Chapter 35: The Limit of Scale: The Unified Industrial Standard

Time passed, second by second.

The sun's shadow slanted westward.

The light in the study dimmed.

The LED beads inside the D Printer lit up, casting white light onto the Big Wild Goose Pagoda taking shape.

The pagoda tower had already risen more than ten centimeters.

The second tier, the third tier...

The upturned eaves, the hollowed-out windows of the tower—layer by layer, they were stacked out by the Brass Nozzle with extremely steady movements.

Xiao Sizi did not leave the desk for even a step.

When her legs went numb from squatting, she pulled over a small stool to sit on, yet her hands still cupped her chin as she gazed, spellbound.

Accompanied by a faint electric motor hum. Read novels with Ti Tian Kan Xiao Shuo, ttks. tw is super considerate

Four hours later.

At the very peak of the pagoda, the Brass Nozzle squeezed out the last drop of plastic.

The nozzle jerked sharply upward, severing the filament.

"Beep—Printing complete."

A prompt popped up on the touch screen.

The motors stopped running.

The cooling fans continued to whir, carrying away the residual heat from the Heated Bed.

A twenty-centimeter-tall, crystal-clear miniature Big Wild Goose Pagoda stood there, seemingly out of thin air, on the black Glass plate.

It was not carved from wood, nor chiseled from stone.

It was "drawn" out by that white filament, circle by circle, layer by layer.

Lin Xuan stepped forward and opened the acrylic panel.

He took out a metal scraper.

Pressing the scraper's blade against the edge of the Glass plate, he pushed hard.

Snap.

A crisp sound rang out as the Big Wild Goose Pagoda's base detached from the Heated Bed.

Lin Xuan reached out, grasped the pagoda tower, and took it out.

The tower still held the residual heat from the freshly solidified plastic.

Under the light, the tiny layer lines refracted a highly industrial luster.

He turned around and handed this Big Wild Goose Pagoda, which had risen from nothingness, to Xiao Sizi.

Xiao Sizi stood up.

She did not immediately take it; instead, she rubbed her hands vigorously on her clothes.

She extended both hands and carefully cradled the pagoda.

Her fingers traced the contours of the brick seams on the tower, feeling the sharpness of the upturned eaves. The weight was extremely light, yet the texture was incredibly hard.

She raised her head, her eyes filled with an indescribable shock, looking at Lin Xuan's face.

"Lin Xuan... you truly taught this iron box to draw a real pagoda on a white surface." She swallowed hard, her voice trembling.

Lin Xuan looked at the model in her hands, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.

He turned around and tapped the gray digital model file on the Personal Computer screen with his finger.

"This pagoda is worthless; the truly terrifying thing is this digital blueprint that allows machines to understand."

Lin Xuan gripped the Mouse with his right hand and clicked the gray Big Wild Goose Pagoda digital model file with his index finger.

"Copy, paste."

He pressed keyboard shortcuts in succession.

On the screen, the single icon that had stood alone became a row.

He selected that row and tapped the Keyboard again.

Ten rows of files popped up; a full hundred gray icons filled the desktop.

Xiao Sizi, holding the freshly made Big Wild Goose Pagoda, let her gaze wander back and forth between the screen and the physical object in her hands.

"You drew a hundred of them inside this Glazed Ware plate?" she asked.

"This is called data replication." Lin Xuan let go of the Mouse and pointed to the nearby D Printer. "As long as I stuff enough plastic filament onto the spool holder, it can spit out a hundred physical pagodas for me."

Xiao Sizi lowered her head, examining the flying eaves of the tower.

"Tang Dynasty craftsmen, carving wood and chiseling stone, were limited by their hand strength and eyesight; there could never be two identical masterpieces."

"Your iron box can create a hundred pieces; can you guarantee that every single one is exactly the same as this pagoda?"

Lin Xuan replied, "Of course, exactly the same. The dimensional error is less than one one-hundredth of the width of a single hair."

"We call this scale a micron."

Hearing this, Xiao Sizi gasped, instinctively clutching the model tighter with both hands.

One one-hundredth of the width of a hair.

This already exceeded the Tang Dynasty people's cognitive limits regarding measurement.

The Tang Dynasty's most rigorous Military Equipment Bureau, using calipers to check weapons, could measure down to a 'hao' or 'li' only with the skill of a top-tier master craftsman.

She voiced her doubt, "What use is making them exactly the same?"

"Royal rewards value unique pieces."

"Only one existing in the world makes something precious. Making ten thousand identical objects turns them into cheap goods."

"That is the logic of your nobles playing with artifacts."

Lin Xuan leaned back in his chair, hands crossed over his legs.

"Industrial manufacturing does not deal in one-of-a-kind pieces; it demands flawless replication."

He pointed to the soft-soled sneakers on Xiao Sizi's feet.

"For example, if a cart wheel in Great Tang breaks."

"You must find a carpenter, measure the dimensions, chop wood, and craft a new wheel on the spot to install."

"Different carpenters will make wheels of varying sizes; once installed, the cart will run off-course."

Xiao Sizi nodded.

Great Tang is indeed so.

"Here, it is different; we set down a rigid rule."

"For this model of cart, the wheel diameter, the thickness of the central bearing hole—all are written on the blueprint."

"Wheels produced by ten thousand factories will fit together with perfect precision."

"If a wheel breaks, simply go to any shop and buy a new one."

"Remove the old one, fit the new one, and tighten the screws."

"The cart can run immediately; no need to wait for a carpenter to craft one on the spot."

"From building airplanes and Tanks down to the shoes on your feet, everything is broken down into individual parts."

"As long as the blueprint dimensions are unified, these parts can be swapped freely."

Lin Xuan looked into the girl's shocked eyes.

"This is called Standardization, also known as Modularization."

"This is the core soul that allows modern industry to crush the ancient world."

Above the Sky Screen, Lin Xuan's words spread across the Divine Land.

The Three Kingdoms timeline.

Shu Han, Hanzhong Daying.

Zhuge Liang sat before the desk.

Scattered wooden components covered the desk.

The hanging blade, the sight, the teeth.

These were parts of the Xuan-Rong Liannu he was currently deducing and improving.

The repeating crossbow possessed immense power and could fire ten arrows in succession.

But the trigger mechanism was too complex, making production extremely difficult.

Once a tiny wooden tenon broke on the battlefield, the entire repeating crossbow would become useless scrap.

The Sky Screen transmitted Lin Xuan's words: "Unified blueprint dimensions, parts freely interchangeable."

Zhuge Liang's fingers loosened.

His feather fan, which had accompanied him for many years, slipped and fell onto the bamboo mat. He did not pick it up.

A scene played out wildly in his mind.

Before the two armies.

The front ranks of the Shu army fired their repeating crossbows in unison, arrows flying like a swarm of locusts.

A soldier's repeating crossbow jammed; a wooden tenon snapped.

The soldier did not panic.

Instead of discarding the entire crossbow, he reached into the leather pouch at his waist and pulled out a wooden tenon.

It was a spare part mass-produced by craftsmen in the rear according to absolutely unified dimensions.

The soldier pulled out the broken tenon and inserted the new piece.

A perfect fit, not a fraction off.

The bowstring was drawn taut again, and the arrow whistled forth.

"No need to return to the rear for repairs! Break one part, replace one part!"

Zhuge Liang suddenly stood up, sweeping the scattered wooden fragments off the desk with both hands.

He looked up at the Sky Screen, his eyes burning with fierce battle intent.

"If we can fix the dimensions of the repeating crossbow and forge iron calibration molds."

"Let craftsmen across the land produce only parts, not entire crossbows!"

Zhuge Liang shouted, his voice echoing through the camp, "The combat power of the Shu army will more than double!"

He turned to look at the messenger outside the tent.

"Beat the drums, gather the generals! Summon all the master craftsmen accompanying the army!"

A logistical manufacturing reform capable of altering the form of cold-weapon warfare opened its curtain early at Hanzhong Daying.

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