Chapter 69: The East Wind Arrives

"The cicada drinks the clear dew, its flowing song rising from the sparse paulownia. High it dwells, its voice carrying far, not relying on the autumn wind."

Early in the morning, the morning sun had just risen, and dew from the previous night still lingered on the ground.

Listening to the chirping of cicadas in the willow trees within the prince's residence, Zhao Xu could not help but recall a poem and recited it aloud.

Luan'er brought over some warm water and happened to hear it. After her surprise, her eyes filled with admiration, "Your Highness is highly talented; such a poem would surely make all the scholars in Jinling City feel ashamed."

Zhao Xu smiled awkwardly; in truth, this poem was by Fang Xuanling of the contemporary Tang Dynasty, and he was merely borrowing it.

Deliberately yawning, he skipped over the matter and asked, "Is Director Wang still outside the prince's residence?"

Luan'er nodded and said helplessly, "This Director Wang is truly a stubborn person. Even though my sister told him to go back first and said Your Highness would be there in a moment, he insisted on waiting for Your Highness."

Zhao Xu smiled; it was only just five o'clock.

It was only because it was summer that the sky brightened early.

He had been in a deep sleep when Feng'er woke him, saying that Wang Ying wanted to see him.

After washing his face, Zhao Xu walked toward the front courtyard.

During the time he had spent with Wang Ying, he had gained some understanding of Wang Ying's personality.

Just as Luan'er said, he was indeed stubborn, rather obstinate, and his emotional intelligence was quite low.

If it were any other official, they would certainly worry about disturbing his rest so early, but Wang Ying did not think that way.

"Your Highness, look."

When he reached the gate, Feng'er was there too, covering her mouth to hide a laugh while pointing at Wang Ying.

Zhao Xu looked over and saw that although Wang Ying was standing, he was swaying, having fallen asleep.

"Go, prepare some food." Zhao Xu flicked Feng'er on the head.

Feng'er giggled and left.

At this moment, Zhao Xu came before Wang Ying, and the slight grumpiness he felt from being woken up vanished.

He had at most woken up early, while Wang Ying seemed not to have slept all night.

How could he blame such a workaholic official?

"Huhu..." A faint snoring sound came from Wang Ying's mouth, and his body began to fall backward; Zhao Xu immediately caught him.

Wang Ying woke up with a start, and seeing Zhao Xu right in front of him, he hurriedly said, "Your Highness, the water-powered trip hammer is finished. Please go and offer your guidance on whether there is anything amiss."

"No rush, let's have breakfast first." Zhao Xu did not let Wang Ying argue and pulled him into the prince's residence.

After eating breakfast together, the two went to the Armory Bureau.

In a workshop along the river at the Armory Bureau, he saw the Great Song version of the water-powered trip hammer that the carpenters had modified.

"Dong dong..."

In the small room, a wooden pole as thick as a water bucket extended in from the outside.

Interspersed on this wooden pole were pieces of vertical steel plates.

Each steel plate corresponded to a slightly thinner wooden stick, and at the end of each stick was the hammerhead of the forging hammer.

These sticks with hammerheads were arranged on the left and right, four on each side, for a total of eight.

The thick wooden pole in the middle was constantly rotating, and each rotation would cause a steel plate to lift a hammer handle, completing one strike.

The eight hammer handles thus hammered back and forth continuously.

These hammerheads were each as large as a human head.

Rising and falling, they were more powerful than a blacksmith.

Seeing this scene, Zhao Xu nodded with satisfaction.

At this time, he walked out of the workshop and came to the riverside, seeing a huge wheel rotating under the influence of the Liu Zhang River's current.

It was precisely this that drove the wooden pole.

"Well done, it is just as I requested." Zhao Xu praised.

Just as he thought, the ancients were not stupid; they only lacked a mentor to lead the way.

Now that he had proposed the plan, Wang Ying and the craftsmen had quickly built it.

Wang Ying's weary smile carried joy; the techniques Yan Wang had taught him had finally all been realized during this time.

"With this thing, we can manufacture plate armor." Zhao Xu was full of anticipation.

Unlike scale armor,

plate armor is made of large pieces of steel riveted together.

Therefore, manufacturing plate armor requires such huge hammerheads, so that steel parts can be more quickly hammered into the desired shapes.

It can be said that with this thing, plate armor, like scale armor, can be mass-produced.

Wang Ying nodded, "Your Highness, rest assured. In the past few days, this subordinate had the craftsmen hammer it themselves and produced a set of plate armor. They have already mastered the method of making plate armor, and now with this forging hammer, it is even more like a fish in water."

"That is good. During this time, your Armory Bureau cannot be idle. Recently, Northern Di cavalry have continuously appeared in Yan Commandery, and a fierce battle will be inevitable in the future." Zhao Xu frowned.

After Chang Wei drove away the first batch of Northern Di scouts, the scouts sent out reported that more Northern Di scouts had entered Yan Commandery.

Such high-density reconnaissance by the Northern Di made him very uneasy.

He was afraid the Northern Di were planning something big.

Therefore, all he could do now was try his best to have every member of his Prince's Personal Army wear a set of armor.

"Your Highness, rest assured. The craftsmen have mastered the technique, so it will be much easier from here on out. However, it would be better if there were more manpower." Wang Ying looked at the busy Armory Bureau.

Originally, the manpower at the Armory Bureau was sufficient.

But after the blast furnaces were continuously put into use and manpower was added for steel refining, there were not enough people.

Hearing this, Zhao Xu remained silent.

"Your Highness..."

Just at this moment, he suddenly heard a familiar voice, and he saw a fleet of ships slowly approaching on the wide surface of the Liu Zhang River.

At the bow of the first ship, two people were waving at him; seeing him look toward the river, the two bowed and offered a salute.

"Isn't that Zhou Yi and Wang Yanzhong?" Xu Lie had sharp eyes and recognized the two at once.

Zhao Xu recognized the two as well at this moment and could not help but feel a surge of joy in his heart.

Speak of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao arrives.

These two had been gone for quite some time; he wondered what kind of surprise they could bring him.

"No need to worry now, the people sent to help you have arrived," Zhao Xu said to Wang Ying.

Because the Armament Bureau could not accommodate docking here, Wang Yanzhong's ship continued to sail south, where there was an unloading Pier ahead.

Zhao Xu took Wang Ying over; if there were people available to use, he could receive them immediately.

The group rode their horses to the Nan Cheng Pier, and Wang Yanzhong's ship happened to be docking at the Pier.

Zhou Yi and Wang Yanzhong jumped onto the shore and offered another salute to Zhao Xu.

"No need for formalities," Zhao Xu said, his gaze passing over the two to look at the three ships docked at the bank, "How was it? What are the results of this trip?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, this one learned from friends that due to the chaos of war in Jinzhou, the common people were displaced, so this one went to Jinzhou with Zhou Yi. Sure enough, the roads there were filled with fleeing commoners. This time, this one didn't have to put in much effort to purchase over a thousand craftsmen," Wang Yanzhong said.

"Over a thousand craftsmen?" Zhao Xu and Wang Ying exchanged a look, both overjoyed.

"That is correct. Because there were too many commoners, this one and Wang Yanzhong first selected the craftsmen; if we go again, we will certainly bring back even more people," Zhou Yi added.

Wang Yanzhong nodded, "However, we will need to take more ships next time."

"That is easily settled; this Prince will have Yang He find a way for you later."

While the group was talking.

The boatmen on the ship opened the hatches on the deck.

One by one, the raggedly dressed craftsmen climbed up from the ship's hold.