Xiao’e swallowed hard but did not take the leg of lamb. Instead, she turned her head to look at Jin Feng.
When she saw him nod, she quickly grabbed the lamb and handed the crossbow to Qing Huai.
Qing Huai studied the weapon for a while, wound the wheel to string it, then aimed at a tree more than ten metres away and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The arrow flashed out and embedded itself in the tree.
The arrowhead sank completely into the trunk, and the shaft quivered violently, buzzing.
Qing Huai wound the wheel again, raised the weapon, and fired.
Bang, bang, bang!
Three more soft cracks followed, and three more arrows appeared on the tree.
“Excellent marksmanship!”
Jin Feng clapped and praised from the heart.
The four arrows were neatly lined up on the tree from top to bottom, as if measured with a ruler, each at exactly the same spacing.
“Excellent bow!”
Qing Huai also admired the crossbow in his hands. “I have never seen such a design. Where did you get this, sir?”
“My late father was a craftsman. I grew up watching him and learned a little myself. I made this crossbow with my own hands.”
Jin Feng explained.
“So not only are you a tiger slayer, but also a craftsman. I am honoured.”
For the first time, Qing Huai clasped his fists to Jin Feng in respect, changing his address from warrior to sir.
His curiosity deepened.
Thin and frail in appearance, calling himself a scholar, yet he could slay a tiger and create such a powerful weapon.
“A mere trick, not worthy of the title.”
Jin Feng disliked the way people of this era spoke, full of empty courtesies instead of saying things directly.
But he only complained in his heart.
If he put his arm around Qing Huai and called him brother, the guards behind would probably cut him down on the spot.
Following the crowd was always the best way to survive.
In an age where lives were so cheap, Jin Feng decided it was safest to blend in.
“Sir is too modest.”
Qing Huai signalled a guard to retrieve the arrows from the tree, then turned the crossbow in his hands. “This weapon is powerful, yet easy to string and quick to reload. You have solved two problems at once. Such ingenuity is truly admirable.
It is a pity that making crossbows requires special timber and bowstrings, which makes them hard to produce in numbers. Otherwise my army would gain another formidable weapon.”
Traditional crossbows relied on the elasticity of wood and string, which indeed demanded high quality materials.
But with the right steel, that problem could be solved, and mass production was entirely possible.
Still, Jin Feng had no wish to invite trouble, so he simply nodded in agreement.
“Was this the crossbow you used to kill the tiger?”
“Yes.”
Jin Feng admitted it openly.
A trace of disappointment flickered in Qing Huai’s eyes.
When he saw the tiger’s corpse, he thought he had met a master archer. Now he realised Jin Feng had relied on the weapon.
In Qing Huai’s eyes, although this improved crossbow solved the problems of stringing and reloading, it was still too slow compared to a longbow.
A longbow required only a pull and nock to fire, and a true expert could loose more than ten arrows in a row.
By contrast, Jin Feng’s weapon needed several turns of the wheel after each shot. To Qing Huai it seemed clumsy.
He even felt as though his trip had been wasted.
But as a well educated noble, he quickly adjusted his mood, and the disappointment vanished.
They laughed and stepped into Jin Feng’s small courtyard, where rows of spinning wheels filled the shed.
Qing Huai paid little attention at first, until he noticed one of his guards staring at the machines.
“Zhong Wu, what are you looking at?”
“Replying to my lord, I was looking at those spinning wheels.”
The guard answered respectfully.
“What about them?”
Qing Huai asked curiously.
As a marquis, he had seen spinning wheels only a few times and never studied them. He saw nothing unusual.
“My lord knows that my mother raised me by spinning. I am very familiar with spinning wheels, but I have never seen ones like these.”
Zhong Wu pointed at them. “The ones I know are all hand cranked, but these are foot operated, and each has five spindles. They must spin much faster.”
Qing Huai nodded, not particularly impressed.
In his eyes, spinning wheels were women’s tools. What use were they to a group of men?
But Zhong Wu had followed him through life and death, more like a brother than a servant.
Zhong Wu never asked for anything, and now he was genuinely interested, so Qing Huai indulged him.
To Qing Huai’s surprise, simply looking was not enough. Zhong Wu rubbed his hands and asked Jin Feng, “Sir, may I try this spinning wheel?”
What could Jin Feng say? He nodded. “Go ahead.”
Zhong Wu removed his sabre and set it aside, then sat at the wheel.
A towering warrior in full armour spinning thread at a wheel looked absurd.
Qing Huai nearly covered his face.
The other guards had much the same expression.
But none of them stopped him.
They all knew Zhong Wu’s story, how his mother had raised him by spinning, and how much the wheels meant to him.
Zhong Wu only stood after spinning a ball of hemp thread.
“This wheel is wonderful. Its speed is five or six times faster than the ones I have seen. If my mother were alive to see it, she would be so happy.”
The scar faced warrior’s eyes reddened as he spoke.
In his memory, his mother spun endlessly, day and night, yet the money was never enough. They were often hungry.
If only they had such a wheel then, perhaps she would not have suffered so much.
“This wheel is five or six times faster?”
Hearing Zhong Wu’s words, Qing Huai’s interest was suddenly aroused.
As a noble, his education far surpassed that of a guard.
He instantly realised what multiplying the speed of spinning meant.
Food, clothing, shelter, and transport were the four necessities, and clothing came first, more important than anything.
Qing Huai immediately understood the wealth this invention could bring.
“Sir, was this spinning wheel also your work?”
He asked.
“Yes.”
Jin Feng nodded, his mind already racing.
Tang Dongdong’s face grew grim.
They both guessed Qing Huai’s thoughts.
Sure enough, his next words were, “I find this wheel very interesting. I wonder if you would part with it?”
