Chapter 49: Chang Wei is Injured

"Your Highness possesses great talent; there is actually such an Iron Smelting Method in this world. This subordinate is truly impressed."

Amidst the billowing heat, Wang Ying was drenched in sweat as he bowed to Zhao Xu.

He was convinced, and the doubts in his heart vanished like smoke.

Zhao Xu's expression remained unchanged; to the ancients, this indeed seemed like immortal magic, but to him, it was merely simple knowledge.

However, this simple knowledge was precisely what was important for his fief.

It was also the key to him resolving the crisis in his fief.

Now, the technical problem of large-scale iron smelting had been solved.

The problem of large-scale Crucible Steel naturally resolved itself.

Next, he would be able to use this superior steel to forge his own army into an iron force.

Thinking of this, he could not help but feel relieved.

At this moment, he saw Wang Ying suddenly kneel down.

Zhao Xu was stunned for a moment and asked, "Director Wang, what is the meaning of this?"

Wang Ying wiped the stains from his face and said earnestly, "Your Highness, Wang Ying is a lowly person, but during our conversation, I felt deeply impressed by Your Highness's learning. I hope Your Highness will not discard me and will teach this subordinate."

"Teach you?" Zhao Xu revealed a smile.

Wang Ying nodded, "This subordinate knows that there is a vast disparity in status between myself and Your Highness, but my life's ambition lies here, and I am willing to pay any price to catch a glimpse of it."

He came from a humble background, but seeing that his official career was hopeless, he traveled the world, collecting the world's techniques into books, wishing to leave a good name for posterity.

But after entering the Armory Bureau and seeing the Yan Wang's miraculous techniques, he suddenly realized that what he knew was still too little.

Thus, he did not hesitate to cast aside his pride and kneel to beg.

Zhao Xu helped Wang Ying up.

It must have been the carbon and the role of Limestone that he mentioned while smelting iron earlier that shocked Wang Ying.

However, being willing to set aside his dignity for the sake of seeking knowledge was exactly the kind of person he was looking for.

Only such a person could learn the knowledge he brought from the modern era and apply it.

"Director Wang, please rise. This Prince will teach you everything I know," Zhao Xu said with a smile.

Wang Ying was overjoyed, "Thank you, Your Highness."

Pointing to the molten iron in the pool, he no longer deliberately showed off this time, but explained in detail: "The difference between iron and steel lies only in the amount of carbon within it. For example, if the carbon in these ten thousand catties of iron weighs between 2 catties and 200 catties, that is steel..."

Zhao Xu tried his best to use language that Wang Ying could understand to explain.

Wang Ying nodded frequently.

By the time Zhao Xu finished speaking, he basically understood why there were these differences between iron and steel, and how to achieve the transformation between iron and steel.

"I never imagined that a small matter of iron smelting would contain such profound principles." Wang Ying clicked his tongue in wonder, as if Zhao Xu had opened a skylight for him.

At the same time, he also understood the principle behind this Iron Smelting Method of the Yan Wang.

He even understood the Graphite Crucible Steelmaking.

It was nothing more than carburizing wrought iron to turn it into steel.

"There will be more complex and difficult principles in the future. Are you still willing to learn now?" Zhao Xu teased.

"Your Highness, this subordinate has no other wishes for the rest of my life; I only wish to listen to your teachings under Your Highness's command." Wang Ying's expression was firm.

Zhao Xu nodded slightly, "The Iron Smelting Method is complete. Next, you shall first build twenty Blast Furnaces to smelt iron day and night, and in these few days, find graphite to make crucibles for Crucible Steel."

"Yes, Your Highness." Wang Ying bowed and performed a salute.

Looking at the molten iron in the pool again, Zhao Xu was in a great mood.

The first step of this long march of industrialization in Yan Commandery could be considered a success.

He came out of the Armory Bureau.

Just as he was about to return to the Prince's Mansion, he suddenly saw a cloud of dust churning on the north side of the main road of Yan Commandery.

Dozens of Cavalry were galloping toward the Prince's Mansion.

Zhao Xu gave Xu Lie a look.

Xu Lie immediately spurred his horse to block the middle of the road, obstructing the path of the Cavalry.

As the Cavalry drew near, they all stopped upon seeing Xu Lie, noticing that the Yan Wang was also here.

One of the Cavalry leaped off his horse, hurried to Zhao Xu, knelt down, and cried out in grief, "Your Highness, General Chang has suffered serious injuries and is on the verge of death. I hope Your Highness will save his life."

"

Zhao Xu and Xu Lie were shocked upon hearing this.

"Where is General Chang?"

"Right there." The soldier pointed behind the team.

Zhao Xu passed the soldier and saw a palanquin being pulled by two horses behind them.

Lifting the curtain of the palanquin, Chang Wei was lying inside, his body covered in blood, with three short arrows still embedded deep in his flesh.

"Immediately carry General Chang to the Prince's Mansion to recuperate," Zhao Xu ordered.

There was no time to ask what had happened at this moment.

The soldiers received the order and immediately took Chang Wei toward the Prince's Mansion.

Xu Lie was trembling with rage, gritting his teeth as he said, "The Northern Di..."

"Let's return to the Prince's Mansion first," Zhao Xu glanced at him, spurred his horse toward the Prince's Mansion, and Xu Lie followed.

Returning to the Prince's Mansion.

Zhao Xu had Feng'er pick a courtyard for Chang Wei, sent two maidservants to take care of him, and summoned a physician before asking the soldier for the reason.

"Did I not say? Act according to circumstances; why would General Chang still suffer such serious injuries?"

A soldier said with grief, "Originally, we were only keeping an eye on the Northern Di Cavalry, looking for an opportunity to annihilate the enemy."

"But the Northern Di Cavalry were too vicious; after discovering us, they entered a village, drove the villagers onto the ridges of the fields, and beheaded them in turns to force us to come out and fight."

"General Chang could not bear to see the villagers die, so he ordered us to advance and engage, but we fell into an ambush by the Northern Di Cavalry and were attacked from both sides. The Northern Di Cavalry's archery was precise; although we fought to the death and wiped out most of the enemy, we suffered heavy losses, and the General was also severely wounded."

The soldier spoke truthfully, sentence by sentence.

"Sigh!" Liu Fu also came over from the gatehouse and let out a sigh upon hearing this.

Before Chang Wei left, he had even specifically spoken about it.

Yet they still suffered such heavy losses.

Zhao Xu's face turned livid.

He did not blame Chang Wei; if he had encountered it himself, he would not have been able to resist intervening, even if it meant dying in battle.

"Are you the only ones who returned?" Zhao Xu asked.

Five hundred Cavalry went out, and only a few dozen returned; the losses were inevitably too heavy.

"We are just the first to return; there are still over a hundred people behind us," the soldier said.

"Half," Zhao Xu muttered.

It was already not bad; the standard of these Cavalry was uneven.

To have a fifty percent survival rate against elite Northern Di scouts, and even to have repelled the Northern Di Cavalry, was truly not easy.

He had no way to blame them.

At this moment, the physician arrived, and Zhao Xu ordered him to examine and treat Chang Wei.

After checking Chang Wei's eyelids, the physician unbuttoned Chang Wei's clothes.

Beneath the bloodstains, three arrowheads were deeply embedded in Chang Wei's body.

One in the shoulder, one in the arm, and one in the side of the back.

Because the weather was hot, these wounds were faintly turning red and festering.

Zhao Xu's brow furrowed more and more.

It was very clear that Chang Wei was in a coma due to excessive blood loss and the infection of his wounds.

He raised his hand to test Chang Wei's forehead; it was burning hot.

He thought to himself that it was bad.

The physician said at this time: "The General's blood loss has caused a deficiency of blood and Qi, and these wounds have aggravated his condition. The deficiency can be supplemented, but I fear these arrow wounds will cost the General his life."

He had treated many wounded soldiers, and whether a soldier with deep, red, and swollen wounds could live depended entirely on fate.

Xu Lie and the soldiers' eyes turned red; they had been soldiers for many years and naturally understood that the physician was not speaking nonsense.

Zhao Xu felt equally heavy-hearted.

Losing Chang Wei would be equivalent to losing an arm.

But in ancient warfare, far more soldiers died from wound infections than from being killed directly in battle.

Unless there were antibiotics.

"Antibiotics?" A substance flashed through Zhao Xu's mind.

Chang Wei's current situation was very serious; he could not leave his life or death to be decided by the heavens.

Now, he could only try; of course, it was impossible for him to produce things like penicillin.

But there was one thing that had a similar result.