"Then according to what you said, if I really meet the second prince of Western Zhou, won't I be helpless and have to withdraw my troops directly, giving up Cizhou to Western Zhou?" Rong Chengxuan stared at Xiao Song with displeasure. After all, the word "lose" did not exist in Rong Chengxuan's dictionary.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Song knew that what he had just said had touched a nerve with Rong Chengxuan. Having followed Rong Chengxuan for so many years, he also understood Rong Chengxuan's ability to lead troops in battle. With Rong Chengxuan's ability, even if he really faced the Second Prince of the Western Zhou head-on, he would have a good chance of winning. He immediately bowed and said, "Your Highness is a man of great talent and strategy. The Second Prince of the Western Zhou has only fought two battles. No matter how much experience he has, he is still inexperienced. He is certainly no match for you."
"Hmph!" Rong Chengxuan snorted. He didn't know where Xiao Song had learned this bad habit from. Now he would only boost others' morale and destroy his own prestige. "Does that book describe how to break this formation?"
"Your Highness, this formation was created by our ancestor emperor of the Western Zhou Dynasty. It has never been passed down, and there is no detailed record in military books. The person who wrote the "Pocket Watch Military Book" also recorded it after listening to what the soldiers said on the battlefield. I just happened to turn over that page and knew there was such a formation, but I am not familiar with the changes in the formation, so..." Xiao Song hesitated, and he couldn't say the rest of the words.
"In that case, I will also compete with the second prince of the Western Zhou Dynasty in formation." Rong Chengxuan waved his hand and asked Xiao Song to bring paper and pen. Then he drew a formation on the paper with just a few strokes and asked Xiao Song and Ge Zichen to come and see.
"This formation is called the Eight Trigrams. The Eight Trigrams are divided into eight gates: Rest, Birth, Injury, Stop, Scenery, Death, Shock, and Opening. I have arranged it according to the directions of the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams and the principles of the mutual generation and mutual restraint of the Five Elements. I have hidden formations within this formation, such as Group of Heroes, Long Snake, Crouching Dragon, and Ten-Sided Ambush."
"The Book of Changes mentions that Tai Chi gives rise to two opposites, two opposites give rise to four images, four images give rise to eight trigrams, and eight trigrams give rise to sixty-four lines. This cycle repeats endlessly, with at least eighty-eight sixty-four variations. If this formation were used on the battlefield, every variation would be extremely dangerous."
As he spoke, Rong Chengxuan used his brush to draw out all the sixty-four changes. Ge Zichen and Xiao Song stood aside, watching the constant movement of the brush in Rong Chengxuan's hand. They felt that if all these changes were used on the battlefield as Rong Chengxuan said, let alone the 500,000-strong Western Zhou army, they would not even be afraid of the Western Zhou Second Prince's crappy Dragon Swallowing Formation.
When Rong Chengxuan finished his last stroke, Ge Zichen and Xiao Song had already imagined that it wouldn't take long before they could drive the Western Zhou army back to their homeland. Before they could even begin to rejoice, Rong Chengxuan poured a bucket of cold water on them. "It's just that we don't have weapons with particularly strong explosive power. If we did, this formation would be even more powerful and would be able to maximize its effectiveness."
Ge Zichen felt that the grand plans he had just conceived had suddenly vanished into thin air. He now felt that they might be doomed if they encountered the Dragon Swallowing Formation. "Your Highness, can't you wait for us to be happy and dream for a while before talking to us about weapons?"
"If you just need a weapon with extremely strong explosive power, I can make it." Ge Zichen's voice had just fallen when a voice came from behind.
When Ge Zichen and Xiao Song heard that the weapons issue could be solved, they immediately turned around to see who the person was.
Yun Wanwan wiped the water from her hair as she walked into the study. She stopped in front of Rong Chengxuan, looked at the formation Rong Chengxuan had placed on the table, and said the same thing Rong Chengxuan had just said: "If this formation really had a weapon with extremely strong explosive power, I'm afraid the Western Zhou army would have surrendered without much fighting on the battlefield, right?"
Although Yun Wanwan asked a question, judging from her tone, it was obviously an affirmative statement.
Rong Chengxuan took the handkerchief Yun Wanwan was using to dry her hair and began to dry it with ease. Yun Wanwan didn't like drying her hair herself, but she also didn't want to bother others. Normally, after washing her hair, she would just leave it to dry on its own. Today, because she was in a hurry to see Rong Chengxuan, she took the initiative to dry her hair herself.
It was only after living with Yun Wanwan for some time that Rong Chengxuan discovered that Yun Wanwan had this habit, so Rong Chengxuan took over the task of helping Yun Wanwan wipe her hair.
Yun Wanwan let Rong Chengxuan help her wipe her hair, then she picked up the pen that Rong Chengxuan had just placed on the table and drew modern gunpowder and bombs on the paper, and explained the principles to Rong Chengxuan.
"This is called gunpowder. It can burn intensely in a very short period of time. Under the influence of a certain amount of external energy, it can explode within a certain range."
Yun Wanwan was afraid that Rong Chengxuan didn't understand what she said, so she drew a few explosives that the ancients had developed earlier. These might be easier for Rong Chengxuan to understand.
"This is black dynamite, but it needs to be ignited with an open flame before use. It's also more dangerous than the first two gunpowder and bombs I drew for you, and the explosion range is also not comparable. The only advantage of this black dynamite is that it's easier to make than the first two. I haven't figured out how to make the first two yet."
"It's not that easy, actually. If there's even a slight mismatch in the amount of materials used to make the explosives, or if the person using them isn't skilled, the risk factor is quite high. If explosives are used well, you can even blow up the Western Zhou Dynasty's imperial palace, let alone people."
"To make an explosive, it must contain an explosive, a device to ignite it, and a specific casing. When triggered by the heat or shock energy of the detonator, the explosive undergoes a rapid chemical reaction, either burning or decomposing."
Yun Wanwan pondered for a moment, then changed her explanation. "A chemical reaction is a special kind of reaction. It uses some of the energy within it to form a new kind of energy. Then, most of the 'remaining' energy within the explosive will turn into an extremely high-temperature energy. The concentrated gas within it will expand rapidly under extreme pressure, and then the explosive will explode..."
After she finished speaking, Yun Wanwan still thought that Rong Chengxuan was an ancient person and might not understand what she said, so she thought about changing her words to continue explaining the principle of explosives to Rong Chengxuan.
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