"Wasn't this battle enough to make them want to back down?" the old man sighed.
"A dog learns its lesson after being beaten for stealing meat, and it won't dare to steal again. But these beasts understand reason, while they don't yet. Only by injuring them severely, or even leaving them half-dead, will they understand this principle." Qin Ze said coldly, then continued:
"That's exactly what I intend to do."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Li's heart tightened, and he hesitated before saying:
"The country is finally at peace, and everything is in need of rebuilding. The people are all hoping for a long period of peace. Your Majesty... do you intend to wage war again?"
Qin Ze gave the old man a deep look: "Official, everyone wants peaceful days, but without war, this peace will not last long."
"I've made up my mind."
"Next, I will assemble a brand new fleet, set sail from the South China Sea, and go overseas."
Zhang Li's heart skipped a beat. "Your Majesty, this..."
Qin Ze stepped forward, patted him on the shoulder, and said, “Official, defending our territory is not a long-term solution. Sooner or later, powerful foreign nations will break through our borders, and we will only be able to fight them passively. Rather than waiting for them to come to us, we should take our fleet and sail into their waters.”
Zhang Li hesitated and said, "But now that the major events have just been settled, isn't it too early to start another war?"
Qin Ze could understand the old man's conservatism. After a year of war, neither the ministers nor the common people wanted to see war again.
So he changed his words: "The Heavenly Official, as the ancients said, is responsible for the great affairs of the state, namely sacrifice and war."
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