Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 621: Giant Cannon
The Northern Territory and the United Kingdom of Saint Valen, Wangshan County on the western border.

Bale, Saike and others who came from the Beihuang tribe have been undergoing nearly a month of recruit training since they responded to the army's call and came here from Fengyuan City.

These days were even more unforgettable than the previous twenty years they had lived on the grassland.

I heard that Wangshan County was originally just a poor aristocratic fiefdom on the border of the kingdom, under the rule of Count Leon Waters of West Wind. Due to its sparse population and low tax revenue, even the tax collectors were too lazy to stay for a long time, let alone have special vassal knights to lead the army to garrison.

This also led to Wangshan County being plagued by bandits from the surrounding mountains all year round. After the autumn harvest, bandits would often appear in the county, looting villages and towns like a swarm of locusts. By the time the lord received the news and slowly sent troops to clear them out, they had already retreated and hidden back in the mountains.

It was not until His Majesty the Emperor officially ascended the throne and sent the Northern Army to recapture and liberate the entire kingdom that he relocated all the local people to Silver Pine City, where the security was better. Wangshan County completely became a deserted and desolate place, and was eventually gradually planned and built into a large military settlement and war zone in the western border of the kingdom, and the county town naturally became the core garrison fortress.

Every once in a while, new soldiers recruited from all over the country would arrive. In addition to these new recruits with expressions of confusion and curiosity, they also brought with them a steady stream of various weapons and equipment, as well as a large amount of military supplies transported by alchemical vehicles.

Baler, Zeke and others could always see some incredible things in it - new weapons that had never been seen in Fengyuan City, and even the veterans who were responsible for teaching them could not explain what they were.

Of course, what impressed them the most... in addition to the terrifying officers who were a perfect combination of flesh and blood and machines that occasionally appeared in the recruit barracks, there were also the blood warriors who were rumored to have been transformed by a ceremony presided over by His Majesty the Emperor himself.

Back in their hometown in the northern desert of Isengard, they had witnessed the heroic figures of these "God's Chosen Warriors" with their own eyes - the senior officer named Wayne could single-handedly overturn several sturdy recruits who rushed towards him, and the power of his every move was comparable to the most powerful hyenas and bison in the desert. What was even more terrifying was that he could easily coat the scimitar in his hand with a layer of burning flames, and when he killed the enemy, it was as effortless as a sharp blade cutting through grease.

The rumors about the God-chosen warriors were not groundless. Bale and others just never imagined that there would be so many of them - in the fortress of Wangshan County, there were at least nearly five hundred such terrifying extraordinary warriors gathered.

"Bale, Zeke! What are you still standing there for? Hurry to the logistics camp... I heard some new weapons have arrived. Come with us to see what's going on!"

The new recruits of the same period did not reject this group of foreign barbarians who had migrated from afar. They would often pull a few of them aside to ask questions, and inquire about their deeds in assisting the expeditionary force in fighting the Lizardmen in Isengard. They would always gather together to discuss anything, and there was a hint that they were nominating Baler and Zeke to be the leaders of the small group.

"It's just some airship assembly parts... Didn't we just go and see them a few days ago?" Zeke closed the literacy manual in his hand and curled his lips in frustration. "Don't dream of flying all day long. That's an aerial combat group only spellcasters are qualified to join. You'd better practice calligraphy and take good care of your new gun instead of wasting time."

Bale pulled him up from his new soldier's bed and said with a smile, "New recruits are only issued 200 rounds of training ammunition per week. Even if you scratch sparks off your gun barrel, you won't be able to improve your marksmanship in such a short time... Go with them and take a look. After all, there's still more than an hour before the afternoon training session."

The group hustled and shoved their way to the logistics unloading area, only to find that many soldiers had already gathered there... Soldiers were not prohibited from watching in the unloading area. Whenever weapons and supplies arrived there, both construction workers and new recruits would line the streets to welcome them and lend a hand in unloading, as if everyone had endless energy.

This time, dozens of square-headed alchemical camel beasts arrived at the unloading area. Behind each vehicle was a huge flatbed truck. Four sets of wheels plowed two deep grooves on the flat gravel ground, indicating that the cargo they were carrying was extremely heavy.

The cart was covered with a layer of canvas, and it was difficult to tell what was inside at first glance... But rumors circulated that it had been shipped from Jinhui City on an armored warship all the way along the Ralph River, and that it had been landed at a transfer terminal dozens of miles away and then transported by land, which must have taken quite a bit of effort.

When the logistics officer in charge of registering and unloading directed several soldiers to lift the tarpaulin, the onlookers were stunned - this thing really looked a bit weird.

The first thing to be lifted and unloaded by the Alchemist Beast was a peculiarly shaped steel bracket, which was roughly a triangular diamond with left and right symmetry. There was a detachable shovel-shaped support at the tail, which seemed to be used to insert into the ground to increase the stability of the bracket.

Just by watching the creaking sound of the steel cables responsible for the lifting, one can guess that this thing is definitely not one of the components assembled on the airship... It is too heavy, and it is probably made entirely of pure steel.

Although its specific purpose is unclear, it looks like there is nothing special about it except that it is unusually bulky.

But after the tarpaulins of dozens of subsequent vehicles were removed, the soldiers who gathered around to watch felt that something was amiss - it was a metal gun barrel four or five meters long, firmly tied to the cart with steel cables!
But in terms of appearance, they are almost identical. Not only is the caliber large enough to almost fit a head in it, but the curve of the gun body is so smooth that it is almost seamless, with no trace of welding or splicing.

Baler, Sek and the others were naturally aware that the kingdom's steel casting technology had reached the pinnacle, and Isengard, which had always been famous in the south for its gold smelting and iron forging, could not catch up... But the gloss and texture of this gun barrel clearly showed that it was cast entirely from fine steel. Who knew how many times it had to go through repeated smelting and burning, how much cast iron and manpower it had consumed, not to mention the need to make a hollow tubular shape... What an amazing and superb technology!
In comparison, the standard magic guns that the recruits treasured, the new Type 2 rumored to be produced by the Jinhui City Military Factory, immediately seemed a bit inferior...

Several new recruits from Grizzly Fort, clearly having seen the world, immediately exclaimed in amazement, "This is definitely a high-end product from the Royal Capital's military factory! Only His Majesty's Royal Military Factory could produce such a formidable cannon!"

Baler and Zeke looked at each other and couldn't help but raise their hands at the same time to wipe the cold sweat that suddenly appeared on their foreheads.

This thing is definitely not a weapon installed on an airship!
(End of this chapter)