The next day, the construction team began building the industrial zone and the weapons workshop. Everything was proceeding according to plan.
Several people sat in the council chamber of the county magistrate's office.
Yun Ci, Zhou Sui, Sun Yishui, and three technicians from Gefeng City who specialized in bows and arrows. Li Fu was among them.
One was a bow-making specialist named Han Bo.
Another was a specialist in forging bow and arrow accessories named Wei Tan.
Both men were around fifty years old, which was considered elderly in this era, but their craftsmanship and technical skills were excellent.
Jiang Jin handed two blueprints to the group. "Take a look at these. Can these two types of crossbows be made?"
Yun Ci and Zhou Sui were the fastest, each taking one.
Both were veteran military generals. At a glance, they noticed the distinctiveness of the crossbows. The closer they looked, the more astonished they became, their eyes gradually shining with incredible brilliance.
What Jiang Jin had provided were the structural blueprints for the Dragon Plume Crossbow and the Eight-Ox Crossbow.
Yun Ci held the blueprint for the Eight-Ox Crossbow. He looked up at Jiang Jin with excitement. "My Lord, where... where did you get this blueprint?"
Jiang Jin smiled. "Don't worry about where it came from. Just tell me, what do you think of the power of this crossbow?"
Yun Ci carefully placed the blueprint on the table, his eyes burning with intensity. "According to the design in this drawing, its power will be absolutely immense. However, we won't know for sure until we actually build and test it."
Jiang Jin nodded. "This Eight-Ox Crossbow is also known as the One-Spear Three-Sword Arrow. If built according to the blueprint, its range can reach over 1,500 meters."
The crowd looked bewildered.
Jiang Jin could not help but facepalm. She had almost forgotten the units of measurement used in this era. It seemed that teaching basic measurements needed to be put on the agenda as well.
"That is 450 zhang," Jiang Jin explained.
Everyone was greatly shocked. They had never even heard of a crossbow with a range of 450 zhang. At this very moment, they felt an unparalleled sense of awe.
What kind of concept was 450 zhang? At that distance, one probably couldn't even see the target clearly, right?
Then came wild ecstasy. If they truly possessed such a divine weapon, what would they have to fear?
Zhou Sui hurriedly picked up the Eight-Ox Crossbow blueprint and began to study it in detail.
Jiang Jin began to introduce it. "The Eight-Ox Crossbow uses iron leaves for fletching. Three slightly smaller arrows are placed on both the left and right sides. When all the arrows are fired simultaneously, any fortress they hit can be destroyed, and watchtowers will likewise collapse."
She glanced at the group and continued, "This crossbow can also be loaded with stepping-peg arrows. It is absolutely a sharp weapon for sieges and capturing fortifications."
Stepping-peg arrows were massive crossbow bolts with shafts forged from refined iron, making them incredibly hard.
When fired from the Eight-Ox Crossbow during a siege, the shafts of these arrows would embed deeply into the wall, leaving only the larger half of the shaft and the fletching exposed. Besieging soldiers could then use these embedded shafts to climb up the city walls.
"However, this is a heavy crossbow. It requires several soldiers to operate it simultaneously."
Such a heavy and powerful weapon naturally required a significant amount of manpower.
Yun Ci shook his head. "For such a formidable weapon, whether for attacking or defending a city, it is a massive lethal force. It is only normal that it requires more people to operate."
Zhou Sui could not help but nod. "Indeed." The more he looked at it, the more excited his expression became. "Good, good, excellent!"
Shouting "good" three times in a row clearly showed his excitement.
He then passed the design of the Dragon Plume Crossbow to Yun Ci. "Elder Yun, take a look at this one. It's also excellent. One heavy, one light—it's a perfect match!"
Jiang Jin nodded. Zhou Sui had hit the nail on the head. The crossbows she provided were indeed one heavy and one light, one for long-range and one for close-range.
The heavy one could be used for conquering cities and seizing territories with long-range attacks.
The light one could be carried around for close-quarters combat.
Yun Ci took the blueprint, his chest heaving uncontrollably. "My Lord, is this... is this a repeating crossbow capable of firing twenty arrows in succession?"
Jiang Jin nodded. "That's right."
"Wonderful! If every soldier in our Jinyang Army could be equipped with one of these, why would we ever fear the barbarians!" Yun Ci was beyond thrilled.
Jiang Jin shook her head. "The manufacturing cost of the Dragon Plume Crossbow is not low. It uses iron for the barrel, copper for the trigger mechanism, sandalwood for the casing, mulberry wood for the crossbow body, and hemp rope tied with silk for the bowstring. When you calculate it all, it is not cheap."
"My suggestion is that it can be equipped for the elite troops, while the regular soldiers will still use standard bows and arrows."
Jiang Jin gestured to hand the blueprints to Li Fu, Han Bo, and Wei Tan. After the three of them had taken the blueprints and studied them for a while, she finally spoke.
"The weapons workshop already has mulberry wood from making bows and arrows previously, and we have also chopped down quite a lot recently. You can first make a prototype to test the effects, slowly adjust it, and produce a finished product as soon as possible."
"As for the trigger mechanism, we currently don't have a copper mine. Try to see if you can make it using iron. If it really doesn't work, we'll just have to melt down copper coins to make it."
She didn't have many copper coins to begin with, so she didn't want to use copper for the mechanisms. Furthermore, copper wasn't irreplaceable. As far as she knew, the trigger mechanisms of many crossbows in later generations were made of iron.
Li Fu and the other two exchanged glances. They were all veterans in bow-making and had made crossbows before, so they naturally recognized the extraordinary nature of these two models.
However, this was their first time facing the highest-ranking leaders of Gefeng, so they were very nervous and reserved.
Wei Tan hesitated for a moment before saying, "We can try using iron, but I'm afraid our forging techniques might not be up to standard."
He was the one who forged the iron arrowheads for the bows and arrows in the Gefeng weapons workshop, so he was relatively familiar with the structural components of crossbows.
Jiang Jin knew he was telling the truth. After pondering for a moment, she took out a hand-copied document containing improved steel-making techniques, including carburized steel production, steel insertion, steel plating, and steel wrapping metallurgical processing methods.
She also took out a document detailing composite folding and forging techniques, as well as hundred-refined composite pattern-welding technology. Her Tang swords and Mo swords were all crafted using these techniques.
"You all can take a look at these two documents. They will definitely be beneficial to your iron smelting and forging." She handed the two sets of materials to Sun Yishui and the others.
Sun Yishui was a blacksmith himself. Now that both iron and coal mines had been found, he naturally wanted to return to his original profession.
Jiang Jin recognized his abilities and loyalty, so she decided to let him join the weapons forging workshop.
Yun Ci's heart skipped a beat. "Wait a moment, may I take a look?"
He had a feeling that Jiang Jin had come up with something incredible again.
He knew about the swords wielded by Jiang Jin, Yun Chengxuan, and Zhou Sui; calling them peerless divine weapons would not be an exaggeration.
Jiang Jin had no objections and handed the materials in her hand to him.
She had written them using a pen from later generations. Her handwriting was vigorous and powerful, with strong strokes and a natural flow.
Yun Ci took a moment to adjust to such small handwriting before he began reading.
As a veteran general and an expert in wielding weapons, he also understood a fair amount about iron smelting and forging.
However, Jiang Jin had given him too many surprises today. Seeing these techniques, he accepted them calmly, yet his attitude remained extremely cautious.
He handed the materials over to Sun Yishui and Wei Tan, his expression solemn. "You must keep these two documents strictly confidential. If you need to teach others, it must be done with our permission."
With these techniques, the weapons they forged would inevitably be stronger than others, just as Jiang Jin's sword could easily chop through other blades.
This was their advantage, another magic weapon for their victory.
Sun Yishui and Wei Tan were startled and hurriedly promised, "Understood."
Yun Ci turned back to Jiang Jin and made a solemn request. "My Lord, I want to take charge of the work at the weapons workshop."
