Early in the morning, Li Daoxuan was lying in bed, chatting on WeChat with the manager of Ningyang Toy Company, A Barrel of Pudding: “Bro, can you really not make 1:200 scale hand crossbow toys?”
“Cannot.” A Barrel of Pudding said: “At this scale, the hand crossbow is too small; we cannot make the mechanism to this size; not even the simplest mechanism.”
Li Daoxuan: “Alright, that is to say, only bows are left?”
A Barrel of Pudding replied: “Yes, bows are fine. Ancient long bows’ arms are generally 1.5 meters long; 1:200 scale toys are 7.5 millimeters. Plastic toy bows of this size we can easily make. In fact, we have already made them. We hope you can put them in the Little Yellow Bike to sell in your next video. The sample has been sent out; as we speak, it might be almost arrived.”
“Wow? Such efficiency?”
Li Daoxuan heard the doorbell ringing, ran out to open the door. The courier handed him a box. Opening it, it was indeed a box of toy bows.
The bow arms were 7.5 millimeters long, small and cute. They used super thin elastic bands as bowstrings, simply adorable to the max.
A single bow was too small; the small box in Li Daoxuan’s hand held at least thousands of them, densely packed. At a glance, it could trigger trypophobia, almost dying on the spot.
This belonged to a special toy; the target user group was small. Only those who loved watching “Daily Life in the Tiny Kingdom” would buy such scale small toys. Used together with plastic miniature figures, they could set up a huge ancient battlefield at home. Recently, toys of this theme sold quite well, and Li Daoxuan received good commissions.
Find any villager? I am a villager myself! Gao Yiye first tried it herself, using her delicate arm to pull the bowstring…
Originally thinking she couldn’t draw such a large bow fully, unexpectedly, she could pull it open.
“Wow, Deity, I can even use this bow.”
Li Daoxuan was delighted; the girl drawing the bow seemed quite easy. Thought about it carefully and understood: traditional long bows used fine wood for arms and tight cowhide tendons for strings; to pull it open, great strength was naturally required, and the arrows shot out were very powerful.
But this toy bow of his used plastic bow arms and loose elastic band, so of course it was easy to pull open. So easily pulled, the arrows shot out wouldn’t be powerful.
“‘Tighten the bowstring a bit; pull it tighter. Find the right tension for you, and you can shoot powerful arrows.'”
Gao Yiye untied the bowstring, pulled it tight, and reattached it to the bow arm.
This time it was too tight; the girl used all her strength, yet couldn’t draw the bow fully open, exhausting her, puffing her cheeks and panting.
Li Daoxuan was amused; the girl gritting her teeth and puffing her cheeks… wanted to kiss her…
Just then, Li Daoxuan glimpsed from the corner of his eye that Gaojia Village had another guest. His face was unfamiliar, but his attire seemed a bit familiar; thought for a while and remembered: the Clerk of the County Lord.
Thirty-Two had already been notified by the sentinel and was greeting him at the Gaojia Fortress gates. Both being clerks, once they started talking, witty banter flew all over; after talking for a while, they were still jesting without getting to the point. Li Daoxuan couldn’t be bothered to listen, turning his attention back to Gao Yiye, watching her play with the bow.
She loosened the bowstring a little bit; this time pulling the bow, she could finally draw it open without being too strenuous.
Li Daoxuan had no arrows to give her; this box of bows didn’t come with arrows. Gao Yiye found a round-headed bamboo stick herself, set it on the bowstring, then drew the bow fully and released…
The bamboo flew through the air, passed over several rows of encircling houses, and disappeared.
A distant cry of pain; Gao Yiye was startled: “Oh no, I shot someone.”
Li Daoxuan’s gaze followed; he laughed: “It’s fine; you hit the Clerk of the County Lord, not one of ours. Plus, the round-headed hollow bamboo won’t injure; shot in the chest, he was just startled.”
She had long felt… the Deity was extremely biased; their own tiny people were all treasured, while outsiders were completely disregarded. For origınal chapters go to NoveI[F]ire.net
Mr. Wang told about “Journey to the West”, where those immortals indulged their pets causing mischief in the lower realm. When Sun Wukong came demanding accountability, they didn’t punish their pets but just took them home. Seems gods are all like that.
Gao Yiye whispered: “The Deity is so good.”
Li Daoxuan didn’t catch it: “Huh?”
Gao Yiye said loudly: “I’ll go see Thirty-Two; maybe I need to help the Deity deliver divine orders.”
Li Daoxuan: “Oh! Go ahead.”
The girl swung the bow over her back and pattered towards that side.
Li Daoxuan directly turned his attention over…
Thirty-Two accompanied the Clerk, strolling casually in Gaojia Fortress, talking as they walked.
The Clerk: “That just scared me to death; luckily it was a round-headed bamboo arrow.”
Thirty-Two: “Don’t know which child was being mischievous; I’ll definitely scold him properly later.”
The Clerk: “Forget it; it’s a small matter; don’t frighten the child. This time I came to visit the Li Family, ordered by the County Lord, specifically to request to borrow a batch of weapons…”
Thirty-Two’s eyebrow twitched: “Borrow weapons?”
The Clerk rubbed his hands: “I know this request is a bit… ahem… but Thirty-Two must have heard that bandits from Luochuan County and Yichuan County have gathered at Huanglong Mountain, with massive bandit strength of at least five to six thousand. If such a large group of bandits invade Chengcheng County, I fear the county town will not be safe… sigh… by then, your Li Family may also find it hard to avoid trouble.”
Thirty-Two had already received news from Bai Yuan and wasn’t surprised, but upon hearing “the county town will not be safe,” still got a fright. Although Gaojia Village was safe, his own wife was still in the City God Temple in the county town “saving the common people.” If the bandit army stormed the county town, my beautiful, fair, plump wife… ah, the consequences are unimaginable.
Thirty-Two: “Bai Family Fortress is rooted at the foot of Huanglong Mountain; if the bandits do not break through Bai Family Fortress, how could they reach the county town?”
The Clerk: “Thirty-Two, you imagine the bandits as proper armies. Only proper armies would attack city by city. Bandit army pays no heed to that; if Bai Family Fortress is hard to take, they change routes out of the mountain, bypass Bai Family Fortress, and directly scatter to the rear. If they break through Fengyuan Town, they will head straight for the county town. Thus, the County Lord wants to organize another local gentry army, forming a second line of defense. (See chapter comment for layout map)”
This made perfect sense; if Bai Family Fortress holds, the bandits would scatter, which is also highly unfavorable.
Li Daoxuan heard their conversation, thought for a moment, and said: “Yiye, tell the Clerk that we can lend him five hundred long bows.”