Chapter 1279: Strong Crossbow Blueprint

"Come, speak up, what is going on? I have given you so much support, three years, three years of time, and this is the only thing you have to show me?"

The Artisan Dan, who was the artisan responsible for the construction of this Large Ship, knelt on the ground, his head pressed against Xuanyuan's feet: "Tribal Chief! We really did not slack off, we were truly building this ship very earnestly, but, but we also do not know why it sank!"

"We have only built small boats before, this is the first time building such a large ship, so we did not know how it should be; we have already tried very hard, Tribal Chief, we really did not slack off!"

All the artisans, regardless of whether they had recovered or not, were now kneeling on the ground, their heads pressed tightly against the earth, their bodies trembling incessantly.

What could Xuanyuan say at this moment? Every artisan was very important to the Xuanyuan Tribe, and now several had already died; there hadn't even been time to retrieve the bodies, and that Large Ship had now completely capsized.

The water at the shore was shallow, so the Large Ship did not sink entirely, but now only a portion of the deck was exposed; the whole ship lay flat, and it was already nearly impossible to salvage or pull it out, as it was stuck in the silt—this was a difficult matter.

With so many people, they had failed to build one Large Ship; was it that the Large Ship was too difficult to build, or was the skill of these people simply not up to the task?

"Dan, you tell me, how should I punish you all?"

Dan pushed his head further forward: "Tribal Chief, I am willing to use my life to pay for the mistake I have committed; this Large Ship is entirely because I lack the ability."

"Therefore, I am willing to use my life to appease your anger; I hope the Tribal Chief can spare the lives of the others. After all, they are the artisans of our Xuanyuan Tribe, and they also know how to build ships. After this failure, they should know even better how to build a ship."

Xuanyuan drew his Sword and stuck it into the ground: "Fine, then use your life to offset your mistake; do it yourself."

Dan did not hesitate; he pulled out the Sword from the ground and was about to stab it into his own body. Limu, standing to the side, clenched his hands tight, because he knew that Dan certainly did not build such a useless ship on purpose; the Xuanyuan Tribe's first Large Ship was, after all, built by Dan himself.

Fortunately, Xuanyuan spoke up at this moment: "Good! Stop. Since you dared to point the Sword at yourself, I know this was not intentional on your part."

"A Large Ship is certainly difficult to build; otherwise, why does Huaxia only have a few of them now?"

"If a Large Ship were easy to build, Huaxia would have built them from the very beginning. It was I who was too impatient."

"Dan, I forgive all of you. You may continue building after the weather warms up. It would be best to dismantle this ship and take a good look to see exactly why it sank."

Dan used his clothes to wipe the mud off the Sword, then held it up with both hands and returned it to Xuanyuan. Xuanyuan sheathed the Sword; he had now completely forgiven them.

"Go warm yourselves by the fire; do not let yourselves freeze to death because of this matter. Although you did not succeed, you are, after all, the artisans of our Xuanyuan Tribe, and each one is important; you cannot just die."

"As for those who died... just retrieve them and bury them here. What else can be said about them?"

"I will no longer punish you, but there will be no rewards either, because you have wasted three years of the Xuanyuan Tribe's time in vain. I gave you the best of everything, yet you could not even complete this one task. I hope you will not waste another three years of my time; can you promise me that?"

Dan said devoutly: "We will definitely build a Large Ship that can enter the water, Tribal Chief. If we cannot build it, then we will all throw ourselves into the water and drown!"

Xuanyuan patted Dan's head lightly, telling him to stand up: "I hope you can all say what you mean and do what you say. But for now, I do not want you to build a Large Ship; I want you to make another thing for me this Winter, a smaller thing, which is much simpler compared to a ship."

"If you cannot even make this, then I will no longer support you; you can go chop wood, and I will select better talent."

"Tribal Chief, what, what is this thing?"

Dan did not dare to make bold claims anymore; he could die to atone for his sins, but he could not just throw his life away for nothing—his life was not that worthless.

Xuanyuan beckoned, and a Soldier brought over a wooden board. This board was carved with a diagram of the Strong Crossbow he had observed in Huaxia while on the Shennong Clan Battlefield.

Previously, it was impossible for Huaxia to give him the opportunity to observe such a Weapon at close range, but while on the battlefield, he could stare at it boldly. Although he could not stand right next to it or even touch it, it was the same as long as his eyes could see clearly; as long as the general structure was clear, that was enough.

He could not draw it openly, so he had to carve his impressions onto the board with a Small Knife, then disguise it as an ordinary piece of wood to bring back. Finally, by sprinkling a layer of ash on it, the carved lines became very clear.

He drew a simple diagram of the Strong Crossbow from various angles, but since he had never seen Huaxia's true design blueprints or multi-view projections, the thing he drew would be unrecognizable to the people of Huaxia. Since the knife-carved drawing was already inaccurate and unrefined, and the proportions were distorted, how could anyone possibly make sense of it?

When Dan received the board, he looked at Xuanyuan in confusion. He even wondered if there was something special about this board that required them to build an exact replica, or if the lines carved on it were for sacrificial purposes?

Seeing Dan's confused expression, Xuanyuan had to explain: "What is drawn here is a type of Weapon. Its power is immense; even if you are one hundred paces away, it can shoot through you in an instant."

"This is a thing of Huaxia, and Huaxia will never give it to us, so we must make it ourselves. This is the appearance I have drawn; look at it carefully, and then make some according to what I have drawn."

Dan opened his mouth in shock, but he truly could not tell what kind of thing this was. Asking him to rely on this to make a Weapon was truly too difficult for him; he could not even tell what it looked like, so how was he supposed to make it?

Thus, after staring at it for a long time, Dan still did not dare to give Xuanyuan an answer, which made Xuanyuan somewhat angry.

"What, can you not see it? Or are you saying you cannot make it? It is not a Large Ship; it only needs to be this big, so it will not take much time to make at all."