After several close calls with Nanliang’s attempts to breach the defenses, Marquis Dongxiang ordered the withdrawal of the Crossbow Car from the city walls, replacing them with the Flying Eagle Guards.

Su Jin didn’t know much about weaponry, but she had heard of the famous Zhuge Crossbow: it could shoot multiple arrows at once, with long range and tremendous destructive power.

She had a conversation with the General of the Workshop about the Zhuge Crossbow, which left the General astounded.

The General of the Workshop asked Su Jin how it was possible to shoot so many arrows at once, but Su Jin had no idea. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

She had only seen the Zhuge Crossbow in a museum.

Since she’d already made a statement, Su Jin didn’t want to embarrass herself. After returning to the camp, she drew a blueprint for the General of the Workshop.

The blueprint only showed the appearance, but based on its looks, one could infer how to use it; the rest would rely on personal ingenuity.

The General of the Workshop pondered over the blueprint for more than a month and finally created the device.

As for its power, that would only be known after testing.

However, seeing the joy on the General of the Workshop’s face, Su Jin felt reassured.

People who care about saving face wouldn’t call her over if it hadn’t succeeded.

Su Jin looked at the Crossbow Car, and it was more or less as she imagined, "Let’s find a place to test its effect first."

The General of the Workshop was waiting for Su Jin to give the order, and he said, "Go and keep an eye on the area, don’t let anyone wander around, it’d be bad if our own people get hurt."

Several officers rushed to clear the area.

The General Workshop was quite large, but the General of the Workshop felt the space was insufficient. From previous tests, the bow wasn’t even drawn to its maximum capacity, and it almost shot out of the workshop.

Who knows what its power would be at full draw.

The Crossbow Car required more than one soldier to operate; four or five soldiers had to work together to draw the bow and place the arrows.

The arrows were also specially made, quite large.

Fortunately, once the arrows were placed, they didn’t need to be fired immediately; they could be aimed before launching.

Once the officers returned, the General of the Workshop looked at Su Jin, who nodded lightly.

The General of the Workshop moved his hand, releasing eight arrows simultaneously.

They disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The officers chased after them.

Two legs could never outrun the fired arrows, but alarmingly, when they reached the edge of the workshop, they found no arrows on the ground...

The officers were bewildered.

Of course, even more confused was the Fire Head Camp.

While cooking, several arrows suddenly shot over, directly piercing through the stovetop and even the pot of porridge.

The Fire Head Camp fell into chaos.

The kitchen soldiers, not knowing what had happened, hurriedly sent someone to report to Marquis Dongxiang.

They thought the enemy had attacked.

Marquis Dongxiang furrowed his brow into a knot; the Fire Head Camp was inside the military camp. How could the enemy have attacked first at the Fire Head Camp?

Either the tactic was stunningly absurd, or insane.

Yet something had happened at the Fire Head Camp, and it couldn’t be ignored. Marquis Dongxiang and the Prince left the main camp to see for themselves.

From a distance, they saw smoke rising from the Fire Head Camp.

Earlier chaos had started a fire, but fortunately, it was extinguished quickly, preventing major disaster.

Marquis Dongxiang covered his mouth with a wet cloth and entered, seeing the arrows lodged in the stovetop.

He attempted to pull one out but couldn’t.

He draped the wet cloth over his shoulder, used both hands with all his strength, veins bulging on his forehead, and finally pulled out the arrow.

The thickness and depth of the arrows astounded both Marquis Dongxiang and the Prince.

With Xingxing supporting her, Su Jin cautiously approached and asked, "Was anyone hurt?"

"Heir’s wife, it’s not safe here. You should leave quickly," said an officer.

"My lady asked if anyone was injured," Xingxing inquired.

"No one was hurt, just the pot and stovetop were damaged."

"...."

Fortunately, no one was injured.

Otherwise, the Crossbow Car might have harmed their own people instead of the enemy.

Su Jin hadn’t expected such an extensive shooting range for the crossbow.

At this point, everyone realized the arrows had been fired from the General Workshop.

Marquis Dongxiang and the Prince were both stunned by the range and power of the bows, but testing new weapons so recklessly?

This time, it was lucky nobody was hurt, but such negligence can’t go unpunished, even if crafting new weapons was commendable.

The General of the Workshop and others, including Su Jin, were all punished.

Marquis Dongxiang ordered Su Jin to write family letters for the soldiers for seven days.

The General of the Workshop received twenty strokes with the military stick; others had to run ten laps around the training ground.

The General of the Workshop didn’t dare complain; he had predicted issues but failed to act, almost causing casualties, so the punishment was justified.

He lay down on the ground, ready to receive his punishment.

Marquis Dongxiang, with a stern face, said, "First take the Crossbow Car to the training ground for testing, punishment later."

This was an acknowledgment for the Workshop.

The training ground was spacious, perfect for testing the Crossbow Car.

The Crossbow Car spanned most of the training ground. When it fired into the ground, three regular soldiers together couldn’t even pull it out.

Earlier at the Fire Head Camp, Marquis Dongxiang had already pulled one out; this time it was the Prince’s turn.

His veins bulged as he pulled the arrow out, leaving the arrowhead still buried in the ground.

The General of the Workshop felt apprehensive.

The arrow quality was lacking.

The Prince looked at the arrow in his hand and said to Marquis Dongxiang, "The power of the Crossbow Car is formidable; it can be used not only for defense but also for offense."

Such bows, when shot at city walls, could serve as ladders for soldiers to climb.

Marquis Dongxiang asked the Workshop, "How many such Crossbow Cars are there?"

"Only... only this one was made."

Marquis Dongxiang, delighted, was confused.

Still in the testing phase, how could they make so many at once?

"Make thirty first," Marquis Dongxiang instructed.

"Ensure better arrow quality."

"...."

Having acknowledged the Crossbow Car and punished the General of the Workshop, it was time to reward the achievements.

The court encouraged the workshop to modify weapons and enhance their lethality.

The General of the Workshop believed the credit belonged to Su Jin.

Su Jin felt the credit shouldn’t be hers; the Workshop’s contribution was invaluable.

The General of the Workshop thought that without Su Jin’s blueprint, he wouldn’t have figured it out even if he had multiple brains.

Marquis Dongxiang said, "Stop pushing the credit around, the credit is split half and half."

The General of the Workshop got a promotion; others had their accomplishments noted.

As for Su Jin...

Marquis Dongxiang always reported her achievements to the Emperor.