Chapter 591

Chapter 591: The Empire Needs You

Outside Jingdu City, in the Qianzhou State

Lin Jiang arrived at a weapons yard in the Military Equipment Department. After craftsmen studied for half a year, they had successfully developed the snaphance and cannon requested by Lin Jiang.

However, the first generation of products had many problems, such as barrel explosions, so Lin Jiang asked them to spend another year continuously improving. Now, they finally have operational snaphances and cannons.

"Greetings, Your Majesty."

They arrived at the weapon yard, where officials from the Military Equipment Department were already waiting. Without wasting any time, Lin Jiang led them to the field to see the weapon experiments.

Those people were also afraid to let Lin Jiang test it himself, so they arranged for soldiers to come. A row of soldiers loaded snaphances, then shot. The targets in front were scarecrows wearing armor.

The effective range of the snaphance was only about two to three hundred meters, but during that era, Lin Jiang specifically instructed to increase the caliber. So even at a distance of around a hundred meters, it could still penetrate standard armor.

"Stop, what do you think?"

Lin Jiang looked at a group of young people beside him and said. These people are the twenty-eight disciples, but now there are only eighteen left. The other ten died in battle fighting the Demon Human.

When they went to battle, most of them were only thirteen or fourteen years old. Now they are about seventeen or eighteen years old, the prime of their youth, just like Lin Jiang.

"Your Majesty, this snaphance can pierce armor from a hundred steps away, slightly better than a repeating crossbow. It is also slightly more expensive to make than a repeating crossbow, but its advantage lies in…"

The eighteen people looked at each other, and finally one person stood up and said, describing the pros and cons of the snaphance. Everyone was talented in both literature and martial arts, and this was clearly evident.

Lin Jiang nodded in satisfaction. Luckily, none of them called it a trick, or Lin Jiang would have kicked them out.

Next, they observed the experiment with the cannon. In their view, the cannon was just a larger version of the snaphance, just without the need for flint to ignite it.

The cannon was much more powerful, easily penetrating armor from five hundred steps away. Theoretically, even a Martial Saint would have a hard time defending against it. However, in open spaces, it posed little threat to a Martial Saint, who could easily dodge it with their speed.

Of course, these weapons were not invented to deal with individual opponents, but to face armies, especially those in formation. It was normal for one shot to create a bloody path in the enemy ranks.

Lin Jiang was very satisfied with the craftsmen’s current research. After giving them some reassurance and rewards, he instructed them to continue optimizing the weapons and developing even more powerful ones.

Later, Lin Jiang approached officials from the Military Equipment Department and asked them to figure out how to mass-produce these weapons to equip the army and train new soldiers.

With the strength and population of the Datong Dynasty, once mobilized, it was quick. Even if artisans made weapons by hand, it wasn’t a big problem, especially considering the advanced technology of the Datong Dynasty in this era, just by looking at the warships.

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As the new weapons were rapidly being manufactured, Lin Jiang arranged for his eighteen disciples to intern in various departments. This time, Lin Jiang didn’t start them from the bottom since it was meaningless. They all had powerful connections in the court, so starting from scratch was just for show.

The performance of the eighteen individuals was impressive, being personally taught by Lin Jiang. Even if they were not fit to be emperors, they were more than capable of serving as ministers. Soon, Lin Jiang received many commendations for their progress.

Lin Jiang, as the founding emperor, had unparalleled prestige and was able to control everything. As for these younger generations, it would depend on the circumstances. Lin Jiang would help them secure their positions if needed.

Three months later, three thousand snaphances and twenty cannons were completed. Lin Jiang recruited new soldiers and trained them, giving them half a month before they would march to the battlefield for real combat in three months.

In the blink of an eye, another three months had passed. The new soldiers went to the battlefield, and the eighteen disciples eagerly signed up to lead teams. Lin Jiang directly promoted them all to squad leaders, sending them all to the battlefield. However, Lin Jiang himself didn’t go, but stayed in charge of Jingdu City.

Lin Jiang secretly gathered a group of trusted followers and, under the guise of mining exploration in various places in Datong Country, unearthed hidden rooms and caves to bury treasures such as gold, silver, antiques, and more. This was preparation for the future, in case the next era of spiritual energy recovery didn’t arrive. If not, having some wealth would still make life easier. If a prosperous era came, they could enjoy life gracefully.

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North of Datong Country,

The Datong Army has been fighting against Demon Humans, although not on a large scale, and this has never stopped, especially the Qing River Legion, which has been active on the battlefield for years.

At this moment, a new army appeared on the battlefield, with three thousand soldiers carrying snaphance guns, arranged in rows of five hundred, divided into six columns. On the left and right sides are ten cannons each, weighing tens of thousands of pounds. It takes six heavy draft horses to pull each cannon. Surrounding this new army are nearly ten thousand soldiers for protection. Now, everyone in the Datong Army knows that there are important people among this new army, so they will make sure nothing happens to them easily.

"The enemy is here!"

Someone shouted, and a group of Demon Humans appeared in front, being lured by a light cavalry.

"They’re in range, prepare the cannons, fire!"

The cannons were just introduced, and the tactics were still incomplete. Lin Jiang didn’t say much and let them figure it out on their own.

"Boom, boom, boom"

Twenty solid cannonballs flew out, hitting a Demon Human hundreds of meters away. The Demon Human’s body immediately split apart, while the cannonballs kept rolling, causing a mess of limbs and arms.

Not every cannonball was successful. Some cannonballs missed their target, but a Martial Saint among the Demon Humans leaped up and sliced a cannonball in half, deflecting it. The Martial Saint got injured but survived.

After firing a shot, soldiers started cleaning the cannon barrel and reloading ammunition. This process was meticulous and took about a minute. In that time, if there was no other way to slow down the Demon Humans, they would already be charging in.

"Bang, bang, bang"

The Demon Humans approached within a hundred steps, and the snaphances began firing. The accuracy of the snaphance spears was a matter of luck since there was no precise aiming. However, with five hundred people firing together, it was enough to sweep through the enemy.

As soon as the first row fired, they started reloading, then the second row fired, continuing in this manner to sustain continuous firepower.

It was very difficult to kill a Demon Human with a single bullet unless it hit a vital spot. However, many Demon Humans were still taken down by the gunfire.

"Grand Master of Martial Arts and Martial Saints can’t be directly harmed, hurry up and intercept them."

The general saw that despite the swirling smoke, some Demon Humans were approaching, so he immediately ordered an interception; otherwise, the soldiers would be slaughtered.

This was a surprise attack carefully planned. After one hour, the battle ended, and people started to clean up the battlefield, mostly checking the injuries of the Demon Humans who died to see how they were defeated.

This new weapon is amazing. Unless a powerful Demon Human Martial Saint intervenes, it’s impossible to defeat. Such Martial Saints are extremely rare among the Demon Humans.

Normal Demon Humans are defenseless against this weapon, it shatters upon impact. It’s a powerful tool for killing demons."

"The snaphance has slightly less power, but excels in continuous attacks. Most Demon Humans can be killed with three to four bullets, while unlucky ones may die with just one."

"A snaphance is enough to match an Innate Martial Artist, who typically requires seven to twenty years of training. However, a soldier can be trained in just three months."

"With billions of citizens in Daltong, it’s possible to train five million new soldiers with this weapon to defeat the Demon Human world."

"Let’s go back and report to His Majesty."

A group of people faced the results of the experiment with great excitement. They rarely saw such impressive outcomes. These new soldiers, who had only trained for three months, could match the most elite veterans.

In fact, even if the results were slightly less, they wouldn’t mind at all. They would go back to report to Lin Jiang and increase support for the new weapons, as they are cost-effective.

The new soldiers kept fighting in this place, but the eighteen disciples quickly returned to Jingdu City and gave a detailed report of the battle results to Lin Jiang. As a result, Lin Jiang presented the results to the ministers, requesting funds from the court to increase manufacturing efforts. Each year, at least thirty thousand snaphances and over a hundred cannons were needed to attack the Demon Human alongside the existing troops.

With hope of defeating the Demon Human emerging, Lin Jiang began preparing for retirement. After observing the eighteen disciples for many years, he had already chosen a successor to the throne in his heart.

However, Lin Jiang still wanted to establish a system to limit the imperial power. He believed it was necessary to prevent the fate of a country from depending solely on one person’s wisdom, and that the empire’s operation should be ensured by the system.

Recalling his historical knowledge and analyzing various political systems, Lin Jiang finally chose one.