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"Long live the King of Qin, long live the King of Qin, long, long live the King of Qin!"
All the ministers shouted in unison, shaking the whole Liang Dynasty.
As the Qin Dynasty unified more and more provinces, the civil and military achievements it brought made Qin Mu more and more prestigious.
He went up to the palace with a sword, his black robe embroidered with golden dragons spread out. When his eyes swept over the ministers in the palace, no one dared to look at him directly.
When he sat down on the dragon throne, the crowd came out again and shouted in unison: "Congratulations to our king for pacifying Fujian! You have taken over new territory and your power is spreading across the country."
"No need to bow, everyone!"
After the ministers above the third rank sat down, Qin Mu said solemnly: "During this hunting expedition, I recovered Fujian, but it is still far from the power that you all said. To the north of the Huai River, the people have been weeping and looking forward to the king's army in the dust of the barbarians for another year. Thinking of this, we, the king and his ministers, have no regrets!"
Upon hearing this, the ministers had no choice but to stand up again and bow, "We are incompetent and ashamed of our Lord and the millions of people. Please punish us, King Qin."
Among them, Sima An, the chief minister of the cabinet, heard a different meaning from Qin Mu's words. Qin Mu mentioned the area north of the Huai River as soon as he opened his mouth, and the meaning was already very clear.
"No need to be so polite, my dear ministers. The court has been running smoothly for the past two or three months. You have been working diligently and conscientiously. I know this. What I just said was just to hope that you will continue to work hard and never slack off."
"I dare not slack off."
"That's good. Now, if you have anything to say, please report it as soon as possible."
Lu Zhenfei, the Grand Secretary of Jianji Hall, was the first to come out and say, "Your Highness, I just received a letter of surrender from Liu Wenxiu this morning. He confessed his crimes and asked for forgiveness from the King of Qin. He is willing to lead his 30,000 troops to submit to the Qin Empire and await the King of Qin's decision."
As Lu Zhenfei spoke, he raised Liu Wenxiu's surrender letter above his head. Han Zanzhou hurried down the steps and presented the surrender letter.
Liu Wenxiu's words of surrender were humble. He did not mention any conditions for surrendering, probably because his situation had become increasingly difficult recently, and seeing Guizhou, Yunnan, and Fujian being incorporated into the rule of the Qin Dynasty, he knew that the trend was irreversible, so he hurriedly changed his attitude.
After reading the surrender letter, Qin Mu nodded with satisfaction. Although Liu Wenxiu's 20,000 to 30,000 troops might not necessarily pose a serious threat, they were still a thorn in his throat and made him uncomfortable.
"What do you think is the best way to place Liu Wenxiu's troops?"
Minister of Rites Tan Qiubai came out and said, "Reporting to the King of Qin, Liu Wenxiu has repeatedly refused to submit to the Qin Dynasty. Now he is at the end of his rope and has to lead his troops to submit under the pressure of the situation. It can be seen that his heart is not sincere. I think Liu Wenxiu should not be used. Just give him a title and order his troops to return to farming."
Lu Zhenfei had a different view on this. He said, "King Qin, Liu Wenxiu's troops have fought many battles, and there must be some elite soldiers. I think we can select the best and bravest among them and reorganize them. Liu Wenxiu himself can be given the position of guerrilla. No higher."
Qin Mu then asked Sima An, "What do you think, Scholar Sima?"
"Replying to the King of Qin, I agree with the solution proposed by Lu Daxueshi."
"Okay, let's do this. Order Qin Yiming to be responsible for reorganizing Liu Wenxiu's troops, and Liu Wenxiu himself will be transferred to the position of guerrilla general under the command of the front army commander Meng Ke."
After dealing with this matter, Qin Mu directly named: "Huang Zhenlin."
"I am here."
"How's Miyagi going?"
"Your Majesty, it has been raining continuously since the beginning of the plum rain season this year, and the progress of the project has been delayed a lot. It is estimated that it will take until July to complete the project. The cost may exceed the budget by 300,000 taels. I am incompetent, please punish me, Your Majesty."
Huang Zhenlin's face was full of helplessness. Unexpected things happen and there was nothing he could do.
The continuous rain is good for farming, but it has a huge impact on his project. A lot of work cannot be done in the rain.
A hundred thousand laborers have to eat whether it rains or not, and if the construction period is delayed, the cost will inevitably increase. Three hundred thousand taels is not a small amount. Some provinces do not even have three hundred thousand silver taels in a year's taxes.
"Huang Qing is trying every possible way to speed up the progress. Just step back." Qin Mu did not blame him.
"Thank you, King Qin."
The morning court meeting lasted for two and a half hours. Qin Mu had been in Ningbo for two or three months, and there were a lot of political affairs in the court. Ministers above the third rank had seats, which was better. Ministers below the third rank were so tired that their feet were numb from standing.
After the morning court session, Qin Mu returned to the back garden and hurriedly had some snacks, then immediately summoned the Minister of Works Song Yingxing and Shang Xi.
Shang Xi brought a piece of carbon steel, two feet long, half a foot wide, and eight centimeters thick. Qin Mu took it in his hand and looked at it, and found that the texture on the surface of the iron plate was obviously finer than before, and it felt heavier.
In the past, ordinary steel was mostly cast iron with poor density because the temperature of the smelting furnace was not high enough. It was brittle and easy to break. If it was to be made into weapons such as swords, it had to be returned to the furnace and forged repeatedly. It is not an exaggeration to say that steel is made after a hundred rounds of forging.
"Lao Niu, find a hammer and hit this carbon steel frame a few times to see if it works."
"Yes, sir." Niu Wanshan was as strong as a bull, and he walked with a loud clacking sound. He quickly found a hammer.
Li Shi followed Qin Mu's instructions and placed the piece of carbon steel between two stones. Niu Wanshan hammered it hard with a hammer. "Dang! Dang!" The sound was crisp and ear-piercing.
"Okay, stop!" Qin Mu picked up the piece of carbon steel again. Although it was bent after being hammered, there were no cracks. The hardness and strength were incomparable to the previous steel.
Then Qin Mu asked Li Shi to fetch a sword and chop it. Sparks flew, and some rice-grain-sized cracks appeared on the sword and the carbon steel. In other words, this carbon steel was almost comparable to the previous refined steel.
Qin Mu was overjoyed when he saw this, and said to Song Yingxing, "Minister Song, I asked you to use this carbon steel to cast cannon barrels and gun barrels. Have you cast them?"
Song Yingxing bowed and said, "Replying to the King of Qin, I have ordered the Ma'anshan Mine Administration to handle it according to your order, but the finished products have not been sent back to the capital yet, so I guess we need to wait a few more days."
"Well, once the cannon and gun barrels are cast, they should be tested repeatedly to see how strong they are. By the way, have Ma'anshan free up a furnace specifically for testing. As far as I know, if too much carbon is added, the steel will be hard and brittle. If too little carbon is added, the steel will be tough but not hard enough. You should do more tests and record the test results. You can add carbon in a certain amount according to your needs in the future."
"Yes, King Qin."
"Also, don't be satisfied with this achievement. Keep trying to add other minerals to the smelting process and keep exploring."
"I obey your order."
"Shang Xi."
"I am... I am here to pay my respects to the King of Qin. Long live the King of Qin. Long live the King of Qin. Long, long live the King of Qin." Shang Xi hurriedly came forward and kowtowed, looking excited.
Qin Mu smiled and said, "Very good. Great Qin needs talents like you the most. You don't have to call yourself a commoner anymore. I will grant you the position of a deputy minister of the Ministry of Industry. In the future, Ma'anshan Mining Administration will set up a research and development department, which you will be in charge of. I hope you can continue to improve the blast furnace and continue to develop better steel and other alloys."
"I, a humble servant, thank you for your grace, thank you for your grace..."
Shang Xi didn't know what to say for a moment. His voice was choked with tears in his eyes and he was very excited.
Qin Mu smiled and said, "Get up. No matter how good your words are, they are not as good as good deeds. You have done a great job. Come, take a thousand taels of silver and give it to Shang Yuanwailang."
Qin Mu gave Shang Xi some earnest instructions before letting him leave.
Immediately afterwards, Qin Mu summoned the cabinet ministers and the heads of the six ministries to the imperial study.
At the court meeting in the morning, Qin Mu started by saying "The tears of the loyalists have dried up in the dust of the barbarians, and they look south to the royal army for another year." Sima An knew at that time that Qin Mu would have new measures.
Sure enough, as soon as everyone sat down in the imperial study, Qin Mu immediately said, "On the way back to Beijing, Yang Shen, the Minister of the Dali Temple, presented a plan to me. He wanted to take advantage of the difference in the summer harvest season between the south and the north, and take advantage of the time when the south is harvesting grain and Huaibei is still in the period of shortage to launch an expedition to the north and catch the Qing Dynasty off guard.
This king thinks this strategy has its merits. I summoned all the ministers here today mainly to discuss this matter. If you have any opinions, please express them. "
Yang Tinglin was the first to speak: "King of Qin, countless people in Huaibei are trapped in the smelly and miserable situation, with no food to eat and no clothes to cover their bodies. Now our great Qin is thriving in all fields and the morale is high. King of Qin wants to launch an expedition to the north to save the people from their misery. I strongly agree with this.
However, the Northern Expedition is a matter of great importance, and we must make full preparations. It is already mid-April, and the summer grain harvest in the south is not far away. According to the Dali Temple Minister's plan, I am afraid that many things will not be prepared in time, and it is inevitable that we will be in a hurry. It is better to wait until July, when everything is ready, and then wipe out the remaining bandits in the Central Plains in one fell swoop."
Yang Tinglin's words were still very realistic. If we wanted to seize this time difference, it would indeed be a bit hasty.
Qin Mu turned to the others and asked, "Do you have any other different opinions?"
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ps: Brothers and sisters, the pursuers are approaching, I urgently need monthly tickets, I urgently need monthly tickets, I urgently need monthly tickets, I am exhausted after three calls, please help me, brothers and sisters, monthly tickets... ... ... .
.(To be continued..)
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