"Is that the new weapon the chieftain mentioned—the one your soldiers are carrying? An iron rod set into a wooden stick? The end of the wooden stick looks a little like the stock of a Divine Arm Crossbow too. Just how is this thing used?" You Ye stood beside Qu Bing, watching the Shence Guard soldiers form ranks. He could not help asking curiously about the weapons they were using.
"That's right. It was invented by the chieftain. It's a long-range weapon made using the principle of propelling projectiles with gunpowder, the same as a cannon. In reality, these weapons are simply small cannons whose power has been reduced."
Qu Bing looked at the soldiers ahead and instinctively began explaining it to You Ye. But halfway through, he suddenly remembered something and continued.
"Oh, right. I forgot you've never seen a cannon, Uncle You."
You Ye could not help feeling awkward. Yes, he had indeed never seen a cannon. He had not even heard that the chieftain had somehow produced cannons. He had been away for nearly four years, while the cannons had been developed three years ago, during that winter.
Afterward, those cannons had been hauled to the grasslands and used to defeat Modun. A year later, building on the accumulated craftsmanship and technical expertise from manufacturing cannons, Luo Chong had created the earliest Steam Engine using the method of boring cannon barrels.
After the Steam Engine was invented, it took nearly two years before the Han Tribe produced a train at the beginning of this year. Firearms had also appeared a little over a year after the Steam Engine.
Qu Bing had even participated in developing firearm ammunition. He just had not managed to produce Smokeless Powder or self-igniting powder. Instead, he had somehow extracted photosensitive chemicals from