Cannon Demonstration

"Honorable Earl Paul Greiman, we are deeply sorry for your father's death. We were forced to act in that battle..."

"Franklin Harbor will remain your territory, but if you can bestow it upon us as a place to live, we are willing to offer you our loyalty..."

"We will offer you half of the wealth collected each quarter, and we guarantee that you will receive more money than you did from taxes before..."

This was a letter sent by the Shark Gang entrenched in Franklin Harbor, which Paul had read aloud to everyone at the meeting.

After the letter was read, everyone in the hall was amused. These pirates were truly delusional, dreaming of carving out territory, especially with the Arda army holding an absolute advantage.

Paul took the letter and tore it to shreds. "It's utterly ridiculous."

Putting aside the fact that the defeated pirates were in no position to challenge him, Paul could not let them go simply because of the murder of his father, otherwise, how would he face others in the future?

"Lord, two fully equipped Infantry Battalions have completed their training. Please order the dispatch of troops to retake Franklin Harbor and completely wipe out these pirates," Bryce said, expressing the wishes of most of the officers.

However, the Earl did not agree. "There's no rush. They are already like locusts after autumn, and won't be able to jump around for many days. Let's test the newly developed firearms first. If they are effective, our army will be even more powerful. We can use these ignorant pirates to test their mettle."

Everyone was very curious after hearing this. Firearms and Hand Grenades had already been eye-opening, and they wondered what new things this young Earl had come up with.

At this time, the Earl could be described as high-spirited. The paper workshop built near the lord's castle, after day and night efforts, finally produced usable paper, and a set of feasible processes was summarized. Chief Steward Ford took the first batch of manufactured paper and promoted it all over the Northwest Bay area, finally opening up some sales channels.

The nobles and merchants found that this new type of paper was indeed of good quality and low price. They could buy a large stack for just a few coins, and they didn't feel bad about using it for writing, painting, correspondence, and accounting. It was much better than those expensive Parchments.

Another major buyer of paper was the monasteries in various places. Monasteries in this era also had some educational functions, so the demand for paper was naturally very large.

The paper produced now was still relatively rough and fragile. Paul ordered the workshop's craftsmen to continue to improve the papermaking process and customize different prices according to the quality of the products to meet the needs of customers of different classes.

After the sales channels were opened, the money came in. Although the current stage was only selling in the Northwest Bay area, the profits were still small, but the future was bright.

Of course, as happened on Earth, papermaking would eventually shake the monopoly of nobles and the Church on cultural knowledge, benefiting the people at the bottom. "I can also be considered to have promoted the wheel of history." He was a little proud in his heart.

In the forest camp previously used to train new recruits, the originally temporary tents and low fences had disappeared, replaced by brick and stone houses and brick walls taller than a person. This place had been transformed into a "military base" in the Earl's words.

The Internal Guard Unit of Lakeheart Town had also been expanded. The current Internal Guard Unit was now a full Company, with two platoons of Internal Guard soldiers stationed here. Outside the walls, soldiers leading wolfhounds patrolled the area day and night.

In an open area near the base, Malo, Herman, Kelly, and others in charge of weapons research were fiddling with something, with soldiers closely guarding the surroundings.

If there were people from Earth nearby, they would recognize that what they were fiddling with was a muzzle-loading bronze Cannon with an early nineteenth-century style.

The overall structure of the Cannon was simplified by Paul with reference to the "time-travel artifact" on the Internet in his previous life - the Napoleon Cannon. The structure of the gun carriage carrying the gun body was very simple, consisting of four parts: wheels, main shaft, breech frame, and elevation device. The elevation device consisted of a screw connected to the breech and an adjustment handle. As long as the handle was turned, the muzzle could be raised or lowered.

From afar came the sound of the Earl and a group of officers talking: "I plan to name this place 'Area 51'. Don't ask me what Area 51 means, just call it Area 51..."

Malo and others heard the sound and quickly ran over to greet him: "Lord, you're finally here. I'm ready here."

The young Earl ran to the bronze Cannon and affectionately "stroked" the gun body from beginning to end.

Everyone: "..."

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

Malo patted his chest and replied confidently: "Yes, Lord."

Thanks to the "contribution" of the pirate prisoners in the previous experiments, he was very confident in this public demonstration.

A double-layer brick wall was built 100 meters in front of the Cannon, which was the target of this test firing. Malo ordered the gun crew to take their positions, while everyone else hid behind a low wall behind the Cannon to watch the launch.

The 7-member gun crew came to the Cannon with a bucket of water and operated the Cannon according to their respective steps.

First, they used a long-handled gun brush with wool wrapped around the tip, dipped it in water, and inserted it into the muzzle to clean up the remaining sparks from the last launch. The first launch was not necessary, but in order to prevent the gunners from forgetting this step in subsequent launches and causing accidents, this step was strictly required in every launch.

Then, they used a brush to extend into the barrel to dry the moisture left by the previous step, and then stuffed the flannel-wrapped propellant bag and a solid iron Shell into the bore one after another, and then compacted the ammunition with a loading rod, thus completing the loading.

Entering the ignition stage, first use a thin iron awl to probe into the ignition hole from the breech, piercing the propellant bag to facilitate ignition.

There are two ways to ignite, one is to insert a cotton fuse and then ignite the fuse. The fuse takes a while to burn, and the advantage of this method is that it is relatively safe.

The other method is to fill the ignition hole with Gunpowder and use an ignition rod with a burning 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 fuse firing method. After igniting the fuse, the gun crew quickly covered their ears.

As the burning fuse quickly shortened, it finally ignited the Gunpowder.

"BOOM!!!"

Only a deafening roar was heard from the four-pound bronze Cannon, and the powerful recoil caused the gun body to move back a large distance. Everyone standing behind the low wall was startled. At that moment, the ground under their feet seemed to tremble slightly.

"Ah~~" the Earl wore an expression of utter intoxication.

As the thick smoke from the firing dissipated, everyone could clearly see the scene in front of them: a terrifying hole had been blasted through the thick brick wall.

Everyone gasped, taking in a cold breath. If a Cannon like that were fired into a crowd...

Most of them immediately rushed over to carefully examine the Cannon, while a few people, including Schroeder, surrounded Malo, peppering him with questions.

"After our repeated tests, this thing can shoot over a thousand meters."

"Fire larger Shells? Shoot even further? Of course, we can, but only if you allocate more experimental funding to us."

"If you're skilled, you can fire two to three shots a minute, but frequent firing will cause the barrel to overheat."

Malo curled the corner of his mouth, suppressing the excitement in his heart as he answered the officers' questions. Such a powerful weapon had actually been created by my hand; my choice back then was indeed the right one.

"A weapon of national importance! A weapon of national importance!" the old knight Schroeder exclaimed in admiration.

"Big is beautiful~~ Big is beautiful~~" Captain Holman muttered to himself as he stroked the Cannon's body, as if a new world had opened up before him.

"Malo, fire a buckshot round and let them open their eyes even wider."

"You got it, Earl!"