Prime Minister Li Si held a bamboo slip and bowed as he reported:
"Your Majesty, since the reforms, official schools have been established throughout every commandery and county of Great Qin. Seven or eight out of every ten children can now read; the Ministry of Agriculture's newly developed Curved-Shaft Plow allows one man to till a hundred mu of land; and with the Mohist School's water diversion methods, the annual harvests from Guanzhong's fertile fields have doubled."
"The Imperial Medical Academy has developed Artemisia Pills, curing eight or nine out of ten cases of miasmic plague; the Ministry of Works has used Mechanism Art to construct Dragon Bone Waterwheels, allowing even dry land to benefit from irrigation."
"This year's reports from every commandery state that the granaries are full and no one picks up lost items from the roads."
Ying Zheng's gaze shifted slightly, and the jade beads of his crown swayed softly.
"How are the borders?"
Li Si bowed again.
"General Meng Tian reports that every beacon tower along the Great Wall has been equipped with repeating crossbows. The Hu tribes no longer dare to pasture their horses southward. Three hundred thousand qing of new military farmland has been opened in Jiuyuan Commandery, and the garrison soldiers have more than enough to sustain themselves."
Upon hearing this, the ministers in the hall all showed delighted expressions. The Minister of Agriculture and Finance stepped forward to add:
"Last year, Guanzhong enjoyed favorable winds and rains. Grain prices in Hedong were as cheap as dirt. Shu Commandery has opened a hundred new salt wells, and the salt of Bashu can supply the entire realm."
Ying Zheng tapped the armrest lightly with his fingertips, his voice exceptionally clear in the great hall:
"How is the Mohist School's mechanism research progressing?"
Li Si