Chapter 73 (1/2)

Chapter 73 Artillery Test

In the west of Border Town, near the Chishui river.

The snow didn’t permit the cart to move a single step further; the entire group of people had already spent half a day dragging the carriage to the artillery field.

“What is this?” asked Carter, who had already become somewhat accustomed to the fact that the Prince would repeatedly come up with new inventions, “Is this just a bigger gun?”

“You are almost right,” Roland confirmed. He directed his men to remove the cover so that he could personally adjust the angle of the cannon. He Set its angle parallel to ground level, pointing towards a snow pile.

The principles of cannons and guns were identical, so calling it a larger version of a gun wasn’t inappropriate. The cannon used for the test was able to shoot 12-pound heavy iron balls. Before they could ignite the lead, the chamber had to be loaded with gunpowder and the iron ball. As a reference for the cart, Roland took the old designs from the cannons seen in history books. But to improve their durability, Roland had told the carpenters to replace many parts that were usually built out of wood with their iron counterparts.

In order to manufacture the cart for the cannon, Roland almost spent as much time on it as for the cannon itself. Three skilled carpenters needed one whole week to finish it, the especially time-consuming part was the wheels that had the diameter of half a human.

First, the carpenters had to produce four square bars of equal length. These bars were then baked by fire until they could be bent. Afterwards, knives were used to peel away the excess. Finally, an outer coating of iron was applied to the wheels. This process alone took more than four days.

So in Roland’s eyes, this limited cannon made by hand took on a very special place. Now, when he dragged it out for a test, he had already made special arrangements.

Chief Knight Carter and the Militia Commander Iron Axe were both at his side, as always. Also, there was his personal guard along with twenty members of the militia who were acting as sappers and lookouts. As for the witches, he had Nightingale and Lightning by his side. Thanks to Nana, the prejudice towards witches had been significantly reduced. In the eyes of the Militia, the most important person here was Nana when excluding the Prince.

“According to the usual process, we have to clean the cannon’s barrel first.”

Roland said,, while he could picture the blueprints of the cannon, this particular operation plan was a blank sheet for him. Within his brain he went through various cannon shots he had seen in films, trying to figure out the right process, but only heaven alone would know how effective it would be.

Lightning, in high spirits, took a mop and began cleaning the cannon. While cleaning the muzzle – her contract was different to that of the other witches – as long as she was allowed to personally operate all of Roland’s new inventions, she would always be willing to help him to the best of her abilities, even without any other payment or remuneration.

Since Roland had to save money, he quickly accepted her terms. However, if he had any secret projects, he would still be able to study it secretly. Within his mind there were still many ideas he hadn’t realized and were only waiting to be implemented. For now, he would just have to throw her the occasional few pieces in order to distract her.

Sweeping around with the mop, Lightning was able to clean up some junk, but in accordance to the process, she had to clean it a second time. Taking another mop, she started the cleaning again until she’d finished.

“Has everyone seen it?” asked Roland towards the crowd of guards and militias. The artillery test was also a drill. If he was able to increase the production rate of guns, the militia was bound to turn into an infantry, exchanging the pike for the gun. But even then they would need to go through many training sessions before they were good enough to use both types of hot weapons.