Chapter 26: artillery demo

"Respected Earl Paul Greyman, we are extremely sorry for your father's death, and we had no choice but to fight at that time..."

"Fulan Port will still exist as your territory, but if you can give her to us as a place to live, we are willing to dedicate our loyalty to you..."

"We will donate half of the property collected every quarter to you. We guarantee that the money you receive will be much more than the taxes you received before..."

This is a letter sent by the Shark Gang entrenched in Port Fulan. Paul asked people to read it to everyone at the meeting.

After the letter was read, everyone in the hall was overjoyed. These pirates were really delusional, and they even dreamed of splitting the land, especially when Arda's army had an absolute advantage.

Paul took the letter and tore it to shreds, "It's just a joke."

Not to mention that the pirates after the big defeat are not qualified to challenge him at all. Based on the revenge of killing their father, it is impossible for Paul to let them go, otherwise he will still mess around after it gets out.

"My lord, the training of two infantry battalions fully equipped has been completed. Please order troops to recover Port Flanders and wipe out these pirates." Bryce said the wishes of most of the officers.

The Earl did not agree: "Don't worry, they are already locusts after autumn, and they won't be able to jump for a few days. Let's test the newly developed firearms first. If they work well, our army will be even more powerful. We just take these Blind-eyed pirates try their knives."

After hearing this, everyone was very curious. The muskets and grenades had already opened people's eyes. I wondered what novelty this little count had come up with.

At this time, the Earl was in high spirits. The papermaking workshop built near the lord's castle was hardened day and night, and the paper produced was finally usable, and he summed up a set of feasible technological processes. Manager Ford took the first batch to manufacture The paper was sold all over the world in the Northwest Bay area, and some sales were finally opened.

Aristocrats and businessmen found that this new type of paper was really good and cheap, and they could buy a stack of it for a few bucks, and it didn’t bother them at all to write, draw, and keep accounts. Parchment paper is much easier to use. Another big buyer of paper is the monasteries in various places. In this era, the monasteries also have part of the educational function, so the demand for paper is naturally great.

The paper produced is still relatively rough and fragile. Paul ordered the craftsmen in the workshop to continue to improve the papermaking process and customize different prices according to product quality to meet the needs of customers of different classes.

After the sales are opened, the money will come. Although the current stage is only sold in the Northwest Gulf area, the profit is still very small, but the prospects are bright.

Of course, just like what happened on the earth, papermaking will eventually leverage the monopoly of the nobles and churches on cultural knowledge and benefit the people at the bottom. "This can be regarded as pushing the wheel of history." He felt a little proud in his heart.

…

In the camp in the forest that was used to train new recruits, the temporary tents and low fences have disappeared. Instead, there are brick houses and brick walls taller than a person, which have been transformed into A "military base" as the earl called it.

The internal guards in Huxin Town have also been expanded, and now the internal guards are full of a squadron. Two platoons of internal guards are stationed here. Outside the walls, soldiers with wolf dogs patrol the surroundings day and night.

In an open area near the base, Marlowe, Herman, Kelly and others in charge of weapon research and development were fiddling with something, and soldiers were closely guarding all around. If Earthlings were around, they'd be recognizable as a muzzle-loading bronze cannon in the style of the early nineteenth century. The overall structure of the artillery was designed by Paul with reference to the "traversing artifact" on the Internet in his previous life - the Napoleon Cannon. The structure of the gun mount carrying the gun body is very simple, consisting of four parts: wheels, main shaft, gun tailstock and pitching device. The device is composed of a screw connected to the breech of the gun and an adjustment handle, as long as the handle is turned, the muzzle can be raised or lowered.

There was a conversation between the Earl and a group of officers from afar: "I am going to name this place 'Fifty-One District', don't ask me what I mean by Fifty-One District, in short, it is called Fifty-one District..."

When Marlowe and the others heard the voice, they hurried over to greet him: "My lord, you are finally here, and I am ready here."

I saw the young earl running to the bronze cannon and affectionately "stroking" the cannon body from the beginning to the end.

Everyone: "..."

Paul cleared his throat and said, "Hmm! I brought everyone here, and it's up to you next."

Marlowe patted his chest and replied confidently: "Yes, my lord."

Thanks to the "contribution" of the pirate captives in the previous experiment, he is very confident in this public demonstration.

A double-layer brick wall was built 100 meters in front of the artillery, which was the target of this test firing. Marlowe ordered the gun crews to take their positions while they hid behind a low wall behind the guns to watch the firing.

The artillery crew consisting of 7 people came to the cannon with a bucket of water, and operated the cannon according to the established steps of their respective responsibilities.

First, use a long-stem cannon brush wrapped with wool on the top, dip it in water, and then extend it into the muzzle to clean up the sparks left after the last launch. It is not necessary for the first launch, but in order to prevent the artillery from forgetting this step in subsequent launches In the event of an accident, this step was strictly required to be carried out in each firing, and then a brush was inserted into the gun barrel to wipe off the moisture left in the previous steps, and then the flannelette-wrapped propellant package and a solid iron bullet were stuffed one after another. into the barrel, then compact the ammunition with the loading rod, and the loading is complete.

Entering the ignition stage, first use a thin iron cone to penetrate through the firing hole at the breech of the gun, and pierce the propellant charge to facilitate ignition. There are two ways to ignite. One is to insert a cotton fuze and then ignite the fuze. It takes a while for the fuze to burn. The advantage of this method is that it is safer. Another way is to use gunpowder to fill the ignition hole, use an ignition rod, and use the match rope wrapped around it to ignite the gunpowder in the ignition hole. The advantage of this method is that it can be fired quickly.

This demonstration used the fuze firing method. After the fuze was ignited, the artillery crew members quickly covered their ears.

The gunpowder was eventually ignited as the burning fuse shortened rapidly.

"boom!"

There was only a deafening roar from the four-pound bronze cannon, and the strong recoil made the cannon back a lot. Everyone standing behind the low wall was shocked, and the ground under their feet seemed to tremble slightly at that moment.

"Ah~~" The Earl looked fascinated.

After the thick smoke from the launch dissipated, everyone could clearly see the scene ahead. A terrifying hole had been opened in the thick brick wall. Everyone gasped, this power, if it hits the crowd...

Most immediately ran over to observe the artillery carefully, while several people, including Schroeder, surrounded Marlowe asking questions.

"After our many tests, this thing can hit more than a thousand meters."

"Firing bigger shells? Shooting farther? Of course, but the premise is that we allocate more funds for experiments."

"If you are proficient, you can fire 2 to 3 shots a minute, but frequent shooting will make the barrel overheat."

Marlowe raised the corner of his mouth, while suppressing the excitement in his heart, he responded to the officers' questions. Such a sharp weapon was actually made by me, and the original choice was indeed right.

"Military weapon! Military weapon!" the old knight Schroeder exclaimed.

"Big is beautiful~~Big is beautiful~~" Captain Holman muttered to himself while touching the gun body, as if opening the door to a new world.

"Marlowe, try a shot, and make them open their eyes again."

"Okay, my lord!"