Game of Thrones: Digger of the Dreadfort

"Lord Aeron!"

Adam Malbrand clearly refused: "I am the envoy of Lord Tywin Lannister, coming to see Lord Balon Greyjoy. Please lead the way."

"Tywin's men?" Aeron frowned.

Ten years ago, his eldest brother Balon Greyjoy was crowned king and wanted to make the Iron Islands independent from the Seven Kingdoms and restore the "ancient roads" lost by the Ironborn in the "War of Conquest" 300 years ago.

But unfortunately, the Iron Throne soon sent troops to attack, completely suppressing King Balon's ambitions.

At the beginning of this war, the Iron Islands fleet made a surprise attack on Lannisport and burned the Lannister fleet in the anchorage.

Although the rebellion in the Iron Islands was eventually put down, the Lannister fleet suffered heavy losses and has not been rebuilt to this day.

The Iron Islands and the Westerlands have also forged a deadly feud since then...

Chapter 197 God of War

King's Landing.

Aegon Highhill.

This is the highest hill in King's Landing, with the Red Keep at its top.

The expedition against Tywin is about to begin.

Domeric is making final preparations before going off - a weapons test.

The guards had already erected long wooden poles around the site, tied them with ropes, and formed a several-mile warning circle.

Close to the walls of the Red Fort, knight patrols were arranged to prevent anyone from accidentally breaking in.

At this time, four round and thick copper pipes were placed in front of everyone. They were bronze-colored and exuded a thick metallic luster.

"Is this your secret weapon?"

Wendel scratched his bald head and asked doubtfully.

Can this thing in front of me be called a weapon?

Such a thick copper pipe weighs thousands of pounds.

Wendel dared to pat his chest and guarantee that not even the giant outside the wall could lift it.

There were many nobles present, basically everyone who was qualified to attend the royal meeting. Even the sisters Sansa and Arya came to watch the fun.

"My lords, this thing is called artillery."

Domeric explained to everyone.

In order to ensure the advantage over the Lannister army in the next series of wars.

Domeric must introduce more powerful weapons in advance.

That's artillery!

As the god of war in the history of human warfare, the lethality and shock power brought by artillery are incomparable.

These four artillery pieces were produced at the foundry in Gushanling.

Take the sea transport to Crab Cove, and then transport it along Maiden Spring to King's Landing.

Unfortunately, Stannis's Dragonstone fleet unlocked Blackwater Bay too late.

Otherwise, the cargo ship can go directly to Blackwater Bay and arrive ten days earlier.

"artillery?"

Earl Gales coughed out of habit, "Sir, I am so old, but I have never heard of this name."

"This is a new weapon developed by Gushanling. You can also call it the 'Hongyi Cannon'."

The prototype of the Hongyi cannon is a long-tube, spindle-shaped cannon invented in Europe in another world in the 16th century. It was introduced in the late Ming Dynasty and was quickly copied.

It has many advantages in design.

The gun barrel is long, the tube wall is thick, and the caliber is large. The overall shape gradually thickens from the muzzle to the breech, which is in line with the principle of the chamber pressure going from high to low when gunpowder is burned...

In the continent of Westeros, a world with relatively backward smelting and casting technology, the Red Barbarian Cannon is Domeric's best choice at the moment.

Half a year ago, Domeric got the formula for "Sacred Fire" from the white mouse Issie.

"Sacred fire" is a powdered agent that is almost as effective as black gunpowder. It can burn quickly, produce a large amount of gas, and then explode...

The formula is not complicated, the raw materials are simple and easily available, and it has the conditions for large-scale production.

The Gushanling factory continues to test the ingredient ratio based on the original formula.

In the end, a "divine fire" with a power closer to that of black gunpowder was obtained.

Since then, Domeric's cannon-casting plan has begun.

Although Domeric knew the general principles of cannon casting, some details were difficult to grasp.

The process of hand-casting artillery is also relatively complicated. Domilik uses the integral clay mold casting method.

However, the barrel of the cannon is prone to produce a large number of trachoma, the barrel is frequently exploded, and the processing of the barrel is also very difficult.

Under the leadership of Gushanling's chief blacksmith, Donald Noy, after a series of failures and attempts.

Finally a month ago, that is when Domeric traveled to the valley.

The foundry received four six-pounders.

The so-called six-pounder guns were named after the weight of the shells. In fact, each gun weighed a full 2000 pounds.

A six-pounder cannon weighed 2000 pounds, and Domeric could not imagine the weight of a twelve-pounder cannon.

However, with the current level of technology, the six-pound gun is the limit. Not only is it difficult to cast, but the gun body is also more likely to produce scum and bubbles.

Moreover, it is too bulky and is not conducive to transportation on the battlefield.

The material of these four artillery pieces is copper.

The early metal cannons made by mankind were originally made of copper. Because copper has a low melting point, good ductility, tough texture, and is not easy to explode, it is a high-quality material for casting cannons.

Therefore, casting bronze cannons was popular in various countries in previous lives.

As for why iron cannons became the mainstream later, it was because the price of copper cannons was too expensive!

The lowest price of a bronze cannon is five times that of an iron cannon!

It is the price that forces humans to improve metal processing technology and turn steel into the main raw material for cannon casting.

In other words, Domilik made a lot of money by relying on the "iron trade" in Gushanling.

Only then could four bronze cannons be cast.

Even if the poor noble lords know the casting process, they probably don't even dare to think about it.

"let's start."

Domeric took a deep breath,

Compared with pig iron barrels, copper cast barrels obviously have higher toughness.

Even if the chamber pressure is too high, the gun will not explode easily.

These four artillery pieces have consumed almost several months of Gushanling's trade income. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are priceless treasures.

The artillery fires six-pound shells, which are mainly spherical solid projectiles made of stone, iron, lead and other materials.

Cannonballs and gunpowder are front-loaded into the chamber and ignited by the fuse.

Domeric also had carpenters build wooden mounts and wheels for the cannons.

Several blacksmith apprentices from Gushanling pulled out a mop-style cleaning rod from under the gun mount, inserted it into the muzzle, and fiddled with it a few times. The mop did not bring out any debris, so the cleaning of the gun barrel was completed.

Then he took out a "divine fire" wrapped in a paper roll, stuffed it into the barrel of the cannon, and drove it straight to the bottom with a wooden pole.

Then put in the shells and compact them.

Finally, insert the lead from the rear end of the barrel.

In this way, the preparation for firing the artillery is completed.

All the nobles looked at the apprentices in confusion, busy in front of a thick copper pipe.

Earl Gales would cough every once in a while. Although his old illness had been cured by the magic of the red-robed witch, his coughing habit could not be changed for a while.

Tormund "Giantsbane" couldn't help but start snoring while standing.

Fat Lord Wyman was even considering whether to have grilled eel for lunch. During the time he came to King's Landing, he gained another ten pounds.

Sansa was holding a love story book, and she regretted being dragged here by her sister Arya.

Arya looked at the cannon with excitement, and her intuition told her that this thing was not as simple as it seemed.

……

In order to prevent accidents.

Domeric ordered everyone to stand back thirty paces.

The apprentice put the torch close to the fuse, and saw the sparks at the end shining, and in the blink of an eye it had penetrated into the barrel.

Then there was a loud "boom" sound

The high-speed airflow from the muzzle lifted up the soil, and a layer of mud rain rose on the ground.

The theoretical effective range of the six-pounder gun is up to [-] meters.

Even without rifling, the trajectory of the cannonball is still a straight line.

A thick wall about a hundred meters away made a "bang" sound.

Hit head-on by a six-pounder shell, the entire wall exploded.

A huge spider web-like crack formed.

After a few seconds, the wall collapsed completely!

Chapter 198

When the smoke cleared, the collapsed wall appeared in front of everyone.