The King Decides to Establish the Mohist Pavilion, but the Officials Suspect Deceit and Block the New Path

Not far away.

A Grain-Turning Machine rumbled as wheat grains poured into its hopper. Driven by steam, the stone mill ground them into snow-white flour in an instant, which flowed from the outlet into a cloth sack.

Zhao Cheng said, "This Grain-Turning Machine can grind a hundred shi of grain in a day—enough to match twenty mills!"

A hundred shi a day, the output of twenty mills!

This productivity...

A brighter gleam entered Ying Zheng's eyes.

He looked toward another spot. "What is that?"

Zhao Cheng smiled. "That is a Canal-Digging Machine!"

Farther away, a Canal-Digging Machine was at work on a massive boulder, its steam-driven steel chisel pounding repeatedly against the stone.

It went bang, bang, and in just a moment, a great hole had been drilled through the hard rock.

"With this, digging canals and clearing waterways will be dozens of times more efficient!"

"One machine can do the work of dozens of people, yet it consumes far less coal than grain."

As Ying Zheng looked around, his expression shifted from amazement to solemnity, until at last he seemed almost numb.

These weren't merely a few ingenious contraptions. They were things that could change the lives of everyone in the world!

He saw how the Warp-Weft Loom could give the people clothes to wear, how the Grain-Turning Machine could fill the granaries, and how the Canal-Digging Machine could connect waterways in every direction. These devices might lack the Rail-Car's grandeur, but they touched the people's livelihood.

"Minister Zhao."

Ying Zheng stopped in an open space in the workshop. His tone abruptly turned grave. "These devices concern the very foundations of the state. They must be introduced throughout Qin as soon as possible."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the machines at work. A note of caution flickered in