novelraw Chapter 133: A forest of spears, men as strong as iron!
Chapter 133: A forest of spears, men as strong as iron!
The day after Wei Song announced the "wrap party" for the celebration.
The largest main conference room of The Legend of Han and Chu production crew was once again packed.
Today's agenda was a "pre-battle" meeting.
They were to discuss the core of the entire film with the highest investment, the largest scale, and the greatest danger—the Battle of Pengcheng.
Wei Song, Qin Feng, the producer, the special effects supervisor... all the core creative personnel were present.
But today, the main seat symbolizing the highest authority was empty.
The meeting time arrived, right on the dot.
The conference room door was pushed open.
A figure walked in.
The newcomer was over sixty years old, not tall in stature, but his entire being was like a tree root that had been wrung dry of all moisture, frighteningly lean and tough.He wore a black practice uniform washed to a faded white, with the most ordinary cloth shoes on his feet, moving without a sound.
The moment he stepped in, the previously hushed discussions in the conference room were instantly vacuumed away.
Martial Arts Director, Yuan Kui.
Known in the industry as "Director Yuan."
A living legend, hailed as a walking "living compendium of weapons."
He didn't even glance at that empty main seat, walking straight to the whiteboard at the front of the room.
"I saw the new requirements Director Wei sent yesterday," he spoke, his voice rough.
"You want realism, a sense of oppression, the feeling of a miracle where thirty thousand broke through five hundred and sixty thousand."
He picked up a marker and tapped its end heavily against the whiteboard.
"Then throw away all the action choreography we've done so far."
That one sentence made the faces of several deputy martial arts directors sitting near him instantly turn ugly.
That was the fruit of their team's labor after pulling all-nighters for several days.
"Those flying around things, that's called wuxia, not war," Yuan Kui said with his back to them, not a trace of emotion in his tone.
"War, is physics."
He signaled to his assistant.
The assistant immediately inserted a USB drive into the computer. The projection screen lit up, and a CG simulation animation began to play.
The perspective was a bird's-eye view.
A unit of ancient heavy cavalry, formed into a ruthless wedge formation, pierced through a massive infantry square.
Flesh and blood bodies were like paper before that torrent of steel.
The entire process made one's scalp tingle.
"The core of the Battle of Pengcheng is the cavalry blitzkrieg," Yuan Kui said, pointing the tip of the marker directly at the red dot at the very front of the formation on the screen.
"Xiang Yu, was not fighting alone."
"He is the formation's eye."
"His ferocity is manifested in his role as the arrowhead of the entire charge formation, leading the cavalry behind him, tearing open the enemy's defensive line with that pure destructive force."
"What I want, is not him fighting ten men alone."
Yuan Kui's voice wasn't loud, but it made everyone's eardrums buzz.
"Where Xiang Yu is, his formation is there."
In the conference room, everyone was stunned speechless by this overwhelming sense of real warfare.
Damn it, this is the real Hegemon!
"So," Yuan Kui turned off the video and faced everyone, "I need a long take."
"Jiang Ci, as the arrowhead."
"Behind him, following our twelve best horse stunt riders, forming a minimal-scale charge formation."
"Use one shot, charging down from a high slope, piercing through a Han army infantry square composed of three hundred people."
"Boom!"
This statement made the Evergreen producer, who had just been immersed in shock, instantly spring to his feet!
"No! Absolutely not!"
"Director Yuan, are you joking? A long take? A high-speed charge piercing through a crowd?"
He was so anxious he broke into a sweat, his voice changing pitch.
"The horse's speed, human reaction, the dust on set, any single link going wrong could cost lives!"
"This isn't filming, this is risking lives!"
The safety consultant beside him immediately chimed in, "Director Yuan, this risk level is far too high, insurance companies would absolutely not approve it."
Yuan Kui listened quietly, his face, etched with deep lines, expressionless.
Only after they had finished speaking did he slowly open his mouth.
"Then use special effects."
"Have Jiang Ci ride a green horse, swing his spear a few times in front of a green screen."
"Then have the post-production company create the thousands of troops and horses."
"That would be the safest."
Hearing this, the producer thought he had compromised and was about to breathe a sigh of relief.
Yuan Kui's next sentence nailed him to the spot.
"But if you film it like that, I won't direct it."
"..."
"My name, Yuan Kui, doesn't do fake things."
He gently placed the marker in his hand on the table, making a soft sound.
"Director Wei, you make this decision."
Everyone's gaze turned to director Wei Song.
Wei Song, of course, wanted the sense of realism Yuan Kui described!
But... safety and budget were two swords hanging over his head.
The entire conference room fell into a terrible stalemate.
In the corner, Qin Feng held his thermos cup, slowly blowing on the steam, not saying a word.
He had long anticipated this situation.
That old madman Yuan Kui, after all these years, his temper hadn't changed a bit.
Right then.
A calm voice cut through the solidified air.
"Director Yuan."
It was Jiang Ci.
From beginning to end, he had only been listening quietly.
"To achieve the 'Horse and Rider Becoming One' state you mentioned, piercing through the enemy formation on horseback."
"As an actor, what is the first, and most core, mounted action one needs to master?"
This question left everyone in the conference room stunned.
At such a tense, confrontational moment, he actually asked a purely technical question?
Yuan Kui was also somewhat surprised.
He turned his head, truly sizing up this young man for the first time.
Jiang Ci's question didn't take sides, didn't try to smooth things over.
This calmness brought a trace of appreciation to Yuan Kui's cold, hard face.
"Talking is useless."
Yuan Kui was concise with Jiang Ci.
"Follow me."
He turned and walked out, his steps carrying an undeniable force.
Jiang Ci immediately stood up and followed.
Wei Song, Qin Feng, Zhao Yingfei, and a crowd of curious core creatives and staff also rushed out after them.
Only the producer and a few safety consultants were left behind, looking at each other, their faces darker than the bottom of a pot.
The production crew's dedicated equestrian training ground.
Yuan Kui led the crowd to a strange area.
There were no real horses here, only a massive mechanical device supported by countless hydraulic rods and steel frames.
At the top of the device was a saddle seat crafted to the exact proportions of a real horse's back.
"Dynamic mechanical horse."
Yuan Kui patted the machine's cold base.
"It can one hundred percent simulate all situations a horse might encounter on a battlefield."
"Emergency stops, turns, collisions, even rolling when tripped by a spear."
He looked at Jiang Ci.
"I want you to get on it and complete one move."
"Turning Horseback Spear Thrust."
As soon as the words fell, a barely suppressed commotion arose from the crowd.
"Turning Horseback Spear Thrust? Isn't that a move from novels?"
"This is one of the hardest equestrian moves, requiring you to forcefully twist your waist and exert force the moment your body is completely out of control..."
Qin Feng walked over to Wei Song, lowering his voice.
"Old Yuan's setup here nearly crippled Zhang Yaoyang's leg back in the day."
Wei Song's heart tightened.
"That kid, after winning the Golden Statue Award, wanted to transition to action films. But on the first day, he fell off this horse, fractured his shinbone, and was laid up for a full six months."
Qin Feng looked at the young man not far away who was already preparing to mount the mechanical horse.
"This kid, his courage is truly immense."
Jiang Ci had already sat on the saddle seat.
A crew member handed him a prop horse lance. It was extremely heavy in his hand, far from the lightweight stuff used in ordinary performances.
"Ready?" Yuan Kui asked.
Jiang Ci nodded.
Yuan Kui gestured to the operator.
"Vroom—"
With a dull hum, the entire mechanical horse came alive!
A violent shaking assaulted him without warning!
Jiang Ci's body jerked backward violently, the lance in his hand almost slipping from his grasp!
He clamped down hard on the cold "horse's belly," using all his strength to maintain balance.
But this feeling was nothing like riding a real horse!
The mechanical horse began turning and jolting irregularly, simulating a path through a chaotic crowd.
Jiang Ci was thrown about on top of it, swaying and stumbling, utterly disheveled.
He tried to lift that heavy horse lance, wanting to make a swinging motion.
But the tremendous centrifugal force made even raising his arm incredibly difficult.
Zhao Yingfei stood at the edge of the crowd, her pretty brows tightly furrowed.
Jiang Ci, however, seemed deaf to everything around him.
Amidst the disheveled shaking, he forced his body to memorize this feeling of being out of control.
Every muscle's resistance, every shift in his center of gravity, was clearly perceived and recorded in his mind.
Finally, after one particularly violent jolt, he barely managed to stabilize his posture.
He didn't try to make any more superfluous movements.
Instead, he raised his head and looked at Yuan Kui at the side of the field.
Those eyes, accentuated by sweat, were frighteningly bright.
"Director Yuan."
His voice was slightly breathless, but exceptionally clear.
"Please demonstrate it yourself."
"I want to see it clearly."