Chapter 695: Chapter 468: Fire Lance Completed
In the depths of the mountains, several people were staring ahead in excitement, and Wei Ziang was also suppressing his excitement as he stood in the very center.
In his hands was a long, rod-shaped object—a firearm.
After three years of work, he had finally, together with several masters, managed to develop this thing.
Although he had many realistic toy pistols he could take apart, and plenty of information on pistols he could refer to,
the techniques required for these things were not something ordinary people could reproduce by hand.
What’s more, what they intended to make was a weapon that could arm the soldiers of the Xuyu Dynasty in large numbers, one that slightly trained craftsmen could all produce.
Over these three years, Wei Ziang had not concealed a single thing; everything he knew or had found out, he shared in full whenever the opportunity was right.
Even so, over these three years they still made mistake after mistake.
Fortunately, they were all veteran masters and knew that creating a new weapon was not something that could be accomplished so easily.
Sometimes, to complete a single precious suit of armor, spending three to five years was completely normal.
Not to mention that what they were trying to build now was a firearm that surpassed the age!
If they could truly produce this weapon, never mind three to five years—even thirty to fifty years would absolutely be worth it; it would let them make a name for themselves in their entire field, even be recorded in history across the realm!
So everyone was full of fighting spirit; when they erred, they simply changed their thinking and started over.
In this way, after three years, they finally produced their first firearm.
This kind of firearm, even if its workmanship was not particularly precise, as long as it succeeded, would absolutely be able to change the entire military strength of the Xuyu Dynasty!
Most importantly, the method of making this firearm was not especially complicated. With a bit of training, an ordinary craftsman could produce at least one of its parts.
Something this dangerous naturally could not have its forging methods widely publicized. Even if they wanted to arm the army, they could only have people forge different components, to be assembled by designated personnel.
But all of that was a matter for those above; what they had to do was simply make this thing, nothing more.
And today was their umpteenth attempt at testing the firearm’s capabilities.
They had already failed many times before, but every time it came to this point, they were still extremely tense and excited.
"Little Wei, everything in front is set up. Hurry and give it a try."
General Song rode over on horseback; he had gone to set up the target just now. Though he had not taken part in the forging, he knew what these people were doing, and every time he tagged along, eagerly playing the assistant.
Wei Ziang nodded. "Masters, all of you step back a bit, in case the barrel bursts again."
Everyone actually really wanted to try it themselves, but since this was still the testing stage, they were afraid the barrel might explode and injure whoever held the firearm.
So every test was conducted with Wei Ziang wearing thick gloves, with his other hand holding a shield in front of his face.
Besides, he had Spiritual Energy protecting him. Even though the barrel had exploded several times before, he had never been seriously hurt—at most his arm would go numb from the shock, and it would be fine after a short while.
"I think this time it will definitely work."
General Song sounded utterly confident, yet he still obediently stayed on his horse and retreated several meters along with the others.
He said that every time.
Once there was no one nearby, Song Xiwen loaded black gunpowder and a stone shot, then half-crouched behind the thick shield, stretching both hands out from either side of it to grip the firearm in front, aiming at the target ahead.
The target was not far, only about fifty meters away.
Both hands wore thick gloves that extended all the way to his elbows.
One hand supported the firearm, while the other gently squeezed the trigger.
With a loud ’Bang!’, the target in front emitted a wet ’pfft’ sound, and a small round hole appeared.
Everyone was stunned for a moment, then rushed together to Wei Ziang.
"How is it, how is it, did it blow, did it blow?"
Hitting the target was nothing special; they had managed that long ago. What mattered was whether the barrel had burst and how the recoil felt.
Wei Ziang stood up, his brows and eyes full of excitement. "No, it didn’t. Aside from the recoil being a bit strong, you have to brace hard when firing, otherwise it’s easy to throw the shot off."
"Really? Little Wei, let me have a try, my hands have been itching for ages."
No one present was afraid of recoil. Never mind that General Song had practiced martial arts for years, training every day, his spearwork fierce and vigorous.
Even those master craftsmen swung their hammers like they were nothing—what need had they to fear recoil?
Wei Ziang handed it over to him readily. "General Song, do you want to use the shield for cover?"
General Song took the firearm in excitement. "No, no need, didn’t you say the barrel won’t burst anymore?"
General Song was no divine archer, but basic mounted archery was no trouble for him.
Now, a target just fifty meters away was simply a trivial matter. After reloading powder and shot, he didn’t even bother to aim; he just raised his hands and fired.
’Bang!’ ’Puff!’
Another small round hole appeared on the target, piercing straight through, right next to the one Wei Ziang had just made.
However, his arm still jolted once from the recoil.
Immediately afterward, everyone burst into excitement. "We did it, we really did it! We’ve made it!"
"This is great, it’s finally done!"
After that, everyone took a turn firing a shot. But after about five or six consecutive uses, the firearm started to heat up; worried it might burst again, they waited a while before continuing.
Only after everyone had tried their fill did they head back, satisfied.
As for the firearm, it was naturally personally taken into safekeeping by Lord Xie, who had remained in Lishi City all this time.
Lord Xie had originally been sent specially by His Majesty as an imperial envoy because an iron ore deposit had been discovered in Lishi City.
But after learning they were researching firearms, apart from returning to the Capital City each New Year to report, he simply brought his family to settle in Lishi City.
Of course, the firearm project had naturally been approved by the higher authorities; otherwise they wouldn’t even have black gunpowder.
Now that the firearm had been developed, Lord Xie was supposed to lead these masters back to the Capital City.
To be fair, there was iron everywhere, and the Capital City had the best facilities and coal; they could completely continue their research there, and everyone’s families and friends were also in the Capital City.
But none of them went back.
As for the various reasons, there was no need to say; everyone understood.
After all, Wei Ziang was certainly not going to abandon his family to go with them to the Capital City.
To avoid attracting attention, every firearm test was conducted in mountains far from Lishi City, and today was no different.
On the way back, Lord Xie brought up the matter with Wei Ziang again.
"Little Wei, now that the firearm is a success, we must first deliver it to the Capital City for His Majesty to see. You’ve made the greatest contribution to this research; the rewards will definitely be generous. You really won’t come back with us?"
If they did not go back, the court officials would start suspecting they intended to use the firearms to rebel.
So once they succeeded, they had to return as soon as possible, without delaying even a single day.
Of course, if they could trick Wei Ziang into going back as well, so much the better.