The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 263 Realism and Impressionism

Yue Wenxuan suddenly felt like drawing, so he threw a set of plastic "painting tools" out of the sand table and started drawing.

The wall in the backyard is adorned with a bright moon, sketched with a few strokes and then colored in. In no time, a realistic painting is completed.

Tsk!
Lao Tzu's painting skills are truly superb.

He was having a good time when Gong Er Niangzi suddenly pushed open the courtyard gate and walked in, accompanied by Qi Chongli.

It turns out that Yue Wenxuan's life-size figurine and Gong Erniangzi lived in different rooms in the same courtyard.

He placed the Leonardo da Vinci figurine in the courtyard, which was essentially the same as placing it in the "public area" he shared with Gong Er Niangzi.

Gong Er Niangzi was busy in the front yard when Qi Chongli requested an audience, saying he wanted to see Young Master Yue.

Gong Erniangzi took Qi Chongli with her, intending to return to see Yue Wenxuan. Unexpectedly, as soon as they entered the courtyard, they saw a Hu man with a "blue face and fangs" holding a strange pen, looking at them with a strange expression.

"Zheng!"

Gong Erniang drew her sword...

Yue Wenxuan quickly said, "Young lady, please don't make a move. I was invited by a friend of mine."

Gong Erniangzi exclaimed "Ah!" and quickly sheathed her knife.

She believed it with just one sentence, without a doubt.

Since the True Lord had already invited foreign deities before, some of whom played football and others made heavy firearms, it's not surprising that he has now invited another strange foreign deity.

What she was most curious about was what these Hu (non-Han) deities were doing there...

Upon closer inspection, and by the moonlight, it became clear that the Hu people and immortals were actually painting.

The painting by this deity is so realistic; even a single tile on the eaves is depicted clearly.

Just as she was thinking this, Qi Chongli came over. After only one glance at the painting, Qi Chongli smiled and shook his head, saying, "Although this painting is realistic, it lacks artistic conception. It's inferior, truly inferior."

Yue Wenxuan: “Oh?”

He had always been curious about what ancient Chinese painters would think if they encountered Western painters. It turns out that Qi Chongli gave this evaluation.

Yue Wenxuan asked, "Isn't realism good?"

Qi Chongli smiled and said, "If it's too realistic, it loses its essence. When it comes to painting, the idea comes before the form."

Yue Wenxuan thought to himself: So that's how it is! Chinese painting emphasizes meaning, but it's not the same school as Western painting.

It seems that Leonardo da Vinci's painting skills were not well-received in the East.

It's alright, it's not his drawing skills that matter, but his engineering knowledge.

He switched his attention to the figurine of himself that was "sleeping" in the room, pushed open the door and walked out, laughing, "Oh, Madam Gong, Mr. Qi, what brings you here?"

Gong Er Niangzi quickly bowed: "Old Master Qi just came from the Prince's place. He said that the firearms workshop urgently needs to solve the problem of craftsmen. The Prince said that he couldn't handle it and that all the 'immortal craftsmen' were given by you, so he sent us to find you."

Qi Chongli quickly bowed and said, "His Highness said that Young Master Yue knows many extraordinary people and will surely be able to solve the problem of insufficient craftsmen. So I came here to seek his advice."

Yue Wenxuan laughed: "Old Master Qi is now wholeheartedly focused on promoting firearms production for us. You've really worked hard." Qi Chongli said solemnly: "In my opinion, only by vigorously developing firearms can we defeat those damned Jin traitors."

Yue Wenxuan pointed to Leonardo da Vinci beside him: "What a coincidence, this old friend just happened to come to see me. He has a way to solve the problem of firearms production."

Qi Chongli: "Do Hu painters also know firearms?"

Yue Wenxuan's consciousness immediately entered Leonardo da Vinci's body...

Then I picked up my pen, and in a flash, a whole bunch of strange machines that Leonardo da Vinci was good at making came to mind. Hand-cranked, horse-drawn, ox-drawn, foot-operated... a whole bunch of prototype machine tools for processing guns and cannons.

These were all transitional technologies developed in Europe before machine tools were invented.

Yue Wenxuan controlled Da Vinci to speak, saying, "The best way to solve the problem of insufficient craftsmen is to use machines to make machines."

Qi Chongli: "Huh?"

Yue Wenxuan: "I'll draw it for you right now."

After saying that, he made a bold stroke and drew out all the machines in his mind, one by one...

First, there's the lathe. Da Vinci's lathe already had new mechanisms such as cranks, flywheels, centers, and bearings. Through the coordinated operation of these components, the workpiece could be rotated, and then the rotating workpiece could be cut by a cutting tool, which could process metal blanks into parts with specific shapes and sizes.

Next is the boring machine: powered by water or foot pedals, it can be used to process cylindrical holes. Through the rotation and feed motion of the tool on the workpiece, the existing hole is enlarged and finished, improving the accuracy and surface quality of the hole. At that time, it was mainly used to process cylindrical parts such as cannon barrels.

As he was drawing, Qi Chongli, who was standing next to him, was completely mesmerized!
"Ah? So the barrel of a musket can be drilled out using this rotating machine?" Qi Chongli shouted excitedly, "Then there's no need for craftsmen to work so hard to learn how to make barrels."

"Huh? So cannon barrels can be drilled out like that? My God!" Qi Chongli was utterly astonished: "Then wouldn't it be easy to create a whole bunch of those Thunderclap, Sky-Shaking, Sky-Raging, and Overlord General Cannons?"

Gong Erniangzi seized the opportunity to launch a fierce attack: "Lord Marquis, you actually memorized the names of all four cannons?"

Qi Chongli: "Of course I know very well the weapons used to kill those damned Jin traitors."

Everyone: "..."

Qi Chongli carefully examined each of Leonardo da Vinci's paintings, constantly marveling at them: "I just criticized your paintings for being too realistic and not expressive enough. Now I know I was wrong... These machines cannot be expressed in an impressionistic way; they must be realistic. Otherwise, the craftsmen would not be able to build them according to their appearance."

Yue Wenxuan smiled. "That's right! Realism and impressionism each have their own uses."

If precision machinery isn't depicted realistically, but rather abstractly, it would be a complete disaster movie.

Qi Chongli: "Master Hu painter, these paintings of yours... I can..."

“Alright!” Yue Wenxuan smiled and said, “Take it and give it to the craftsmen.”

Qi Chongli was overjoyed: "Such a generous gift! Oh dear, I haven't brought anything to reciprocate. Please wait a moment, I'll go and arrange a lavish return gift right away..."

"No need!" Yue Wenxuan said, "It's not like you're the only one fighting against the Jin. All of us here are gathered here to fight against the Jin. Everyone should contribute to the fight against the Jin. Why do you need to thank me?"

Qi Chongli, clutching a stack of paintings, ran out happily: "Hahaha, with this extraordinary treasure, our firearms manufacturing speed will surely increase several times over, hahaha... Mining, now we need to mine even more ore, we need to double the mining... hahahaha..."

The old man vanished in an instant.

Yue Wenxuan shrugged: "Old man, old man, a clever little crucian carp."

(End of this chapter)