Chapter 45: Preparations Before Making the Repeating Crossbow

The moment Sun Fu'an and his son returned to their quarters, the people who had traveled with them to Yancheng crowded around, asking with undisguised curiosity, "Brother Sun, what did the Prince want with you?"

"Old Sun, tell us quickly, what is the Prince's Mansion like?"

"Yes, yes, tell us!"

The crowd offered Sun Fu'an a stool. He sat down and said, "The courtyard of the Prince's Mansion is very large, but it is not luxurious inside at all. It's not even as grand as some of the wealthy estates we've seen before."

A very thin man asked curiously, "How can that be? That's a Prince's Mansion!"

"Why wouldn't it be? Haven't you heard? The Prince of Yan traded with the nomadic tribes for a huge number of cattle, sheep, and horses, but His Highness distributed all of them to the common people of Yancheng," Sun Fu'an countered. They had been in Yancheng for two days now, doing nothing except eating and sleeping. Moreover, the Prince's Mansion had not restricted their personal freedom; they were free to come and go from their quarters as they pleased. At first, some of them had been skeptical, but there were no guards at the estate gates, and when a few people ventured out to take a walk around the city, no one stopped them. Hearing the townspeople discussing the matter on the streets, they finally realized that the Prince of Yan had indeed distributed numerous cattle, sheep, and horses to the common folk.

Sun Fu'an paused and continued, "Have you forgotten what the Prince of Yan said the day we arrived in Yancheng? In three years, he will grant us official status and distribute farmland to us."

"But can we even survive three years here? This place is close to the Jie tribe in the north. I've heard those Jie people kill without blinking and often come to Yancheng to burn, kill, and plunder," a middle-aged man around Sun Fu'an's age asked with deep concern.

Hearing this, the crowd instantly grew flustered, murmuring and debating amongst themselves.

At that moment, a tall, thin man lying on a bed not far away spoke up dismissively, "Hmph, what are you afraid of? Even the Prince of Yan isn't afraid, so what are you scared of? If you're afraid of dying, you can leave right now. Didn't that official say when we arrived that no one would stop those who want to leave? Let's see if you can make it out of Hebei Circuit alive if you walk out of here."

"Hey, Blacksmith Tang, what do you mean by that? Who said anything about leaving?" someone retorted.

"Well, I'm not leaving anyway. There's food and drink here, and I think this place is pretty good. If we really get land distributed to us after three years, I might even be able to take a wife," the man surnamed Tang said from his bed.

"Still, you have to wonder why the Prince bought us without telling us what to do, just letting us eat and sleep like this."

Sun Fu'an's eldest son, Sun Wen, said, "That won't be the case. The Prince will have work for us to do."

Hearing that there was work for them, the crowd instantly turned their gaze toward Sun Wen.

"Xiaowen, what did the Prince say he wants us to do?" the middle-aged man asked.

Sun Wen replied, "The Prince said he wants my father to teach everyone carpentry."

"Carpentry? What's the point of learning carpentry?" the middle-aged man asked curiously.

"We made some things for the Prince at the mansion today, but these pieces, when put together, must form a single object. The Prince probably wants us to build something," Sun Fu'an took over the conversation.

"So what on earth is it?"

"I don't know that myself. I only made one part of a component; there must be other parts to the item," Sun Fu'an said slowly. "However, I must remind you all, we are now the Prince's people. The Prince gives us food, and whatever he asks us to do, we will do. As for what the Prince is actually planning, it's best if no one goes around prying or talking nonsense."

In truth, based on his experience, although Sun Fu'an did not know precisely what the Prince of Yan intended to make, his intuition told him it was a weapon akin to a crossbow or bow.

Inside the iron-smelting workshop, Han Tie, having received the assignment to manufacture carpentry tools, immediately organized his men to create molds after reviewing the order. For Han Tie, forging various tools was simple as long as there was a model to follow. However, the ironworks no longer relied on iron hammers striking repeatedly; everything was now produced via casting, which greatly improved efficiency. After a day and a night, all the tools were cast, and even the sharpening and edge-grinding were completed. Zhao Bin had ordered a water-powered grindstone set up within the workshop, using flowing water to provide power. By adding a turbine wheel at the bottom connected through gears, the grindstone spun rapidly to sharpen farm implements, which were now just right for grinding the various axes and chisels used by the carpenters.

Armed with their new tools, Sun Fu'an and his two sons finally began their teaching sessions. The two brothers, Sun Wen and Sun Wu, were affectionately addressed as Young Master Sun, especially among the women, where the two young men were teased relentlessly by several older, sharp-tongued matrons, leaving some of the young maidens blushing fiercely. Fortunately, the prefecture office had dispatched administrative clerks to supervise the teaching, and under their intervention, the two young men were able to continue their lessons smoothly.

The women's group was ultimately tasked with making simple arrow shafts, and many of them grasped the essentials after practicing for a while. On the men's side, however, a different situation unfolded. People naturally differed in their abilities; some learned quickly, while others were slow. After observing for a period, Sun Fu'an finally divided the men into groups: some were responsible for cutting the timber, some for shaping, and others for grooving. Fortunately, these purchased slaves came from impoverished peasant backgrounds and included no lazy slackers. Everyone diligently performed their assigned steps. Of course, another reason was that the supervisors here were not civil clerks from the prefecture, but heavily armored guards of the Prince's Mansion, each wearing a waist saber and holding a long spear.

That being said, carpentry was, after all, a meticulous craft. A typical apprentice generally required three years to master the trade, and even those who learned quickly needed a period of practice before producing simple items. Even if they could learn it now, there was no way to immediately begin manufacturing Zhuge crossbows because none of the timber was fully air-dried. Parts manufactured at this stage would easily warp. The primary reason Zhao Bin insisted on felling trees in the winter was that winter timber had the lowest moisture content, which minimized the time needed for the wood to dry. He hoped that through a winter's weathering and drying, the timber would lose moisture and hold its shape well, laying a solid foundation for the actual production of crossbows in the future.