The Marquis' Wife
Waterwheel

"Good! Goody!. I'm very impressed by the contribution you've made on the exam paper. How can you conclude this proposal?".

When checking the answer, he was so shocked to read Lu Xiang's reply and saw a picture of a waterwheel he had never seen before. The next day he immediately handed the answer to the Emperor and explained who Lu Xiang was and what contribution the man had given to the kingdom of Murong.

The Emperor was so interested after he finished reading and wanted to immediately get the public works ministry to make a waterwheel directly on a friend's lake close to his Fengtian palace.

The eunuchs and court ladies became excited by the experiment and the news of the Emperor making something in the Phoenix lake spread not only in the forbidden city but also to the ears of the officials.

The servants made the waterwheel carefully and very carefully because it was under the direct supervision of the Emperor. They made it for 4 hours before breathing a sigh of relief after finishing it.

The 3-meter-high and 2-meter-diameter watermill gallantly stood beside the lake but the absence of wind and water flow made the watermill not run as it should.

"Why not move?".

Public works ministry employees turned deathly pale, they glanced at each other because they did not know the cause.

Shu Taifu then looked back at Lu Xiang's answer carefully and compared it with the waterwheel image on the answer paper.

There was no difference, he checked back and realized that Lu Xiang was using a riverbed instead of a lake or other water reservoir.

"The scholar Xiao Xieyuan wrote that the lack of waterwheels is that they can only be made in rivers". Due to the limited answer paper, Lu Xiang did not write the workings of the waterwheel and only wrote the functions and shortcomings.

Shu Taifu panicked a little because it was not so thorough, he thought that a place where a lot of water could be used as a place to build a waterwheel.

The emperor was silent for a moment. Shu Taifu immediately knelt down asking for mercy. "I am not very thorough in concluding this sentence of the Emperor, please punish me".

The Emperor waved his hand, told his right-hand prime minister to stand up and asked curiously. He himself also deduced the same thing as Shu Taifu. "Why should we be in the river?".

The clerk, Kasim and Shu Taifu thought for a moment before one of the public works ministry employees answered cautiously. "That's because there's a stream of water in the Emperor's river".

The Emperor and the others nodded in understanding. Those who are only in the palace do not understand and understand with an item or anything created by the people, especially if it has never existed before.

It felt like the Emperor called Lu Xiang and told the young man to explain in detail but given that there would be many eyes focused on the young man later made the Emperor undo his intentions. He did not want the official candidate he was interested in disappearing before he could use it.

Finally the Emperor told the servant to turn the waterwheel manually and was amazed to see the water stored in the small wood that had been hollowed out in the middle fall on the water reservoir before moving towards the bamboo that was only the length three meters and saw the water coming out.

The emperor had imagined the water moving into the fields and watering the rice or wheat so that it could grow to its full potential.

"Good, good!!" The emperor clapped his hands.

The clerk, eunuch, lady-in-waiting and Shu Taifu as well as the palace security guards also applauded and knelt in praise of the Emperor. "Life Emperor, the luck you have makes the people prosperous!!".

That was the case so Shu Taifu was very curious about how this 20-year-old could imagine and create something so useful, he wanted to know in detail so that when the Emperor asked back, he asked, he can answer it.

Lu Xiang was silent for a moment thinking of a decent answer then replied. "When overseeing the project run by Prefect Zhong, I thought that the dike and irrigation was a very large project and spent a lot of time and manpower so I looked for other alternatives. I was inspired by bamboo that can store water and then experimented on how to drain water into a house or field, I've been thinking about it because my family comes from a family of farmers".

The answer Lu Xiang spoke might be a little ambiguous yet it was enough to convince Shu Taifu and Murong Xianming.

"What should be considered in putting a waterwheel?

Lu Xiang then explained at length that the waterwheel should be placed in one direction of the flow of water or follow the direction of the wind, he also explained the shortcomings that ordinary waterwheels cannot pull large staple milling tools because they are not of the same weight

Shu Taifu and Murong Xianming heard carefully before understanding how the waterwheel worked.

"Xie Jinshi Lu has quite a broad insight, I am very impressed". Only Murong Xianming spoke.

Lu Xiang cupped his hands together and replied humbly. "I've only read a few gongzhi books. Broad insights don't deserve to be juxtaposed against me".

Murong Xianming only chuckled softly, his finger tapping the tip of the table, I don't know what he was thinking.

"Did you introduce this uncle's disciple, gongzhi Xianming. She's just as genius as you". Seeing that his disciple did not want to make Lu Xiang know that he was the crown prince, Shu Taifu did not mention the clan that only the royal family had.

That face-shaking roar almost made Murong Xianming turn the eyeballs, he shook hands with Lu Xiang.

"It's nice to meet you Xie Jinshi Lu".

"I'm also happy to meet you gongzhi Xianming".

Murong Xianming's eyes flashed with interest and delight as Lu Xiang learned of his identity, although the words of the young man were just courtesy but the man's attitude was as humble as being talking to someone of a much higher status than him.

The humble attitude and not licking or looking for face made the crown prince's impression on Lu Xiang even higher, moreover, the man focused on Shu Taifu despite knowing that the figure sitting in front of him was a prince who had power only under the Emperor.

Murong Xianming could not wait to include Lu Xiang into his faction and make the man one of his advisors, he was confident that Lu Xiang's flexible and innovative way of thinking would definitely bring him some profit.

But Murong Xianming knew that he should not be rash, although his father did not mind that Lu Xiang was in his faction but the third and fourth princes were not.

Lu Xiang would be at risk of losing his life if his two younger siblings were due to valuable and useful possessions better not to be owned by anyone than to be owned by their political opponents.

And because of that, his father wanted Lu Xiang to be in the neutral faction in front but actually helped him in reaching the throne.