415: New Equipment

"What... what are all these things?"

Three days ago, Tang Ku looked at the objects before him with a bewildered expression, then turned to ask Yuan Tiangang.

The old man stroked his beard and smiled, "Hehe, after researching that aonei luosi thing, we've overcome the final hurdle. Our Great Tang soldiers can finally use mass-produced ranged firearm weapons!"

Tang Ku stared at the enormous mechanical assembly line, where sci-fi-like firearms were emerging, completely stunned.

The Directorate of Works had been reformed since Tang Ku first contacted Yuan Tiangang. Starting with water-powered machinery, they painstakingly built steel smelters, steel foundries, high-precision lathes, and power generation equipment. Within half a month, these devices were put into operation, powered by Spirit Stones from the cultivation world, greatly increasing efficiency.

As for the workers in the Directorate of Works, aside from those on the ordinary assembly line making parts, all maintenance personnel were replaced by Si Tian Jian sorcerers.

By then, they were already working on creating powerful individual weapons and protective gear.

However, it was unfortunate that while protective gear could be made from newly refined lightweight steel, enhanced with runes for defense and energy resistance, the weapons were never quite as durable.

What Yuan Tiangang showed Tang Ku was a weapon similar to a laser submachine gun from Star Wars, looking extremely futuristic. This item had originally evolved from Yuan Tiangang's own God-Slaying Gun. Its attack power was indeed strong, and after embedding Spirit Stones, it could autonomously absorb free energy from space for power replenishment, making it a weapon that could essentially be used in an infinite loop. Its power was such that a single shot could blast open a rock as tall as a man.

But the only problem was that the gun body wasn't durable enough; after five minutes of continuous firing, it needed to be cooled down, otherwise, it was prone to exploding. Because of this, a dozen soldiers were injured during testing!

Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng, who had been troubled by this issue, instantly found inspiration after studying the foreign runes on aonei luosi. They combined these runes with the Daoist runes of the Central Plains, thereby creating a laser gun that could fire continuously for half an hour without needing to cool down.

Thus, the entire Directorate of Works went into overdrive, and after several days of continuous work, they finally produced enough equipment to arm three thousand people, in addition to several heavy weapons and some special ability equipment.

"Three thousand people should be enough..."

Tang Ku looked at the dazzling array of equipment, almost getting dizzy. He immediately contacted Li Chengqian, asking him to send three thousand elite soldiers and a capable general to accompany him on his expedition...

Of course, they would also need three days to teach them how to use these new weapons and equipment.

Soon after, Li Chengqian ordered General Xue Rengui to lead three thousand elite Tiger Guard soldiers to the Directorate of Works. Tang Ku then led them to familiarize themselves with the equipment, personally demonstrating by wearing a full set. It must be said that any one of these pieces of equipment, if placed in a sci-fi movie, would be groundbreaking. To the soldiers of the Great Tang, it seemed even more incredible.

Naturally, being skilled in archery and horsemanship, they quickly fell in love with the firearms and almost immediately mastered how to use them.

Especially General Xue Rengui, who was almost a Genius with a gun; in burst-fire mode, almost no shot missed, no matter how fast the moving target, he would deliver a headshot.

For this, Yuan Tiangang worked overnight to create exclusive equipment for him, which was much more powerful than ordinary weapons. Of course, it was also much more difficult to use, but this was no problem at all for the immensely strong White Tiger Star Lord. He quickly became familiar with the weapon's performance and then couldn't help but exclaim, "If our army had such equipment when we fought in Tianshan back then, how many fewer people would have died!"

"There's still one problem... how do we get these soldiers to Dongying?"

Tang Ku looked at them and said, "Actually, I could totally use Sleeve Universe to take them there, but there will be many such battlefields in the future. I can't always be by their side. Eventually, we'll need some vehicles that can hold more people!"

Li Chunfeng said, "We've also thought about this, but the newly built ships are still being assembled and can't be used yet, so we have no other way!"

Tang Ku frowned slightly, then used his communication token to contact his ally, Compassionate Guanyin. After the two formed an alliance, Tang Ku had given her a communication token produced by the Great Tang. Compassionate Guanyin had lived in modern society, so she was quite familiar with mobile phones and quickly learned how to use it.

"Hey, Sanzang, I'm preparing my troops here. If you have something to say, make it quick!"

Compassionate Guanyin said with a hint of impatience.

"Do you have any transport vehicles that can hold more than three thousand people?" Tang Ku asked.

"No, I transport troops by teleportation here. Ordinary people using this method would have their souls torn apart!" Compassionate Guanyin said, "What, you can't transport troops over there? Wait, three thousand people... you're only sending three thousand? That's not enough..."

Click!

The call ended, leaving Compassionate Guanyin feeling annoyed.

"If it really comes down to it, I can only use Sleeve Universe to take them. We'll use vehicles next time..."

Tang Ku gave a helpless bitter smile.

"Hmm, why don't I go inform them to speed up the assembly of the new... 'vehicles'?"

Li Chunfeng was still unaccustomed to the term 'vehicle'.

"No need, I'll figure it out. If we speed up assembly, the quality will be hard to guarantee, right? We need to plan for the long term; if we're going to do it, we must do it to the finest and best!"

Tang Ku couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh, "Zhu Bajie used to be a marshal, he should know a thing or two... I'll go ask him..."

Yuan Tiangang said, "Don't we have individual flying equipment? Can't they just fly over?"

"Brother, do you know how far Dongying is from here?" Tang Ku's mouth twitched, "Flying that far, with the strong winds, these soldiers would be exhausted by the time they arrived. Would they still have the energy to fight?"

"Moreover, the flying devices can only last for less than an hour... they'd run out of power before reaching Dongying!"

Yuan Tiangang remembered something and dejectedly lowered his head.

Tang Ku patted his shoulder and said, "Don't be disheartened. We'll find a way to make a spare battery or something similar in the future, maybe that can extend the range... Hmm, wait, range..."

Tang Ku picked up the "phone" again and dialed Nezha directly. After it connected, a lazy voice said, "Hello, Holy Monk... I'm not too busy right now, feel free to speak your mind!"

Tang Ku revealed a slight smile: "Nezha, how many people did you say Zun Zun could hold at most?"