Many children, many blessings; a stunningly beautiful wife is given to you right from the start.

"Old Lu! His Majesty is asking you a question! Can it be built or not?!"

Zhang Bailian lowered his voice, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Lu Dachui suddenly snapped back to reality.

He knelt down, his forehead slamming heavily onto the bluestone floor.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me! I am utterly incompetent!"

Lu Dachui held the blueprints in both hands, his ten fingers trembling violently.

"The copper, iron, and gold depicted on these blueprints are piled up like mountains in the Ministry of Works' warehouses."

"Even if it costs me my old life, I can still forge the outer shell of this musket."

He pointed to a line of small print at the very bottom of the drawing.

"But this 'core power source' needs to be embedded with a 'spirit stone'."

Lu Dachui raised his head, his face full of bitterness.

"I've spent my whole life forging iron, traveling all over the land, and have seen countless rare treasures, but what exactly is this 'spirit stone'? I've never even heard of it before!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Bailian snatched the blueprint and examined it closely.

Upon seeing the small print, his face turned pale instantly.

"Your Majesty, I have never heard of an object called 'Spirit Stone' before."

The officials in the hall all lowered their heads.

The rumors that the officials in the Hall of Supreme Harmony turned to ashes yesterday are still fresh in my mind.

If the task assigned by the new emperor today is botched, the entire Ministry of Works will likely lose its head!

Lin Mo sat in the main seat, expressionless.

He had anticipated this outcome.

Spirit stones are a resource in the cultivation world, which people in the mortal world have never seen before.

He took out the blueprints simply to confirm the craftsmanship level of the Ministry of Works.

"Come with me."

Lin Mo stood up and walked out of the lobby.

Zhang Bailian and Lu Dachui exchanged a glance, then quickly got up and followed.

Dozens of officials and veteran craftsmen followed behind, trembling with fear.

Lin Mo walked at the very front, his steps steady.

Zhang Bailian walked to the side and behind, constantly wiping the sweat from his forehead.

He didn't know where the new emperor was taking them.

The Ministry of Works was a very large government building, with numerous buildings standing side by side.

Lin Mo passed through many courtyards and arrived at a wide bluestone square behind the Ministry of Works.

The square occupies a huge area and is usually used to house large siege weapons.

Lin Mo stopped in the very center of the square.

Officials and craftsmen spread out around, forming a large circle.

Everyone held their breath.

Lin Mo flipped his wrist.

A drawing emitting a faint golden light appeared out of thin air in my palm.

He raised his hand and threw the blueprint into the air.

The blueprints exploded in mid-air.

Golden array patterns spread in all directions, weaving into a vast curtain of light that obscured the sky above the plaza.

A sudden gust of wind arose from the ground, causing the official robes of the crowd to flutter wildly.

boom!

A loud bang exploded in everyone's ears.

next second.

A nine-story glazed pagoda, hundreds of feet tall, tore through the void and fell straight down to the center of the square.

The tower is crystal clear, with mysterious dark gold patterns flowing across its surface, radiating a seven-colored divine light.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth within a radius of a hundred miles was drawn in and began to surge wildly.

The seven-colored streams converged in mid-air to form a huge vortex, pouring into the top of the pagoda.

The air in the square seemed to have undergone a qualitative change.

The air, which was originally filled with the smell of rust and smoke, is now filled with the fresh fragrance of grass and trees.

Zhang Bailian took a deep breath.

Suddenly, a cracking sound of bones grinding came from his left leg, which was always in excruciating pain on rainy days.

The pain in his chronic leg pain, which had plagued him for years, has completely disappeared!

The toxic residue from Lu Dachui's blacksmithing years ago that had lingered in his lungs miraculously healed at this moment, making him seem ten years younger!

An elderly craftsman next to him, whose head was full of white hair, suddenly sprouted black hair roots in just a few breaths.

"A miracle! This is a miracle!"

Zhang Bailian knelt down and shouted loudly.

The surrounding officials and craftsmen all knelt down.

"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"

The shouts echoed through the sky.

Ding-dong.

The stone doors at the bottom of the Spirit Gathering Tower slid open to both sides.

A series of crisp collision sounds rang out.

One by one, crystal-clear, diamond-shaped stones rolled out from inside the door.

The stones emitted a seven-colored halo and piled higher and higher in front of the tower gate.

A dense energy wave spread outwards.

Lin Mo stepped forward, bent down, and picked up a stone.

It feels cool to the touch, yet contains a surging power within.

"This is the spirit stone."

Lin Mo flicked his wrist, throwing the spirit stone at Lu Dachui, who was kneeling on the ground.

Lu Dachui caught it in a flurry of activity.

He held the glowing stone in his hands, feeling the pure energy within it, and tears streamed down his face.

"With this divine stone, the divine weapon depicted on the blueprints can be forged!"

Lu Dachui slammed his head heavily against the ground.

"Your Majesty! I hereby pledge my life! The first batch of samples will be ready within three days!"

"very good."

Lin Mo turned to look at Zhang Bailian.

"Allocate all resources from the Ministry of Works to fully cooperate with Lu Dachui."

"I will send the Imperial Guards to personally oversee the spirit stones produced by this Spirit Gathering Tower, and the whereabouts of each one must be recorded in detail."

"If you do the job well, you'll be richly rewarded. If you mess it up, you know the consequences."

Zhang Bailian and Lu Dachui responded in unison.

"Your humble servant obeys the imperial decree! I would gladly die for it!"

Lin Mo nodded.

With the Spirit Gathering Tower completed, mass production of firearms was put on the agenda.

The border defense capabilities will see a qualitative leap.

Lin Mo was preparing to return to the palace.

However, the sound of rapid hoofbeats suddenly came from outside the Ministry of Works.

The rumble of wheels crushing the stone slabs blended together.

Lu Zhi ran into the square, his head covered in sweat.

His official hat was askew, and his official robes were soaked with sweat and clung tightly to his back.

"Your Majesty! I report back!"

Lu Zhi rushed in front of Lin Mo and slammed his knees heavily onto the stone slab.

"You moved back?" Lin Mo turned around.

"We've moved back!"

Lu Zhi's voice was hoarse as he gestured wildly with his hands in front of him.

"I brought five hundred carriages! I completely emptied the secret chambers of the imperial tomb!"

"Fifty million taels of gold! Hundreds of millions of taels of silver! And countless rare treasures!"

Lu Zhi stared wide-eyed, his eyes bloodshot.

"Those traitors from the Xia family! They actually hid so much of the people's hard-earned money in the tomb!"

The surrounding officials gasped when they heard these figures.

The Great Xia treasury has been empty for years, unable to even pay the soldiers on the border. It turns out that the Xia family has hidden it all in the graves of the dead!

Lin Mo's expression remained calm.

"Put all this money and grain into the national treasury."

"Amount 20 million taels of silver will be allocated to build free schools throughout Kyushu, so that children from poor families can also learn to read and write."

Lin Mo stood with his hands behind his back, his voice echoing throughout the square.

"Allocate another ten million taels to establish medical clinics in various prefectures and cities to make medical care affordable for the poor."

"Use the remaining money to repair abandoned water conservancy facilities in various places. I'll leave this to you."

Lu Zhi stood there, stunned.

He assumed the new emperor would fill the imperial treasury with these treasures for his own enjoyment.

All the emperors of the Great Xia Dynasty did this.

But this new emperor, without batting an eye, directly gave tens of millions of taels of silver to the poor people of the country.

"I... obey your order!"

Lu Zhi trembled all over, and tears welled up in his eyes.

He suddenly straightened up and then slammed his forehead heavily onto the stone slab.

boom!

Fresh blood seeped from his forehead.

"Your Majesty! I am guilty!"