The weapons workshop in the former workshop area of Wellsburg has been transformed from the simple large wooden house two years ago into a large courtyard built on the river. The four workshops and six smaller rooms are filled with busy craftsmen and laborers, and the sound of clanking and hammering can be heard constantly.
Nowadays, in addition to producing the weapons and armor needed by the Welsh legions, the weapons workshop is also responsible for part of the supply of weapons and armor trade for the European trading houses. This money can also slightly fill the huge gold sales hole of the weapons workshop.
In a stone warehouse inside the workshop compound, Gloland, the chief weapons craftsman of the Province of Wales and the steward of the weapons workshop, looked at Art, who was expressionless. Cold sweat could not stop oozing out of his forehead. He said in a very cautious voice: "Your Majesty, in accordance with your improvement requirements, we have once again increased the outer diameter of the barrel, and the number of fine iron forgings has doubled..."
Matt didn't pay attention to Gloland's introduction. His eyes fell on the so-called "gun barrel" on the long wooden table in front of him.
The eight-diamond "barrel" is two feet long, with an inner diameter of one inch and an outer diameter of two and a half inches. The tail end is closed, and a small round hole is drilled near the tail end. Although the inner wall of the "barrel" has been polished several times with special sandstone, it still cannot conceal the dazzling roughness.
Disappointment flooded into Art's heart again. This thing was far from the weapon that he imagined in his mind that transcended the times.
After spending half a month squatting in the weapons workshop, this is already the third so-called "gun barrel" (it is more appropriate to call it a gun barrel) that Groland led the workshop craftsmen to build day and night.
Although Art is not omnipotent, he has seen muskets and artillery. But at that time, who would be full and have nothing to study these things.
So Art had already given an order and a sketch to Groland a year ago, asking him to lead the craftsmen in the weapons workshop to forge a kind of fine iron with both high strength and toughness, and then try to turn this fine iron into the eight-diamond-shaped tube in the sketch.
Gloland is indeed very skilled. He and the craftsmen in the weapon workshop spent only half a year exploring a set of things that Art called a "gun barrel." However, the iron pipe was rough in appearance and the inner wall was uneven, so Art had to send it back to redo it.
In the past ten days, Art has used two "gun barrels" for testing, but neither one was up to standard. One had a rough and deformed copper bullet and the barrel exploded after several test firings; the other was more direct and exploded on the first test firing.
Anyway, this third one looks absolutely solid.
Matt reached out and picked up the "barrel", good guy, he almost couldn't lift it.
"Okay, let's prepare to send it out for test firing tomorrow." Art briefly glanced at the wall of the chamber and put the dead guy back on the wooden table.
�
In the mountains east of Wellsburg, in an open space about three miles away from the workshop area, a soldier wearing full-body plate armor and a full-face helmet was filling an iron pipe fixed on a long wooden board with black powder and then gently compacting the black powder with a long wooden stick. Another similarly dressed soldier carefully stuffed a polished iron round pellet into the iron pipe, and then also lightly compacted it with a long wooden stick.
After completing this, the two people laid the thick wooden board that fixed the iron pipe flat and pressed it down with a stone. Then they lay on the ground and pointed the iron pipe at the center of the target twenty steps away according to the method taught by Art himself. The so-called target was actually a thick wooden board covered with a fine iron plate about the same thickness as the front chest of the plate armor.
The previous soldier 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. After the round hole was filled with black powder, he continued to move and shake it until a small black line spread out by the black powder extended to the end of the long wooden board.
With everything ready, two heavily armed soldiers retreated behind the long plank and touched it lightly with a long wooden stick with sparks.
Poof~
The moment the black powder was ignited, the two soldiers covered their ears and jumped into the pit behind them.
呲～嗗. Bang!
A series of loud noises plus two groups of black smoke of different sizes startled the people who were more than fifty steps away behind the pit.
Matt raised his hand to push aside the two large shields in front of him, and saw the scene after the smoke cleared - the iron plate was penetrated, and the irregular holes left by the iron pellets were faintly visible...
This was the nineteenth test firing.
Because the barrel bore is rough, there is no shooting accuracy at all. In order to hit the target, the target distance has been moved from the initial sixty steps to the current twenty steps. This distance can finally hit the target.
"Your Majesty, the plate armor has penetrated, and the iron pellets have penetrated the wooden board and got stuck on the other side of the wooden board. There is still no abnormality in the barrel." A soldier who was checking the condition of the barrel ran over and reported.
Att turned around and glanced at the accompanying officers and weapons craftsmen who were whispering in surprise beside him, and focused his gaze on the alchemist who had stood up not long after the explosion.
"Have you decided that you can increase the dosage of the medicine?"
The alchemist certainly wants to see the power limit of the black powder he has developed. "Your Majesty, I think you can increase the dosage by half."
The current power did not meet Art's expectation, so he also wanted to increase the amount of medicine, so he ordered the soldiers: "Increase the amount of medicine by half, and move the target back thirty feet."
The soldiers took the order and turned around.
After a while, a burst of dazzling fire followed by a deafening explosion sounded again.
After a long time, the soldier just ran to Art's side.
"Sir, the plate armor and wooden planks were completely shattered, and the iron pellets were embedded in the hard soil behind the wooden planks."
The soldier paused, "However, a very small crack appeared at the end of the iron pipe~"
Art felt cold again, and after a while he coldly ordered, "Increase the filling by one-fifth, and cover the target with a layer of fine iron plate. From now on, that thing may explode at any time, you guys We have seen the power of the gun barrel exploding, so be careful if you don’t want to die.”
After two more test firings, the “musket”, which was thicker than a small cannon, completely exploded...
Technical bottleneck based on productivity, this is an insurmountable gap.
In an era when metallurgical technology and forging technology were not yet developed, guns and artillery were really not something that could be made just by talking.
The dark Middle Ages swallowed up the halo on Art's head.
Maybe this is not necessarily a bad thing...
........................
In a secret room of the weapons workshop, Art held a small piece of the blown "barrel" in his hand and said to Cooper, Odo and other confidants as well as the weapon craftsman: "Today everyone We have also seen the terrifying power of this new weapon, but we are currently unable to solve the problem of forging a qualified barrel. You have also seen the power of that thing after it explodes. If our soldiers use this kind of thing to fight, I don’t know how many innocent souls will be killed by themselves."
Several weapon craftsmen lowered their heads in shame.
Matt noticed the emotions of several craftsmen and raised his voice, "But all of you here have witnessed and even created miracles yourself. Although we have not yet been able to create a weapon more powerful than the crossbow, this starting point has surpassed everyone in the world."
Obviously everyone sitting here is not aware of the power of the musket. That thing is indeed very powerful, but it is difficult to make, has a very short range, is complicated to use, and can self-destruct from time to time and injure people. It is far less reliable than a crossbow.
Seeing that everyone was not excited, Art smiled awkwardly and changed the topic to an exciting topic, "All craftsmen involved in the development of the gun barrel will be given a reward. The master craftsman will be rewarded with one hundred and fifty pfennigs, the craftsman one hundred, and the apprentice 20 labor."
Several craftsmen finally cheered up a little.
“In addition, I want to announce something. After discussions with Cooper, Gloland, and several senior commanders of the Military Affairs Office, it was decided to officially transfer the weapons workshop to the army and put it under the direct jurisdiction of the Military Affairs Office. I will sign an order in a moment. From today on, everyone in the weapons workshop will join the army, but everyone from the craftsman level to above will enjoy the treatment of officers. The craftsmen, craftsmen and workshop stewards are respectively awarded the positions of captain, company captain and sub-regiment deputy commander, and receive corresponding military pay. Apprentices in the weapons workshop are treated as legion soldiers, and labor services are treated as ordinary recruits. The location of the weapons workshop will remain unchanged for the time being and will be designated as a military restricted area. From now on, everything here will be conducted in accordance with the laws of the legion. "
“In addition, I decided to set up an organization in the weapons workshop that specializes in the research, improvement and creation of new weapons. It is called the Weapons Research Laboratory. It is at the company level, with one company captain-level manager and three flag captain-level deputy managers. All members of the research room are squadron commander-level officers. The material expenses required by the weapons laboratory are directly allocated by the Military Affairs Office, and the weapons are absolutely fully guaranteed. The research room is temporarily in charge of Gloran, and several craftsmen in the workshop also serve as deputies. The members can be selected by you. They can be craftsmen and apprentices in the workshop, or they can be army soldiers or government officials, or even people from outside the province of Wales. Anyone who you think has the ability to improve and create new weapons can enter the weapons research room after being inspected and approved by the Military Affairs Office. "
The people present in the secret room have already known this news, so there is no surprise or surprise. Moreover, as highly sophisticated technical talents, weapon craftsmen and craftsmen enjoy 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. Several high-end talents from the weapons workshops have directly become middle- and high-level officers in the army, which can be regarded as a gain.
"Your Majesty, after joining the army, we will work harder to produce more high-quality and sophisticated weapons and armor to help your army sweep across the wasteland." Groland is a learned and aware man.
"Loyal to your lord, serve the army."
"Loyal to your lord~"
Several craftsmen also expressed their stance.
Odo Angus and the others are naturally happy.
"Well, the handover of the weapons workshop will be handled by Odo and Cooper on behalf of the Government and Military Affairs respectively."
"The first thing the weapons workshop has to do after it is transferred to the army is to make another new weapon. Since the barrel we make will explode into pieces, we might as well make a weapon that kills people with explosive fragments of iron..."