Every day, this kind of training would last four to six hours. After that, he would return to the city wall and continue to do his old job. A fellow in the same dormitory had signed up for the firearm team. Now, he was holding a brand new firearm and standing behind him, showing it off. If it were not for the discipline that forbade fighting, Van'er would have sewn his mouth up.
But he could also see that something was wrong.
How many days had the villagers who joined the firearm team been training? They had already started to hone their shooting skills in the battle against the demonic beasts. But what about the artillery team?They hadn't even fired a single shell.Moreover, it was impossible to transport such a heavy cannon to the city wall.
Looking at the top of the wall, two people standing side by side almost filled the passage. Usually, everyone was used to running on the slope on the inside of the wall. Even if it was a little steep, it was better than hindering their teammates from thrusting. As for the cannon... its two wheels were wider than the top of the wall. Plus, it had to shoot downward, so it didn't seem very practical.
Could it be... that this thing wasn't used to deal with the demonic beasts?
The following practice confirmed Van'er's guess.
The four artillery teams were brought to the river by Iron Axe. He found that, at some point, there was a huge "ship" in the Redwater River! No... he was not sure whether it was a ship. Its shell looked no different from the stone used to build the city wall. It was wide and short, and except for two bare masts, it didn't look like a ship at all. For this reason, Van'er's team began to argue.
"This is clearly a pontoon bridge," Jop was the first to come up with this conclusion. He had once followed a mining sailboat to Longsong Stronghold, so he often boasted that he was very knowledgeable. "The several feet wide deck is obviously for the sake of stability! I've traveled far and wide. If it was a ship, how could it move without wind? In the past, there was a flood in this river and the wooden bridge in Longsong Stronghold was washed away. The people in the city replaced it with a pontoon bridge. They nailed a pile of wide planks to the boat, and then pulled up iron ropes to form a row, so that it could walk steadily! "
"The farthest place you've been to is Longsong Stronghold. You've traveled far and wide," Rodney sneered. "If it's a pontoon bridge, do you need two masts? Are you afraid that it will be blown away by the wind?"
"And look at the end, isn't it the steering wheel? Pontoon bridges can't use this. "The two brothers were always on the same side. "Besides, the wooden frame in the middle looks like it's going to be a shed, but it's not finished yet. It's a ship, no doubt about it. "
Van'er was not interested in whether it was a ship or not. He only cared about the following training. The answer was soon revealed. Iron Axe asked them to bring the horses that were pulling the cannon onto the Littletown. Yes, that was the name of the ship, and it was named by His Highness himself. After listening to Iron Axe's introduction, Jop's face immediately stiffened, while the two brothers were immensely proud of themselves. They then attached the cannon wheel to the barricade.
There were two groups of such bars, four in each group. They were positioned at the center of the deck, one in front and one behind. Obviously, two cannons could be loaded at once.
Well, Van'er thought, now he could be sure that they were not dealing with demonic beasts – the Redwater River flowed from the north to the south, and there was no such wide river in the Concealing Forest.
The first time Van'er set foot on the deck, he immediately felt its outstanding stability.The river flowed along with the hull of the ship, but the stone ship remained motionless, as if it was standing on the ground. Only when the horses were caught up would they feel the sway.
He also noticed that every time a group of artillerymen completed a round of boarding and disembarking exercises, Iron Axe would record the time. Considering the barricade on the deck, it seemed that only two of the four groups could be used.Van'er secretly told this news to the members of his group, and they immediately gathered their strength and used all of their strength in every step. If they were not selected and were kicked back to the spear team, it would be a small matter to lose face, but losing the salary would be a big deal!
On the seventh day, Van'er finally ushered in the long-awaited live-fire training.
On this day, His Highness also came to the scene to watch the artillerymen practice.Everyone in the four groups held their chests high and walked with great energy.
Since everyone was quite familiar with the loading process, Van'er's group was the first to fire the first shot.
This was also the first time he had witnessed the power of the artillery. With a deafening roar, the iron ball, which was twice the size of a fist, fell on the snow one mile away, stirring up a large amount of snow and mud, and then bouncing forward for a long distance. Van'er's naked eyes could not even catch the trajectory of the iron ball.
This made Van'er excited, but also a little scared. How did His Highness make such a terrible weapon? If he had to face the artillery attack, even if he had a full body armor, it would be useless.
After each group had fired a round, His Highness would order someone to insert a flag at the first landing point of the cannonball, and at the same time cut off a hemp rope from the flag to the muzzle. After four rounds, when it was Van'er's group's turn again, he heard the order to change the angle of the muzzle.
The two ends of the cannon barrel were connected to the mount, and there was a dial engraved on it. The dial was labeled 0, 5, 10, 25, and 30. Although he didn't quite understand what it meant, he just had to follow the instructions. Iron Axe shouted: "Shoot the angle five!" Jop, who had the greatest strength, immediately placed the brush shaft under the chamber of the cannon barrel and pried up the cannon from the tail end. Van 'er twisted the screw on the carriage until the first white line was inserted into the hole. Only then did Jop loosen the brush.
After the end of the barrel fell back, it was slightly lower than the original position. The muzzle was lifted up, and the indicator scale fell on the number five.
Then there were four rounds of shooting, inserting the flag, cutting the rope, and adjusting the angle.
Van'er gradually understood what His Highness was doing.
He was collecting the distance of each iron ball, and the higher the angle of the muzzle, the farther the iron ball would fall to the ground.
Van'er had a deep understanding of this when he used the bow. When the arrow was thrown upward, it could shoot farther, but if it was shot horizontally, it would quickly fall to the ground. He did not expect that the artillery was also like this, but because of its high speed, it could fly much farther. He could not help but wonder, if the iron ball's speed reached a certain level, would it never fall to the ground?
*****
Beside the Redwater River, Little Town's trial was also in full swing.