Chapter 356: Bankrupt
Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem
"Grandpa Deaf will save me the trouble of drawing the blueprint. The structure of Sunshot Divine Cannon is complicated, so if Grandpa Deaf could draw it into the real world, it would be much easier and simpler to measure it. Making it would be much easier as well."
Qin Mu let out a sigh of relief.
Deaf sold paintings for many months yet he had not sold anything. Then Qin Mu came and helped him to sell one painting, and the money he earned was much more than what he had earned in his entire lifetime. This made the Heavenly Painting Crown Prince sigh ruefully. It was due to the fact that the hearts of people were not like they were in the past.
Once he did not have to worry about clothes and food, he had no reason to reject Qin Mu who was inviting him to Imperial College to help.
When Qin Mu came back, he couldn't think about resting. He immediately gathered all hands and assigned them their tasks.
With Qing You, You He, and You Yun of Little Jade Capital, Dao Master Lin Xuan and ten Daoists that were proficient in algebra, the algebra experts of Imperial College, the design bureau of the imperial court, and Heavenly Saint Cult as well as Village Chief, there were a total of twenty-six people. Including the dragon qilin too, they would be responsible for drawing the pictures from the golden book and tidying up the space algebra model.
The dragon qilin's attainments in algebra weren't low after all, no inferior to those of the old Daoists.
The dragon qilin shed tears of gratitude. He had finally found a reason to not be on the dinner table, so he naturally worked with gusto.
The golden book had no need for Qin Mu to get involved, so all his energy was focused on Sunshot Divine Cannon.
Wang Muran, Mu Qingdai, and Long Yu were told by Qin Mu to arrange the space algebra model and array model with the algebra experts of Dao Sect, Imperial College, Design Bureau, and Heavenly Saint Cult.
Most of the secretaries from Imperial College's Floor of Heavenly Records were experts in formation skills. They were proficient in spell divine arts and were literally walking library of techniques, thus they were also invited by Qin Mu.
Sunshot Divine Cannon was originally a pupil skill called Sunshot Divine Eyes. It was found by Imperial Preceptor who had then put it in Floor of Heavenly Records, thus secretaries needed to guide them.
Qin Mu interacted with them for several days and mastered the formation skills and structure of Sunshot Divine Eyes, changing them into a sequence of formations needed for Sunshot Divine Cannon before finishing its structure.
Deaf observed from the side. When Qin Mu determined the structure, Deaf immediately began to paint.
Even he who was acclaimed as Art Saint took five days to finish the drawing of the divine cannon.
When he finished painting, he brought the blueprints he had drawn to the outskirts of the city and chose an empty land to spread them out. Instantly, a terrifying three hundred yards tall cannon battery materialized. The land it occupied was extremely vast, taking up the area of sixty-six hectares.
It was different from True Origin Cannon since it didn't have a cannon tube. It looked just like a huge platform.
Beside it was two frames which stretched out on their sides, forming circular arcs. At the top of each was a thick and solid axle.
The two axles were symmetrical and not joined together. At the end of each was a semicircular fork and a space of two hundred and forty yards. The two forks floated a divine eye that was blazing with fire, rumbling from time to time.
When the eye opened, and a fire beam would burst forth.
When the eye closed, it would rotate on the spot.
This was the Sunshot Divine Cannon designed from Sunshot Divine Eyes by Qin Mu!
Several hundred algebra experts immediately surrounded the materialized drawing and climbed onto all corners of the huge cannon battery. They drew, measured, calculated, and broke down the huge construct into numerous components, recording their structure and length without allowing the slightest mistake.
The formation markings on each and every one of the components also had to be measured, so there were a lot of calculations.
Qin Mu's design of Sunshot Divine Cannon hadn't listed every detail. He had designed the main body of the divine cannon, but there was no factory big enough to construct such an enormous divine cannon in one go.
That's why if he wanted to construct it, he needed to break it down into smaller components and forge them separately before assembling them together.
This was the reason why Qin Mu needed so many algebra experts.
With all of them working together to measure and calculate, the coordination between them was also a kind of learning. There was no room for error.
Qin Mu invited Emperor Yanfeng from the capital and let him coordinate all the algebra experts. Emperor Yanfeng's injuries had completely recovered, but since they were extremely severe and his divine treasures were still tattered, his cultivation had not yet recovered. He still needed to nurse his health.
Qin Mu and Little Poison King Fu Yuanqing had treated him by giving him doses of herbs that were too heavy, tormenting him and Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor quite heavily. Even until then, Emperor Yanfeng was still bearing a grudge.
"Your Majesty, these algebra experts were all invited by me and aren't the subjects of Your Majesty. If something they do displeases you, Your Majesty can't just execute them," Qin Mu instructed.
Emperor Yanfeng smiled and said, "I'm not those tyrants who like to keep calling for executions, you don't have to worry."
The officials from Ministry of Works came along with Heavenly Works Hall Master Shan Youxin having all come back from the frontlines. When the war on the prairie had no longer any need for them, Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor sent them back to the capital.
"Imperial Preceptor is currently attacking Rolan's Golden Palace. When we left, the fight had not yet started," the government minister of Ministry of Works reported to Emperor Yanfeng.
Qin Mu immediately summoned all the officials from Ministry of Works and gave them instructions. The government minister of Ministry of Works then reported to Emperor Yanfeng, "Supervisor Qin found the five manufacturing factories that Your Majesty gave him to be too small and too far from each other. He plans to tear all of them down and build a new factory beside the river."
"Tear down five of my manufacturing factories? They were constructed with real gold and silver; he is splurging so much money because it's not his money! Off with his head!"Emperor Yanfeng said in anger.
"Has Your Majesty forgotten? The factories of our Eternal Peace Empire were designed and improved by Supervisor Qin," the government minister of Ministry of Works said/
Emperor Yanfeng's expression softened. "He's indeed a capable man. Note down that he owes me his head."
After a moment, Qin Mu mobilized the flying ships to tear down the five manufacturing factories and move them next to Mud River. Ling Yuxiu's ability to lead and command wasn't weak, so Qin Mu invited her to help coordinate the people constructing the new factory.
He then ordered people to move all kinds of divine metals and rare treasures from the treasury to the new factory.
Emperor Yanfeng was busy coordinating all the algebra experts so that there would be no mistake. All his energy was used up there.
Some ten days later, the calculations regarding Sunshot Divine Cannon were completed. All of the algebra experts prepared and transformed their vital qi into all the different components they had noted down. They then pieced the tens of thousands of components together without a single mistake, forming a perfect Sunshot Divine Cannon.
Nearby, Qin Mu had nearly emptied the imperial treasury and even requested some black gold, black iron, and black copper from the mines all around the empire. Outside the new factory, all kinds of treasures were piled up like a mountain.
The new factory had already been started up, and the new pill furnaces that Qin Mu had designed provided an even greater firepower. Hundreds of huge mechanical giants were hammering the black gold and black iron, piling up the smelted gold, silver, iron and copper orderly.
Emperor Yanfeng returned to his senses and summoned the government minister of Ministry of Works over. "What's left in my imperial treasury?"
The government minister of Ministry of Works hesitated for a moment. "Your Majesty, there's is basically nothing left. All of the materials in the treasury have been emptied out by Supervisor Qin!"
Emperor Yanfeng walked into the new manufacturing factory and saw the inside buzzing with activity. All kinds of new machinery were activated, and the pill furnaces were blazing to maintain the operations of the mechanical giants. Boilers of all sizes were steaming with hot air while giving off dazzling rays.
"The amount of medicinal stones the new factory consumes in a day is equivalent to the medicinal stones consumed by a medium-scaled war in a day," explained the government minister of Ministry of Works.
"Supervisor Qin also designed the energy source for the divine cannon, and they are fifty-six of the strongest pill furnaces. The number of medicinal stones depleted for one activation will be almost the same as the number of medicinal stones Imperial Preceptor had taken to wage war on Barbarian Di Empire."
Emperor Yanfeng was dumbstruck. After a moment, he slowly said, "It's not his money that's being spent. Where's Supervisor Qin? I would like to ask him if he feels good about splurging my money."
"Supervisor Qin brought the princess to have a drink."
The government minister of Ministry of Works then added carefully, "He said he owed someone a drink and that person had been waiting for many days. There's basically nothing else he can do here, so he might as well treat that person to a drink so that he doesn't owe him a favor anymore. When the princess heard it, she decided to follow after him. A small fox also went with them. Supervisor Qin said that he didn't have any good wine so the princess went to get some tribute wine from the palace."
Emperor Yanfeng was angered. "I was invited by him and have to hurry here and there and look what he's doing, running away to drink wine, and even MY wine. He even brought my daughter to spend time to drink and have fun! Off with his head!"
The government minister immediately said, "Your Majesty, Sunshot Divine Cannon is not done yet…"
Emperor Yanfeng felt very much refreshed. "Then note down that he owes me his head first."
"Supervisor Qin said that the salary can't be delayed. He has already written the list, so may Your Majesty take a look."
Emperor Yanfeng took a look and became furious again. "So much money? My treasury has already been emptied by him so where will I get the money for him? Off with his head!"
"Your Majesty, Barbarian Di Empire has been conquered and Wolf Store Country is being invaded now, so we will have money soon," the government minister immediately said.
Emperor Yanfeng's anger turned into joy and he smiled. "Fine, then just note down that Supervisor Qin owes me his head. I can't treat these heavenly workers badly. We will pay them once we have the money. Is there any news from the northern border?"
"Your Majesty, General of Heavenly Strategies has sent report of a victory. They have broken into Wolf Store Country's king's courtyard and the ruler has surrendered. General of Heavenly Strategies will stand guard at Wolf Store Country while the crown prince will be escorting the ruler of Wolf Store Country. They will reach here either today or tomorrow."
Emperor Yanfeng nodded and smiled. "There's a lot less to worry about Yushu than his older brother."
"Supervisor Qin…"
Emperor Yanfeng raised his hand. "Don't talk about him! Change a person, change to another topic."
"Grand Chancellor Gu Linuan asked Ministry of Revenue if he could have his salary a month in advance…"
"No money!" Emperor Yanfeng sneered and said, "Grand Chancellor Gu is always toadying for personal gain, how could he lack money?"
"Lord Gu is really broke." The government minister of Ministry of Works smiled. "He spent all his belongings to redeem Junior Protector Sword back. I've heard the saintess of Heavenly Saint Cult had brought the sword and asked him if he wanted it back, thus Lord Gu became bankrupt. Furthermore, Lord Gu has also helped with the drawing and measuring of the divine cannon, so he also made a contribution and thus wanted an advance salary."
Emperor Yanfeng asked in puzzlement, "Wasn't Junior Protector Sword with Supervisor Qin? How did it land in the hands of Heavenly Saint Cult's saintess… Bah, you have mentioned him again, off with your head! I have not lost just the family's fortune, I've lost the entire empire's fortune. Where will I find any money? All of you want money from me, yet I've already sold almost all the things in the palace that can be sold, only the dragon robe and the dragon throne are left! I really have nothing left to sell!"
The government minister smiled and said, "Your Majesty, once you unify the prairie and the snow plains, the money will naturally come. Furthermore, with Supervisor Qin improving the manufacturing factories, if we forge all kinds of flying ships and machinery to sell to the merchants, money will naturally flow in like water into our treasury…"
Emperor Yanfeng sighed. "Note down that both you and he owes me their heads. I wonder, with whom does Supervisor Qin plan to drink while bringing my precious daughter along?"