The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 17: Alternatives to Immortal Weapons
Madam Gong Er respectfully watched the True Lord leave, then turned to look at Qian Zhuoqun: "Second Uncle, you have to find a way to imitate the wolf whisk and the halberd."

Qian Zhuoqun, the former wealthy businessman who held the second-in-command, had always been in charge of the army's rations and weapons. Naturally, this matter should fall to him. He frowned upon hearing this: "We were pursued by the Jin bandits and fled to Laoshan in a panic. We took nothing with us. Even if a few of us knew how to forge weapons, we had no furnaces, iron ingots, or coal. How could we forge weapons?"

Madam Gong Er said quickly, "We have to find something to replace it first. Otherwise, how can the brothers practice the immortal battle formation?"

Qian Zhuoqun nodded: "I'll think about it first."

Yue Wenxuan sat beside the sand table, editing the video quickly. All the video footage of "Qi's Army Fighting against the Japanese Pirates" had been transferred to the computer.

Just now he set up two cameras and a mobile phone, and filmed this "battle" from three directions. Now he has a lot of material.

Wonderful shots were taken out and played repeatedly from several angles, and key shots were even made into slow motion, showing John Woo's "violent aesthetics" to the fullest.

After everything was processed, I clicked upload.

After finishing my work and relaxing, I turned back to look at the sand table...

As soon as I saw it, I couldn't help but laugh.

It turned out that the rebel soldiers had completed today's exercises and were free to move around.

They had just seen the heavenly soldiers fighting in the mandarin duck formation, and their eyes had been envied, but they had been unable to speak while standing in the formation, and they had almost suffered internal injuries from holding back. Now that they could finally speak, they could no longer hold back and in an instant gathered around the pile of "immortal weapons" on the ground.

No one dared to reach out to pick up the "immortal weapons" on the ground, but their passionate eyes molested these weapons a thousand times.

Zhang Dashu pointed at the wolf whisk on the ground, his eyes red: "I really want to touch it."

The person next to him said, "That's a fairy weapon. How can a fool like you touch it?"

Zhang Dashu looked embarrassed: "So I was just talking, I didn't dare to touch it."

A soldier shouted, "Madam Gong Er, Brother Qian Er, although we dare not contaminate the immortal weapons with our dirty hands, we cannot just leave them lying on the ground like this. This is also disrespectful."

Madam Gong Er heard this and thought it made sense. She quickly said, "That's right. We should keep these immortal weapons in a good place and then try to make imitations."

Zhang Dashu: "Where should we place the offering?"

"Isn't that nonsense?" Madam Gong Er pointed at Zhang Dashu and said, "Give up your shed and use it as a shrine to enshrine the immortal weapons."

Zhang Dashu grinned foolishly. He was not unhappy at all that his shed was robbed. Instead, he was overjoyed: "Great, great!"

Madam Gong Er: "Hurry up and make some wooden tables and stands to enshrine the immortal weapons."

Everyone quickly set to work, and with a clang of clinking, the wooden tables and frames were ready. They set up a row of tables in Zhang Dashu's simple wooden house, with wooden frames placed a little apart. Then, everyone returned to where the "immortal weapons" were stacked. Everyone wanted to start, but hesitated: "Are we really going to move them?"

Madam Gong Er gritted her teeth and said, "Of course we have to move it, but we can't just start moving it. You guys go find some large leaves, wash them, and use them as pads for your hands."

Everyone suddenly realized and quickly went to find many thick leaves, carefully washed them clean in the stream, and even jumped into the stream to wash themselves clean. Then they returned to the immortal weapons, respectfully wrapped the handles of the "immortal weapons" with leaves, and lifted them up carefully and lightly.

Zhang Dashu volunteered, holding the wolf-whip handle with both hands, his whole body shaking with excitement: "I have personally touched an immortal weapon. Maybe I can ascend to heaven and become a celestial general in the future."

His companion laughed and scolded him, "You're such a fool, and you still want to be a general? Even if you go to heaven, you'll only be a celestial soldier."

Zhang Dashu nodded foolishly: "That's true." Then he grinned and said: "Being a sky soldier would be nice too."

Yue Wenxuan smiled secretly: This man is quite content.

He saw the rebel soldiers moving a large pile of "immortal weapons" into the "ancestral hall" like ants moving house, placing them on wooden racks and worshipping them like ancestral tablets. Many people were even saluting these weapons.

Then, Madam Gong Er and Qian Zhuoqun stood in front of these weapons, carefully examining them one by one...

Most of the weapons in the Mandarin Duck Formation are conventional weapons, with only the long shield, wolf-whip, and hammer appearing a bit "unusual".

Madam Gong Er pointed at the long shield and said, "We can use door panels instead. We just need to cut the door panels to the same size as these fairy shields and make a few handles on the back of the door panels for handholding. It can be a temporary substitute. Later, when conditions permit, we can wrap it with iron sheets or animal skins to reinforce it."

Qian Zhuoqun nodded: "This is easy, we can make a few noodles tomorrow."

Madam Gong Er looked at the halberd again. This weapon was in the shape of a mountain, made of iron, and seven or eight feet long. She thought for a moment and said, "We can use a steel fork instead."

Zhang Dashu smiled innocently and said, "A dung shovel is also fine."

Everyone immediately glared at Zhang Dashu: "You compare immortal weapons to dung shovels, do you want to die?"

Zhang Dashu realized he had spoken out of turn and quickly squatted down with his head in his hands, looking like he was going to "come and hit me!" After a few seconds, seeing that no one was hitting him, he raised his head and whispered, "A pitchfork will do."

Yue Wenxuan thought: Steel forks are also made of iron. The rebel army is poor and has no way to get many steel forks. It is a good idea to use a dung shovel or a grass fork as a temporary substitute. This big tree is not as stupid as it looks.

The last one is the wolf-whip. This thing has the most special structure and looks like a small tree with spreading branches.

Madam Gong Er said, "We can use a bamboo broom as a temporary substitute."

Qian Zhuoqun whispered, "Bamboo branches are easy to break, but it's hard to lock a sword. This makes it difficult for the wolf spear's 'locking technique' to work."

Madam Gong Er said, "There's nothing we can do about it."

At this moment, Zhang Dashu, who was squatting on the ground with his hands on his head, spoke again: "Why not just pull up a tree and use it as a wolf whisk?"

Everyone: "..."

In an instant, everyone's eyes were fixed on Zhang Dashu. Although no one spoke, everyone's eyes seemed to be saying: Where did you come from, you idiot?
Zhang Dashu saw that everyone's eyes were full of ridicule, and he couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. He snorted, "You all don't believe me. Wait, I'll show you."

He strode out of the house and found a small tree that was nearly two people tall. The tree had branches and leaves that were quite lush. Zhang Dashu hugged the tree trunk with both hands, roared "Wow!", and pulled it up suddenly.

He actually pulled up the tree, roots and mud, branches and twigs included, and held it horizontally in his hands. He imitated the way the heavenly soldiers held their wolf-whips and laughed, "If the thieves attack from the front, I will just sweep them away like this..."

He swung the small tree, and "whoosh", the wind blew past with a loud bang.

Everyone: "..."

Well, the small tree can really replace the wolf whisk, provided it can be wielded.

(End of this chapter)