Vientiane Throne of Civilization

Chapter 1649 Qin Fen, that bastard...

The Emperor's decree came suddenly, and Thorin's first reaction was that he didn't want to go.

He's the kind of person who likes to stay home and do his research, ignoring everything else.

Besides doing research, he can't do anything else. What could possibly require him to do?

With that thought in mind, Thorin immediately found the food delicious upon arriving at the palace.

Looking at the entire box piled high with design drawings, Thorin almost couldn't help but let out a strange, 'roaring' laugh.

These are all design drawings passed down from the old civilization era.

These designs originally belonged to the royal family of Bronzeforest, and he had only seen a portion of them, not all of them.

At this moment, Zhuang Mengdie, Suolin, and Qin Fen had all gathered in the side hall, their eyes shining as they looked at the design drawings.

Zhou Xu didn't waste any words and directly stated...

"Your task today is to select the design drawings that can be developed at this stage."

After saying that, Zhou Xu didn't disturb them. He had his servants prepare some tea for them, then closed the door of the side hall and went about his own business. He had been quite busy lately.

When Karl came before, he knew that Karl needed source crystals, so he brought a large box of them directly from Bronzeforest.

This also led Zhou Xu to fully engage in the research and development of the miniature communication cube, a task that could not be delegated to others for the time being.

Throughout the entire Great Zhou Dynasty, he is currently the only one capable of researching enchanting inscriptions.

Of course, over the years, he has also been having Zhuang Mengdie practice meditation and teaching her related knowledge.

After all, those skillful hands can also play a significant role in the creation and engraving of enchanted inscriptions.

Although Zhuang Mengdie's mental attribute is only three stars, according to Zhou Xu's confirmation, Zhuang Mengdie's mental attribute is considered strong among three-star characters, almost reaching the level of four stars, which is more than enough.

This job does require some level of magical skill, but it's not that high.

In this job, magic power is equivalent to physical strength. If you have excellent physical strength, you can work longer, but if you want to do this job well and understand it, you need your brain!

You can't learn if you're not smart enough! No matter how good your physical strength is, it's useless.

Considering this, Zhuang Mengdie, who possesses four-star intelligence, is very suitable, which is why Zhou Xu has high hopes for her.

However, because Zhuang Mengdie is very busy with various tasks on weekdays, and the Ordnance Research Department cannot do without her, her cultivation progress is not very efficient at this stage.

Zhou Xu was also helpless about this.

But now things are better. With Thorin, a master of arms development, this problem should be solved soon.

At that time, Thorin will take charge of the important projects of the Ordnance Research Department, while Zhuang Mengdie will learn enchanting inscription research and programming from him.

In this way, the less complicated enchanting research can be directly handed over to Zhuang Mengdie.

Of course, this job is still on his shoulders.

The enchantment inscriptions on the small communication cube are not particularly complex. According to his thinking, this should be an entry-level product for communication in the old civilization.

However, the functionality of this small communication cube is also limited. At present, the biggest problem is its communication range.

Simply put, cross-city communication is not possible. Even if you place two small communication cubes, one in the east of the city and the other in the west, they may not be able to make contact.

At the same time, the farther the communication target is, the greater the energy consumption.

Of course, these problems can be solved at present.

The simplest solution would be to place one in each city.

Under this premise, if the distance between cities is too far, then arrange a communication relay station between the two cities and place one there to make up for it with quantity!
The related research was already nearing its end, and after spending another afternoon working on it, Zhou Xu successfully figured out the enchantment inscription on the small communication cube.

Next, we just need to wait for the forging department to use the source crystals they sent to smelt into a suitable metal as a carrier.

"I wonder how Mengdie and the others are doing with their research..." Zhou Xu stretched lazily, having finished his work, and thought of Zhuang Mengdie and the other two who were still studying the design drawings in the side hall.

When Zhou Xu arrived, before he even pushed open the door, he could already hear the voices of three people coming from inside the hall, discussing the design drawings in a lively manner.

They only calmed down after Zhou Xu pushed the door open and went in.

"See Your Majesty!"

"No need for formalities, how was your inspection?"

"Your Majesty, everything has been confirmed."

After speaking, Zhuang Mengdie presented some of the design drawings to Zhou Xu.

"These are the weapons and equipment that we believe we can manufacture at this stage, based on our confirmation."

Zhou Xu took the design drawings and quickly flipped through them.

[Dwarven heavy cannons, dwarven hand-cranked heavy machine guns, thunder rifles...]

There were also design drawings for flintlock muskets and matchlock muskets, but these designs were essentially meaningless to the Great Zhou at this stage, so there was no need to present them.

"Your Majesty, I have some too!"

Qin Fen smiled and handed over a stack of design drawings as well.

Zhou Xu glanced at it.

[Dwarf Steam Tank...]

Okay, that's enough for now.

The main reason for calling Qin Fen over is that there are some weapons and equipment here that involve the power system.

However, this guy clearly didn't care what he was saying before.

During this time, Zhou Xu felt Qin Fen's eager gaze and was utterly speechless.

"We don't have the money to build any steam tanks right now."

"Your Majesty, we can actually put the steam-powered armor project aside for now. The development of the steam tank seems to be much easier than that of the steam-powered armor!"

"..."

It seems so!

Although I don't want to admit it, Qin Fen's suggestion does make some sense.

Anyway, at this point, the steam-powered armor is only in the design phase, and formal research and development work has not yet begun.

The solution is to change the project to the development of dwarven steam tanks, and then transfer the research funds originally intended for the development of steam-powered armor to the development of dwarven steam tanks.

"That's right."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Compared to the outrageous Qin Fen, Zhuang Mengdie and Suolin were much more normal.

At least he seems to meet his requirements now, but that doesn't mean he's without problems.

"Dream Butterfly, we already have the Thunder Rotary Cannon under development. Does this dwarf heavy cannon overlap in terms of its role?"

Zhuang Mengdie shook her head upon hearing this.

"Your Majesty, your humble servant and Thorin have already discussed this. Although both the Dwarven Heavy Cannon and the Thunder Wheel Cannon are heavy firepower weapons, their specific uses are actually different."

As they spoke, Zhuang Mengdie explained things to Zhou Xu with a clear and logical mind...

(End of this chapter)