I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 44 Shi Changshi's Suspicion

"Come, Brother Shi, drink this cup to the full." Zhan Bin said, raising his glass.

"Drink it all!" Shi Changshi raised his glass with a smile.

Zhan Changshi and Shi Changshi were drinking in the Changshi Office.

"I didn't expect that the young prince could create such a masterpiece. This work will surely spread throughout the world in the future. You and I will benefit from the young prince's fame then." Zhan Changshi sighed.

Shi Changshi didn't say anything, but drank another glass of wine.

He understood what Zhan Changshi meant by taking advantage of others' situation, because cultural and entertainment products have always been disseminated regardless of class from ancient times to the present.

Just like the "The Wandering Earth" seen by an ordinary person today and the "The Wandering Earth" seen by the richest man are definitely the same.

If the Prince of Jing's Mansion becomes famous all over the world because of the new play in the future, it will also reach the ears of those dignitaries, emperors and generals. They will have a memory of the previously unknown Prince of Jing's Mansion, and they, as the chief historians of the Prince of Jing's Mansion, will most likely benefit from it.

"The young prince has changed so much in the past few months! He will surely become a wise king in the future!" Zhan Changshi was a little tipsy.

"Yes! But when I think about what the little prince has done in the past few months, I really don't understand it." Shi Changshi also drank a lot.

"I think the young prince is just feeling too cooped up in the mansion, so he found a hobby to relieve his boredom," Zhan Bin said nonchalantly.

"I used to think so, but recently I think something is not right." Shi Changshi suddenly moved closer to Zhan Changshi and lowered his voice, "Do you think the young prince is planning a rebellion?"

"Bang!" Zhan Changshi's wine glass fell to the ground and broke into pieces. He was suddenly awakened by the shock.

He stood up quickly, walked to the door to make sure there was no one around, then closed the door and windows before returning to the table.

"Brother Shi, Brother Shi, Shi Changshi, can you just say such things? And how can you have such an idea?" Zhan Changshi said anxiously.

"Don't panic, Brother Zhan. I'm only talking to you about this. I won't say a word about other people. Let's discuss it carefully. After all, this is our duty, isn't it?" Shi Changshi said in a low voice.

Zhan Changshi remained silent. He didn't want to get involved in this matter, but it was not easy for him to just leave. Just as Shi Changshi said, it was their duty and their most important responsibility was to monitor the royal family and the vassal states.

"I felt something was wrong from the moment the young prince started forging iron. I feel it even more wrong now. The young prince must have summoned nearly a hundred blacksmiths, who are forging day and night at the Gongzheng Institute. Do you think he is privately making weapons and armor?" Shi Changshi continued.

"Brother Shi, this is what you are talking about!" Zhan Changshi breathed a sigh of relief. "I know this very well. Although the blacksmiths at Gongzheng Institute are forging day and night, I see that they just forge the steel into blocks and then throw them aside, saying that they have become waste. No weapons or armor have been made!"

The modern Damascus forging process does not require forging the steel into the shape of a weapon to know whether it is successful, but rather to know whether the forging is successful at every step of the forging fusion. If one step fails, the steel will be scrapped.

The specific method is to acid-dip the fused steel blocks in advance to see if the patterns on them meet expectations. The last 20% of the work is to forge them into the shape of weapons and then heat-treat, sharpen, and decorate them. With the current forging level of the palace, there are very few steel blocks that can be forged and fused to 50%, let alone forged into the shape of weapons. Therefore, Zhan Changshi only saw various discarded steel blocks, but did not see a finished weapon being forged.

"So this is what's unusual! Don't you think it's very strange? Gathering so many craftsmen and spending so much money just to make those scrap steel pieces?" Shi Changshi looked at Zhan Changshi with sharp eyes, "So I guess the forged weapons and armor were hidden?"

"It's a bit strange. Is there such a possibility? But where is the evidence?" Zhan Changshi tapped the table with his fingers. "There was no cover-up when the forging was done by Gongzheng. There are more than 3,000 people in the palace, and many people want to climb up but don't have the chance. This great achievement is what many people dream of, but no one has come to us to report it in three months. What does this prove? It proves that there is no such thing as forged weapons being hidden."

Shi Changshi was speechless.

"So, Shi Changshi, just relax! Come on, continue drinking."

Shi Changshi drank the wine in his glass silently, "One more thing, there is something wrong with the more than 100 children adopted by the young prince."

"What's wrong? The prince said that he was doing good deeds to pray for His Majesty, and that he would be released from the palace in two years to various industries outside the palace. Does Brother Shi think that the prince is raising private soldiers?"

"It's not impossible!" Shi Changshi said seriously.

"Is this how you raise private soldiers? Find a bunch of half-grown kids? Raise them openly in your house? And teach them to read and write?" Zhan Changshi sneered, "For this kind of thing, you have to find a secret place in the mountains and pretend to be bandits. That way, no one will notice."

Shi Changshi was silent for a while before he said, "I still feel something is wrong. Maybe the prince is raising assassins?"

"Death warriors? That's a bit possible. Death warriors need to be treated with kindness and brainwashed repeatedly so that they can die bravely at the critical moment." Zhan Changshi nodded, but then changed the subject, "Brother Shi, have you read the textbooks that the prince wrote for those children to start their education?"

"I've seen it. That pinyin is quite interesting." Shi Changshi said. He was a little puzzled as to why Zhan Changshi asked this.

"Then Brother Shi must have seen that there are many Tang poems in the textbooks for literacy, for example, there are several poems by Li Bai."

"So what?" Shi Changshi didn't understand what Zhan Changshi wanted to say.

“The poem above reads ‘The moon shines brightly before my bed, I wonder if it is frost on the ground’, not ‘Kill one person every ten steps, and leave no trace in a thousand miles’. How can one use a homesickness poem like ‘Quiet Night Thoughts’ to brainwash people? Wouldn’t the assassins raised in this way all run back home once they are released?” Zhan Changshi’s complaint was particularly powerful.

Shi Changshi was speechless. Thinking about it carefully, it was indeed the case, but he was still a little unwilling to accept it. "Young prince, you put so much effort just to train a few working guys for yourself? This is too ridiculous!"

"Compared with the first two possibilities, the possibility of training a servant is not so ridiculous, so I think the young prince did not lie," Zhan Bin said helplessly.

"I will continue to pay attention to this matter," Shi Changshi continued stubbornly.

"It's up to you, but I won't accompany you anymore." Zhan Changshi was even more helpless. He suddenly felt that the aura of Jinshi on Shi Changshi disappeared. He didn't have to look up to Shi Changshi like before, because the level shown by Shi Changshi was too low.
(End of this chapter)