Longzang

Chapter 385 Price Difference
Zhao Tong initially dismissed Wei Yuan's statement, but upon closer examination, it seemed to make some sense.

Wei Yuan has made it clear that he has no intention of handing over the eight magical crossbows. Given the current tight treasury of the Western Jin Dynasty, it doesn't even have enough money to train a new army, and it may take three to five years to replenish these eight crossbows.

In other words, for a long time, the Yinyang Pass will be nothing more than a decoration, and the only way to resist the Wu tribe will be through Wei Yuan.

Knowing he couldn't persuade Wei Yuan, Zhao Tong could only stomp his foot and sigh, then said, "Then give me the truth so I can go back and report. Where are you planning to expand your territory?"

Wei Yuan took the map, pondered for a moment, and said, "If I say that we will not expand eastward, neither will you, my father-in-law, nor will the king. But my main objective going forward is to conquer the Wu tribe to the west. My activities in the east will be limited to Hanyang Pass, and I will not cross it."

However, there's a prerequisite: Hanyang Pass cannot block the flying merchant caravans coming from Qingming, nor can it set up checkpoints to collect taxes. Otherwise, others might be fine, but the garrison commander and deputy commanders would most likely encounter accidents.

Zhao Tong was taken aback and said, "This is absolutely unacceptable! The garrison commander and his deputy are both officials appointed by the imperial court, holding the fourth rank. How could you possibly harm them?"

Wei Yuan laughed, "Even if tens or hundreds of thousands of my soldiers die, those big shots won't even bat an eye. Look at me, I wiped out 300,000 of the Xu family in one battle, and they still came afterward, didn't they? But if I kill a few more fourth and fifth-rank officials, and slaughter a few more Dharma Aspect Elders, and the blade falls on those big shots' heads, I guarantee that half the number of people who want to fight me will be gone. Besides, they were all killed by bandits, what does it have to do with me?"

Zhao Tong smiled wryly and said, "Enough is enough. Otherwise, going too far will be counterproductive, and I won't be able to speak up for you."

“As long as the Xu family doesn’t go crazy, I won’t make things difficult for my father-in-law. Besides, the Wu clan is my mortal enemy right now.”

"That's good. I'll go back and report now."

After Zhao Tong left, Wei Yuan opened the imperial edict and glanced at it quickly. The edict reprimanded Wei Yuan for arbitrarily deploying troops and making arrests beyond the designated area. The wording was extremely harsh, giving Wei Yuan a thorough dressing-down, but there were no actual punitive measures.

Wei Yuan casually tossed the imperial edict into the trash can and returned to the main peak.

His residence on the main peak has now been renovated and expanded several times over. The main hall in the front courtyard is where the cultivators of the Primordial Palace routinely hold meetings. The left wing contains a sand table map of the realm, where Wei Yuan and the others discuss development strategies. The right wing is filled with shelves of maps covering the entire human realm.

Wei Yuan came to the sand table map, carefully looked at the terrain in the northwest direction, thought about where to build the new city, and then deployed the giant crossbows.

The giant crossbow has a maximum range of up to two hundred miles, its bolts are homing, and its power is enough to kill ordinary Dharma Aspects, making it a truly formidable weapon. It is best suited for dealing with large aerial targets such as flying boats.

Of the eight giant crossbows that were dismantled this time, Wei Yuan only planned to deploy two in the direction of the Witch Clan, four in the direction of the Xu Family, and two in the center of the territory for defense.

Wei Yuan stood in front of the sand table for two full hours, drawing a northwest-bound marching route and making numerous markings. He marked where to build cities, where to establish relay camps, how many routes the army would split into, and even the number of men in each route and their speed.

Ahead along this route, far beyond the sand table, lies Wei Yuan's final destination: the Rain Country of Red Leaves.

After formulating the strategy, Wei Yuan received a report that the eight giant crossbows had been transported back.

Wei Yuan immediately summoned Yu Zhizhuo to receive the giant crossbow.

Upon hearing this news, Yu Zhizhuo immediately put down all his work and summoned all his fellow disciples from the Heavenly Crafts Hall.

The convoy transporting the giant crossbows slowly entered Qingming, consisting of more than eighty trucks. Each giant crossbow, once disassembled, would take up ten large trucks.

As planned, Wei Yuan transported four giant crossbows to Xuanwei Third and Xuanwei Fourth respectively. The remaining four were transported to the center of the realm. Both of these garrison cities pointed eastward, meaning that anyone who marched out of Hanyang Pass to attack the realm would have to pass around these two garrison cities.

Wei Yuan had already ordered the construction of two high platforms in the two fortified cities to serve as firing platforms for the giant crossbows.

When disassembling the giant crossbow, Wei Yuan had already ordered detailed drawings of each component, along with their installation positions and order. The most important part of the giant crossbow was the fuselage, composed of four identical base beams, followed by the four bow arms. The main magic arrays were engraved on the base beams, and each of the four base beams had a different magic array.

Yu Zhizhuo observed and took notes. His fellow disciples each had their own tasks, using tools to measure all the parts and recording the measurements on the blueprints. This way, once they had thoroughly studied the material, Qingming would also be able to make his own giant crossbow.

The magic array on the giant crossbow's body mainly increases its range; the tracking, spell-breaking, and damage-inducing arrays are all engraved on the crossbow bolts. Hanyang Pass equipped each giant crossbow with ten bolts, which Wei Yuan naturally brought back as well.

After a long day of work, Yu Zhizhuo finally finished drawing the blueprints for all the components of the giant crossbow and also recorded all the formations. Then, several disciples from the Heavenly Crafts Hall began directing the cultivators to reassemble the crossbow. Yu Zhizhuo, meanwhile, organized all the blueprints while constantly making calculations. Wei Yuan asked, "How is it? Can we build it?"

"No problem. These giant crossbows are all very old designs, mainly because the materials are rare, and there's plenty of room for improvement in the design. Give me some time, and I should be able to build better ones."

"What about the expenses?"

Yu Zhizhuo silently calculated for a moment and said, "No more than two hundred thousand taels of silver, including fifty arrows."

Wei Yuan was taken aback and said, "So little? The Western Jin Dynasty spent 1.5 million taels of silver to build this giant crossbow!"

"How is that possible?" Yu Zhizhuo's first reaction was disbelief, then he realized and sighed, "No wonder the national treasury is always empty. It would be a miracle if the national treasury were full."

Wei Yuan also realized what was happening. Although such things were common in historical records, the sheer size of the price difference when Wei Yuan actually encountered it left him speechless.

If the giant crossbows improved by Yu Zhizhuo only cost 200,000 taels, how much would the original giant crossbows be worth?
"Uncle-Master Yu, how much do you think these giant crossbows are worth?"

Having refined weapons for many years, Yu Zhizhuo was already a master craftsman. What kind of materials hadn't he seen? After a moment's estimation, he said, "120,000 taels, no more than that."

Wei Yuan could only sigh: "They really dare to make money!"

A giant crossbow costing 120,000 taels was sold to the imperial court for 1.5 million taels, an increase of more than eleven times. In contrast, a breastplate worn by Wei Yuan sold for 20 taels, while the Zhao military bought it for 50 taels, an increase of only one and a half times. Perhaps this is why the Zhao state was far more powerful than the Western Jin dynasty.

Although he knew the Zhao army's purchase price was fifty taels, Qingming's breastplate could only be sold for twenty taels. The thirty taels between twenty and fifty were not something Wei Yuan could earn. Where did those thirty taels go? The difference of over 1.3 million taels in the price of the giant crossbow went there too, simply to the seven clans and thirteen noble families.

"Should we build a few? Give me a month, and I can complete the design of the new ballista." Yu Zhizhuo rubbed his hands together, eager to get started. He had a natural interest in these kinds of giant war machines.

Wei Yuan shook his head and said, "We have limited resources right now, so let's build flying sword spears first."

Yu Zhizhuo glanced at Wei Yuan and said meaningfully, "I understand."

Guns and giant ballistae actually represent two different directions. Ballistae are defensive weapons, while guns are used for offense.

As the giant crossbows were transported back, tens of thousands of captured soldiers arrived one after another. The process was somewhat complicated. These prisoners were taken away by the Zhan Tian Gang, but soon Wei Yuan's army arrived, defeated the Zhan Tian Gang, and rescued them from the bandits.

However, the kindness of the military governor must be repaid. There are only two ways to repay this kindness: either with money or with one's body.

These soldiers, mostly newly recruited officers, had no money. Those with money had already donated to become officers. So, in the end, they all had no choice but to pay with their bodies, serving the governor for ten years. Of course, if they couldn't continue, they could buy their freedom early, paying fifty taels of silver per year, with the remaining amount depending on whether a wealthy patron was willing to pay.

In fact, most smart people have heard about the relationship between Zhan Tian Gang and Qing Ming, but because they are smart, no one says it out loud.

Given the governor's status, the fact that he would put on such a show for everyone already shows that he values ​​this. If you don't know what's good for you, and you really anger the governor, you might be thrown into a mine to work until you die.

Although the 40,000-plus garrison at Hanyang Pass was somewhat diluted, their overall quality was still superior to the Xu family's private army, and far surpassed that of other government troops. The officers in the ranks had all been screened out, given a ransom, and released; what remained were the pure-blooded soldiers.

There are still hundreds of thousands of refugees on the road, and Wei Yuan estimates that Qingming's population will exceed one million within a few days. He has truly held on this time. He hasn't even had time to digest the prisoners from the first major battle with the Xu family, and now there are hundreds of thousands more, with thousands more joining every day.

The more than 500,000 people who joined later were all strong men and women in their prime, and they all had time to develop their physical bodies. Once they broke through to the next level of physical development and were equipped with the right gear, their combat power would more than double.

Wei Yuan decided to lie low for a while, digest the population, and increase his strength. He would launch a major attack no later than the next grain harvest season.

(End of this chapter)