After Becoming The Tyrant

The square of the experiment was filled with the smell of gunpowder, and members of the gunpowder research department and the military design institute who didn't see each other gathered together.Mr. Raul, whose coat was already wrinkled, was sweating all over his face, staring nervously at the middle of the square, holding a banner in his hand:

"A group! Good! Three, two, one!"

He waved the flag.

boom--

There was an explosion that was many times quieter than the sound of a cannon firing, and a birch target standing on the square shattered.

"Yes! Yes! It's a success!"

Mr. Lauer let out a loud shout, and couldn't help waving his arm vigorously.Everyone cheered and turned their heads to look at the king accompanied by the devil with joy.

"Your Majesty! We succeeded!"

"That's right, it worked."

The king replied, looking at the center of the test field, with his fingertips touching.In order to show respect to the king, Raul and the others specially moved a set of clean tables and chairs and arranged them in a safe place outside the experimental area.

Right now, Legrand's first military heavy industry united to demonstrate to the king the results of their "Super-Fire Military Cannon" plan.

The King knows what his mad scientists are up to -

In the very center of the experimental area, a skeleton was half-kneeling, and on the shoulders of the skeleton was a cylindrical iron pipe nearly two meters high.The iron pipe looks like a reduced version of the artillery, or it is an enlarged hand cannon.The shot that knocked down the birch target just now was done by this skeleton.

This is the "Super Firepower Military Cannon" plan jointly completed by Lauer and the Rogers brothers.

This group of psychopaths ran wildly on the road of "explosion is truth", almost frantic.

Not only did they try their best to create a giant cannon that could blow up a castle, but they didn't even let it go on the ordinary frontal battlefield. In the words of the Rogers Brothers, "Gunpowder weapons should be used in all aspects on the battlefield." It should be emphasized that whether it is in naval warfare or on land, it should never be used only as a siege weapon, and it should not be used as a siege weapon in most of the war."

This statement full of "explosions are the truth" was rarely recognized by military designers.

Originally, the king only asked them to improve the cannons, but they temporarily put aside their grievances and thought about how to let gunpowder weapons usurp the dominance of heavy cavalry on the battlefield.

In the end, they set their sights on something they didn't want to see.

As early as the late 14th century, iron pipe firearms using gunpowder appeared in the Wuwang Inner Sea area, which were called "fire sticks" or "hand cannons".Before the Black Death broke out, this rare thing had already been introduced to Legrand through the ships between the Abyss Strait and the Inner Sea.

But the hand cannons at this time are the same as the artillery before them. Although military strategists know about this kind of thing, they are still not reused on the battlefield.They are far less powerful on the battlefield than longbows and crossbows[1], and it is even considered a shame to die under hand cannons at this time.

—Everyone knows that hand cannons are useless except to frighten the enemy, and if they are hit he is either unlucky or a coward. [2]

Minister Raul believes that hand cannons are an important direction for the use of gunpowder. He specifically consulted the oath knights who are in charge of the order of the industrial base, why hand cannons are not popular on the frontal battlefield.

At the beginning, the oath knights were a little dissatisfied with the king's emphasis on the cannon, but these dissatisfaction soon disappeared in the "rumbling" explosions of the Rogers brothers and Mr. Lauer every day.Even when Mr. Raul, who was considered gentle, came to ask, the oath knight took a step back subconsciously, and had some inexplicable fear of Mr. Designer, who was obviously able to knock him down with one punch.

Finally, a sworn knight who had seen mercenaries use hand cannons gave the answer:

The hand cannon and the short wooden sheath used to support it are usually more than one meter long. The gun body is too heavy and the recoil is too strong. It is difficult for ordinary soldiers to use in mobile warfare, and the accuracy of the hand cannon is really poor. Doesn't do anything other than create chaos.There are some merits in relying on wall stacks when defending the city, but in this way, the slow-loading hand cannon is not as fast and powerful as the longbow when defending the city.

To solve these problems, gunpowder research and military design joined forces for the first time.

The Rogers brothers came up with the idea of ​​the fuse based on their previous experience learning from fireworks craftsmen, and military designers were thinking about combining matchlocks with hand cannons.Although the progress of matchlocks and hand cannons was slow, this group of guys did not give up and wanted to make hand cannons work on the frontal battlefield.

Finally, they turned their attention to...

Ok……

On the skeletons.

"That's it." Mr. Raul explained carefully, "We made an enlarged version of the hand cannon - it can be regarded as a reduced version of the cannon. Before the matchlock device was solved, the difference between the two is not big. Skeleton The gentlemen have great strength and can easily carry heavy hand cannons, and the recoil does not affect them too much. In addition, an important drawback of hand cannons is that they need to ignite the gunpowder in the medicine chamber with a red-hot iron block , the shooter must complete the action of grasping the gun barrel and igniting the fire at the same time when firing, which is not only slow, but also difficult to accurately aim. But! [2].”

Mr. Lauer's voice rose.

He pulled over Mr. Skeleton who had come down from the experiment field, and patted his shoulder blades excitedly.

"But! Your Majesty! Our Mr. Skeletons are different!" Mr. Raul continued, "Mr. Skeletons aim not by eyes, but by the induction of the fire of the soul! Mr. Skeletons can move their bones Temporarily disassembled-yes! They can bite the ignition rod with their own teeth, and then aim and shoot at the same time! Even their fingers are extraordinarily flexible, not afraid of high temperatures, and they can complete this series of actions with precision!"

The skeleton archer who was patted on the shoulder by him cracked the upper and lower rows of teeth towards the king, showing a shy smile.

The king looked at his newly baked musketeer in silence, and saw that the skull was covered in black smoke because of the experiment just now, half white and half black.

"Then..." The king looked at the skeleton smiling happily at him, and carefully considered his words, "What about when the matchlock device is improved?"

The happily smiling skeleton stopped smiling, and the skull fell down in frustration.

Mr. Lauer inexplicably felt that he had suffered the condemnation of his conscience invisibly—as if he was an unscrupulous client in a brothel—he waved his hands and quickly dispelled the messy associations: "Ahem! In fact We have a new idea, and our Mr. Skeleton plays an important role in this plan."

"We believe that there are two development paths for hand-held guns: first, completely get rid of the influence of the prototype of the cannon, reduce the size, improve accuracy and portability, and be suitable for ordinary soldiers to operate. Soldiers with strong chest muscles can use it, but this is not a problem for Mr. Skeletons. This is the future development goal of super-fire military artillery.”

Hearing his words, the skull on the ground collapsed cheerfully.

Obviously, these skeletons are more willing to serve their Majesty the King on the battlefield than digging mines and building houses.

The devil sighed, unwilling to look at this scene.

—so stupid!These skeletons are so stupid! !

The king glanced at Mr. Raul, and then at the skeleton who was obviously very happy: "Then, it's time for me to make a new batch of badges—for my skeleton musketeers?"

The Skeleton Musketeer joyfully tosses his own skull into the sky.Not far away, the skeleton carrying the ore glanced enviously.

"Okay..." the devil compromised, "I will select a batch of suitable skeletons for you."

The king gave a small laugh.

Fine.

The devil thought, let hell throw away his face to please the king.

Just when Mr. Raul wanted to continue explaining to the king, a messenger crow flew down from the sky, and it gently placed a letter on the king's desk.

The king opened the letter.

He suppressed that rare light smile, and his expression became serious.

"The Hall of Truth?"

He muttered to himself.

………………

The capital of the arts, Will City.

The sun is shining brightly, and a group of white doves symbolizing peace and happiness are fluttering in the church bells. The winter is over and the weather is getting warmer.But Tia felt a chill in her bones as she sat at the table by the window.

"Father, you have to think clearly!"

The daughter who was about to get married cried and persuaded him with red eyes.

"You just say it tomorrow, the heliocentric theory is wrong[4] and that's enough. Could it be that our family's life is not as good as your numbers that no one cares about?!"

"But math doesn't lie..."

Tia, who is not good at words, wants to explain to her daughter.

Tomorrow, in the "art capital" of Will City, there will be a debate on some of the ideas put forward by the heretics.This was a large debate hosted by the Holy See, and many well-known scholars were invited.The Holy Empire specially arranged this performance in order to show its broad mind, to declare openly that God's words are the truth.

The Emperor of the Holy Empire declared: God is just and benevolent, and He is willing to give the heretics a chance to teach them the right way with the truth.At the meeting, the Holy Court allows all scholars to put forward their own views and answer them one by one. God will forgive the world with His wisdom.

Tia was one of the invited astronomers.

After accepting the invitation, Tia was proud of it at first, until a few days ago, a bishop came to the door, suggesting that if he opposed the heliocentric theory in the debate, then his wife and daughters would get the jewelry they wanted, and he He will also be the clerk of the Holy Court.

"What the hell mathematics." Tia's wife threw his manuscript into the fireplace coldly, looked at him, and said word by word, "Do you know the "Hammer of the Witch" that was just published? Judge I've already asked Bella and I."

Tia was speechless and leaned back in the chair wearily.

"I...I know."

he whispered.

The wife and daughter withdrew, leaving the door ajar.

Tia stared blankly at the manuscript burning rapidly in the fireplace.

It was getting dark, and evening came.

Tia's daughter went upstairs to call her father for dinner.Knocked on the door several times, but got no response.

She pushed open the door and froze.

The room was quiet, no candles were lit, and the fire in the fireplace had already been extinguished.Her father's hands were hanging by the chair, wooden and pale.There was a strong smell of blood in the room.

With a scream, the soon-to-be-married girl rushed downstairs.

The evening sun hangs down in the western sky, and the rays of light are like blood.

The sun shines quietly on the earth.

Once upon a time, there was a little boy who chased the setting sun in his childhood. Over and over again, he thought that one day he would be able to chase the sunset.Later, when the boy grew up, he began to calculate the angles of the sun, the moon and the stars over and over again. He thought, if he could not go to the place where the sun sets, he would calculate the angles of the sun and the stars.

He wanted to reach out and touch the sun.

Eyes can be deceiving, legends can be deceiving, but numbers cannot be deceiving.The boy who grew up calculated those complicated and huge degrees countless times.In the end, all he had to do was stretch out his hand, and he could take off the sun.

But, says the Holy Court, God the Father is everywhere, the stars circle the earth, and the sky is the realm of angels and the Holy Spirit.

Under the tears of his wife and daughter, the boy who grew up, he gave up.

Year 1 of the Holy Empire, February 2.

The Debate of Truth opened in Will, the "city of art".Before this unprecedented truth debate, no one cared, and a silent astronomer chose to sleep forever in the long night.He left a final doubt:

Where will the flower of technology be born?

Will the truth become mud together with slander and crime?

The author has something to say: [1] The lethality of the early muskets was far inferior to the longbow and crossbow of the same era.See Dupuy, "The Evolution of Arms and War"

[2] "It is uncertain when the hand cannon appeared, it may have been in the 14s, but not later than the early 30th century at the latest. For a long time, the main function of the hand cannon was to scare the enemy. If it hit the enemy It can only be said that the enemy is unlucky" - "Medieval War: Theory and Practice of War in Europe: 15-300"

[3] Early muskets in the early 15th century needed to ignite the gunpowder in the medicine chamber with a red-hot iron block, and then shoot the bullets out.Therefore, the early hand-held guns had slow firing speeds and poor accuracy, and their actual effects were very limited.It wasn't until the late 15th century that the arquebus improved the ignition device, and the armies of various countries began to use hand-held guns to equip their troops in an organized way.

[4] I saw that some readers were confused and explained.In the Middle Ages, the Holy See held the geocentric theory out of theological considerations and attacked the heliocentric theory.The bishop's visit here is to make astronomers abandon the heliocentric theory and support the geocentric theory instead.