What's wrong with me, a powerful minister, supporting a few female officials?

Chapter 216 The Minister is dumbfounded, and the Empress supports Su Mo!
Since the Minister of War's identity token was useless, Zhong Yin had no choice but to obediently go back to find Su Mo.

Su Mo was leading the Empress and Yin Rou back to the government office.

Seeing Zhong Yin walk back with a stern face, Su Mo's heart skipped a beat.

Sure enough, Zhong Yin snorted and said curtly, "What kind of pass do we need to enter these workshops in the artisan camp?"

Su Mo explained, "Your Excellency, that is indeed the case."

"Due to the need for technical confidentiality, I have set a rule that anyone entering or leaving the factory must have a pass."

As he spoke, Su Mo took out a bamboo token from his sleeve and handed it to Zhong Yin with both hands: "With this token, Minister Zhong can freely travel to any part of the artisan camp."

Zhong Yin snorted again: "What secrets could a small artisan's camp possibly have!"

As he spoke, he examined the bamboo plaque and saw a string of strange runes on the front and the words "Su Mo" written on the back.

Seeing the signature that looked like a dog's paddle, Zhong Yin couldn't help but twitch his lips. This Su Mo couldn't even write his own name properly!
I wanted to curse him for being ignorant and incompetent.

But considering the Empress's presence, he had no choice but to hold back and changed the subject, asking, "Who trains the Dragon Guards in the barracks?"

Su Mo smiled and said, "I am General Xiahou of the Dragon Guard."

Zhong Yin's face darkened, and he said coldly, "Do you think I'm senile?"

"Xiahou Yi is loyal but incompetent; how could he possibly train such disciplined and disciplined soldiers!"

Su Mo smiled wryly and said, "I am not familiar with General Xiahou, and I really do not know how to answer Your Excellency."

Zhong Yin gave Su Mo a deep look.

I'm too lazy to ask any further.

Let's see what's strange about this artisan camp!
To find out what secret this is, His Majesty has actually transferred the Dragon Guard to guard it!

We returned to the barracks.

With a dark expression, he handed the bamboo token to two Longxiang Guard soldiers.

The two soldiers first looked at the signature on the front, then turned it over to look at the numbers on the back, and finally handed the bamboo plaque back with both hands, bowing to Zhong Yin: "Your Excellency, you may enter now."

Zhong Yin frowned slightly, but didn't rush into the barracks: "Can you understand the runes behind the bamboo tablet?"

The experienced soldier quickly replied, "Sir, I understand."

Zhong Yin frowned again.

How could this common soldier understand runes that even he couldn't understand?

He remained calm and said indifferently, "Tell me your story."

The experienced soldier replied, "This is the pass issued by Lord Su, and the following is Su's number."

“Suzhou’s facilities are different, and the factories that can be accessed are also different.”

"If someone steals the pass but doesn't understand the meaning of Su's number, and uses it to enter other factories, it will expose a flaw, and they will need to be apprehended and handed over to Lord Su or Lord Yin for punishment."

Zhong Yin couldn't help but become suspicious: "Can you all read?"

Upon hearing this, the veteran soldier's expression instantly turned solemn, and he said in a deep voice, "Lord Su once said that soldiers without culture are foolish soldiers; foolish soldiers cannot defeat the enemy!"

"Therefore, it is required that the artisans of the Artisan Battalion and the soldiers of the Dragon Guard go to the lecture hall to listen to Lord Yin's lectures after their shifts."

“I am foolish and stupid. I have been guarding the artisan camp for more than two months, but I have only learned more than seven hundred characters, as well as eight-digit addition and subtraction and two-digit multiplication and division.”

Upon hearing this, Zhong Yin's expression changed: "Soldiers without culture are foolish soldiers; foolish soldiers cannot defeat the enemy?"

"You understand over seven hundred characters? Write them down for this old man to see!"

The experienced soldier hesitated for a moment: "Please forgive me, Your Excellency, but I am on duty and cannot do anything else."

Zhong Yin's expression instantly darkened, and he snorted, "Playing tricks! Spouting nonsense! How dare you deceive this Minister!"

"How could a soldier who couldn't read a single word learn more than seven hundred characters in just two months?"

"joke!"

With that, he flicked his sleeve and strode into the factory.

To everyone's surprise, the young soldier suddenly began reciting indignantly: "Heaven and earth were dark and yellow, the universe was vast and boundless, the sun and moon waxed and waned, the stars and constellations were arrayed..."

Zhong Yin paused, his ears involuntarily perking up.

The young soldier stopped reciting the lines, "With nimble hands and stamped feet, joyful and healthy, the legitimate heirs continue the lineage, and sacrifices are offered."

Zhong Yin suddenly turned around, his eyes half-closed as he stared intently at the young soldier: "Continue!"

The young soldier was startled by Zhong Yin and stammered, "Sacrifice...sacrifice...sacrifice..."

But after the ritual, he still couldn't memorize it.

The veteran soldier suddenly continued reciting: "The legitimate heir continues the lineage, offering sacrifices and libations. Bowing deeply, filled with awe and fear. Documents are concise, replies are thorough. The body, grime-laden, longs for a bath; the body, hot, desires coolness..."

After Zhong Yin had finished reciting the Thousand Character Classic, he took a deep breath and looked at the experienced soldier with a solemn expression.

"What kind of article is this?"

"How come I've never heard of this before?"

"And you can write all these characters?"

The experienced soldier quickly replied, "This is the Thousand Character Classic taught by Officer Yin. Officer Yin said that this text was written by Lord Su!"

"The little man cannot recite it all from memory yet."

Zhong Yin's expression shifted unpredictably.

Thinking back, I almost scolded Su Mo for being ignorant and incompetent, but luckily I didn't say it!
Even he, a great Confucian scholar of his time, was not confident that he could write such a thousand-character essay!

His expression grew increasingly serious and solemn: "What did you mean by eight-digit addition and subtraction, and two-digit multiplication and division?"

The soldier looked puzzled, then held up his fingers and bent them one by one: "Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, tens of thousands..."

"Your Excellency, I can calculate addition and subtraction of numbers in the tens of millions, as well as multiplication and division of two-digit numbers."

Zhong Yin...

It just doesn't sound right coming from a soldier!

He actually dares to say things like adding or subtracting tens of millions!

Do you think I'm a fool?

However, having just been humiliated by a young soldier, the Minister of War remained much more composed and was not in a hurry to retaliate.

After a moment's thought, he asked, "What is the result if we subtract 8,283,403 from another number, 18,345,000?"

The veteran soldier hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth, squatted down, and began to draw numbers on the ground with his finger.

Zhong Yin didn't understand why the soldier was drawing those runes on the ground.

But in just a few breaths, the veteran soldier stood up and said, "Reporting to Your Excellency, the number obtained is 1,161,598."

Zhong Yin did some mental calculations and the number he came up with was exactly the same as what the experienced soldier had said.

He was stunned, staring incredulously at the experienced soldier!

After a long silence, lasting about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Zhong Yin took a deep breath and asked in a low voice, "Can Su Shu also be used for calculation?"

"Was this taught by Su Shanzi?"

The experienced soldier immediately replied, "Su Shu is used for calculations."

"However, it was not taught by Lord Su, but by Lord Yin."

Zhong Yin secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Thankfully, it wasn't what Su Mo had spread.

For a boy who hasn't even reached adulthood to write an essay like the Thousand Character Classic, if he also possesses profound mathematical skills, would be truly astonishing.

When I heard the name Su Shu, I almost thought it was created by Su Mo!
Just then, Zhong Yin breathed a sigh of relief for some unknown reason.

Then the experienced soldier said, "Lord Yin often tells us that the way of mathematics is as vast as the ocean, and ordinary people can hardly fathom its true meaning and mystery even if they spend their whole lives trying. We must not be complacent."

"Lord Yin also said that she had studied mathematics with Lord Su for a long time, but only grasped the basics and could hardly be compared to her teacher."

Zhong Yin...

Yin Rou's mathematics was taught by Su Mo.

Yin Rou taught the soldiers, and within two months they mastered hundreds of characters and could calculate such complex numbers.

You could even become an accountant.

This sounds so strange!
If you teach your own students and then have them teach ordinary soldiers, how can you expect to achieve this level of success?
In other words.

I, the Minister of War, a second-rank official of the imperial court, am less learned than a military officer of the Embroidered Uniform Guard?

In comparison, Zhong Yin came to an unbelievable and inconceivable conclusion!

Could it be that His Majesty and Su Mo deliberately hired two students to impersonate soldiers and deceive him?
A cold glint flashed in his eyes as he said coldly, "Open your palms!"

The two soldiers were stunned for a moment, not knowing what the Minister meant, but they still obediently spread their hands.

Zhong Yin was dumbfounded when he saw it.

The thick calluses were clearly formed from years of gripping knife handles and gun barrels!

This is definitely not the hand of a scholar who is good with a pen!
Zhong Yin entered the factory with a belly full of suspicion.

Looking out over the factory buildings, I was stunned once again...

Is this the workshop I remember?
It was equally clean, tidy, and orderly. Inside the workshop, which was about ten zhang long and three zhang wide, there were five or six rows of craftsmen, of all ages and genders.

Everyone was methodically making the same seemingly simple object, and every now and then they would take out strange tools to measure the dimensions.

Zhong Yin stared wide-eyed at the "craftsmen" skillfully manufacturing the parts, but he couldn't recognize what they were making!

It has a triangular shape and a protruding front like a dog's mouth, which is quite strange.

He turned his head and looked around.

I wanted to find a supervisor to ask about the situation, but I couldn't find the supervisor anywhere.

Zhong Yin was dumbfounded again.

Without a supervisor, these "craftsmen" who don't look like craftsmen are so diligent, working hard without ever stopping.
He hesitated for a moment, then walked over to the little girl who looked no more than ten years old.

Then they stopped and observed.

The little girl's work looks very simple.

It involves putting something that looks like a leather sheath over that strange triangular object and then sewing it together with needle and thread.

Zhong Yin looked at it for a moment, which was about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

The little girl had already put on eight leather covers.

The speed is quite fast!

Zhong Yin finally couldn't hold back any longer and coughed, "What are you doing, little girl?"

The little girl was startled by what she heard. She looked up and saw Zhong Yin behind her. After hesitating for a moment, she timidly replied, "I... I was wearing a car seat cushion."

While answering Zhong Yin's question, her hands didn't stop; she was still skillfully putting on the leather sheath.

Zhong Yin...

What's with this car seat?

He turned his head and looked again.

There were five of them standing side by side, all doing the same kind of work as little girls.

Just as Zhong Yin was about to ask what kind of car seat it was, a simple-minded farmer-looking man came over and took away the car seat that the little girl had made.

The honest-looking man glanced at Zhong Yin with curiosity.

He didn't even go up to greet them, and then pushed the handcart away from the factory.

Zhong Yin's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately gave chase.

Then the honest-looking man entered another factory building...

……

Inside the government office, Su Mo finally managed to drink some cold tea, but before his throat could even feel soothed, the Empress impatiently inquired about the sand table.

What troubled Su Mo even more was...

Feeling that simply asking questions wasn't enough, Leng Xixi actually used the remaining materials to nail together a large piece of wood and started playing with clay with great interest!

It took more than an hour.

A miniature version of the imperial city appeared prominently on the wooden plank!
The Empress thoroughly emptied Su Mo's meager knowledge.

It must be admitted that the Empress has a very strong learning ability, especially in the area of ​​battlefield knowledge.

They even learned to use small flags without any instruction to represent the Twelve Imperial Guards, the Five Military Commissions, and the Imperial Horse Administration troops guarding the Imperial City.

Su Mo, standing to the side, was sweating profusely.

This is a map showing the deployment of troops in the imperial city!

Top secret!

Leng Xixi really doesn't consider herself an outsider!

What made Su Mo break out in a cold sweat was that Leng Xixi actually gave him a flag with great enthusiasm, saying that it represented 50,000 troops who had entered the outer city, and that Su Mo could arrange his troops and see if he could capture the inner palace.

Su Mo was speechless.

She even orchestrated the sand table military exercises.

How could he dare to use these 50,000 "troops" to capture the imperial city!

Fortunately, at that moment, Yin Rou suddenly came to report: "Lord Leng, teacher, Minister Zhong has returned to the government office!"

Leng Liuxi waved her sleeve slightly.

The wooden model of the imperial palace collapsed and disintegrated instantly!
Not long after, Zhong Yin, the Minister of War, entered the main hall of the government office with an extremely solemn expression.

His first words were to Leng Liuxi in a deep voice: "This Minister believes that we should petition His Majesty to dispatch additional Longxiang Guards to guard this area!"

"What do you think of my suggestion, Commander Leng?"

Leng Liuxi was slightly taken aback: "Half a garrison of the Longxiang Guard is not enough to protect Lone Peak Mountain?"

Initially, the Empress transferred two trial commanders, Xiahou Yi and Pan Jie, along with their troops. However, she later felt this was inappropriate and transferred Pan Jie's troops back, leaving only Xiahou Yi.

Xiahou Yi was appointed as a commander of a thousand households, with a thousand regular soldiers under his command, more than enough to protect a battalion of artisans.

Zhong Yin's order to summon the entire Longxiang Guard's Thousand-Household Division startled the Empress!
The Longxiang Guard has a thousand households and three thousand soldiers!

The Empress frowned slightly, looking at Zhong Yin with suspicion: "Lord Zhong, do you think this is necessary?"

"There are now 1,000 Dragon Guards protecting the artisan camp..."

Zhong Yin interrupted the Empress sharply: "Commander Leng, please wait a moment!"

Then, turning his gaze to Su Mo and Yin Rou, he said expressionlessly, "You may all step aside! This Minister has important matters to discuss with Commander Leng!"

Just as Su Mo was about to speak, the Empress waved her hand: "I trust Commander Su and Officer Yin."

"Lord Zhong, please speak frankly."

Zhong Yin frowned immediately, pondered for a moment, and looked at Leng Liuxi with a solemn expression: "Does Commander Leng know that this artisan camp has made many extremely powerful divine crossbows?"

The Empress nodded: "I understand!"

"This crossbow was made by Commander Su at my behest."

Su Mo suddenly frowned and asked, "Who told the Minister about this Divine Arm Bow?"

The craftsmen built bicycles and rickshaws.

The divine crossbow and the eight-ox crossbow were discontinued long ago.

Zhong Yin snorted: "Does Su Shanzi intend to punish him or something?"

He paused, then continued, "I have already inspected the Divine Arm Bow in the storeroom. This bow is extremely powerful; if it falls into the hands of someone with ill intentions, the consequences would be unimaginable!"

As he spoke, he glanced at Su Mo again: "Such a powerful weapon must be stored in the Ministry of War's treasury!"

"And..." Zhong Yin took a deep breath, "The Gufeng Mountain Artisan Battalion can quickly manufacture the Divine Arm Bow and the Eight-Ox Crossbow, and also has the skill of forging fine steel."

"This Minister believes that it is inappropriate to assign it to the Upper Left Office!"

"This artisan battalion must be handed over to the Ministry of War, and all the artisans must be placed under strict supervision!"

Upon hearing this, Su Mo frowned slightly.

He was too lazy to correct Zhong Yin; the Artisan Battalion was now under the Phoenix Cry Division.

The guards of the artisan camp are indeed from the Longxiang Guard.

But the artisan battalion had already been rented to him, and the money had all been given to Nangong Sheyue and Leng Xixi.

If it is transferred to the Ministry of War, wouldn't I have worked for nothing and even lost a lot of money?

Seeing that Leng Liuxi didn't speak, Su Mo couldn't help but cough and smile at Zhong Yin: "This humble official thinks that Minister Zhong is overthinking things."

"A thousand divine crossbows and ten eight-ox crossbows, do you think they can threaten the imperial city if they fall into the hands of villains?"

Zhong Yin's old face suddenly darkened, and he said coldly, "Does Su Shanzi know the power of the Divine Arm Bow and the Eight-Ox Crossbow?"

"The divine crossbow can shoot two hundred paces..."

Zhong Yin was about to reveal the data he had obtained.

Su Mo suddenly said, "The Divine Arm Bow and the Eight-Ox Crossbow were both developed by me."

Zhong Yin's voice abruptly stopped, and he looked at Su Mo in shock!

Su Mo added, "Lord Leng is also very familiar with the performance of the Divine Arm Bow and the Eight-Ox Crossbow."

The Empress finally spoke: "Commander Su is right!"

"The Eight-Ox Crossbow, the Divine Arm Bow, and even the secret techniques for using soft steel were all presented by Commander Su."

She gave Zhong Yin a deep look: "That is why His Majesty appointed Commander Su as the Hereditary Master of Lonely Peak Mountain and bestowed upon him a tiger-patterned robe!"

Zhong Yin's eyes flashed with a cold light as he looked at Su Mo.

The Empress then added, "Your Majesty has unwavering faith in Commander Su, and believes that Commander Su is utterly loyal to Your Majesty and to the Great Wu, and would never do anything to harm the Great Wu!"

"Therefore, His Majesty is extremely reassured in entrusting the Lone Peak Mountain Artisan Battalion to Commander Su."

With that, the Empress waved her hand and said to Zhong Yin, "Lord Zhong, please do not mention the matter of transferring the Lone Peak Mountain Artisan Battalion to the Ministry of War again."

"I believe that even if Lord Zhong submits a memorial, His Majesty will not agree!"

(End of this chapter)