Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 64 Ski March
Li Xiu and his sister Li Xue actually got an ice bed from somewhere, and Li Xiu pushed her sister to slide on the snow.

As for the ice bed, it is a wooden object similar to a sled, but the difference is that it is not pulled but pushed by people from behind.

This action also gave Wang Gensheng an inspiration. That’s right, since the roads are blocked by heavy snow in winter, why not ski!
That’s right, it’s skiing, using skiing to increase your speed.

In fact, the use of skiing to increase marching speed has been around for a long time. Fenlan had formed an infantry ski team, and last year, in 1939, Su Zhao also began to form an infantry ski team in order to cope with winter warfare.

Compared to walking or even horse riding and skiing, the speed is not slower at all, and it may even be faster on downhill sections.

Before traveling through time, Wang Gensheng was also a skiing enthusiast. Because he had achieved financial freedom and was not married, he liked to ski everywhere. Generally, a skilled skier could easily ski a hundred kilometers a day.

Those with better physical strength can easily complete a skiing distance of 200 kilometers or even more.

Because compared to running, the energy consumed in skiing one kilometer is only one-third of that of running or even less.

Now that the decision had been made, Wang Gensheng planned to implement it immediately, but the most difficult thing now was how to get the skis.

Of course, Wang Gensheng naturally didn't want carbon fiber skis or skis made of any composite material.

But Wang Gensheng couldn't even make the simplest wooden skis! After all, Wang Gensheng wasn't a carpenter, so his hands-on skills weren't that strong.

Fortunately, Liujia Town not only has blacksmiths, but also carpenters. The windows, tables and chairs in the nearby villages are all made by carpenters in Liujia Town.

Snowboards are not difficult to make. They are just two long wooden boards with tilted ends.

Basically, most carpenters can make it as long as they have the blueprints.

After Wang Gensheng finished drawing the blueprint of the ski board that night, he told Kong Jie the next morning that he was going to Liujia Town to buy some things and set off.

Kong Jie still trusted Wang Gensheng quite a bit, and agreed without even asking Wang Gensheng what he wanted to buy.

Liujia Town is a full eighty miles, or forty kilometers, away from Wangjia Village.

If you ride a horse on normal days, it will take more than an hour to get there.

But it’s snowing now, and the snow is quite heavy this year!
It has reached 20 centimeters, but that's nothing, because the depth of the snow can double further north, reaching 50 to 60 centimeters, and the snow is directly over the knees.

So these twenty centimeters are still considered good, but no matter how good it is, it is snowing and you can't ride a horse.

So Wang Gensheng could only rely on his legs to travel. Wang Gensheng's physical fitness is now 150% of that of an ordinary person, so even though it was snowing, he could still travel very fast.

It only took more than three hours to run to Liujia Town on foot.

After entering the carpenter's shop, a middle-aged man in his forties greeted us enthusiastically:
"What do you want? We have tables and chairs! Buy more and get a discount!"

Wang Gensheng naturally didn't come here to buy tables and chairs, so he asked directly:
"Boss, do you accept custom orders? I want to make this thing, it's not difficult, you should be able to do it!" Wang Gensheng said as he took out the blueprint he had drawn last night from his pocket. The carpenter took the wooden board from Wang Gensheng and looked at it and was immediately surprised:
"Aren't these just two pieces of wood? What use do you have for them?"

"I made this for skiing. You see, the ends of the board need to be tilted at a certain angle. It can't be straight, otherwise it will shovel snow! The middle of the board also needs to be sturdy, and there should be linen straps for binding the feet. Of course, the bottom of the board also needs to be polished smooth so that it will be easier to ski. The wood used should also be light and sturdy. How long will it take to make it?"

Wang Gensheng only drew a simple sketch, so he still needed to communicate with the carpenter.

After hearing Wang Gensheng's story, the carpenter boss nodded and said:

"This isn't difficult. If you want something light and strong, you can use mulberry wood. It's not only light and strong, but also inexpensive! This is the same wood used for shoulder poles. Your design is also simple. Just give me an hour."

So Wang Gensheng watched the carpenter start his carpentry work, sawing, planing and polishing it smooth, and finally brushing it with tung oil to make it waterproof, and even roasting it with charcoal fire to make it dry faster.

There is no way, it’s Wang Gensheng’s fault for being so anxious!

The carpenter looked at the skis he had just made and said to Wang Gensheng:
"Actually, it would be best if you gave it another coat of paint. It would be even smoother! But if you paint it, it definitely won't dry today!"

Wang Gensheng looked at the sky and immediately shook his head:
"I can't do it today. I have to get back! By the way, how much are these skis? I want to order about 200 pairs! But you have to paint them for me."

After hearing what Wang Gensheng said, the carpenter boss thought for a moment and said:
"Mulberry wood isn't worth much, and this thing doesn't require much wood. Just paint it with tung oil. Painting it would be a bit troublesome. I'll charge you one dollar for ten pairs!"

Wang Gensheng nodded and said he had no objection to this proposal. After all, carpenters have always been a high-income group in any era.

Moreover, ten pairs for only one dollar was not very expensive, but Wang Gensheng did not pay immediately. Instead, he glided around Liujia Town and then nodded with satisfaction and gave the carpenter boss half of the deposit.

That is ten silver dollars, and then come back three days later to pick up the first batch of goods.

After all, it would take time to make two hundred pairs of skis. Of course, the reason why Wang Gensheng wanted to make two hundred pairs of skis was mainly because he took into consideration that the soldiers of the cavalry company would break their skis while learning to ski.

After all, although this mulberry wood is still quite strong, it cannot be compared with the carbon fiber skis of decades later, not to mention that carbon fiber skis can also break!

That's why Wang Gensheng made so many more decisions. Perhaps it was because of his soul memory. Although he had changed his body, he had not lost his skiing skills at all. After taking the two wooden poles given to him for free by the carpenter boss, Wang Gensheng slid back to Wangjia Village very easily.

It took only one hour to slide back to Wangjia Town across the 40 kilometers, with an average speed of over 40 kilometers per hour.

Of course, this may be because there are many downhill roads from Liujia Town to Wangjia Village.

Wang Gensheng's skiing back to Wangjia Village also attracted the attention of the soldiers who were training.

Kong Jie naturally saw Wang Gensheng skiing, so he asked:
"Is this for skiing like the ice bed? It looks pretty strange! How is it useful in the snow?"

Although this was the first time Kong Jie had seen this thing, after watching Wang Gensheng skiing, he naturally understood that this was similar to the ice bed wooden horse and was used for walking on snow.

(End of this chapter)