Chapter 55

New recruits are just the type who wet their pants at the sight of battle; how could they be good soldiers?

Seeing Ying Zheng felt deeply contemptuous!

But the moment Zhao Gao spoke, he was still terrified!

"Your Majesty, do not be careless!"

"According to the investigation by the Luo Wang, currently, five thousand people have already gathered on the mountains outside the suburbs of Xianyang City!"

"Moreover, they are still expanding!"

"How many?"

The words had barely left his lips when Seeing Ying Zheng was stunned!

"Fifty thousand people?"

"With so many soldiers, how did he recruit them?"

"As for the money and grain needed for recruitment, where did he get them from?"

"Relying solely on selling paper? Can selling paper produce an army?"

"Moreover, an army of fifty thousand people?"

Seeing Ying Zheng was shaken beyond measure, feeling a thick sense of incredulity!

Suddenly, he flew into a rage and shouted at Zhao Gao: "Are you... deceiving me?"

Zhao Gao panicked instantly, kowtowed immediately, then handed a folded sheet of linen paper to Seeing Ying Zheng and began to tremble: "Your Majesty, this slave... is guilty!"

Seeing Ying Zheng snorted in anger, then opened that paper to Zhijinxingguan!

And after merely looking at it for a while, he was stunned!

"You... you say he sold paper for a month and made twenty million cash?"

Seeing Ying Zheng was stunned; at that moment, his scalp went numb!

One must know, that was twenty million cash!

And how much was the Great Qin's annual treasury revenue?

When annihilating the six states, that was the most!

But even after conquering the most prosperous Qi State, at that year's peak, the Qin State treasury had only four million cash in revenue for the year!

Later, after the six states were destroyed, the Great Qin's treasury was roughly five or six million cash per year!

Last year was the lowest, with only four million cash!

Yet Facing Ying Su selling paper for one month yielded twenty million cash!

Twenty million cash! In one month, it matched half a year's treasury revenue of the Great Qin during the peak period!

"This thing... this thing... is actually sold so well?"

Seeing Ying Zheng was stunned and numb!

At this moment, his scalp was truly numb!

Zhao Gao then kowtowed: "The fifty-thousand-strong army came about just like this!"

"Now, eliminating Li Yuanba alone is not enough to make the Sixth Young Master abdicate!"

"To deal with the Sixth Young Master, one must eliminate his army as well!"

"Eliminate the army..."

At that moment, Seeing Ying Zheng frowned heavily!

To speak the truth, he did not want this!

Even if he desired to reclaim the throne, he absolutely did not want to cause a river of blood to flow!

After all, regardless of whether Facing Ying Su forced him initially, the words declaring that Facing Ying Su would inherit the throne were ultimately spoken by him in front of the entire court of civil and military officials.

Under these circumstances, eliminate Li Yuanba, then arrest the rebellious son, and finally, amidst the escort of the hundred officials, ascend the throne again!

In his view, this was the best method.

Similarly, it was also the method with the least impact!

But if one must suppress the fifty-thousand-strong army.

Or even reach the point of fighting a battle within Xianyang City!

Then wouldn't that make the matter too big?

If the matter becomes this big, what good does it do even if the throne is reclaimed?

Then his reputation would be completely ruined!

Just handed the throne to Facing Ying Su, and immediately afterward, desperately trying to snatch the throne back!

How would people under heaven view him?

What?

You say the hundred officials support it?

The statement that the hundred officials support it, I believe it, and the hundred officials believe it too!

But... in matters like this, what the hundred officials say is useless, and what I say is useless too!

The common people must believe it!

Those common people do not care whether you have the support of the hundred officials!

They only know that they never supported it!

They also know that the First Emperor announced just last month that he was passing the throne to the Sixth Young Master, yet only a month has passed, and he is desperately trying to become Emperor again!

Becoming Emperor again is one thing, but causing a large-scale bloodshed event!

To kill fifty thousand new recruits!

Or even fighting a battle within Xianyang City!

If things go on like this, it'll simply make a laughingstock of the whole realm!

It'll make the world laugh at the First Emperor for going back on his word!

And it's also a tremendous drain on the Great Qin's national strength!

Seeing Ying Zheng's brows knit tightly together.

In that moment, he said nothing, simply thinking in silence.

A moment later, he waved his hand toward the Yin-Yang School people:

"You may withdraw for now. Stay in Xianyang City during this period. Once I've thought it through, I'll come find you again!"

He waved his hand, and at this very moment, his heart was tangled in conflict and struggle.

On one hand, his own reputation; on the other, the throne he couldn't give up even if beaten to death — he was deeply torn, unsure how to choose!

Outside Xianyanggong!

The moment Facing Ying Su came down from the mountain, he went straight back into the Crafts Office!

Because… there was still one more thing waiting for him to see!

What thing?

The movable-type printing technique!

Now, all four thousand Chinese characters had been fully carved.

Moreover, typesetting had been done using radicals and components.

In other words, from now on, anyone wanting to write a book would never need a writing brush again!

They would only need to find the relevant characters, place them on the mold, and arrange them!

Finally, press a sheet of paper on top, and just like that, an entire page of text would be formed!

This was the earliest form of the movable-type printing technique!

Although it looked a bit clumsy, in this era when every book had to be copied by hand, this thing was absolutely the fastest and most convenient method!

Even Cai Lun had tested it.

Using it to print a single copy of the Dao De Jing took only half a shichen!

Half a shichen, and a whole Dao De Jing could be printed!

And if there were enough molds, ten copies of the Dao De Jing could even be printed in half a shichen!

"A divine artifact!"

"Your Majesty, this is a divine artifact!"

"Selling this for money would absolutely bring in a fortune!"

"It could even… drive up paper sales again!"

Li Si was shaken to his core, his eyes practically glowing.