Chapter 14: The Issue of Weapons

After roughly learning about the series of disasters during the Chongzhen period, Chen Xie's good mood was ruined. "My Great Qing" was nothing but a gang of bandits, uninvited bandits who plundered everything—silver, grain, and people. As long as it could be taken away, they would not leave it behind. Unfortunately, during the Chongzhen period, the Ming army had rotted to the core. Coupled with the Chongzhen Emperor's stubborn and arbitrary actions, which often led to dismissals and executions, the downfall of the Ming dynasty was accelerated. Even people like Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting did not meet good ends, and Sun Chuanting did not even have a proper explanation for his death. It was truly disheartening!

In short, the Chongzhen Emperor was an extremely cold and calculating ruler, whose actions were often beyond his capabilities. Serving such an emperor was truly unfortunate. Even more unfortunate was the constant natural disasters and the fact that most court officials were mere talkers. They would say, "In times of peace, they idly discuss the nature of things, but in times of crisis, they die for the emperor." In reality, when Li Zicheng's forces entered Beijing, who opened the gates? It was the literati and nobles who, in normal times, fed off the state, but when it mattered, few stood up to resist.

The conclusion was obvious: the Ming dynasty was beyond saving. This conclusion kept Chen Xie awake at night, tossing and turning, racking his brain. What could he do? If it were his first trip to the Ming dynasty, Chen Xie wouldn't have such worries. No matter how corrupt the Ming dynasty was, it didn't have much to do with him.

But now it was different. The Zhang family treated him like family, and for that alone, Chen Xie couldn't abandon them. As an orphan who had no family, he now had a family in the Ming dynasty, and he absolutely couldn't stand by and watch. Moreover, in the third year of Chongzhen, Sun Yuanhua, a technical official, became the governor of Dengzhou and Laizhou, and recruited Kong Youde and his group. The Zhang family died in this rebellion. If he didn't know about it, it would be one thing, but now that he knew, how could he not do something? Even if it was just taking it one step at a time, he had to get through this crisis. He couldn't let the Zhang family die out!

Subconsciously, Chen Xie began to gather information related to military matters, hoping to have a force that could save him in a crisis. With this in mind, Chen Xie reactivated 9527 and asked, "I have a question to consult."

This time, the synthetic beauty didn't send a text message on the screen but appeared in Chen Xie's room after a spatial distortion, stretching lazily in an extremely sexy pose and muttering, "This is how a beauty wakes up."

Although Chen Xie knew she was just a program, he still felt a shameful reaction when he saw the two protrusions up close. He had been too busy lately, with no time to watch action movies and release some pent-up energy.

Unfortunately, this physiological reaction was noticed, and the synthetic beauty said in a sweet, cloying voice, "You're reacting. It seems my learning has been very effective, but I can't help you. According to my information, if you turn right and walk fifty meters, there's a salon that can solve your problem. But I don't recommend it; the average age of the women there is 38.5 years."

Discussing physiological issues with this program was undoubtedly foolish, so Chen Xie quickly changed the subject: "Based on my recent study of Ming history, I found that the era was very chaotic. I need to build an armed force that can save me in a crisis. To solve the equipment issue, I thought about immigrating to a country in Africa, where buying weapons is easy and there are no legal barriers."

The synthetic beauty immediately rejected this idea: "Forget it. The system doesn't support travelers leaving Chinese territory."

Chen Xie was taken aback. He had thought he had found a good solution, planning to earn money and then buy a batch of AKs in Africa, not too many, just a thousand or so, to deal with anyone who threatened him in the Ming dynasty. Now, he was suddenly told that he was born a Chinese and would die a Chinese ghost. He should forget about the dream of immigration and wake up.

The possibility of obtaining firearms legally in China was zero, which meant that Chen Xie's plan to form a small, well-armed force was completely shattered.

"Weapons, I need weapons!" Chen Xie was frustrated, scratching his head, at a loss. The synthetic beauty, however, showed no sympathy, lazily occupying the only chair in the room and browsing the internet. Chen Xie wanted to regain control of the computer but didn't dare, so he could only watch as she continued to dominate it.

After a while, the synthetic beauty pushed the computer toward Chen Xie and pointed to a webpage: "You can take some of these."

Chen Xie took a look. It was a company selling various crossbows online. This was actually legal, he thought.

Seeing this, Chen Xie had an idea and immediately asked the synthetic beauty, "If, hypothetically, I bring some parts from this era to the Ming dynasty and assemble them into a gun that fires bullets, would that be illegal?"

This question was a bit convoluted, and the synthetic beauty, clearly not expecting someone to exploit a legal loophole, was momentarily at a loss. Her large eyes began to shine, and she emitted a series of irregular beeps. Chen Xie felt secretly pleased, thinking, "So, you have your limits too. Programs are just programs; when the problem gets tricky, you're stumped, aren't you?"

"Although I don't know why you're pleased, I can see from your iris that you're feeling good. Alright, I'll answer your question. If the gunpowder you use is not from this era, your actions can be accepted by the program." Before Chen Xie could be happy, the synthetic beauty added, "If you ask me similar questions again, making me consume more energy, I won't hesitate to remove your reproductive organs and make them into a specimen."

Chen Xie felt a chill and clutched his crotch, looking at the synthetic beauty's alluring face with a mix of vigilance and indignation.

"There's one more thing. I looked at your cargo list for this trip, and I need to remind you that you need a warehouse to store these supplies. Otherwise, they will remain in the main body of the time machine, and my capabilities are not sufficient to carry so much."

"Main body?" Lin He was confused, staring at the synthetic beauty. "Yes, the main body. I am just a digital communication platform. The main body of the time machine is too large and can only stay at sea. The volume I can accommodate is equal to the enclosed space where you appeared last time."

"If that's the case, how do you transfer the supplies from the warehouse to the main body?" Chen Xie still didn't understand, and the synthetic beauty replied impatiently, "I can transfer supplies, but I can't carry so much with me. Got it? Stupid carbon-based life form!"

Chen Xie decided to stop arguing about whether he was stupid and instead noted down the phone number on the webpage, calling the crossbow factory. The call was answered quickly, after just three rings, by a woman's voice: "Hello, this is Sky Bow Crossbows. How can I assist you?"

Chen Xie briefly inquired about the factory's products and quickly obtained useful information: they could customize strong crossbows. The model displayed online had an effective range of only 100 meters, but if Chen Xie was willing to pay, they could make a more powerful one with an effective range of 150 meters, at a price of 3500 yuan per unit, up from 2500. Chen Xie indicated that he didn't need an optical sight and could buy 500 of these strong crossbows if possible.

Undoubtedly, this was a big deal, and the woman on the phone sounded a bit nervous, quickly agreeing to everything. However, Chen Xie would need to visit in person, preferably with cash on hand. Chen Xie agreed to the visit but asked for a discount, to which the woman replied that everything could be discussed upon his arrival.

Chen Xie casually said, "Even one visit is fine," but as soon as the words left his mouth, he knew he had made a mistake. The woman giggled and said, "You're so naughty! Let's start right away." She didn't seem angry at all. As Chen Xie's mind wandered, the synthetic beauty unceremoniously poured a bucket of cold water on him.

"I must remind you that the voice you heard and the person you imagine in your head may not match. She might look like a woman named Luo Yufeng, who is often used on the internet to cool down."

Chen Xie shivered, and the image of Luo Yufeng in his mind indeed extinguished all his desires.

"By the way, I need a secretary. I can't hire one right now, so can you play the role?" Chen Xie had a mischievous idea, planning to tease the synthetic beauty for scaring him with the image of Luo Yufeng. To his surprise, the synthetic beauty nodded readily: "I'm happy to serve you. It seems I need a name. What do you think?"

"Names like Yufeng and Haiyan are definitely out. The last one to exclude is Furong! Other names are generally fine." Chen Xie quickly took preventive measures to avoid the synthetic beauty choosing a name that would give him psychological trauma.

"My code is 9527, so let's take two of those numbers. Wu Qi sounds good, and you seem to have a preference for the surname Wu." The synthetic beauty proposed this without seeking Chen Xie's opinion and decided it that way.

The Sky Bow Crossbows factory was in a small city under the jurisdiction of Quancheng, the capital of Lin Province, a drive of about seven to eight hours. However, without a driver's license, it was not feasible. After a quick search, Chen Xie decided to take a high-speed train from Jiangcheng, which would take three hours to reach Quancheng, and then take a taxi. Before leaving, Chen Xie casually sent a text message to the woman who answered the phone, not expecting anyone to pick him up.

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