rise of empire total war

Chapter 351 New Developments in Firearms

After his son was born safely, Richard also heaved a sigh of relief. Overjoyed, he rewarded every servant in the palace with a sum of money, and he wanted to return the slaves who were bought to freedom, but it was not for Richard. Unexpectedly, the female slaves rejected the opportunity to regain their freedom one after another, and unanimously claimed that they were willing to stay in the Ippolito Palace and serve the royal family.

Richard immediately understood what they were thinking. They could eat and drink enough to stay in the Hippolito Palace without worrying about survival. But after leaving here, they regained their freedom. Without a job and a place to stay, they seemed to have no roots. Like duckweed, it will just continue to drift until it dies in a foreign land, or is captured again, and sold as a slave to a new master--in this case, it is better to continue to be a servant of the royal family, at least it will be self-conscious when you say it Superior.

So, they were left by Richard to continue to serve Stephanie and the newborn prince—forgot to say, for the first son in his life, Richard gave him a very Germanic name: Frederick, that is, Frederick Stuart.

Although it would be strange for a Germanic name like Frederick to be paired with Stuart, which sounds like an English-born surname, Richard still insisted on naming it like this, and at the same time adopted it in the cabinet meeting the next day. The proposal of the nobles announced in public that Frederick Jr. would be the first heir to the kingdom. Not only that, Frederick Jr. was also awarded the title of Duke Cuban, which was reduced to an honorary title.Richard had a hunch that maybe after hundreds of years passed, if his kingdom still existed, the Duke of Cuban would most likely become a necessary title for the Crown Prince, just like the Prince of Asturias in Spain.

……

Time flies, and another four months have passed. Richard's firearms research institute in the Arrelt Silver Mine finally made progress. After six years of intermittent research, without any technical assistance, the craftsmen finally made progress. The first smoothbore gun was developed and successfully tested. The news of the successful development of the smoothbore gun quickly spread back to Nord City. Aretel Silver Mine in the center of the city, and see for yourself the masterpieces of the artisans.

The smoothbore gun was made by a craftsman named Anibal. This experienced old craftsman lengthened the barrel of the matchlock gun to make the shooting range farther, reaching a distance of about 100 meters, but the problem of accuracy It still hasn't been solved (even hundreds of years later, the accuracy problem of muskets can be solved, let alone now), so soldiers can only win by numbers.

After the smoothbore gun was successfully developed, the system also opened up the recruitment authority for musketry soldiers. After thinking about it, Richard decided to recruit a large group of musketry soldiers to test the waters. .

Looking back at the Firearms Research Institute, in addition to the musket, the craftsmen also made some gadgets. They packed the gunpowder in a small paper tube and tied it to the top of the arrow, allowing the archer to light the matchlock outside the container Finally, they shoot at the enemy. When the rocket hits the target, the paper tube explodes, killing the enemy. In order to keep the arrow stable in flight, they also install a small metal block on the arrow shaft.

Richard is no stranger to this thing. In fact, anyone who knows the history of the development of gunpowder weapons in China knows this thing well. This is the gunpowder arrow that appeared in the Song Dynasty, which is the predecessor of the Shenji arrow in the Ming Dynasty.Richard was a little surprised to see this familiar thing. Facing the inquiring eyes of the craftsmen, Richard directly took the name of the gunpowder arrow and named it on the weapons they made.

In addition to the gunpowder arrow, there is also an earthen grenade. This is no surprise. It is just a pottery pot with gunpowder, sharp stones and other sharp objects. The filling mouth is sealed, leaving only a small hole for the matchstick to stick in. , When using it, you only need to ignite the matchlock, and then throw it at the enemy. After the clay pot explodes, the sharp weapons and fragments inside will be carried by the impact of the explosion and fly around, killing the surrounding enemies, just like a goddess scattering flowers.

Richard was not stingy with rewards for being able to tinker with these things by himself. He rewarded each participating craftsman in the research institute with a generous amount of silver coins according to their contribution, and at the same time encouraged them to continue working hard. The enthusiasm of the craftsmen was really mobilized. While they were moved to tears, they expressed that they would continue to develop new weapons for His Majesty the King.

They don't know that these gadgets are not what Richard wants. Richard wants them to improve the artillery. The siege artillery and heavy siege artillery currently used are not easy to use. These two artillery are too heavy and accurate. It's also really disappointing. If it was in the game, Richard would rather not recruit these two types of artillery. Wouldn't it be better to wait a few rounds to recruit cannons, snake cannons, and lizard cannons?
However, all the research and development have been developed, and Richard can't waste the creativity of the craftsmen. He assembled the archer troops in the army with gunpowder arrows (gunpowder arrows are not suitable for crossbowmen, so they can only be used by archers), assembled The amount of gunpowder arrows will not be very large. In Richard's opinion, the actual damage of gunpowder arrows is not as good as its deterrent power.The earth grenades were distributed to the firearms battalion, and a few of them would be kept for the future musket brigade. Among other things, this earth grenade was actually the best for defending the city.

……

After returning to Nord City from Ulif, before Richard took a breath, the treasurer Walcoma came over with the financial report. Seeing him appearing alone, Richard suddenly felt uneasy. Volkoma never goes to the Three Treasures Hall for everything, and once he appears, bad things will definitely happen.

However, Walcoma did not report on financial expenditures. He handed the scroll in his hand to Richard, and while the latter was looking at it, he said: "Your Majesty, the purple dyes in recent months have been sold very quickly. They are sold out, but the quantity of murexes we can buy from the Kingdom of Swachizi is limited, and if we don’t solve this problem, I’m afraid we will have to reduce sales as well.”

"Restrictions...refer to the official restrictions of the Kingdom of Swachic, or other restrictions?" Richard asked with a slight frown.

"At present, it is the joint restrictions of several commercial firms in the Kingdom of Swachi. They deliberately reduced the quantity of goods and raised the price. Our merchants can only be forced to reduce the quantity of purchases. In addition, our country sells The price of the purple dye sold in the Swachiqi Kingdom is much cheaper, which makes people on our side lose money..."

　Reasonable, no inspiration
　　
　
(End of this chapter)