Chapter 207
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Chapter 207: Why Am I So Busy Today?
As soon as Liu Shu left, Ye Xuan from the research department came running over with a bunch of design drawings.
“Sir! Sir…”
Hearing Ye Xuan’s voice, Luo Ji maintained a calm expression.
He figured she must have encountered difficulties while developing the hand crossbow.
Having crammed relevant knowledge offline beforehand, Luo Ji stated that he wasn’t flustered at all.
However, once Ye Xuan entered, she still startled Luo Ji.
He subconsciously rubbed his aching and swollen eyes, which felt that way from reading too many reports.
If he wasn’t mistaken, the item Ye Xuan was holding at that moment was a hand crossbow?!
“Damn!”
Luo Ji was startled.
Counting the time, it had indeed been quite a while, but it had only been a rough sketch before.
How could they have made a sample so quickly?
He quickly took a deep breath, then drank some water to calm down.
Following this, Luo Ji spoke in a relatively calm tone.
“Ye Xuan, is the item in your hand a sample of the hand crossbow?”
“A sample?”
Ye Xuan subconsciously lowered her head and glanced at the hand crossbow in her hand, then said in a subtle tone.
“Uh, probably, I guess.”
“Probably? You guess?”
At that moment, Luo Ji clearly sensed the change in her tone.
After understanding the situation, a hint of understanding flashed in his eyes, along with a hint of disappointment.
Indeed, the hand crossbow was not that easy to produce.
The one in Ye Xuan’s hand could hardly be called a sample, as many mechanical structures within it hadn’t been sorted out yet, and things like firing bolts were completely impossible.
Therefore, the item in her hand was, at most, a reference object.
To put it plainly, no matter how many problems remained unresolved, they first created a physical object.
With a physical object as a reference, they could more directly figure out where the specific problems lay.
Afterward, it undoubtedly became Ye Xuan’s question time.
For the barrage of questions Ye Xuan threw at him, Luo Ji had clearly done his homework thoroughly, speaking eloquently and fluently.
However, as their discussion progressed, facing Ye Xuan’s increasingly tricky and whimsical questions after her brain hole opened wide, the composure on Luo Ji’s face gradually vanished…
“How… How terrifying.”
“Is this what a true genius is like?”
After finally seeing Ye Xuan off, the relieved Luo Ji couldn’t help but wipe a handful of cold sweat from his forehead.
Even with his crash course in this knowledge, the tricky questions, one after another, almost made him unable to answer.
“Chief…”
The voice that suddenly sounded again made Luo Ji’s recently relaxed nerves instantly tense up once more.
He turned to look, his eyes fixed on the guard walking in, and asked with an annoyed expression.
“Who else is here? Why am I so… today?!”
“It’s Zhang Ji, captain of the fourth scout team, requesting an audience.”
Having long been familiar with Luo Ji’s personality, the guard who came in to report naturally knew that their chief wasn’t genuinely angry, and it was just his usual grumbling.
So, while reporting, he remained completely unbothered, appearing unusually calm.
“Zhang Ji?”
Luo Ji’s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this name.
“Didn’t he lead the fourth team on an expedition with Guo Jia and the others?”
“The battle report had only just been sent back earlier.”
“Does that mean something urgent has happened?”
Thinking of this, Luo Ji decisively said.
“Call him in.”
After receiving permission, Zhang Ji arrived quickly.
Luo Ji hadn’t even had time to sit down when the man swiftly walked in.
“Zhang Ji, Captain of the Fourth Scout Team, salutes the Leader!”
“Alright, rise.”
Luo Ji waved his hand.
Although he personally disliked such formalities, rules were rules, and without them, there could be no order.
Therefore, similar etiquette was also promulgated along with the new batch of laws.
“You suddenly rushed back. Did something urgent happen?”
“Reporting to the Leader, this subordinate has returned this time to deliver this.”
As he spoke, Zhang Ji quickly unfastened the animal hide pouch at his waist and presented its contents before Luo Ji.
“Is this… ore?”
Looking at the contents of the animal hide pouch, a hint of uncertainty colored Luo Ji’s tone, because it truly looked no different from ordinary rocks.
“Sir, please look at the fractured surface below.”
Luo Ji nodded, taking one of the stones and turning it over a few times in his hand.
Immediately, his pupils constricted.
To be honest, it really looked like an ordinary stone, but at the fractured surface, a slightly different luster could be seen.
This difference was truly not obvious at all, if this ore was thrown into a pile of stones, one wouldn’t be able to tell the difference at a glance.
However, there was no doubt about it being an ore!
“Could this be…”
As he carefully examined the ore in his hand, Luo Ji’s heart suddenly pounded faster.
He didn’t have extensive knowledge of ores, but there were a few types he had seriously studied, and one of them matched the ore before him quite well.
“Let’s go to the Forging Department!”
Whether it was what he thought it was, they would know once they smashed it and burned it in the Forging Department’s furnace!
Matters personally instructed by Luo Ji naturally held the highest priority.
The craftsmen of the Forging Department decisively put down their current work and cleared out a forge to process this newly discovered ore.
The steps of crushing the ore, then grinding it into the smallest particles, and then extracting the metal within through high-temperature smelting were already extremely proficient for the Forging Department’s craftsmen.
The entire smelting process was completed quickly.
Looking at the copper pot emitting high temperatures, Luo Ji gestured, signaling the craftsman to remove the impurities floating on the surface of the molten metal.
Then, looking at the layer of liquid slowly flowing at the bottom of the pot like mercury, the ecstasy that swept over him in that instant made Luo Ji burst into uncontrollable laughter.
“Hahahaha…”
It was tin ore!
He actually found a tin ore!!
Tin ore had a very low melting point.
After simple smelting and removing impurities, it would appear like mercury, perfectly matching everything he saw before him!
Undoubtedly, his previous guess was confirmed.
Tin ore was one of the few ores he had seriously researched because, when smelted together with pure copper in a certain proportion, it would form an alloy called bronze!
Bronze!
This was the symbol of the Bronze Age!
This indicated that once the subsequent alloy smelting was successful, his civilization, which had originally been hovering at the threshold of the Bronze Age, would officially take that crucial step and become a true Bronze Civilization!!
