My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 143 Zhuge Jin's Improved Version of Zhuge Che
On the other hand, the timeline goes back a few days to two days before Zhao Yun took over Yicheng County.

On April 20th of the third year of Jian'an, in Chaisang City, 700 miles south of Yicheng County, Zhuge Jin was making final preparations before going on an expedition.

According to the attack plan discussed at the pre-war meeting, his troops, as well as those led by Liu Bei and Guan Yu, would move at the same time around April 22, launching an attack on Lujiang County on the opposite bank from the directions of Yuzhang and Danyang.

There are still two days until the attack day. Considering the time required to march downstream and cross the river, Zhuge Jin's troops will sail out of Pengli Lake and head to Wankou early tomorrow morning.

The last night before a war is always particularly tense and quiet.

Zhuge Jin spent the entire day in the workshop in Chaisang, where he personally supervised the final drill of the military craftsmen to prevent them from making any mistakes on the battlefield.

The content of the drill was actually to disassemble and assemble a siege vehicle similar to Lu Gong's chariot - yes, it was the siege vehicle that his second brother Zhuge Liang had come up with in late March, which was improved from the ladder. It was also the same model that Zhao Yun used to break through Huailing and Zhongli.

……

As for Zhao Yun, he complained to Zhuge Liang and Huang Yueying and mentioned the matter of building a car around March 20th. It took Zhuge Liang and Huang Yueying about half a month to complete it.

But this "getting it done" refers to both design and manufacturing. If only the design phase is considered, the time spent would be much shorter. In fact, it only took Zhuge Liang and his wife three to five days.

With Zhuge Liang's intelligence, he would certainly think of learning from one example and applying it to other situations. So after drawing the blueprint and thinking that the theoretical demonstration was feasible, he not only built it himself, but also immediately sent secret envoys to Wuhu and Chaisang to inform them. He also made two extra copies of his design drawings and gave them to Lu Su and Zhuge Jin respectively.

Zhuge Liang knew very well that the two armies in the south would send out troops more than ten days later than Zhao Yun, so even if it took a lot of time to send the drawings over, it should be able to meet the needs of Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin.

Moreover, the situations faced by Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin were very different from those faced by Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun was fighting a tough battle upstream along the Huai River, and each battle required attacking a city, which was the heart of the enemy and had dense defenses.

The first battle between Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu will be at Wankou and Ruxukou, neither of which is a fortified city, but a river mouth water fort that flows into the Yangtze River. When attacking these water forts, Lu Gongche is not needed at all, and it will be needed when advancing the attack in the future.

Therefore, Zhuge Liang's drawings were prepared for the second phase of the subsequent southern campaign to attack Wancheng, or Juchao, Shucheng, Hefei and other places, not for the first phase.

Because of the distance, the drawings were first sent to Wuhu. After Liu Bei and Guan Yu looked at them, they were completely in the dark at first and didn't know how to use them even though they had the drawings.

It is also impossible to imagine the actual combat effect and supporting tactics of this thing. Even with the annotations written by Zhuge Liang, it is difficult to fully understand it.

Later, Liu Bei remembered that everyone has their own expertise, so he called Lu Su to discuss the matter together.

Lu Su quickly understood Zhuge Liang's map and tactics, but he immediately realized a new problem and complained helplessly:

"My lord, although this method is very good, Kong Ming thought of it too late. In such a hurry, I am afraid it will be difficult for us to imitate it."

Liu Bei was very surprised at the time: "Kong Ming has already drawn the picture, can't the craftsmen rush to make it? If it's not fast enough, you can add more people.

If this thing is really as Kong Ming said, it can make it easier to attack the city first, which is very useful to our army. It may not be useful in Juchao County, but it will definitely be used when we attack Shucheng and Hefei later."

Lu Su smiled bitterly and said, "Kong Ming's method requires the cooperation of large warships with low decks to transport the completed vehicles to the front line. However, the warships and battleships in the army all have keel structures and high cabins. If you pile anything on top, it will definitely be unstable and capsize.

Last autumn, in order to paralyze Yuan Shu and make him mistakenly believe that our army had no long-term plans, my lord developed new ships at the Guangling Shipyard. The first batch of keel-structured flat-deck, low-center-of-gravity warships are now only available in Huaiyin, and Zilong may be able to use them.

We have cars but no ships, and we can't transport them long distances, so we can't use this thing for the time being. At most, we can let our trusted craftsmen learn it, and then when we arrive in Hefei to besiege the city, we can slowly build it on the spot, just like the usual long-lasting siege. It's impossible to expect to build it and transport it to the front line to catch the enemy off guard. "

Liu Bei listened to Lu Su's rigorous analysis and sighed, but did not blame him. It was at this moment that he felt a little regretful:
I thought that last year's heavy investment in the shipbuilding industry, the development of the navy, and the research and development of new ships was just a smokescreen to deceive Yuan Shu. It would take several years to really take effect, until he turned against Sun Ce and other princes in the south of the Yangtze River in the future.

I didn't expect that by doing a good job in shipbuilding and water transportation, I could actually benefit the main business from so many different angles and in so many different ways.

If we had known this earlier, we should have invested heavily in researching new heavy keel transport ships last year.

If Zilong could have ten or eight more test ships, wouldn't Yunchang and Ziyu be able to use the new ships to transport siege vehicles and suddenly appear at the gates of the enemy's city?

Regrets are regrets, but many innovations are inherently unpredictable. They emerge suddenly from the bottom up in response to demand. Relying on the planning of the planned economy will always miss something.

Although Liu Bei did not know what a planned economy or emergence meant, he vaguely knew this simple truth and common sense of life. He was soon relieved and did not dwell on it too much.

……

Liu Bei didn't know how to use the blueprint, and after asking Lu Su for advice, he still found some shortcomings that could not be remedied for the time being.

In contrast, Zhuge Jin, who received the blueprint six days later than Liu Bei, was deeply inspired as soon as he saw the blueprint.

And within just one or two days, he figured out how to use the new gadget that his second brother had tinkered with.

Zhuge Jin certainly knew about Lü Gongche. This thing is mentioned in both "Wujing Zongyao" and "Jixiao Xinshu". It has been everywhere since the Tang and Song Dynasties, and the ancient weapon UP hosts on later generations also often explain it.

Like Lu Su, Zhuge Jin realized at the first moment that if this huge ship was not transported by the newly built large keel flat-deck transport ship, it would never reach the front line, unless it was slowly built on site after the siege.

Zhuge Jin also felt regretful at the time, but fortunately he had 1,800 years more experience than Lu Su.

Since my second brother has already restored the blueprints of Lu Gongche, there is no reason for me not to give it a try and fully explore its application scenarios.

So two days later, Zhuge Jin came up with a clever idea: although it is impossible to transport it as a whole, we can prefabricate the parts of Lu Gong's car first, and then assemble them on site!
After thinking about this blind spot, Zhuge Jin suddenly realized: Why did no one in the late Han Dynasty ever think of prefabricating parts outside the battlefield and then assembling them on the battlefield?
Battering rams, ladders, and the earliest trench bridges all seemed to be built on the spot in the siege camp by felling trees. The only siege weapons that could be carried with the army were the simplest flying ladders, which were often transported by water. If there were no ships, even the flying ladders had to be built on the spot.

Zhuge Jin humbly asked a few trusted craftsmen for advice, and the answer he got was:
First of all, wood is too heavy. If the wood is transported hundreds of miles to the battlefield, it will take up too much transportation capacity. It would be better to transport more military rations.

Secondly, because everyone is used to using felled wood to build siege weapons directly, they don’t even process wooden boards, but directly splice whole logs, so the workload of building siege weapons on site is basically acceptable.

Zhuge Jin has personally experienced this.

Before the time travel, he had the impression that the top of the battering ram was supposed to be made of planed wooden boards, just like the ones in the game "Age of Empires", or the props in Hengdian World Studios.

After almost two years in the late Han Dynasty, Zhuge Jin personally observed one or two siege battles, especially the battles of Chaisang and Pengze. Zhuge Jin realized that the tops of the battering rams of this era were made of whole trees, with some branches cut off and then connected with mortise and tenon joints. The soldiers also thought that using wooden boards was not only troublesome, but also not as thick as a whole tree, with strong defense and able to block heavier rolling logs and stones.

As a result, because the craftsmen did not think of processing trees into boards to make siege weapons, and the trees that had to be sourced locally were of different sizes and thicknesses each time, and they were fixed with mortise and tenon structures instead of nails, it was impossible to standardize and prefabricate them.

After understanding and comprehending these difficult points, Zhuge Jin knew how to make full use of his second brother's new design.

He first asked the blacksmiths to make a lot of standardized iron clips and hoops, as well as conical iron chisels that could act as nails.

Perhaps many "lovers of traditional Chinese woodworking craftsmanship" would think that Zhuge Jin's words are blasphemous and heretical.

As a Chinese carpenter, how could you use iron hoops and iron nails instead of mortise and tenon joints? Isn't it said that ancient mortise and tenon joints are much stronger than iron nails and iron hoops? Can they last for a hundred years?
But what Zhuge Jin wanted was not to "save materials" or "stand for a hundred years".

What he wants is standardization and speed.

As modern and standardized industrial products, nails, screws, and rivets are obviously faster to use and more versatile than ancient customized carpentry craftsmanship.

If I have time in the future, I could consider making some universal wooden mortise and tenon parts similar to the IKEA assembled furniture of later generations, but definitely not this year, I don’t have time.

When the artisans of the siege weapon workshop in the army and the artisans of several blacksmith shops in Chaisang City first heard Zhuge Jin's request, they were dumbfounded and at a loss for a moment. They felt that they did not have enough time to make so many parts in such a short time.

But under Zhuge Jin's personal guidance and persistence, and relying on scientific division of labor and parallel progress, they still produced what Zhuge Jin needed on time, and it only took less than ten days.

On the other hand, Zhuge Jin also had people build the wooden structure of Lu Gongche at the same time, ultimately ensuring that it could be transported in a dispersed manner and assembled on site after arriving at the battlefield.

Although the assembly still takes one or two days, it definitely saves nearly half a month compared to manufacturing from scratch on site.

Zhuge Jin was very satisfied with the result.

And because the tower could be disassembled into parts and transported to the front line, Zhuge Jin also broke the limitation of his second brother's design that "the tower height should not exceed 15 feet".

Zhuge Liang wanted to control the total height because if it was any higher the ship would not be able to move and might capsize due to wind and waves.

Zhuge Jin had disassembled it and shipped it in parts, so the total weight limit was directly broken. As long as the length of the parts after being laid down did not exceed the length of the warship -

This is generally impossible to exceed. Even the city walls of Chang'an and Luoyang in the Han Dynasty were only about sixty or seventy zhang high, while the deck lengths of large fighting ships and tower ships had long exceeded seventy zhang.

So this time, Zhuge Jin customized the parts of Lu Gong's car according to the intelligence he had inquired before the war and the height of the city walls of Wancheng and Hefei.

Before the expedition, the craftsmen were asked to practice disassembling and assembling one. Everything went smoothly. After the equipment was assembled, the soldiers were able to directly charge onto the walls of Chaisang. Only then did Zhuge Jin decide to send troops with satisfaction.

……

On the last night before the expedition, Zhuge Jin observed practical drills in the workshop and on the city wall, and confirmed that everything was correct before returning home. It was already late at night at 11 p.m.

When he returned to the rear house, he discovered that the little maidservant, Bu Lianshi, who had been with him for over a year, had not yet gone to bed but was just dozing on the table.

All the windows of the room were open. There was a charcoal stove next to the table, cooking a midnight snack of warm-fire dishes. There was also a copper kettle on the wooden shelf next to it. There were some water stains on the floor.
The clay pot for cooking midnight snacks and the copper kettle for boiling water should be rotated repeatedly. After one of them boils, it should be moved away and replaced by another one that is already a little cold. This way, when Zhuge Jin comes back, he will have warm food to eat and hot water to use.

After seeing this, Zhuge Jin thought it was a waste of manpower. Why bother? If you add a bolt-type iron sheet to the air inlet under the charcoal stove to control the amount of air introduced, you can control the firepower to achieve "heat preservation". This kind of thing is not unfamiliar to people who have burned coal stoves in later generations.

Why do we need someone to watch over it and change one thing after it boils?

Zhuge Jin was thinking about the improvements to the charcoal stove and couldn't help but get distracted. He forgot to wake up Master Bu Lian and just sat beside her, staring at the charcoal stove in a daze.

After a while, Bu Lianshi, who was already a light sleeper, seemed to sense someone beside her and woke up immediately, and apologized:

"Sir, why didn't you wake me up when you came back? I cooked barley and mung bean porridge and boiled some water. Why don't you wipe yourself with the hot water and have some midnight snack so that you can sleep well. It's all my fault that I forgot to change the water when I fell asleep, and it's a little cold again."

When Bu Lianshi was first brought home by him, she called him "Brother Zhuge", but a year later, it gradually changed to "Brother Ziyu".

Three months ago, Zhuge Zhi and Zhuge Liang got married. Bu Lianshi followed Zhuge Jin and gradually understood some things. Later, she called Zhuge Jin "Master" and called herself "concubine". However, concubines in the Han Dynasty did not refer to concubines. Women with lower status in the family could call themselves concubines when they saw the male owner.

Zhuge Jin smiled calmly: "If you want to keep the water warm, don't use a copper kettle. Remember to use a ceramic kettle. Also, I won't need to prepare any midnight snacks or hot water when I come back late.

I have my own way to solve it. I just need to keep some dry food at home. It’s April and the weather is not cold, so we don’t need to eat hot food every meal.”

Master Bu Lian rubbed her eyes, served Zhuge Jin a bowl of mung bean porridge that was a little too hot, tried it herself, added some cooled boiled water, stirred it evenly, and put it on the table.

While Zhuge Jin was eating, Bu Lianshi put the kettle back on the charcoal stove and fetched the copper basin and linen towel. The water soon became warm enough, and she helped Zhuge Jin undress and wipe his shoulders, neck, and calves:
"My lord will be leaving for the battle tomorrow. We are so busy with state affairs that we can't do anything. I don't know how long we will have to live in the open air before we can settle down.

I have finally been at home for more than two months, and I didn't think of taking the opportunity to find a marriage. Since the eldest lady and the second young master got married, I have heard all kinds of strange things coming from the mansion... This time I am away, I will be delayed for several months."

Zhuge Jin stroked Bu Lianshi's hair, not taking it seriously. He just laughed at himself: "What else could it be? Could it be that I have a hidden illness, so my sisters and brothers are married, but I am still silent?"

Bu Lianshi blushed and quickly denied: "I have never heard of this. I don't want to repeat those words. If you pay attention, you will know it naturally."

Zhuge Jin waved his hand and said, "I don't have time to pay attention to those rumors now. Besides, a real man is not particular about trivial matters when it comes to accomplishing great things. These rumors will be broken within a year. I need to take a rest. I have to lead the army to war in person tomorrow morning. You don't have to wait on me."

Zhuge Jin was very sure in his heart, and he was too lazy to inquire.

Anyway, whether it's that he's in poor health, or that he's a lolicon, or even that he doesn't like women, there's no need to respond.

Once Wankou City was captured, all these rumors were naturally dispelled.

(End of this chapter)