptor is of the utmost importance. It must not be lightly promised."
Li Er looked at the official who had spoken and remained silent. At that moment, a eunuch hurried over and handed a paper covered in writing to Li Er.
After taking it and glancing over it, Li Er handed it to Zhangsun Wuji at his side, and it was passed along in turn for everyone to read.
When all of them had finished reading it, Li Er smiled and asked, "What do you lords think of this?"
The officials who were still in the dark only saw that the writing on the paper was neat and evenly spaced, without thinking much else of it.
"Your Majesty, the handwriting here is neat and orderly, but I wonder who wrote it? Could it be the work of one of the princes?"
"Hahaha! Old Thief Kong, this is movable type printing. You're rather ill-informed, aren't you?"
"Hump! Old Ruffian Cheng, this old man is ashamed to be counted among boorish fellows like you."
With a smile, Li Er said, "Lord Kong, this is text printed using the movable type printing presented by the very person who gave us the horseshoes and the curved-shaft plow. Someone, bring forward the movable type."
As Li Er spoke, two eunuchs carried over the pieces of 'movable type' and assembled and arranged them right there in public.
Upon seeing sheet after sheet of paper printed densely with text, everyone was struck with disbelief and astonishment.
"Your Majesty, with this movable type printing, the cost of books will be drastically reduced. By then, everyone in our Tang Dynasty will have books to read."
Kong Yingda held the printed sheet in both hands, trembling with excitement as he spoke to Li Er.
At this moment, joy filled Li Er's heart as well; this Li Ling truly possessed a degree of talent.
"My lords, these items were all presented by a good friend of Xuanling's. This person is an outsider to official circles, and in exchange for these contributions, he wishes to sit in the position of National Preceptor of our Tang Dynasty. What do you all think?"
"This..."
As Li Er's voice trailed off, for a moment no one dared to speak. Each of these items was a monumental achievement, but the position of National Preceptor was no ordinary post.
"Your Majesty, this old minister believes it cannot be done. While the merit of what this man has presented is certainly great, isn't the position of National Preceptor a bit too heavy? In this old minister's view, conferring the rank of viscount would be quite enough."
"Indeed! This minister agrees with Lord Cui's words."
Hearing this, Fang Xuanling frowned, stepped forward, and said: "Your Majesty, this curved-shaft plow allows the people of our Tang Dynasty to cultivate more land and resolve our food shortage. The horseshoes allow the number of our Tang cavalry to multiply, and movable type printing and papermaking will allow everyone in the Tang Dynasty to have books to read. This minister believes the position of National Preceptor is well deserved."
As soon as Fang Xuanling finished speaking, Cheng Yaojin stepped out.
"Your Majesty, Old Fang is right. Although that Li Ling gave my boy Chumo a beating, this old Cheng is not such a petty person. Since these things can make our Tang Dynasty powerful, this old Cheng thinks Li Ling deserves to be the National Preceptor."
"This minister agrees!"
Seeing this, Li Er did not express his stance. A sharp glint flickered in his eyes, and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
A young eunuch came rushing hurriedly from outside the imperial garden, tumbling to the ground a few times along the way without even seeming to feel the pain.
"What is the meaning of such a frantic panic?" Li Er demanded sternly at the sight.
"Your Majesty, it's... it's bad! The... the Empress... is... is failing!"