Braised Dragon with Soy Sauce

Chapter 252: Demon-Breaking Bullet

This is the process of upgrading ordinary iron to smelting iron. Ordinary iron ore is refined in a furnace and then directly cast into shape. Ironware made from it with a little finishing touches is called ordinary ironware. Common people's daily knives, forks, pliers, etc. are ordinary ironware. They are cheap, quick to process, and have a large output.

After being forged through countless hammer blows, the volume of the iron blank shrinks by one-third, impurities are further removed, and the iron is forged into a denser structure, increasing its strength and toughness several times over. Ironware manufactured through this forging process is called iron-refined equipment. Low-level cultivators of profound arts and the vast majority of standard military weapons are made of iron-refined equipment.

After more than three hours of refining, Mo Yuming's first finished product was finally successfully created.

This is a three-foot-long, two-inch-thick iron pipe. There is a handle about a foot from the front of the pipe. Above the handle is a two-inch-long strip about the thickness of a finger, attached to the pipe. Several fine lines are engraved on this strip. There is a small groove in the middle of the front end. Corresponding to this groove is a half-inch-sized iron ring at the outlet of the pipe. There is a protrusion in the center of the iron ring.

In fact, the small device on the iron pipe is a replica of a sight made by Mo Yuming, used to help the shooter accurately shoot the enemy.

This iron pipe is like a fantasy version of a rocket launcher, but instead of rockets, it fires anti-magic projectiles designed by Old Huo.

This projectile cannot be thrown with spiritual power or fired with a magic crystal cannon, so Mo Yuming thought of using a rocket launcher-like device to launch this magic-breaking projectile and accurately strike the enemy.

There is a cover plate at the rear of the cannon barrel. Mo Yuming drew a basic rune called "Flame Pattern" on this cover plate, while a "Imprisonment Pattern", which is also a basic rune, is engraved in the cannon barrel.

There are two spring clips at the exit of the cannon barrel, which hold the anti-magic bullets. This makes it easy to carry and prevents the bullets from falling out.

This is a minimalist version of a rocket launcher from a fantasy world. It is extremely easy to manufacture, and any beginner-level weapon refiner can make it.

However, it is also extremely advanced, a weapon that the enemy cannot replicate, because only Huo Lao can currently manufacture the projectiles, and the other crucial element is known only to Mo Yuming. It has only been used twice so far, and that is black powder, a rudimentary form of gunpowder made from charcoal, sulfur, and saltpeter, one of the Four Great Inventions of the Chinese nation.

Mo Yuming did not attempt to create more complex and powerful explosives. This world has its own trajectory of development, and Mo Yuming did not want to change too much.

Moreover, chemical products are very difficult to manufacture in a world that lacks any basic industry. Even if they were manufactured, it would require enormous human, material, and time resources.

Holding his first weapon, Mo Yuming was eager to test its performance and power. He took out some gunpowder-making materials from a storage bag, wrapped the gunpowder in an oiled paper, rolled it into a tube, placed it in the stern of the cannon, and then closed the stern cap.

This factory residential area was definitely not suitable for conducting experiments, so Mo Yuming went to the mine to call Old Huo. The two of them went to the mining area together. There was a huge platform in the mining area halfway up the mountain. Standing on the edge of the platform, opposite was a narrow, desolate canyon. The canyon was full of exposed rocks and there were hardly any green plants.

Old Huo stood to the side watching Mo Yuming fiddle with the strange iron pipe, wondering what Mo Yuming was going to do.

After choosing a good position, Mo Yuming placed the cannon on his shoulder, fiddled with the sights on the barrel a few times, and then aimed at an iron cage two hundred feet away, where he had sent someone to put a low-level magical beast, the 'Spotted Demon Boar', inside.

The 'Spotted Demon Boar' has a violent temper. If disturbed even slightly, it will charge around wildly and continuously unleash its inherited magic skill 'Roar,' a sonic attack that uses the shockwaves generated by its continuous roars to attack enemies in the surrounding area. The attack range is more than ten feet wide.

Mo Yuming wanted this effect. Because it was a long-range attack, there would definitely be some error. It was impossible to find a large number of targets to attack in this experiment.

With everything ready, Mo Yuming used his spiritual power to activate the 'Flame Talisman', and a ball of flame was generated from the talisman. There was a 'Binding Pattern' in the middle of the cannon barrel, which confined the flame generated by spiritual energy to a two-inch range in the cannon barrel, preventing it from breaking into the cannon chamber and thus not affecting the 'Demon-Slaying Bullet' placed at the muzzle.

The flames quickly ignited the gunpowder in the cannon barrel, and with a 'bang,' the gunpowder exploded instantly. The massive shockwave propelled the 'demon-slaying bullet' from the muzzle, accurately striking the 'spotted demonic boar' inside the iron cage.

The demonic pig screamed and roared wildly as it was hit by the cannonball.

Just then, activated by the magic of the demonic boar, the 'Demon-Slaying Bullet' exploded instantly.

With a deafening 'bang,' the 'Spotted Demon Boar,' the massive iron cage, and the surrounding boulders and clods of earth were blasted into countless fragments that scattered far and wide. A crater five zhang in diameter was instantly created where the iron cage had been placed.

"What's going on? What's the effect?..." Old Huo was stunned by the power of the exploding magic-breaking bullet. Was this the useless magic-breaking bullet he designed?

"The effect is good. Its destructive power is not much worse than that of the magic crystal cannon! Most importantly, it is very easy to carry, and it has almost no limitations compared to the magic crystal cannon. The magic crystal cannon is huge, bulky, slow in firing speed, and inconvenient to move."

Moreover, the firing cost is high; even the lowest-level magic crystal cannon requires at least three level-three or higher magic crystals per shell. But this broken magic shell only needs one magic crystal per shell! Ten soldiers, each equipped with one, would be equivalent to an artillery unit with ten miniature magic crystal cannons.

"A rapidly moving artillery unit—that's the enemy's nightmare! Young Master, your invention of this weapon is enough to withstand a thousand enemy troops. Even against an enemy force ten times our size, we can still put up a fight!" Old Master Huo said excitedly.

"This is mainly thanks to you, Mr. Huo. Without your invention, I wouldn't have been able to come up with this kind of shell."

"Hehe, young master, you're joking! Without your cannon barrel, my shells are just a useless piece of junk."

"Young Master, how difficult was it to manufacture this cannon barrel?" Old Master Huo suddenly didn't know how to continue the question. This seemed to be the young master's first work!

Moreover, it was made of smelted iron, and its appearance was surprisingly simple, so it shouldn't have been very difficult to make. But how could such a simple weapon have such great power?

That magic crystal cannon is decorated with extremely complex runes, and the materials used are also very precious, requiring a large amount of black iron and soul iron, as well as attribute minerals and gems.

Could it be that the young master has already mastered drawing extremely complex advanced runes? But it seems like the young master only learned to draw basic runes yesterday! He has never even seen advanced runes, so how could he possibly draw them?

Moreover, how could such a low-grade material as iron be used to draw advanced runes? In the face of that immense power, the strength of iron is as fragile as paper.

Old Huo suddenly had a mental block.

"It's very simple. There's a 'binding symbol' drawn inside the cannon barrel and a 'flame pattern' engraved on the tail cap."

"The difficulty of the entire gun barrel lies in the external aiming device. Every part must have precise dimensions, and the installation position cannot be off to the slightest deviation. Also, the internal dimensions of the gun barrel need to be as accurate as possible," Mo Yuming said.

"That's easy. When making the aiming device, we can use a tool called a ruler. The ruler is engraved with runes. Once the dimensions are adjusted, it can be used to measure the size of the product. If there is even the slightest difference, it will issue a warning."

Since these parts are small, we can first create a rough draft using a mold, and then refine it with a ruler. This way, we can achieve very high precision for each part.

"There's another problem. Our magic crystals are all different sizes, and the shells of the anti-magic bullets are made according to the size of the magic crystals. So the outer diameter of each anti-magic bullet is not the same. The three that Elder Huo gave me were all different sizes. Although the difference was not significant, it would affect the firing effect when they were put into the cannon barrel. Therefore, when making anti-magic bullets, the choice of magic crystals needs to have a uniform size, and the cannon barrel is made according to this size."

"After the magic crystals are acquired, we will divide them into three grades in advance. Generally, those less than half an inch are small magic crystals, those between half an inch and one inch are medium-sized, and those more than one inch are large-sized. When making weapons, the large-sized ones are usually selected for cutting and are used specifically to make magic-breaking arrows."

Medium-sized crossbows are generally used to make crossbows, magic-piercing arrows, and other weapons, while small-sized ones are mostly used to make magic crystal cannonballs. Now that we have catapults, crossbow production has decreased; we mainly make some for sale, and we only keep a small number of crossbows and magic-piercing arrows in stock.

After the young master invented this cannon, we no longer need to produce magic crystal cannonballs. We can keep all the small magic crystals to make these magic-breaking bullets.

"In the production of the cartridge cases, I can make the external dimensions uniform, and wrap the areas covered by internal runes with flexible black iron sheets, so that the effectiveness of each magic-piercing bullet can be kept consistent," Elder Huo explained.

"In that case, you will lead two assistants to manufacture these anti-demon bullets at this factory. All the talisman blueprints must be kept secret. Once the finished products are produced, they will be stored in secret and distributed by Commander Jiang."

The anti-magic bullet is designed in a spindle shape with four small fins at the tail, which makes it more accurate.

"I'll draw up the shell's dimensions and the cannon barrel design for you in a bit. The barrels can be made by the factory workers; start with a thousand. Once they're finished, send a message to Commander Jiang and tell him to send someone to collect them immediately," Mo Yuming said.

"Is the cannon barrel still made of this smelted iron? Or does it need to be made of black iron? If so..."

"No need. The cannon barrel is fine to make from smelted iron. It is both lightweight and reduces costs. It would be too wasteful to make it from black iron."

Even as ore, black iron is hundreds of times more expensive than ordinary iron, and its processing is more complex. The price difference between the two after a finished product is at least one or two hundred times. Moreover, ordinary iron has its properties greatly improved after forging, making it sufficient for making cannon barrels. This way, even if the cannon barrel is discarded after firing the shells, there will be little loss.

How difficult is it to make the Demon-Slaying Bullets? How many can be made in a day?

"If I make them by myself, I can make about ten a day. If I bring two assistants, I can make at least twenty or more."

"This speed would be fine under normal circumstances, since we don't need to use them normally and can build them up as we go. But now we need to prepare for war, so we need to produce at least several hundred of them as soon as possible to form a fighting force."

What if we first send a batch of rough cartridge case blanks to the factory's blast furnace for casting, and then you do the finishing work?

"If that's the case, with my two assistants working overtime, we can produce at least a hundred units per day."

“Producing eighty units a day is enough. There’s no need to work overtime to rush production. In this way, the army can be equipped in less than half a month. Mr. Huo, you should rush to produce a thousand units as soon as possible to solve the immediate problem.”

Mo Yuming handed the completed blueprints to Elder Huo, instructing him to arrange for their production immediately. With a thousand Demon-Slaying Bullets, Mo Yuming would feel confident and would no longer need to worry about insufficient troops in the event of an invasion.

This anti-magic bullet also has a crucial component: the gunpowder pack. This cannot be manufactured in an armory; it's too unsafe here where sparks fly everywhere.

After much deliberation, Mo Yuming concluded that the safest place to manufacture it was in the underground cavern of Black Dragon Village. It was deep underground, with a spacious central section and an underground river flowing through it. This area, rich in water and earth elemental energy, was ideal for suppressing fire elements. Furthermore, it could be installed directly into the tube of the anti-magic cannon.

Mo Yuming had already thought of the outer packaging for the gunpowder pack: it would be made from the large intestine of a bull-tailed roe deer. The casing made from the large intestine of a bull-tailed roe deer is a common material used to make talismans; it is flexible and not easily damaged.

This task can be given to Ji Jiahe's leather goods shop. Just tell them the required size and quantity, and they can make it quickly.

They have a unique processing technique that produces sausage casings that are extremely thin, yet highly resilient and not easily damaged. Applying a layer of wax to the outside provides moisture and insect protection. Furthermore, it can also be used as a combustion aid.

The team of archers that Mo Yuming asked Jiang Yuheng to assemble has already begun training at the Wild Wolf Valley training camp.

In that primeval forest, Wang Baichuan built several large magic arrays, and the soldiers trained in the arrays just like they were fighting on a real battlefield.

According to Wang Baichuan, in order to increase the realism of the battle scenes, each magic circle in the training ground contains several illusion circles, and a certain number of real magical beasts will be put in according to the intensity of the training. The real and the fake are so similar that it is difficult for the soldiers in the circle to distinguish between them.

Therefore, every soldier who enters for training must be extremely cautious and on high alert, because training within the formation can result in real injuries. Soldiers trained in such a harsh environment are all brave and skilled warriors.