Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 254 Qi Machine
Seeing that the atmosphere had cooled down but no one had spoken first, Lu Kang realized that this was the time for him to play a role again, so he took the initiative to bring up the topic, "Well, my lord... there seems to be a new colleague in the Ministry of Works that no one knows about. Could you please ask her to introduce herself?"
"That's right. The Ministry of Works is usually very busy and involves many confidential matters. So if there is no important matter from the Pangsi Department, they will not come to the Yuedan Meeting. Huang Jijiu has just joined the General's Mansion, so I invited her this time... This is Huang Yueying, Huang Jijiu, who joined the Ministry of Works of the General's Mansion after many invitations from me!" Bai Tu said.
Precisely because there were no other important officials in the Ministry of Works, and only a few "administrative" officials, the rank of the Grand Priest was the highest among the officials of the Ministry of Works present, which was why he sat so close to the front.
Naturally, everyone present noticed that Bai Tu specifically called himself "Ben Hou" at the end.
Normally, Bai Tu seldom calls himself this, and it is obvious that he is not saying it casually, but to emphasize that Huang Yueying is the talent I, the great Marquis of Chu, have invited with great courtesy!
"I'm Huang Yueying from Nanyang, a female who is interested in mechanical engineering. I'm seventeen years old. If you have any ideas... related to mechanical engineering, you can come to the Ministry of Industry to find me." Huang Yueying said calmly.
"I didn't expect Huang Jijiu to be so young. It's just... Huang Jijiu is working in the Ministry of Works, so there must be a lot of inconveniences, right?" Zhang Zhao said in a concerned tone.
Before Huang Yueying could speak, Bai Tu spoke for her, "Hahaha, I'm afraid Zi Bu is worrying for nothing this time. Judging from the current results of the transfer of officials from the Ministry of Personnel, Huang Jijiu ranks at the top in terms of achievements and support and love from his subordinates, especially the new 'Yueying Crossbow', which is about to enter the assembly line production stage.
Recently, a new crossbow has been developed, with amazing single-shot range and damage. When it is popularized throughout the army, it can at least increase the army's combat effectiveness by 20%, which means reducing casualties by 20%, plus saving 20% of civilian manpower... If you don't work hard, I'm afraid that Huang Jijiu will be the only one who shines at this year's New Year's Day!"
"My lord, thank you for the compliment. I designed the mechanism of the new crossbow, but the energy supply device is the work of the Pangsi tribe, otherwise I would not have thought of designing this crossbow." Huang Yueying said without taking credit for it.
But this kind of singing the same tune made others feel uncomfortable.
In other words…
Huang Yueying has not only been appointed, but has also been evaluated and even achieved results?
"My lord, didn't the Ministry of Works also have a batch of new crossbows called the Shenbi Crossbow? They have been developed and are being equipped to the generals and elite soldiers of the entire army. Is this the same batch?" Yu Fan said very straightforwardly.
He didn't have much objection to Huang Yueying, but he just couldn't stand Bai Tu's "false reporting of achievements."
In fact, the white map does contain some exaggeration. Apart from anything else... Pang Tong’s recent discovery is the highlight!
"That's right. The Divine Arm Crossbow and the Linking Crossbow each have their own strengths and will be equipped to the entire army respectively. The new crossbow I mentioned should be considered an enhanced version of the second-generation Divine Arm Crossbow. It will be equipped to generals first... especially the generals of the navy that are about to set sail." Bai Tu said and looked at Gan Ning.
"Thank you for your kindness, my lord. However... we need range advantage in naval battles, and long journeys are also a test for the durability of weapons. Longbows and steel swords are better for use." Gan Ning said with some concern.
In the era before the invention of artillery, naval battles consisted of 70% "head-on shooting" and 30% "boarding" battles.
Or a simple longbow is more practical!
The crossbow not only has a shorter range than the bow and arrow, but also has a complex structure and is easily damaged.
"Don't worry, Xingba. You may not know this because you just came back, but the range of the Shenbi crossbow has exceeded that of an ordinary longbow, and we have begun developing ship-borne crossbows. In the future, the navy will have weapons that can destroy the hull at a long distance. In the next half month, we will first popularize the Shenbi crossbow and the linking crossbow for the navy that is going to go to sea, and the generals will try their best to be equipped with the second-generation Shenbi crossbow. " Bai Tu said.
"What's the Divine Arm Crossbow, the second-generation Divine Arm Crossbow... I was only away for half a year, and there are many new things in the General's Mansion..." Gan Ning sighed, and added in his heart: It would be great if Jinxiu could also develop so fast.
Unfortunately, the silk weaving and textile industry in Jiangdong developed very quickly, but... it was developing in the direction of convenience and popularization, which was different from the gorgeous and brocade that Gan Ning liked.
"The Shenbi Crossbow can be seen as an enhanced version of the foot-operated crossbow, and the second-generation Shenbi Crossbow... is difficult to explain. Conceptually, it is more than just a 'crossbow', but can fire in all directions... Well, I'll take this opportunity to demonstrate it." Bai Tu said.
When Pang Tong first discovered this method of energy supply, Bai Tu was also very surprised.
Although there are still many constraints, Bai Tu sees different hopes in the direction.
"First, let me show you something. It's a new type of material that the Pangsi tribe developed a while ago." Bai Tu said, and ordered someone to bring a fist-sized glass bead. The whole bead was green, but there was a depression about one-fifth of the size at one end, which was filled with red glass. And from the red glass part, a glass column that was as thick as a thumb and as long as a middle finger stretched out...
Everyone here is already very familiar with this brittle colored glass, and has some knowledge of its cost. At least... they will no longer regard it as some rare treasure!
Thinking back to how ignorant we were more than a year ago, we all feel a little ashamed.
"Is this the new material developed by the Pangsi Department? The color... is indeed a lot brighter." Yu Fan complimented against his will, then looked at Bai Tu and said that apart from the color, he couldn't see any difference between this thing and other artificial colored glass.
"It's not a matter of color. When we were in Shouchun before, our adoptive father, Ziyi and Zilong worked together to make medicine to treat the epidemic. Do you still remember it?" Bai Tu asked.
"And my brother..." Sun Quan, who was in the corner like Lu Xun, added weakly at this time, but unfortunately he was too far away from Bai Tu and was not heard.
"This is also... um, an instrument for 'extracting' essence?" Zhang Zhao guessed after hearing this. He has learned a lot of new words over the years.
“No, it’s the inspiration I got from there, not a thing…After that incident, the Pangsi tribe discovered that the properties of true qi are different from those of ordinary natural substances.
Moreover... by changing the ratio of trace elements in the colored glaze, a material that is very sensitive to true qi can be produced. By changing the ratio, the material can be combined with different forms of true qi... Well, to put it simply... Lingqi, you can demonstrate it." Seeing that no one understood, Bai Tu handed the thing to Lu Lingqi who was standing aside for "demonstration".
Lu Lingqi also took it directly, to "cover up" Bai Tu's clumsy tongue. She held a glass bead as big as a fist, and then poured true energy into it that did not show any lethality - although the strength was not enough to liquefy, the control of this one hand alone was already stronger than Sun Ce!
Then the green part of the glass bead became even greener, and even... it glowed faintly!
Gan Ning's eyes lit up when he saw this - he had already decided to fill his bedroom with these "precious beads".
Afterwards, Bai Tu handed the already slightly shiny colored glass bead to Gan Ning and said to him, "Xingba, just pretend to be an ordinary general. Use the weakest true qi to slightly stimulate the red part... Note that it is 'stimulate', not 'attack'."
Gan Ning took it, admired it first, and then did as Bai Tu said.
Nothing spectacular happened as expected. Others only heard the sound of wind blowing through a narrow space. It was not loud, but it came from Gan Ning's hand...
Soon Gan Ning showed everyone the source of the sound - Gan Ning put his hand around one end of the red pillar. At this time, some staff members who were close by could see that the red pillar was hollow like a reed!
Judging from the sound, it is this red rod-shaped part that is constantly ejecting gas...
"This is the result of the use of two types of colored glaze with different proportions, which have different degrees of compatibility with the true Qi. In short... the green part can be used for storage, and when passing through the red part, the true Qi will be converted into the form of air flow... Anyway, you don't know what air is, so just know that the air will continue to gush out!" Bai Tu said.
Although the explanation seemed perfunctory, Lu Kang, Zhang Zhao and others did not care. They were not interested in the principles behind these things. It was enough for them to know that "it can store true energy" and "it will continuously emit jets after being stimulated".
As the gas gushed out, the glass bead gradually dimmed, and soon returned to its original appearance.
I don't know why it's so impressive!
It's amazing!
uncanny workmanship!
However……
What's the use?
"An airflow of this intensity can't be used for archery, right?" Gan Ning asked doubtfully.
"Don't worry, this is just a new structure discovered by the Pangsi tribe. I call it the 'Qi Machine'. There are endless possibilities for its specific application... But since Xingba is already anxious, let's take a look at the second-generation Shenbi Crossbow." Bai Tu said helplessly.
Sure enough, it was not the steam engine that started the Industrial Revolution, but the Industrial Revolution that made the steam engine possible...
Steam engine, coal, steel and iron are the four kings that promote and accelerate industrialization, but not their creators and initiators.
Just like the land under Bai Tu's feet, in the history without the White Rabbit Effect, there have been countless advanced inventions and discoveries - without the context of the times, simply having more inventions cannot be transformed into productivity!
If there had been no White Rabbit Effect in history, even if the steam engine had really been invented, it would probably have been just like the Huang Dao Po textile machine, with even the name of its creator not being recorded. In later textbooks, there would only be the regrettable statement “XX years ago, our country had already done XXX for the first time”, and other than that, nothing would have changed.
At this time, a guard also brought a crossbow that looked very "industrial" to Bai Tu.
Overall, most of it is made of metal components, and the most noticeable thing is that this crossbow does not have a horizontal crossbow arm, but two opposing bow arms, which are placed vertically on the crossbow body, so the overall appearance is very "slim" and long...
