While the militia was using Li Ying to grind experience, back at Waxi Archway in Fengxin County, Jiangxi...
Song Yingxing stared at a "stone" in his hand, lost in thought.
This was what the strange "gray mud" the Taoist priest had given him a few days ago had become.
Following the instructions the priest provided, he had mixed the gray mud with river sand, stirred it, and left it to set.
Once it hardened, it had turned into a strange "stone."
This stone was very firm, very solid.
Song Yingxing sensed this material was far more useful than "triple-mix mortar."
Picking up the spring the priest had given him, pressing it down and watching it sproing back up, the expression on Song Yingxing's face grew even more serious.
Remembering the priest's parting words, he headed in the direction indicated. Soon, he saw a small, dilapidated temple. The strange priest was lying inside, asleep.
Song Yingxing approached, cupped his hands. "Reverend, I have carefully studied the two items you gave me. I wonder… what exactly are they? Where do they come from? I am currently writing a book titled The Exploitation of the Works of Nature, which specifically records the manufacturing methods of such curious things. If the Reverend does not mind, could you teach me how to make these two marvels? I will record them in my book. The Reverend's name will surely be passed down through the ages."
Ma Tianzheng sat up with a start, rubbing his bleary eyes. "I don't know that either. If you want to know how to make these two things, you have to go to Gao Village, Chengcheng County, Shaanxi…"
Song Yingxing: "Huh? So far away?"
Ma Tianzheng grinned. "There are many more strange and wonderful things there. If you go take a look, perhaps… heh heh…"
Song Yingxing's heart began to pound. Shaanxi… Elder Brother says it's very chaotic there. But he desperately, desperately wanted to know the manufacturing methods for these two things. He wanted to know, to know, to know with all his being.
It felt like a hand was tickling his very soul.
After much hesitation, Song Yingxing gritted his teeth. "Alright, I'll go!"
Ma Tianzheng was overjoyed. Haha, excellent! The divine decree Tianzun gave me, I've finally completed most of it. Next, I just need to escort this middle-aged scholar into Gao Village.
He slapped the scabbard on his back. A three-foot sword leaped up. Ma Tianzheng caught the hilt mid-air, deftly twirling the blade a few times. "Since Master Song has decided, this humble Daoist will escort you on this journey. Hahahaha, ordinary ruffians cannot get near this humble Daoist."
---
Although Li Ying had been driven out of Chengcheng County, the danger to the county had not passed.
The Guyuan rebels could still return!
After returning to Gao Village, the militia still had to maintain a state of combat readiness.
However, after the skirmish with Li Ying, the militiamen had accumulated some practical experience, especially the ten soldiers responsible for the triple-eye fire lances.
That evening, as Li Daoxuan was happily eating a bowl of tomato meatball soup over rice, he saw the ten firelance soldiers walk into the Artisans' Well, carrying their triple-eye lances.
The ten soldiers looked rather dejected. Entering the Artisans' Well, they stood in a row before the blacksmith's forge, silent like ten strange statues.
This commotion startled the artisans. Master Artisan Gao Yiyi hurried out to greet them. "Gentlemen, what are you doing?"
The firelance squad leader took a forceful step forward, startling Gao Yiyi, but the leader's tone was weak. "Master Artisan… Could you think of a way… to make this firelance… a bit more effective?"
Gao Yiyi was puzzled. "Isn't this firelance very powerful? When we test-fired it, it went BOOM and blew a hole in the cliff face."
The squad leader's face fell. "It's powerful if it hits the enemy. The problem is it doesn't hit."
Gao Yiyi: "How could it not hit? If an arrow can hit, surely it can too."
The squad leader then pitifully recounted what had happened during the previous battle.
Gao Yiyi listened attentively, then exclaimed, "Oh! So that's it… Fired too close, no accuracy, the enemy sees the fuse burning and lies down first… friendly troops can't get close while the enemy is prone either…"
The squad leader nodded. "Yes! Can't we make some better firearms? Now us ten firelance soldiers have become a joke. Holding the 'most powerful' weapons but utterly useless. After firing, we just became guys holding two-handed long-handled hammers, unable to use bows or other weapons. Holding a hammer looks so stupid."
Gao Yiyi scratched his head. "But we only know how to make triple-eye fire lances. How about… I go ask Li Da for you."
Soon, Li Da was summoned. After listening to the squad leaders, an awkward look appeared on his face. "That, ahem… The triple-eye fire lance really is a poor firearm. Tianzun said last time it's just for playing around. We'll need to use the new-style firearm in the future. But… I'm stuck on this new-style firearm again."
At this point, Li Da had just solved the small mechanism for the firing pin and spring in the Sai Xia Bo rifle.
With the spring problem solved, the firing pin mechanism became simpler: put the spring into a small tube, secure it with a mechanism, then trigger the mechanism, and the spring would pop up, pushing the firing pin forward…
His biggest confusion now was: When this thing moves forward and strikes the bullet, why does the bullet fire? There's no ignition device? How does the gunpowder explode? If the gunpowder doesn't explode, how does the bullet fly out?
So strange.
Tianzun had given him a blueprint for the bullet. The very bottom of the bullet was labeled "percussion cap." He looked and looked, utterly baffled. So this part remained stuck.
Being a bit shy, he was too embarrassed to ask Gao Yiye to inquire of Tianzun. He kept puzzling over it alone but couldn't figure it out.
It wasn't until the ten firelance soldiers came to him that he finally rambled about these troubles.
(Ming Context: The percussion cap, a small copper cup containing shock-sensitive explosive (like fulminate of mercury), was a revolutionary 19th-century invention. It replaced the flintlock's complex ignition system, making firearms vastly more reliable in wet weather and paving the way for modern cartridges. For a 17th-century blacksmith to ponder this, he was literally thinking centuries ahead.)
Only then did Li Daoxuan learn that this fellow's progress was stuck on the "percussion cap." He couldn't help but chuckle. Li Da, this is you trying to do cross-disciplinary research. This "percussion cap" problem shouldn't be researched by you at all. It should be given to the head of the firearms bureau, Xu Dafu, to research. Should have brought it up sooner.
He quickly called Gao Yiye over to relay a message.
Li Da was surprised. "Huh? This should be given to Xu Dafu to do?"
"Yes!" Li Daoxuan said gently. "As the times progress, a new type of weapon requires more and more technologies, spanning several industries. It's no longer something a single blacksmith can complete. It requires the collaboration of various artisans and multiple technologies. You must remember not to have the thought, 'I'll complete everything myself.' When you encounter something you don't understand, you must find the artisan from that specific trade to handle it."