Chapter 337: Catering to His Interests

As time entered March, the capital of Zhao State gradually became lively.

It happened that the imperial examination was about to begin, and at this time, most of the students taking part in the examination had already arrived in the capital.

But this year, the imperial examination was not the top priority for the State of Zhao.

June 15th is the election day.

At that time, the court will choose the next emperor of Zhao from among the four princes.

The reason why students in the State of Zhao were scrambling to take the imperial examinations was not only because they wanted to pass the exam and bring honor to their family, but also because they wanted to be a fifth-rank official and have the right to vote in the emperor's election, which was a major motivation for them to enter officialdom.

Looking at all the countries on the mainland, only officials from Zhao have such power.

Originally, the topic of the election was all about the four princes.

But since some time ago, the wind direction has changed.

The name of the Sixth Princess began to be mentioned constantly by people.

Although people often discussed the Sixth Princess in the past, she was always a vassal of the Fourth Prince.

Recently, people mostly talk about the Sixth Princess, and occasionally mention the Fourth Prince.

Many people believe that the Sixth Princess is more suitable to be the emperor of Zhao than the Fourth Prince.

Although the Fourth Prince has made many achievements these days, if you look closely, these things were actually done by the Sixth Princess.

Before this, the Fourth Prince's thirty years of life could be said to be mediocre.

Not only does he have no achievements worthy of recognition, but he also has quite a few bad deeds.

It’s not like Zhao State had never had a queen before, so why did it have to choose one from the four princes?

Such arguments were originally circulated only among the people.

Later, even court officials would occasionally discuss it.

The other three princes naturally heard this as well.

This is naturally what they want to see. The Sixth Princess has no foundation in the court, and the people's praise alone cannot change the overall situation.

It would be great if this incident could cause a rift between King Sheng and her.

If the three princes could think of this, then the retainers and advisers of Prince Sheng's Palace could naturally think of it as well.

The Sixth Princess deserves 90% of the credit for Prince Sheng's ability to turn the situation around and establish his current status.

Once King Sheng ascends the throne, they will be rewarded according to their merits and will enjoy endless wealth and glory.

No one can destroy the relationship between Prince Sheng and the Sixth Princess, not even Prince Sheng himself.

As counselors, they understand King Sheng. Once King Sheng learns of this, it is very likely that some unnecessary trouble will arise.

Under Mr. Lin's instructions, everyone in Prince Sheng's Mansion kept their mouths shut and did not let Prince Sheng hear any unfavorable news.

…

Princess Palace.

Li Nuo was thinking about which government office he should look for a breakthrough in the next step when Doctor Sun came to him.

He was very curious about what those "germs" that Li Nuo had mentioned before, which were invisible to human eyes and caused diseases, were.

This thing requires professional equipment. Li Nuo has been very busy recently and has no time to make a microscope by hand.

It would be great if Li Yun was here. He is a disciple of the Mohist school and would probably enjoy doing things like this to improve his cultivation.

Li Nuo suddenly raised his head.

Mohism?

He looked at Zhao Zhiyi beside him and asked, "Are there any officials above the fifth rank in the court who practice Mohism?"

Zhao Zhiyi thought for a moment and said, "Yes, most of the officials in the Ministry of Works practice Mohism."

Li Nuo's eyes moved, and he returned to the study. After a moment, he came out with a blueprint in his hand and said, "Let's go to the Ministry of Industry."

It was still time to go to the government office, so Li Nuo took Zhao Zhiyi directly to the Ministry of Works.

Among the six ministries, the Ministry of Works is in charge of military farming, water conservancy, civil engineering, engineering, communications, and transportation. Although its power is not as great as that of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Personnel, it is closely related to people's livelihood.

Shangshu Yamen.

An official walked into the yamen carefully, tiptoed to avoid the drawings scattered on the ground, and said to the middle-aged man who was drawing at the desk: "Sir, the Sixth Princess is outside and wants to see you."

The middle-aged man raised his head and murmured, "Sixth Princess?"

He pondered for a moment, walked out from behind the desk, picked up the scattered drawings on the ground, placed them casually on the table, and then walked out of the yamen.

Afterwards, he walked into the courtyard, clasped his fists toward Zhao Zhiyi, and said, "Greetings, Your Highness."

Zhao Zhiyi smiled and said, "Minister Zhou, there is no need to be so polite."

The Minister of Works asked, "I wonder what important matter has brought you to the Ministry of Works?"

Zhao Zhiyi said, "I have something that I would like to ask the Mohist master craftsman from the Ministry of Works for help."

The Minister of Industry thought that the Sixth Princess came to the Ministry of Industry to canvass votes for the Fourth Prince. Looking at the blueprint in his hand, he was stunned for a long time before saying, "This is a simple thing. Your Highness, please wait a moment. It will be ready soon..."

After saying that, he took the blueprint and went into the yamen.

Li Nuo and the other man followed him into the yamen.

The first feeling when stepping into here is chaos. Various drawings are piled randomly in various places in the yamen, and the shelves around the room are filled with mechanical objects. This makes Li Nuo think of Li Yun. The rooms of Mohist disciples are all a mess.

A simple microscope that is very easy to make.

Glass may still be a luxury for ordinary people, but it is used in many of the Mohist mechanical objects, especially mechanical men and mechanical beasts that need eyes. Li Yun also has several mechanical men made entirely of glass, but they call them colored glaze.

The Minister of Works rummaged through the shelf behind him and soon found two pieces of transparent colored glass.

Li Nuo only saw his finger lightly stroke the two irregular pieces of glass, and they turned into perfect circles.

Polishing the lenses was even easier for him.

His fingers stroked over the two round pieces of glass, and the two convex lenses that Li Nuo needed were now available.

It was an easy task for him, but if Li Nuo did it himself, it would take no idea how long it would take.

Li Nuo had also seen this method used by Li Yun.

Each type of Qi has different uses. A Mohist master can create extremely complex mechanisms using only his hands without using any tools.

In half an hour, the world's first microscope was born.

The Minister of Works stared blankly at the strange "mechanism" in his hand.

Just now, he actually felt that his cultivation, which had been stagnant for a long time, had made significant progress.

What exactly is the function of this thing that can actually allow him to increase his cultivation so much?

Li Nuo picked up the microscope and said to the Minister of Industry, "Thank you, sir."

Zhao Zhiyi also smiled at the Minister of Works and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Lord Zhou. We still have things to do, so we'll take our leave now."

Looking at the two people's leaving backs, the Minister of Works stood there in a daze.

From beginning to end, the Sixth Princess never mentioned the Fourth Prince.

She really didn't come here for the votes in her hand.

However, they have not yet told him what that strange mechanism is for...

Why has my cultivation level increased so much?

He sat on the chair, stood up after a while and paced around the yamen.

No, they asked him for help, so at least they told him what it was. They just left without any explanation. How could that be possible...

Confused, he sat uncomfortably in the government office. After a while, he could not help but said, "Come here, prepare the sedan chair."

At this time, before leaving the government office, an official came in and asked, "Sir, where are you going?"

The Minister of Works said, "Go to the Sixth Princess's residence."

He urged the sedan bearers all the way, and after getting off the sedan, the first thing he saw was some patients queuing outside the door.

As soon as he stepped into the princess's mansion, he saw the young man.

He was standing next to a stone table, and several old men were surrounding him.

One of the old men was bending over the mechanism he had just made. He saw something and kept exclaiming in surprise.

"There is such a thing!"

“I never thought that a drop of water could contain so much.”

"I have lived for decades, and today I have finally opened my eyes..."

"Move aside, move aside. You've been looking for a long time. It's my turn to look!"

"Let me watch for a while, just a little while!"

…

The Minister of Industry walked over curiously, pointed at the novel mechanism, looked at the young man, and asked, "What on earth is this?"

Li Nuo explained: "This thing is called a microscope. Lord Zhou can come and see it in person."

Doctor Jiang had already finished examining the patient. The other doctors, who were already impatient, had to hold back their tempers after hearing what he said.

The Minister of Works walked forward and imitated the old man just now. He closed one eye and looked at the cylinder with the other eye.

There is clearly only one drop of water under the cylinder.

But when he looked through the cylinder, he saw many things that were invisible to the naked eye. They filled the drop of water, and some of them were still wriggling, looking a little scary.

The Minister of Works was at the peak of the fourth realm of Mohism, and he quickly realized that the function of this mechanism was to magnify tiny objects that were invisible to the naked eye to a level visible to the naked eye.

What a magical mechanism!

This thing must have an extraordinary effect, otherwise, his cultivation would not have been able to increase so much.

At this time, Doctor Sun came over and asked Li Nuo: "Doctor Li, are these invisible little things the reason why people get sick?"

Li Nuo nodded and said, "Although not all of them, the vast majority of common diseases are caused by these little things. A drop of water that looks clean actually contains countless germs..."

After arriving in Zhao State, the fastest growing aspect of Li Nuo's body was his medical skills.

When he was studying malaria at the Imperial Hospital, his cultivation had already broken through to the third level.

With each day that followed, his medical skills grew rapidly.

The emergence of microscope has great significance for medicine and biology.

Just now, his cultivation level experienced another rapid increase, and even touched the barrier of the third realm.

The compilation of the medical manual has also come to an end.

By then, this barrier should be able to be easily broken through.

Maybe, his medical skills will enable him to break through the fifth level faster than his legal skills.

Doctor Sun thought for a moment and asked, "Then how should we get rid of these things?"

Li Nuo tried it himself just now. The third level of medical qi can kill bacteria easily.

But doctors were only a minority, and the common people could only drink as little raw water as possible.

But the four words "drink less raw water" sound simple but are difficult to do. Boiling water requires firewood, and ordinary people cannot afford such costs.

What needs to be done now is to popularize the knowledge of sterilization and disinfection among doctors.

Without the true qi of a high-level medical practitioner, ordinary doctors are certainly no match for modern doctors.

If you don’t have the medical energy, you can still use high-concentration alcohol for disinfection.

However, the concentration of wine on the market is far from enough.

Li Nuo looked at the Minister of Industry and said, "Sir, I'm afraid I have one more thing to trouble you with..."

Half an hour later, the Minister of Works looked at another mechanism in front of him and felt his inner cultivation increasing again. He felt as if he was dreaming.

This time, Li Nuo asked the Minister of Works to make a device for purifying alcohol.

He could make this device himself, but it would be time-consuming and laborious.

Although he was the one who asked the Minister of Works for help, it was the Minister of Works who owed him the favor.

Soon after the first drop of high-concentration alcohol merged with the water drop under the microscope, fluctuations of Li Nuo's cultivation were felt again in his body.

Doctor Sun and many other doctors present looked at him intently.

At the age of 20, he reached the fourth level of medical practice.

This was a huge blow to these old guys who had finally climbed to the fourth level.

Despite the blows, everyone is convinced in their hearts.

Although he is currently only at the fourth level, if there is a sixth-level medical practitioner in the future, it can only be him.

When Li Nuo went to the Ministry of Works the next day, he no longer needed the Sixth Princess to accompany him.

The official from the Ministry of Works went in to report. Li Nuo waited in the yard for a while, and then the Minister of Works strode out and said enthusiastically, "Little brother, come in quickly..."

Li Nuo walked into his yamen, and the Minister of Works began to introduce to Li Nuo some small mechanisms he had made himself.

Disciples of the Mohist school seem to like showing off their works.

Li Nuo also saw several mechanical women among his collections.

Each of these mechanical women is so lifelike that from three steps away, they look exactly like real people.

However, Li Nuo had already seen this kind of thing at Li Yun's place.

Moreover, although Li Yun's cultivation is not as high as that of the Minister of Works of Zhao State.

But the mechanical woman next to him seemed to be more agile than these others.

After admiring it for a while, Li Nuo explained his purpose and said, "To be honest, I came here this time to ask the seniors from the Ministry of Industry for a favor..."

The Minister of Works was delighted when he heard this.

If others ask him for help, he may not agree.

But he wished Li Nuo would ask him for help every day.

I helped him twice yesterday, and his cultivation level has greatly increased. He has already reached the bottleneck of the fourth level.

If I help him a few more times, wouldn't there be hope of breaking through to the fifth level?

By then, his mechanical skills will be even more sophisticated, and the mechanical women he creates will be even more agile...

He couldn't wait to ask, "What help?"

Yesterday, Li Nuo discovered that the Mohist way of grinding glass was extremely fast and accurate.

Now that microscopes are available, we can also give them myopic glasses, reading glasses, and telescopes.

The countries on the mainland don't have these things yet, so some can be sent to officials in the court in the name of the Sixth Princess. The officials in the Ministry of Works can improve their cultivation, and the Sixth Princess can also gain favors. Even if they don't plan to vote for her now, they will still remember her kindness in their hearts.

There is no way to test eyes in this world, so we can grind a little of each with different degrees, and then let the officials with vision problems come to the princess's mansion for a test. Then we can let the Sixth Princess show up and show her face...

Mohist, who has practiced for a lifetime, often deals with colored glaze. It was also the first time for the Minister of Works to know that an ordinary piece of colored glaze could be played with in so many ways.

In just a few days, his cultivation level increased again and again.

I'm afraid if Li Nuo asks him for two more favors, he will be able to advance to the fifth level.

It has been two days since he last saw Li Nuo. What he looks forward to every day is that he will come to the Ministry of Industry to ask for his help again...

There has been something new in the court these two days.

Many elderly officials suffer from presbyopia and cannot see handwriting clearly nearby.

This disease is common among the elderly, and even the imperial physician cannot cure it.

There were also some young officials who studied too hard during the imperial examinations and damaged their eyes, causing them to be unable to see clearly far away.

The Sixth Princess found treatments for these two diseases.

During these two days, any official who has difficulty seeing can go to the princess's mansion and receive something called "glasses" for free.

This item is made of two pieces of colored glass. After putting it on, the effect is immediate. No matter whether the objects are far or near, they can be seen very clearly. It greatly facilitates them to check files and review memorials, and is deeply loved by some old ministers.

This problem that had troubled elderly officials for a long time was solved by the Sixth Princess.

The Sixth Princess already had an excellent reputation in the court, and after this incident, the court officials' favorable impression of her increased.

While the other princes fought for the throne, formed cliques, attacked dissidents, persecuted each other, and ignored the dignity of the royal family, only the Sixth Princess was doing practical things for the people and the court...

In order to sow discord between the Fourth Prince and the Sixth Princess, the three princes did not hesitate to stir up public opinion, saying that the Sixth Princess was far superior to the Fourth Prince in both character and ability, trying to make the siblings turn against each other.

Although their motives are not pure, this statement is absolutely true.

The character and ability of the Sixth Princess are far superior not only to the Fourth Prince, but also to them.

If Your Majesty allows the Sixth Princess to compete for the throne, what will happen to the Four Princes?

Ministry of Industry.

Several Mohist officials in the Ministry of Works have been very busy these days, but they are busy willingly.

These novel things made of colored glass were made by them themselves.

Other court officials benefited from this and gained cultivation. Every time the Mohists created a new mechanism, their cultivation would increase by one point. These things had never appeared on the continent before, and those who created them first would benefit the most.

However, the one who benefited the most was the Shangshu.

It is said that his cultivation has reached a bottleneck and he is only one step away from the fifth realm.

Inside the government office, the Minister of Works finally saw the person he was waiting for.

As soon as Li Nuo entered the yamen, he stood up impatiently, walked out of the desk, grabbed his shoulder and said, "Brother Li, what can I do for you today?"

Li Nuo said embarrassedly: "I'm sorry to ask Brother Zhou for help every time..."

The Minister of Industry patted his shoulder vigorously and said with a smile: "Hey, why are you being so polite to me? Brother Zhou will definitely help you!"

Li Nuo's request for help was closely related to his breakthrough, so of course he would not refuse.

Li Nuo thought for a moment and said, "Then I'll tell you..."

The Minister of Industry said expectantly, "Go ahead."

Li Nuo whispered, "During the election, can Brother Zhou vote for the Sixth Princess?"

The Minister of Industry was slightly stunned: "Ah?"

(End of this chapter)