Wei Renshi listened to Li Shi's question, paused, and replied: "Your Majesty, you have also seen the 1,100 people trained by the ministers, and you can also see how their physique is compared to the physique of the generals and soldiers of the Shence Army. Therefore, if they were to compete head-to-head with the Divine Army, they would not be the opponent of the Divine Army. ”

"Then why does Wei Qing still take the initiative to compete with the Divine Ce Army?" Li Shi asked.

"War is not a one-on-one competition, and it is not how capable one person is on the battlefield. What is emphasized on the battlefield is cooperation and cooperation, and it is the combat consciousness and belief of the officers and men. In these aspects, the minister felt that these 1,100 people were no longer inferior to the Shence Army. Even, in some respects, it is even better than the Divine Army. Wei Renshi said: "The minister also wants to see if these soldiers can deal with a war after half a year of training." ”

Li Shi thought about it, and probably felt that Wei Renshi made sense, so he said: "I have always had the intention to rebuild the Sixteen Guards, but now the power of the imperial court is limited, just to ensure that the overall combat strength of the Shence Army does not regress, it has already exhausted all the money and food. Once the Sixteen Guards are re-established, the consumption will never be less than that of the Divine Army. ”

"I understand." Wei Renshi said: "At most, by this winter, the industries that the imperial court has invested in the name of Prince Chun will be able to get dividends. And in the future, there will be more and more such industries, and the dividends shared by Prince Chun will also increase. Your Majesty should have told Prince Chun that he collected dividends for the imperial court, not his own, right? ”

Li Shi nodded and said, "I naturally know. ”

"Please also ask Your Majesty to stay for a few months, the business of the glass shop has gradually begun, and once the minister negotiates with the maritime merchants, the benefits will be even greater. This part of the dividend has already begun to be generated. There is also the Luoyang River embankment market, which has also been rented out, and this part of the income has already been obtained, and when it comes to winter, the income from green vegetables will also be generated. At the end of the year, these dividends will go to the imperial court together. Wei Renshi said.

"I'll wait." Li Shi nodded and said lightly: "It's just that I will never tolerate someone bullying the king." ”

Wei Ren gave a salute: "Your Majesty rest assured, the minister will not dare to deceive Your Majesty, and I believe that Your Majesty will be satisfied when the time comes." ”

"I have decided to have the lieutenant of the Right Divine Protector Army draw 1,100 men from the Right Divine Army. The fifth Shouliang asked the soldiers on both sides to face each other head-on, and the one with the largest number of prisoners would win. Li Shi looked at Wei Renshi and said to him.

Although Wei Renshi had already received the news from Lin Neishi, he couldn't reveal it at the moment. He also understood Li Shi's purpose for doing this, but he still pretended to be surprised and looked at Li Shi and said, "This ...... Why did His Majesty tell Wechen in advance? ”

"The imperial court has limited resources, and if I want to rebuild the Sixteen Guards, there will be a lot of opposition." Li Shi said: "I hope you can win against the Shence Army, at least not too badly. ”

Wei Renshi smiled and said, "Your Majesty, if it is only a matter of the number of prisoners, then the minister is at least fifty percent sure of winning." But if it is who occupies the opponent's camp first, Weichen is thirty percent sure. ”

"According to that, isn't the request of the fifth Shouliang in the heart of Wei Qing?" Li Shi looked at Wei Renshi in surprise: "Wei Qing can be fifty percent sure?" ”

Wei Renshi nodded: "Please let Your Majesty promise him, just the number of prisoners will determine the winner or loser." ”

"Good!" Li Shi nodded expectantly and said.

After that, Li Shi said again: "There is another thing to summon Wei Qing today. The crown prince brought a weapon some time ago, which was made of steel trained by the new wrought iron and steelmaking method that Wei Qing said. In these days, I have also found a few people who know how to make steel and forge. But they couldn't see how this steel was forged, and naturally they couldn't imitate it. I heard Chun'er say that the cost of forging this kind of steel is not much more than forging ordinary weapons, but the quality is comparable to that of 100 steels. And this method of forging steel is fast and has a high yield. This kind of wrought iron and steelmaking method, who else knows besides Wei Qing? ”

When Wei Renshi heard this, he immediately replied: "Your Majesty, rest assured, except for Weichen, this method is only known to the two masters you sent during the test. ”

Li Shi listened, thought thoughtfully, and asked: "I listened to the prince's suggestion, and I want to take advantage of the fact that this method is unknown to the public, and set up a separate place to specialize in such confidential and useful things. It seems that Wei Qing's method of wrought iron and steelmaking this time was carried out here. The selected persons must be registered, and their families must be gathered together and guarded by the imperial court to prevent them from revealing their secrets. Among the officials, there are strict selections and assignments by the imperial court, and it is better to be insufficient, and not to allow eunuchs and feudal towns, or those who have two hearts with the imperial court, to enter. Maintaining the absolute control of the imperial court over this place also ensures that these confidential things will never be leaked. And collect craftsmen in it, and study these secret methods more to make them more refined. I want to hear Wei Qing's opinion. ”

"That's a good thing, Your Majesty!" As soon as Wei Renshi heard it, he knew that Li Shi was interested in Li Shi's proposal after seeing the steel produced by the new method of steelmaking. At the beginning, Wei Renshi made this suggestion to Li Yu, and the two had already discussed that they would continue to make suggestions after Li Shi saw the real thing of the new steelmaking. It seems that Li Yu has already suggested this matter again.

"What is Wei Qing's opinion?" Li Yu heard Wei Renshi say this, so he asked.

Wei Renshi sighed.

The evil consequences brought about by technological backwardness have caused the Chinese nation to experience a century of suffering, which can be described as the darkest period in China in the past 5,000 years.

The Chinese had countless technologies that were hundreds of years ahead of the rest of the world, and these techniques were taught to foreign countries by the Huaxia, which advocated tolerance, and had enabled countless originally uncivilized peoples to embark on the road of civilization and enlightenment. But what happened later, what kind of results did you get?

The various unequal treaties that came with the gunfire of the great powers were like sharp blades cutting off, not only cutting off pieces of flesh and blood on the land of China, but also leaving one scar after another on the hearts of every Chinese sons and daughters.

As soon as he thought of this, Wei Renshi's mind came to mind the situation of sitting in the classroom as a student, listening to the teacher on the podium present those humiliating histories with hatred. Or when he later became a teacher and stood on the podium, with the same emotion, he told the humiliating history to the students in the audience, and his heart was full of anger and unwillingness.

"Your Majesty, no matter how important it is to say that the matter of technical secrecy is, it is not an exaggeration." Wei Renshi said solemnly to Li Shi.