The weapons workshop in the former workshop area of Willsburg has been transformed from a simple log cabin two years ago into a large compound built by the river, with four factories and six smaller rooms filled with busy craftsmen and laborers, and the sound of tinkling bells and pounds.

Today, in addition to making the weapons and armor needed by the Welsh legions, the Arms Workshop also undertakes part of the supply of weapons and armor trade from the European Merchant Houses, and this money can also fill the huge gold hole of the Weapons Workshop a little.

In a stone warehouse inside the workshop compound, Glorent, the chief weapons smith of Wales Province and the manager of the weapons workshop, looked at Art, who was pale, and the cold sweat on his forehead couldn't stop seeping out, and he said in an extremely cautious voice: "Lord Earl, according to your improvement requirements, we have increased the outer diameter of the barrel again, and the number of fine iron forgeries used has also doubled......

Art didn't pay any attention to Glorent's introduction, his eyes fell on the so-called "barrel" on the long wooden table in front of him.

The eight-diamond-shaped "barrel" is two feet long, the inner half is one inch in diameter, and the outer diameter reaches two and a half inches, the tail end is closed, and a small round hole is drilled near the tail end.

Disappointment surged back into Art's mind, and this thing was far from the timeless weapon he had imagined in his heart.

After squatting in the weapons workshop for half a month, this is already the third so-called "barrel" (it is more appropriate to call it a barrel) that Glorent and his workshop craftsmen have been working around the clock to build.

Although Art is not omnipotent, it is not unseen to see muskets and artillery, but who will have enough to eat at that time and have nothing to study these things.

So Art had already given Glorent an order and a sketch a year earlier, asking him to lead the craftsmen of the weapons workshop to forge a kind of fine iron with high strength and toughness, and then try to turn this fine iron into the eight-diamond-shaped tube in the sketch.

Glorent was indeed highly skilled, and it took him and the craftsmen of the weapons workshop to explore a set of things that Arter called "gun barrels" in just half a year, but the iron pipe was rough in appearance and uneven in the inner wall, so it was redone by Art.

In the past ten days, Yate has used two "barrels" for experiments, but none of them can meet the standard, one of the rough and deformed copper ejection of the bore, and the chamber is blown up after several test firings; The other, which was more direct, blew up during the first test firing.

Anyway, this third one looks absolutely sturdy.

Art reached for the "barrel", good fellow, he almost didn't get it.

"Alright, I'm going to send it for a test launch tomorrow." Art glanced at the chamber wall and put the dead guy back on the wooden table.

"Ron, hurry up and go to the Beiguan Military Fort to give an order, let Otto, Angus and Baskazak come over at noon tomorrow to watch the secret test launch of the new weapon, by the way, call Cooper as well."

............

In a clearing in the mountains east of Welsburg, about three miles from the Workshop District, a soldier in full-body plate armor and a full helmet was filling an iron pipe fixed to a long wooden board with black powder, and then gently compacting the black powder with a long wooden stick, while another soldier in the same costume carefully stuffed a polished iron cast pellet into the iron pipe, and then gently compacted it with a long wooden stick.

After completing this, the two of them laid the thick wooden board that fixed the iron pipe flat, pressed it with a stone, and then lay on the ground, and according to the method taught by Art himself, the iron pipe was aimed at the middle of the target twenty steps away, the so-called target was actually a thick wooden plank covered with a fine iron plate about the thickness of the front chest of the plate armor.

The soldiers in front of him took out a small cylinder filled with black powder and gently shook the black powder on the small round hole at the end of the iron pipe, and after the hole was filled with black powder, he continued to shake it as he moved until a small black line spread out of the black powder extended to the end of the long plank.

By the way, the book-chasing app I've been using recently, cache to read books, and read aloud offline!

When everything was ready, two heavily armed soldiers retreated behind the long planks and touched them lightly with a long stick with sparks.

Burst~

The moment the black powder was ignited, the two soldiers had already covered their ears and jumped into the dirt pit behind them.

呲~poof。 Bang!

A string and two clouds of black smoke of different sizes made the people more than fifty paces behind the pit startled again.

Art raised his hand and removed the two large shields in front of him, and saw the scene after the smoke cleared - the iron plate was pierced, and the irregular hole left by the iron pellet was faintly visible......

This was the nineteenth test launch.

Due to the rough bore of the barrel, there is no shooting accuracy at all, and the distance to be able to hit the target has been moved from 60 steps at the beginning to 20 steps now, and this distance can finally hit the target.

"Lord Earl, the plate armor penetrated, and the iron pellet also penetrated the plank, stuck on the other side of the plank, and the barrel still has nothing unusual." A soldier who checked the barrel of the gun ran over to report.

Art turned to look at the officers and weaponsmiths beside him, who were whispering in amazement, and focused his gaze on the alchemist who had just risen from the explosion.

"Have you decided you can still increase the dose?"

Of course, the alchemist wanted to see the power limit of the black powder he had developed, "Lord Earl, I think it can be increased by half the amount of medicine." ”

The current power did not meet Yat's expectations, so he also wanted to increase the amount of medicine, so he ordered the soldiers: "Increase the filling by half, and the target should be set back thirty feet."

The soldier turned around in command.

After a while, a deafening explosion sounded again after a blinding burst of fire.

It was a long time before the soldier ran to Art's side.

"My lord, the armor and planks are completely shattered, and the iron pellets are embedded in the hard soil behind the planks."

The soldier paused, "However, there is an extremely small crack in the tail of the iron pipe~"

Art's heart was cold again, and he coldly ordered for a while, "Add another fifth of the filling, and put another layer of fine iron plate on the target." From now on, that thing could explode at any moment, you've seen the power of a barrel explosion, so be careful if you don't want to die. ”

In this way, two more test shots were made, and the "musket" that was thicker than the small cannon was completely blown up......

The technological bottleneck under the basis of productivity is an insurmountable gap.

In the era when metallurgical technology and forging technology were not yet developed, muskets and artillery were really not built with just a mouth.

The dark Middle Ages swallowed away the aura on Art's head.

Maybe that's not necessarily a bad thing......

............

In a secret room in the weapons workshop, Art held a small piece of "barrel" that had been blown up in his hand and said to Cooper, Otto and several other henchmen and weapon craftsmen: "Today, everyone has also seen the terrifying power of this new weapon, but we can't solve the problem of forging qualified barrels for the time being. You've seen the power of that thing, and if our soldiers were to fight with this kind of thing, we don't know how many unjust souls would have to be blown up by themselves. ”

Several weaponsmiths bowed their heads in shame.

Art noticed the emotions of several craftsmen and raised his voice, "But all of you here have witnessed and even performed miracles yourself, and although we have not yet been able to create a weapon more powerful than the crossbow, this starting point has surpassed everyone else in the world. ”

Obviously, all of you here don't realize the power of the musket, which is indeed very powerful, but it is difficult to make, too close to shoot, complicated to use, and will explode from time to time to hurt people, far less than a crossbow.

Seeing that everyone was not excited, Art smiled awkwardly and changed to a topic that could be exciting, "All the craftsmen involved in the development of the barrel will give a reward." The master was rewarded with one hundred and fifty pfennigs, the craftsman one hundred, and the apprentice twenty for labor. ”

A few craftsmen cheered up a little.

"Also, I declare one thing. After consulting with Cooper and Glorent, as well as several high-ranking commanders of the Military Office, it was decided to formally transfer the weapons workshop to the army and place it under the direct jurisdiction of the Military Office. In a moment, I will sign an order, and from today onwards, all the people in the weapons workshop will join the army, but all craftsmen and above will enjoy the treatment of officers, and the craftsmen, craftsmen, and workshop managers will respectively grant the false positions of the captain of the middle flag, the captain of the company, and the deputy commander of the sub-regiment, and receive the corresponding military salary. Apprentices in the weapons workshop are treated as legionnaires, and servants are treated as ordinary recruits. For the time being, the location of the Weapons Workshop will remain unchanged and will be designated as a military exclusion zone, and everything here will be subject to the Legion's decrees in the future. ”

"In addition, I have decided to set up an institution in the weapons workshop dedicated to the research and improvement of new weapons, which is called the weapons research room, with the rank of company leader, and three deputy managers at the level of flag captain, all members of the research room are squadron commander-level officers, and the material expenses required by the weapons research room are directly allocated by the military affairs government, which is absolutely fully guaranteed. For the time being, Glover is in charge of the Weapons Research Laboratory, and several craftsmen in the workshop are also deputies, and the members are selected by you, whether they are craftsmen or apprentices in the workshop, or army soldiers or government officials, or even people from outside Wales, as long as you think that you have the ability to improve and create new weapons, you can enter the weapons research room after being inspected and approved by the Military Affairs Office. ”

The few people present in the secret room already knew about these news, so there was no surprise or surprise, and besides, as high-tech personnel, weapon craftsmen and craftsmen enjoyed huge salaries and benefits in the government affairs system. However, the province of Wales is based on military force, and the army enjoys absolute glory in this land, and several high-end talents of the weapon workshop have directly become middle and high-ranking officers in the army, which can be regarded as a gain.

"Lord Earl, after we are transferred to the army, we must work harder to make more high-quality weapons and armor to help your lordship sweep through the wasteland." Glorent was a man of learning and awareness.

"Serve your lordship and serve the army."

"Allegiance to Your Excellency~"

Several craftsmen and craftsmen also expressed their opinions.

Naturally, Odo Angus was happy.

"Okay, the handover of the weapons workshop will be handled by Otto and Cooper on behalf of the government and military affairs respectively."

"The first thing the Weapons Workshop has to do when it is transferred to the army is to make another new weapon, since the barrel of the gun we make will explode to pieces, let's just make a weapon that kills people by exploding pieces of iron......"