Chapter 70: Zhuge Crossbow and Catapult
The retainers competing on the field handed their design drawings over to the Bureau of Craftsmen one by one. The people from the Bureau did not dare to be careless. They took the drawings and immediately began analyzing them, writing and sketching, discussing and asking questions. Only after finalizing the drafts did they carry the design plans away and hurry off to build them.
The people below the stage were also discussing who would win.
Since they had to wait while the Bureau of Craftsmen built the weapons, they could take the chance to eat something. Looking at the sky, it was nearly noon already. No one wanted to miss any moment of the competition.
Qi Zheng had also arranged food, which was delivered directly into the row of carriages behind him. The food was probably ordered from nearby restaurants and was fairly decent.
“Who would’ve thought the imperial competition would turn into such a grand event? How long has it been since Great Qian last saw such a spectacle?”
“It really is exciting. Otherwise, who doesn’t have things to do? Who would have the leisure to watch the whole thing?”
“The students from Cloudtop Academy are truly impressive. At such a young age, not only have they become Hongwen Pavilion Associates, but now they’re even representing a prince’s residence as retainers and competing against strategists from all over the world. At such a young age, they’ll probably become famous far and wide. In the past, who could have imagined half-grown children competing with adults like this?”
“It’s rather interesting too. I originally thought Prince Zheng’s residence had too few retainers and would suffer a great disadvantage. Who would have thought he’d already be leading with three points?”
“Now that Prince Zheng is leading by so much, who knows whether anyone can catch up?”
The crowd was boiling with noise.
Chen Bai listened to their discussions as well, but he was still very confident in the outcome of this round.
This time, he not only had to win, he had to make Cloudtop Academy famous too.
How did one make it famous? Naturally, by relying on these students. Gan Thirteen already had some reputation, and Princess Leyun had defeated everyone with her martial skills this time, so she would probably become renowned among sword masters throughout the world. Great Qian’s sword masters were already famous everywhere; defeating so many famous Great Qian swordsmen meant her reputation was naturally no longer an issue.
But the other students did not have much reputation yet.
Chen Bai wanted to use this imperial competition to make the academy famous. In truth, it was just killing two birds with one stone.
At this moment, Qi Zheng walked over. “Will these students get restless if they stay inside the carriages the whole time?”
They were staying inside the carriages because they could not show themselves too early. Otherwise, their elders would probably come looking for them.
Just now, quite a few parents of students had come over suspiciously to ask questions. With Gan Xin and Shang Jujiu as precedents, they were probably already somewhat suspicious.
Fortunately, Qi Zheng had sent them all away.
Chen Bai thought to himself that Qi Zheng was probably overthinking it. Restless?
Heh. Once he opened the group chat, it was lively inside. Even if he asked them to get out of the carriages, they probably would not be willing to. They were hiding away to go online.
A group of internet-addicted patients. No matter how noisy it was outside, they could calm down and go online.
About half an hour later, roughly an hour, the people from the Bureau of Craftsmen began returning one after another, bringing with them the newly built weapons.
They were indeed worthy of being the most skilled craftsmen of this era. In such a short time, they had actually produced the new weapons. It seemed they had put in no small amount of effort.
But thinking about it, it made sense. If the entire Bureau of Craftsmen worked together, producing weapon samples would not be too slow.
Of course, because they had been rushed, some of the details might still need further refinement.
The drums sounded. The competition continued.
It had to be said, the retainers qualified to participate really did have some ability.
They had designed all kinds of strange and varied weapons, some mature, some immature. At the very least, they gave people the impression that ideas were blooming everywhere.
The official presiding over the competition began reading aloud the names of the weapons one by one and testing them publicly so everyone could see clearly and judge their value.
Chen Bai watched them one by one, no different from those curious people craning their necks.
However, Chen Bai’s gaze stopped in surprise before one particular weapon. His brows furrowed tightly.
Qi Zheng seemed to notice his confusion and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Chen Bai frowned and replied, “This is the weapon designed by Prince Zhuo’s retainer. If I’m not mistaken, it should be the catapult from The Secret Records of Duke Lu, with a very complete craftsmanship method.”
Chen Bai had read half of The Secret Records of Duke Lu and had personally redrawn every diagram, so he naturally had some memory of it.
And this catapult just so happened to be in the half he had seen. It was exactly the same.
“Isn’t The Secret Records of Duke Lu in the King’s hands? How could Prince Zhuo’s retainer have its design?”
Qi Zheng’s face darkened. He glanced upward, then toward Prince Zhuo. Prince Zhuo looked as though victory was already in his grasp.
“We may be in trouble next,” Qi Zheng said. “If Prince Zhuo can obtain the design from The Secret Records of Duke Lu in advance for this round, then it’s possible for the following rounds as well.”
And the possibility was extremely high.
Chen Bai opened his mouth and could not help looking upward too. Unfortunately, the King was hidden behind the curtain, so he could not be seen.
Chen Bai understood what Qi Zheng meant. The King was actually helping Prince Zhuo cheat. This…
Although he himself was cheating too, so he was not in any position to judge others, but…
Even now, Chen Bai was still somewhat puzzled. From beginning to end, why did the King dislike Prince Zheng so much?
Not only had Qi Zheng been sent to Zhao as a hostage when he was young, but after he returned, the King showed no sense of guilt at all. Instead, he kept putting obstacles in his path. Chen Bai had seen all of this.
Didn’t people say even a vicious tiger would not eat its own cub?
Chen Bai could not help asking, “Why?”
Just two simple words, yet all his confusion was written across his face.
This was the “fair” chance Qi Zheng had fought so hard to obtain, and yet the King was unwilling to give him even this one chance. It truly made no sense.
Qi Zheng’s expression became somewhat unnatural. He said, “Let’s think about how to deal with the next rounds first.”
Chen Bai frowned, but he knew that if they questioned the King now, they might lose even this hard-earned “fair” competition.
In other words, even though they knew Prince Zhuo was cheating, they could only watch helplessly and could not make it public.
It was truly… suffocating.
Chen Bai curled his lips. Only if Prince Zheng became the Crown Prince could they avoid this kind of frustration in the future. Otherwise…
Chen Bai looked at Prince Zhuo in the distance, who was full of confidence, then silently nodded.
No matter how many thorns lay ahead, they still had to cut through them themselves.
At this moment, the presiding official had just finished introducing the Zhuge repeating crossbow and the catapult.
One was a regular weapon for soldiers, capable of quickly firing five arrows. To be honest, the presiding official was stunned the moment he tested it.
Even the court officials stood up one after another and began clamoring.
“Did I see that wrong? Were five arrows fired in succession just now?”
In their understanding, when drawing a bow and shooting, one shot meant one arrow. But just now, it had clearly fired five times in succession, in an extremely short span of time, and its power was not weak either.
To be honest, although they had seen some newly designed weapons earlier, and they were quite interesting, none of them had truly pulled far ahead of existing weapons.
But now…
Even the Three Dukes stood up. “Have someone collect the design drawing properly. Do not let anyone else see it.”
Shangjing was Great Qian’s capital, but if anyone claimed there were no spies from the other states here, they would not believe it.
For a moment, the whole place was in an uproar. One could imagine how much Great Qian’s soldiers’ mobility and attack power would improve if they were equipped with this kind of rapid-fire weapon. Especially since this weapon called the Zhuge repeating crossbow looked even smaller than an ordinary bow, yet its power did not decrease. In other words, it was very easy to carry.
There were too many advantages. Even with just a fleeting glimpse, its benefits immediately surfaced in everyone’s mind.
Shang Wangshu was also somewhat dazed. His legitimate grandson had actually produced the design drawing for a new type of weapon just like that?
Judging from what they had seen so far, this new weapon had an extremely wide range of uses.
Qi Zheng was stunned as well. Although he knew this weapon design had been transmitted by Chen Bai to the student watch, he had not expected it to cause such a huge sensation.
“This round will probably be Prince Zheng’s win again, right?”
“Of course. Who can compare with this weapon that can fire five times in rapid succession? Just now I heard swish, swish, swish, and a row of arrows had already shot into the target.”
Who knew how many people were probably thinking the same thing.
But on the stage, the presiding official suddenly said, “Wait.”
Then he said somewhat excitedly, “Let us now look at the catapult designed by Prince Zhuo’s retainer.”
When the catapult launched a stone into the distance, smashing it onto the ground and sending it rolling, everyone finally understood why the presiding official was so excited.
If this catapult were used to attack cities and seize territory, it would be incredible. Of course, it would also be remarkable for defending cities. The scene seemed to appear in their minds at once: enemy troops charging through a rain of stones, being smashed into mangled flesh.
Sure enough, someone hurried down from the high platform to collect the catapult’s design drawing as well, even bringing a number of guards to escort it.
Chen Bai looked at the high platform with some amusement. Who were they acting for? It was clearly something from The Secret Records of Duke Lu.
Unfortunately, he could not mock the King about it.
At this moment, the scene became somewhat chaotic.
“The Zhuge repeating crossbow can greatly improve soldiers’ combat ability, while this catapult also has tremendous use. This… who should be counted as the winner?”
It truly gave people the feeling of “if Yu had been born, why was Liang born too?”
Not only were the commoners discussing heatedly, even the court officials began arguing fiercely.
Each had its own advantages. If they were compared side by side, it was truly impossible to determine which was superior for a while.
The one most stunned was probably Prince Zhuo. He had thought victory was already certain.
That was a weapon from The Secret Records of Duke Lu. Did people know what The Secret Records of Duke Lu was? It was a treasure that recorded the most advanced weapons of this era. Lu had even used that book to purchase lifesaving military equipment from Great Qian.
And yet, Shang Jujiu had produced a design drawing that could be compared with something from The Secret Records of Duke Lu?
“Fourth round of the imperial grand competition: Prince Zhuo and Prince Zheng win jointly. Each receives one point.”
Only after a long while did the presiding official announce the result. This was the decision unanimously agreed upon by the court officials.
The arguing finally quieted down. It seemed that only this result could settle the dispute.
Since they could not determine which was superior, they counted it as a draw, with both Prince Zhuo and Prince Zheng receiving one point.
Chen Bai made no comment. He had originally thought this round was a guaranteed win.
It seemed that, sure enough, nothing was absolute. He had to be even more cautious in the future.
They were not given much time to think, because the fifth round began.
“Fifth round of the imperial grand competition. The rivers and mountains of the state rest in the livelihood of the people and in military affairs. Therefore, this round’s topic is: design an object that can improve the livelihood of Great Qian’s people.”
“Princes, please submit your retainers’ name plaques.”
Chen Bai glanced at the high platform. So what if the King was helping him cheat?
He was the one with the cheat device.
