Mythical Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1467: Chapter 1415: Experiment

”Although I’m not skilled in naval battles nor in river crossings, sometimes one’s disposition dictates their actions,” Guo Jia said proudly.

Without waiting for Guan Yu to inquire further, Guo Jia slipped back to the camp and ordered the soldiers to start chopping trees and setting up the camp, though the number of trees being chopped seemed surprisingly excessive no matter how one looked at it.

In the following days, Zhou Yu’s dispatched scouts observed the five large boats of Guo Jia from the upstream river, but all they could see was Liu Bei’s Army endlessly chopping down trees. Meanwhile, the number of stone throwers on the northern bank of the Huai River kept increasing, but it all seemed inconsequential.

To put it simply, when Zhou Yu sent Dong Xi upstream to scout, he made it abundantly clear to only focus on the situation across the river and not to approach. Even if the opposite bank is filled with stone throwers, the boats at a distance of over 300 paces still have little hope of being hit as they keep moving.

Moreover, given Dong Xi’s calm demeanor and Zhou Yu’s clear orders, Dong Xi had no intention of provocation. He simply patrolled out of the range of the stone throwers, leaving the soldiers under Guan Yu to glare in anger.

”Yuanjian, what do you think the military advisor is doing? Why did he suddenly start cutting wood to build boats, and all with randomly hired craftsmen?” Guann Cheng asked in confusion as he and Liaoo Hua patrolled the riverbank, watching the Sunx Ce’s Army lingering on the river.

”I don’t know either,” Liaoo Hua replied with a wry smile. He had submitted the second-place manuscript in the military department’s exams to join Guan Yu’s side. Guan Yu then entrusted a thousand prepared men to Liaoo Hua, the Sima of Separate Division. Concerning Liaoo Hua’s loss, Guan Yu had no good solution, as the opponent was exceedingly strong.

”Do you think this method of building boats is effective?” Guann Cheng asked.

”You know more about boats than I do, so how should I know?” Liaoo Hua sighed, ”Of course, while I don’t understand boatmaking, I know one thing: boats aren’t made like this.”

”Exactly, boats aren’t made like this,” Guann Cheng nodded in agreement. Regardless of which shipwright is building a boat, none would directly rivet logs together. Yet Guo Jia is using those beams meant for constructing house frames directly to build boats.

The method is very simple, akin to lashing a bamboo raft together. These huge logs are riveted together and surrounded by a framework like a box, and then it’s done...

Overall, it’s a completely insane method of boatmaking, and Guann Cheng always doubted that these large boats, constructed without any nurturing of materials, could withstand a legion attack without falling apart...

Thus, Guann Cheng couldn’t bear to look directly at the large boats made by Guo Jia with this crafting method. These boats were only slightly larger than a warship, but the warship had complete defenses, whereas Guo Jia’s boat, ahem, didn’t even have a place for oarsmen.

This was the worst part. The boat looked like nothing more than an enlarged version of the flatboats used by ferry operators along the riverbanks, with no defensive measures to speak of. Such a boat on the Huai River would surely be prey for Zhou Yu on the opposite side.

Guo Jia was naturally aware of the rumors within the camp, but he paid them no mind, continuing to delight in building his large boats.

”Reporting to Military Advisor Guo, we have completed the chains you requested us to forge,” a craftsman from the camp hurriedly reported after fashioning a large quantity of chains as Guo Jia required, given his emphasis on speed.

”Good, each ordinary craftsman will receive a reward of a thousand coins, and others will receive additional rewards based on their skill level,” Guo Jia waved his hand grandly. The chains were ready, the large boats were being constructed, and all that remained was another test.

”Yunchang, help me cut this into pieces this long and this thin,” Guo Jia said to Guan Yu, pulling out a piece of wood, gesturing with his hair, and making it about half an inch in length.

Guan Yu, initially squinting, took the piece of wood from Guo Jia and with a strike, a pile of extremely fine wood shavings appeared on the table.

”Zhou Cang, go outside and fetch a barrel of water that I prepared,” Guo Jia swept away all the wood shavings, then brought out a tool he had prepared long in advance while Zhou Cang carried a large barrel, fetching a large barrel of water.

”Pour a little in here first,” Guo Jia instructed, pointing to a tool, as Zhou Cang easily held the large barrel that was taller than himself.

Zhou Cang steadily poured the river water into the tool, and when it was nearly full, Guo Jia had him stop.

Then, Guo Jia opened the rear trough of the tool, letting the water quickly drain out, soaking a patch of ground in Guan Yu’s tent.

”This is approximately the flow rate we want; attach another tool in front,” Guo Jia instructed, taking a long series of tools from the side and attaching them in front.

”See that water volume earlier? Keep pouring water in like that; once it’s full, when I open the gate, you start pouring water,” Guo Jia said to a bewildered Zhou Cang.

Zhou Cang awkwardly looked at Guan Yu, as if this would flood Guan Yu’s main tent. Yet Guan Yu merely turned his head nonchalantly and continued to read his ”Spring and Autumn” book.

After filling the tool with water, Guo Jia took out the pile of wood shavings, estimated the quantity, and placed it neatly next to the edge of the tool.

”Prepare to pour water...” Guo Jia turned his head and instructed Zhou Cang, who then quickly secured the large barrel, ready to pour water at Guo Jia’s command.

At the moment Guo Jia opened the tool at the downstream end, water rapidly flowed out while Zhou Cang quickly poured river water of the same amount into the tool. The wood shavings at the edge began to move slowly with the water current.

Soon, with the appearance of a pass, the water flow naturally accelerated, pulling the wood shavings into a line, then gradually caused them to twist due to constant bumps.

Before long, the wood shavings gathered at the pass. Initially, some could still pass through, but as a large influx of wood shavings came in, the pass steadily got blocked, and an accumulation of wood shavings tightened it even more.

Eventually, they clogged together tightly at the pass, with not a single shaving able to pass through anymore.

”So it is indeed like this; you can stop pouring water now,” Guo Jia, crouching on the ground and watching the wood shavings clog the passage while water continued to flow, felt reassured. However, he quickly realized he was crouching in water and hastily ordered Zhou Cang to stop.

Only then did Zhou Cang cease, while Guan Yu’s main tent was left in a thoroughly muddy state. Guan Yu sat calmly in place, reading, as if nothing had occurred.

”Yunchang, in a few days, we’ll cross to the Huai River’s opposite shore to deal with Sun Ce!” Guo Jia, full of enthusiasm, felt greatly relieved seeing the blocked wood shavings in the tool.

”Great!” Guan Yu, having waited this long, finally received Guo Jia’s definite response. He proudly opened his eyes, declaring that he had considered cutting down Sun Ce many times already!