The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 329 New Ideas and New Machines
By the time the morning court session ended, Yue Wenxuan was completely awake and could no longer stay in bed.

I had no choice but to get up and take out a plastic figure I had prepared long ago: Napoleon.

Napoleon was an outstanding military strategist who was very good at commanding large-scale battles and multi-service coordinated operations. He was able to make the infantry, cavalry and artillery work together perfectly, and his military ideas are still being studied today.

Yue Wenxuan didn't bring it out before because the Northern Song army's firearms were not well-equipped, and Qi Jiguang's tactics were sufficient to control them.

However, as the proportion of firearms continued to increase, and more and more firearms were used by soldiers, skirmishers, artillerymen, and even cavalrymen in the army, Qi Jiguang's methods became inapplicable, and it became necessary to look to the future to find new generals to train the army.

Yue Wenxuan then thought of Napoleon.

However, Napoleon was a foreigner with a high nose, which was not suitable for him to directly command soldiers, as it could easily distort the soldiers' national sentiments.

Therefore, Yue Wenxuan did not intend to let Napoleon face the soldiers directly. He simply handed Napoleon over to Wu Jialiang, let him teach Wu Jialiang the tactics, and then let Wu Jialiang face the soldiers.

After the morning court session ended, Wu Jialiang was summoned to the temporary imperial study.

He immediately noticed two people standing behind Zhao Shi. One was a Hu person, whose appearance was indistinguishable from other Hu people in his eyes; all of them looked the same, with blue faces and fangs, making it difficult to tell them apart. The other person, however, was an East Asian with yellow skin and black hair, but his short haircut made him look rather odd.

Yue Wenxuan said, "This foreigner is Napoleon, and the Easterner next to him is the translator."

Wu Jialiang quickly greeted him.

Napoleon returned a strange French military salute: "A great commander should ask himself several times a day what he should do if an enemy appears in front of him or on his left or right. If he is at a loss, he is incompetent."

The translation will be completed immediately.

Wu Jialiang felt a little strange: This guy gives off a vibe that's a bit like Ip Man. Whenever he greets him, he gives irrelevant answers and says things that sound impressive but whose meaning he doesn't understand.

I need to test the waters!

Wu Jialiang clasped his hands in a gesture of respect: "Mr. Napoleon, do you enjoy spring outings?"

Napoleon: "A flock of sheep led by a lion will defeat a flock of lions led by a sheep."

Wu Jialiang: "Have you eaten yet?"

Napoleon: "The most indispensable quality of a general is fortitude."

Wu Jialiang nodded: "Very good, just as I expected!"

Yue Wenxuan chuckled inwardly: You noticed? Good thing you noticed! It saves me the trouble of explaining why he's so dense.

Wu Jialiang silently considered the correct way to communicate with Ip Man.

He immediately changed direction and asked, "What are your thoughts on commanding artillery?"

That's a great question!

This time, Napoleon stopped spouting nonsense and immediately switched to normal speaking mode, launching into a long and detailed explanation of the practical application of artillery. Wu Jialiang listened intently, his eyes shining: "I see... that's how it works... wait, what did you just say? Grenadiers? What are grenadiers?"

Napoleon: "Don't you have grenadiers? Those are soldiers who throw bombs."

Wu Jialiang: "Huh? You can do that?"

The more the two talked, the happier Wu Jialiang became, as if a new world had suddenly opened up for him: "I'll go talk to the Minister of Works and ask him to find some craftsmen to study how to throw bombs to blow people up. That's a great idea."

Wu Jialiang felt even happier this time than when he met Ip Man; it was like meeting a kindred spirit and drinking a thousand cups of wine was not enough. He happily took Napoleon to the barracks. The two spent several days in the barracks, discussing strategies and tactics with their troops.

And at the same time...

The Ministry of Works is also making a big move!

Tiebao City, located at the foot of Yimeng Mountain, suddenly became bustling with activity.

It turned out that the headquarters of the Jiaodong Industrial Department had delivered new machines to Tiebao City.

Li Tiezhu, an assistant director of the Ministry of Works, led a group of people out to greet them.

Then he saw that the team was led by two Hu people, whom Li Tiezhu also knew: John Wilkinson and Watt.

Li Tiezhu quickly bowed to the two "immortals": "May I ask what important matter brings you two immortals here in person?"

Translation: "The two gentlemen have created a new machine, which is now to be provided to the artisans of Ironforge."

Li Tiezhu: "?"

Then, a laborer pushed out a large cart from the back, on which was placed a strange machine that looked like a big pot. The pot had a lid, many pipes, a rotating shaft, gears, etc. Just by looking at the appearance of this machine, you could tell that it was very time-consuming and laborious to make.

Translation: "The two gentlemen invented this machine, and we used over fifty craftsmen, working tirelessly for several months, to finally build it."

Li Tiezhu exclaimed in surprise: "So complicated? It took a lot of effort and time from so many craftsmen, so it must be designed to save more craftsmen's manpower, right? It must be a good thing that uses machines to make machines."

He's really getting smarter and smarter!

It's true what they say, "One who stays near vermilion gets stained red, and one who stays near ink gets stained black." Spending too much time with scientists can make you smarter.

The translator explained, “Its name is steam engine. It’s mainly used to provide ‘power’ to other machines. The boring machines you used before required you to step on a pedal to make them turn, which was very strenuous. But with this machine, you don’t need to step on a pedal anymore. It can make the boring machine rotate at a constant speed.”

Li Tiezhu knew immediately that the machine was incredibly powerful, so he quickly and respectfully invited it inside.

The old blacksmiths of Tiebao City all came over to watch.

After being tempered by the boring machine, no matter how senior the blacksmith in Tiebao City was, he no longer dared to look down on the advanced machine and all looked at the steam engine with piety.

Watt personally demonstrated for everyone.

Add water, add coal, start the fire...

Soon, the steam engine started moving, driving the boring machine to rotate at a constant speed.

At this moment, Wilkinson sat down in front of the boring machine and placed the gun barrel that needed to be machined onto the boring tool that was rotating at a constant speed... Sizzling sound... Sparks flew everywhere, and the gun barrel was rifling in just a few minutes.

Wilkinson tossed the finished gun barrel aside, picked up another one, and slammed it into the boring bar... *sizzle*...

The veteran craftsmen nearby stared in disbelief: "My God! What an incredible speed! If gun barrels are produced at this rate, what will become of them? Will the other parts even be produced in time?"
The craftsmen responsible for crafting the trigger and grip instantly broke out in a sweat. They could already imagine the rifling craftsmen yelling at them every day: "You're too slow, you're keeping us from doing anything!"

"Oh my God!"

(End of this chapter)