Chapter 752: Technical Anxiety

Responding to Heaven, Martial Hero Hall.

The military report of the Guangning Front Battalion Guard was silently spread on the imperial desk.

In the hall, Xu Da, Chang Yuchun, Liu Ji, Li Shanchang, and Tang He, who had just been urgently recalled to Responding to Heaven (his wounds healed), all stood solemnly silent.

The air seemed to have solidified.

"Have you all looked at it?"

Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang)'s voice broke the silence.

His face showed little expression, but his fingers lingered long on the words "instantaneous corrosive wall several zhang" in the military report.

"I have."

Xu Da replied in a deep voice; as the direct commander of Bei Jing defenses, his expression was the gravest.

"I am at fault. I did not expect the enemy to have such means."

"The fault is not yours."

Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang) waved his hand.

"Cannon fire cannot harm it; strange devices corrode walls; aberrant beasts devour people, causing rotting…… these are not what ordinary battle formations should have."

He looked toward Liu Ji.

"Bo Wen, how does the Investigation of Things Institute stand on the 'strange device corrosive wall'?"

Liu Ji stepped forward, his brows furrowed.

"Your Majesty, I, together with several scholars versed in metallurgy and gunpowder, have judged that the description of the 'corrosive wall' in the military report is certainly not ordinary acid erosion or burning."

"The bricks and stones instantly turn crisp to powder, more like…… their internal structure is rapidly shattered and weathered by some force."

"The Investigation of Things Institute once exposed strange iron filings to soil lightly contaminated by dark energy, seeing the blue hue slowly fade and the soil return to normal."

"Its principle seems to be that the faint glow emitted by strange iron can 'neutralize' or 'dispel' dark energy."

"If we reverse the reasoning……"

He paused, his voice hoarse.

"Can dark energy also 'neutralize' or 'shatter' the inherent structure of all things? Bricks and stone are like this; flesh and blood…… likely the same."

A few suppressed intakes of breath sounded in the hall.

Tang He could not help but say.

"If so, our armor, weapons, and even our flesh and blood would be like sandcastles before them—crumbling at a touch."

"Not necessarily."

Xu Da faced, his eyes fixed on the details of the military report.

"Although cannon fire did not pierce the armor, it left dents. Zhang Yu Duan Dao's broken blade thrust into the enemy's armor gaps was also effective."

"This shows that although their armor is hard, it is not indestructible."

"The key is that our strength cannot, on the battlefield, in a short time, inflict enough damage to deprive them of mobility."

"But their 'strange device' can easily shatter the walls we rely on."

"The offensive-defensive balance, the sharpness or dullness of the weapons, differs greatly."

This is the most critical problem.

"The Great Bright's pride and reliance on firearms to swiftly sweep the Origin army now appears clumsy and powerless before this new enemy."

"If firearms won't work, then think of another way!"

Chang Yuchun spoke in a muffled voice; although his eyes had recovered, his vision was impaired, making things look blurry, and now he was anxious to the point of redness.

"If swords can't cut through, use a hammer! If the hammer doesn't break, use fire! If fire doesn't melt, use poison gas!"

"There must be a way to kill them!"

Li Shanchang gave a wry smile.

"Commandant Chang, if it were really that simple, that would be great."

"The military report says that petroleum oil only stalls the enemy for a moment; they even disdain to extinguish it."

"Poison gas? They hide inside heavy armor; their breathing may be unknown to us."

"As for smashing with a hammer—who can get close? Who can swing several hammers once close? Know that ordinary soldiers, upon contact, are injured, and injury leads to rotting."

Chang Yuchun was at a loss for words, his chest rising and falling.

Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang) did not join the argument.

His thoughts had already flown to deeper places.

"Energy neutralization…… structural disintegration……"

Liu Ji's speculation resonated faintly with some concepts in his memory.

In another world, there is a theory concerning the "field steady state" of matter.

"If dark energy is a highly infectious 'negative entropy' or 'chaos field', then perhaps it is not 'corrosion', but rather, in an extremely short time, forcibly dragging ordered material structure into an extreme 'disordered' or 'ground state collapse' state."

Thus bricks and stones turn to powder, flesh and blood rot.

Perhaps strange iron, due to its special atomic arrangement or energy resonance characteristics, can emit an opposite 'order field' to counteract and repair.

"Need frequency, need intensity, need precise targeting."

His fingers unconsciously tapped the tabletop.

The current use of strange iron is too primitive.

It relies solely on the passive emission of its own material.

The efficiency is too low.

We must actively stimulate, amplify, and even formulate the frequency and form of its 'neutralizing field'.

"Investigation of Things Institute."

He suddenly spoke.

The hall fell silent.

"Regarding the research on 'strange iron resonance,' what is the biggest obstacle now?"

Liu Ji quickly answered.

"Third."

"First, strange iron is rare. Currently only relying on sporadic output from old mines and occasional finds by civilians, total quantity is scarce, hard to scale."

"Second, activation consumes huge energy. Requires large livestock or water power units to drive a specially made 'electric pivot' to generate strong current enough to activate strange iron resonance. Device is bulky, cannot accompany the army."

"Third, resonance form is unstable. Even if activated, the produced 'field' has small range, decays quickly, and its form is hard to control, fluctuating strong/weak, cannot be applied in actual combat."

Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang) pondered.

"If... we do not pursue large range, do not pursue moving with the army."

"We only seek to create something."

He raised his eyes, gaze sharp.

"Something that can be held in hand, at crucial moments, aimed at the heads or chests of those black-armored soldiers, pull the trigger..."

"Then we can launch the 'neutralizing field' like an arrow or pellet."

"Is it possible?"

Everyone in the hall was stunned.

"To launch the intangible 'field' like an arrow?"

"This idea... is almost like Arabian Nights."

Liu Ji, however, fell into deep thought, light flashing rapidly in his eyes.

"Your Majesty... are you saying to use strange iron as the 'bullet core,' instantly stimulate its resonance with strong current, and borrow some kind of 'cavity' or 'focusing' device to confine the scattered field energy into a beam, shooting it out?"

"Not bad."

Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang) nodded.

"No need to last long, just an instant."

"No need wide area, just a point."

"Just like a firearm, gunpowder explodes, thrust in an instant, bullet focused to a point."

"We replace gunpowder with electricity, replace the bullet with 'field'."

Tang He listened somewhat bewildered, Xu Da and Chang Yuchun then seemed thoughtful.

Li Shanlong then frowned tightly, this sounds like it would require pouring massive resources, gambling on an illusory possibility.

"What is needed?"

Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang) directly asked Liu Ji.

"Need purest strange iron core, need an 'activator' that can instantly release huge current, need precise 'focusing cavity' design, need extensive experiments to verify its form, distance, power..."

Liu Ji spoke extremely fast, obviously his train of thought opened.

"Also, need money, need people, need time."

The last sentence, his voice lowered.

"Will the enemy give them time?"

Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang) stood up.

"Then I'll give you money, give you people."

"Li Shanlong."

"Your servant is here."

"From the inner treasury, Ministry of Revenue, and even the budget for my mausoleum project, allocate special funds, prioritize supplying the Investigation of Things Institute for this research."

"All craftsmen, materials, venues needed by the Investigation of Things Institute get green light, prioritized allocation."

Li Shanlong's mouth corner twitched slightly, but he still bowed.

"... Subject obeys the edict."

"Xu Da."

"The subordinate is here."

"The Northern Frontier defense line shifts to full defensive posture."

"Strengthen city walls, dig more moats, set many pits and iron caltrops. Especially pay attention to wall surface, can try to apply mortar mixed with strange iron powder, even if only a slight effect, also try."

"If enemy comes again, focus on delay, consumption, records, avoid open battle."

"Yes!"

"Chang Yuchun, Tang He."

"The subordinate is here!" both shouted in unison.

"You two, from various armies, pick the most brave, agile, fearless soldiers to form a 'Sharp Soldier Battalion'."

"No formation drills, specialize in small squad harassment, covert reconnaissance, desperate survival."

"In the future, they may be the first batch to take the new gadget and go scout the black-armored soldiers' lair."

Chang Yuchun's eyes flashed with a fierce light.

"I understand! I'll go pick people now!"

"Assignments completed."

Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang) looked northward, gaze deep.

"We don't have time to slowly catch up."

"We must leap."

Before the enemy strikes down their next heavy hammer……

He withdrew his gaze, sweeping over the senior officials in the hall.

We must grind out a spike that can pierce its palm——a poisonous barb!

Everyone, get busy.

Everyone stood solemnly, performed their salutations, and withdrew.

The hall returned to silence.

Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang) walked alone up to the huge Bei Jing map, his finger brushing over the position of the Guangning Front Garrison.

Technical anxiety, like a bone‑eating maggot.

But he understood even more clearly.

Anxiety cannot solve the problem.

Only by turning anxiety into the most obsessive, the most reckless——

Action.