Each day, such drills would last two to three hours. Afterward, he would return to the city walls to resume his old trade. His roommates who enlisted in the musket corps now stood behind him, brandishing brand-new muskets and boasting incessantly. If not for the strict rules forbidding fights, Vanne would have wished to have his mouth stitched shut.
But he also saw something was wrong.
The villagers who had just joined the musket team began honing their shooting skills in battles against evil beasts after just a few days of training. As for the artillery team? They hadn't fired a single shell yet. Moreover, such heavy artillery couldn't possibly be transported up the city walls.
Look at that wall top—two people standing side by side would nearly block the entire passageway. Most players are used to running along the inner slope of the wall, and even a slight incline is better than hindering teammates from executing bayonet thrusts. As for the cannon... its two wheels alone are wider than the wall top, and it's designed for downward firing. It just doesn't seem very practical.
Could it be... this thing isn't meant to combat evil beasts?
The following exercises confirm the conjecture of Fan.
Four artillery squads were escorted to the riverbank by Iron Axe. He noticed a massive "boat" had mysteriously appeared in the Chishui River! But... he couldn't be sure if it was a real vessel. The structure looked no different from the stones used to build city walls—wide, short, and devoid of any ship-like features except for two bare masts. This sparked heated debates among Vanne's team.
"This is clearly a pontoon bridge," declared Youtai first. Having accompanied mining fleets to Changge Fortress, the seasoned explorer boasted, "The deck spans several zhang—clearly designed for stability! I've seen countless ships navigate this region. How could they move without wind? This river once flooded, washing away the fortress's wooden bridge that had stood for over a decade. The locals replaced it with floating bridges: wide planks nailed to boats, strung together with iron chains—perfectly stable no matter how you navigate!" "Changge Fortress was our farthest reach," Rodney scoffed. "We've traveled south and north!" "But pontoon bridges need two masts—wouldn't they be blown away by the wind?" "And look at the stern—those horizontal shafts aren't rudders? Pontoon bridges don't require them," Nelson chimed in. The brothers shared the same breath. "And the wooden framework in the middle? It looks like a makeshift shelter, just unfinished. This is undoubtedly a ship." Faner showed little interest in whether it was a ship; his focus was on the upcoming training. The answer came swiftly: Iron Axe demanded they hitch the artillery cart to the Township—yes, that's the ship's name, personally bestowed by Your Royal Highness. Youtai's face stiffened upon hearing this, while the brothers beamed with pride. They then secured the cannon wheels to the reserved mooring posts.
There are two sets of such barriers, each containing four units, positioned on the deck's central line in a front-to-back arrangement. Clearly, two cannons can be loaded at once.
Well, Vanna thought, this was a sure thing—they weren't dealing with any evil beast now. The Chishui River flowed from north to south, and there was no river this wide in the Mizang Forest.
Upon first setting foot on the deck, Vanna was immediately struck by its exceptional stability. The river water flowed alongside the hull, yet the stone ship remained perfectly still, as if anchored to the ground. Only when horses were brought aboard did slight swaying become noticeable.
He also noticed that whenever an artillery team completed a round of boarding and disembarking drills, Tie Fu would record the time beside them. Considering the deck's barrier bars, it seemed only two of the four teams could actually use them. Fan Na secretly relayed this to his team members, who immediately harnessed their full strength, exerting maximum effort in every step. Being kicked back to the rifle team if they didn't make the cut was a minor embarrassment, but losing their increased salary was a major setback!
On the seventh day, Fanna finally got to experience the long-awaited live-fire training.
On this day, Your Royal Highness also attended the event to observe the artillery drills. All four groups stood with their chests puffed out, their bodies brimming with energy as they marched.
Since the ammunition loading routine was already well practiced, the Vanne team fired the first shot promptly.
This was his first time witnessing the power of artillery. Amidst the deafening roar, iron balls twice the size of a fist struck the snow a mile away, sending up massive clouds of snow and mud before bouncing forward for miles. Yet his naked eyes could not trace the trajectory of these iron projectiles.
This left Vanna with a mix of excitement and unease. How on earth had Your Royal Highness created such a terrifying weapon? Even if armored to the bone, he would be utterly defenseless against cannon fire.
After each team completed a round of firing, Your Royal Highness would order a flag to be planted at the first landing spot of the shell, while cutting a hemp rope from the flag to the gun's muzzle. After four rounds, when it was the Vanne group's turn, he received the instruction to switch the gun's firing angle.
At the connection between the cannon barrel and its mount, there was a rotating dial marked with five scales: 0, 5, 10,25, and 30. Though I couldn't quite grasp its meaning, I followed the instructions. Iron Axe bellowed, "Fifth angle!" Yu Pi, the strongest man, immediately pressed the cannon brush rod into the chamber below, then lifted the gun from the rear. Fan Na turned the screw on the mount until the first white mark disappeared into the hole, after which Yu Pi released the brush.
After the barrel's tail end retracts, it is slightly lower than the initial position, with the muzzle lifted upward, and the indicator scale precisely aligns with the 5 mark.
Then there are four rounds of shooting, flagpole, cutting the rope, adjusting the shooting angle.
Vanne was gradually coming to understand what Your Royal Highness was doing.
He recorded the distance each iron ball traveled, and the greater the upward angle of the cannon's muzzle, the farther the ball landed.
Vanne had learned this firsthand with his bow: arrows shot upward travel farther, while those fired horizontally crash to the ground instantly. He realized the same principle applied to cannons—though faster, their projectile traveled far more. This sparked a sudden thought: if iron balls reached a certain speed, would they never touch the ground?
...
Along the Chishui River, the trial voyage of the small town ship is in full swing.
With Wendy as their power source, the crew needed absolute reliability. Roland selected a group of politically reliable men as the first crew of the Township. Chief Knight Carter served as captain and commander, Brian as helmsman, while Carter's attendants handled sail hoisting and lowering. The messenger was Tigu Payne. These individuals, who had frequent contact with the Witch and had undergone subtle ideological transformation, held no prejudice against her. Tigu, in particular, extended his affection for his daughter to the entire Witch community, treating them all with equal care.