When news of the Seneca massacre reached Glyndwr Island, Woolley was teaching a class at West Point - the first class in the West Point Artillery Department.
"Artillery is a branch of the military that has never been seen before in the world. For now, it is unique to Greendo Island. Just like the West Point Artillery Department that you make up, it is a new product." When Wu Lai saw the nearly 100 soldiers in front of him listening to the lecture attentively, his heart suddenly surged with a sense of accomplishment. This sense of accomplishment was mixed with a hint of memories, as if the years had returned to the past, and he had returned to the time when he was wearing military uniform and attending lectures.
"So what is artillery? In general, it is a special branch of the military that uses artillery as its basic equipment to carry out ground fire assault missions." Wu Lai smiled and continued, "It will be an important component of our army and the main fire assault force. It will have powerful firepower, a long range, good accuracy and high mobility, and can carry out concentrated, sudden and continuous fire assaults on ground and surface targets."
"It can conduct firepower combat independently or in coordination with other arms. At present, its main functions are to destroy enemy defenses and command structures, block enemy transportation hubs, destroy enemy engineering facilities, and annihilate the enemy's manpower."
Wu Lai turned around and wrote the word "artillery" on the blackboard, and then continued: "In the following courses, you need to learn and master a lot of things, such as shooting and operation, which includes the performance, structure, killing principle, operation and maintenance of artillery and ammunition."
"In addition to these, you also need to master reconnaissance technology, communications and support, transportation and supply, etc. Shooting, the content of officer shooting training is shooting theory, shooting rules, and shooting command. It has become the focus of training, which is divided into officer shooting training and artillery unit and squad shooting training. Artillery unit and squad shooting training is a comprehensive training for artillery commanders, staff and various professional squads to carry out shooting tasks."
"According to the arrangement, I will first give you theoretical education, and then organize you to practice indoors, practice at the shooting range, and then practice outdoors and shoot with live ammunition..."
"I believe that you will become the legend of this continent. I also believe that you can bring long-term peace to the continent!" As soon as Wu Lai finished speaking, warm applause rang out in the classroom...
When Wu Lai walked out of the classroom surrounded by everyone, Vulture, who had been waiting outside, came up to him and said, "Master, there is great news."
Wu Lai frowned slightly, because he could tell from Vulture's expression that it was not good news.
When the soldiers around saw the two men like this, they knew that Vulture must have something important to discuss with Wu Lai, so they said goodbye and dispersed.
"Let's go for a walk over there." Wu Lai pointed to the tree-lined path on the right side of the playground and took the lead.
"Okay, young master." Vulture nodded and followed.
After a while, the news told by Vulture made Woolley stop involuntarily - Vulture said that more than two months ago, the Tianjuan Army destroyed the Red Valley Bay Fortress, wiped out the Hulitkimo garrison stationed there, and then pointed at Seneca and broke it in one fell swoop.
"The most hateful thing is that after the Tianjuan Army captured Seneca, they killed everyone regardless of whether they were soldiers or civilians. Except for those who seized the opportunity to escape, there were only 300 people left in the city. When the Tianjuan Army saw that there was no one left to kill, they set fire to all the houses in the city that could be burned." When Vulture said this, he gnashed his teeth in hatred.
"Where is Baishilou?" Wu Lai knew it was inevitable, but he couldn't help but ask.
Vulture sighed heavily. He naturally knew what Wu Lai was worried about: "The White Stone Building was looted, and Madam Leah and Miss Tina were tortured to death. Their bodies were cut into pieces and their skeletons were hung at the gate of the White Stone Building..."
Wu Lai's heart trembled, and his brows suddenly tightened: "Who sent the news?"
"A Seneca named Bio, he was one of the 300 survivors. His brother was a member of the Tongji Alliance and was one of the first to follow us here. After Bio escaped by chance, he came here with great difficulty. He said that when he left, the Tianjuan Army was still stationed in Seneca. I also heard that the commander-in-chief was the husband of Emperor Tianjuan, and his title was 'the Peerless King'." Vulture replied.
Helen's husband? Wu Lai frowned and waved his hand: "Come on, take me to find Bio."
"I have brought him to the military academy and he is waiting in my office now," said Vulture.
After the bad news of Seneca spread, it brought a faint shadow to Grindel Island - there were more than 2,000 Senecan people on the island. Although most of them were originally slaves and gained freedom and became tenant farmers in the early days of land reclamation, the vast majority of them, like their original owners, had an inseparable hometown feeling for Seneca, and even Woolley himself was no exception.
Soon, this sadness became a driving force under guidance. Woolley convened a large assembly and swore at the meeting that he would work hard to accumulate strength, and one day in the future, he would lead everyone to eliminate the invaders and rebuild Seneca...
Wu Lai's oath made everyone applaud and cheer while tears welled up in their eyes. No one would doubt that Wu Lai could not do this, just like no one would doubt that Wu Lai had selfish motives.
In everyone's mind, Wu Lai is a noble and selfless aristocrat. It is he who provides the best shelter for everyone in the face of numerous difficulties and dangers. It is he who leads everyone to build homes and be self-sufficient. It is also he who constantly creates miracles and makes everyone full of hope for the future. He is our leader.
However, apart from the basic morals and rules that need to be followed and the system that everyone can benefit from, Woolley never forced anyone to accept anything. He could even talk and laugh with everyone in a friendly manner, regardless of whether the other party was a noble, a civil servant, a tenant farmer, or a slave. But even so, it could not reduce everyone's admiration for him in the slightest...
"Let the lord see what we are capable of." When the meeting ended, someone patted his chest and said.
"Yes, the lord is worried about big things and we can't help him, so let's do the job well and never let him worry about trivial matters." Someone echoed.
"I want to send our two boys to military school. The lord will have to fight wars in the future, and one more person means more strength."
"That makes sense. If you want to give it to me, I will give it to you too..."
…
In a blink of an eye, another two months passed. During these two months, the continent was quite peaceful. The Tianjuan Army was still stationed in Seneca, which was almost in ruins, and Trajan of Armenia had no intention of sending troops to harass. Even the Hurlit Army in the city of Katti did not make any moves.
This made Hatra very depressed. He burned, killed and looted Seneca, and then camped in the ruins in a dignified manner, but it was just a trick to lure the snake out of its hole.
He wanted to pretend that Seneca was defenseless and lure Trajan to lead his army to fight him. Once the Hurrian army took the bait, he would lead his army to fight and retreat towards the Qati steppe. At the same time, the Tianjuan army, which had been ready for action, would quickly cross the Assyrian Gorge from the Hurrian province, and then split into two groups, one group would go straight to Menia, and the other group would attack Trajan from the front and back with the army of Hatra.
The purpose of destroying the Red Valley Bay Fortress was to allow the army from the Hurley Province to march in unhindered at any time.
But Trajan saw through Hatra's trick at a glance and simply ignored it. After occupying Menia for so long, he had already improved and heightened and reinforced the city walls and gate fortifications to target the strength of the Heavenly Army. Although those catapults were powerful, it was no longer as easy to succeed as before. In addition, Trajan also arranged two cavalry units to be stationed quietly in the forest outside Menia. Once the Heavenly Army attacked Menia, these two cavalry units would take the opportunity to harass the Heavenly Army's catapult camp.
As for Kati City, Trajan didn't even build fortifications. You know, although Kati City is not big, the Kati Grassland is too vast. If the Tianjuan Army wants to occupy the city, just give it to him. Want to play a game of encircling and annihilating the Hurlit Army on the grassland? It's impossible! Although it has only been operated for more than a year, the Kati Grassland is the largest horse farm on the continent. The Hurlit and Kimo armies have all become cavalry. In terms of mobility, they are much stronger than the Tianjuan Army. This is actually the biggest reason why Hatra didn't intend to attack Kati City.
However, it didn't matter whether these two groups attacked Wu Lai or not. Although the intelligence network was expanding and becoming more efficient, the information he received was always outdated. Fortunately, he was not lacking in analytical ability. Although he knew it a little late, he could always figure it out almost exactly.
Now Wu Lai is getting busier and busier. Every morning he goes to West Point Military Academy to teach the soldiers of the artillery department, and at noon he has to rush to the armory more than ten miles away. After successfully solving the problem of manufacturing strip propellant, with the current technological level of Greendo Island, it is no problem to manufacture small-caliber artillery and shells, but heavy artillery and supporting shells are the focus of Wu Lai's attention. However, the progress in this area is not satisfactory. As a result, Wu Lai almost had a mouthful of bubbles.
Although heavy artillery shells are based on the same principles as small-caliber artillery shells, they cannot be simply enlarged. The wind cap, projectile, fuse, belt, primer, propellant cartridge and charge cannot have the slightest error. In order to achieve mass production in the future, the necessary mechanical equipment must also be developed one by one.
So every day from noon to dusk, Wu Lai would stay in the arsenal, measuring, recording, calculating, drawing, and testing, and these tests were divided into several types, mechanical equipment operation test, propellant effect test, and shell power test. Basically, there would be several loud noises in the open-air test field of the arsenal every afternoon. At first, people nearby thought it was thunder and lightning, but after a while, everyone got used to it - they all knew that it was the lord fiddling with firearms.
But as time went on, everyone became curious again, wondering what kind of firearm was our lord fiddling with? It just made these thumping noises and nothing else, so how powerful was it?
It was no wonder that everyone was so curious, because although Wu Lai had allocated three small-caliber artillery pieces and thirty rounds of ammunition to the military academy, and had the artillery officers and soldiers conduct no-ammunition exercises in the indoor training ground, he had never shown it to the islanders. Wu Lai had not arranged it, and the artillery officers and soldiers of the military academy did not dare to pull out the artillery to show off without authorization, even though they were all eager to see how powerful the "weapon that can change the war situation" Wu Lai mentioned could be, and whether it could surpass the hunter. However, this thing was soon accomplished, and it was not Wu Lai or anyone else who facilitated it, but Meng Bao.
As long as the weather is permissible, Mengbao, who has a very superior status on Greendo Island, will go out to sea to hunt sea beasts as usual. After all, there are many sea beasts, so there is no need to worry about catching them all. It's just that because Mengbao goes out too often, the sea beasts have learned some wisdom and have moved their original activity areas farther away. However, this has no effect on Mengbao. After all, it is the fishermen who suffer from rowing, not him.
As the saying goes, if you sail for a long time, you will eventually capsize. This is true.
On this day, the weather was fine and Mengbao was lucky as he caught a large seal before noon. After a full meal, he shook his head and took a nap in the cabin. His "royal sailors" saw that he had finished eating, so they happily tied up the half-drained seal with a rope, fixed the end of the rope to the big iron hook at the stern, and then dragged it back home half-sinking and half-floating.
This is how it was done in the past, and every time it went smoothly, but today was destined to be different. When Mengbao was only two or three miles away from the entrance of Grindo Island Port, a thick and short column of water suddenly spurted out from the sea not far behind him...
The fishermen rowing the boat were startled and turned around. Just a glance at the water column and panic appeared on their faces at the same time.
"It's a demon whale! Row faster! Row faster!"
Meng Bao stood up and turned his head to see that the sea suddenly became rough and a huge monster emerged...
How big was it? The part that was exposed above the water was nearly 100 cubits long, its body was pitch black, its head was round and it had no beak. When it opened its big mouth, it splashed with large waves and bit towards Meng Bao's boat, no, it bit towards the half of the seal towing at the stern.
The cute baby turned around and assumed an attacking posture, his eyes flashed and a series of low growls came out of his throat.
But the devil whale didn't care. It snapped its mouth shut and pulled the seal in. At the same time, the cute baby and its "sailors" all fell into the water...
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
After a while, the cute baby swam into the harbor using the "dog paddle" to its maximum speed. It looked as embarrassed as it could be. Behind it, the devil whale followed slowly. Then, the whole harbor was in chaos.
After jumping onto the shore, the cute baby was naturally very energetic, and he barked and vented his anger at the demon whale in the water. At first, he didn't take the demon whale seriously at all. After falling into the water, he immediately launched a charge and bit the other party. Unexpectedly, the other party's body was too big, and he couldn't bite firmly. He was not careful and was dragged into the sea by the other party. In panic, he restrained his arrogance, struggled to break free, and fled to the port without hesitation...
"Kala La" - the demon whale slammed into the direction where Meng Bao was, stirring up large waves. At the same time, more than a dozen small boats were crushed into a pile of broken wood, and the earth and stone platform at the port also collapsed...
The cute baby leaped back and continued to bark. The craftsmen who were building ships in the nearby dock fled quickly, and the soldiers guarding the port quickly ran up to the dock and began shooting arrows and throwing javelins, but this had no other effect except to anger the demon whale.
"Hurry! Ride to the military academy to report to the lord!" A captain stationed at the port quickly made arrangements.
It only took a short while for the devil whale to "clear out" all the ships in the port, and then it turned its head and crashed into the dock.
The soldiers on the dock immediately panicked. The "Lolita" in the dock was going to be launched in five days. Although the dock entrance was solid, with this guy's size, how could he crash into it? The soldiers quickly used another round of arrows and javelins to lure the demon whale away, but when it found that it had no way to deal with the people on the dock, it turned around and rushed to the dock again. The soldiers had no choice but to continue shooting arrows. The shipbuilders who had already calmed down also pulled a few baskets of fish and threw them into the sea, trying to lure the demon whale away...
How could a few baskets of fish be enough for the devil whale to eat? After a while, it swayed, splashed some water, turned over, and swam towards the dock.
"It's bad!" The soldiers on the dock had used up their javelins and arrows, and if they picked up stones and threw them, they were too far away, and that wouldn't even count as tickling the demon whale...
Just when everyone was at a loss and seemed to be unable to do anything but watch the demon whale crash into the dock and destroy the "Lolita", Putang appeared on the platform under the watchtower. Behind him was a group of artillery students who were ready to go and a small-caliber artillery.
"Everyone on the dock, get out!" Pu Tong proudly raised the bark loudspeaker in his hand.
The soldiers, craftsmen and fishermen on the dock began to retreat.
"Captain, the principal won't punish you for doing this, right?" A captain asked in a low voice, suppressing his nervousness and excitement.
"No." Pu Tang waved his hand. "We are here to help the principal. If we don't drive away the whale, the dock will be damaged. Besides, if anything happens, I will take care of it. You don't have to be afraid."
The captain shrank his neck and thought to himself that your words would be enough.
After clearing his throat, Pu Tong began to give orders: "Prepare your guns!"
"Each gun? Commander, we only have one gun." A soldier reminded quickly.
"I know! I am just practicing the commands the principal taught me. Just follow them. Come on, come on, don't waste time!" Pu Tong glared at the soldier unhappily and cleared his throat, "Prepare your guns!"
"Ready!" The gunner quickly pulled the cannon and moved the muzzle towards the demon whale.
"Load!"
"Loading complete!"
"Sight..." Pu Tong got stuck as soon as he opened his mouth. It was not because he forgot the commands such as sight, direction, height, positive and negative, and charging, but because he had never learned how to shoot from a high position.
"Captain!" The soldiers became anxious when they saw Pu Tong hesitate, because the demon whale in the harbor below was not far from the dock. If it approached the dock entrance and shot, what if it damaged the "Lolita"? "Point the muzzle downward! Shoot straight!" Pu Tong gritted his teeth and thought that since he had never learned it before, he could just use it as a crossbow.
The soldiers were startled, wondering if the principal had never taught them this. Could it be that this was something only officers could learn?
"What are you hesitating about? Hurry up!" Pu Tong urged impatiently.
"Yes! Muzzle down! Direct fire!" Several gunners repeated the command while pulling the breech bracket and tilting the muzzle downward.
"Shoot!" Pu Tong swung his hand down fiercely.
"Shoot!" The shooter pulled the fuse hard--"Bang!"
The loud noise made Pudong's eardrums hurt, but as soon as he subconsciously covered his ears with his hands, a smile appeared on his face - he saw that the shell instantly penetrated the demon whale's head, and a huge gap suddenly exploded at the point of entry. Blood and flesh flew all over the sky, and the demon whale twisted a few times in the sea water, then turned over on its belly and stopped moving...
"Huh?! Killed! Killed with just one shot!" Pu Tong just shouted excitedly, but his heart skipped a beat, because he found that he didn't seem to make any sound, and the surroundings became unusually quiet for some reason. He turned around subconsciously and saw that the soldiers were grinning at him and seemed to be shouting something. There was excitement and anxiety in their expressions. He looked again and saw that behind the small-caliber artillery, three soldiers were lying on the ground crookedly, their eyes were tightly closed, and they didn't move at all...
What's going on?! Pu Tong was stunned...