Steam trains in ancient times (9): Steam machine, instant noodles

After leaving the capital, the prince called Si Qi and asked him to ride in a carriage with him, euphemistically discussing the situation of the war.

Si Qi was so happy that he didn’t have to ride a horse and got into the carriage. He took out a vest as thin as cicada wings from his arms and handed it to the prince.

“What is this?” The prince took it.

“Stab-proof vest.” Si Qi said: “This thing can prevent the puncture of knives and swords, and is invulnerable to water and fire. It was just made this morning. Please wear it close to your body no matter what.”

The prince paused and looked at Si Qi: “You just made it this morning?”

“Yes, if time was not limited, I would have made the sleeves as well, but unfortunately the materials could not be rushed out.” Si Qi said regretfully.

The prince put the vest back on the pillow in front of Si Qi and said, “What about yours?”

Si Qi was surprised: “Me?”

Prince: “I don’t need this kind of thing, just take it back.”

Si Qi frowned: “Your Highness!”

Prince: “If the Chu Kingdom loses me, you can still assist your father or other princes. However, if the Chu Kingdom loses you, it will definitely cause irreparable losses for thousands of years to come!”

Si Qi understood the reason for Chu Feng’s refusal and said at a loss of whether to laugh or cry: “It’s because of this…”

The prince’s attitude was firm. Si Qi didn’t know whether to be moved or helpless for a moment. He could only say: “I know, and I will protect myself from any harm.”

When the prince heard this, the worry on his brows dimmed slightly, and he asked, “How are you going to protect yourself?”

Si Qi thought for a while and said, “I can make a set of clothes that are stronger than armor.”

The prince wondered: “Then why didn’t you do it in the first place?”

Si Qi’s expression turned bitter: “Those clothes are too ugly… Your Highness will know it when he sees them.”

Si Qi got out of the carriage and ran to the carriage full of experimental equipment at the back. After about two sticks of incense, he ran back again, holding something that felt like a plastic mold in his hand.

The prince was stunned. This was far different from the clothes he remembered: “What is this?”

Si Qi: “Composite armor is a material commonly used in tanks and rockets.”

Although it is a super simplified version.

Seeing that the prince was about to ask what the rocket was again, Si Qi tapped the “plastic mold” in front of him with his fingers and interrupted: “Look, how do you wear such a thing on your body?”

It was like a low-cost cosplay of Iron Man.

The prince took the so-called “composite armor” and found that it was unexpectedly light. He asked doubtfully: “Is it really as hard as you said?”

“It was not so much hard, but it can withstand more impacts.” Si Qi said: “You can imagine that an iron piece can easily break or deform directly when hit hard, but if there is a gap between two iron pieces, With a layer of soft and elastic rubber, it’s difficult to penetrate it directly.”

“Rubber?” The prince asked, “Is that what you put on the wheels?”

Before setting off, Si Qi sent someone to modify the carriage of His Highness the Prince. Not to mention adding a few shock-absorbing springs, the wheels were also specially coated with a thick layer of black rubber.

This made the carriage that His Highness the Prince was riding in feel as relaxed and comfortable as walking on flat ground, without any of the shock that would jolt the food out of people’s stomachs in the past.

Maybe this was what Si Qi said… resisting the impact. The prince tried his best to understand every word Si Qi said so that he could get closer to the spiritual world of the person in front of him, even just a little bit.

“Yes.” Si Qi nodded: “But my composite armor is not made of rubber that has been finalized, but plastic that has not yet been cured…”

It was also known as a non-Newtonian fluid.

In the ancient world, it was simply illegal to use something like this to make armor. The effect it could have on the battlefield was comparable to a steam train suddenly running out of a group of carriages.

It was clear that he was bullying people.

Si Qi held up the armor that was too ugly to wear, with a worried look on his face. The prince understood and said with a smile: “That’s not as good as this…”

Si Qi listened, smiled suddenly, and praised: “Your Highness is wise!”

So on the march, the soldiers discovered that outside the carriage of His Royal Highness, there were several weird things that looked ugly and were not elegant at all.

This thing surrounded the carriage in a circle, not even letting go of the bottom of the carriage, but it was so light that it did not hinder the carriage’s progress.

Everyone just thought it was another novel costume of Lord Si, who was full of all kinds of whimsical ideas and whose aesthetics were always subtle and pitiful. They secretly sighed that His Highness was really tolerant of Lord Si, and was willing to let Lord Si decorate the carriage with such ugly things.

As for His Highness the Crown Prince, who was praised as someone who loved his talents as much as his life, he could justifiably let Si Qi stay in a highly secure carriage all day long, and stay with him day and night, inseparable.

The only embarrassing thing may be that the space inside the car is not too spacious, it is about the same size as a couch in a palace. When he was resting in the car at night, the sound of the young man’s breathing sounded in his ears, which made His Royal Highness feel hot all over and kept him awake all night, feeling pain and happiness at the same time.

The troops rushed to the border pass quickly, which took ten days. When the dozens of carts of luggage on hand were exhausted, they just arrived at Weng Cheng, not far from the border, where they went to receive the food and wages that had been shipped in advance.

However, when they got there, they heard some bad news. There was no so-called food and salary left at all. The county magistrate had been strangled to death in the mansion for several days, and the body had begun to stink. The entire city’s granaries didn’t even have any extra food reserves, and they had all been transported away in advance.

In the coldest month of winter, there was no harvest in the fields. They could not take away the life-saving food that was scarce from the common people and use it as military rations.

But if there was no food support, how could they provide food for so many people in the army?

Thinking of this, seeing the county magistrate’s corpse with his own eyes, the powerful generals among them all turned pale.

Going back, the troops may be able to endure hunger all the way back to the capital, but the battle would definitely fail. The soldiers on the battlefield would die because there was no support, and the people in several border cities would face the fierce enemy soldiers.

If they didn’t go back, they caould at least go to the battlefield to kill the enemy, protect the land behind them, and protect Chu from foreign invasion.

But what about after going to the battlefield? What do they eat? How long can it last?

That was almost a point of no return.

The prince stood quietly in front of the corpse of the county magistrate. At this moment, he finally saw clearly the fourth prince’s plan and how cruel and crazy a person could be.

He sighed softly and murmured: “Father…”

His father might not be alive for long now.

If the emperor was safe, after learings the news, he would directly order the deposing of the fourth prince, or even put him in prison without freedom for the rest of his life.

The fact that the fourth prince had the courage to do such a thing showed that he did not care about the punishment afterwards, because the emperor might have died.

No wonder they would rather make many compromises to send him here. Those agreements were unequal treaties that greatly benefited the prince’s side when his father was around. But when his father was away… they were all just a mirror image, a dream, and nothing to count.

They calculated that after they noticed something was wrong, they could not leave the lives of hundreds of thousands of people alone, so they would not leave the border and rush back to the palace to fight for the imperial power.

That’s why they took this opportunity to force the palace and rebel. As long as they were not in the capital, everything would be decided by them.

The prince never thought that the fourth prince would be so cruel, nor did he think that the meeting at the city gate that day would be the farewell to his father. But what if he thought about it? Did he really want to let these people die as victims of their struggle just to fight for the throne? 

After leaving the county government office, the prince ignored the matter and said to Si Qi: “You should leave here.”

Prince: “Ahead…is hell. It’s enough to go alone. You…must live well.”

There he was again.

Si Qi grabbed the prince’s hand as he tried to leave him: “Are you going to die?”

The prince shook his head: “I am not seeking death, I am seeking a way out for the people behind me.”

Si Qi: “I can walk that road with you.”

The prince shook his head again, firmly expressing his refusal. He called his subordinates and asked them to take Lord Si away, even if it meant using strong force.

Si Qi was forcibly dragged away. After being thrown away several times, he said angrily: “Chu Feng!”

Everyone around was shocked that Si Qi dared to call the prince by his first name!

Si Qi frowned and said: “I said, I exist wherever you are. If you are in danger, I will do my best to protect you! Don’t talk to me about nonsense, I can’t listen, you are very important to me, I won’t let you die!”

The prince encountered bad news one after another, and his mind was unstable at this moment. Hearing this, his expression was complicated and his voice was hoarse: “Why are you so concerned about this prince? Could it be that you are also…ah, how is it possible?”

Si Qi frowned: “You asked me why? Of course it’s because you saved me, because you are my most important friend!”

“Friend…”

The prince chewed on this word, feeling sad at the same time, but also feeling a little lucky. He said: “Going to the government office to rescue you that day was the most correct decision I have ever made in my life.”

Not because he gained an unparalleled loyal minister in the world, but because he met the young man who made his heart beat.

Si Qi: “I see that you sent someone to check the granary in the government office. Could it be that the baggage in the city was taken away and there is no food and salary in the army?”

The prince smiled bitterly: “I can’t hide anything from you.”

Si Qi was helpless: “Is it just because of this?”

“…” The prince and the surrounding generals were all stunned, and after a moment, strong hope burst out in their hearts!

¡Yes! Who was this person in front of them? It was Si Qi who had created miracles time and time again! He could make honey as tall as a mountain, turn insignificant sand into glass worth thousands of gold, and even subdue powerful steel beasts to work for him, making the impossible possible!

Conjuring food out of thin air that could feed more than 100,000 people for a long time… didn’t seem to be a fantasy, right?

Si Qi waved to everyone and came to several carriages.

Just a few carriages?

Everyone who originally had strong expectations was slightly disappointed.

Si Qi asked someone to lift the tarpaulin covering the boxes and move one of the boxes down.

He took out one of the small squares wrapped in oil paper in the box and revealed the light yellow “brick” inside.

Everyone looked closer and asked, “Lord, is this…?”

Si Qi casually broke off a small piece and let someone nearby taste it.

The man saw that it was what Si Qi handed him, so he ate it willingly even though he thought it was dirt.

The people around him all showed sympathetic looks, wondering how he could eat this. But when the man was eating, he suddenly said in surprise: “——Peanuts?”

Why did this mud taste like peanuts? And it tasted delicious!

Si Qi: “This is compressed military ration, a small piece as big as a palm, enough for you to eat for a whole day without feeling hungry.”

Everyone looked at the small brick in Si Qi’s hand in astonishment, unable to understand how this thing could possibly feed a group of physically exhausted soldiers for a day.

Some people said with sore noses: “Is this Kaolinite? There has been famine in recent years, and many people have to eat this to endure hunger.”

After everyone heard this, they suddenly realized and looked at Si Qi with helplessness in their eyes.

It turned out that this was what Lord Si thought of.

It seemed that even the resourceful Lord Si could not conjure food out of thin air.

Si Qi was dumbfounded: “What Kaolinite? I said it was food.”

His Royal Highness suddenly reached out his hand and broke off a small piece of military rations. Amid everyone’s panicked reaction, he put it into his mouth.

The soldiers on the side suddenly had red eyes and choked with sobs: “Your Highness…”

They actually allowed His Highness to do such a thing. They were really shameless in the face of the Prince’s cultivation for so many years! !

Si Qi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “You are really enough…” Wasn’t it just to let Chu Feng eat a mouthful of military rations, why were they so sad?

Chu Feng lowered his eyes slightly and tasted it carefully. Soon after, a look of surprise appeared on his face, and he exclaimed: “It does taste like peanuts.”

“It is originally made of peanuts and other grains.” Si Qi said helplessly: “I was afraid that you would get tired of it, so I specially made several different flavors. Peanuts, corn, sweet potatoes…”

He pointed to the different boxes on different carriages: “These many carts of military rations are enough to feed all of you for a long time. When you arrive at the border and defeat the enemy, all the food in the enemy camp will be ours. I’ve already figured it out.”

Since he followed Chu Feng out, of course he would plan everything for Chu Feng in advance so that he would be safe and not encounter any danger or difficulty.

Everyone saw that Si Qi described the ferocious tiger-like enemy as if they were a paper man who could run away in the wind, and they did not tell him the seriousness of the matter in an alarmist way. After all, what scholars were better at was talking on paper, so they didn’t want to embarrass Lord Si. .

One after another, people reached out, took the military rations from Si Qi’s hand, chewed and tasted them, and soon they all showed surprise and said excitedly: “It’s really peanuts!”

“It tastes so delicious! I really want to take a few more bites!”

“Could it have the legendary MSG added to it? Otherwise, how could it be so delicious!”

“MSG? Then I must eat more!”

“I feel like my stomach is full after eating it…is it an illusion?”

Si Qi heard this and reminded: “It’s not an illusion, this food is very filling, so don’t eat too much just because it tastes good, as it will easily fill your stomach.”

Everyone nodded quickly to express their understanding.

Then each of them smiled as brightly as if there were flowers blooming on their faces, which was the joy of jumping back to the world from the edge of death.

They had all decided to go to the battlefield with His Royal Highness on an empty stomach, kill the enemy with blood, and defend the country. As a result, the food problem was solved by Lord Si. Lord Si was indeed a lucky star sent by God to save His Highness.

A group of people bowed to Si Qi with great gratitude, but Si Qi just waved his hands casually, not caring at all what extraordinary things he had done.

Chu Feng looked at Si Qi with a smile in her eyes, and the once gloomy mood suddenly cleared up.

Seeing that he was no longer serious, Si Qi breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: “I have specially prepared a lot of delicious food for His Highness. Do you want to try it?”

“Delicious?” The prince asked curiously: “What kind of delicious food is it?”

“Aren’t all the fresh vegetables brought out from the capital at the beginning almost finished?” Si Qi said, “It doesn’t feel good to eat military rations all the time, so I thought you could enjoy the same food in the capital as you do in the military camp. ”

Chu Feng felt warm in his heart when he heard it, and felt that just by Si Qi’s words, he could eat the white flour steamed buns with relish for days and nights, because he felt sweet in his heart.

Si Qi took out bowl-shaped wooden boxes from the carriage. There were various writings on the boxes.

He asked him the name of the dish with a smile: “Have you heard of instant noodles?”