Chapter 329
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Chapter 329: Just Say I’m Not Here
Every time he returned from vacation, the documents on his desk would be exceptionally piled up.
However, this situation had actually eased considerably.
The ten levels of document classification allowed the city lords of the various sub-cities to more clearly distinguish some files that previously had ambiguous classifications.
What seemed cumbersome actually saved them a lot of trouble.
At the same time, Luo Ji could also more precisely allocate corresponding processing permissions based on this classification level, according to the work ability of each secretary and city lord, significantly reducing his own workload.
After quickly reviewing the reports in his hand, Luo Ji glanced at the sky outside the window.
If he put in extra effort, he should be able to finish everything before dark.
Just as he was thinking this, outside the office, a guard quickly entered.
“Reporting, Your Majesty, Ye Xuan, Director of the Military Armament Research Department…”
“Just say I’m not here.”
Upon hearing the little ancestor’s name, Luo Ji instinctively flinched, then quickly took a sip of tea to calm himself.
His mortal brain simply couldn’t keep up with that genius’s way of thinking.
Please, please spare him.
The members of the guard team clearly knew the situation between their Emperor and Ye Xuan.
For a moment, everyone’s lips twitched unnaturally.
Then, Zhou Cang, who had entered to report, quickly clarified.
“Your Majesty misunderstands. It’s Director Ye Xuan from the Military Armament Research Department who sent someone to inform Your Majesty that the crossbow has been completed.”
“Pffft—”
The tea in his mouth was immediately spat out.
After the initial shock, instead of wild joy, a feeling of tearful emotion washed over him.
“Has it finally been developed?”
Wiping away a handful of bitter tears, Luo Ji felt an urge to laugh uproariously three times, looking up at the sky.
Ever since Ye Xuan started researching crossbows, facing one increasingly tricky problem after another, heaven knew how he had endured until now.
He instantly stood up.
“Let’s go, let’s see!”
Putting aside the fact that he was nearly driven mad by various difficult problems, the completion of the crossbow was undoubtedly a crucial step for the military development of the entire Myriad Worlds Civilization.
This was because it meant a new type of soldier was about to be born, the crossbowman!
After quickly arriving at the Military Armament Research Department, Luo Ji waved his hand, signaling Ye Xuan and the others to forgo formalities.
Then, his gaze fell directly on the finished crossbow.
To be honest, its size was much larger than he had imagined.
However, on second thought, given the current technological capabilities, it would probably be difficult to create a very small crossbow.
That they could even produce one like this was thanks to Ye Xuan, a genius armaments master.
“Have you fired it?”
“We just finished the final adjustments, we haven’t officially tested it yet, Your Majesty.”
Ye Xuan replied quite casually.
“Then I want to try it myself.”
Luo Ji was clearly very interested in the crossbow.
After all, this was something he rarely got to try in the real world.
After quickly confirming the operation method with Ye Xuan, Luo Ji, who had participated in half of the research himself, didn’t find it difficult to get started.
It was just that pulling the string was very difficult, but there was no helping it, and that was one of the clear drawbacks of a crossbow.
If a siege crossbow was equivalent to a cold weapon era’s siege cannon, then the crossbow’s status was basically equivalent to a cold weapon era’s firearm.
Standing in the Military Armament Research Department’s designated weapon testing area, Luo Ji skillfully handled the crossbow, then adopted an aiming stance, which looked quite convincing.
Then he pulled the trigger.
In almost the blink of an eye, everyone heard only a dull thud.
Then, realizing what had happened, they all looked towards the distant wooden target.
The crossbow bolt, hitting the bullseye, elicited gasps of astonishment, followed by shouts of “Long live His Majesty” and similar exclamations.
The system notification also rang out officially.
[System Notification: Congratulations to player ‘Luo Ji’ for successfully developing ‘Crossbow.]
Listening to the praise from his subordinates and the system notification, Luo Ji chuckled softly, not becoming conceited.
He knew very well that one of the crossbow’s characteristics was its high accuracy.
Shooting at a wooden target, many people could achieve this effect with a little practice, it didn’t mean he was particularly amazing.
It’s worth mentioning that archers and crossbowmen, as some of the few ranged troop types in the entire cold weapon era, would undoubtedly lead to a large group of people with too much time on their hands comparing the two.
Once such questions arose, various troublemakers and overly critical people would also appear, and the matter would most likely be forcefully twisted into a fierce argument.
To put it simply, the existence of these two weapons actually had no conflict whatsoever.
It’s like having an electric scooter and then insisting the whole world eliminate bicycles and stop their production. It’s just idiotic.
Getting back to the main topic, archers primarily attack using human power, while crossbowmen attack using mechanical power.
Based on this premise, the branches of the two troop types are clearly distinct.
In a cold weapon era war, it’s clearly stated that typically in a battle between two armies, siege crossbows (or ballistas) would first fire a volley, followed by crossbowmen firing a volley, then archers firing a volley.
After three volleys from archers, the enemy would surely be at their doorstep, and finally, the two armies would engage in direct combat.
Many pieces of information can be gleaned from this description alone.
First, the order of engagement basically confirms the effective range.
Then, both siege crossbows and crossbowmen generally only have one opportunity to fire in a battle, while archers have three.
To use the words of some shooting game players, archers have a faster reload speed.
In fact, Luo Ji personally experienced it just now, and pulling the string of a crossbow was indeed quite difficult.
But does it have any advantages? Of course, it does.
While it’s slow to load, it excels in consistent output.
In other words, this is the advantage of mechanical power.
Under normal circumstances, regardless of how many times a crossbow is fired, the power, range, and firing speed of its bolt generally remain consistent.
However, if it were an archer, due to human power, once the archer’s arm strength is significantly depleted, the power and accuracy would undoubtedly decrease greatly.
In summary, the advantages of a bow lie in its simple construction, lightness, fast loading speed, and flexibility!
The advantages of a crossbow, however, are strong penetration, high accuracy, and fast firing speed.
Furthermore, precisely because of its fast firing speed and strong penetration, crossbowmen, at certain moments, can almost inflict devastating damage on cavalry units with a single volley!
