Chapter 650: Chapter 422: Lenses
This was too surprising for Xiaomi.
It turns out that this world has more resources than she thought.
She didn’t know because she hadn’t been to the Capital City, hadn’t been to truly prosperous places.
The entire Cheng County, even Nanyang Prefecture, is far behind compared to the Capital City, where you can find all the good stuff from across the country!
Just like the telescope, which is Xiaomi’s "thousand-mile eye" in her space.
Even if the functions are slightly different, they are essentially the same thing.
However, after the surprise, another troublesome issue arose.
"You can make glass using sand and then grind lenses to create a telescope?"
Wei Ziang flipped through a book, deeply astonished.
Xiaomi reminded him, "Not just any sand will do."
Wei Ziang nodded, "What is this mirror?"
Mirror?
Xiaomi waved her hand, and a large full-length mirror flew over.
Wei Ziang couldn’t help but be surprised again, standing in front of the mirror for a while, tidying up his appearance.
Even a reflective bronze mirror can show one’s appearance, but compared to this so-called mirror, it’s far inferior.
Out of curiosity, Wei Ziang flipped through how to make the mirror.
Once his curiosity was satisfied, he found Xiaomi beside him, resting her chin on her hand, looking troubled.
"What’s wrong? Why aren’t you happy?"
Xiaomi frowned slightly, "Even though making these things seems simple, it’s not something you can succeed at in one go; it requires lots of experimentation."
"More importantly, we can’t just bring these things out so casually, right? If someone asks where we got them from, how do we explain?"
This was the most crucial issue. Everything else could be dealt with, but the telescope was something that could enhance border defenses, and it’s what Xiaomi was most eager to bring forth.
If they had this, patrolling would be easier, and enemies could be identified quickly; with just a couple of hills, a single person could monitor a large area.
By being proactive, they could catch those attempting to sneak in undetected.
Once security is ensured, large areas of land at the border won’t need to remain unused.
But then Wei Ziang smiled slightly, "So this is what Xiaomi is worried about."
After some thought, Wei Ziang picked up a pile of telescopes from the ground, selecting four of the worst ones, all binoculars.
Under Xiaomi’s curious gaze, Wei Ziang fiddled with them for a while, removing all the lenses from the four telescopes.
"Brother?"
Wei Ziang laughed, "If we make them into monoculars, that’s eight telescopes in total, right? That’s enough for patrolling."
Xiaomi was slightly surprised, "You know what I’m thinking?"
"Weren’t you thinking of improving patrol efficiency to ensure the safety of the grain within the borders?"
Xiaomi giggled a few times, recalling that this was indeed what they initially discussed.
"But brother, how are you going to do it? Won’t taking these things out arouse suspicion?"
Even though these are the worst telescopes she has, they can still see a distance of a thousand or several hundred meters without any problem.
As for the telescope tube, that’s not a concern; it’s the lenses that are precious, plus there are so many master craftsmen in the stone forest.
Saying this was still alright, but upon asking, Wei Ziang rolled his eyes at her, frustrated:
"You’ve already taken out so much grain; why are you afraid of these few lenses being suspected?"
Xiaomi laughed dryly a few times, realizing her brother was still upset, blaming her for being too impulsive.
Who said she went wandering in nearby towns, bought a lot of sacks and cotton bags, and even many bamboo baskets, but with a bit of investigation, they’d find out she didn’t buy any grain.
Those things were also sent to a certain deserted valley outside the city, and naturally, there’s no news of anyone transporting things near the stone forest.
There are flaws everywhere in this situation, so it indeed doesn’t make much difference with these few lenses.
These sixteen lenses will be crafted by the masters into eight monocular telescopes, enough for eight small teams to use.
However, Xiaomi pointed to the remaining ones, "Since we’ve taken them, why not take a few more?"
Wei Ziang shook his head, "The craftsmanship of those things is too exquisite. At the current level, even with the lenses, we can’t create such good ones, and it would be a shame to ruin them. Besides, eight is enough."
"Alright then," Xiaomi nodded, "We still have to figure out how to tell everyone the method of making glass, and from what you’ve said, with so many capable craftsmen in the Capital City, as long as they have a method, they can surely make them quickly."
While this sounds good, it really makes you a bit perplexed on how to explain the method.
Wei Ziang asked Ling’er to help get a wooden box to put the lenses in, preparing to take them to the stone forest the next day, letting his mentor friends take a look.
It probably won’t take more than three days for these lenses to become finished telescopes.
After packing everything up, he turned to see Xiaomi still deep in thought, so he rubbed her head.
"Alright, stop thinking about it; we’ll discuss it when there’s an opportunity. Didn’t you say you wanted to go to sea? We’ll find a chance to go out, and you can take out whatever you want then."
Xiaomi’s eyes lit up, "Oh right, why didn’t I think of that!"
Then she realized, "Ah, Brother, you knew I wanted to go to sea?"
Wei Ziang helplessly responded, "You’ve made it so obvious; how could I not understand? But don’t rush; it’s not the right time yet, you’re only thirteen, how could mom and dad be at ease?"
Plus, the sea isn’t like land; without comprehensive preparations, he wouldn’t allow Xiaomi to go to sea, even with him accompanying her.
Like he said, they’re still young, they have plenty of time to prepare, no need to hurry.
Xiaomi giggled twice, acknowledging she understood. She never went to sea in her past life, and she certainly wouldn’t act impulsively in this one.
After discussing, the two left the space, but Xiaomi hadn’t forgotten another matter.
After staying in the space for so long, it was already completely dark outside, and everyone else in the courtyard was asleep.
Like a thief, Xiaomi quietly pulled Wei Ziang along, gently leaping onto the roof.
At this time, the usually calm Wei Ziang couldn’t help but be filled with eager anticipation.
The moon! Xiaomi mentioned that using an astronomical telescope, you could clearly see the moon’s appearance.
Soon, the two found a suitable spot; today’s moon was very bright, a perfect time to observe it.
Not only Wei Ziang, but even Xiaomi was really looking forward to it, as she had never seen it in her past life, only images of the lunar surface on the internet.
If it weren’t for finding two astronomical telescopes while looking for the other ones, she wouldn’t have remembered this.
Soon, following the instructions, they set up the telescope, and then came bursts of exclamations.