Two Thousand Miles Is Still a Short Distance

Wang Er's words left Li Si and the others behind Ying Zheng completely dumbfounded.

What did he mean by "Your Majesty the First Emperor, the state has issued a decree"?

Why did that sound so strange?

"Sir, the Great Wall is a grand design for the ages. To prevent the northern threat, it must be built. Conscripting laborers is naturally a last resort. The suffering is in the present, but the merit will last for millennia. I do not care about being cursed by history. As long as future generations can use the Great Wall's defenses to fend off the Xiongnu, I believe it is all worth it."

"This land may not always belong to the Great Qin, but it must always belong to Huaxia."

"Therefore, even if conscripting laborers to build the Great Wall is wrong in a thousand ways, I am willing to bear this eternal infamy."

Hearing Ying Zheng's words, Wang Er could not help but feel an even deeper admiration for this emperor of the ages.

He smiled and said, "The Great Wall naturally still needs to be built, but we can use more scientific methods to build it. Later on, many large-scale machines will be brought over. A single machine can do the work of ten thousand men, so there will be no need to exhaust the people and drain the treasury."

"Besides, with the help of us from the future, the so-called Great Wall defense line is naturally optional. The invention of artillery has long since rendered city walls meaningless. The reason we are still building it is because the Great Wall will become our iconic landmark in the future."

"What is artillery?"

Wang Er's words left Qin Shi Huang and the others completely bewildered.

Although he had visited the future, Qin Shi Huang had really only shared a drink with Li Shimin and Zhu Yuanzhang.

He had not truly understood or come into contact with many things from the future.

"Do you mean to say, Sir, that in your future, city walls are no longer built?" Li Si could not help but ask.

Wang Er smiled and nodded, then had someone bring over a missile launcher vehicle.

Under the perplexed gazes of Qin Shi Huang and the others, a drone equipped on the missile vehicle took off directly into the air.

Everyone was greatly alarmed. Feng Quji spoke up, "This, this, this... is this an iron bird? It can actually fly!"

"This is called a small drone. It is man-made. You can also understand it as an iron bird. In our future, there are even larger aircraft that can not only carry people into the sky but also travel a hundred thousand miles in a single day," Wang Er explained.

"What? It can carry people into the sky? And travel ten thousand miles a day? How is this possible?" Everyone was stunned.

At this time, a soldier operating the drone nearby spoke up, "Young Master Wang, there are no inhabitants within a hundred kilometers to the northwest. We are clear to fire."

"Alright, then fire," Wang Er nodded.

Upon hearing this, the soldier immediately began a series of operations: setting the coordinates, locking the direction, and pressing the launch button, all in one smooth motion.

"Whoosh!"

Then, under the dumbfounded expressions of Qin Shi Huang and the others, a missile soared into the sky like a giant dragon. After reaching a certain altitude, it changed its trajectory in mid-air and flew toward the northwest at an extreme speed.

"Boom!"

In merely about ten breaths of time, an earth-shattering explosion rang out from a hundred miles away. It sounded like a dragon's roar, leaving everyone from the Great Qin utterly terrified.

Next to the missile vehicle was a monitor displaying a clear live feed from the drone. Qin Shi Huang and the others all witnessed the scene of the missile striking.

A distant mountain peak had actually been completely leveled.

"This, this, this... the future actually possesses such terrifying weapons!" Li Si and the others all gasped in shock.

They were clearly standing right here, yet not only could they see what was happening a hundred miles away, but they could also launch a dragon-like weapon out of thin air to blow a mountain peak a hundred miles away into flat ground.

If this were to be used in the military, they dared not imagine how terrifying it would be.

No wonder Wang Er had just said that in the future, city walls had lost their meaning.

"Sir, such a weapon must be considered a pillar of the state in your future. I did not expect you to be so righteous as to directly deliver such a machine to my Great Qin." Qin Shi Huang took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the astonishment in his heart.

However, Xia Fei shook his head. "This is nothing much. It's just a short-range missile. It can hardly be called a pillar of the state."

"Short-range?"

Everyone looked at each other in dismay. It could kill enemies from a hundred miles away with such terrifying destructive power, yet it was only considered short-range?

How could that be possible?

"It is short-range. The missiles launched by these two vehicles can reach a maximum distance of about a thousand kilometers, oh, which is what you would call two thousand li," Wang Er spoke again.

As soon as he said this, everyone from the Great Qin was shocked and simultaneously gasped.

They had originally thought that a weapon capable of hitting an enemy a hundred miles away was already absurd enough.

But now, Wang Er was saying that its maximum range reached two thousand li?

"This, this, this..."

After the initial shock, Li Si's voice trembled as he continued, "Doesn't that mean if we had such a missile vehicle, we could strike the main camp of the Xiongnu directly from here?"

"Sir, if two thousand li is only considered short-range, how far can the furthest missile in your future reach?" Qin Shi Huang's eyes burned brightly.

"Twenty-five thousand kilometers, which is fifty thousand li. Those are intercontinental ballistic missiles. They are launched into outer space, and because of that, they are almost impossible to intercept," Wang Er explained.

"Fif... fifty thousand li?"

Everyone was shaken once again.

At this time, Wang Er fetched a globe and placed it in front of them.

"Sir, what is this object?" Qin Shi Huang looked at the globe and asked with a face full of confusion.

Wang Er said, "This is a globe, which is a model of the land beneath our feet."

"Does Sir mean to say... the land beneath our feet... is actually spherical?" Li Si, Feng Quji, and the others felt their entire worldview shatter at this moment.

Wang Er nodded. "It is spherical. Don't ask me why people standing on it don't fall off; even if I explained it, you wouldn't understand. This involves knowledge of physics and geography. Later on, people will come over to teach you."

Qin Shi Huang nodded. "Sir, can our Great Qin forge this kind of weapon ourselves?"

"No."

Wang Er shook his head without a second thought. "This thing was created through the efforts of generation after generation of our people. The current Great Qin cannot do it. However, you can start by researching ordinary cannons."

"The basic principles of those things are similar to missiles, and they are relatively simple to manufacture. A single shot can blast down a city wall."

"This mainly involves two aspects: iron smelting technology and gunpowder technology."

"We can talk about weapons later. For now, we need to solve the electricity problem first."

With that said, Wang Er led the people of the Great Qin to a large truck, which was loaded with the first batch of solar photovoltaic panels that had been transported over.

With the help of the Black Ice Guards, unloading the cargo was naturally simple, but the installation process would be more complicated. He had only brought fifty or sixty people with him this time, and this manpower was far from enough.

Just as Wang Er was at a loss for what to do, he saw another group of people arriving through the portal.

"Xia Fei, Uncle Wang, why did you come over?"

Seeing this, Wang Er hurriedly went to greet them. The arrivals were none other than Wang Yousheng and Xia Fei.

Weren't these two currently in the Great Ming and the Great Tang?

"Young Master Qin had us bring some people over for you. This is all of them, transferred from the Great Ming and the Great Tang. There are about two hundred of them in total. See if that is enough; if it is not, you will just have to make do with them for now," Xia Fei said.

As he spoke, he introduced the two figures standing behind him to Wang Er. Surprisingly, they were Cheng Chumo of the Great Tang and Zhu Di of the Great Ming.

"These two were sent over by Li Er and Old Zhu. They said they wanted to contribute to the Great Qin as well. It is a gesture of goodwill, representing the Great Tang and Great Ming's support for Brother Zheng. You will be responsible for guiding them from now on," Wang Yousheng explained.

After he finished speaking and exchanged a few more brief words with Wang Er, Wang Yousheng and Xia Fei departed through the portal.