Chapter 33 Gunpowder

"All stand up, the Fourth Prince has come down," Iron Axe clapped his hands and shouted before he could rest for a quarter of an hour.

Fanner quickly returned to his position. The previous special training made him have a conditioned reflex to obey the order. Almost subconsciously, he had already picked up the wooden pole and made a preparation for the previous stab.

The prince and his party walked up the city wall and walked past the back of the team. From the perspective of Fanner, he noticed that His Royal Highness slowed down when he passed his position.

Roland sighed in his heart, saying that waking up late will ruin the morning, and waking up early will ruin the day. This is indeed the truth. Just after finishing the aftermath of the night attack on the castle, I have to come to review the results of the recent training of the militia team. I'm sorry that I didn't sleep all night, and now I'm sleepy again and again. But he had to come. Now that the team has moved to the stage of pre-combat training, as the supreme commander, not showing up for a long time will lead to a decrease in his sense of existence, and people's hearts will become unstable.

Hmm...what to say during a general review? Roland thought about it. Hello, comrades, have you worked hard? If no one picks up the second half, it will be embarrassing to shout this slogan, so let's just ask someone to chat about family affairs, to show that you are a corporal, and you have a good reputation.

With that in mind, he patted a young man who looked fairly strong.

"It's been hard training, do you feel tired? Did you eat well for three meals?"

Based on the previous experience from watching the news, the other party's reaction should be to answer loudly, "I'm not tired, it's good!" In the end, he was so excited that he turned around and knelt down on one knee, which startled Roland.

Fanner felt that he was favored by God, and His Royal Highness actually cared about whether he was tired of training with a kind tone! Usually, let alone the royal family, even ordinary nobles are reluctant to say a word to them. He subconsciously imitated the knights to salute to the Prince's Royal Highness, no matter whether the etiquette was suitable for him or not, there was only one voice in his heart: in the future, when he returned to the old street, he could also be regarded as the number one person.

After being asked to stand up, Fanner's mind was still in chaos, and he couldn't remember how he answered.

In the end, when His Royal Highness asked if he had any opinions or views on the training, he could put it up, Fanner suddenly became sober-this is a good opportunity! If His Highness can make His Highness think that the militia team alone cannot shoulder the heavy responsibility of guarding the city wall, wouldn't he not have to worry all day about whether to run or stay?

He carefully pondered the words in his heart, "Respect... Your Highness, the number of the militia team is too small at present. According to the current training method, when the evil beasts attack, everyone can only defend one-third of the city wall at most. range. You see..."

Even if the prince recruits a few more batches, the training time is probably too late, Fanner thought. In addition, the weapons used by these people are also a big expense. It is very difficult for Border Town to gather up 300 long guns for 300 people in two months, and even 100 are very reluctant - so they are still training with wooden poles. .

If His Royal Highness can realize this, maybe he will recruit a group of mercenaries from other towns as the main defense force. At least they can go directly to the battlefield without training. At the same time, they bring their own weapons and armor, but the price is relatively high.

Roland thought for a moment, nodded and said, "You're right, it's not realistic to rely on a militia team to guard the entire city wall."

Fan'er was overjoyed, His Highness meant... Agree with him?

But the fourth prince didn't say what he expected to hear next, but called the iron axe to his side, "Evil beasts are just variants of beasts in a sense, they don't have the ability to think, right?"

"Yes, Your Highness, the common species of evil beasts are still no different from wild beasts, and even their habits are basically the same... But mixed species, I haven't seen much, and I'm not sure."

"That's fine. Although it is nearly 1,800 feet (six hundred meters) long from the Chishui River to the foot of the North Slope, we can induce them to attack certain areas."

"You mean trapping?" Iron Axe asked.

"It's a trap, but it's not the kind that hunters often use. Ordinary traps hide themselves to catch their prey, and I'm going to do the reverse, setting up pocket barricades away from the city walls, such as fences, dirt slopes, ditches, Force these mindless evil beasts to automatically detour. The continuous obstacles will guide the prey to the designated location, and finally focus on the defense area we have prepared," Roland said, looking at the iron axe, "As for how to lure these monsters, I I don't think anyone is better at it than you."

Iron Axe thought for a while, "It's no problem to guide them. Wolves don't like to touch water, wild boars are photophobic, and other evil beasts have their own habits. But Your Highness, this will cause all evil beasts to concentrate here. Is it too dangerous to be within six hundred feet?"

"If you only rely on spears and bows, that's true." Roland said confidently, "But now we have new weapons."

When it was time to leave, the prince came to Vanner again and patted him on the shoulder, "Good observation, what's your name?"

"Van... Vanna, Your Highness."

"I'll propose to my chief knight that you should be vice-president of the Pikes, Mr. Vanner, well done."

*****************

Roland built a new bungalow in the backyard of Duan Shaofang to make snow powder—that is, gunpowder.

This 300-square-meter house has only one entrance and exit, and implements the strictest security system. Two knights are guarding the door, and anyone entering is required to register and search to prevent the introduction of firelights. No fire sources are allowed indoors, so work will only start during the day. In order to prevent Nightingale from sneaking in, a gauze curtain was hung on the door frame.

"Is this the new weapon you're talking about?" Carter, who was summoned, picked up a little black powder with his fingers and put it in front of his nose to sniff, "Isn't this snow powder?"

Iron axe may not be clear, but Carter often attends royal ceremonies, and naturally knows that this is what is in the Ming gift bucket. The proud work of the alchemy workshop, the formula is a secret to outsiders, but if the prince wants it, he will definitely get it.

"It's snow powder, but it's not exactly," Roland said. "The latest improved product from the alchemy workshop, I call it gunpowder."

Gunpowder is a must-have farming artifact for any traveler. There are a wide range of material sources. As long as you know the optimal ratio of 1:1:7.5 of charcoal, sulfur and saltpeter, you can make it without any technical threshold.

Snow powder in this era is an inferior product with 60% of charcoal content, 20% of sulfur and saltpeter, and 20% of other exotic materials (such as mercury, butter, honey, etc.). It burns slowly and releases less gas. The gunpowder does not work as it should. But Roland knew that the alchemists were constantly experimenting with other ratios, and within thirty years at most, snow powder that was closer to the standard black powder formula would appear.

In history, it took a long time to completely eliminate cold weapons after gunpowder was invented, because the formula and the corresponding weapon manufacturing process could not keep up.

However, many people ignore that even without guns, gunpowder itself is a terrible weapon.

UU Reading Books welcomes all book lovers to come and read, the latest, fastest and most popular serial works are all in UU Reading Books! Mobile users, please read.