Qilin Hall.
The atmosphere of the morning court was a hundred times heavier than usual.
Ying Zheng sat on the dragon throne, looking down at everyone below.
“Yesterday, I issued an imperial decree establishing the Great Qin Academy of Sciences, with Crown Princess Gongshu Wan appointed as its first dean.”
His voice echoed through the grand hall.
“Today, we shall discuss the regulations of this academy.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a figure stepped out from the ranks and fell to his knees with a thud.
It was the Minister of Works, Zhang Shao.
“Your Majesty! This must not be done!” Zhang Shao cried bitterly, tears streaming down his face.
“Your Majesty, it is not that this old minister wishes to defy the decree, but truly… the Ministry of Works is already stretched beyond its limits!”
As he spoke, he wiped his tears with his sleeve.
“Repairing the Great Wall, dredging rivers—none of these tasks come without enormous cost! The treasury allocations are already exhausted!”
“And now to add another academy… this… this is simply going to kill this old minister!”
“Moreover…”
He suddenly changed tone and secretly glanced at Gongshu Wan, who stood beside Ying Ziye in a brand-new official robe.
“A state institution of such importance being placed in the hands of a woman… this has never been done since ancient times! I fear it will be hard to convince the masses, and even more… that it may be entrusted to the wrong person!”
Many veteran ministers in the hall nodded in agreement.
Ying Ziye stood there motionless.
He did not even look at Zhang Shao, who was wailing on the ground.
He merely turned his head slightly and said to Gongshu Wan beside him:
“Dean.”
“Tell them what you need.”
Gongshu Wan stepped forward.
Unlike Zhang Shao, she did not kneel and cry.
She simply stood straight and bowed slightly toward the dragon throne.
“Reporting to Your Majesty, and to Your Highness.”
Her voice was not loud, but it rang clearly through the entire hall.
“The Academy of Sciences, in its initial construction, requires 3,000 jin of refined copper for the coils of the first-generation machines.”
“500 jin of wrought steel for the main shafts of machine tools.”
“In addition, 300 skilled craftsmen and 2,000 laborers are required.”
“The site shall be chosen along the Wei River, 30 li west of the capital, requiring 3,000 mu of land and three irrigation canals.”
She spoke without a single unnecessary word.
Every sentence was precise numbers and demands.
Zhang Shao’s crying voice got stuck in his throat.
He had not expected this woman to dare report such shocking figures in open court.
“Madness! This is utter madness!”
He sprang up from the ground and pointed at Gongshu Wan.
“Three thousand jin of refined copper! Do you even know what that means?”
“The frontline soldiers don’t even have enough copper to fully equip their spears yet, and you open your mouth asking for three thousand jin!”
“You are trying to empty the Great Qin treasury and shake the morale of our army!”
He turned toward the rows of military generals on both sides, shouting hoarsely.
“Generals! Listen to this! This is our Crown Princess! Our Academy’s dean!”
“Our soldiers are bleeding at the front, while she wants to build a stage of gold and copper in the rear to perform a play!”
“This woman is a disaster to the state!”
Several civil officials aligned with Zhang Shao also chimed in.
“Minister Zhang is right! Please retract the decree, Your Majesty!”
“Matters of the state and military must not be treated as a joke!”
Ying Ziye smiled.
He slowly walked to the center of the hall.
“Minister Zhang, are you finished?”
Zhang Shao straightened his chest.
“Every word I said is true, all for the sake of Great Qin’s state and people!”
“Oh? All for the sake of Great Qin’s state and people?”
Ying Ziye turned toward the direction of Wang Jian.
“General Wang Jian.”
Wang Jian stepped forward, his voice like a great bell.
“I am here.”
“This prince asks you: are the frontline weapons truly short of materials?”
Wang Jian’s weathered face showed no unnecessary emotion.
“Reporting to Your Highness.”
“What the army lacks is not material.”
He paused, then raised his voice sharply.
“But good material!”
“The last batch of 30,000 spears delivered by the Ministry of Works—during inspection, three out of every ten would break upon impact!”
“The copper used was mixed with large amounts of sand and stone impurities! Those so-called copper spears are nothing more than clay spears!”
“Sending soldiers to the battlefield with such weapons—are they going to kill the enemy, or go die?!”
Wang Jian’s words struck like a heavy hammer, crashing into everyone’s hearts.
Zhang Shao’s face instantly lost all color.
“You… you’re slandering me!”
“Old General, you can eat whatever you want, but you can’t speak nonsense.” Ying Ziye’s voice was very calm.
From his wide sleeves, he slowly took out a bamboo slip.
“This is the Ministry of Works’ account ledger. It clearly states that last month, for the casting of weapons, you took 10,000 jin of refined copper from the imperial treasury.”
From the other sleeve, he pulled out another black bamboo slip.
“This is a report from the Black Ice Platform.”
“It also clearly records that out of that 10,000 jin of copper, only 6,000 jin entered the Ministry of Works’ furnaces.”
“The remaining 4,000 jin—are unaccounted for.”
He walked up to Zhang Shao and dropped both bamboo slips at his feet.
“Minister Zhang.”
“That newly built estate of yours—very beautiful, even its walls are inlaid with copper ornaments.”
“Those 4,000 jin of copper… were enough to build two more such estates, weren’t they?”
Zhang Shao’s legs gave way, and he collapsed onto the ground.
“Your… Your Majesty… I am wronged… I am wronged!”
He crawled toward the dragon throne on all fours, tears and mucus streaming down his face.
“It was them! They framed me! It’s Ying Ziye! He is trying to purge his political opponents!”
Ying Ziye did not even look at him anymore.
He returned to his position and cupped his hands toward Ying Zheng.
“Father.”
“This son believes that the parasites of Great Qin are more dangerous than the blades of the Xiongnu.”
Ying Zheng looked down at Zhang Shao, now like a lump of rotten mud, without saying a word.
The hall fell into absolute silence.
Everyone waited for the emperor’s judgment.
Suddenly—
A sharp metallic sound of a blade being drawn shattered the silence.
It was Ying Ziye.
He had actually drawn the Son of Heaven’s sword hanging from the hall pillar!
He stepped forward.
Before anyone could react, his hand rose and the blade fell.
A streak of blood blossomed in the air.
Zhang Shao’s cries were cut off instantly.
A head rolled to the feet of a court official.
The official’s eyes rolled back, and he fainted on the spot.
Warm blood splattered across the polished golden bricks of the Qilin Hall.
Ying Ziye stood in the center of the hall, holding a dripping sword.
He scanned the faces of the terrified ministers.
“The copper of Great Qin is meant to forge weapons and destroy enemies, to pacify the world!”
“Not to be used for you to build filthy nests filled with greed and corruption!”
“The craftsmen are the foundation of the empire’s backbone!”
“The Academy of Sciences is the divine instrument that will let Great Qin stand at the peak of the world!”
He pointed his sword at the officials who had just been echoing Zhang Shao.
“From today onward, whoever dares call craftsmen lowly…”
“Whoever dares embezzle even a single coin from the Academy…”
He flicked his wrist, sending blood droplets from the blade to the ground.
“This will be their fate!”
The entire court fell silent—so silent that even breathing seemed to stop.
On the dragon throne, Ying Zheng looked at the corpse on the ground, then at his son radiating killing intent.
He was not angry.
Instead, he laughed loudly.
“Hahahahaha! Good!”
“Excellent—‘this will be their fate!’”
He suddenly stood up, his dragon robe sweeping outward.
“Pass down my decree!”
“All personnel, funds, and materials required by the Academy of Sciences are to be prioritized across the nation!”
“Anyone who delays or embezzles—even by the slightest amount—regardless of rank, shall be treated as a traitor!”
“Execute them!”
That single word—“execute”—carried absolute imperial authority, sealing all escape routes.
The court session ended.
In Ying Ziye’s mind, a long-silent mechanical voice finally rang out.
【Ding!】
【Host has purged corrupt officials from the court and cleared obstacles for the Great Qin Industrial Revolution. National fortune increased!】
【Host has ‘established a household and career,’ entering a new life stage. National stability strengthened!】
【Five-fold national fortune explosion triggered!】
【Reward: Complete cement formula and full production technology guide!】
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