The miniature hidden arrow is finally made
Chapter 49: Micro-Hidden Arrows are Finally Made
At the end of March, Chu Huaibei received a letter from the mountain, saying that he had successfully made a carriage, miniature sleeve arrows and a triangular bayonet, and asked the prince to come into the mountain for an inspection.
Chu Huaibei reviewed his current affairs and decided to return in early April. This time, he wouldn't leave the group alone, lest he be discovered. However, following the personal patrol, he only had an hour's time to be active, and would return to the group once he had retrieved the hidden arrow.
On this day in April, Chu Huaibei, along with Xue Zhan and her personal guards, went on patrol. After reaching the Qizhou grassland line, she ordered her personal guards to rest for an hour. She took Xue Zhan with her, and the two of them rode quickly around to a small path into the mountains.
The palace soldiers picked up Chu Huaibei and went into the workshop together.
"Your Highness." Everyone saluted.
"No need to be so polite. I am pressed for time this time. I will take my things and leave after I have finished my inspection."
"Yes, Your Highness, please come this way." Deputy Envoy Ding first led Chu Huaibei to a carriage, opened the door, and gestured for Chu Huaibei to get in and take a test drive.
Chu Huaibei first walked around the carriage. From the outside, it looked a little larger than an ordinary carriage, but still within the normal range and not too conspicuous. Then he squatted down to examine the axles and springs. Even the wheel hubs were made of pure iron, but they were covered with a layer of wooden wheels. The joints were so tight that you couldn't see them unless you squatted down carefully. Not bad, the craftsmanship is very good.
Get up and enter the carriage. In the middle is a charcoal stove fixed to the bottom, and around it is a small table wrapped in iron sheets. The small table is higher than the charcoal stove, so even if the charcoal fire splashes out accidentally, no one will be injured.
Many secret compartments in the car were perfectly replicated according to her drawings. Finally, she checked the two windows and found that the embedded iron sheets pushed and pulled smoothly, and could be closed immediately in case of an accident. It was perfect.
He gestured for the carriage to take two steps, and then it went around along the previous test road. Although the carriage was vibrating violently on the rugged mountain road, it was less bumpy than the original carriage traveling quickly on the official road. Moreover, the shock absorption effect was good, and even the vibration was cushioned, which greatly improved the comfort. Now that this car was traveling quickly on the official road, the experience was improved by N levels.
After returning to the workshop, Chu Huaibei praised the people from the former Sino-Agricultural Institute and affirmed their efforts over the past few months.
Then he picked up the miniature sleeve arrow on the table and tested its power. It could penetrate half of a tree ten meters away, which was enough for close-range self-defense. If the opponent attacked at close range, this arrow could directly penetrate a person's body. Of course, if it accidentally got stuck in the opponent's bones, that would be another matter.
A total of five were made, and fifty short arrows were made. Chu Huaibei took them all back to the palace.
This sleeve arrow should have been developed by the people from the Sino-Agricultural Institute and Twenty-One and the others. This can be judged by their familiarity with the object.
Finally, there was the triangular bayonet that Xue Zhan was most interested in. Chu Huaibei picked one up, went out and picked a tree that he liked, stabbed it into the tree, and then pulled out the blade with force. The hardness and sharpness of the blade had reached her standard.
Only three of these swords were made. It seems that without the aid of advanced machinery, pure manual labor is still quite laborious. This also indirectly demonstrates that Twenty-One and the others are very familiar with weapon crafting. Well, the people of Huzhi always have hidden talents.
Finally, he took out the small iron gun that he had asked Twenty-one and the others to make as a birthday present for Hengheng. His fifth birthday is next month, and his strength has been slowly increasing in the past two years. Now the weight of this small iron gun is more suitable.
Before leaving, he instructed them to devote the next few months to crafting kerosene trolleys, heavy crossbows, and Zhuge divine crossbows. Last year's blizzard likely caused considerable losses in Mongolia, and they might launch a massive invasion this summer, once the northern border's grain harvest is complete. Having experienced that blizzard before in the mountains, they felt the prince's prediction was highly likely to come true. They all restrained their expressions and nodded solemnly in agreement.
While there was still some time, Chu Huaibei taught them how to operate the assembly line, asking them to make good use of the apprentices around them and do their best to produce more defensive weapons. Twenty-one, they occasionally divided up the work and worked together in their original place. This was similar to the assembly line that the prince had described. The five of them nodded to indicate that they understood and would explain it to the others.
Seeing that the five people understood the assembly line quickly, Chu Huaibei handed it over to them with confidence and took Xue Zhan to meet up with his personal soldiers.
Three days later, when they returned to the military camp, seeing the expectation in Xue Zhan's eyes, Chu Huaibei did not keep him in suspense. He directly asked someone to call the deputy general into the tent. In front of the two of them, he took out the triangular bayonet hidden in the bag, gave one to each of them, and kept one for himself for self-defense.
The deputy general saw this peculiarly shaped knife for the first time. He took it in his hand and weighed it. It was much heavier than an ordinary dagger. The handle was cylindrical with an anti-slip pattern. It was much more comfortable to hold in his hand than a dagger, and was suitable for both forward and reverse grip.
Chu Huaibei hurriedly stopped the deputy general from trying out the knife on the furniture in her tent: "Don't destroy my furniture. Go back home and try it yourself. There are only three of these knives. Don't show them off in front of others."
When the deputy general heard that there were only three swords, his eyes lit up and he nodded to indicate that he understood and would not show them to others casually.
Xue Zhan couldn't let go of the knife and tied it to his waist with the scabbard. If it wasn't unsheathed, the special shape of the knife wouldn't be noticeable. At most, others would think he was carrying a heavy dagger.
It was already getting dark, so Chu Huaibei waved his hand, signaling them to return to their respective homes. He returned to the palace with his five hidden arrows and the pure iron dagger. The specially made carriage would be replaced by the caravan delivering supplies in three days and would be delivered to the palace at that time.
She first went to her mother's yard and taught her mother and Aunt Wen how to use the sleeve arrows, and told them to take them with them when they went out. There was also a new carriage that would be delivered to the mansion in three days. After it arrived, she would take them to recognize the small mechanisms inside. In the future, they would use the new carriage when going out, which would be safer.
The Concubine Dowager and Aunt Wen nodded in agreement. Since it was arranged by Shenzhi herself, she must have her reasons. In order to make her worry less about their travel safety, they always followed her arrangements.
Chu Huaibei then returned to the Orchid Grass Courtyard and placed one of the hidden arrows in Du Jiping's hands. After a quick demonstration, he learned how to use it. He then handed him ten short arrows and urged him to be careful when venturing out. Chu Huaibei wasn't being overly concerned; she genuinely felt the northern border was unsafe. Anyone associated with her was unlikely to fare well. It was always wise to be prepared.
Finally, he returned to his own courtyard and went to the east wing to give Uncle Deng a hidden arrow. Although Uncle Deng was a homebody and he had never been seen outside, since everyone else had one, how could he be left out? Whether it could be used or not was another matter, but the thought had to be there. Chu Huaibei considered himself a qualified master of keeping things balanced.
Back in her own living room, Hu Zhi was reading a medical book under the lamp. Chu Huaibei walked over and squeezed herself into Hu Zhi's chair, then she put her arm around him and kissed his fair and tender cheek. Chu Huaibei was somewhat envious. Hu Zhi's skin was snow-white and tender, with no flaws except for a few moles on his back. She loved it so much that she couldn't let it go.
She was different. She went out in the wind and rain every day, and the skin on her face had turned wheat-colored. Only her body, which had not been exposed to the sun for many years, was snow-white. However, because she was often injured, there was not a single piece of healthy skin on her body.
But he didn't think too much about it. After all, as a general guarding the border, every scar on his body was a medal with different meanings.
After Hu Zhi put down the medical book in his hand, Chu Huaibei took out the last sleeve arrow from his arms, took Hu Zhi's left hand, tied the sleeve arrow to his wrist, installed two short arrows, supported his hand, hugged him in his arms, and taught him how to use the sleeve arrow.
Sun Mingsi listened quietly to her explanation of the method and taught him how to use it step by step. "Swish... Dong..." Well, the atmosphere was broken. Huaibei accidentally pulled the trigger and shot the short arrow into the beam above the gate. "Puff..." Finally, he couldn't help laughing out loud.
"Oh, mistake, mistake." Chu Huaibei said as he stood up and let go of the person in his arms. He jumped over the beam and tried to pull out the short arrow that had already sunk into the wood with only the tail left. Well, the quality was very good and he couldn't pull it out at all... The whole short arrow was made of pure iron, and the arrow head had a three-edged hook, which made it easy to insert but difficult to pull out.
Chu Huaibei simply took out a triangular bayonet and used the handle to slam the remaining small piece of the arrow directly into the beam. Unless you leaned on the beam and looked carefully, you would not be able to find this short arrow.
"Hey, don't laugh at me! People make mistakes, horses stumble, it's human nature." Chu Huaibei held Hu Zhi's face with both hands and squeezed it hard towards the middle, squeezing Hu Zhi's pretty face into a cute goldfish pouting mouth, "boo, boo, boo." He kissed him three times before letting him go.
"I won't laugh at you anymore. Thank you, Huaibei. This hidden arrow is very useful to me."
"Well, although I gave you the last one, the original intention of making this hidden arrow was to tailor it for you. I hope you can be safe and worry-free when you go out in the future."
There were stars twinkling in Sun Mingsi's bright eyes. She raised her hands to hold Chu Huaibei's face, and kissed him reverently from his forehead, eyes, nose to his sharp red lips, until both of them were out of breath.
Chu Huaibei still had something to explain. He hugged Hu Zhi and sat on the small couch beside him. He took off his triangular bayonet and placed it in his hand. "Hu Zhi, this knife can inflict the greatest damage to the enemy, and it is difficult to treat after being stabbed. If your guards need it, I will give you the weapon drawings and let your people forge it themselves. They are busy forging defensive weapons in the mountains right now, so they don't have the manpower to work on this. I have a feeling that the Mongols will invade this year."
Sun Mingsi had noticed this unusual dagger when she had taken it out to knock out the arrows. Now, holding it in his hand and examining it carefully, he saw that it was quite heavy. The tip, like the arrow's, was triangular, with three rotating blades and a deep depression in the middle. One could imagine the blood gushing out of the blood channel in the middle after the knife pierced a person. It was indeed suitable for his guards. After all, his guards could be killed if they didn't take action.
Sun Mingsi originally reached out to touch the blade, but Chu Huaibei grabbed his restless hand and said, "Don't touch it. This knife is very sharp. It's steel, not ordinary iron."
"steel?"
"Well, this knife cannot be made of ordinary iron. Steel is forged from iron through special techniques. I will give you the method and you can study it slowly. It took Shanzhong more than a month to succeed in steelmaking." Chu Huaibei explained to Hu Zhi, but she believed that his guards had other capable people who might be able to study faster than Shanzhong.
"Huaibei, I'll accept it without hesitation." Sun Mingsi didn't hesitate to be polite. He felt that if he continued to be polite, Huaibei would be unhappy. She treated him as a family member and wanted to give him all the good things. There was no need for family members to express their gratitude so much. It would be too formal.
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