Chapter 1011.
Hanhai City, Military Manufacturing Camp.
Red iron poured out from the furnace, the splattering iron reflected the bronze-colored faces, and the scorching heat filled the workshop, making it difficult for people to breathe.
However, the craftsmen did not even realize, they carefully poured the iron into the pre-made clay mold, and then proceeded to the next step of the work.
A tiger-backed, bare-chested craftsman said in a deep voice: “Sir Wang, this time I guarantee that the casting will be successful, if it doesn’t work again, you’ll rip my head off!”
Wang Dust smiled and said, “It’s not that serious.”
After Shangguan Wuji submitted, he immediately took out the artillery drawings he had previously made and handed them over to the military manufacturing battalion for casting.
The Yan army outside Hanhai Pass pressed on in force, with new stone throwers and siege vehicles erected every day, anyone could tell that once their preparations were complete, they would launch a siege battle.
Compared to the hundreds of thousands of Yan troops, the 50,000 Hanhai troops were undoubtedly at an absolute disadvantage in terms of numbers.
However, the Hanhai army was guarding the strong pass and had a great advantage in defense, so the Yan army’s tactical intent was very obvious, that is, to use a massive amount of siege equipment to push down the pass wall.
To deal with such a powerful Yan army, the heavy crossbows and stone throwers in Hanhai Pass are obviously not enough.
Wang Chen believed that his own “invention” of artillery would give the enemy a memory they would never forget!
But at the beginning, the process of casting the cannon was not smooth.
Although Wang Chuan came up with drawings and casting methods, the first batch of cast iron cannons had so many problems that they could not be put into use.
However, the level of smelting in this world was quite high, and the craftsmen of the military manufacturing battalion were very skillful, and under Wang Chuan’s personal supervision, repeated experiments were conducted at all costs, and the correct casting method was finally worked out.
Iron solidification and then take off the clay mold, and immersed in tung oil cold quenching, a black cast iron cannon presented in front of everyone’s eyes.
This cannon length close to ten feet, weight up to thousands of pounds, all using fine iron casting and become.
Wang Chen knew that this kind of front mounted smoothbore cannon was best cast with copper, light weight and not easy to blow up.
However, Hanhai County is rich in iron ore, but copper ore is very little, and the production is also very low, which is not enough to meet the needs of casting guns.
Fortunately, the quality of iron smelted by the military manufacturing camp was excellent.
After the craftsmen finished polishing the inside of the cannon’s chamber, Wang Chen ordered the cannon to be sent to the military drill ground.
The success of the cannon would be known only after a few shots!
Gunpowder and shells have long been prepared, the former wrapped in silk and stuffed into the chamber and then pounded, and then more than a dozen pounds of solid shells loaded into the inside.
Aimed at a set of mannequins erected hundreds of paces away.
At this time in the martial arts field has gathered a large number of Hanhai soldiers and feather guards, everyone with a curious look at the cast iron cannon added to the carriage, do not understand what Wang dust drummed up this thing for.
Wang Chen did not let anyone disperse the soldiers who were watching, because the appearance of this kind of heavy weapon could greatly change the situation of the future war, and also improve the morale of Hanhai army at the moment.
In full view of everyone, Wang Dust personally took a torch and lit the fuse.
Boom!
Accompanied by an earth-shaking roar, the muzzle of the iron cannon steeply spewed out a hot flame, and the round cannonball instantly discharged, shooting towards the mannequin formation hundreds of paces away.
As the onlookers on the martial arts field were not prepared at all, they all seemed to be bombarded by thunder, and many of them were confused on the spot.
In fact, their performance was considered to be very good, in the place of ordinary people, it was possible for them to directly wet their pants!
But the result of this shelling made everyone’s jaws drop.
Only to see that the dense mannequin formation was penetrated through a straight gap, the neighborhood was full of broken debris, while the stone wall behind it suddenly appeared with a large crater, cracks as dense as a spider’s web.
A round black iron ball was deeply embedded in it!
Those who witnessed this scene all had their scalps tingling.
Although the shell did not penetrate through the stone wall, the walls of the martial arts arena were made of hard green granite, high and thick very solid, hitting such an effect was already quite terrifying.
It was important to realize that this was not the attack of a high-ranked martial artist, but the power of a weapon that could be mass-produced!
The Hanhai soldiers present were no fools, they immediately thought that if hundreds of cannons could be set up on the walls of Hanhai Pass, would hundreds of thousands of Yan troops as well as a large number of siege vehicles still be a threat?
Everyone looked at each other, all showing excitement.
“Continue!”
Wang Dust checked that there were no cracks or dark wounds inside or outside the cannon and immediately ordered it to be reloaded again.
A few sergeants cleaned the cannon’s chamber with unskillful techniques and reloaded the gunpowder and shells.
This time, Wang Dust had the men load grape bullets.
It was also known as loose shells.
On the martial arts field, the sound of the cannon started again.
The resultant rumbling of the cannons beckoned the commander of the Hanhai Army, Shangguan Wu Ji, over.
This Sixth Order Martial Exalt fell into a long silence after seeing the power of the iron cannons.
His vision was naturally superior and farther-reaching than that of an ordinary sergeant.
The cannon forged by Wang Dust was certainly no threat to a martial artist of Shangguan Wu Ji’s level, and he was even certain that he could rely on his astral energy to block the cannonball head-on.
The problem was that there were only a few sixth-ranked Martial Honors in the entire Great Liang!
Moreover, as long as there are enough raw materials, this kind of cannon can be manufactured continuously, if hundreds of cannons are bombarded against Shangguan Wuji alone ……
Can he block them all?
Most importantly, this kind of weapon can be manipulated and used even by ordinary people!
It was realizing the role of cannons in war that Shangguan Wu Ji’s heart felt incredibly torn.
But he was not an ordinary person after all, and quickly suppressed the waves within his heart, and marveled, “This iron cannon is truly a great weapon for defending the city, with its presence, Hanhai Pass is unbreakable!”
“Lord Wang, I have never admired anyone in my life, you are the first!”
In response to the commander of the Hanhai Army’s praise, Wang Duan smiled lightly and said, “Great General is flattering.”
A city-defending weapon?
Cannon is not only a good tool for defending the city, it is also a divine weapon for field battle!
But Wang Dust has no intention of breaking this point, he instructed the smith who came together to test the cannon: “Tell them to go down, the military manufacturing battalion will start casting iron cannons with all their might from this day onwards.”
“Within five days, I want to see at least ten iron cannons set up on top of the pass wall!”
The Army Manufacturing Battalion’s craftsman immediately knelt on one knee, “Yes, sir!”
“Go.”
Wang Chen nodded.
Just having cannons alone definitely wouldn’t do, there had to be matching gunpowder as well, earlier he had already taken out the formula for people to collect the raw materials for manufacturing, but there wasn’t much time left for Hanhai City.
Wang Chen’s gaze looked towards the rolling snowy mountains in the distance, but his mind flew to the imperial capital thousands of miles away.
I wondered if Shiyun was well there!