The cruel little princess

Shen Youyou straightened her clothes, gently smoothing out the wrinkles, before strolling out of the tent. She first went to Shen Duanfang's place, taking his pulse and confirming that his old injuries and underlying ailments had healed, then waved her hand, declaring that he no longer needed to take medicine and could resume training as usual. Her father was so moved that he burst into tears. Whether his injuries healed or not didn't matter; he was finally free from the nightmare of taking medicine...

Shen Youyou had dinner with her father, then wandered over to her eldest brother, Shen Zijin's, tent. Coincidentally, Doctor Xu was there too. She greeted him, "Brother Xu!" Doctor Xu smiled and nodded. "Youyou, you're here! Come sit down!" Doctor Xu signaled with his eyes for his pharmacist to bring a stool for Shen Youyou.

Shen Zijin looked at Doctor Xu thoughtfully. What was going on? Youyou was obviously his biological sister, but when he saw her, he acted as enthusiastic as if she were his own sister! What? Did Doctor Xu have no sisters of his own so he had to steal other people's sisters? That was something my uncle could tolerate, but my aunt couldn't! Absolutely not! So as soon as Shen Youyou sat down, Shen Zijin groaned loudly in pain, saying that his legs hurt.

Shen Youyou quickly stepped forward and examined him. She found nothing wrong, but he just kept crying out in pain. Shen Youyou had no other options, so she said, "Maybe it's because your bones are growing, brother, so it hurts a little. It's not a big deal, but if you find it unbearable, I'll give you acupuncture!"

Shen Youyou was just about to ask An Er to go back to her tent to get her silver needles when she saw Doctor Xu holding an acupuncture bag and handing it over, "Youyou, use mine!"

Shen Youyou took the acupuncture bag, opened the outer leather bag, and then slowly stretched the cloth bag, revealing the silver needles inside one by one.

Shen Youyou cleaned her hands first, then ordered some strong liquor. She dipped a cotton ball in the liquor and wiped it on the needle tip. She wiped her own hands with the liquor and then steadily inserted the needle. When inserting the needle, she began with the pure yin number. When she felt the qi under the needle was full, she turned the needle upside down and asked Shen Zijin to take five long breaths, directing the force of the needle to the affected area. This is a method of qi circulation, which can treat pain. Soon, Shen Zijin's legs were covered with fine silver needles. As his body moved up and down, the silver needles also trembled. After about two cups of tea, Shen Youyou removed his needles one by one. When it came to the last needle, Shen Zijin was too excited and sat up before Shen Youyou finished. As a result, the last needle was removed, but before Shen Youyou could put it in the acupuncture bag, Shen Zijin accidentally broke it while stretching his hands and feet...

Shen Youyou... My dear brother, what are you doing sitting up all of a sudden? Now you've broken one of my needles, so we have to pay for it...

Shen Zijin was speechless for a moment, secretly glancing at Shen Youyou from the corner of his eye, wanting to see if she was angry, or if she disliked her brother for being so clumsy?!

Doctor Xu, on the other hand, seized the opportunity to comfort Shen Youyou. "It's just a silver needle. If the old one doesn't go away, the new one won't come. It just so happens that I've been feeling a bit down with this set lately, and I'd like to get a new one. I have to thank your brother for giving me this opportunity to exchange the needles!" He said half-jokingly, half-seriously. "How can that be? It was my brother's carelessness in the first place. I'll just give you another set as compensation, brother Xu. It's just a small token of my appreciation, so please don't refuse." Shen Youyou insisted on compensation. Doctor Xu, seeing that he couldn't persuade Shen Youyou, let her do what she wanted.

Shen Youyou looked at her eldest brother's pitiful eyes, and her heart softened. She comforted him, "It's okay, only a silver needle is broken. When I go back later, I'll pass by the weapons camp and ask the master to give Brother Xu another set of treatment. This is still very simple, you don't have to worry! The most important thing is to take good care of yourself. When you recover, you still have to go into battle and kill the enemy!"

Shen Zijin was delighted when he heard this. His sister still cared about him! This big brother's position was stable, so there was no need to worry! "Don't worry, Youyou, your big brother will be full of energy and vigor in a few days. By then, I will need some elite soldiers and kill those bastards in Qinglong Kingdom without a single piece of armor left! Just wait for your big brother to earn you an imperial decree!"

Shen Youyou smiled slightly, "Then big brother must take good care of his injuries. We can talk about joining the army after he recovers!" After that, she took Chuntao away.

After leaving his elder brother's tent, Shen Youyou went to the weapons camp again. He had to quickly talk to the blacksmith to see if he could arrange the silver needles first.

Before Shen Youyou even reached the weapons camp, she felt waves of heat washing over her. Several burly, shirtless men were hammering away at red-hot iron, while soldiers beside them pumped bellows. The clang of the hammers and the whirring of the bellows echoed in unison, without a single word, yet their understanding was unwavering. The blacksmith's face was red from the heat of the furnace, and sweat dripped from his head, dripping onto the iron he was hammering, sending a puff of white smoke billowing out.

Shen Youyou picked up some spare parts and fiddled with them for a few seconds before finally assembling the repeating crossbow the blacksmith had crafted. At this moment, the blacksmith, who had previously crafted the small iron bucket for An Er to use for burning willow charcoal, came over and asked, "But is it the Princess of Rui'an County?" This delicate young lady from an official family was the only one in the barracks, and she had just been personally conferred the title of Princess of Rui'an by the Emperor. So, the moment he saw her, the blacksmith already had his answer.

"That's right!" Shen Youyou replied.

"I wonder what brings the Princess of Rui'an all this time?" the blacksmith asked bluntly. As his eyes followed Shen Youyou's movements, he was stunned and speechless! The reason was simple: Shen Youyou had actually pieced together the repeating crossbow they had crafted! Normally, these were just parts, and Shen Youyou, a woman, should have had no experience with such things. Yet, she had put it together directly and accurately in a remarkably short time! This young woman's craftsmanship was truly exceptional!

Shen Youyou lifted the assembled repeating crossbow, aimed, and gently calibrated it. "This one's fine, except it can only fire three arrows at a time, which isn't very powerful. If it could be improved to fire ten arrows in a row, it would be incredibly useful on the battlefield."

The blacksmith was stunned. "Three crossbows, isn't that powerful? Can we improve it so it can fire ten at a time and use it on the battlefield?" This Rui'an County Lady was truly boastful. Did she know that just drawing the blueprints for these crossbows took the masters of the Armament Bureau nearly a year? And now she's so casually saying, "What if it can be improved?" How? Who will do it?

"Hmph, Princess Rui'an, please don't brag. This repeating crossbow was developed by the masters of our Arsenal after a year's effort. It can fire three crossbows in a row. The previous ones were all bows and arrows, which could only fire one arrow. Now Princess Rui'an says that it can be modified to fire ten crossbows in a row? Princess Rui'an is really like a tiger yawning. She is so arrogant!" Another blacksmith, Master Wang, came over and said.

"You!..." Chun Tao was so angry that she wanted to go forward to argue, but was stopped by her mistress. Chun Tao could only retreat angrily.

"Haha, since I dare to say that, I must have a reason. Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't exist in this world! The world is so big, there are all kinds of wonders. Bring a piece of paper, I'll draw you a Zhuge Liannu on it, you can see how they made it, how they can fire ten crossbows in a row!" Shen Youyou pulled out a willow charcoal stick from her bosom and began writing and drawing on the paper Master Wang handed her. She was drawing the Zhuge Liannu, the famous creation of Zhuge Kongming, a great politician in ancient my country! It can fire ten crossbow arrows at a time and has strong firepower, but it is too large and heavy to be used by a single soldier! But it is perfect for defending cities and borders!

Compared to traditional crossbows, the Zhuge Crossbow features a magazine-like quiver that can hold multiple arrows. The front of the quiver has a circular hole through which arrows can drop into the quiver trough. To fire, the bowstring is lowered by pressing down on the trigger. After each arrow is fired, gravity forces the iron arrows in the quiver to fall naturally into the trough. The trigger is then pulled again to draw the bowstring, allowing for continuous firing. This design allows the Zhuge Crossbow to fire multiple arrows continuously during a single preparation, greatly improving both the efficiency and power of the shot.

The Zhuge Liang Crossbow also utilized the principle of leverage to make pulling and stringing the arrow easier. Furthermore, the feathers at the tail of the arrow were removed, making it easier for the arrow to be ejected from the tube. This design not only demonstrated Zhuge Liang's innovation in military technology but also provided important inspiration for the development of later weapons. At the time, Shen Youyou even looked up diagrams of the Zhuge Liang Crossbow's internal structure online!

Shen Youyou drew every detail of the mechanism vividly. Since she was fond of studying these cold weapons in modern times, it was easy for her to draw this blueprint.

She was so engrossed in her painting that she didn't notice His Royal Highness Prince Jin, who had rushed over after hearing the news, standing behind her and silently guarding her. The blacksmiths also put down their work and came to see how this boastful girl could justify herself. However, as her drawings gradually improved, the blacksmiths' facial expressions gradually became solemn. Because they realized that the Rui'an County Lady might not really be boasting, but because she had the ability, she could do it! The blacksmiths all held their breath, not even daring to breathe, for fear that a sudden sound would interrupt Shen Youyou's train of thought.

By the time Shen Youyou finished drawing all the details on the blueprint, half an hour had passed. Looking at the dozen or so sheets of paper in her hand, she smiled with satisfaction. She shook her head back and forth, hearing a "crunching" sound, and realized that she was indeed too tired, her bones were stiff.