Soon, Mo Shang followed Jian Shuo into the Deyang Palace and bowed to Liu Hong on the throne.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects!"

"Mo Qing, you may dispense with the formalities!"

At this moment, Jian Shuo also brought over a stool and placed it next to Mo Shang.

"Mo Qing, please have a seat!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

After Mo Shang sat down, Liu Hong smiled slightly and looked at Mo Shang, "Mo Qing, what good news have you brought me this time?"

"As Your Majesty has instructed, I have improved the powerful crossbows used in the previous dynasty's crossbow formations. I have achieved initial success and have begun production in the workshops of the Imperial Workshop!"

Mo Shang then took out two blueprints from his robes. "This one is for a military-grade crossbow, and the other is for a hand crossbow used by a single person! Please take a look, Your Majesty!"

Jian Shuo took two blueprints from Mo Shang, then bowed and handed them to Liu Hong.

Liu Hong spread the blueprints out on the table. Mo Shang had already disassembled the improved crossbow and clearly drawn all the parts on the blueprints, also indicating the manufacturing method and function of each part.

By analyzing the diagram, Liu Hong also discovered that Mo Shang incorporated the Mo family's mechanical arts and some principles of mechanics into it. Not only could it fire ten arrows at once, but it could also load the arrows faster and easier. If there were enough arrows, it could continuously suppress the enemy with firepower.

As for the single-person crossbow, it is even smaller. Although it is only single-shot, both its power and accuracy have been greatly improved, making it very suitable for use by cavalry and secret agents of the intelligence bureau.

Finally, there was the overall design of the new crossbow. Upon closer inspection, Liu Hong noticed that it was somewhat similar to the Zhuge Repeating Crossbow he had seen, but it appeared to be lighter and more refined, making it perfectly suitable as an offensive weapon.

After reviewing the two blueprints, Liu Hong nodded in satisfaction, then looked at Mo Shang and asked, "Are there any finished products of these two new crossbows?"

Mo Shang replied, "Your Majesty, some have been produced, but the quantity is small!"

How well does it perform?

"After testing, although the power of the military-grade crossbow has decreased, this deficiency can be made up for by improving the arrows. Most importantly, it greatly shortens the time for loading arrows, allowing three teams to fire continuously without gaps."

Liu Hong nodded. He had already popularized the three-team rapid-fire combat method in the training of the Imperial Guard cadets. The reason why it could not be popularized in the army was because this combat method required a huge number of arrows, which was not possible at present.

Liu Hong asked again, "What about its other defects?"

"The requirements for the arrows are extremely high. Both the length and thickness of the shaft must be consistent, and the arrowheads need to be made into triangular arrowheads to increase their lethality! At present, the Manufacturing Bureau cannot mass-produce them!"

Mo Shang's expression was not good. These two defects were obvious. The high precision required for arrows undoubtedly hindered the speed and quantity of arrow production. If the arrows could not keep up, what use was the crossbow, no matter how powerful it was?

Liu Hong then said, "Hehe~ The workshops of the Manufacturing Bureau only need to make crossbows; the manufacture of arrows can be completely outsourced to others!"

After listening to Mo Shang's concerns, Liu Hong smiled but didn't pay attention to these two points. Previously, when promoting the curved plow, the workshops of various powerful families had already begun to use assembly line production methods. As long as the size and method of arrow production were strictly regulated, there would be no problem at all.

"other people?"

Mo Shang was slightly taken aback, then understood. The manufacture of arrows was not complicated, and their research and manufacturing workshop did not need to waste its energy on this.

Xi Zhicai, who was standing nearby, couldn't help but ask, "I wonder who Your Majesty thinks would be most suitable to entrust with the manufacture of these arrows?"

Liu Hong thought for a moment, then said, "Let's leave it to the Mi and Zhen families! Other powerful families in the two regions can also be assigned some. Xuzhou will be responsible for manufacturing the arrowheads, Jizhou for manufacturing the arrow shafts, and Sili for the final assembly!"

Xi Zhicai looked at Liu Hong with some hesitation, "Your Majesty, the promotion of the curved plow has already consumed a large amount of iron ore. We will also promote harvesters later, and with the manufacture of these arrowheads, will the production of pig iron be able to keep up?"

Liu Hong chuckled. "Heh~ Let them figure that out themselves. When demand increases, they'll naturally find ways to increase pig iron production. As long as there's profit to be made, that's more effective than any other means!"

Xi Zhicai nodded in agreement. While profit may lead people to ruin, it can also serve as a motivator. For example, most of the inventions in later generations, apart from meeting the needs of the country and its people, were primarily made to make more money.

Currently, iron smelting workshops throughout the Han Dynasty uniformly adopt the frying method for steelmaking. As for forging, it still relies on manual labor to repeatedly heat and hammer the steel, which is commonly known as "hundred-times-refined steel".

This production method not only requires a large investment of manpower and resources, but also greatly limits steel production.

Although Du Shi, the former governor of Nanyang, invented the water-based forging method, which used water to replace human labor, it was not valued by the people.

Therefore, Liu Hongcai planned to take this opportunity to let them take the initiative to study how to increase steel production. It would be profitable, and only profit is the greatest motivation. Then the court would take the opportunity to promote it, and everything would fall into place naturally.

After some discussion, Liu Hong sent the standard dimensions set by Mo Shang to Cao Song.

Cao Song did not hesitate, after all, this was a major event to increase military strength. With a wave of his hand, he ordered three orders issued by the national treasury to be sent to Sili, Xuzhou and Jizhou respectively.