My son, Fusu, please abdicate the first emperor!

Chapter 858: Twenty thousand horses? Are you kidding me?
The clothing problem for so many people in the royal family was solved so easily.

This is when the advantages of the centralized system are reflected.

We can concentrate human, material and financial resources to accomplish great things at the fastest speed.

People who were originally divided were brought together again through collective labor.

Unlike fighting in a war, doing this job does not require going to the battlefield or experiencing flying arrows.

They only need to put in physical effort and be attentive to complete the task and then receive a certain amount of compensation.

Of course, the workshop will not be open for only one month, it will continue to be open, and there will be many workshops across the country.

In mid-May, Xiang Li Che ordered his two apprentices to follow the head of the workshop, protected by the general sent by Meng Tian, ​​to go to Xianyang City to report the good news to the emperor and announce the achievements of their Mohist school to the ministers in Xianyang City.

You should know that when Xiang Li Che and others left Xianyang not long ago, the officials in Xianyang city were still denouncing the Mohist School and attacking it.

The Mohists needed to give an explanation to the emperor and also needed to show themselves well in front of the ministers.

After retreating from the battlefield, the Mohist school successfully transformed itself into a school that serves the people during the peaceful era of the empire.

Twenty thousand pieces of cloth were loaded onto large carts and pulled from Chang'an into Xianyang City.

It was summer when we entered the city.

The people in Xianyang were still drinking in the taverns in the alleys, visiting young girls at the gates of brothels, playing cat fights with dogs, and hanging signs to tell fortunes...

The city is bustling with people coming and going.

But when fully loaded carriages drove up from East Gate Avenue and passed through the crowd, people couldn't help but stop and watch.

"Wow! That's a lot of fabric!"

The children rubbed their hands happily.

People in modern society have never experienced what poverty is and have no idea what kind of life people in the pre-Qin period lived.

An adult only has two sets of clothes, one set for work and the other set for traveling or entertaining guests.

They have been wearing these two sets of clothes for ten years, or even longer. Patches on top of patches are the norm.

As for the children, wearing a pair of breeches and some leftover cloth from adults is their childhood.

The older brother wears it, then the younger brother wears it, and the older sister wears it, then the younger sister wears it.

The scarcity of material things is what gives rise to so many absurd and ridiculous things.

The war was over, but life was still the same. Some families even returned to the days before liberation overnight because of the end of the war. They used to work in the logistics of the war and earn a living. Now that there is no war, how can there be any logistics work?

As a result, people's lives became more difficult.

When cartloads of cloth appeared before people's eyes, no one could believe it and everyone rubbed their eyes again and again.

To be honest, as people from Xianyang, they watched big spectacles every day. The princes came to pay homage, the rulers of the southern border of the Hu and Qiang countries paid tribute, and the treasures brought in from outside the city of Xianyang were countless. They had seen everything.

Elephants, rhinos, giraffes, lions, crocodiles, in short, as long as there are creatures on the earth, the old Qin people will catch them and present them to their queen bee - Qin Shi Huang.

Not to mention the rare items, let alone the cloths.

But the people of Xianyang had seen so much of the world in their lives, and had never seen so much cloth as a tribute at one time.

The vehicles carrying these cloths were connected front and back, covering four long streets.

But the passers-by were all very happy to see it.

"What day is today? Why is there such a big scene?"

"Whose tribute is this? They sent so much cloth, I'm afraid they must have collected three years' worth of cloth in one go."

The people of Xianyang were talking about it at once.

Xiang Li Che's disciples listened to people's discussions, pride was about to overflow from their faces, and they all laughed.

Such a grand scene naturally alarmed the dignitaries in Xianyang City.

They were all walking their birds, dogs, fishing, and playing chess, and they were leading a very comfortable life.

Upon hearing the news, everyone went up to the platform to wait and see.

"It's really strange!" Zhang Cang's father-in-law Shang Qing Mao looked at the scene. He knew Qin II. It was not Qin II's style to collect large amounts of cloth and send it to Xianyang for the enjoyment of the powerful.

"Father, what's going on?" Shang Qingmao's son asked from behind.

Shang Qingmao just shook his head.

It is said that Guo Wei Liao had a disciple named Wang Ao, who learned a lot of skills from his master.

This apprentice has already become very capable even though he hasn't learned all of his master's skills.

Those who have been helped by his abilities all praised him and said that he would achieve great things in the future.

The young Wang Ao was naturally very proud after hearing all these flattery.

He betrayed his master and privately displayed his talents in front of Qin II.

Qin II liked Wang Ao very much.

After all, Liao is a person with a very stubborn temper.

People are lazy.

What’s more, the supreme emperor.

At the beginning, Fusu had the time and patience to treat his master Liao, and was willing to treat him with courtesy.

But after a long time, Liao still didn't change. He had strange skills and could predict the future. He never left any regrets for himself, but for Qin II, he often said, "If I like you, I will reluctantly help you, but if I don't like you, I will just run away."

Any emperor would be angry at this kind of behavior.

He is like a loach, or perhaps an eel.

He sneaked under the nose of Qin II every day, but Qin II couldn't catch him.

After a long time, everyone gets annoyed.

Anyway, everyone else is struggling to survive, but he is just here to take it easy.

Such a hermit is really annoying.

In order to retaliate against Liao's neglectful and casual attitude, and because Wang Ao did have some abilities, Qin II appointed him to an official position, and it was a not small one.

At the beginning, Fusu relied on the power of Zhang Han and easily took control of Xianyang City and the Xianyang Palace.

Afterwards, Fusu and Zhang Han had a power conflict again, and Fusu restricted Zhang Han's power.

Zhang Han had a younger brother, Zhang Xi, who was originally in charge of the public security of Xianyang City, and served as the Xianyang Magistrate.

This position was originally held by Zhao Gao's younger brother Zhao Cheng. It is conceivable that Qin II was very averse to this position, and he had to appoint someone he trusted who was appropriate.

So Fusu handed this position to Wang Ao.

Although Wang Ao has some abilities, he is not flexible.

His master commented on him, "It's a piece of elm wood."

Wang Ao was very angry. "Since you say I'm stupid, why did you refuse to teach so many people who asked you to teach them? Why did you choose to teach a stupid person like me?"

Wei Liao replied, "Sheng is a wooden man."

Wang Ao didn't understand.

Wang Ao, who served as the magistrate of Xianyang, managed the city in an orderly manner.

According to modern people's thinking, Wang Ao is somewhat like a dogmatist.

Everything should be done according to the rules, without distortion or violation, and everything should be carried out in accordance with the prescribed meaning.

Therefore, when he dealt with the public security issues in Xianyang, he did everything according to the rules and regulations. It didn't matter whether you were the emperor's seventh uncle or the princess's niece. He just followed the rules.

And Wang Ao only obeyed the emperor's orders.

This upright and loyal young man satisfied all his inner desires with Qin II. With his outstanding abilities, he soon won the favor of Qin II.

Gradually, the public security in Xianyang City improved, and the power of Xianyang’s defense returned to the hands of Qin II.

In the past, Qin II had always been troubled by the defense of Xianyang. He wanted to hand it over to the Lu family, but he was worried.

Half of the royal palace has been handed over to the Lu brothers and sisters to manage. It would be unwise to hand over Xianyang City to the Lu people as well.

Firstly, they, the brothers and sisters, could not control so many places as their foundation was shallow to begin with; secondly, only a fool would put all their eggs in one basket.

On this day, Xiang Li Che's disciples returned to Xianyang City with their new achievement - cloth, and happened to meet Wang Ao who was patrolling the streets.

Wang Ao knows Xiang Li Che’s disciples.

Xiang Li Che can be considered a half-grand master, although not as powerful as Liao.

Wang Ao is Liao's disciple, and this group of young people are Xiang Li Che's disciples.

As the younger generations of a sect, they sometimes learn from each other.

The acquaintance Wang Ao made in Xianyang was Shusun Tong, a disciple of the great Confucian scholar Kong Fu.

You see, people associate with the same kind of people as they do with others.

The disciples of the masters went around and ended up making friends with the disciples of the masters.

Can't get out of that circle.

When the two sides met, the Mohist disciples were very happy, but Wang Aoke was very angry.

His eyebrows slanted outwards as if he wanted to eat someone.

Wang Ao asked angrily, "Where did you get so much cloth?"

"Could it be that they plundered the people's money on the road?"

Wang Ao was very angry, and the sword at his waist was thirsty for blood.

The disciples were also very angry. They were in a good mood, but when they saw Wang Ao's tone and contemptuous attitude, it was as if he was a good man who was about to become extinct in the world, and the others were bad people.

"When Mo Ge does things, he is only responsible to His Majesty, and no one else needs to ask about it."

As the disciple spoke, he took out the special token that the emperor had bestowed upon every disciple of Mo Sect and showed it to Wang Ao.

Fusu had put a lot of effort into making it easier for these people to do things for him. From a basic point of view, it was inevitable to give these people some privileges.

The Mo Men disciples were ready to leave in high spirits.

Wang Ao shouted, "No matter who you are, it is wrong to violate the law and the order of His Majesty the Emperor."

Look—this is what makes Wang Ao special.

He is not like most people.

Most people pay attention to closeness or distance in interpersonal relationships.

For example, according to today's situation, the Mo Men and Wang Ao are theoretically on the same front, and they are both working for the people.

But Wang Ao is an extreme dogmatist.

He doesn't care who you are, he only cares whether what you do is right or not.

If what you do is in compliance with regulations, you should let him go even if he is a bad person.

If what you do is not in compliance with the regulations, I will not let you go even if you are a good person.

As a result, the two groups almost started a fight on the street.

The Mohists found Wang Ao's words ridiculous and sneered at him.

"Wang Ao, according to your principles, if your master makes a mistake one day, will you also kill your own relatives for the sake of justice?"

Wang Ao answered without hesitation, "Of course."

"Are you still human? You, Wang Ao, are an orphan. It was your master who raised you, taught you martial arts, and taught you skills. But now you are so different that your master wants to kill you just for your bullshit principles."

Wang Ao listened and could no longer raise his head high.

But he was like a stubborn bull, blocking the road and not letting the carriage pass.

Fortunately, there were officials among the escort who had higher ranks than Wang Ao. After using their authority, they were able to drive the convoy past.

Wang Ao's "axis" became more and more famous in Xianyang City.

Everyone was talking about him, and he almost shut himself in. Now you can see how powerful Zhang Cang is. He was talked about every day, and his spine was pierced, but he was still full of energy and didn't care what others said.

However, Wang Ao is still a young man.

He still has a long way to go.

Especially after the truth about the convoy was revealed, Wang Ao became the object of everyone's laughter.

Because he is really too nosy.

Moreover, his personality caused him to offend many local dignitaries in Xianyang during his tenure as the magistrate of Xianyang...

This Wang Ao, his future is very dangerous.

It is said that the Mohist group transported the first batch of cloth produced by the state-owned workshop to Xianyang, and presented this gift directly to the emperor and ministers in the court with grand ceremony for their review.

Fusu had naturally seen it in advance, and today his main purpose was to open the eyes of these ministers.

Let them move aside quickly, make way for the Industrial Revolution, and clear the way for it, instead of standing in the way and obstructing the emperor.

"Your Majesty, these pieces of cloth were made by us using the latest textile machines, which took us a month to make."

"Your Majesty, please have a look."

Qin II smiled and said, "Let the two prime ministers take a look first, and then let all the ministers and officials take a look together."

The ministers knew that the emperor was going to put on a show for them today, but they didn't know what the show was going to be.

I can't guess it anyway, so I'll just look at them one by one.

"The quality of this cloth looks good, the lines are tight and dense."

"Compared to silk clothes, it's still a little lacking."

"What material is this cloth made of? It's quite soft."

"What kind of material could it be? Isn't it just a few pieces of cloth?"

The ministers were whispering to each other, they were resentful of Qin II's suspension of the policy of laissez-faire and letting the people rest, they wanted to speak but dared not.

"Wang Ling, tell them how many pieces of cloth you got."

"Your Majesty, we have woven 20,000 bolts of cloth in total, which took us a month."

As soon as these words were spoken, his eyes almost popped out of his head, as he had just been kneeling at the chief seat and had not even raised his eyes when the eunuch handed him the cloth.

"Twenty thousand horses? How is that possible?"

"Yeah." The others immediately echoed.

"We have 1,000 looms and 1,500 workers. It took us one month to weave 20,000 rolls of fine cloth."

The ministers opened their mouths in surprise, not knowing what to say.

"This...how is this possible?"

"Your Majesty, have you set up a trap to deceive us?" Many people have always been hostile to Qin II.

They proposed to go and see the cloth in person. After all, producing such a large amount of cloth in such a short time was beyond human power.

Qin II naturally agreed readily.

(End of this chapter)