Chapter 516: Chapter 518: Compass Car

Ouyang Bing said, "We will board the ship without a soul knowing and won’t leave any trail."

"If, by some misfortune, Miss Zhong finds out, Madam can deny any involvement."

After all these years, Ancient Wen Heng and Jin Qianqian weren’t that unreasonable. "You didn’t have to tell us this. As long as you have the skill to hide on the ship, it’s not like we could do anything to you."

Ouyang Bing, "..."

Ancient Wen Heng pocketed the two porcelain vials from the table. "You were never here today, and we’ve never met."

’Since I’ve agreed to it, I don’t feel the least bit guilty about accepting this.’

Ouyang Bing breathed a sigh of relief. Honestly, in the past, he would have just snuck aboard without a word. But now, Ancient Wen Heng was a city’s Magistrate with a potentially brilliant official career ahead of him. Ouyang Bing had no desire to make such a powerful enemy for his family.

Now that things were out in the open, he could avoid a direct conflict with Miss Zhong before the elders from both their families arrived.

Once he had left, Jin Qianqian frowned and asked, "Is it really a good idea to let them on the ship?"

"It’s fine. Even though they’re from the martial world, they don’t want to make an enemy of the government."

"Besides, that Miss Zhong isn’t a fool. She must have guessed that Ouyang Bing would come to you for support."

"The way she let the matter drop shows where she stands."

"However, if we were to openly shelter him, that would be another story. To them, it would be a clear provocation."

"As it is now, they’re boarding the ship on their own. If something really goes wrong, we can claim to be victims too."

Jin Qianqian gave him a thumbs-up. "They say all officials are master schemers. It looks like that’s no exaggeration."

Ancient Wen Heng raised a hand and flicked her on the forehead. "Somehow, I don’t think that was a compliment."

Jin Qianqian clutched her forehead. "How about ’old and cunning’? Or ’bristling with hidden daggers’...?"

...

The first ships to set sail this time weren’t built from the blueprints Jin Qianqian had provided. Instead, they were the former bandits’ vessels, now patched up and repaired. They were being used for practice and for training soldiers in the nearby waters.

On the day the refurbished ships were launched back into the sea, Ancient Wen Heng and Jin Qianqian arrived early at the simple, newly constructed harbor.

The area had originally been used exclusively by fishermen to moor their boats, but they had expanded it into a small port capable of accommodating more vessels.

"The launch looks smooth," Zhou Shixiong said, standing beside them. "Have you studied all the construction details thoroughly?"

Jin Qianqian replied, "We’ve got it all figured out. The artisans have meticulously reverse-engineered the blueprints for these ships. Given enough time, they can build exact replicas."

’Sometimes Jin Qianqian couldn’t understand it. Even though this dynasty wasn’t recorded in any history she knew, she didn’t get why it was so technologically backward.’

’For so many years, no one had managed to build even these ordinary seafaring vessels.’

In truth, she was unaware that people in the past had experimented with such things. Unfortunately, after a few disasters, everyone had given up on the idea.

Moreover, with successive Emperors placing no importance on maritime affairs, no one had invested any effort in that direction.

"You’re interested in these, Sister-in-law?" Zhou Shixiong asked with a laugh. "The ships in your blueprints look to be more than twice this size, don’t they?"

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Of course, Jin Qianqian had to be modest. "These are real, tangible ships. My designs are still just ideas on paper. It will take time to see if they can be put into practice."

"I’m sure that with these ships, our crews can venture out farther and gain more seafaring experience."

"That may be true, but I still feel uneasy. Even with a few veteran fishermen on board, I worry they’ll lose their way on the open sea."

Zhou Shixiong voiced his main concern. After all, losing one’s bearings at sea was a fatal mistake.

Ancient Wen Heng and Jin Qianqian were already prepared for this. While they couldn’t just pull a modern compass out of their pocket dimension, the ancient history of this world already had the "compass car".

Ancient Wen Heng, being a master craftsman, had already taken advantage of the time dilation in their dimension to build two of them.

They were much larger and less compact than their modern counterparts, but on a ship, they only took up a small corner.

"You don’t need to worry about that," Ancient Wen Heng said. Seeing that the ship had pulled up to the pier, he led Zhou Shixiong and the others onto the deck.

He led them into the ship’s cabin and pointed to the compass car in the corner. "I managed to recreate the compass car recorded in the ancient texts. The captain has already tested it; the directions it indicates are accurate."

Zhou Shixiong circled the compass car twice. "I’ve heard this device mentioned before, but I was told the knowledge to build it was lost. Brother Gu, you are a man of great talent to have recreated it."

Wu Yichen and the others following him looked completely baffled. ’What’s the use of a thing like that?’

It was no wonder, as they had all obtained their official posts through Mengyin privilege rather than the systematic imperial examinations. It went without saying that they wouldn’t know about such an obscure device.

"Great General, what is this?" Vice General Wang, who never hesitated to ask about what he didn’t understand, piped up.

Zhou Shixiong explained, "I’ve read about it in military texts. Several hundred years ago, people used this device to determine direction. It was a powerful asset for marching armies."

"Unfortunately, it disappeared for some unknown reason. My father used to sound quite wistful whenever he mentioned it."

"In that case, this thing would be incredibly useful on the vast, open sea," Vice General Wang said, unable to resist reaching out to touch it. "A pity we’re just uncultured soldiers who can’t make heads or tails of it."

Ancient Wen Heng said, "It’s actually quite simple. If you’re interested in learning, I can have the captain explain it to you in a moment."

Since Ancient Wen Heng had gone to the trouble of building it, he naturally hoped it could be popularized in the future. It would be a great service to the people.

Faced with such a novel invention, everyone’s eyes gleamed with a thirst for knowledge.

Ancient Wen Heng set aside the ship tour for the time being. He directly summoned the captain and had him give the men a thorough explanation of how the compass car worked.

As everyone gathered around the compass car, Ancient Wen Heng took Jin Qianqian’s hand and led her out onto the deck.

Jin Qianqian gazed at the endless expanse where the azure sky met the sea and sighed wistfully. "Every small step forward we take now will contribute to a much greater leap in the future."

Ancient Wen Heng replied, "We can only leave it to time to realize these things, step by step. At least we’ve done our part."

Jin Qianqian tilted her head to look at him. "With this compass car, everyone will feel more secure."

"So, if more people want to invest, should I accept their offers or not?"

Ancient Wen Heng smiled. "Don’t you already know the answer to that?"

"You’re right," Jin Qianqian conceded. "We’re still just starting small. I wonder how the people we sent to Sea City to gather intelligence are doing."

"I only knew that those foreign merchants like to buy things like brocades and porcelain from us. I forgot to find out what kinds of goods they usually bring here to sell."

For the past several days, Jin Qianqian had been constantly thinking back on all the little trinkets and goods she had seen back in Sea City.

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