Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 191 185. Mechanical Man

Soon, Feng Xi and Guan Yinping had already come down the mountain, but they were followed by two people, Fu Zixun and Wenxiu. The four of them rode two horses together, and when they reached the surrounding county town, Feng Xi allocated another horse for Fu Zixun and his sister to ride together.

After all, Wenxiu was still young and had never learned to ride a horse, so she could only ride on the same horse with her brother. The things in Zhangshan would be left behind for the time being, and when Feng Xi and the others returned to Jiangling, they would allocate more people to slowly move them.

Having said that, apart from some manuscripts and books passed down by the Mohist school, most of the artifacts on Zhang Mountain are actually mechanical figures made by Fu Zixun and his father.

"Mechanical man" is the name of those wooden men. Fu Zixun said that this thing has quite a history and is a technology passed down from the time of Mozi.

According to Fu Zixun, the dike of Daliang City, the former capital of Wei State, was once destroyed by someone using a wooden man called "mechanical man". Later, Fu Zixun's ancestor happened to be in Daliang and stopped the conspiracy, and by accident captured a mechanical man.

Fu Zixun's ancestor was also a disciple valued by Mozi, whose status was second only to Mozi's first disciple and the future second-generation great master Qin Huali. So he troubled Mozi to personally disassemble and assemble the captured mechanical man, and found that the techniques involved were quite consistent with the details discussed by Mozi and many of his friends in the past.

So Fu Zixun's ancestor set out to visit Mozi's old friends, including Gongshu Ban and Guiguzi, who were famous in later generations.

After investigation, Fu Zixun's ancestors discovered that this thing was made by Shu Sangzi, a disciple of Guiguzi.

Shu Sangzi was originally from Shu, and he came from Shu to learn knowledge and skills from Guiguzi. At that time, there were hundreds of schools of thought, and Shu Sangzi felt that Guiguzi's practice of empty talk was not as good as going out to interfere in the world and change the world into what he wanted, so he broke with Guiguzi and left.

Later, after some investigation and adventure, Fu Zixun's ancestors finally defeated Shu Sangzi's conspiracy. Unfortunately, Shu Sangzi finally chose to burn himself, and also burned the mechanical man that he had spent his life researching. As a result, only these crude mechanical man techniques have been passed down in the Mohist school.

And that strange password was also the language used by Guiguzi in the past, a man from the West, known as the "Westerner". Because it was easy to operate, it was passed down from generation to generation by Fu Zixun's lineage as the password to operate the mechanical man.

"So you guys are all so-called defective machines?"

Feng Xi was a little surprised. This thing looked extremely sci-fi no matter how you looked at it. Could it be more advanced than this?

"I'm ashamed. According to the records in our ancestors' bamboo slips, the mechanical man our ancestors obtained was made from a rare red stone. It doesn't seem like I made it. It was made from trained rats."

Fu Zixun laughed at himself, as if he was annoyed at his lack of true energy.

"A piece of stone can be used as a power source... isn't that a bit too fantastical? What's the principle behind it?"

Feng Xi just complained in his heart, thinking that it was too unbelievable and did not comment.

"As for other mechanical men, according to the records of our ancestors, the mechanical men used by Shu Sangzi in the past were several times more complicated than those of our ancestors. Shu Sangzi even developed mechanical chariots and mechanical dragons. Unfortunately, it is difficult for us to see them. It is a pity."

Fu Zixun did not notice Feng Xi's inner monologue, but continued to speak. What he said made Feng Xi feel that it was a bit far-fetched.

"What the hell, are those things about developing advanced technology through archaeology really just nonsense? Forget about the mechanical chariot, but what on earth is a mechanical dragon?"

Feng Xi complained in his heart, but he didn't dare to say anything. What if Fu Zixun was very respectful to his ancestors? Then he would be offending the talent he had just received for nothing.

"It's okay. Although it's a pity that I have never seen these magnificent things in the past, we must always carry on the past and forge ahead. The future depends entirely on you. Although you may not be able to replicate the feats of the mechanical man in the past, you will definitely be able to develop things that are not inferior to, or even far superior to, the mechanical man in the future."

Feng Xi thought about it and decided to give Fu Zixun a bowl of chicken soup, so that he could concentrate on making something new for himself. "What the Grand Commander said makes sense. When we get to Jiangling, please let me see those concept drawings."

Fu Zixun was quite impressed by this and was immediately brought back to the point by Feng Xi's words. He began to think about how to work next.

Zhangshan was not far from Jiangling. It only took one day to go back and forth. The four of them returned to Jiangling just as night fell.

Feng Xi was not some Zhou Bapi or farmer who forced Fu Zixun to start working immediately. Instead, he found a place for them to live and settled the brother and sister down, letting them rest for two days. He also wanted to send someone to Zhangshan to bring back their research and manuscripts.

"Grand Commander, who is this person you brought back...?"

Feng Xi and Guan Yinping had not hidden anything in the first place, so everyone knew that they had brought back two strangers. In addition, Feng Xi did it himself, which made Ma Liang suspicious, so he came in person the next day to inquire about it.

"This man is a skilled craftsman I found, a disciple of the Mohist school, who came to help me solve my problems."

As a minister, Ma Liang naturally knew that Feng Xi's strange inventions had reached a bottleneck. Hearing that Feng Xi had actually found a descendant of the Mohist school, he was also very surprised.

Feng Xi observed for a moment and found that Ma Liang was just a little surprised, without any other emotions. He nodded secretly in his heart.

"Let Yi Zhong gather a thousand men and go to Zhangshan to..."

Feng Xi called a messenger to continue delivering the message, asking his good friend Fu Zhun to take the trouble to lead the team to transport the things on Zhang Mountain back. After all, he was not at ease to leave these tasks to others, and many people had gone to conquer the two counties, so he really had no other confidants to use.

"Grand Commander, I am not prejudiced against the Mohist school, but does this person really have real talent and knowledge? Could he be a fraud under the guise of the Mohist school?"

After Feng Xi made the arrangements, Ma Liang was still not at ease and started asking questions like an old mother, which made Feng Xi understand why Ma Su was so anxious to prove himself every day.

"It doesn't matter. I've seen this man invent something with my own eyes. It's already astonishing. If he can come up with something like what I've been thinking, it would be a groundbreaking change."

Feng Xi was quite confident in himself. After all, he had slightly accelerated the technology tree by hundreds of years. It wouldn't take too much time before he could make use of some basic things. By then, his strength would be able to reach a higher level.

Seeing Feng Xi so confident, Ma Liang naturally had nothing to say.

"By the way, Ji Chang, I have been busy looking for talents these days. Is there any news about the expedition to the two counties?"

When Feng Xi saw Ma Liang, he suddenly thought of Ma Su. He had been busy these days and had no time to pay attention to Deng Ai and Ma Su's expedition to Changsha and Guiyang. Now that he had some free time, he naturally had to ask about it.

"Not long ago, Governor Zhang sent back a message..."

Ma Liang looked embarrassed, which made Feng Xi guess that Ma Su must have really gotten into trouble.

(End of this chapter)