The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 349 Versailles

Soon, the scarecrow was dragged in front of Qin Hui and his entourage.

Qin Hui took a closer look and immediately gasped. The leather armor worn by the scarecrow was riddled with holes, and through the holes, one could see that the straw inside had been smashed into powder, leaving one hole after another.

When Qin Hui was a prisoner of war in the Jin Kingdom, he heard that the Jin cavalry had suffered a great loss on the Jiaole Peninsula, losing several battles in a row, and even Talan's favorite general, Guwei, was killed.

At the time, he was completely baffled. He couldn't understand how a group of bandits on the Jiaodong Peninsula could defeat the Jin army. There were no waterways like Hongze Lake, Weishan Lake, or Huangtiandang there. How could the Jin cavalry possibly lose on land?

But now he finally understands a little bit...

"This...this firearm is so powerful?"

Seeing that he was frightened, Yue Wenxuan chuckled inwardly: This is exactly the effect I wanted.

But it's too early to think that such a simple scare will turn him into our tool. We need a more systematic approach to intimidate him, to make him completely unafraid of the Jin Dynasty and only afraid of the Northern Song Dynasty!
Yue Wenxuan pretended to be in a difficult position and shook his head: "Firearms are powerful, but they are too difficult to make. Sigh, they are so hard to make, and the production volume is not good."

Qin Hui's eyes lit up, and he tried his best to hide his joy: "Is this difficult to manufacture?"

Yue Wenxuan: "Difficult, too difficult! Oh dear, considering Lord Qin's loyalty in fighting his way out of the Jin Kingdom and returning to our Great Song, I will take Lord Qin to see the firearms production workshop. This is top secret information, and outsiders are absolutely not allowed to see it."

Qin Hui was overjoyed: "Great! I've seen top-secret intelligence. I'll find an opportunity to write a letter to Ta Lan. That will definitely be a great achievement."

Yue Wenxuan: "Making firearms requires iron, so let's start by mining iron ore."

Qin Hui was delighted: Of course, it's best to gather all the intelligence! He said, "That's excellent."

So, nothing happened that night. Yue Wenxuan arranged for Qin Hui to stay, and sent people to keep an eye on him so that he would not have a chance to escape. The next morning, he took Qin Hui and his party to Tiebao City.

The journey covered hundreds of miles, and the travel was arduous.

The soldiers were fine, but civil officials like Qin Hui, Gao Yigong, and Weng Shun from the Censorate suffered terribly. The worst off were the women in the group, including Qin Hui's wife, Wang, who was so exhausted she couldn't even cry. Yue Wenxuan showed her no mercy. This infamous woman, who had knelt before Yue Fei for centuries, was to be thoroughly tormented.

After traveling for an unknown amount of time, Qin Hui was being jolted around in the cart with only wooden wheels and no rubber wheels when he finally saw Tiebao City in the distance.

They were still some distance from the city when a loud bang suddenly came from ahead, "Boom!"

The sound was extremely loud, echoing for miles, like a thunderclap.

Startled, Qin Hui, who was vomiting while leaning against the edge of the car, jumped up and exclaimed, "There's a monster roaring in the mountains ahead!"

Weng Shunhe and Gao Yigong also turned pale.

Wang was so frightened that she cowered in the corner of the car.

But the Northern Song soldiers outside the carriage showed no fear; they were chatting and laughing.

Qin Hui had no choice but to bite the bullet and ask, "There are roaring monsters in the mountains ahead, why are you all not afraid?"

The soldiers laughed: "Those are our men blasting the mine."

Qin Hui: "Huh?"

In fear, Qin Hui's car drew ever closer to Tiebao City.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The loud noise grew louder and louder, and one could even feel the earthquake trembling. As soon as Qin Hui entered Tiebao City, he was frightened. He saw several huge furnaces built on the flat ground in the city. These furnaces were of course not Song Dynasty technology, but Ming Dynasty blast furnace technology brought by Yue Wenxuan's craftsmen.

Just then, a furnace was turned on and water was released. Amid the shouts of the workers, the red-hot molten iron flowed out along the stone trough and quickly filled a huge stone vat. It was unknown how many thousands of kilograms of iron were in that vat; just by looking at its size, one could tell that it was enough to arm a small army.

Advanced blast furnaces, large quantities of molten iron—the entire Iron Treasure City exudes a heavy metal vibe.

It is full of power and a sense of technology.

Qin Hui was speechless: "This... so many furnaces... this... how much molten iron? All this molten iron... is it used to forge firearms?"

Yue Wenxuan used his Versailles-style WeChat Moments post: "It's not nearly enough! This vat of molten iron can only make about a hundred muskets. Sigh, it's not nearly enough."

"A hundred or so? One vat can make a hundred extinction weapons?"

Qin Hui was horrified. His eyes swept across Tiebao City, and before he could even count properly, he had already seen dozens of blast furnaces. If each furnace could produce a hundred or so muskets, wouldn't these dozen or so furnaces be able to produce more than a thousand muskets?

Imagine a thousand muskets firing at once—what a terrifying sight that would be!

The Jin cavalry would definitely be beaten to a pulp!
Impossible, this is impossible!

Qin Hui suddenly realized something: such a large vat of molten iron requires a large amount of iron ore to smelt. If there isn't enough iron ore, then no matter how many furnaces there are, they're just for show.

Ask away whenever you think of it!

He feigned humility and said, "How much ore would it take to smelt such a large vat of iron? It must be very difficult to mine so much iron ore."

"It's difficult! It's really too difficult!" Yue Wenxuan put on a pained expression: "Digging is very slow."

Qin Hui thought to himself: It's good that the digging is slow.

Just as he was thinking this, "Boom!" Another loud bang rang out. This time he was already in the city, so the sound was very close to him. It seemed to be coming from Yimeng Mountain behind Tiebao City. Because it was so close, the terrifying blast made Qin Hui fall to the ground with a thud.

It took him a while to get up, his face filled with shock: "It's here again. This time it's so close. What kind of monster is roaring in the mountains?"

Yue Wenxuan: "Those are my men mining iron ore."

Qin Hui: "???"

Yue Wenxuan: "Let's go take a look."

Leading Qin Hui and his entourage, they passed through Tiebao City and soon arrived at the foot of Yimeng Mountain. There was a large cliff there, which had been carved out into the shape of a "cliff," with many large holes in it...

A group of workers wearing rattan hats are circling in front of a protruding hillside.

Upon seeing Yue Wenxuan arrive, the leading engineering officer immediately ran over: "Young Master Yue, we are currently using the blasting method for mining. It is very unsafe here. Please do not get too close."

Yue Wenxuan said, "It's alright. I brought Lord Qin here for a tour. You're about to start blasting the mine, aren't you? Let this Lord Qin have a good look."

The engineering officer nodded. He could tell that Yue Wenxuan's tone was sarcastic when he said "Lord Qin," so this person was definitely not an important guest and there was no need to treat him with special hospitality.

He simply nodded to Qin Hui and said, "Lord Qin, you've come at the right time. We're about to blast that protruding boulder."

(End of this chapter)