In this Ironman Triathlon, in addition to the excellent men of the Tang Dynasty, students from neighboring countries and many military officials from small countries who came for exchange also came to participate in the competition and got a corresponding ranking.
However, in the top ten, none of them were from small countries. All of them were excellent men of the Tang Dynasty. After all, the Tang Dynasty was the most powerful empire in the world. The excellent men of the Tang Dynasty were naturally better than the men of the neighboring small countries. In addition, the men of the Tang Dynasty came into contact with bicycles earlier and were more familiar with bicycles. As the host of the competition in Chang 'an, they had some advantages and naturally could get a better ranking.
The higher the ranking of the men of the Tang Dynasty, the more it showed the strength of the Tang Dynasty. It made the neighboring countries admire the Tang Dynasty so much that they would not dare to challenge the authority of the Tang Dynasty.
"Ah Weng, I didn't get first place, but I will do it next time."
Chen Xuanli's grandson looked a little disappointed. In the past, he could always get first place in horse riding competitions and get envious looks from others. However, in this competition, he only got a dozen places. One could imagine the disappointment in his heart.
"It's okay if you lose. You can compete again next time. Raise your head. Don't always look like you've lost your soul."
Chen Xuanli did not care about the results of the competition. He hated to see people who were disheartened after losing the competition. This was a sign of lack of ambition, which was very undesirable.
"Great General, your grandson is really strong. He's only sixteen years old, but he's already so tall. It's really amazing!"
Ang Lee praised.
"Humph, he is just a big fool. He can only be a warrior in the future. Our old Chen family has never had a person who can learn culture."
Chen Xuanli seemed a little regretful.
"Being a warrior is good! Our Tang Dynasty values martial arts. Learning martial arts is very promising. "
Ang Lee said.
Chen Xuanli shook his head and said, "That was in the past, but what about in the future? Ever since Assistant Minister Li invented the Iron Armored Artillery Carriage, the surrounding countries are no longer a match for it. No matter how strong a person's martial arts is, he will not be able to fight against an advanced weapon like the Iron Armored Artillery Carriage. As long as the Iron Armored Artillery Carriage is present, even if the soldiers are weak, as long as the general knows the art of war, he will still be able to win the war! "
It had to be said that Chen Xuanli's eyes were very sharp. He could tell at a glance that the status of martial artists would decline in the future. After all, with the advancement of technology, individual martial arts were no longer the most important thing. After all, no matter how powerful one's martial arts were, they could not compete with advanced weapons.
Take the iron-armored artillery vehicles as an example. In the usual confrontation exercises, the side that won was usually the side that was skilled in operating the artillery, not the side that was strong in physical strength and fighting strength. Therefore, individual martial arts could no longer determine everything.
Of course, even if martial arts could not determine everything, it was still very important. This was because the stronger one's fighting strength was, the stronger one's physical fitness would be. And a stronger physical fitness meant that one could endure long periods of marching and fighting.
In theory, a weak scholar could also learn how to operate the Iron Armored Artillery Carriage and could also attack the enemy. However, if it was a long distance march and a long period of continuous offensive warfare, it would be difficult for weak people with poor physical fitness to adapt.
After all, even though there were pneumatic tires and spring damping systems, the iron-armored artillery vehicles would still feel bumps when moving forward, especially on complex and changeable terrains. If the soldiers' bodies were not good enough, they would feel nauseous when marching for a long time, not to mention fighting in a battle.
The performance of the later generation's passenger cars was far superior to that of the Iron Armored Artillery Carriage developed by Ang Lee, and they ran on flat roads. Even so, many people would get carsick and vomit everywhere. The worst thing was that they vomited in less than an hour on the journey. This showed that physical fitness was also very important. It was just that the advancement of science and technology had seriously weakened the value of martial arts, but it did not mean that martial arts were useless.
"In that case, it is my invention of these advanced weapons that have lowered the status of the warriors of the Tang dynasty. I wonder if the warriors of the Tang dynasty will be jealous of me?"
Ang Lee said with a smile.
"Assistant Minister Li worries too much. The appearance of the Iron Armored Artillery Carriage has indeed made the people with strong martial arts less useful. However, it is also a blessing for the warriors of the Tang dynasty to have such powerful weapons in the army of the Tang dynasty. Therefore, no one will be jealous of Assistant Minister Li. Everyone will only thank Assistant Minister Li. It is Assistant Minister Li who has given them the capital to be invincible."
Chen Xuanli said.
Ang Lee nodded gently. He felt that Chen Xuanli was right. His invention of advanced weapons had given the warriors of the Tang dynasty the capital to be invincible. This was a good thing for the country and the people. How could anyone be jealous of him? However, the ambitious kings around him must hate him, especially Tsangpu of Tubo and other ambitious kings. Ang Lee's appearance had completely ruined their good deeds and made their dreams of dominating the world vanish. They even became prisoners of the Tang Empire.
"Tell me, how does it feel to ride a bicycle? How is it compared to riding a horse? "
"To be honest, at first, I was not used to it. However, after a while, I felt that riding a bicycle was better. The speed of riding a horse is completely determined by the horse, but the speed of riding a bicycle is determined by the strength of the individual's legs. After getting used to riding a bicycle, the speed is much faster than riding a horse."
Chen Xuanli's grandson straightforwardly replied.
"Bicycles are cheaper than horses, and the cost of wear and tear is even lower. In the past, only rich people could afford horses, but now, ordinary people can also ride bicycles. It is greatly convenient for the lives of ordinary people. Many people can ride bicycles directly from the capital to Luoyang, and it will only take a few days to get there."
Chen Xuanli said.
This kind of thing really happened. After buying a bicycle, many people did ride a bicycle directly to Luoyang, so that they could save the money of taking a train.
In a certain period of time in later generations, many such things happened. Riding a bicycle for hundreds or thousands of miles happened from time to time. Of course, after one became rich, such a thing rarely happened, unless it was someone who loved to ride. Only those who were bored would ride hundreds or thousands of miles in one go.
In addition, there were also some aristocrats who began to like riding bicycles when they went on excursions. After all, bicycles were a relatively new thing, and riding a bicycle was more eye-catching.
Of course, with the advancement of technology, the Tang dynasty would introduce family cars in the future, and after the appearance of family cars, it would inevitably cause a new round of popularity.
However, at present, family cars were still relatively far away. After all, the steam engine was too noisy, and its size was also very big, so riding comfort was relatively poor. If they wanted to achieve the popularity of family cars, they must invent cars that burned gasoline. The premise of inventing cars was that they must first discover oil resources and know how to mine and refine oil. Only in this way could the popularity of family cars be realized, so as to improve the life of the people and make it convenient for them to travel.
Ang Lee was full of confidence in the ability to mine and refine oil and eventually invent family cars. After all, so many impossible things had been realized. So, what else could not be achieved? Now, the number of scientific and technological talents in the Tang dynasty had exceeded 300,000. Moreover, with the gradual development of agricultural technology and the popularization of American food crops, more people joined the scientific research and industry. With so many people as the foundation, what else was impossible?
Li An believed that as long as he was willing to do it, he would definitely be able to invent an extremely practical family car. Wasn't it just mining oil? Wasn't it just refining oil? There was also the automobile industry. Although it was extremely complicated, as long as he had enough funds and human resources, he would definitely be able to do it.
In the future, the Hua Xia Empire, under extremely difficult conditions, had developed nuclear weapons that were feared by the world and surprised people all over the world. So, in the era of the Tang dynasty, what was impossible? Moreover, after many years of development, the industrial foundation of the Tang dynasty had been established, and it could already process and manufacture many things in the future. As long as Ang Lee drew the advanced technology in his mind on the drawings and let the technical talents of the Tang dynasty study it, it was completely possible to make extremely advanced cars.
Once the car technology appeared, not only would the popularity of private cars become possible, but the advanced armored artillery vehicles would also become more practical and more powerful than before. At that time, the Tang Empire would completely abandon the backward and polluting means of transportation like carriages and fully promote the popularization of cars.
In this way, the streets of Chang 'an would become very clean, and there would no longer be horse dung everywhere. This was crucial to improving the international prestige of the Tang Empire.
Li An spoke his thoughts, causing Chen Xuanli and his granddaughter to stare with their mouths agape. They realized that Li An's abilities were much greater than they had imagined, and they felt heartfelt admiration for Li An from the bottom of their hearts.
After leaving the lakeside of Qu River, Ang Lee returned to the R&D center to do research. Chen Xuanli couldn't hold back and revealed Ang Lee's idea, and soon many people knew about it.
Underground oil and cars were all new things, and people were always curious, so they were very interested in this issue and were very willing to spread it. That night, the news reached the ears of the Emperor.
After learning that there was an underground oil resource that was more useful than charcoal and had such a broad application prospect, the Emperor Li Longji couldn't stay calm. After thinking about it again and again, he immediately asked Ang Lee to go to the palace for an audience. As the Emperor of the Tang Empire, he had to figure out what good things were underground and many things related to oil. He couldn't sleep if he didn't figure out these things.
After dark, the palace eunuchs went to Ang Lee's courtyard to announce the imperial edict, asking Ang Lee to go to the palace immediately to meet the Emperor. Ang Lee was naturally very clear about the reason for the meeting. During the day, he had already told Chen Xuanli about the oil. This talkative guy would definitely not be able to hold back and say it out loud. In this way, the Emperor would definitely know about it, and once the Emperor knew about it, he would definitely summon him to the palace to ask about it. There was no doubt about that.
"Your humble servant pays his respects to Your Majesty."
Ang Lee saluted respectfully as usual.
"Assistant Minister Li, you don't have to be so polite. Come here and have a seat."
Li Longji was getting nicer and nicer to Ang Lee. In the entire Tang Empire, there were only a few people who could sit together with the Emperor.
"Your Majesty summoned me to the palace so late. May I know the reason?"
Even if he knew the reason why Li Longji summoned him to the palace, Ang Lee still had to ask. This was the most basic etiquette. What if he guessed wrong and the Emperor summoned him for something else?
"Here's the thing. I heard about oil and cars, but everyone knows that there is water underground. How can there be oil? Oil is more useful than charcoal, but what is oil? "
Li Longji looked at Ang Lee with a puzzled face, wanting to know the truth from Ang Lee.
Ang Lee thought for a moment and asked, "Your Majesty, what about oil? It's formed by the melting of stones underground. It's a black liquid that looks similar to writing ink. However, it's oil after all, so it's much more viscous than ink. It's similar to oil. "
The reason why he didn't tell the truth was that the formation process of oil was too complicated. It couldn't be explained clearly in a short time. It was also very difficult to explain. If he directly said that it was formed by the melting of stones, it would be easier to understand and be accepted by Li Longji. Therefore, Ang Lee had to say so.
"The stones underground melted and formed a black liquid like ink? How is this possible? Is Assistant Minister Li really sure that there is black oil underground? "
Li Longji asked seriously.
"Your Majesty, I can confirm that there is black oil underground, but not everywhere. Most places don't have it. Only a few places have it."
Ang Lee said seriously.
"There is black liquid underground in a few places. Assistant Minister Li, do you know where it is? Is there any black oil in the Tang dynasty? "
Li Longji asked with concern.
"Your Majesty, the Tang dynasty is vast. Of course there is black oil, but it's only in a few places. A large amount of oil is in the west, under the desert of Dashi."
Ang Lee answered seriously.
"A large amount of oil is under the desert of Dashi?"
Li Longji looked puzzled. He looked at Ang Lee and asked seriously, "Let's put aside the oil of Dashi for the time being. Where is the oil of the Tang dynasty? Does Assistant Minister Li know? "
"Your Majesty, where is the oil? We have to explore it to know. I only know the approximate location. I really don't know the specific location."
Ang Lee could only tell the truth.
"Then where exactly is it?"
Li Longji continued to ask.
"Your Majesty, the place with the most oil in the Tang dynasty should be in Hebei Province. The specific location can only be known after the exploration in the future."
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