"Young Lord, is this really okay?" A middle-aged man beside Liu Mang looked at the mess on the table and asked with a bitter smile.
The person who called Liu Mang 'Young Lord' was Huang Zhong. Ever since Liu Mang saved his Huang Xu, Huang Zhong had been calling Liu Mang 'Young Lord'.
Liu Mang did not know where Huang Zhong learned it from. After correcting it a few times, Liu Mang just let him call him 'Young Lord'.
Speaking of saving Huang Xu, Liu Mang's face was filled with bitter tears. Due to bringing back those anti-inflammatory drugs, Liu Mang had once again violated the rules. The next time he could go back was a long time away. Fortunately, the things that Liu Mang brought back this time were sufficient. Most of them were books, and the majority of them were natural products.
Books that were too advanced were useless. Without advanced productivity, no matter how good the books were, they would be useless.
Liu Mang was now polishing some transparent crystals on the table. These crystals were not the modern handicrafts, but real crystals. Liu Mang asked Lü Bu to collect them from half of Lujiang.
Even so, there were only a few dozen pieces, and each piece was a rare item.
Huang Zhong looked at Liu Mang casually throwing away those transparent crystals. Huang Zhong could not help but feel distressed. If these crystals were exchanged for gold or food, it would be enough to feed 10,000 soldiers for a few months.
However, Liu Mang casually threw them aside. Some of them were cut, and some were ground into powder. Even if he was a prodigal, he should not be like this.
"Don't worry! When have I ever been unreliable?! "Liu Mang replied very casually.
Huang Zhong was also familiar with Liu Mang's style of speaking. From time to time, some difficult words would come out of his mouth.
You're asking what Liu Mang is doing? That's right, he was making binoculars, a weapon of war. He had been running around with Boss Lu without a fixed residence, so Liu Mang had never been able to recall it. Furthermore, with Boss Lu and the other warriors' eyesight, it was comparable to an eagle's eye. Now that Boss Lu had a territory, Liu Mang naturally wouldn't let it go when he had the time. He originally planned to bring it back from the modern world, but the rules didn't allow it.
Liu Mang had no choice but to do it himself.
These crystals were the materials used to make lenses. Although the pure and transparent crystals were extremely valuable, Liu Mang was helpless. Although he had the method to make glass, everything was not on the right track. He could only use crystals to make the lenses first to increase the strength of the Lvbu's Army.
The pressure from Jiangdong and Jingzhou was imminent.
It was a simple telescope. Liu Mang didn't expect his technique to be able to make a high-end one. A convex mirror, a concave mirror, and a closed long wooden cylinder to fix the two lenses.
It was such a simple method, but Liu Mang spent half a day and wasted a lot of precious crystals to make one.
"Done!" Liu Mang excitedly put the lens into the cylinder and put it on his eyes to see his results. "En?!" Liu Mang frowned when he put his eyes on it. It was pitch black and he couldn't see anything! Did he break it?!
Liu Mang was about to take the binoculars down to see the problem when he suddenly realized that Huang Zhong was in front of him. No wonder he couldn't see anything.
"Twinkle! Old Man Huang! "Liu Mang said to Huang Zhong in disdain.
"Oh!" Huang Zhong didn't know what was going on, but he heard Liu Mang's words and walked to the side.
Liu Mang then saw the distant scene through the binoculars. Although Liu Mang didn't live in the governor's mansion, the mansion given by Lü Bu wasn't small. Liu Mang could clearly see the tree branches on the wall opposite the mansion. Based on this distance, this simple telescope actually had a field of view of three times.
Looking at Huang Zhong's curious face, Liu Mang handed over the binoculars in his hand.
"Wa!" Huang Zhong almost threw the binoculars in his hand after hearing a scream. Fortunately, Huang Zhong's mental strength was strong, or else Liu Mang would have wasted half a day's effort.
"This, this!" Huang Zhong couldn't come back to his senses for a long time. This thing can pull things from afar closer? If Liu Mang could only see the vines on the wall, then Huang Zhong could use it to see the veins on the leaves.
Huang Zhong was a military general. Everything he did was related to war. If this thing was used in war, Huang Zhong couldn't believe it. When others couldn't see you, you could see them. This was a foresight. Sometimes, taking the initiative to strike first would definitely lead to victory.
Standing on a high ground? If he could see the enemy's formation clearly, the enemy's formation would no longer be a secret in his eyes.
"Divine weapon, divine weapon!" The way Huang Zhong looked at Liu Mang has changed. If before Liu Mang saved his son, he felt that Liu Mang was a miracle worker and he was very grateful to Liu Mang. But now, he is completely worshipping Liu Mang.
"Haha!" Liu Mang felt a little apologetic. Being looked at by an old man like this gave him goosebumps. In order not to be killed by this gaze, Liu Mang quickly changed the topic. "Old man Huang, how is Xingba doing?" Gan Ning and Su Fei were training the navy. For the Lvbu's Army, the navy was a shortcoming. Although Su Fei and Gan Ning were strong in the navy, they couldn't win against a large number of people. Whether it was Jingzhou or Jiangdong, the navy was the main force. In Jingzhou, there was Cai Mao, Zhang Yun, Wen Pin, and Huang Zu. These were all generals.
Although Cai Mao and Zhang Yun were killed by Lao Cao in history, it was undeniable that these two were generals in the navy.
Huang Zu blocked Jiangxia for two generations. After subduing Cao Cao, Wen Pin was appointed by Cao Cao as the governor of Jiangxia for many years.
In Jiangdong, Sun Ce, Zhou Yu, Ling Cao, Huang Gai, and Han Dang were all generals. Zhou Yu and Huang Gai destroyed Lao Cao's 800,000 troops in the Battle of Red Cliffs.
Now, the Lvbu's Army only had 5,000 people. Even if they recruited 3,000 more, it would still be less than 10,000. Compared to Jiangdong and Jingzhou, it was a small fry. If they encountered the Jiangdong Navy, they would either not be a match for them or they would have to hide on land.
If the navy hid on land, how could they still be called a navy? Even if Lü Bu was willing, Gan Ning Sufei would not be willing.
Therefore, Liu Mang could only think of another way. Liu Mang had never seen a real naval battle before. But from Gan Ning and Su Fei's mouth, he knew that their naval battle would start with archers and after that, they would engage in boarding.
The range of the arrows was less than 100 paces, and it was even lower when the ship was swaying. In other words, every naval battle would be a close combat battle.
In close combat, the 8,000 Bing Province Navy would not be a match for the tens of thousands of Jiangdong and Jingzhou's navy, but what about the distance? What about long range? A bow and arrow only had a range of a hundred paces, but there was something that had a range of three hundred paces. It was called a ballista. Moreover, the ballista's ammunition wasn't only used to injure people. Based on the current navy's warships, three ballistas would be able to send a ship to the bottom of the river.
"Young Lord, Zhong has already gone to the main camp yesterday! Although Xingba and the others have assembled the ballista, they can only fire one round. It is very difficult to pull the strings again! " Huang Zhong shook his head. Although the blueprint Liu Mang gave them was more detailed, the ballista made according to the blueprint was far from what Liu Mang had described.
The giant arrow could only travel less than two hundred steps. Although it could pierce through a person, it was difficult to pierce through the thick wood of the ship. Most importantly, it was difficult to reload after a round of arrows. A ballista needed more than a dozen people to reload and load it.
If it was a naval battle, these ballistae would only be able to fire once, and a warship would only be able to hold ten of them. After one round, they would become a burden. Not only did they take up weight, but they also took up too much space for the ship to hold the soldiers.
"Only one wave?!" Liu Mang frowned. If the ballista could only be used this way, then it was no different from not having one. Could it be that all the effort he had put in was useless in the end?
"Chengyu!" Liu Mang ordered, "Send this binoculars to Father-in-law! Old Huang, let's go to the navy camp! " If the ballista was tested well, Liu Mang was even prepared to put it in the City Guard. This weapon was very powerful. Although it could not be used on a large scale, it could still intimidate people. This was what Liu Mang needed.
In the ancient times, unless the elite troops suffered 30% to 40% of normal casualties, the entire troop would scatter. The people would panic and their morale would be gone.
That was why Liu Mang had always told the City Guard not to train in other things, but they must have the heart and spirit of the army. Only with the spirit of the army would they dare to draw their swords. Only with the spirit of the army would they be considered soldiers.
When enemies meet on a narrow path, the brave will win. In the era of cold weapons, whoever was afraid would lose.
The ballista was a weapon that made people tremble in fear!
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