Chapter 44: Zhuge Crossbow

Inside the main hall of the Prince Yan's Estate, three slaves stood cautiously in the center. Zhao Bin sat in the seat of honor at the head of the room, looking down at the three standing before him, and asked, "What are your names, and from where is your ancestral home?"

One of the middle-aged men, around forty years of age, spoke with a trembling voice, "Reporting to Your Highness, this humble one is called Sun Fuan, and these two are my sons. My eldest son is Sun Wen, and my youngest son is Sun Wu."

Zhao Bin had already noticed that the three bore a striking resemblance to one another, but he had not expected them to be a father and his two sons. "You are a carpenter, a skilled craftsman. How did you end up falling to the point of selling yourself into slavery?"

"Our hometown was once overrun by the Xiongnu. With no other choice, we fled toward the Guanzhong region. On the road, my wife fell ill and passed away. Later, we found work in Chang'an, crafting furniture for the nobility. Carelessly, I damaged a piece of precious timber belonging to a nobleman. The noble demanded compensation. I handed over all my worldly possessions, but it still was not enough. In the end, with no way out, I had no choice but to sell myself into slavery."

"What kind of timber was it, to be so precious?" Zhao Bin asked with curiosity.

"It is golden nanmu."

"Well, that certainly is not cheap," Zhao Bin said with a helpless chuckle, rubbing his nose.

"As I mentioned earlier, so long as you serve me for three years, I will restore your freedom, grant you household registration, and allot you farmland, cattle, and sheep. Here are a few blueprints; take a look and see if you can craft them." Zhao Bin handed the disassembled blueprints to Wang Wu, who stepped forward and delivered them to the carpenter.

Sun Fuan cautiously received the blueprints, inspected them from angles, and said, "Reporting to Your Highness, these items do not look overly difficult. So long as I am provided with the tools, this humble one can craft them."

"Good. Furthermore, I have another task for you. There are several hundred people who arrived along with you; I want you to teach them how to make these items. Can you accomplish this?" Zhao Bin continued.

Sun Fuan pondered for a moment before replying, "Reporting to Your Highness, Your Highness has treated us most generously, and this humble one will certainly do his utmost to teach them. However, this humble one cannot guarantee that every single one of them will be able to learn."

Zhao Bin smiled and said, "I understand your meaning. You are saying that some among them will undoubtedly be slow and unable to learn, correct?"

Seeing Zhao Bin's smile, which radiated a gentle warmth like a spring breeze, Sun Fuan felt his initial nervous tension ease somewhat. "This humble one does not mean they are stupid. It is simply that people are different. Some are suited for blacksmithing, some for carpentry, some for farming, and others for raising horses."

Listening to Sun Fuan's words, Zhao Bin found himself growing increasingly interested in the man. He could now conclude with certainty that this was a man who excelled at deep thought; his words were, in essence, the educational theory of teaching students in accordance with their aptitude.

"Do your best to teach these people for now. Once they have learned, I will have you serve as the leader of these several hundred people. As for those who truly cannot learn, you can assign them other tasks. After all, carpentry is not merely a matter of technical skill; there is physical labor involved as well, is there not? As for the tools you need and the quantities required, speak with Official Cao later, and he will have them prepared for you."

Hearing that he was to be made a leader, Sun Fuan felt a mixture of pleasant surprise and nervous apprehension. "Your Highness may rest assured, this humble one will do his utmost and will certainly not disappoint Your Highness."

"In addition, have your two sons oversee the women in manufacturing these wooden shafts." With that, Zhao Bin tossed a foot-long wooden rod to the man. "Remember, the dimensions and sizes must be identical."

"Your Highness, rest assured. These two boys of mine have been helping me since they were small, and I have taught them seven or eight tenths of my carpentry skills. However, having women do carpentry—surely that violates the rules?" Sun Fuan said.

Cao Li interjected from the side, "Whatever His Highness says is the rule. You are to do whatever His Highness tells you to do."

Realizing at that moment that he had spoken out of turn, Sun Fuan hurriedly dropped to his knees and kowtowed, "Yes, yes, yes. Please forgive Your Highness, please forgive Your Highness. This humble one knows his error."

"Get up. I am unfamiliar with the rules of you carpenters, but I wish to know, based on your experience, whether women can manage to craft wooden shafts of this kind," Zhao Bin said slowly.

Sun Fuan slowly stood up, carefully examined the wooden shaft in his hand once more, and then spoke, "This wooden shaft is smooth and straight, but it is not overly difficult to manufacture. There should not be any major issues."

"So long as the problems are minor, come to me whenever you encounter any difficulties. Very well, you may withdraw for now. First, make a single sample of the items on the blueprints today, and bring it to show me later this day."

"Yes, Your Highness. This humble one takes his leave." With that, Sun Fuan and his two sons retreated from the main hall. Led by a guard, they arrived at the adjacent courtyard where plows and harrows had previously been crafted. In the yard lay timber, saws, chisels, and other tools. Sun Fuan glanced at the blueprints in his hand and immediately began working busily alongside his two sons.

After the departure of the three members of the Sun family, Zhao Bin turned to Cao Li and asked, "Old Cao, how is the production of parts at the smelting plant progressing?"

Cao Li set down his teacup and replied, "Your Highness, once the farming tools were cast, production of all components was accelerated. We should have over a hundred sets produced by now, and every single piece has been checked for dimensions. Any that failed to meet standards have been thrown back into the furnace for recasting."

"Cast five thousand sets as spares first, and we can discuss the rest later. Have someone bring over two sets in a moment."

"Yes, Your Highness," Cao Li acknowledged.

"Also, notify Wei Xiang and Zhou Hu to bring the commoners all back two days before the New Year festival. Since the festival is almost upon us, let everyone celebrate the New Year first. For now, these mineral reserves should be sufficient to sustain us for a while, and the remaining matters can wait until after the holiday."

"Yes, Your Highness. This subordinate will dispatch men to deliver the message right away." Cao Li acknowledged the order and stepped outside to give instructions to a subordinate bailiff.

Next door, after working diligently for two hours, Sun Fuan and his two sons finally finished crafting all the wooden structural components requested by Zhao Bin. Inspecting the parts before him, Sun Fuan, with his experience, naturally knew these components needed to be assembled together. He walked over to the guard on duty and said in a low voice, "Brother Soldier, would you be so kind as to announce to His Highness that the items are all finished?"

The guard glanced at the various parts laid out and said, "Very well, wait here a moment. I will go report to His Highness."

The guard jogged all the way back from the neighboring courtyard to the estate. "Reporting to His Highness, those three carpenters have finished making the items you requested."

Greatly pleased, Zhao Bin said, "Have them bring the items over."

"Yes." The guard jogged back to the neighboring yard once more.

Before long, several items were arranged on the table before Zhao Bin: the frame, the crossbow bow, the operating lever, the arrow magazine, and the bowstring. As a mechanically-minded modern soul, Zhao Bin easily assembled the various components together, while Wang Wu, Cao Li, and the others looked on with curious eyes.

"Your Highness, this is different from the crossbows usually used in the military camp," Wang Wu asked curiously.

"Of course it is different. This is called a Zhuge repeating crossbow. Let's go to the backyard and test it out." Zhao Bin led the group to the rear courtyard.

Wang Wu ran into a room and brought out ten arrows that had been prepared in advance. Zhao Bin took the arrows and loaded them one by one into the magazine.

Lifting the crossbow, Zhao Bin found it somewhat heavy, with stability that was less than ideal. Striving to maintain his balance, he aimed at a large tree in the courtyard where people often sought shade and continuously pushed the operating lever. Within two or three breaths, ten arrows shot out in rapid succession. Although the accuracy was only about thirty percent, in an actual battlefield, individual accuracy mattered little; large-scale coverage was what truly counted.

"Good grief, Your Highness! This crossbow is so powerful, it can actually fire ten arrows in a row!" Wang Wu cried out in astonishment. In truth, this could hardly be blamed on Wang Wu; the arrows he had previously seen in the military possessed a relatively long range, but they suffered from a major flaw in drawing the string and loading. Because ordinary crossbows possessed strong tension, drawing the bowstring required placing the crossbow on the ground, stepping on it with both feet, and pulling the string with both hands until it locked into the trigger mechanism, after which the crossbow had to be picked up and aimed. After going through all that operation, the rate of fire was inferior to that of an ordinary bow. However, while ordinary bows fired faster than crossbows, training an archer required at least three months of time, whereas ordinary people could pick up a crossbow and use it almost immediately, with relatively high accuracy. The repeating crossbow, meanwhile, not only reduced loading time but vastly increased the rate of fire. Its only drawback was insufficient accuracy, but when facing a massive enemy assault on a city wall, accuracy ceased to be important.

Cao Li also said with an excited expression, "Your Highness is truly brilliant! With this repeating crossbow, even facing an attacking force ten times our number should present no problem."

In his heart, Zhao Bin understood that the repeating crossbow was merely an additional defensive measure; relying solely on it could not guarantee the safety of the city. To achieve true strength, one still had to manufacture firearms, but since that could not be accomplished in a short time, he had no choice but to begin with simpler things first.

Zhao Bin handed the repeating crossbow to Wang Wu and told him to give it a try. Rubbing his hands together, Wang Wu excitedly accepted the weapon, reloaded the magazine with arrows, and unleashed another volley at the tree.

Ling'er looked at Zhao Bin with a pleading gaze and said, "Your Highness, this maid wants to try as well."

Seeing Ling'er's eager expression, Zhao Bin had no choice but to agree. However, Ling'er was, after all, a young girl, and lacked sufficient arm strength; the repeating crossbow had some weight to it, and seeing Ling'er lift the weapon and sway unsteadily, Wang Wu and the others could not help feeling a sense of dread and hurriedly stepped back a few paces. Seeing this, Zhao Bin spoke up, "You all go back to the front hall first." Hearing this, Cao Li and Wang Wu sensibly took their leave from the rear courtyard.

Zhao Bin stepped behind Ling'er, raised one hand to support her arm while holding her other hand to push the operating lever.

*Swish, swish, swish*—after a few movements, the arrows launched from the magazine one by one.

"How is it? Do you want to try again?"

"I won't. It's too heavy."

"I'll have someone make a simpler, smaller one for you later," Zhao Bin said, planting a light kiss on the back of Ling'er's neck.

Feeling a tickling sensation, Ling'er instinctively shrunk her neck and said with a coy pout, "Your Highness, stop fooling around in broad daylight."

The two whispered to each other for a moment before walking toward the front hall as well.

In the front hall, Sun Fuan and his two sons stood waiting in place. Zhao Bin led Ling'er back into the hall and said, "Master Sun, I am very satisfied with what you made today. This one tael of silver is a reward for you. In the period before the New Year festival, you will teach the others how to craft these wooden parts."

Sun Fuan immediately dropped to his knees, and his two sons, Sun Wen and Sun Wu, followed suit. "This humble one thanks Your Highness for the reward! Thank you, Your Highness, for the reward!"

"Get up. There's no need to keep kneeling in the future; I don't like it, and it makes it difficult for me to talk to you," Zhao Bin said with a smile.

"Yes, this humble one will obey Your Highness in everything," Sun Fuan said as he rose to his feet. After Zhao Bin issued a few additional instructions, Sun Fuan and his two sons took their leave.