"What? Prime Minister Li, did he... he... he told you outright that he wants to surrender to the Xiongnu?"
Meng Tian looked shocked.
The same was true of the several deputy generals beside him; they seemed quite puzzled by Li Lin's decision to defect to the Xiongnu at this time.
You need to know.
Li Lin is a figure in a class of his own in Da Qin.
He was greatly favored by His Majesty the First Emperor.
Nowadays...
How could they possibly suddenly pledge allegiance to the Xiongnu now?
This is simply a fantasy.
"General, how could I, Zhang, dare to speak nonsense on such a matter? Besides, I am still his student!"
Zhang Liang was both amused and exasperated.
He knew that once this news got back, it would definitely shock those people.
Because it makes no sense.
Are you sure?
"General, I, Zhang, am willing to stake my life on this!"
"Alright, Li Tie, immediately send an urgent message to Xianyang saying that Li Lin has defected to the enemy!"
"ah?"
"What are you standing there for? The military situation is urgent, go now!"
"promise!"
At this moment, Meng Tian, who had been calm and composed just moments before, immediately showed signs of panic.
It seems that Li Lin has defected to the enemy.
This presented him with an unprecedented challenge.
"What's wrong, General?"
"Zhang Zifang, can I trust you? Or will you collude with your teacher to seize the city I am guarding from within?"
Meng Tian gave Zhang Liang a cold glance.
There was a deep sense of apprehension.
"General, I, Zhang, was born a man of Qin and will die a man of Qin. How could I possibly surrender to a mere barbarian?"
Zhang Liang looked sincere, his eyes overflowing with emotion, as if he had completely parted ways with Li Lin at this moment.
"Very well, then I will trust you this once and entrust you with the management of the logistics in the north of the city. I am now going to mobilize troops to prepare for the upcoming large-scale attack by the Xiongnu!"
"Thank you for your trust, General!"
Zhang Liang was extremely grateful. After seeing Meng Tian off, he went straight to the north of the city to coordinate the grain supplies.
At this time.
Li Lin, who was in the Xiongnu army camp, was still working hard to purify the water resources.
The water he drinks now has all been purified by him.
It's actually quite simple; you just boil the water until it boils dry and then use a homemade container to keep the distilled water for drinking.
While he was tinkering with clean, pure water in the Xiongnu army camp.
Xianyang City.
The first grand court assembly since the beginning of autumn is already in full swing.
The First Emperor sat upright in the main hall, looking at the respectful ministers before him. He smiled kindly, then turned to Fusu beside him and said, "Fusu, is there anything important to report today?"
"Your Majesty, there is nothing urgent at the moment."
"Oh? Could it be that nothing has happened in the vast Qin Dynasty these past few days?"
"There's something I'm not sure if I should say..."
The First Emperor was talking to Fusu when he suddenly heard a faint sound coming from below the steps.
He immediately turned around and looked over.
Wow!
Who could it be?
It turned out to be the newly appointed Prime Minister, Xiao He.
"Minister Xiao, speak quickly if you have something to say. I will not punish anyone for some words. Please speak freely!"
The First Emperor knew that Xiao He was in a somewhat predicament.
After all, he had only recently taken office and had very little experience. He also lacked the thick skin of Li Lin, making him vulnerable to being ostracized in the court.
Therefore, the First Emperor immediately comforted him.
This deeply moved Xiao He, who hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the former Prime Minister Li Lin intended to establish a state-owned bank in Qin. Before leaving, he specifically instructed Zhang Liang and Zhang Zifang to tell me to set up the state-owned bank in Qin as scheduled. Now, it has been two months overdue. I wonder what Your Majesty thinks? Will you relaunch the plan to establish a state-owned bank in Qin?"
"Does the Qin Dynasty have money shops?"
The First Emperor nodded. He did have some influence over this term, after all, it was something Li Lin had been trying to promote and implement ever since the Four Great Inventions were invented.
However, the mission was repeatedly delayed due to the southward campaign to quell a rebellion in Chu and the current mission to the Xiongnu.
This really annoyed him.
"Your Majesty, the construction of a money exchange in the Great Qin is of utmost urgency. Please expedite its construction, otherwise the research funding for my construction division may not be sufficient!"
"What? Mo Zhiyuan, what are you talking about? Didn't I just allocate three million coins from the national treasury to you last month? How come it's not enough now? It's only been a few days! Not even a month has passed!"
At this moment, Mo Zhiyuan suddenly interrupted.
This surprised the First Emperor, since he had gained some understanding of the scale and control of the construction department in recent days.
Therefore, the funding allocated to the construction company is second only to the funding allocated to people's livelihood.
You could say that.
He valued the construction company second only to the fundamental issue of people's livelihood.
certainly.
This stems partly from his recent self-study of physical chemistry, which has given him a strong interest in the subject, and he has even invented his own vernier caliper.
Although this thing was of great significance to the First Emperor.
But in reality, this thing is not very useful at all; the vernier caliper was actually inspired by Mo Zhiyuan's invention of the caliper.
It represents a symbolic upgrade to the invention.
However, Mo Zhiyuan didn't say anything. After all, the emperor was the emperor, and he had no objection to being given his invention directly.
As a result, this is how it happened.
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