Rong Xi had learned from Cheng Hao that the ancient compass had been passed down to this day and had evolved into a water compass.
A water compass, as its name suggests, has a magnetic needle floating on the water at the center of the disk, using magnetic force to indicate the direction.
However, the water compass has disadvantages. When the boat travels on the sea and gets bumped by wind and waves, the water in the center of the disk sways, making it difficult for the floating needle to maintain the correct position. Therefore, relying on a water compass during navigation cannot completely guarantee accurate positioning.
Rong Xi borrowed the methods of later generations to improve the water compass.
He opened a small hole at the center of gravity of the magnetic needle and supported it with a pivot underneath. This prevented the magnetic needle from losing its orientation due to water movement.
This was a dry compass.
However, a dry compass could not completely prevent the mistake in navigation.
But Rong Xi never underestimated the wisdom of ancient craftsmen.
During ancient times, skilled craftsmen created the “Centralized Incense Burner”. This incense burner had a unique design; no matter how it rolled, its mouth remained horizontal, preventing any spillage. Simply because there was a gimbal inside the burner. If the gimbal were applied to the compass, it would undoubtedly prevent the compass from being disturbed by external forces.
After some research and development, Rong Xi and Cheng Hao finally made a Changping Compass.
The reason he asked Jin Jili was to know whether the secret method of Baisha Kingdom was more practical than the Changping Compass.
One was out of concern for the lives of the soldiers, and the other was out of pure curiosity.
After returning home, the four of them went to the research room.
Rong Xi took out the Changping Compass, Jin Jili observed it for a long time and said with admiration: “It’s so ingenious.”
Though he complimented this compass honestly, he showed more confidence in his country’s navigation skills.
Rong Xi smiled and said: “I wonder if I can see the compass of your country?”
Jin Jili stopped hiding his secrets and took out a copper disc with a pointer on it. There were small holes on both ends of the pointer.
“Astrolabe?” Rong Xi blurted out.
In his previous world, astrolabes were used by foreign countries in ancient times to measure the angles of stars, so they were called “astrolabes”. The stars included the sun, moon, and stars.
Jin Jili was extremely surprised, “Young master actually knows this thing?”
After he made money by selling fish, he asked craftsmen to help him build an astrolabe. As far as he knew, no one in the Wei Dynasty knew the use of an astrolabe.
“I heard it from a businessman.” Rong Xi replied calmly.
The astrolabe could measure time, longitude, latitude, etc., which was indeed more advanced, but it still had disadvantages.
“The astrolabe is extremely useful, but if it rains, its’ usefulness decreases a lot?”
Jin Jili said with a helpless smile: “So whether I can survive or not depends on God’s will.”
While he was speaking, Wei Zhan had already taken the astrolabe and was playing with it to study it. Because he did not understand the principle, he asked, “How do you identify the direction?”
Jin Jili no longer hid it. After all, Wei Zhan would go to the sea with him next year. As a general, Wei Zhan had to know it, so he took him to the courtyard and patiently taught him the method.
After Wei Zhan learned it, he frowned, thought for a while, and said, “What Rong Xi said just now makes sense. If it is cloudy and rainy and the sun, moon, and stars are not visible, how can you tell the direction? It is better to bring a compass.”
He felt that the Changping compass could ensure the navigation direction.
Jin Jili glanced at him and saw that this fool was not that stupid. He had the same idea as him.
“Young master, I really need a compass.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
The combination of the two provided double protection.
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This was what he said from the bottom of his heart.
Though Rong Xi was not good at shipbuilding, he also knew that there was a huge gap between river ships and sea ships. In Wei Dynasty, there was mostly river transportation, and boats often relied on the power of oars and poles.
However, Baisha Kingdom was good at building ships to go to the sea, and had already used sails to take advantage of the wind to travel.
How to control a sail was also a profound knowledge.
Jin Jili taught more than just sails. The shape of the sea ships was also very particular. Without Jin Jili’s teaching, the shipbuilding company would not be able to build many ships in a short period of time.
The Shipbuilding Department was under the imperial court, and Jin Jili showed great sincerity in exchanging shipbuilding skills for the troops.
Time flied, and the new year was approaching.
After the Weapon Supervisory Workshop used machine tools to make the musket barrel, not only the efficiency increased several times, but the musket barrel could also bear fire, and the impact of the powder was far greater than before.
Craftsmen in each workshop used the principles of this machine tool to create other machine tools for use elsewhere.
For example, they developed a stone crusher, which used the machine power to repeatedly drop a heavy hammer from a high altitude onto the ore underneath, turning it into powder. This saved a lot of time and effort compared to the craftsman beating it himself.
Qin Ke submitted a secret report to the Emperor.
The Emperor was very happy after reading it and wrote back a letter asking when he would return to the capital.
After Rong Xi took a bath, he stepped into the bedroom and saw Qin Ke’s frowning eyebrows.
“What happened?”
Qin Ke raised his head and said, “I need to go back to Shenjing.”
“When will you set off?” Rong Xi asked while wiping his hair.
He had already expected this. Qin Ke only worked in Mengshan. In the eyes of others, his mansion was just a temporary residence for him, not a family home.
“Ten days later.”
Rong Xi looked calm, sat on the chair, and asked: “When will you come back?”
“I will definitely come back before the Lantern Festival.” Qin Ke suddenly smiled.
Rong Xi’s heart skipped a beat, so he changed his subject and said, “Bring me some gifts back to Shenjing.”
As for who to give it to, the two of them knew it well.
The next day, Rong Xi returned from work. As soon as he drank a cup of hot tea, he heard Liu He say: “Young master, Guo Zigui wants to see you.”
Rong Xi was curious and said: “Let him come in.”
After a while, Guo Zigui stepped into the study, his cheeks were red from the cold, his voice was trembling, but his eyes were extremely bright.
“Gou Zigui meets the young master.”
Rong Xi smiled gently and asked, “Zigui, what do you want from me?”
Guo Zigui looked nervous, but then he plucked up the courage and said, “Young master, I heard that brother Jin wants to return to his homeland. Can I go with him?”
Since Rong Xi couldn’t explain to Qin Ke and others last time, he compiled basic textbooks to teach students in his spare time, just like the courses related to primary education in later generations.
Students had a strong thirst for knowledge. Although Guo Zigui had an out-of-touch temperament, his mind was quite flexible; otherwise, he would not be able to compete with Guo Yao for the top spot.
After he studied the textbook, he became full of thirst for the outside world.
Guo Yao asked Rong Mo for arithmetic in her spare time, and Guo Zigui followed Jin Jili to learn Baisha language when he had time.
Rong Xi saw that he was full of expectations and said seriously: “Jili’s journey back home is extremely dangerous. The soldiers will not have time to take care of themselves, let alone protect you. Do you really want to go?”
Guo Zigui nodded firmly, “Young master, brother Jin has told me that I know this trip is dangerous, but I still want to go.”
He knew that his actions may bring him death, but the thoughts in his heart were so strong that he couldn’t sleep all night long.
“Why do you want to go?” Rong Xi asked expressionlessly.
What made him take great risks and cross the ocean to go to a foreign country.
Guo Zigui said sincerely: “Young master said that beyond Linxi there is Mengshan County, beyond Mengshan County there is Qingzhou, beyond Qingzhou is Wei Dynasty, and beyond Wei Dynasty there is endless vastness. I want to see what the vastness is.” ”
“Even if you are swept into the deep sea by wind and waves, you won’t hesitate?” Rong Xi admired his fearless spirit, but logically, he didn’t want him to take risks.
Jin Jili and King Shun still have a mission, but Guo Zigui, depending solely on his spirit and frail physique, might perish due to adverse sea conditions before reaching the Baisha Kingdom.
Guo Zigui knew that Rong Xi was worried about him, and felt guilty and moved in his heart, said: “Initially, the young master remarked that the Wei Dynasty had limited knowledge about the ocean and foreign lands, akin to a craftsman secluded in his workshop, destined to fall behind others eventually.”
Rong Xi waited for him to continue.
“If the young master allows me to go, I will definitely record the scenes along the way. Even if I meet an unfortunate end, I will leave behind valuable experience.”
He decided his own future.
The boy was only fifteen years old. Although he was thin but energetic, speaking these words had already exhausted most of his courage.
Rong Xi was silent for a long time, and replied under Guo Zigui’s worried eyes: “I don’t restrict your freedom, but you are young and not strong enough to do this now.”
“Young master, I have been practicing martial arts with brother Zishi for several months, and I also asked brother Jin to teach me swimming. You don’t have to worry.” Guo Zigui was quite determined.
Rong Xi did not supervise the students’ daily lives, so he did not know that Guo Zigui secretly made such efforts for this purpose.
He sighed in his heart, and finally couldn’t bear to ruin other people’s dreams, so he said seriously: “You can go with Jili, but you need to come back alive.”
Guo Zigui’s eyes lit up, and he said with great gratitude: “Thank you, young master!”
“Why do you want to thank me?” Rong Xi shook his head and said with a gentle smile, “It’s great that you have such a thirst for knowledge, so be sure to take care of yourself.”
Guo Zigui responded excitedly.
A few days later, Qin Ke and Chen Chuangu returned to Shenjing. Rong Xi was somewhat bored, so he devoted himself to the research room.
After Qin Ke returned to the capital, he went straight to the Marquis Changxin’s mansion.
Princess Mingyi looked behind him and saw only Chen Chuangu, so she was a little disappointed.
“Didn’t Rong Xi return with you?”
Qin Ke smiled and said: “Mom, now that there is no more Rong family in Shengjing, how can he return to the capital? Don’t be upset. He also misses you and asked me to bring some things for you to enjoy.”
After he finished speaking, he took out some exquisite objects from the cloth wrapper. They were all things that Princess Mingyi had never seen before. They were also in line with Princess Mingyi’s wishes and were quite novel.
Princess Mingyi smiled and said, “Not bad.”
After New Year’s Eve, Qin Ke was thinking about how to say goodbye to his parents when he was called over by Princess Mingyi.
“When will you set off back to Linxi?” She glanced at Qin Ke, as if she was dissatisfied with him.
Qin Ke didn’t know what she meant. Just as he was thinking about his answer, Princess Mingyi grabbed his arm.
“Did you know that the Queen Mother has always wanted to find a lady for Rong Xi?” She said, “If I hadn’t seized the opportunity, he might have been married by now. You are my son, I can control your marriage. But I could not handle his for a long time.”
Qin Ke frowned.
“It’s been half a month since you left Linxi, why don’t you go back?” Princess Mingyi was worried for him.
Qin Ke: “…” He had only been back home for two days!
“I’ll set off tomorrow, thank you for the tip.”
Marriage was indeed difficult.
The Queen Mother liked to be a matchmaker. Fortunately, Qin Ke’s mother was smart enough to take on this job and get away with it. However, as time passed, the Queen Mother saw no movement, and would become interested again.
Qin Ke thought of returning to Linxi quickly to discuss with Rong Xi.
Early the next morning, Qin Ke galloped straight to Linxi.
Chen Chuangu repeatedly complained along the way, to the extent that Qin Ke, who was still asleep, was rudely awakened by him, causing great discomfort..
Linxi, Rong Xi’s mansion .
Liu Zishi was building snowmen and having snowball fights with Rong Xi’s students. Rong Xi saw that it was quite fun, so he joined in and played with them.
Suddenly, a ball of ice-cold snow hit Rong Xi’s neck, and he trembled all over.
Rong Xi quickly shook off the snow and turned around to look.
Wei Zhan was seen grinning wildly and waving at him in provocation.
Rong Xi sneered, formed a huge snowball, and threw it to Wei Zhan directly.
However, Wei Zhan was flexible and could easily dodge and hit back. Rong Xi was hit by him several times, but was unable to fight back, which made Rong Xi feel a little frustrated.
Jin Jili discovered that Wei Zhan had “bullied” Rong Xi. He naturally wanted to seek justice for Rong Xi, so he and Rong Xi fought back together.
Two against one, plus Jin Jili’s excellent, had many wins against Wei Zhan. Wei Zhan didn’t give up, and played more and more enthusiastically.
After a while, the sound of horse hooves came from far away and came closer. Rong Xi felt a thump in his heart and turned around to look.
Qin Ke came on a horse, and his appearance was even more dazzling than the sunshine behind him.
He stared closely at Rong Xi, quickly turned over and dismounted, and just as he was about to approach, he saw a snowball flying across the sky and heading towards his chest.
Qin Ke didn’t pay attention for a moment and was hit hard.
“Hahaha,” Wei Zhan’s laughter almost broke through the sky, “Qin Ke, I hit you!”
Another snowball came.
Rong Xi was startled, and before he had time to think, he blocked Qin Ke, and the snowball directly hit his neck.
Qin Ke’s face immediately darkened, and he carefully took the snowball out of Rong Xi’s collar and said, “Stand here obediently, and I will avenge him for you.”
Chen Chuangu: “…” Your Highness, King Shun, take care of yourself!
Oh, I’m nervous
Thank you for your translation 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
Wei Zhan is so funny, he just followed his gut and didn’t even question whether it will put him on a good or bad situation