Inside the yamen, in front of a sand table, a burly man, about ten feet tall, was looking at a map. (One chi is about 32cm, so ten chi is about 3.2 meters.)
At this moment, a hurried footsteps came from outside the door. Xiao Lie pushed the door open, cupped his fists, and saluted, saying, "Reporting to Qin Shuai, the refugees have been settled."
"Mm, I know. You should rest well now!" Upon hearing this, Xiao Lie did not say anything more and was about to withdraw.
But before leaving, he glanced at the man named Qin Xia. That physique, far surpassing a superman's, was too astonishing for him. The scene of him smashing a city gate with one punch was still vivid in his mind, and that face simultaneously held both compassion and worry.
Strength and compassion appearing on one person at the same time. Among his subordinates, it was already rumored that the man before them was a god.
When he got close to him, he couldn't help but have the same thought. He also asked the soldiers Qin Xia brought about Qin Xia.
What he didn't expect was that Qin Xia was not the leader of this group. All the people Qin Xia brought were his father's soldiers, and these soldiers all referred to themselves as the Righteous Army.
Qin Xia noticed that Xiao Lie hadn't left. He put down the map in his hand and gestured for him to come closer.
Seeing Xiao Lie walk over hesitantly, looking like a child who had made a mistake, he suppressed a smile, pulled a stool for him, and then squatted beside him.
Qin Xia originally thought the grandmaster's chair would allow him to sit, but he didn't expect it to still be too small for his physique. He regretted that he could only sit on the ground.
Feeling a slight regret, he looked at Xiao Lie and smiled, "General Xiao, do you have any questions? Things happened so suddenly. Since the General is willing to work with me, then we two should speak openly and honestly."
"Qin Shuai..."
As soon as Xiao Lie spoke, Qin Xia waved his hand to stop him, "Just call me by my full name. General, you may not know, but a few months ago, I was just a farmer."
"I wouldn't dare. I just wanted to ask why that wooden shield could block arrows?"
Looking at Xiao Lie's eager face, Qin Xia smiled and began to explain, "This is probably what physics illuminating the world means."
"I use elm, a harder wood, as the core, then wrap it with fish skin, and add iron edges to prevent cracking. But the most important thing is the curvature of the shield face."
"Curvature?" Xiao Lie was stunned. He had never heard of a shield needing curvature since he was a child.
Qin Xia took out a wooden shield and handed it to him. Upon closer inspection, one could see the shield face was slightly curved.
"120°. As long as the shield is designed with this curvature, then any arrow with an angle of more than 15° to the ground will have its force deflected by this curved surface."
Xiao Lie took the shield, his face full of shock. He stood up, bowed deeply to Qin Xia, and then withdrew.
He hadn't expected that as soon as he pledged allegiance, the other party would be willing to tell him such a secret. With such broad-mindedness, his Xiao Lie's passion finally had a place to be displayed.
Only Qin Xia was left in the room. He sat on the ground and couldn't help but let out a long sigh. He looked around and still felt as if this was a dream.
In just a few months, his team had grown stronger and stronger, winning more and more battles, and even capturing a city!
If it had been a few months ago, he would never have imagined that he would become a general a few months later. He still remembered when he first came here, his parents' family was very poor; describing it as 'bare walls' would have been a compliment.
His family after transmigration was not wealthy. His family, his grandfather's family, and his uncle's family, a total of eight people, were crammed into two small houses.
Even a few months ago, their whole family still squeezed onto one bed to rest. At that time, how much they wished for a house of their own to raise the younger sister in their mother's arms.
Because he had memories from his previous life, he, as a child, could clearly feel that, except for his mother, everyone in the family didn't seem to like his arrival much.
Every time his share of rations was pitifully small. His uncle's son and he were born one after another. When they both reached six years old, his cousin could go to a private school to study, while he could only follow his uncle to work in the fields.
It was funny to say, even though he ate the least rations, he grew taller and taller as if he had taken hormones. By the age of seven, he was already taller than his father. The unpolluted food in ancient times was really powerful; he was even afraid that one day his head would become pointed.
However, as time passed, he felt that this body of his was definitely his exclusive transmigration cheat.
After all, he absolutely didn't believe that a ten-year-old child could grow to two meters three, which was already taller than he was before his transmigration.
But just being tall was one thing. He clearly ate pitifully little protein, yet his muscles kept growing rapidly. Plus, his brain also seemed to become more powerful.
In his previous life, he had no idea how to make sugar, but as long as he recalled and thought about it, he could replicate it in his mind. Things he had only vaguely understood before, he could now replicate the techniques of those things from a few clues.
Every person has their own innate talent, big or small. As long as one can make good use of their talent, they will definitely have a good life.
And he, Qin Xia, would rely on this talent to let his mother truly taste what white rice was like!
This was what he thought when he discovered his ability, after all, his family ate millet porridge mixed with sand and stones every day, although for everyone in the village, this food was already quite good.
But this was also obtained through the hard work of his body in the fields. Every time he tilled the land, his mother would sit by his side, holding his lunch and his sister, sewing clothes for him.
From the age of seven, Qin Xia took over the farming work that should have been done by his father. Originally, his mother wanted to help, but he stopped her, after all, with such a body, there was no need to trouble his mother.
She had no choice but to sew clothes for him by his side.
He used the most fabric as he grew up, but his mother never let him suffer from the cold once. All the clothes on his body were made by her.
This maternal love was something he had never experienced before. In contrast, his father's impression in his mind was very faint. Since he could till the land, his father rarely came to the fields.
His father gradually became a person who wandered idly in the village, associating with various bad friends every day, only returning home when drunk.
Originally, Qin Xia looked down on his father, until a few months ago, his old man, by a strange twist of fate, came to his side.
At that time, he had just returned from the big city. For his future business studies, he had visited for a week. The farming at home only needed weeding, so he troubled his uncle's family to help. As soon as he returned home, without even entering the house, he picked up a hoe and went to till the land.
Recalling it now, only endless resentment remained in his heart. Why didn't he go into the house to report his safe return then? At least take a look, perhaps then such pain would not have befallen this family.
He was working in the field when he was suddenly called out. He turned around and saw his father telling him to come and sit by him.
When he walked over, his father didn't even look at him properly. After sitting down, he didn't speak either. Finally, he grabbed his hand and smiled, "What a pair of hands, you've taken on so many things for father at home! You just delayed what you wanted to do yourself."
Upon hearing this, Qin Xia was stunned, and then he heard his old father say, "Ah Qin, do you want to do business?"
He had never told anyone about this dream of his, but how did his father figure it out?
He turned to look at the thin man, who just smiled at him, patted his arm and mumbled, "My son is really strong. You want to do business to feed your mother, father really didn't expect you to have such an idea. These years, our family has relied on you."
Later, he heard that his father knew because he often went to watch Shopkeeper Wang at the village entrance do his accounts. When he heard his father speak of his dream, he suddenly felt that this man had always been paying attention to him.
The father and son looked at the boundless rice fields. Because he was already seventeen, his uncle no longer came to till the land with him; his focus was entirely on his own children.
This rice field was vast, but the amount of grain belonging to their family was pitifully small.
"The grain we grow, we can only keep a small portion for ourselves. My son, your younger sister just starved to death at home."
When his father said this, the hoe in his hand fell to the ground. He turned around and saw clearly that his father's eyes were red and swollen, his knees covered in blood. Clearly, his old father had begged from house to house for a long time, but no one in the village had any surplus grain. At that moment, Qin Xia's mind exploded.
He lost his mind and rushed home, seeing his three-year-old sister lying on a straw mat. His mother, seeing him return, desperately hugged him, her cries piercing his heart. The most ridiculous thing was that the grain he had set aside for taxes was piled up like a small mountain nearby.
No one dared to touch this grain; if even a little was missing, the yamen runners would arrest and behead people. Just then, the yamen runners collecting grain arrived at his house. That scoundrel stepped over his sister's corpse and was about to bag the grain.
Rage surged in his heart, and he was about to act, but his mother, fearing to lose her son as well, desperately grabbed his hand.
Just as their family was at a loss, his father appeared from nowhere. He grabbed his hoe, rushed into the house, and smashed the head of the yamen runner. Blood splattered on his face. He saw his father turn and smile at him. Standing outside the door were the same bad friends he usually played with.
He hadn't expected this old man, already over fifty, to still be able to shout, "Are kings, nobles, generals, and ministers born into their positions!"
And after that, a new rebel army appeared within Great Shang's borders. He and his father split their forces into two routes: one to attack Giant Deer, and the other to continue recruiting people in their hometown.
After only a few months of training, he led this group of old, weak, and disabled people to capture Giant Deer. And next, relying on the equipment under General Xiao's command, the new target was to take Great Shang's lifeline — Shu City!
It was easy to defend and difficult to attack, with only one dangerous path leading directly to the capital of Great Shang, and it was also where grain from all over the country converged.
Qin Xia stood up and looked at the sand table. He slammed a flag heavily onto the building marked Shu City: "dog emperor, watch me pull a fast one on you!"