Heirs of the Seven Swords of the Qin Dynasty

After saying this, Gu Xun turned around and looked behind him.

Behind him followed all the high-level officials of Yin-Yang Family on the ship—two Dharma protectors and five elders.

Since he, the imperial master, came to Mirage to inspect the project, of course all the people from the Yin-Yang School had to come out to greet and accompany him.

"What do you think, the two guardians of Moon God and Star Soul?"

Xinghun stood with his hands behind his back and looked aside, as if he had heard nothing and did not respond to the conversation.

He is not interested in any weird naming rights, and he doesn't want to join in the fun.

He just wanted to quickly deal with this so-called inspection and get rid of this plague god, Gu Xun.

Star Soul has no interest in this, and neither does Moon God.

But the Moon Goddess could no longer remain silent like Star Soul, otherwise she would be disrespecting Gu Xun.

In public, Gu Xun wouldn't slap them to death, but it would be easy for him to embarrass them or make them feel uncomfortable.

I'll make you sick to death!

"It is inappropriate for us to cross the line and offend the things of the Donghuang Sect Master. Only the State Master has the qualification to do so." The Moon Goddess began to decline.

Gu Xun grinned, his eyebrows raised, "Why, you don't give me face?"

Hearing this, a hint of helplessness flashed across the eyes behind the Moon Goddess' veil.

She glanced sideways and saw Xinghun still pretending not to hear.

Between the two options of dragging Xinghun into the water and dealing with it herself, Yueshen chose the latter without much hesitation.

It’s not a big deal anyway, so it’s better to have less trouble than more.

"Since the Imperial Master has given the order, we will follow it." Moon Goddess said a few polite words and then gave a name, "This crossbow is used to kill mirage monsters and dispel fog. Why not call it... Poyun, what do you think, Imperial Master?"

Gu Xun smiled without saying anything, just winked at Gongshu Chou.

The latter immediately understood and said with a flattering smile, "Lord Moon God has picked a good name, it sounds nice and appropriate!

"This crossbow will be called the Cloud-breaking Crossbow from now on!"

"How long will it take to complete the remaining Cloud-Breaking Crossbows?" Gu Xun asked Gongshu Chou.

Gongshu Chou's smile froze for a moment. "Well... My Lord, there are two more crossbow machines under construction. However, due to the special location of the construction, it will probably take about a month."

Gu Xun had given him a deadline of two months, and now almost a month had passed - there were only a few days left.

According to what Gongshu Chou said at this moment, the remaining crossbows will take about a month to produce, and there is a certain possibility that the deadline will be exceeded.

Although it is estimated that the delay will only be two or three days at most, it is still overdue.

Military orders are as heavy as mountains, and disobeying them could be fatal.

Gu Xun's order was not a military order, but to Gongshu Chou, it was obviously more deadly than a military order.

Looking at Gongshu Chou who was a little nervous, Gu Xun laughed and said, "Clan leader Gongshu, just follow the procedures. Don't be in a hurry. Make sure to ensure the quality and quantity."

"You have worked hard and made great contributions. I am willing to give you an extension of three to five days."

That deadline was originally the excuse he used to urge Gongshu Chou to do his job. It didn't matter if it was a few days earlier or later.

Hearing this, Gongshu Chou heaved a sigh of relief, and the smile on his face returned to its previous brightness, "Thank you, Master Imperial Master, for your understanding."

"By the way, how is the stargazing instrument going?" Gu Xun asked.

"The renovation project is nearing completion and will be completed in two or three days at most."

Gu Xun immediately turned his gaze to the Moon Goddess, "We have found a way to kill the mirage monster, but I wonder if the Yin-Yang family is sure of locating it?"

"We need to wait until the equipment is fully built to see the result." Moon God responded in a deep voice, "I think there will be no problem."

"Then I look forward to your good news." Gu Xun replied with a smile.

………………

"There's another big piece on the mirage!"

Dao Zhi rushed into the lobby of the stronghold in a hurry and shouted something inside.

Master Ban was the only one in the room, fiddling with a Shang Tong Mo Fang out of boredom - but it was not a third-level one, but a fourth-level one.

In the field of Rubik's Cube, Mohist School has not actually summed up enough rules, and often relies on experience and brainpower. Even for Master Ban, solving a fourth-order Rubik's Cube is very difficult.

Being forced to give up Tianming was a huge blow to Master Ban. Although he knew it was for Tianming's future, he might understand it rationally, but emotionally it was still difficult to accept it. He suddenly looked much older.

He just couldn't muster the energy to work on the front line anymore, so he pushed all the work to the younger pilots and had nothing to do any more.

Gao Jianli and his men have left Sanghai again. After all, the trouble caused by the Book Burning Order is far from being resolved, and they still have work to do.

Since Tianming is not going to save them, there is no need for them to stay in Sanghai any longer.

Of course, if necessary, we can rush back in time, after all, the Mohist School has flying units.

Only Dao Zhi was left, responsible for keeping an eye on the mirage and getting the latest information as quickly as possible in case of any emergency.

Then today, Dao Zhi saw the giant cloud-breaking crossbow standing on the deck of the Mirage.

The Mohists had actually known about this news a long time ago, after all, it caused quite a stir. However, before the crossbow was built, they had no idea what it was.

Master Ban put down the "toy" in his hand and asked indifferently, "What on earth did the Gongshu family come up with?"

"Uh... Honestly, I can't tell." Dao Zhi sat down on his seat and spread his hands and replied, "It's very big and a bit square. It's not regular enough to call it a long box, but if you call it something else, I really can't think of it for the time being."

"You, I usually tell you to read more books and learn more about mechanical engineering, but you don't listen. You can't even recognize what something is." Master Ban shook his head and sighed, feeling quite disappointed.

Dao Zhi was very dissatisfied with this, "Is that because I am ignorant? That is something that Gong Shujia created, it won't work!"

"If they come up with something like the Mechanical White Tiger, I can recognize it as a mechanical beast at a glance!"

"Why don't you ask them to put up a sign for you and write some information on it?" Master Ban rolled his eyes and retorted.

Then he continued, "I, an old man, have to go and take a look at this matter myself."

Dao Zhi chuckled, "I think it doesn't matter if I don't watch it, right?"

"It's nothing more than a lethal weapon, probably used to deal with monsters in the sea. What it is specifically has nothing to do with us."

"That's hard to say." Master Ban shook his head. "If it's a weapon, it can be used against monsters, and it can be used against people."

"Maybe we will meet in the future, so it's better to get to know each other in advance."

"That's fine." Dao Zhi shrugged and did not comment on Master Ban's words.

Anyway, Master Ban will be flying the Suzaku and flying high in the sky, so there is no danger even if he is discovered, so there is no need to worry.

However, Master Ban was obviously overthinking this matter.

Theoretically, the Cloud-Breaking Crossbow can certainly be used against humans, and it is also an indestructible super-weapon. With one arrow shot, it can even make a big hole in a city wall. Its power against humans is even stronger than that of a catapult.

But this thing has a fatal flaw - it's not the excessively long cooling time or the extremely low durability, but the fact that this requirement must be fixed.

This requirement is very strict. It does not mean that you can just build a frame and put it on it to turn it into a mobile unit.

The Cloud Breaking Crossbow must be mounted on a sufficiently stable base, such as the earth or a mirage. A slightly unstable base will be directly crushed by the strong reaction force generated when the crossbow is in operation, and a crossbow without a fixed base will inevitably collapse during operation.

Therefore, this thing can only be installed on the city wall as a fixed turret, but its size makes the city wall not suitable for direct installation of it, and it has to be modified separately.

Even if all difficulties are overcome and it is really assembled, this thing is just an enhanced version of the catapult. Its attack frequency is surprisingly lower than that of the Nike, and it consumes a lot of materials. It is not worth it at all.

In a nutshell - flashy but not practical.

If this thing was useful, Gongshu Chou would have told Gu Xun about it long ago.

But if he makes improvements, that's another matter.

………………

As time went by, Songhai became increasingly peaceful, but outside of Songhai, almost all areas of the empire became increasingly turbulent.

The Lingqu Canal project was gradually completed, and the war in Lingnan was about to restart.

Before the war, the first thing to do is to prepare for the transportation of military supplies and food, and then recruit and mobilize soldiers.

Both of these require the conscription of a large number of civilians. The former is for corvee labor, and the latter is for garrison service. The former can be exhausting, and the latter can directly cost lives.

At the same time, with the arrival of autumn, the entire north, including the three northern counties and the areas of Jibei and Liaodong, began to be invaded and harassed by nomadic peoples.

This was not a large-scale invasion with an organized plan, but rather a spontaneous looting operation by various nomadic tribes.

Winter is approaching, and they don't have enough supplies, so they have to go south to plunder, using the lives of their own people and the lives of the people in the Central Plains to exchange for daily necessities for their tribe.

The previous wars on the north and south fronts had drawn too many men and women away, resulting in weak border defenses. Once the nomadic tribes went south to plunder, the people living in the border areas would inevitably suffer greatly.

The empire certainly could not ignore it, so it had to recruit soldiers for conscription.

No common people like to serve in the army, not to mention that the severity of the empire's corvee labor has far exceeded normal levels, and has even reached a level that people simply cannot afford.

The people are filled with resentment, and those with ulterior motives will naturally take the opportunity to incite them, causing unrest throughout the country.

The only exception is the area that the East Tour convoy has just inspected.

No matter what, not many people dared to offend Emperor Ying Zheng, the First Emperor.

But the places that Ying Zheng could inspect were ultimately limited, and the effect of the inspections was also limited.

He could leave Xianyang for a few months, or even a year or two, but it was impossible for him to run back and forth around the empire's borders like a never-stopping train.

The mobile court is ultimately just a stopgap measure.

Amid the turbulent times of the empire, Mirage finally weighed anchor again and set sail on a journey to search for immortals.

………………

In a cabin on the lower level of the Mirage, Tianming was lying on the bed, bored and in a daze.

He now lives the same life every day. He eats when he wakes up, sleeps when he is full, and eats again when he wakes up. He is not much different from a pig.

The funny thing is that his fate is similar to that of a pig. He is "raised" by the Yin-Yang family and will be killed and eaten when the time is right.

Of course, his ability to resist is much stronger than that of a pig, so it's not completely hopeless.

However, Tianming had no plans to escape in the short term.

Qianlong also told him all the information about Tianming's physical problems.

Unlike the people of Mohism, even though Tianming knew that he and Gu Xun had a grudge against each other for murdering their father, he was still willing to believe that Gu Xun would not harm him - at least not by using such deceptive means.

For the sake of his own life, Tianming was of course willing to take a chance and go out to sea with the Yin-Yang family - that was why he had been living such a decadent life during this period, otherwise he would have to study how to escape from this cage.

Tianming, who was lying there daydreaming, suddenly felt a shaking. He sat up a little dazed. After careful feeling, he confirmed that there was indeed a shaking sensation, and it was getting stronger.

Without windows and without other people around, he could not actively obtain any information from the outside world and could only feel the sudden vibration and shaking in a daze.

At this time, Qianlong's voice sounded in his ears:

"At dawn, the Mirage sets sail again."

During this period, Qianlong often came to find Tianming. Although he was still unable to determine Tianming's exact location, his perception of others became clearer and clearer, and he could communicate with them through the air without pulling them into the mysterious space of the Fantasy Sound Box.

Tianming understood immediately after hearing this, "I thought so, the boat started moving."

No matter how big the mirage is, it is as stable as land even on the sea, and you can't feel any shaking at all.

But once the ship starts moving, there will definitely be some fluctuations.

Tianming asked curiously, "Qianlong, what is there in the sea?"

"Uh...sea water." Qianlong gave a dry answer.

"Ah? Only water?" Tianming was a little disappointed.

"Of course it's not just water, but the most abundant thing is sea water. After a long time, the only thing left in your mind is water." Qian Long replied with a wry smile, obviously not very... looking forward to the sea trip.

"Huh..." Tianming was even more disappointed, but then he thought, whether it was water or other things, he couldn't see anything.

He would rather look at the water!

"Qianlong, do you know how long the mirage will be at sea?" The dejected Tianming immediately changed the subject.

"This... I guess no one knows now, no one can say for sure."

Qian Long hesitated for a moment and then added, "My guess is that it will take two to three months at the shortest and about half a year at the longest."

"What is the basis for your speculation?" Tianming asked curiously.

"The Mirage's speed is very fast, faster than a small boat. It takes two months to go back and forth, and one month each way. I estimate that it can travel at least ten thousand miles."

"If the voyage takes three or four months or even longer, it would be tens of thousands of miles."

"The fairy mountain... I don't think it's that far away, right? Besides, the sea should have a limit, it can't be really endless."

Tianming lay down again, smiled leisurely and replied, "Hehe, not necessarily. Don't people say that the sea is boundless?"

"But my father told me that the sea also has an end." Qian Long replied with a smile.

"Uncle Gu...does he know the sea well?"

"Probably. My father used to have a fleet."

"Before? What about now?"

"It was requisitioned by the imperial court... and has never been returned."

"Isn't this robbery? Can Uncle Gu tolerate this?"

"I don't know. Dad doesn't seem to care much."

……

……

The two of them chatted aimlessly, one sentence at a time.

During this process, Tianming, who was at a loss because of the mirage and the uncertain future, gradually regained his composure. (End of this chapter)