Take control of Wei Zhongxian at the start and confiscate 100 million from him!

Chapter 353 The Great Wall: Once a symbol of glory, now a scar.

The group followed Song Yingxing to a spacious testing ground.

In the field, dozens of muscular, shirtless craftsmen were busy at work, their bronze skin glistening with sweat.

Song Yingxing pointed to a large wooden basin in the middle of the field, which was filled with a fine, gray powder.

He nodded to a man who looked like a foreman, who immediately shouted, and several workers brought over baskets of sand and pebbles, while others carried over clean water.

Song Yingxing said, "It is nothing but an inanimate object, but once it encounters water, it can be transformed from decay into something magical."

As they spoke, the workers poured sand, stones, powder, and water into a huge mixing tank in a certain proportion and vigorously stirred it with specially made long-handled iron shovels.

In an instant, a series of splashing sounds filled the air as the dry powder and sand gradually transformed into clumps of moist, sticky mud.

Seeing this, Wen Tiren not only did not look down on him in the slightest, but his eyes flashed with a sharp light, and he leaned forward slightly, looking more carefully than anyone else.

His fervent worship of the emperor had transformed into a desire to explore everything before him.

Though he remained silent, a turbulent undercurrent was churning within him:
"Ordinary craftsmen merely copy what they see. But the method Your Majesty has taught must contain hidden secrets!"

His changing expression, the mixture of anticipation, contemplation, and fervent focus, was all captured by Zhu Youjian.

Song Yingxing seemed to understand the emperor's heart. He ignored everyone else and calmly directed the craftsmen to pour the gray mud into a three-foot square wooden mold and smooth it with a wooden board.

After doing all this, he did not make everyone wait there. Instead, he pointed to a block of the same size that had been unmolded. The block was a dry grayish-white color with a rough surface and sharp edges, like a corner of a naturally formed giant rock.

“Lord Wen,” Song Yingxing’s voice was calm yet tinged with suppressed passion, “this object was cast yesterday at this time using the same method. After being left to stand for a day, its properties have begun to settle.”

He paused, then turned his gaze to Duke Zhang Weixian of England, and said in a deep voice, "Duke Zhang Weixian of England, His Majesty often says that practice makes perfect. Today, we invite you, a veteran of the battlefield, to personally verify his character."

Zhang Weixian, who could no longer contain himself, stepped forward upon hearing this, his eyes burning with anticipation: "Mr. Song, please speak!"

Song Yingxing took an octagonal iron hammer from the tool rack next to him. The hammerhead was as big as a child's head, dark and heavy, and it was obvious that it was not light.

He handed the hammer to Zhang Weixian: "Please, Your Excellency, use all your strength to smash this stone."

Zhang Weixian took the hammer, and it felt heavy as soon as he held it.

He was born into a military family and had practiced martial arts since childhood. He possessed extraordinary strength, and after weighing the object in his hand, he already knew its weight.

He looked at the gray square, his eyes filled with solemnity, not a hint of disdain.

He walked up to the gray square, took a deep breath, and his arm muscles instantly bulged, like coiled dragons.

With a roar, he channeled all the strength he had honed throughout his life into his arms, swung the massive iron hammer in a wide arc, and with a thunderous sound that tore through the air, slammed it down hard into the center of the cube!

Everyone present was on tenterhooks.

An unprecedentedly loud bang, as if the hammer of a celestial craftsman had struck the jade of Kunlun Mountain, was clear and heavy, making everyone's eardrums buzz.

The expected cracks did not appear. Instead, the massive iron hammer, forged from refined steel, was violently thrown back by an irresistible force! Zhang Weixian felt his arms tremble violently as an overwhelming force surged back through the hammer handle, causing his hands to split open. He staggered back three steps before barely managing to regain his footing, while the iron hammer flew out of his hand and smashed into a deep crater several feet away.

The whole place was dead silent.

But this time the deathly silence did not stem from shock, but from near-suffocating worship!
All eyes were fixed on that grayish-white square.

At the center of the blow, only a shallow white mark, no bigger than a copper coin, remained.

Apart from that, it is completely intact!
"Good! Good! Good!!" Bi Ziyan's face was flushed red as he exclaimed "Good!" three times.

Zhang Weixian didn't bother wiping the blood off his hands. He rushed forward in three steps, disregarding his dignity as a duke, and knelt on one knee, trembling as he stroked the cold, hard surface of the block with his uninjured hand.

Its texture was dense and its properties were strong, far surpassing any adhesive he knew!

Wen Tiren's mouth was half open, the guess about turning clay into gold echoing in his mind, now turning into a burning passion.

He whispered excitedly, "As expected! As expected! This is not mud, but stone refining! Your Majesty has actually grasped the secret of the earth's transformation! The Book of Changes says that the earth is thick and carries all things, and today we know that the thickness of the earth can also be transformed into the strength of the heavens!"

Looking at the crowd's enthusiastic expressions, Song Yingxing's eyes flashed with pride and honor.

He cleared his throat, bringing everyone back to their senses, and then led them to a large pool next to the testing ground.

The pool water was so clear that the bottom was visible.

A gray, strip-shaped object, several feet long and made of the same material, lay quietly in the pond, covered with a few specks of moss.

"My lords, please look," Song Yingxing said, pointing to the "stone beam." "This beam was poured three months ago and was placed in this pool seven days after it was completed. It has been soaking in the water for more than eighty days now."

He paused, looking at Bi Ziyan, the Minister of Revenue, who was calculating something with gleaming eyes.

Song Yingxing smiled and said, "May I ask, Lord Bi, what would happen if ordinary bricks and rammed earth were soaked in water for three months?"

Bi Ziyan almost rushed to answer, his voice trembling with excitement: "Ordinary blue bricks, after being soaked in water for three months, are already strong on the outside but dry on the inside! If it's rammed earth, it will turn into a puddle of mud in three days! This is a truth known to all craftsmen in the world!"

“Lord Bi is absolutely right,” Song Yingxing nodded. “However, the divine object bestowed by His Majesty defies common sense! It is not afraid of being submerged in water; on the contrary, it becomes stronger the more it is submerged! The strength of this beam is even greater than that of the one we just saw!”

"The more... the harder it gets!!" Bi Ziyan's body trembled violently!
That damned Yellow River dike, the canal embankment that swallows millions of dollars every year, the bridge and wharf repair costs that are like bottomless pits... all these financial nightmares that have plagued him for half his life have found an end at this moment!
This is not a mountain of gold and silver, but the supreme method to create mountains of gold and silver!

This is a treasure trove that can turn the Ming Dynasty's national treasury from deficit to surplus, and then accumulate endless wealth!

With money, we can train troops, provide disaster relief, promote education, and realize all of Your Majesty's grand ambitions!
Bi Ziyan's breathing suddenly became extremely rapid, his white beard trembled violently with excitement, and his old eyes were fixed on the stone beam in the water!

His voice changed, trembling with sobs, "This thing... is truly a divine artifact bestowed by heaven! Your Majesty is truly a supreme and divine ruler!"

Seeing that the time was right, Zhu Youjian slowly spoke and took over the conversation.

"Minister Bi, do not be hasty. No matter how strong this thing is, it is still just an inanimate object. What I want you to see today is how it will become the backbone of my Great Ming Dynasty and how it will reshape this vast land!"

His words were firm and resolute, devoid of any vague or unrealistic promises; they were concrete plans and ambitions. The emperor personally led the four ministers, already agitated and immersed in fervent emotions, deeper into the base, to a more expansive application demonstration area.

They first came to a section of road that was being paved.

Unlike other places, this section of the road has been specially excavated to reveal its internal structure.

Zhu Youjian pointed to the neat cross-section, his tone calm, yet his words were like those of a sage preaching, each one a gem:
"The key to a road lies in its foundation. The lowest layer is a compacted base of gravel and soil, which must be solid to prevent subsidence. Above that is the 'divine soil' that you all saw just now, which I have officially named 'cement'."

A mixture of cement, sand, and gravel is poured to form a stable layer half a foot thick, which forms the backbone of the road. On top of this, a traditional three-component soil surface layer is laid, which serves both as a non-slip surface and to protect the underlying cement layer.

He turned to look at Zhang Weixian, his gaze deep and unfathomable: "Duke of Yingguo, you are a veteran general, most knowledgeable in military affairs. You should devise a plan for me: if the entire 400-mile stretch from the capital to Shanhaiguan were paved with such 'royal roads,' how many days would it take for my Shenji Battalion's heavy artillery, departing from the capital's armory, to reach the pass?"

This question, like an imperial edict, directly unfolded a magnificent war picture in Zhang Weixian's mind.

His Adam's apple bobbed, his voice rising in excitement: "Your Majesty! With such a road, the weather will no longer be an obstacle to human endeavors! Without rain or snow, the road surface will be solid and smooth, allowing heavy artillery convoys to travel a hundred li a day with ease! If the horses are powerful enough, they can travel day and night... Seven days! No! Five days! Your Majesty! Within five days, the main force of the Divine Machine Battalion will be at the gates of Shanhaiguan! The efficiency of logistics and provisions will be more than tenfold! The nine border regions of the empire will truly be united as one, as interdependent as an arm!"

After he finished speaking, he could no longer contain his excitement. He turned around abruptly and bowed deeply to Zhu Youjian at a ninety-degree angle, his respectful demeanor far surpassing that shown in the imperial court.

When he raised his head, his eyes were filled with fanaticism: "Your Majesty! This road is not just a road, it is the lifeblood of our Great Ming Empire! It is the palm line you drew for this world! With this road, the court's orders will travel a thousand miles a day, and the Jurchens will have no chance to take advantage!"

"The lines on the palm?" Zhu Youjian nodded slightly, a deep smile playing on his lips. "Well said. But what I want is more than just smooth blood flow."

He led the group forward to the end of the testing ground.

There, two walls stood prominently.

Both walls are ten feet high and three feet thick.

On the left is a rammed earth wall representing the pinnacle of Ming Dynasty craftsmanship, while on the right is a plain, unremarkable, gray-white cement wall.

"Duke of England, take another look." The Emperor's tone remained calm, yet it sent a chill down everyone's spine.

He ordered a guard captain behind him: "Go, bring a Tiger Crouching General Cannon. Use solid shot, and fire at me from fifty paces away!"

"According to the order!"

Soon, the Tiger Crouching Cannon was pushed over.

Loading the propellant and the bullet were completed in one smooth motion.

"Bomb the earthen wall first!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

After two cannon shots, the once sturdy earthen wall collapsed, leaving behind a scene of utter devastation.

This scene was already expected by the four ministers.

"Turn the cannons around and aim them at the concrete wall!" The emperor's order was cold and resolute.

Everyone's hearts were in their throats.

"put!"

"boom!!!"

This time, the cannon fire seemed even louder and more deafening.

The smoke cleared.

That wall is still standing there!
Stable as a mountain!

Where the shell hit, a crater the size of a washbasin appeared, but the entire wall didn't even have a single crack!

It stood stubbornly under the setting sun, exuding an aloofness that scorned the power of the mundane.

You can hear the needle drop.

Zhang Weixian stared blankly at the wall, his lips trembling. What he saw was no longer Ningyuan and Jinzhou, but His Majesty using this divine object to transform the entire border of the Ming Dynasty into a colossal city that was impossible to breach!

……

The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the horizon a magnificent orange-red, gilding this construction site, filled with the atmosphere of steel and fire, with a sacred golden hue.

Zhu Youjian walked slowly to the cement wall that was riddled with bullet holes but still stood firm, his back to the four ministers who had completely lost their composure.

After a long while, he slowly turned around, his gaze calmly sweeping over the four people.

"My beloved ministers, do you understand now?" His voice clearly reached everyone's ears. "This thing, when laid on the ground, is the meridian that guides me through the world; when erected, it is the skeleton that protects all people."

Zhang Weixian could no longer contain himself and knelt down with a thud, his voice choked with emotion: "Your Majesty is wise! If all nine border regions of our Great Ming were fortified with this, then our empire would be secure for generations to come!"

However, Zhu Youjian's brows furrowed, and he resolutely shouted, "For the fort?!"

This sharp shout was like a bolt from the blue.

In the emperor's eyes burned an unprecedentedly domineering flame!

"A perpetual, worry-free defense?" He sneered. "Duke of England, your vision is still too narrow! The Great Wall was once a source of glory, but also a scar! I do not want to use this cement to build an even stronger cage!"

He stepped forward, staring intently at Zhang Weixian kneeling on the ground: "This cement won't be primarily used for defense! From this day forward, it's up to our Great Ming to expand our territory; there's no longer any reason to cower and defend to the death!"

"I will use it to pave a road that leads straight to the northern desert! I will use it to build invincible military fortresses in Liaodong, on the grasslands, and in every place where the might of my Ming army reaches! I will ensure that there is no more war within the Great Wall! And that all land outside the Great Wall belongs to the king!"

(End of this chapter)