Zhang Cheng then demonstrated cleaning the barrel of the gun, loading it and firing it again. He fired six shots in a row, all of which hit huge rocks. The largest piece of rubble broke off, the size of a bucket.

After six shots, the barrel was hot, and Zhang Cheng didn't have much gunpowder left, so he gave it all to the Prime Minister's men to take away.

Prime Minister Marquis Franco: "What do you want?"

Zhang Cheng: "If there is a hereditary title, of course it would be the best."

Prime Minister Marquis Franco: "Unfortunately, this is something I can't do. Since the founding of our country, no knighthood has been awarded."

To be honest, Zhang Cheng doesn't understand why the Chicken Country is so stubborn now. In terms of land area, the Chicken Country has shrunk by more than half compared with the largest land area in history. The several affiliated principalities are not independent.

It means that it has fallen into the embrace of several powerful countries such as the chicken country’s neighbors, the ligers, tigers, wolves, and bears.

As a result, when I came here, everyone from kings to nobles felt good about themselves, as if they were still living in the glory of their ancestors.

Think about how Louis XVI in another world did not sit on the crater of a volcano, but ended up eating, drinking and having fun all day long. In the end, he and his wife suffered a tragedy.

However, it is not popular in Xiniu Hezhou to destroy the country. In the end, even if most of the territory of the Chicken Kingdom is annexed, there is a high probability that the other relatives and kings will leave a city as a dukedom for the current King of the Chicken Kingdom.

The nobles who failed to stand up in time will probably be partially expelled, while the power of the church will remain unchanged. After all, here, divine power is greater than royal power.

Thinking of this, Zhang Cheng didn't understand anything anymore: "Then there are no requirements!"

Prime Minister Marquis Franco: "The army will purchase your artillery and give you a good price."

Needless to say, our workshop is the only one in Xiniu Hezhou that can cast cannons. It is really stingy to reward me with something I already have.

Originally, Zhang Cheng wanted to persuade the Prime Minister to talk about the confidentiality issue of the gunpowder factory, but now he simply doesn't want to talk about it.

The Prime Minister took his people and left with the trial-produced artillery as well as gunpowder and shells. Zhang Cheng and others returned to the foundry workshop.

Not long after, an army major general officer arrived at the foundry and asked to buy a cannon: "How much does one of the cannons you have here cost? The Army Department has paid for them all."

Zhang Cheng has already made a budget for this. If it is sixty-five kilograms of copper, it is worth about one hundred and thirty-five gold coins. But if it is cast into ordinary copperware, such a heavy copperware, even if it is a daily necessities, is worth

Around two hundred gold coins.

Of course, the value of casting copper materials into munitions cannot be calculated so simply. Zhang Cheng used a variety of advanced processes to make the inner diameter of the artillery consistent, and the inner wall was smooth without bubbles. This also made the artillery more likely to explode in the future.

Reduced, the life of the artillery is greatly improved.

Calculated this way, one thousand gold coins for a cannon is really not expensive.

So Zhang Cheng quoted: "One artillery costs one thousand gold coins. There are currently twenty field artillery pieces in stock. In the next half month, at least eighty more can be produced."

The major general officer was already prepared to bleed, but unexpectedly he encountered the master who said: "One thousand gold coins and one artillery piece, why don't you go and grab it?"

In the army, one gold coin is enough to arm ten soldiers.

Zhang Cheng smiled and said: "I'm just robbing you. Look, there's no way to make money from exclusive business in robbing!"

The exasperated Army Major General said: "Well, our Army Department has decided on these twenty artillery pieces. Whether we want the rest will have to be discussed again by the Army Department. We will come over this afternoon and get the money to buy the cannons."

Zhang Chengxiao: "Each artillery comes with fifty rounds of matching iron bullets. Welcome to visit us next time≧▽≦!"

This price is actually not expensive in the arms market. One kilogram of steel is worth a few dollars in the market. However, a pistol uses less than one kilogram of steel. How much does it cost to get it?

Zhang Cheng doesn't care. Anyway, after selling these twenty cannons, he has already made back the money for buying the foundry and purchasing copper materials, and there is still a surplus. There is no need to worry about not being able to sell the materials for the remaining eighty cannons.

go out.

In the future, the price of copper materials will definitely rise rapidly. Let's buy a batch of goods first. Anyway, we won't lose money.

Based on the current situation of Chicken Country, if you want to develop qualified bronze artillery, you still have a long way to go. You don't need to look at it to know that.

The War Department indeed brought twenty-one thousand gold coins in the afternoon, settled the payment, and took away the remaining twenty artillery pieces by carriage.

At this glance, Zhang Cheng knew that the Prime Minister, Marquis Franco, refused to accept his gift, so he had nothing to say.

Maybe we are not the same people at all, and it is a reasonable development not to go together.

The current situation, in Chen Ke's words, is to see him build a Zhulou, watch him entertain guests, and watch his building collapse.

Zhang Cheng, who originally wanted to build a large-scale artillery factory outside Dongcheng, gave up the idea and waited to see the excitement.

Autumn turns to winter in Maple City, and the Army of the Chicken Kingdom begins to get busy again. At this time of year, recruiting troops and collecting taxes is a daily routine. When winter comes, these kings and lords will go to war - if you don't fight others,

Others will also attack. Therefore, even kings and lords with little ambition will recruit and train peasant soldiers at this time to defend their neighbors.

The tax rate for both the jewelry industry and factories is 20% of sales, which is really not high for these two industries. Anyway, it can be passed on to consumers.

The Ministry of War of the Kingdom of Chicken originally had its own artillery factory, but the first bronze artillery prototype produced had a chamber explosion during the test, killing one person and injuring three others. Another noble officer was injured.

It may also be because the opponent was a great knight that he was not killed on the spot. This time, the Ministry of War spent more than 40 million gold coins on setting up an artillery factory, but not a single qualified artillery piece was built. Because of this

After the bombing accident, none of the officers who dared to continue testing the gun were lost.

Except for a few people who had benefited from the artillery project of the War Department, the cabinet and the aristocratic council were already full of opinions that it was better to buy than to build.

Finally, Prime Minister Marquis Franco decided to temporarily adopt the route of combining production and purchase. A lot of money has been invested in the artillery project of the Ministry of War, and trial production must continue until qualified artillery is produced. Now the artillery of the Ministry of War

Gap, buy directly from the market.

Well, the current market is actually just an artillery factory.

Now the artillery foundry managed by Aisha's father has added thirty new foundry workers. The fifty-five people are divided into two groups, one group casts bronze artillery and the other casts iron cannonballs.

The price of copper in the market has increased by 10%, but Zhang Cheng purchased the goods early and was not affected. All 85 artillery pieces in stock were also sold.

In addition to the matching cannonballs, because the cannonballs produced here have better specifications, thousands of them are also sold, with one gold coin per six-pound cannonball.

For the newly established Army Artillery Force, at least the original shells fit snugly into the muzzle. Unlike the shells from the artillery factory of the Ministry of War, they are either too small and leaky and cannot hit far, or they are too big to fit in and have to be polished.

.Even if the price is more expensive, artillerymen still like to use original factory shells and artillery.

The strategic situation of the Chicken Country is extremely dangerous. On the east and west sides are the two powerful countries of Xi Niu Hezhou, the Eagle Country and the Ox Country. Separated by a strait of dozens of miles to the north is the Lion Country, which has been feuding for a hundred years. Although the south is the sea,

However, the navies of the powerful countries in Xiniuhezhou are not weak. Others, such as the Bear Country, the Wolf Country, and the Nian Country, can all attack from the sea from the south or the north.

When the Chicken Kingdom was at its most powerful, the Lion Kingdom bowed to the Chicken Kingdom, and the Eagle Kingdom and the Ox Kingdom were left with only the principality-sized territory. Countries such as the Bear Kingdom, the Wolf Kingdom, and the Nian Kingdom trembled under the iron hooves of the Chicken Kingdom and dominated Xiniu Hezhou.

But that was a hundred years ago.

Later, the Lion Country and the Ox Country took the lead in discovering astonishing wealth in the exploration of the Southern Continent, and then opened up the maritime tea route with the Eastern Continent through the Southern Continent and earned a large amount of gold coins.

After years of war, the Lion Country finally became independent. The Ox Country and the Eagle Country also won wars from the Chicken Country and continued to receive compensation for ceding territories. In the end, they strengthened themselves and transformed from a principality into a powerful country in the Western Continent.

Now that the Chicken Country Army has artillery, it feels like it can do it again.

When the War Department made a plan, it was how to annex the Eagle Country and the Ox Country to avenge a century-old shame.

Because the Navy of the Chicken Kingdom was suppressed by the countries in the Western Continent, it basically did not develop an ocean-going fleet. It only had two offshore defense fleets. In terms of artillery allocation, the cabinet directly ignored the navy.

There is no way to do this. It costs money to maintain a navy, and it costs a lot of money. From shipbuilding to navigation talents, everything is indispensable. Shipbuilding, especially warships, requires oak as the main material. It is said that a century-old navy is this.

That makes sense.

Among them, the Lion Country, the Ox Country, and the Eagle Country were able to develop navies because there was a large area of ​​black forest on the land of the Eagle Country that did not seem to be very valuable in the past. Countless woods that were hundreds of years old or even longer grew there, including

Including oak that can be used to build battleships. Although the lion country and the cow country are the pioneers in developing tea routes in the southern and eastern continents, the eagle country also makes a lot of money from the large amount of oak exported to these two countries.

Historically, this black forest was right under the nose of the Chicken Country. At that time, the Chicken Country, from the king to the nobles, felt that this virgin forest was a barren land with little value, so they never included it in their own territory.

Inside.

When the tea route to the Eastern Continent was successfully opened, the Chicken Country wanted to launch a war to seize this strategically valuable Black Forest. However, in the first battle, it was defeated miserably by the six-nation coalition that opposed the Chicken Country's hegemony in the Western Continent.

.

This was also the battle that turned the Chicken Country from prosperity to decline. After that, the Lion Country continued to fight against the Chicken Country for independence and other countries for territory.

In the foreign wars of the past few years, the Chicken Kingdom only assembled at the border to show off during the winter war. The border troops spent most of the winter defending the city.

I have to say that artillery is really a good thing. In the chicken country's carefully prepared counterattack to regain territory, things blossomed. In every battle, artillery was used as the lead to win many victories. After several defeats, the enemy had become careless.

The Army Field Troops of the Ox Country and Eagle Country.

On both the east and west fronts, the Chicken Country Army destroyed enemy forces several times their own. With the support of artillery, they bombarded city gates and destroyed several cities.

Not to mention that the Cow Country and the Eagle Country were a little confused by such a blow from their old rival. Even the Lion Country across the northern strait couldn't figure it out - the cowards of the Chicken Country also rose up once. Could it be that the sun rises from the west?

When it came out, the crows turned white.

You must know that for more than a hundred years, four or five generations, the Chicken Country has not even seen a victory in a battle, let alone a victory in a battle.

Otherwise, the entire Western Continent would not be filled with jokes from the Chicken Kingdom. Most of the jokes here are contributions from the Lion Kingdom.

After investigation by the Lion Kingdom’s intelligence agency, we finally found out that the rise of the Chicken Kingdom this time was due to the use of a new type of weapon. That new type of weapon was indescribably long, like a super amplification of the unique part of the man’s body.

On the battlefield, it can make a huge sound and white smoke, and shoot an iron ball as big as an adult bullfrog. No matter whether you are a bishop or a knight, you can't stop the iron ball even if you are wearing iron armor.

Not to mention the knights wearing iron armor, even the strong and thick wooden city gates were vulnerable to this new type of weapon that was indescribably long and could shoot iron balls.

Several cities in the Ox Kingdom and the Eagle Kingdom were lost because of this new and indescribably long weapon. After the city gates were opened, the Chicken Kingdom soldiers swarmed in with high morale.

The Lion Kingdom immediately organized staff members to analyze the effects of this new weapon that was too long and indescribable. As a result, they discovered a weakness, that is, when fighting in street battles, archers can be used to fight against this long and indescribable weapon.

Describing the new weapons and enemy soldiers, the biggest advantage of this new weapon is in the field.

That is to say, because the field elites of both the Ox Country and the Eagle Country suffered too many losses due to this long and indescribable new weapon, the cities on the border were poorly defended and were captured one by one by the Chicken Country.

If the Chicken Kingdom had used this long and indescribable new weapon to attack the city from the beginning, I am afraid the results would not have been so good.

Analyzing that the current chicken country's army was nothing but an empty racket with new field weapons, the lion country immediately sent its analysis to its two former allies, the cow country and the eagle country. The competition between these three countries is actually greater than

Cooperation, but the three countries are still surprisingly consistent in their stance towards the Chicken Country.

The two countries, Ox and Eagle, which suffered a sudden blow, received analysis from the Lion Kingdom and combined with more accurate intelligence from their own countries, they also discovered that the current rise of the Chicken Kingdom was only relying on the three-axe of new field weapons.

New weapons will spread sooner or later. This year, the two countries, Ox and Eagle, will bear with you for a while and re-send their elite troops to defend the city on the front.

Once the city gate is breached, they will take advantage of the inside line and engage in street fighting with the attacking soldiers of the Chicken Kingdom. However, the soldiers of the Chicken Kingdom who enter the city from the city gate are actually attacked from all sides.
Chapter completed!