Zhuge Liang's New Weapon
"Waaah!"
"Long live His Majesty the King of Hanzhong!"
Even in the midst of hardship, Liu Bei's popularity soared to the heavens the moment he arrived bearing the hand of salvation. All he had to do was look out over the soldiers and wave, and they roared themselves hoarse.
In modern terms, it was as if a superstar had dropped by for a visit.
"Se-yeong!"
"Father!"
I was reunited with my father as well.
"You've been through so much. I should have gotten here sooner."
"No. You came quickly enough."
Just arriving before the city fell was more than I could have asked for. In the original history, it was all over before any relief force was even sent.
"Good. You're not hurt anywhere, are you?"
He rested both hands on my shoulders and studied my face with care, his own filled with worry. The affection of a father fretting over his daughter washed away every bit of exhaustion I had been carrying.
"I'm fine. Nothing serious."
I had a few scrapes here and there, but after that duel with Ding Feng and everything else I'd been through, this barely counted as being wounded.
"Your face looks worn. Still… I'm glad it's only this much…."
Father let out a long breath of what I could only call relief. Come to think of it, it had been a long time since I'd seen his face this close.
Looking carefully, I noticed more wrinkles, more white in his hair. Twelve years had passed since I came to this world, so of course he had aged that much — but I couldn't help feeling guilty that his daughter, constantly throwing herself into danger, might have made him age even faster.
"You came a long way yourself, Father. It must have been hard."
"What hardship have I endured? More importantly, let's go see His Majesty. The whole way here, he kept talking about you."
"General Who Pacifies the East." He used my title. "How hard you have labored for the realm. I fear that while I was absorbed in the matter of the kingship, I neglected the places that truly needed me."
"Not at all, Your Majesty. My only regret is that I could not attend Your Majesty's enthronement."
"Were you not engaged in work far more important than my enthronement? Enough formality. Come, sit here."
I had been on the floor observing proper court etiquette before a king, but Liu Bei insisted on raising me up and seating me in a chair. For a moment he seemed to be recalling something, then he spoke again.
"Before Xiaozhi — Fa Zheng — departed, he urged me most earnestly. He said Jingzhou would face a crisis, and that I must send relief."
As he spoke, moisture gathered at the corners of Liu Bei's eyes.
Ah. So Fa Zheng is dead…. He must have overexerted himself in Hanzhong.
"I did everything in my power to save him when he collapsed with a grave illness. Before he left us, he said this: that Jingzhou must be aided. Until he spoke those words, I could not fully grasp it. I had already sent you, Liu Feng, and even Pang Tong to Xiangyong, and all I kept hearing were reports of victory."
That much was true. After me, Pang Tong, Ma Chao, and others had been dispatched as reinforcements, and we had driven back Cao Hong and Lü Meng. It was no great stretch to believe the war in Jingzhou was going very much in our favor.
But the obsession of Cao Cao and Sun Quan had exceeded all imagination. If Fa Zheng had not remonstrated before his death, the relief army might have come even later. He had accomplished something great before he went.
"Xiaozhi was a loyal subject to the very end. Had he lived longer, he would have been a great strength to Your Majesty."
Zhuge Liang's voice, speaking from beside us, was also rough with emotion.
I understood. Fa Zheng's death had brought them deep grief — and that, even as he left, he had offered counsel for the sake of the realm.
"For the sacrifices of the officers and men who have held Jingzhou, and for Xiaozhi's final act of loyalty, I must and will win this war!"
Watching the relief forces Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, and the others had brought fill every corner of Jiangling, I felt a solid, reassuring weight settle over me of its own accord.
Being newly organized units, they looked sharp and their morale was high.
Zhao Yun and the others, I was told, had taken a separate force to reinforce Wuling. With Zhao Yun there, Wuling would probably be fine.
As for Hanzhong, Wei Yan, Huang Quan, and others including Guo Jun, Wang Wei, Zhang Yi, Chen Shi, Wu Yi, Wu Lan, and Lei Tong had remained behind.
Even with Fa Zheng, Huang Zhong, and the rest gone, the Hanzhong lineup was still fairly solid. (Huang Zhong, I was told, had also passed away around the time of Fa Zheng's death — of old age, regrettably.)
While looking over the relief army that had entered Jiangling, I spotted a weapon I had never seen before.
What's that?
At a glance I took it for a crossbow — a mechanical bow — but its shape was a little different from the ones our army had been using. A bit larger, perhaps? It looked like a newly made weapon.
I asked Zhuge Liang about the improved crossbows the soldiers were carrying on their backs.
"Military Advisor. What are those?"
"Ah. I should have known General Jin would notice. At a glance one might mistake them for ordinary crossbows, but a sharp eye will tell the difference. That is a weapon I had been researching in Chengdu — I've brought it with me now."
Surely not the Yuanrong Crossbow?
A weapon capable of loosing many bolts at once — something that, in modern terms, might be compared to a shotgun.
Was that Yuanrong Crossbow really sitting right in front of me?
Unfortunately, it was not.
"It is not yet finished as I first conceived it, but even in its present state it is serviceable enough that I brought it along. It has no formal name yet, but for now, call it the Strong Crossbow."
Essentially a weapon with greater power than the crossbows we had been using. A little disappointing, but still — that was something. Besides, a true Yuanrong Crossbow would have been larger than these.
"There's a spare here. Try handling it."
Zhuge Liang handed me one of the extra Strong Crossbows that had been loaded on a cart.
"Hmm. Indeed."
I took hold of the Strong Crossbow and drew it back in one long pull. Heavy, all right. The extra force it demanded made it clear this would perform well in actual combat.
"Heavens. You draw that as if it were nothing. As expected."
Being stronger, it also required greater strength to cock. For that reason, Zhuge Liang said, he had gathered sturdy men from Yizhou and formed an entirely new Strong Crossbow unit.
"A weapon the Military Advisor poured his heart into — I have every confidence in it."
I hadn't meant to show off my strength, but what did it matter? Useful as this weapon was, I still preferred to stick with the bow I knew so well.
While overseeing civil administration in Chengdu, Zhuge Liang had also thrown himself into weapons research alongside his wife, Lady Huang.
With Xu Shu, Pang Tong, and others — more talent recruited than in the original history — Zhuge Liang had apparently gained a little more breathing room, and had devoted that free capacity to weapons research.
I found myself wishing that with less work he might rest a little more while he worked — but then again, this was Zhuge Liang.
"My Lady Huang put a great deal of effort into this."
Affection and pride both shone in Zhuge Liang's eyes as he said it. While he was occupied with administration and logistics, Huang Yueying had poured much of her strength into weapons research in his place.
"Yes. You must be very proud of her."
"How could I not be? Haha. Still, it remains unfinished. Completing the research will take more time."
"Unfinished — so will it be strengthened further from here? Or take a different form entirely?"
"What do you think, General Jin? How do you feel it ought to be improved? I would like to hear the opinion of a general who fights on the front lines."
I answered with what modern knowledge I could call to mind.
"It's already strong, but if you want something more devastating… what about a weapon that can fire several bolts at once? Or a crossbow that can shoot in rapid succession."
At my words, Zhuge Liang's face showed a flicker of surprise.
"Did you just now think of that on the spot?"
"Ah — no. It's something I've thought of several times over the years of fighting. After so many battles, ideas about weapons keep coming to me. Things like, it would be good if we had a weapon like this."
"A weapon that looses many bolts at once is something I have been conceiving for some time. Lady Huang is no doubt wrestling with it in Chengdu even now. But a crossbow that fires in succession? Can you tell me a little more?"
Ah. So the Yuanrong Crossbow was already in the works.
"Crossbows take longer to cock than ordinary bows, and they demand more strength, don't they? I've thought that if you could reduce the force needed to load them and increase the speed, they would be formidable. Easier to train with, too."
I was no engineer — I had no idea how to actually build one. I only knew of something called a repeating crossbow because I had heard of it.
Back in the modern world, I had once learned that there existed a crossbow in the Joseon era capable of firing in rapid succession. I thought it had even been used during the Imjin War.
I had seen it on television as well — easy to load, yet loosing bolts one after another. It had looked remarkable, even if the accuracy was a bit lower.
"Hmm. Fascinating. Can you go into a little more detail?"
Zhuge Liang's eyes lit up as he spoke. The politician Zhuge Liang and the commander Zhuge Liang seemed to have stepped aside; the seeker, the scholar, had risen to the surface.
I decided to explain as best as the ideas came to me.
"Well — right now, you cock a crossbow by pulling the string by hand, don't you? If you attached a device that made the loading easier…."
Zhuge Liang nodded earnestly beside me.
"Mm. I see. Worth considering…. Let us discuss it in more detail later. I shall be even busier once I return to Chengdu."
"…Please don't work yourself too hard. Rest a little as you go…."
"Not at all. When officers and men are out here on the battlefield enduring such hardship, what is this much to me? General Jin — would you care to try working with me on development of this kind?"
Hmm. Working alongside Zhuge Liang would no doubt be an honor — but I had a feeling the overtime would be brutal.
"That would be meaningful work, but I'm a body accustomed to the battlefield…."
"True enough. It would be a waste to leave a force like you to languish in the rear. Well then — let us talk a little more about weapons."
"Yes. Of course."
And so for a while I sat with Zhuge Liang, discussing weapons and the course of this war.
I had only sketched the outline of the idea, but once it was actually developed, it would be of great help.