Time Travel: The actress's acting skills exploded, and she was favored by the harem

"I have studied it and selected a piece of poplar wood of suitable size, trimmed it into the shape I drew, polished it smooth, and then wrapped it with cowhide. After securing it to the horse's back with a belly strap, I placed a leather pad in the middle and a leather mattress on top. This will not only make it comfortable, but also help stabilize the body."

Shen Zhiyao took another piece of paper and started drawing as she explained. Her drawing was so fast and detailed that it could be used directly as a structural drawing.

"First of all, if we want to make a saddle, we need to find a blacksmith, a carpenter, a tailor and a leatherworker. I will provide the structural drawings and guide them to make it," Shen Zhiyao said.

The Queen and Concubine Lu were dumbfounded, their delicate lips slightly opened in astonishment, as if they wanted to say something. After a long time, the two looked at each other with disbelief in their eyes.

"This palace... This palace thinks that Jin Wanyi's plan should be feasible..." said the Queen as she thought.

"I have gone through Sister Shen's idea and I don't think it is just a fantasy! Let's find a craftsman to give it a try, and then we will know!" Concubine Lu's words were full of excitement.

Concubine Lu looked eager to try, and she wished that the Queen would find someone capable to start working right away.

"Wait...what about the second question?" The Queen seemed to suddenly remember that Shen Zhiyao had said there were two questions in total, and she immediately became interested and asked hurriedly.

"I almost forgot, Sister Shen, please tell me soon!" Concubine Lu looked at Shen Zhiyao with hope in her eyes.

"Secondly, when we ride a horse, in order to maintain balance, we need to use our calves to tightly clamp the horse's abdomen, which consumes a lot of physical strength. In addition, when riding and shooting, we must tighten the reins with one hand to prevent ourselves from falling off the horse when it is running at high speed. Therefore, when we draw the bow and shoot arrows, we need to reduce the horse's speed to the minimum in advance."

"Moreover, when the rider is subjected to a huge impact, it is very easy for him to fall off the horse or even lose his life!" Shen Zhiyao said.

The Queen and Concubine Lu nodded quickly, agreeing with Shen Zhiyao's statement. They had indeed encountered these problems.

After each practice of horse riding and archery, the calves would become extremely red and swollen, and women, whose skin and flesh are delicate, would suffer especially.

"What Jin Wanyi said is exactly what is troubling the State of Zhao the most right now. The people of Zhao are not good at riding horses. They are not as good as those of Jinfeng and Ying. They do not have enough talent. Therefore, it takes a lot of time and energy to train a good cavalryman." The queen sighed.

Shen Zhiyao was already dry-mouthed at this point, so she took the opportunity to drink a sip of water while the Queen was talking, and then continued to explain while painting.

"At present, we only install a buckle on one side of the horse's saddle pad. This thing can only be used to gain leverage when mounting a horse, but it is not very useful in battle. It is relatively useless. What if we improve it and upgrade it to equip each side of the saddle with a stirrup like a buckle?"

After Shen Zhiyao finished speaking, she drew the shape of a stirrup on the drawing, looked up at the two of them and asked.

"In this way, when riding a horse, you can put both feet on the stirrups at the same time, and you don't have to hold the reins with both hands! You can ride a horse and shoot arrows at high speed without falling off the horse easily!" exclaimed the queen.

"The stirrups combined with the saddle just now will perfectly solve the knight's balance problem on horseback!" Noble Lady Lu said excitedly.

"In this way, the training cost of Zhao State's cavalry can be greatly reduced! Riders will no longer need high talent and a lot of training, and can even be trained quickly!" The queen's heartbeat quickened and her face flushed, looking even better than usual.

"The benefits are more than that! With stirrups, we can achieve true 'oneness of man and horse'!" Shen Zhiyao was so excited that she couldn't help but stand up: "Imagine, what if you can stand on stirrups and shoot arrows?"

The Queen and Concubine Lu looked at each other. After a while, their pupils shrank slightly and they couldn't help but stand up!

Being able to stand up on horseback and shoot arrows is as steady as standing on flat ground. It's so powerful that it's terrifying!

"Tell me quickly, how to make this stirrup?" The Queen asked Shen Zhiyao with admiration.

"The stirrup is actually a pair of iron rings. The bottom of the stirrup can be made into a semicircle or square, and there are holes for threading the belt on the top. The shape is extremely simple." Shen Zhiyao said as he drew a detailed structural diagram.

"Although it is simple, it requires a very high level of blacksmithing. To make this, we need to find an experienced and skilled blacksmith to make a stirrup with sufficient strength and toughness. During this period, we must be prepared to fail many times."

When talking about stirrups, Shen Zhiyao became more serious.

Ancient smelting technology was relatively backward, and lacked the skills to adjust temperature and alloy composition. No one made stirrups in this era, so it was indeed a difficult problem that needed to be overcome.

The Queen pondered for a moment and said seriously, "It's not difficult for me. There is a very secret department in the palace that you may not have heard of."

"What department? Why don't you let people know?"

Shen Zhiyao and Lu Guiren were full of curiosity and asked in unison.

"The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Imperial Household Department." The Queen said slowly.

"The Imperial Household Department? I have certainly never heard of it. It is not among the six bureaus and twenty-four departments of the harem. I wonder what it does and why it is so mysterious?" asked Noble Lady Lu.

"In fact, it's not really mysterious. To put it bluntly, it's the department in the palace that specializes in making all kinds of fun things for our emperor. The reason why it's not made public is to guard against people with ulterior motives spreading rumors that the emperor is not doing his job properly, and using this as an excuse to confuse people." The queen explained.

When Shen Zhiyao heard this, she understood. Isn’t this the emperor’s “underground arsenal”?

The emperor is really sinister. He is obviously playful and doesn't let outsiders know!

"Empress, are the people we need here all here? Are they reliable?" Shen Zhiyao asked pretending to be happy.

The Queen smiled and said, "Of course. The Imperial Household Department has selected the top craftsmen from all walks of life in Zhao State, from the north and south schools. All those who are qualified must be top experts in a certain field and have unique skills. If they can't make these two things, then no one else in the world can make them."

"That's great. We really have to trouble the Queen to give an order to the Imperial Household Department to make saddles and stirrups for us! Whether I can defeat Zhu Baolin depends entirely on you!" Shen Zhiyao said coquettishly while hugging the Queen's arm.

This scene shocked Concubine Lu so much that she was stunned!

I thought: How could Jin Wanyi be so close to the Queen? Wasn't it me who joined the camp first?

Shijin on the side was already used to it and just rolled his eyes at Shen Zhiyao.

"Jin Wanyi, don't be too happy too soon!"

Surprisingly, the queen suddenly said something that made everyone worried.