Chapter Thirty-Nine: Horseshoe

  Du He finally calmed down Li Xueyan with great effort and immediately asked: "Do you have a grudge against that crazy girl?"

  "A blood feud!" Li Xueyan nodded her head, gritting her teeth with a determined look on her face.

  Du He was taken aback and hastily asked what kind of great enmity could lead to such a tragic fate!

  "That stinky girl was also a student of Hongwen Academy, and she had been at odds with me since childhood. One time, she was picking bird eggs from a tree and actually smashed the egg on my head, it was so slippery and uncomfortable. I was furious, pushed the ladder down and threw it into the lake, letting her cry in the tree for an hour."

  Du He wiped the cold sweat on his forehead and continued listening.

  "Not long after, one day I found a box on my desk in the classroom, and I didn't know who put it there. Curious, I opened it, and to my surprise...". Li Xueyan said here, unexpectedly shuddered, opened her mouth, and finally said: "The box was filled with toads... those things, sticky and covered with warts, disgusting to death. They crawled and jumped around, some even jumping onto me. This must have been done by that stinky girl Li Weiling, who knew I was afraid of these disgusting creatures and personally caught them in the fields to take revenge. However, this incident enraged the teacher, who expelled that stinky girl from school."

  "You say, such a great hatred, how can you give her a good face!" Li Xueyan angrily clenched her fists.

  "Hmm..." Du He was speechless in response. Is this really a life-and-death feud? Indeed, it's big enough. Women are truly incomprehensible creatures.

  The two people's date didn't lose its interest due to Li Weiling's sudden appearance, Du He took Li Xueyan to a famous snack street in Chang'an.

  This is a place for ordinary people to gather, there are no luxurious restaurants, only various small eats on the streets, such as soup-filled buns, braised sauce noodles, potstickers and so on.

  At first, Li Xueyan still felt that the things here were not clean and sanitary, and she didn't dare to eat them. But after eating a pot-sticker fish, her two eyes reflected an unusual sparkle, and her mouth couldn't stop for a moment.

  Earlier in the wine house, Li Xueyan was so focused on competing with Li Weiling that she forgot to eat, and now it's just the right time to open her stomach and have a meal.

  "Mountain delicacies and seafood are all the same, but if you want to talk about truly delicious food, it's got to be this kind of specialty snack."

  Li Xueyan originally didn't think so, but at this moment she was busy nodding and said: "En, ni shuode meicuo (you're right)!" Her mouth was stuffed with food, and her words were unclear.

  Having eaten and drunk their fill, Du He took Li Xueyan to visit the Confucius Temple, then took her to Dongshi Market to buy gifts for Li Daozong. Only then did they return home satisfied, marking a perfect end to their first date in the Tang Dynasty.

  After sending Li Xueyan back to the Ren City Wangfu, seeing that it was still early, Du He rushed to the Luo family's fief on horseback.

  But unexpectedly saw Luo Tong looking at his beloved horse with a deep and tender expression, his eyes showing a reluctance to part, the brush in his hand gently brushing its fur.

  Du He's skin crawled with goosebumps, and he awkwardly said: "Mingda (Lu Tongzi), how can you bear to say this?"

  Lu Tong looked at Du He with a strange expression, seeing that his eyes had some other deep meaning. Suddenly enlightened, he scolded: "You little devil is good at this! You've practiced too hard, the horse's hooves are damaged and can't run anymore. This horse has followed me for nearly ten years, I'm reluctant to part with it!" As he spoke, he patted the horse's buttocks and handed Du He its hind hoof to look at.

  It was because of the contact between the hoof and the ground that the outer layer of living horn on the edge of the hoof fell off due to friction from the ground.

  Du He suddenly shouted loudly: "Horseshoe, horseshoes... why no horseshoes?"

  "What is a horseshoe?" Rotton looked puzzled, having never heard of this name.

  Du He suddenly realized that the problem lay in the fact that in this culturally flourishing Tang Dynasty, there were no horseshoes.

  Her expression turned serious as if her mind had been struck by lightning.

  The purpose of promoting horse polo is not for entertainment, but to have the whole nation practice riding skills, so that every citizen of Tang Dynasty can master riding skills, and thus enable Tang Dynasty to build a cavalry army that can dominate the world.

  Du He's idea is undoubtedly good, but the first problem has emerged.

  The Tang Dynasty was prosperous, and almost every household had horses. However, their horses were mainly used for farming and were of a small breed. In their spare time, they practiced horse riding and playing polo to improve their horsemanship.

  But because there are no horseshoes, doing so is equivalent to harming the horse. Now they may not have noticed, but once a problem arises, they will inevitably give up training due to heartache for the horse.

  Thus, Du He's plan will also be abandoned.

  "What a close call!" Du He secretly wiped away a cold sweat and exclaimed: "Thank you, Ming Da, you've saved my life!"

  Lu Tong is good at riding, day and night training, which makes the horse suffer. Now it's the farming season, ordinary people don't have much time and energy to spend on playing polo, so even if they want to practice, they can't do it for long. This short period of time is not enough to make their horses suffer. There is still a way to save things, he rushes to the imperial palace.

  Du He's body carried a high-level token given by Li Shimin, and in the palace, he could pass through unimpeded. In an instant, he found Li Shimin in the Ganlu Temple.

  The sky had darkened, but Li Shimin was still reviewing documents at his desk, with a look of satisfaction on his face, tinged with some fatigue.

  Before Du Huaiyu could even greet him, Li Shimin burst out in a loud, thunderous laughter: "Thanks to your wise suggestion, I'm almost overwhelmed now. Every minister is vying for the title of Best Minister, each one exerting themselves to offer strategies for the benefit of Great Tang. In just half a month, I've issued three decrees revising inadequate laws, making the laws and national policies of Great Tang even more perfect."

  Li Shimin was somewhat tired, but his smile was exceptionally rich.

  For him, there was nothing more delightful than making the Tang Dynasty prosperous and strong.

  "Work and rest combined, Uncle Li still hopes to pay more attention to your body. You are the pillar of my Great Tang Dynasty, you can't fall!" Du He said with a half-joking tone.

  Li Shimin said, "No need to worry, I'm still young and strong, just the other day I personally shot a big bear. Ah... there's still one bear paw left, I'll have someone send it over later."

  Li Shimin paused for a moment, then said: "You little scoundrel, if you didn't have something on your mind, you wouldn't be so kind as to come and chat with me. Hurry up and speak, I'm busy!"

  Du Ruhui solemnly reflected the problem to Li Shimin.

  Li Shimin's expression also turned serious. He was best at using cavalry and had once been a fierce general who charged into the fray, so he was not unfamiliar with this matter.

  "This is not your fault, I didn't think of it either. The key is how to solve it!" Li Shimin was still quite reasonable and did not blame him for this.

  "Dui yu ci shi, xiao zhong you le yi ge xiang fa!" Du He said out the horseshoe nail's idea and personally drew a structural diagram to illustrate its usage.

  Li Shimin stood up with a moved expression, pulled Du He and rushed out, while ordering Hou Junji, Li Ji, and Cheng Yaojin to hurry to the Shao Fu Temple for a meeting.

  The Shaofu Supervision is in charge of various technical tasks, including smelting and forging techniques, with the best craftsmen in the Tang Dynasty.

  According to Tuhege's construction diagram, the craftsman made a horseshoe in an extremely short period of time. Under Tuhege's guidance, the craftsman installed the horseshoe on the horse's hoof.

  Hou Junji, Li Ji and Cheng Yaojin all rushed over together.

  Li Shimin told them the whole story, and the three of them burst out with fiery enthusiasm in their eyes.

  They all understood what the horseshoe meant.

  Li Shimin pointed at the horse and said: "General Cheng, ride on it and try it out!"

  PS: New week, new battle, book friends give a vote, today three updates, this is the first update.