Section 7 Preparation

Ashruphat looked up at the High King, but the latter seemed unresponsive. It is clear that it is the intention of the High King to have this guard show provocation.

It seems that words alone are not very effective in convincing the High King. It's no wonder that as a young man, it's hard to get enough respect among ordinary dwarves, let alone command an army. Of course, the Institution of Engineers is an exception. Engineers acknowledge that there is enthusiasm and fresh ideas among young people – the latter being even more valuable.

Ashrufat suddenly grabbed the hand of the defiant dwarven warrior. The latter laughed. "Do you want to compete with each other?" he said. He was confident to overwhelm the young man, for unlike humans, dwarves grow in strength as they get older. Looking at the length of the dwarf's beard, you can estimate his strength.

The two men began to fight with one arm, but this time, even the High King who was watching from the sidelines felt incredible. Ashrufat easily suppressed the opponent, and with the strength of one arm, twisted the arm of the long-bearded warrior until he almost sprained the opponent's arm. Then he withdrew his hand, then reached out again like lightning, grabbed the Hammer Warrior, lifted it with the force of one hand, and threw it to the ground to the side. This fall was not light, and the guard couldn't get up for a long time.

Seeing this, several nearby Hammer warriors dropped their weapons and gathered around this side. Perhaps it was the connivance of the High King, or perhaps it was the sight of his companion being brought down so easily, and a chaotic battle soon broke out under the throne.

Even the High King forgot about other things and watched the fight beneath the throne for the time being. By dwarven standards, the Ashrufat master looked a little thin, but he was powerful and didn't stand below in this scuffle. Since everyone was wearing armor, this made the beating of the body almost ineffective, and the only targets available for attack were the face and neck. Eshuruphat protected his head with all his might, dodging or using his armor to withstand the fists of others. The High King clearly noticed that the young Grand Forge rarely threw punches, but each blow sent a stoic Hammer warrior to the ground. The target of his attack is always the chin, and every punch is steady and hard, never missed.

When the scuffle was over, half of the High King's guards were lying on the ground and struggling in vain, trying to get up but unable to do so. The rest of the Hammer Warriors who didn't participate in the battle stared at Ashrufat, who was still standing firmly in front of the throne. This scene moved even the High King.

"Master Ashrufat. The High King involuntarily raised a hand in tribute to this great warrior. He now understood that although this young man was a great foundry, he was definitely more than a great foundry. "I'll consider your suggestion. ”

In just one night, word spread throughout Karaz-Karak that the Society of Engineers was going to reclaim the peninsula. Although this rumor had been flying all over the world before, now, even the conservative dwarves understood that this plan was no longer wishful thinking or a myth of the members of the Engineers Guild. For the High King has accepted this advice. At least it has been officially revealed that the High King allows the Society of Engineers to prepare for war "without restraint".

It has been said that the High King met with the great foundry Ashrufat, and was eventually impressed by his eloquence. It has also been said that this was because the High King, after suffering a great defeat at Karak-Grom, was anxious to awaken the confidence of the dwarves with a victory.

But in any case, judging by those members of the Society of Engineers, they have stepped up their preparations for war. There are things that everyone has witnessed and cannot fake: in the warehouses belonging to the Society, members come and go all day long, moving all kinds of things around, in the workshops of the Society of Engineers in the city, one hears the clanging of hammers all night long, and on the streets, it is not uncommon to see a group of dwarves wearing the emblem of the Society of Engineers pushing a cart with its contents covered in canvas. The hotel owners are clearly aware of the change – many engineers from other places have moved into the city of Karaz.

As for the root of all this, the new Great Foundry, Ashrufat, has many people who have proved that he has been hiding in a small workshop since he returned from meeting with the High King. It was a "private workshop" for a dwarf with an interest in creating knick-knacks that could be made without the help of others. The most common use is to craft a weapon of your own. There was no particular idea of this, and since Ashruphat had locked the door, he was clearly making something important.

Of course, Ashrufat didn't make anything. Because he actually doesn't know anything about what to craft with a hammer and anvil (which is a basic skill for all dwarves). If anyone had crept in at this time, he would have been amazed: for the new Grand Foundry was writing something on the table in lingua franca (which is the language of man).

"In this war, the number of troops I can gather is about 6,000 to 7,000. Ashrufat wrote down his battle plan on a piece of paper. Although Carrie thought that she would just make a draft or something, Ashrufat insisted on writing them down on paper. This is something that Thomas has repeatedly emphasized – because the human mind is extremely difficult to fathom. It often happens that even the same person can't understand their past thoughts, and they can't even remember their past thoughts. Only with pen and paper can you write it down clearly.

"Carrie, do you have any opinions?" Ashrufat put down his pen and read his battle plan. He wasn't very satisfied, but he couldn't think of a better way for a while. There is a huge disparity in the number of enemies in this war, and we can never hope to end everything through one or two battles. The only way to do this is to gradually weaken the enemy through a series of small battles, destroying a part of the greenskins in each battle, and reducing the number of greenskins little by little by using ants to transport food. In order to achieve this goal, he must improve the mobility and reconnaissance capabilities of the army, and form a situation in which the battle is fought if it is advantageous and retreat if it is unfavorable, so that the greenskins cannot catch up and escape. And it is necessary to form a war of annihilation as much as possible, and not to allow the defeated Greenskins to flee back to join another tribe. Because this is equivalent to increasing the difficulty of the next battle.

"Carrie?" Carrie didn't answer, so Ashrufat asked again. In fact, he just asked subconsciously, because all this time, Carrie has never given him any advice on war.

"Ah, master, you ask me this?" said Carrie, who seemed a little confused in her voice. "But, to be honest, I don't really know much about these primitive forms of warfare. But to be honest, I don't think it's too difficult. ”

"So, what do you know about war?"

"I know how to fight. In fact, it's simple, that is, in the endless void, control the spaceship, and use energy weapons and protective force fields to attack and defend. Calculate and predict the enemy's attack, and at the same time counter the enemy's calculated prediction of us. It's boring to say. Hee-hee...... Ah, you might not be able to imagine that, but you can play as two heavily armed hoplites in one-on-one combat. That's pretty much the concept, that's my war. ”

"But master, you don't need to be so troubled. Remember when I asked you to teach the dwarves the tricks that would greatly increase the combat power of your army. When the war starts, I'll think of a way. ”

During this time, Ashrufat, as a great forger, promoted several small techniques provided by Carrie. These are not special inventions, they are all based on existing things that can be easily improved. For example, the simplest one is to have engineers use a small amount of paste to make the gunpowder powder into granules.

"Can you really significantly improve the use of gunpowder using this method?" Ashrufat asked Carrie in his mind with some suspicion. According to the general logic, powders are always better ignited than granules.

"Trust me. Carrie replied. "Anyway, the big sweet potatoes will tell you the results in a few days. ”

Now, whenever Carrie wants to, he calls dwarves "big sweet potatoes". Although in a sense this is a figurative metaphor, it does not alleviate the contempt and contempt in her tone.

In fact, Carrie looks down on almost everything now, full of condescending arrogance. She called the nezumi "the rats", the humans "the fools", the dwarves "the big sweet potatoes", the elves "the arrogant lowly creatures", and the greenskins "the brainless beasts".

Ashrufat picked up a musket beside him. It is a standard musket from the Society of Engineers, with a delicate appearance, far lighter than a human musket. Not only that, but the gun also had rifling in the chamber – in fact, it was grooved in the barrel – which was said to be effective in reducing the adverse effects of gunpowder residue on firing.

Carrie has already said that if you can change this rifling and transform it into a spiral shape, you can greatly increase the range and accuracy of the musket. Of course, the same is true on the artillery side. However, I am afraid that there will be no time for this because they will not have more time to prepare.

"In a handmade musket, it's really good. "Carrie has a very high opinion of these muskets. "We've reached the pinnacle of craftsmanship and there's little room for improvement. In this world, these big sweet potato firearms can really be taken out to show off. ”

It's more than showing off. Eshurufat remembered that in the previous bloody battle between Karak and Grom, in order to break through the fire defense of the dwarves, the rats paid hundreds of thousands of blood.

"But at the end of the day, there is no way to decide a war with this level of firearms. The range is too close, the power is not enough, and the frequency of firing is not enough. Carrie continued. "It's okay to defend the city, and it's not bad to siege it. However, in field warfare, although the long-range firepower is very strong, it is still necessary to have the cooperation and assistance of melee troops...... By the way, maybe we can increase the power of the cannonballs with their runes. ”

"The power of the shells. ”

"Now the dwarves have solid bullets, chain bullets, and scatter bullets, but there are no flowering bullets. ”

"What do you mean by a 'blossom bomb'?"

"It's just that the middle of the shell is hollowed out and gunpowder is stuffed in. When the shell hits the ground, the gunpowder explodes, which can not only kill the enemy, but also scatter the fragments of the shell to create a large killing area. It's even better to explode before you hit the ground, and you can cover a large area of enemies. ”

"How do you explode when you hit the ground?" asked Ashrufat, puzzled.

"This ...... In fact, it is to make fuses...... But that's too much to cover. I think that if you teach this to the dwarves, even a great forger will seem too knowledgeable. So we might as well use the Dwarven Clan's ready-made rune technique. ”

The so-called runes are the magic of the dwarves. Due to their own constitution, the dwarves have little affinity for the magic eight winds, and cannot appear mages who manipulate magical energy like other races. But they invented runes to channel magical energy directly into objects. Truth be told, almost all dwarves have some runic skills to enhance the items they make, especially weapons and tools.

"Discover a new rune...... It can be used on top of ammo, which shouldn't cause any special attention. ”