Hanhai City, Military Manufacturing Camp.
Red molten iron pours out of the smelting furnace, and the flying iron flowers reflect the bronze faces. The scorching heat permeates the workshop, making it difficult to breathe.
However, the craftsmen seemed unaware. They carefully poured the molten iron into the pre-made clay molds before proceeding with the next step.
A craftsman with a heavy back and a bare chest said in a deep voice, "Lord Wang, I guarantee that the casting will be successful this time. If it doesn't work again, you can twist off my head!"
Wang Chen smiled and said, "It's not that serious."
After Shangguan Wuji surrendered, he immediately took out the artillery drawings he had drawn before and gave it to Military Manufacturing Camp for casting.
Hanhai Pass Outside the Yan Army is pressing forward with great force. New catapults and siege engines are erected every day. Anyone can see that once their preparations are completed, they will launch a siege battle.
Compared with hundreds of thousands of the Yan Army, fifty thousand Hanhai Army is undoubtedly at an absolute disadvantage in terms of quantity.
However, Hanhai Army holds the Xiongguan Fortress and has great defensive advantages. Therefore, Yan Army's tactical intention is very obvious, which is to use a large number of siege equipment to bulldoze the wall.
If you want to deal with such a powerful Yan Army, the heavy crossbows and catapults in Hanhai Pass are obviously not enough.
Wang Chen believes that the artillery he "invented" will definitely give the enemy a memory that will never be forgotten!
But at the beginning, the process of casting the cannon was not smooth.
Although Wang Chen came up with drawings and casting methods, the first batch of cast iron cannons had many problems and there was no way to put them into use.
However, the level of smelting in this world is quite high, and the craftsmen of Military Manufacturing Camp are highly skilled. Under the personal supervision of Wang Chen, they tried and tested repeatedly at all costs, and finally figured out the correct casting method.
After the molten iron solidified, the clay mold was removed, and after being immersed in tung oil and cooled, a dark cast iron cannon appeared in front of everyone.
This cannon is nearly ten feet long and weighs several thousand kilograms, all made of fine iron.
Wang Chen knows that this kind of front-loading smoothbore gun is best made of copper, which is light in weight and not easy to explode.
However, Hanhai Prefecture is rich in iron ore, but there is very little copper ore, and the output is also very low, which is not enough to meet the needs of cannon casting.
Fortunately, the quality of the refined iron smelted by Military Manufacturing Camp is excellent.
After the craftsmen completed polishing the inside of the barrel, Wang Chen ordered the cannon to be sent to the military training ground.
Whether it's successful or not, you'll have to fire a few shots to know!
Gunpowder and cannonballs were already prepared. The former was wrapped in silk and stuffed into the barrel of the cannon, then tamped down, and then solid cannonballs weighing more than ten kilograms were loaded into it.
Aiming at the dolls standing hundreds of steps away.
At this time, a large number of the Hanhai Army soldiers and Imperial Forest Guard had gathered in the martial arts arena. Everyone looked at the cast iron cannon added to the shaft with curious eyes, wondering what the purpose of Wang Chen's tinkering with this thing was.
Wang Chen did not let people disperse these sergeants who were watching the fun, because the appearance of this kind of Heavy Weapon can greatly change the situation of future wars, and it can also improve Hanhai Army's morale now.
In full view of everyone, Wang Chen personally took a torch and lit the fuse.
boom!
With an earth-shattering roar, the iron cannon's muzzle suddenly spurted out a ball of hot flames, and the Yuan Yuan shells instantly escaped from the barrel and shot towards the puppet array hundreds of steps away.
Since the onlookers on the martial arts field were not mentally prepared at all, they all seemed to be struck by thunder, and many of them were stunned on the spot.
In fact, their performance is considered very good. If it were an ordinary person, they would probably wet their pants!
But the result of this shelling shocked everyone.
I saw a straight gap penetrated through the dense array of dolls, with broken wreckage all around, and a large pit suddenly appeared on the stone wall behind, with cracks like spider webs.
A black round iron ball is deeply embedded in it!
Everyone who witnessed this scene felt numb.
Although the cannonball did not penetrate the stone wall, the wall of the martial arts arena was made of hard green granite. It was tall, thick and very solid. The effect was quite terrifying.
You must know that this is not the attack of high-level Martial Artist, but the power of a weapon that can be manufactured on a large scale!
None of the Hanhai Army soldiers present were fools. They immediately thought that if hundreds of cannons could be mounted on the Hanhai Pass city walls, would hundreds of thousands of the Yan Armys and a large number of siege vehicles still be a threat?
Everyone looked at each other with excitement.
"Go on!"
Wang Chen checked that there were no cracks or hidden damage inside or outside the cannon, and immediately ordered the gun to be loaded again.
Several sergeants used unskilled techniques to clean the barrel and reload the gunpowder and shells.
This time Wang Chen asked people to install grape bullets.
That is, shotgun.
On the martial arts field, the sound of cannons started again.
As a result, the cannon boomed, and Hanhai Army Commander Shangguan Wuji was recruited.
After seeing the power of the iron cannon, sixth-tier Martial Venerable fell into a long silence.
His vision is naturally wiser and far-reaching than that of ordinary sergeants.
The cannon forged by Wang Chen certainly poses no threat to Martial Artist of the same level as Shangguan Wuji. He is even confident of blocking the cannonballs head-on by relying on his strength.
The question is how many digits of sixth-tier Martial Venerable are there in the entire Great Liang!
And as long as there are enough raw materials, such cannons can be manufactured continuously. If hundreds of cannons bombard Shangguan Wuji alone...
Can he block them all?
The most important thing is that even ordinary people can control and use this weapon!
It was precisely after realizing the role of cannon in war that Shangguan Wuji felt extremely entangled in his heart.
But he was not an ordinary person after all. He quickly suppressed his inner turmoil and praised, "This iron cannon is really a weapon for defending the city. With its existence, Hanhai Pass is unbreakable!"
"Lord Wang, I have never admired anyone in my life, you are the first!"
Regarding Hanhai Army Commander's praise, Wang Chen smiled lightly and said, "Great General is ridiculous."
A weapon for defending the city?
Cannon is not only a weapon for defending the city, it is also an artifact for field warfare!
But Wang Chen had no intention of revealing this at the moment. He ordered the craftsman who came with him to test the cannon, "Go ahead, Military Manufacturing Camp will go all out to cast the iron cannon from today on."
"Within five days, I want to see at least ten iron cannons set up on the wall!"
Military Manufacturing Camp Master Craftsman immediately knelt down on one knee. "As you command!"
"Go ahead."
Wang Chen nodded.
Just a cannon is definitely not enough, there must be matching gunpowder. He had already come up with the formula and asked people to collect the raw materials for manufacturing, but Hanhai City didn't have much time left.
Wang Chen looked at the rolling snow-capped mountains in the distance, but his mind flew to the imperial capital thousands of miles away.
I wonder if Xi Jun is okay there!
——
The first update is sent.