Chapter Thirteen: The Best Bow

  After arriving in the Song Dynasty, what worried Wu Ji most was not poverty, but that his body had become too weak.

  The body is the capital of revolution, as long as there is a good physique, Wu Ji believes that he will make everything better. Leaving Wujiazhuang and coming to Guixincity, Wu Ji was even more moved, the extermination of Liu Feng Zei is a clear proof. If Wu Ji's body is good enough, it would be easier.

  He is always looking forward to the day when his body will become strong, not to mention having great martial arts skills, just being as normal as others would be enough.

  But he had been unable to find a way in, and could only bury the matter in his heart. Now, Huangfu Song had opened up a vast world for him, and he couldn't help but feel extremely excited.

  "Wu Zhihui, your body is too weak, and you've suffered a lot of internal damage. To recover to the state of an ordinary person, you'll have to endure a lot more hardships." Huang Fu said with a reminder, "Just now, you fainted and didn't feel any pain."

  "No matter how bitter, I can endure!" At this moment, Wu Ji's mood was great, his spirit was high, and not to mention eating bitterness, even going up a knife mountain or down a fire sea would be nothing to him, he yearned too much to become strong.

  From then on, Wu Ji trained under the guidance of Huang Fu. For the first three days, Wu Ji couldn't finish running ten laps and often fainted. After waking up, he would soak in medicinal soup, feeling refreshed and invigorated.

  Three days later, Wu Ji was able to run ten laps without fainting, and the pain followed suit.

  Huang Pu Xuan first gave him a golden needle to pass through the hole, saying that his yuan qi was insufficient and needed a golden needle to pass through the hole to stimulate the birth of the machine, which would be beneficial for him to become strong.

  This golden needle is passing through the hole, it's really unbearable for humans. Every needle that goes down is almost like a poisonous snake biting. Hundreds of golden needles are pierced on the body, and the feeling is like thousands of poisonous snakes biting, Wu Ji's cold sweat comes out one after another, shouting that it's killing people.

  "It's almost! It was a dull knife that killed the person!" Huang Fu Xiang readily admitted Wu Ji's accusation, and said that it was a dull knife that killed the person, painful but not dead, and Wu Ji's suffering can be imagined.

  After the golden needle passed through the hole, Huangfu Song sat behind Wu Ji, his hands constantly patting on Wu Ji's body. Each pat made Wu Ji feel like he was being heavily hammered, his bones almost disintegrating. That one pat lasted for half a small hour, and Wu Ji felt like his skeleton had been dismantled and reassembled, tortured for half a small hour, the pain so unbearable that he couldn't even cry out.

  The only benefit was that with each slap from Huang Fu, a warm air entered Wu Ji's body, making him feel invigorated.

  After being beaten, Huang Fu was drenched in sweat, his whole body wet and heavy, as if he had carried a mountain, very tired.

  Next was the medicinal bath, soaking in the scalding hot medicine, very comfortable and refreshing, fatigue gradually disappearing. Huangfu Song also taught Wu Ji a set of Daoyin techniques, telling him to cultivate well, saying it would be beneficial for him.

  The art of Daoyin, which we modernly call Qigong, is a Chinese treasure that Wu Qian did not know. After receiving the transmission from Huangfu Song, he devoted himself to practice and made rapid progress, becoming increasingly robust in body.

  Ten days later, Wu Jie was able to run fifteen laps and felt stronger and stronger, unable to contain his joy.

  "Just give it a little more time and I'll be back to normal!" Wu Ji was full of confidence.

  XXXXXXX

  Wu's military industry, Wu Ji rushed in and was met by Yang Xiuxiu.

  Yang Xiu Xiu is no longer the pale and malnourished girl from Wu Jia Village. Her face has improved a lot, with sparkling eyes and a well-developed figure. Her originally flat chest now has some curves, although not as pronounced as those of a typical teenage girl. With a few more years, she will likely become a normal, curvy teenager.

  "Wu Lang, you're back! Ah, Wu Lang, you've changed again, you've become stronger! Your complexion is much better!" Yang Xiuxiu gave Wu Ji a thorough examination, extremely delighted, and laughed until her eyes were narrowed to slits.

  Wu Ji is her sky, Wu Ji has a more and more normal person's body, this is a huge joy for her, she can't contain her excitement, this is what she most wants to see.

  Wu Ji was also relieved and smiled: "You see, your Wu Lang is very powerful!" He winked mischievously and struck a pose.

  "Ha ha!" Yang Xiuxiu burst out laughing, her voice as clear and melodious as a silver bell: "Wu Lang, what's the use of these raw materials you asked me to purchase? Oh, this fish oil, what is it for?"

  "It is used for making bows."

  Wu Ji smiled and explained to her, "The army urgently needs bows. In fact, the army not only needs bows, but also knives, guns, arrows, helmets, and armor. It's just that bows are the most urgent. Without bows, there is no way to train, so we have to make them first. As for knives and guns, they can be made later, after the bows and arrows are almost done."

  "Make a bow? Can fish intestines be used to make a bow?" Yang Xiuxiu was somewhat incredulous.

  "Of course! To make a good bow, you need to use the best materials!" Wu Jia came to a pile of raw materials, took a closer look, and saw glue, horns, and top-quality wood, all of which were high-end materials for making bows: "If we're going to do it, let's make the best bow possible!"

  "I'll teach you how to make fish glue first." Wu Ji measured the pile of fish skin that was stacked like a small mountain, emitting a strong fishy smell.

  "What's fish glue? What is that?" Yang Xiuxiu had only heard of deer glue, donkey glue and horse glue, but she had never heard of fish glue before. She was very surprised, her beautiful eyes sparkling with curiosity, looking lovely.

  "Fish glue is made by boiling fish skin." Wu Ji knew she didn't understand, so he had to explain it to her in detail: "Deer glue, horse glue, and donkey glue are all excellent materials for making bows. But the best material for making bows is fish glue. I'll teach you how to make it."

  Wu Jie called Wu Qing to call a few people, washed a large pot, and lit the fire. After washing the fish skin, put it in the pot and cook until boiling, then add a small amount of lime, and a gel-like substance appears in the pot, which is the fish glue.

  The next thing is filtration and concentration. The process of concentration is a steaming process, which heats to evaporate the water content and obtain fish glue.

  The whole process is not difficult, nor is it cumbersome, it's just that it takes a long time, and after wasting a lot of time, it's finally completed.

  Looking at the fish glue, Wu Qing had a bewildered expression: "Ji'er, do you know magic? You actually managed to make glue out of fish skin?"

  "Alchemy?" Wu Jie couldn't help but chuckle. If you knew that in modern times, there's a subject called chemistry, how would you react? Smiling, he replied: "Third Uncle, this fish glue and deer glue, horse glue, donkey glue are all the same, just boil them down and they'll come out. With fish glue, I can make the best bow!"

  Later generations proved that among all glues, fish glue is the first choice for making high-quality bows. At that time, the glues used to make bows were deer glue, horse glue, and donkey glue. If Wu Jiaoluo uses fish glue to make a bow, he will definitely be able to make the best bow.

  "How is this done?" Yang Xiuxiu also came in strength, rolled up her sleeves, revealing two sections of white jade-like wrists.

  "This isn't difficult, I'll teach you right now. First, call the craftsman over." Wu Ji ordered, and Wu Qing hurried off to summon someone.

  After these people arrived, Wu Ji began to teach them how to make bows. Making bows must be an important category of Wu's military industry, which requires a group of bow-making masters, one is to recruit some, and the other is to cultivate their own.

  Wu Jie studied the bows of the Song Dynasty, but they couldn't satisfy him, so he wanted to improve them. The main improvements were: Firstly, the horn, the best material for the horn was water buffalo horn. However, in the north, water buffalo horns were hard to come by, and only sheep's horns could be used as substitutes. Using sheep's horns, it was impossible to make the best bows, so Wu Jie decided to use water buffalo horns.

  Two is the glue used, fish glue, not animal glue.

  This is the north, fish glue is somewhat difficult to get, and fish glue is more expensive and harder to come by. This doesn't stop Wu Jie, who only needs to use fish glue at the most critical stress points, while using animal glue for other parts, thus achieving the goal of improving bow quality without increasing costs too much.

  The third area for improvement is to increase the bow's curvature. The curvature can enhance the bowstring's potential energy, that is, reduce the force needed to pull the string, making the arrow shot from the bow have greater lethality.

  The bowstring is a method that was not used in ancient Chinese bows. If there were bowstrings, Wu Ji's bow would have been very popular.