Chapter 118 Times Have Changed
Caesar was the first to be interested in the musket. After asking how to use it, he asked his servant to help him light it. He held the muzzle of the musket and aimed at the treetops not far away.
After the fuse was lit, a series of sparks appeared, and the bullet, which was smaller than a quail egg, ignited and rushed out along the high-strength metal tube.
A puff of white smoke came out of the muzzle of the musket, and with a "bang", the treetop it was aimed at was blown off.
Although this thing is not easy to operate at all, and loading, igniting and aiming require the cooperation of several people, it is quite powerful.
If it can break branches, it can also cause harm to people.
Caesar immediately knew the correct way to use this thing.
He asked Lucy doubtfully, "You said this is the version they eliminated? Is there a better one?"
Lucy nodded.
Olivia thought for a while, then calmly led the troops back to the fortress.
Before evening, she called the three little ones into the arena in the center of the fortress.
The three men were a little nervous. They took out three or four types of firearms from the box, took them out, and demonstrated them one by one in the spacious arena.
The whole fortress was looking in at the windows curiously.
Caesar and Dad were also stroking their chins in deep thought.
There are four types of firearms. The largest cannon needs to be assembled. The servants carry out the heavy barrel and install it on the rack.
Gao Sili pointed to a large round and said, "This is called a cannon. We can't test it here. At this distance, it can blow up the front wall. The blast radius is enough to overturn a carriage."
Long-barreled cannons with a slightly smaller radius can be tested.
The servants set up the long cannon barrels and lit the fuses towards the sky. Immediately, goose egg-sized gunpowder shot out and exploded in mid-air at a height of about many stories above the ground, with shrapnel falling all over the ground.
The lords standing in the safe area could only clearly see the power of this kind of artillery shell. The broken pieces of porcelain used to seal the gunpowder could penetrate deep into the sand after exploding.
Gao Sili added: "This bullet is sealed in a porcelain can. It is very powerful. The shrapnel from the explosion can easily penetrate the wooden board."
But when he was doing experiments, he unexpectedly discovered that this kind of porcelain piece could not penetrate the leather made in his workshop.
After changing to leather from other private workshops, it can be pierced again.
He put this little episode behind him and went on to introduce two other small firearms.
"It's called a wheel-spring machine gun. It has a flintlock inside. Simply pulling the trigger ignites the gunpowder. It can be operated by one person, but it's difficult to make and very expensive."
"The last type, I named it a hand grenade. It's an ammunition thrown by hand, and all you have to do is light the fuse."
Caesar and Dad took turns using these weapons and were very interested.
“When will these things be mass-produced?”
Olivia asked, and after a long silence, she had already accepted the arrival of the era of hot weapons.
Gaussley honestly analyzes the raw materials used to make these weapons, as well as their cost and speed.
The most expensive are the large and small guns. The barrels must be cast from high-density metal, and the production process of wheel-spring machine guns is slow.
The fastest to mass-produce and cheapest to make should be porcelain grenades thrown by hand.
These were Gauss's theories. He had not yet built a firearms factory, and all the data came from the laboratory.
Olivia and Caesar looked at each other and, without thinking, authorized the three of them to set up a firearms factory.
In her plan to expand the territory and complete the mission, in October this year, six large and small ships will carry thousands of soldiers to sea and land at the end of the Vero Island Chain 200 nautical miles northwest.
After receiving her order, Caesar and his father had already arranged the matter and were just waiting for the army to be ready.
They planned to invest a lot of manpower and material resources to defeat these island tribes one by one.
But now, the times have suddenly changed.
Everyone realized that if firearms were fully deployed on the battlefield, then conquering the entire Vero Island would be a piece of cake.
The pirate tribes on the islands usually don't even have sophisticated iron tools, let alone such lethal weapons.
After the trio left the fort, Olivia gathered the whole family to discuss the change of plans.
If gunpowder was used, they would not need too much manpower, nor would they need to wait for ships. As long as the firearms and ammunition were ready, they could be dispatched at any time.
They thought about it for a while and decided that it would take at least half a month for the firearms factory to start operating and a month for it to produce a certain number of weapons.
Even if we reduce manpower further, we still have to send at least a thousand people to the island.
Olivia finally decided to launch an attack on Vero Island's territory three months earlier, in July two months later.
They looked at the map in front of them. The entire territory of Vero Island was about the same size as the current Einwetton County.
From the pirate captives, we learned that the entire island chain was divided into three tribes after the rebels fell apart.
The long and narrow island of Vero, the main island is occupied by the largest tribe, the Ataide people.
The northern end of the island chain was occupied by the Neperians, and Caesar decided to land on the southern island chain first to attack the island occupied by the Costa people.
According to the information provided by the captives, the Costa tribe was the tribe that suffered the largest population loss in the war, and the leader of the rebel army at that time also came from this tribe.
Now the entire tribe has only two to three thousand people.
There are more than 5,000 Ataides on the main island and more than 4,000 Nepelians in the north.
This small tribe in the south is a soft persimmon and is just barely surviving.
It is also the people of this small tribe who love to come to the port in small boats to cause trouble and seek revenge.
Olivia's idea was to capture Vero Island and then attack Hobbs County outside the northern border of Ramvich Town.
This county is currently being fought over by the old nobles of Lenya, and it has become a mess. Now that Alta has undergone such a big change, the situation there will be more or less affected.
In the entire northern part of Alta, half of Constant belongs to Olivia's family, and the other half is divided among several viscounts.
There would be no one else who is most capable of sending troops to Hobbs. They would definitely strengthen the defense of the border of Ramvich Town in advance. This group of Lenian nobles is more difficult to deal with than the current pirate remnants.
Olivia's original idea was to start with the easy tasks and then move on to the difficult ones, conquering the island before tackling the tough ones.
But now times have changed.
Dad and Caesar pointed at the land outside the border of Ramvih on the map, and they couldn't wait to attack with firearms.
Ramvich's border defense was previously under the charge of Baron Kanta.
After all, he came from a big family and had seen the world. Although he was arrogant, he was able to guard the border well and arranged the checkpoints reasonably. Caesar also used these checkpoints after taking over.
However, after they finished their discussion, they all turned to see what Olivia meant.
If she doesn't give money, no one can go out to fight, it can only be talked about on paper.
"Of course we have to fight Hobbs, but we also have to be fully prepared. After using such weapons, will other families be more wary of us?"
Olivia looked at them.
"We have to wait until they can't change anything even if they are afraid."
Olivia believes that the power of firearms can be more mature than it is now, and she needs to experiment on pirates first.
If this weapon is used on Vero Island, even if there are minor problems or the effects are too strong, it will not be easily detected by mainland forces.
If they pass this actual combat test, they can be taken to the mainland to fight against the regular army.
Soon after the lords returned to the fortress, the officials who were sent to the other three towns to take over the territories and those who were sent to collect statistics also returned to Einweiton.
They counted the population, available conscripts, the scale of urban commerce in each town, the pillar industries in each area, mining, geology, and topography.
These reports were summarized and handed over to the study, and Olivia and Caesar each took a pile in their hands and looked through them.
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