The introduction of waterwheels brought a prosperous state to all of Great Qin.
Coupled with Lin Tian's promotion of papermaking and movable-type printing, the situation became even more remarkable.
The advent of papermaking and movable-type printing was a revolutionary reform for Great Qin, akin to overturning the heavens and earth.
Previously in Great Qin, the creation of books was exceedingly difficult.
Each set of books required an immense accumulation of bamboo slips to form a complete collection.
Furthermore, each character within them had to be carved meticulously, stroke by stroke, with a carving knife.
It would take one person three to five days, yet still not finish a complete set of books.
The cost involved was self-evident.
Consequently, the dissemination of books within Great Qin was not widespread, and the enormous cost was daunting.
However, with the advent of paper and movable-type printing, everything changed.
The cost of paper was very low, even ten times less than that of bamboo slips.
Moreover, the manufacturing process was not difficult, easily allowing for mass production.
Movable-type printing was even more so. Once typeset, they could be reused repeatedly, a qualitative change for printing books.
With the combination of these two, tens of thousands of identical books could be printed with ease.
Such manufacturing speed was truly astonishing.
But for the impoverished scholars throughout the land, this was their salvation.
With paper books, the cost of their studies would be greatly reduced.
This reduction would lead to a significant improvement in the literacy rate of the people of Great Qin.
This was an immensely beneficial development for the entirety of Great Qin.
Following this trend, Great Qin would only grow better in the future.
However, amidst Great Qin's burgeoning prosperity, an unexpected event occurred.
Individuals whom Lin Tian had not foreseen appeared at the borders of Qin.
"We've been marching for so long, have we arrived?"
"We have, we have! I can confirm, the Eastern ancient kingdom is ahead! As soon as we advance another twenty li, we will enter the Eastern ancient kingdom!"
"Hoo! We're finally here! Once we truly enter the cities of the Eastern ancient kingdom, I will surely indulge myself for ten days and ten nights within their walls to alleviate the hardships of our long expedition!!"
"Yes! Once we enter the cities of the Eastern ancient kingdom, all of us in the Crusader Army shall relax for ten days and ten nights!!"
Upon hearing that they had reached the Eastern ancient kingdom, every soldier of the Crusader Army who had traveled from afar displayed smiles on their faces.
These Crusaders had come from Rome, enduring countless hardships, finally reaching their destination, the legendary ancient Eastern kingdom.
How could this not excite them? How could they not wish to indulge themselves?
If possible, they wished they could dismount right now and enjoy themselves thoroughly.
Fortunately, the cities of the Eastern kingdom were only twenty li away, not a great distance for them.
Especially after their journey, where they had conquered numerous tribes, their perceptions had shifted.
They believed that the ancient Eastern kingdom possessed wealth, but not power.
Therefore, they assumed that their army of one hundred thousand would find it not difficult to conquer the ancient Eastern kingdom.
However, upon actually reaching the borders of Qin, they immediately discovered something different.
Although the city at the Qin border only had twenty to thirty thousand troops, it possessed high walls and deep moats, making it difficult to attack and easy to defend.
They could only look up at the towering city walls of Qin, with no recourse.
"What… what is this? How can the cities of the Eastern ancient kingdom be so magnificent?"
"This doesn't seem right! The Eastern ancient kingdom is somewhat different from what we anticipated!"
"With such high city walls, they are comparable to our own capital! How are we supposed to breach them? We don't have any siege weapons!!"
These Crusaders possessed only swords, shields, and warhorses. Under such circumstances, their task of attacking the city was extremely difficult.
Consequently, their army of one hundred thousand stood dumbfounded before the city of Great Qin.
However, while they were stunned, the Qin soldiers within the city were not.
"Bad, enemy attack, it's an enemy attack!"
"Enemies have appeared, a large number of unknown enemies have appeared, defend the city quickly!"
"Quickly inform the general, quickly report to His Majesty, these enemies are not to be trifled with!"
The soldiers of Great Qin were formidable, and after unifying the land, their combat effectiveness had been continuously improving.
Many weapons had undergone upgrades.
Because of this, although the Qin soldiers within the city were fewer than the Crusaders, they did not descend into widespread panic.
Numerous defensive siege weapons were also deployed onto the city walls.
Among them, the most intimidating was undoubtedly the Qin crossbow.
The current Qin crossbow was even more powerful than before, and its types were more diverse.
As soon as they were placed on the city walls, the Crusaders immediately felt a great sense of threat.
"Hiss! How is this possible? How could they have so many arrows?"
"This… are their arrows not too powerful? To be able to store so many arrows at once, how are we supposed to charge through?"
"There are too many weapons and equipment here. Have we encountered an important city of the Eastern ancient kingdom? How can their defenses be so strong!"
These Crusaders had no understanding of Qin at all.
They did not even know that the current world was ruled by Qin.
All they knew was that in this region, there was a very ancient kingdom.
This kingdom possessed vast riches.
Driven by greed for wealth, they had come directly.
Therefore, they had no comprehension of Qin's combat power.
Even a small city in Qin was mistaken by them for an important city.
This was because, in their own country, only important cities possessed such formidable weaponry.
Thus, in their minds, they felt unlucky to have chosen such an important city.
"Sir, what should we do? Should we go and find the next city?"
"We must search and see if there are any other cities nearby. This is an important city, we cannot linger here!"
"Sir is wise, we should find a place to settle down as soon as possible, so that our soldiers can rest. Only then will we have the strength to conquer this Eastern ancient kingdom!"
With this thought in mind, this contingent of Crusaders did not linger at this border city for too long, but instead went in search of other cities.
They intended to find another city as a breakthrough point to enter Great Qin.
...