Heaven's Formula

But this time Li hesitated for a moment, instead of throwing it away, he let it approach his side.

Probably realizing that there was an opportunity today, the cat spirit quickly climbed onto her shoulders.

"Forget it, since you want to follow me, I'll give you a name." She rubbed the cat's head, "How about Ah Fei?"

"Woo--" the cat spirit let out a low voice of protest.

"Can't you? Ah Hua... It seems that someone has called it again, so it should be called Fat Flower."

The cat spirit's beard drooped down, obviously not satisfied with the name.

Suddenly, it raised its beard, turned its head and looked behind - at the same time there was a sound of footsteps behind it, and Li knew without looking that it must be Shanhui.

"Why, you can't sleep either?"

"No, I just happened to see the boss through the window, so I came to check on the situation." Tengu squatted down behind her, "Could it be that the boss has something on his mind?"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I saw you looking up at the sky and giggling for a while, and sighing for a while, as far as I know, normal people don't—"

Halfway through the talk, Tengu suddenly shut his mouth, because he saw the fox demon's gaze was like a sharp knife.

"If you tell this, you will become a piece of floating object in the East China Sea, understand?"

"Meow!" The fat cat protested, baring its teeth.

Shan Hui nodded repeatedly to show his understanding.

As a dog demon, he naturally couldn't put a spirit monster in his eyes, but he still had to obey the boss's words.

There was a long silence on the roof.

Until Li spoke again.Her voice was very soft, as if she was recalling something, "I have never felt disgusted or remorseful because I am a demon. Thoughts, if I were an ordinary person, wouldn’t I have such troubles.”

Even if someone has no prejudice against demons, she still knows very well in her heart that there is still a huge gap between demons and humans.

Whether driven by curiosity or led by research, there will always be a day of fulfillment.

"I've thought about that too." Shanhui replied.

"Have you come up with something?"

"No...it's the same as many questions I think about, and there's no answer." Shan Hui said without any concealment, "So I won't think about it later—Master Wu Yue will tell me what to do anyway."

"Sometimes it's easy to be like you."

"But the boss can't. After all, no one can tell the leader of all demons what to do."

Li couldn't help but pause, then waved his hand as if trying to shake it off, "This is a plan, don't bring it up until it is realized."

"Ow."

"But you're right, nature is inalienable, no matter what I think, I can't change this identity, so instead of looking at the sky and sighing, it's better to try to solve it in other ways."

"Boss thought of a way?"

"Not yet, but I can always think of it." Li raised his head and said, "As the most intelligent monster, as long as I am willing to think, I believe that all problems will be solved."

Chapter 2 Fifty: Putting Steel to the Edge

The next day, when Xia Fan walked into the Mechanism Bureau, even his footsteps were a little pretentious.

"Why, you didn't rest well last night?" Mo Yun looked at him with some concern, "Although the alchemist's energy is very good, he will still be tired if he lacks sleep."

"Thank you for your concern." Xia Fan rubbed his forehead and said.Last night was obviously just picking out his ears, but he felt that he had spent a thrilling night. After being affected by the reverberation of the knives, no matter if it was an ear pick or a copper pompom, it seemed that what was inserted was not the ear hole, but the swimming hole. Like walking on nerve endings.

The current flowing in the spine hits the brain wave after wave, almost without stopping.I'm afraid that only alchemists can hold on to such stimulation, and ordinary people might just roll their eyes white and pass out in a coma.

As Li said, this is indeed a good way to exercise the mind.It's just... It's too easy to trigger other chain reactions.

At least for Xia Fan, he felt a whole new field appeared in front of him.

This echo technique will definitely become a popular technique in the world in the future.

The only regret is that the shock technique and the Kan technique are almost in conflict with each other in terms of order. He still can't even perform the most basic illusion technique, let alone the more advanced echo technique.

Otherwise, he would also like to give Li a taste of the same.

Of course, these thoughts can only be recollected by oneself, and speaking out is guaranteed to only get ruthless blank stares.

"That's right. Didn't you ask me where the remaining steel is going to be used? After ten days and ten nights of thinking, I finally came up with a complete idea."

Mo Yun couldn't help being awed.

As the person in charge of the secretariat, there must be many things to deal with every day. Even so, the other party can still take time to think about the questions he raised so carefully. This attitude is admirable.

It's no wonder that this person's mechanical skills are very accomplished. I'm afraid that apart from the factor of the listener, his own relentless thinking is also one of the reasons.

"You say, I listen."

"I think Jinxia's top priority is still to improve the strength of the princess's army. Only when she is strong can she cope with the various restraints of the court." Xia Fan pondered.

The iron materials in stock in the city are consumed once smelted, and half of them are used to make production machines to improve the strength and precision of processing devices. How to use the other half has become a very critical issue.It can be expected that due to the control of salt and iron, Jinxia will not be able to get sufficient supplies for a period of time in the future, and this part of steel will naturally have to be used wisely.

"I agree." Mo Yun nodded, but soon showed hesitation, "Your idea is firearms? It is true that steel is stronger than wrought iron and bronze, and it is an excellent material for casting guns, but that It's not something I'm good at. In the Ministry of Industry, this part of the industry is under the exclusive control of the Equipment Bureau."

"I have really thought about this aspect, but it has several difficulties that Jinxia City can't solve at present, so I can only temporarily abandon it." Xia Fan smiled, "Don't worry, although the new plan is far from the mechanism beast , but it is a brand new thing, even if you move the Mechanical Bureau here, there will be no advantage. If you are on the same starting line, I believe in your ability even more."

"Really?" Mo Yun also showed a smile. She believed that this was not flattery, but an affirmation of herself - after all, in terms of professional knowledge, the other party never joked. "Then what's your plan?"

"Air rifle." Xia Fan replied.

"Air... rifle?"

"Well, a long-range weapon that kills enemies without gunpowder."

Are gunpowder guns okay?Of course good.But if you want to widen the gap between generations, you must light up the line of chemical technology-before the invention of nitro propellant and thunderbolt primer, gunpowder guns were able to meet the enemy in dense arrays, in other words, they were lined up to shoot.It would be fine if there were no sensitizers, even if it was a flintlock, it would still be crushing against the feudal army, which was dominated by cold weapons.

But with the addition of qi-sensing people... the situation is completely different. For example, an alchemist like Ning Wanjun who rushes into the formation, coupled with Luo Youer's wielding willow technique, can enter the formation with only one reload time.If the person who is affected by the gas gets close, one can imagine the fate of the densely packed soldiers.

To solve this drawback, a more efficient rate of fire, power and accuracy is the only effective way.Unfortunately, in Xia Fan's view, the only special product of Jinxia City is salt, and saltpeter is all dependent on purchases. When these chemical products can be mass-produced, it is unknown when, which obviously does not meet the purpose of the urgent task.

Therefore, he chose another technical route.

A weapon that was once short-lived, but soon disappeared into history.

"Go to my office and talk." Mo Yun said.

……

In a room full of blueprints, Xia Fan narrated his ideas with lectures and drawings.

In the simplest terms, an air rifle uses high-pressure gas instead of conventional gunpowder to eject the projectile out of the barrel.

Its core components are high-pressure gas tanks and how to inflate the gas tanks efficiently.On the contrary, the firearm itself has no difficulty, and its structure is simpler and clearer than that of a gunpowder gun.Since the bullets of the air rifle have only the bullet head and no shell case, even the firing pin, shell ejection and re-entry mechanism are omitted, and the automatic loading of the bullet can be completed with only a small section of spring.

Gas tanks naturally have to be strong and strong to withstand the high pressure.To achieve this, the iron sheet and copper sheet must be made very thick, which will undoubtedly increase the weight of the gun, and the steel tank is very suitable.

More importantly, this kind of tank structure is very suitable for mass production with stamping machines. In the past, people relied on the power of waterwheels to drive heavy hammers to forge armor pieces. Now there are sky motion instruments and gear sets to drive steel hammers to fall repeatedly. And the momentum has increased by more than ten times.

The integrally formed ram gas tank, coupled with the one-way valve, solves the most critical part of energy storage.

And another big problem - inflation, is the main reason it was eliminated.In order to fill a bottle of air tank with high-pressure air, a soldier often needs to press it hundreds to thousands of times, in exchange for twenty or thirty shots on the battlefield.Although it is easy to achieve continuous shooting, how refreshing it is to shoot, and how embarrassing it is after shooting.In case of one battle after another, I am afraid that even the gas tank will not be able to rush through.This is not to mention that everyone has to carry a heavy pump when marching daily, which is also a painful thing for logistics.

But Xia Fan did not have similar troubles.

In his eyes, it is nothing more than equipping a large army with an alchemist and carrying an inflator of the astronomical version, so that rapid and unified loading can be achieved during the rest period.For soldiers, it is nothing more than carrying a few more portable gas storage tanks.

After hearing the second part, Mo Yun's eyes became brighter, she never thought of using air as a weapon!

Although this matter sounds unbelievable, if you think about it carefully, it contains the principle of law. In the previous school lectures, the other party regarded air as a real object. Since the real object can be compressed, it also has the power to rebound.

A trickle of water, when squeezed, can propel a windmill until it lifts a sledgehammer, but what about gas, another type of water?

"Let's try it out," she said, rubbing her hands together.

Chapter 251 Rapid Fire

Four days later, a special trial kicked off on Seongdong Beach.

The invited participants included Ning Wanjun, He Guicai and other military representatives, as well as representatives of the elves headed by Senia, as well as Luo Qingqing, Li and other people who joined in the fun.Hong Siqi, who performed well in hosting refugees, was also invited.

Seeing Xia Fan, Ning Wanjun waved to him, indicating that he had something to say, and the former also bent slightly in cooperation, putting his ear next to her cheek.

"I can understand that you asked the elves to come to visit. I heard that there is a lot of controversy among their clan about the in-depth cooperation with Jinxia City, but...why did you even invite people from the six departments of the imperial court?" Ning Wanjun lowered her voice, " Are you not worried that he will leak the news to Gyeonggi?"

Obviously, the princess doesn't like the "eyeliner" that the imperial court puts in her territory, even if the other party has expressed their allegiance.

"If Hong Siqi still has any hope of returning to the position of prefect, it must be hoped that the court will deprive you of everything by force. So after showing him that all this is impossible, I think he will put away those things instead. Be careful." Xia Fan replied relaxedly, "As for the leak of the news, don't worry, even if the Ministry of Industry gets the finished product, it won't be able to imitate it in a short time."

Because it is a genuine industrial product.

It involves the smelting of steel, the forging and cutting of parts, and a set of strict to almost harsh measurement standards, so that every screw seam and joint can be tightly fitted, which cannot be imitated by just a single idea.

"Your Highness, good day. May the harmonious sea breeze always be by your side." Senia came up to greet Ning Wanjun.This time, she is using the mainland language, and her speaking speed has improved a lot compared to a month ago, so it can be said that communication is no problem. "I don't know what the test thing you want to show this time?"

Not far away, Ai Li secretly waved at Xia Fan, as lively as ever.

"Good afternoon." Ning Wanjun replied briefly, "It's a weapon."

Whenever seeing the scene of the two meeting, Xia Fan can't help feeling the wonder of the world.

On one side is a tall and straight elf wearing an exquisite dress, and on the other is a round-neck gown, a short but imposing princess—no matter in terms of appearance, dress or clothing, they are like people from two worlds.

But by chance, they stood face to face.

"Really? I'm looking forward to it." Senia rubbed her chest.

……

"You mean...weapons?" Pang Ting, the patriarch of the Sharman family, frowned slightly. "Are they showing their strength to the tree boat?"

Showing strength is a nice way to say it, but a bad way to say it is a threat.

"It may also just want to help us build confidence and prove that we have the strength to fulfill the agreement." Senia glanced at him, half chuckled and half helplessly said, "I know you are uneasy about my decision, in fact Sometimes I feel worried myself. But the Shuzhou people can't stand the never-ending wandering... Have you ever thought about what would happen if we didn't meet Jinxia City who was willing to allow us to dock and continue sailing on the sea for half a year. "

Pang Ting sighed, "More than half of the facilities on the tree boat will wither."

"By then we may really be living on the sky."

"But our bloodline problem..."

"Yes, this is a risk, and it is also a risk we must take." Senia admitted, "I have already told all the children that we must never have feelings for the locals. Fortunately, the other party seems to regard us as someone It’s a different kind, and what is usually embarrassing will become a temporary protection here.”

"What I'm really afraid of is that after a long time, the two sides have accepted each other. At this time, the superior realizes the threat and turns his head to attack us. By then, it will be difficult to leave." Pang Ting shook his head, as if he didn't want to talk anymore this topic.

Senia also knows that no one can tell what will happen in the future, but at least for now... the Shuzhou Islanders need to make changes.

At this time, a machine with a simple shape was moved in front of everyone.

The lower part of it is supported by a metal bracket, and the upper part is similar to a musket, except that the bolt part is a bit bulky, as if a gun barrel grew out of an anvil.

"Is this a firearm? It feels much bulkier than the ones used by the Imperials." Pang Ting pondered.

"Because this is just a prototype, there is no need to make it into a gun." Ai Li on the side finally couldn't help but interjected, "Master Mo said that the mold opening work will not start until the test is passed. And It also doesn't use gunpowder."

"You mean... you also participated in the trial production of this weapon?" Senia asked slightly surprised.

"That's right, and Master Mo also specially explained the principles. Only the students who performed best in the exams on weekdays are qualified to be her assistants." Ai Li patted her chest, "You only learned the language, so you don't have to. know that."

"They didn't keep it secret from the elves?" Pang Ting was also a little moved.

"Because that's not something that can be done casually, anyone who has been to the factory of the Machinery Engineering Bureau will understand." Ai Li simply said her thoughts, "Master Mo seems to be very strict, but in fact he treats us It’s not harsh. I don’t think it matters to her whether she has pointed ears or not, she only cares about her grades in the exam.”

"Really?" The patriarch looked to the other side of the beach, and the target had already been set up.

The gun tester was Xia Fan himself.

"You say it doesn't use gunpowder, so what does it use?"

"Air." Airi said sweetly.

"What?" The two couldn't help but froze.

I saw Xia Fan screw a canned object into the notch on the side of the gun, and then pull the trigger.

bah—

Everyone heard the gunshots.

But the sound was unexpectedly crisp, it could even be said...slight, not like a powerful weapon.

"It seems...it missed the target." Senia blinked, "It seems that Master Xia is not good at firearms—"

Before she could finish her sentence, a second whisper came from the front.

During the interval between the two beeps, Xia Fan did not see any additional actions.