The construction of the catapult cannot be caused in a day or two, which requires Ma Jun's repeated experiments, and even tearing down and restarting halfway through.

Ma Jun looks eccentric and lazy, but when he really gets to work, he concentrates and forgets to sleep and eat, as if he is a different person.

His level of concentration made Cao Liang admire.

The reason why Ma Jun is among the best among the ancient inventors is that in addition to his natural ingenuity and intelligence, the diligence and hard work of the day after tomorrow are also inseparable.

This road is undoubtedly full of thorns, or rather, there is no road at all, and you must rely on your own ingenuity to discover a road, without the courage and heart to be the first in the world, you will not be able to get on this road no matter what.

As a modern person, Cao Liang enjoys the fruits of modern scientific and technological civilization, and even has a disdainful attitude towards the inventions and creations of the ancients.

Why was it so difficult for the ancients to create a very simple thing?

Were the ancient people too stupid?

When he really integrated into this era, Cao Liang realized that he was very wrong, even if he knew the principle of the counterweight catapult, but could he build it? He knew the chemical name of the yellow dynamite and how it was made, but could he have to make it?

In this era of low productivity and scientific and technological level, any invention and creation is great, they are like a pedal, building the steps of human progress, they are the cornerstone of modern civilization, without these inventions and creations, modern civilization will become a castle in the air or a mirage.

Looking at Ma Jun's meticulous dedication and dedication, Cao Liang suddenly had a sense of respect, the inheritance of the torch from generation to generation of these people is the real driving force for social progress, the so-called emperors will fight for power and profit, bloodshed and fight, and cannot make the society progress, only they are the real cornerstone of civilization.

For the mechanical structure, Cao Liang knows that it is basically equal to zero, even those keel waterwheels that look extremely simple, every manufacturing step and link is extremely rigorous, and the requirements for any part are extremely strict.

Although Ma Jun said that he was not interested in building a keel waterwheel, when he actually built it, he couldn't hold back when he saw the mistakes of the craftsmen, and pointed at it himself, with a stern attitude.

An old man in his sixties is supposed to be able to live for a long time and ignore mundane affairs, but Ma Jun is different, he is simply an invention maniac, and his dedication to mechanical inventions is simply to the extent of fascination.

Cao Liang felt that he had really picked up a treasure, what a famous general, really compared to Ma Jun, it was really weak. It is no wonder that when Qian Xuesen wanted to return to China, the Americans tried their best to obstruct him, "no matter where he is, he is worth five divisions", and facts have proved that Qian Xuesen is worth more than five divisions.

Science and technology is combat effectiveness, if Ma Jun can develop a counterweight catapult and equip the army, it can completely improve the army's combat effectiveness and ability to attack fortifications.

There is also the crossbow of the big killing weapon, which is also a heavyweight weapon, these two pinnacles of the era of cold weapons, and the improvement of the army's combat effectiveness is absolutely real.

Sima Yi is scheming, and even Zhuge Liang has to admire his wisdom, but his ingenuity seems to have been used in the officialdom.

I don't know if it's Ma Jun's sorrow or Sima Yi's loss.

In short, recruiting Ma Jun is definitely Cao Liang's biggest and most affordable gain, and then think about Wen Qin, Liu Jing, and Xian Hong, who are currently serving under his father's account, as long as there is no accident, they may all be included in his account in the future, these talents are Cao Liang's weapons to deal with the Sima family in the future.

The more of these sharp weapons, the better.

The construction of the counterweight catapult and the construction of the keel waterwheel were carried out simultaneously, and the wood pulled in was piled up like a mountain, because Cao Liang sent people to build a Liba around it and sent sentry personnel, so it was difficult for outsiders to approach here.

Moreover, the Grange itself is an independent Grange, and except for the tenants who live on the land, there are obstacles around the Grange, and other idlers are forbidden to approach the land of the Grange.

Because the grange not only grows grain and grass, but also grows vegetables and raises pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks, in order to prevent criminals from stealing, the cattle steward is usually very strict in the management of the grange, and the tenants are not allowed to leave the grange at will, and outsiders are not allowed to enter the grange.

It's no wonder that Ma Jun will eat the closed door, maybe the cattle steward sees him as a bad person who wants to go into the grange to fish in troubled waters.

In short, Cao Liang inspected the circle and felt that the Grange was still relatively safe, even if there were fine works sneaking in, it would be difficult to find anything abnormal.

If you are not a professional, you can't tell the difference between the materials for the construction of the catapult and the material for the construction of the keel waterwheel.

Due to the essential difference between a counterweight catapult and a human-drawn catapult, as long as it is not loaded with stones for projection, few people in this era can recognize this as a catapult.

Cao Liang is indeed very cautious in this regard, he also knows that Sima Yi's sense of smell is very sensitive, and it is indeed difficult for some things to escape his ears and eyes, so he can only take this way of hiding from the world and the sea, and maybe he can hide from this old fox.

At present, the counterweight catapult is only in the research and development stage, and it only needs to be successfully developed and can draw detailed drawings.

As for mass production, the time is not yet ripe, Cao Liang does not want to make hundreds of catapults in the suburbs of the capital, if the imperial court finds such a large-scale possession of ordnance, he will definitely be charged with rebellion.

This kind of crime is something that Cao Liang can't bear.

The huge catapult can't be hidden, but the small and delicate repeater doesn't matter, Caojia Grange covers an area of thousands of acres, building countless cellars, hiding some repeaters, there seems to be no problem.

Since getting the design drawings of the repeater, Cao Liang has long been unable to suppress the excitement in his heart, and he really wants to make a few physical objects to see it.

This kind of weapon, known as the "machine gun" of the cold weapon era, has long been lost, and later generations only hear its name, but do not see it, Cao Liang is fortunate to witness it, and he really feels extremely lucky.

What's more, this is a repeater that is almost several times more efficient than Zhuge Repeater, which has never appeared in history at all, and Cao Liang is really looking forward to it.

This time he hired a few more blacksmiths, the purpose of which was to build a repeater.