What's wrong with building a steel torrent in a dungeon?

"Oh?" Christina asked curiously, "How many people were recruited? Two thousand? Or five thousand?"

"five hundred."

"Five hundred? Are all these five hundred people powerful?"

"Uh, not really." Fran thought for a moment, then said, "They are all ordinary people, the highest is only level one (Vanessa doesn't count), and they are not professional soldiers during this period."

"Are you crazy?" After hearing this, Christina stood up from her seat and asked, "Are you going to rely on these 500 ordinary people to deal with the army of the Holy Roll Empire?"

"Don't worry, sister. I will continue to recruit later."

"How can I not be anxious!" Christina said, "This is a matter of life and death for you! But you treat it as a joke! War is not the Tulip Storm, you can't hide behind and make plans! What's more, you have to go to the battlefield in person this time, and you may die if you are not careful!!"

"Sister..." Seeing Christina's anxious look, Fran was deeply moved. She knew that Christina was really worried about her.

"I know you have a lot of tricks up your sleeve." Christina said, "But the battlefield really can't be taken lightly. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand. After I return, I will continue to expand the army and start repairing Thermopylae."

Christina nodded and said, "Tell me if you need any supplies. I will do everything I can to help you transport them to the underground city."

"Okay!" After hearing this, Fran felt warm in her heart, but she seemed to have thought of something, and then said: "Speaking of which, if I really defeat Huang Silang and Margaret. Can sister promise me one thing?"

"As long as you can get through this crisis safely, don't say one thing! I will promise you ten things." Christina said.

"No, I just need you to promise me one thing." A hint of cunning suddenly appeared on Fran's face.

"Tell me what it is first. But I always feel that it is definitely not a serious matter." Seeing Fran's expression, Christina seemed to know something.

"Do you remember the maid outfit that Vanti wore before?" Fran said, "I... also want to see my sister wear it once."

After hearing this, Christina seemed quite helpless, but she still smiled and said, "Okay! Sister promises you! Not to mention maid outfits, even those revealing clothes worn by singing and dancing girls in brothels, I will wear them for you to see!"

"Sister, you said it! That's great!" Fran wanted to cheer but was stopped by Christina immediately.

"Don't be happy too soon! Before that, you must be serious and prepare to deal with Margaret and Huang Silang!"

"Yes, sir! My lady, the most beautiful saint in the world!!" Fran quickly made a salute gesture like a Shinra* clergyman.

Chapter 34: Fran's Secret Weapon

With Christina's promise, Fran felt full of enthusiasm and ambition. She wanted to rush to the Wolf Castle with her war hammer and smash the Yellow Wolf to pieces with one blow.

That day, Fran rushed to the blacksmith shop again and packed up the weapons and armor that had been produced and shipped back to Aurora City. Of course, he also took away ten finished guns and some ammunition from the blacksmith shop. Although these guns were all prototypes and many of them still had defects, Fran was obviously unable to wait for the finalized quantity.

Now that the musket has been produced, she must let her soldiers adapt to this new weapon as soon as possible.

Fran had just returned to Orila City. Without even having time to rest, she went straight to the military camp and summoned everyone to see the secret weapon she brought.

The others listened and rubbed their hands in anticipation. But when Fran took out the musket, everyone was dumbfounded.

Isn't this just an iron rod with a wooden handle? Can this be considered a secret weapon?

Fanti picked up the musket, looked it up and down for a long time before saying, "How do we fight this? Hold the wooden handle and swing it? But if that's the case, why is the front end hollow? Wouldn't a solid one increase the power?"

"I guess this is a boomerang." Catherine pretended to be thinking hard: "As long as it is trained properly, it will automatically come back after being thrown out, causing twice the damage?"

"I think this is a sacrificial item, used to boost morale before a war," said Feuerbach.

As for Vanessa, she first compared the length and size of the gun barrel in fear, and soon her face turned red. God knows what she was thinking.

"Enough! Stop guessing!" Seeing that everyone's guesses were getting more and more outrageous, Fran interrupted them decisively and picked up the rifle.

She found a wall, quickly poured the gunpowder and bullets into it, and then pulled the trigger.

boom!

A loud bang split the sky, and then a bullet was deeply embedded in the wall, with cracks all around it.

The effect surprised everyone.

"This! How is this done?" Fandi picked up the gun again: "Is there a magic circle engraved inside? Or does it need to be injected with energy?"

"No! I didn't feel any energy fluctuations at all." Catherine said: "And even if it is a decoration with a crossbow arrow hidden inside, its power can't be so great."

"Neither..." Fran said as she called out an ordinary soldier and asked him to repeat the action of shooting.

boom!

Another gunshot pierced the sky. A second bullet was lodged deeply into the wall. Although this bullet was very far away from the previous one.

But the effect was enough to shock everyone again.

No magic, no energy required! Even ordinary people can do it.

Afterwards, Fran explained the details of using the musket to the instructors, and then the instructors taught it to the ordinary soldiers. Soon, the sound of "pa pa pa" could be heard throughout the camp.

After a day of training, Catherine and Vanti finally had a general understanding of the principles and performance of the musket.

To be fair, there are a lot of cat biscuits in the gun

It is bulky, slow to load, has very poor accuracy, is prone to jamming and misfiring, and can even explode.

But its advantages are enough to cover all the disadvantages

Very powerful! And it doesn't take long to train.

Catherine roughly calculated that with the current power of the projectile, any cavalry below level three, if hit within thirty steps, would fall off the horse due to the impact, even if they did not die, thus losing their combat effectiveness.

If an archer wanted to achieve such an effect, he would have to undergo years of training. However, after only one day of training, most of the soldiers had already mastered the basic skills of loading and successfully completed the shooting.

It is unprecedented in the history of war to master powerful attack capabilities so easily.

Human power is limited.

On the battlefield, a longbowman who has received years of training and can fire more than 20 arrows in a row can be called a master archer. But even a soldier who has just mastered the basic skills of loading can keep firing his gun until it explodes.

As for the lack of accuracy, I can just increase the density of the muskets! Anyway, it’s good enough to kill the enemy on the battlefield. As for whether the enemy I hit is the one I aimed at, does it matter?

At this point, Vanti, Catherine and others finally understood why the musket could be called a secret weapon.

In addition to shooting techniques, Fran also taught Catherine how to use organized musketeers.

On the battlefield, the musketeers were arranged in several rows. After the first row finished shooting, they quickly retreated and began to reload. Then the second row began to shoot, and the cycle continued over and over again.

If their manpower conditions permit, they can even prepare many pikemen. When encountering a cavalry charge, the musketeers will hide behind the pikemen after a round of volleys, and then continue to fire under the protection of countless pikes.

If the enemy starts a intensive charge, the musketeers will be arranged into three rows, with the first row kneeling and shooting, the second row bending over and shooting, and the third row standing and shooting. When the enemy enters the shooting range, they will shoot together to ensure that a high density of bullets clears the battlefield.

Before becoming Fran's bodyguard, Catherine had commanded troops in the Kingdom of Ashes and had extensive command experience. Therefore, as soon as Fran explained it briefly, she understood the significance of these formations and immediately began to train the soldiers.

At this time, Fran's strict queue training finally paid off. Whether it was multiple-shot or volley fire, the requirements for discipline far exceeded those of traditional infantry. With the foundation of the previous training, their subsequent training would undoubtedly be much easier.

But at this time, Fran still had a headache.

The number of muskets and ammunition was seriously insufficient.

Because there were not enough muskets, Fran had to urgently make fake muskets of equal weight using branches and metal and give them to the soldiers for training.

After more than a month of hard work in the blacksmith shop, they finally managed to produce ten muskets (although mass production has not yet begun). With only this number, no matter how powerful the musket is, its role on the battlefield is limited.

In comparison, the amount of ammunition was even more limited. The training of muskets was not the same as that of bows and arrows. When archers were training, they could recycle the arrows they shot and continue training! But the ammunition of muskets was not the same. After each shot, the ammunition was less and less, and it had to be replenished constantly.

However, the blacksmith shop's production capacity is limited. Fran has reduced the production of weapons and armor as much as possible and invested most of the manpower into the production of firearms, but it is still far from what she needs.

Fran also thought about a large-scale expansion, but the scale of the blacksmith shop was limited, and it would take a lot of time to expand. And even if everything was ready, the blacksmith shop was still in Vienna, and it would take a few days to transport the finished products to Orila.

If the war breaks out and the passages on both sides are cut off, doesn't that mean that Fran won't get any ammunition supplies?

The best solution is to move the entire blacksmith shop to Orila City. Orila City doesn't have much else, but it has a lot of land! And there are rich saltpeter resources in the underground city, and no one is mining it!

It seems that I have to find a way to move the blacksmith shop to Orila City. As for those craftsmen, I will do whatever it takes, even if it means stealing, cheating, or ambushing them.

Chapter 35 New Workshop

Just do it!

A few days later, a large group of carriages were quietly transported out of Vienna. Under the strict confidentiality of the Inquisition, they arrived at the city of Aurelia, and quietly slipped into the city of Aurelia from the trail of Thermopylae without arousing the vigilance of any force.

This was also due to the fact that the path to Thermopylae was too hidden, and in order to conceal its existence from Fran, Huang Silang obviously would not send troops to guard it. So this path became Fran's exclusive "smuggling" channel.

This meticulously crafted convoy was loaded with all sorts of equipment and blacksmiths from Fran's blacksmith shop in Vienna.

It can be said that she moved almost everything that could be moved.

Of course, Fran did not tell these craftsmen the destination of their trip. She only said that she wanted to build a new blacksmith shop in a mysterious place to manufacture firearms, but for the sake of confidentiality, the location could not be told to them and they had to be blindfolded all the way.

Many craftsmen were reluctant to go at first due to this request, but Fran offered too much.

Not only did Fulan double their wages, she even offered something called a year-end bonus. As long as the craftsmen worked for a full year, they would be able to receive this generous year-end bonus. Now that there was only a little time left in the year, the craftsmen thought about staying for now. At worst, they could wait until this year and get the year-end bonus before they could go back.

go.

In this way, almost all the craftsmen were smuggled into the city of Orila, but because they were blindfolded and locked in dark carriages when they came, no one knew where they were when they came out.

Even if I knew, what would it matter? You are already in the underground city, so why should I be afraid that you will escape?

Before sending the craftsmen and various equipment, Fran had already built a new blacksmith shop, or workshop, next to the military camp!

The new workshop was large enough to accommodate a variety of equipment and testing grounds. In line with the principle of "better to have more than enough", Fran collected a large number of equipment from the city of Orilla, so it became the largest blacksmith shop in the entire city of Orilla, and even in the whole of Vienna.

Of course, it is not enough to have space and equipment! The key is the craftsman.

It's a pity that most of the monsters in Orila City are engaged in agriculture or mining, and artisans are extremely rare. Even if there are many, they all belong to major families. Not to mention whether they are willing to leave the chamber of commerce of the major families, even if they are willing, Fran may not dare to accept them.

So Fran had no choice but to train herself.

She gathered many apprentices with blacksmith background from the surrounding areas. These people were exploited by the major families, with heavy work every day but little money to earn. So when they saw Fran's recruitment, they all flocked to her.

After Baram's inspection, he found that most of the apprentices' skills were actually quite good, but because they had been doing low-end work for a long time, their skills could not be further improved.

Of course, the reason for this situation is still Orila City itself, because there are no high-end jobs available for them.

Aurora City produces a large amount of ore, which is of high quality and can be sold at a good price. Since you can make a fortune by selling raw ore, why bother to find a way to turn it into a finished product?

So, with the idea of ​​making quick money, the nine families mined ore on a large scale, and then simply processed the ore and sold it, and then used the money earned to exchange for the finished products they needed. This caused a large number of workers to be filled in mining, and other handicrafts had no labor to supplement them. In addition, there was a continuous influx of external products.

After a while, almost all of them withered away.

Balam and more than 30 other craftsmen are all super experienced (after all, they have been outsourced to the big chamber of commerce for decades, it is hard not to be experienced), and they have trained countless apprentices, which has made up for the shortcomings of the craftsmen in Orila City.

After arriving at the new location, these craftsmen only do two things every day! Forging weapons and training apprentices.

In order to improve efficiency, Fran once again used the magic crystal policy.

She first set work tasks for everyone, that is, each person's daily production progress! As long as they are completed, the rest will be rewards. The longer they work, the more they produce, and naturally the more benefits they will get.

Although this seems to be just another form of overtime pay, the craftsmen in this world sometimes even find it a luxury to be paid on time, so they have never seen such a trick, so they are all enthusiastic about earning more overtime pay.

Then there is the ranking list, which rewards the craftsmen who work the longest and produce the most. This way, they are encouraged to compete with each other and thus improve the work output of the entire team.

Of course, daily output is only one of the jobs of the craftsmen. Another job is to train apprentices.

In order to speed up the transfer of skills between master and apprentice, Fran learned Beelzebub's method.

In order to encourage the majority of fallen dark nuns to actively deceive new nuns to fall, Beelzebub announced the so-called pyramid benefits. Every time a dark nun deceived a nun to come to the demon world, she would receive a large sum of money. After that, every time the deceived person succeeded, the dark nun who deceived her into the demon world would receive a large sum of money.

You can then get a portion of the rewards.

Progress step by step.

Theoretically speaking, as long as she can fool enough people, she can even do nothing every day and just sit back and reap the rewards.

Fulan's approach is that every time a craftsman successfully trains an apprentice (who needs to pass a test), the master will receive a reward. After a period of time, every time the apprentice produces a product, the master can profit from it again.

As a result, the interest of craftsmen in teaching apprentices increased dramatically, and the teaching methods also changed quietly.

Originally, when a master taught an apprentice, the master would do the exercises on the side while the apprentice watched from behind. There was not much communication during the whole process, and how much the apprentice learned depended on his eyesight. Not only was the efficiency low, but sometimes the apprentice might just learn the splits and produce a lot of unqualified things.

In fact, everyone knows that this method is inefficient. However, because the scale of the handicraft industry is so small that it cannot accommodate so many practitioners, there is naturally no need for large-scale and efficient training methods. And for the master, there is not much benefit in teaching the apprentice to become a master, and it is even possible that the apprentice will starve to death.

Therefore, apart from blood relations, most masters teach in a casual way. On this basis, the apprentice is not just an apprentice, but also a free servant of the master. Even before becoming a full apprentice, he has to help the master as a free laborer. Therefore, the longer the teaching time, the higher the benefits for the master.

But now the relationship of interests has been reversed, so there is no need for Fran to change their ideas specifically. These craftsmen naturally begin to teach their apprentices patiently and meticulously, and they are willing to teach them everything they know so that the apprentices can learn all the skills in one day.

Later, in order to further increase the speed of technology dissemination, the craftsmen even jointly compiled a simple entry manual, as well as instructions for using various tools, with pictures and text, so even illiterate people could learn most of it, saving them a lot of time in imparting technology.

Chapter 36 Boom!

The new workshop was soon on track, and various finished products were continuously delivered to the military camp next door for training. Soldiers finally no longer had to carry heavy branches as muskets for training every day. Before long, gunshots could be heard over the military camp.

Of course, due to limited time, the original musket improvement plan and steam engine plan were temporarily shelved.