Aztec Eternals

The pleasant spring breeze blows the spring water on the lake and cuts out the new shoots on the shore. April is the season of germination. The warm smile reflected in the eyes of the potter girl, like spring water flowing into her heart, making the seeds of yearning germinate and come alive.

Talea burst into a happy smile. She took a step forward and hugged Shulot's growing body tightly. Then, she raised her head slightly, her eyes were as bright as water, and her gentle eyes stayed on the boy's face, unwilling to leave for a moment.

Xiulot stood silently, feeling unspeakable. His body froze at first, and he stretched his arms slightly, subconsciously wanting to break free from his embrace. Immediately, he felt Talea's close attachment and saw her affectionate eyes. The young man couldn't bear to be hurt, and he also had a love in his heart, so he could only sigh and focus on the business.

"Talaia, how is the production of gunpowder going?"

"Your Highness, the female workers have all mastered the skills of gunpowder configuration. A full set of wooden tools and operating steps have been recorded. As long as the three raw materials are sufficient, they can be deployed in large quantities at any time."

Xiuluo nodded. The original black powder is not resistant to storage and transportation. Once it is placed for a long time or bumped, the phenomenon of layering up and down of the three raw materials often occurs. Therefore, teenagers are more inclined to store raw materials, deploy them temporarily, and use gunpowder weapons as soon as possible after they are made.

"Is there any result in the development of new gunpowder?" Xiulot asked.

"Your Highness, I tried to add different raw materials, and roughly grasped the combustion and explosion effects of different gunpowder ratios. But I haven't found any clue about the key step you mentioned."

Talea's eyes dimmed slightly, and a bit of self-blame appeared on her face.

Shulot smiled gently. If there is no clue of divine revelation, technology development will always be slow. The improvement of gunpowder cannot be completed in a short time.

"Talaia, don't worry. Take your time and be safe. How are the experiments with the three gunpowder weapons I ordered?"

Talea smiled again. She nodded vigorously, let go of her arms reluctantly, and regained her skill in handling gunpowder.

"Your Highness, the vertical rockets are ready for actual combat. Tao terrestris is very unstable, and ignition is very dangerous, and has injured many civilians. The sound of wooden cannon firing is very loud, very scary. But you can't put too much gunpowder when firing, because it will blow up too much." once."

Hearing the accident of the explosion, Xiulot looked dignified. He looked at the thin and thin face of the potter girl, feeling a little worried. The boy reached out and took Talea's catkin. He felt the micro-hard calluses that had begun to appear in his smooth hands, so he clenched them tightly and said softly.

"Talaia, don't personally participate in the configuration of gunpowder. Take me to the weapon experiment site, I want to see the specific effect."

Talea nodded happily. The two walked together, and under the protection of the surrounding warriors, they soon came to a wide flat ground. There are many straw figures planted in the flat ground, some of them are wearing cotton and leather armor, and there are distance marks on the ground.

The weapon craftsmen involved in the research and development have been waiting for a long time. The pottery girl gave a few detailed instructions, and a large group of peasants listened to the order, and carefully brought the three kinds of weapons for display by the craftsmen.

The finished product of vertical rockets is not much different from ordinary war arrows. It is just a spherical paper gunpowder bag tied to the rear of the arrow, which contains more than two taels of gunpowder. The craftsmen used flint to ignite the fuse of the gunpowder pack, then drew a Tlaxcala bow, mounted a rocket, and shot it vigorously.

The rockets were loaded with powder packs, nearly doubling their weight. Its speed was not fast, it crossed an obvious arc, and landed beside the straw man more than 20 meters away. Everyone watched with bated breath, and after only three or four seconds, the rocket suddenly burst into a bright flame. In an instant, flames rose up, quickly igniting the straw man, and the smoke drifted away. The fierce flame lasted for two seconds, then weakened significantly, and burned steadily on the straw man.

Xiu Luote estimated in his mind that after reducing the proportion of soil nitrate, the burning time of gunpowder will be significantly longer. He looked at the distance of the straw man, and then gave instructions to the warrior commander not far away.

"Arrange twenty warriors with longbows."

Bertard nodded in obedience. After a while, twenty warriors stood apart in a row holding longbows. They looked at the rocket in their hands with some fear, then carefully ignited it, quickly nocked the arrow, and after a little flat shooting and aiming, it was a "swoosh" arrow.

Twenty vertical rockets were seen flying across trajectories at different heights, falling scattered between 50 meters and 100 meters. Weighted arrows only significantly reduce the range, but in the hands of skilled archers, they can still maintain stable accuracy. Then, the rockets exploded bunches of flames one after another, igniting the nearby straw figures, like fireworks blooming in the daytime. Soon, the rising smoke spread in the weapon field with a pungent smell, like the breath of a mythical spirit. After a while, the venue was already blazing with flames.

Shulot silently calculated the different speeds of the rocket's ignition, and the deviation was about a few seconds. It seemed that the quality of the fuse was indeed uneven. He ordered the long shot again.

The longbow warriors fired their arrows again, and shot upwards from a wide angle. This time, the speed of the vertical rocket's horizontal movement slowed down, crossed an elongated arc, and fell about 100 to 120 meters. Many rockets exploded in mid-air, like fire from the sky. The accuracy of the rockets has been greatly reduced, and many have deviated from the target, burning in a corner far away from the straw man.

After observing for a while, Shulot asked the warriors to shoot several times at different distances, and had a rough plan for the use of vertical rockets. The rocket's steady shooting range should be within a hundred meters, with satisfactory accuracy within fifty or sixty meters. If on sloshing water, this distance should be further reduced. In order to increase the power of burning, the powder charge of the gunpowder pack can continue to be increased, as long as the accurate shooting of 50 meters can be maintained.

Shulot nodded in satisfaction. He shook Talea's hand and praised.

"Talaia, you did a good job. This type of rocket can be mass-produced and is called a 'light rocket'. Also. I need you to double the gunpowder in the paper bag to make a range The 'heavy rocket' of about 50 meters is used as a weapon to ignite the big boat. These two types are currently installed."

Talea nodded happily. Immediately, she hesitated.

"Your Highness, Tribulus Tao is a little unstable, are you testing it today? Maybe after a while, it can be developed more maturely."

Shulot shook his head and said affirmatively.

"I'm going out soon, I don't have much time to wait, let them start!"

Soon, following His Highness's order, under the force of the warriors' sticks, a row of ten civilians stood more than ten meters apart, and the two fought. With horror on their faces, they picked up the six or seven catties of pottery thorns and stared at the yellow and black spiked ball, which was a symbol of death.

Xiulot thought for a while, and asked the peasants to put on cotton armor. Then, the young man watched them nervously igniting the fuse of the pottery terrier, as if pressing the countdown to death, and then swung his arms with all his might, trying to throw the heavy pottery terrier out.

"Boom!." Before a farmer threw the terrier in his hand, the spiked ball exploded instantly, and countless fragments were shot out suddenly. The man seemed to have been hit by a giant's heavy hammer, he flew back two steps suddenly, and then fell to the ground spurting blood, dying instantly. With the power of black powder in this era, he was not smashed to pieces.

Xiulot heard the reputation and looked over, feeling a chill in his heart. The civilian husband's face was scorched black, and his body was burning with flames. If you look closely, there are dense fine wounds, with countless ceramic fragments inserted. His arms and limbs were twisted and separated, like a broken doll, and there was a fountain of blood under his body, which was gradually evaporated and dried by the flames.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!." The sound of continuous explosions continued, like the roar of Thor in the world. The longbow warriors turned pale in horror, and took a few steps back in fear, their sticks, bows and arrows falling silently from their hands. Many warriors fell to their knees in fear, praying loudly to the Lord God, praying for the Almighty Lord God to come and drive away the roaring demons.

Xiulot glanced away, and saw two civilian men writhing and struggling on the ground. Their pottery caltrops were only thrown six or seven steps away, and they were still within the effective killing range. The fragments of the explosion did not break their cotton armor, but they blinded one of the men and scratched the neck of another. Soon, the civilian husband whose neck was bleeding was paralyzed and motionless.

"Boom! Boom!." There were two more explosions. Tao Tribulus exploded at the straw man more than ten steps away. Within three steps, the straw man's leather armor broke and was completely shattered by the blast. Within five steps, the straw man's cotton armor was torn, inlaid with many sharp fragments. And at about seven steps, the straw man's cotton armor defended against all the debris, but was shaken back and forth by the air waves.

Schlott counted the explosions. Then, he frowned and looked carefully, and there were two duds in front of him. The young man glanced over, skipping over the kneeling and howling peasants who were already limp, and looked at some of the warriors who were still able to maintain their composure.

"This is the weapon given to us by the Lord God, don't be afraid! Come two warriors, hold up two layers of shields, and put on two layers of cotton armor. Water the two pottery thorns that have not exploded. Be careful to cover your head and neck with your shields!"

After a while, two warriors came out of the warriors. Shulot secretly took note of their figures. Two warriors in full gear, holding shields and water bottles, carefully approached the spiked orb.

And just as they were about to start processing, there was another "Boom!." There was a loud explosion that shook everyone's heartstrings.

Shulot looked solemnly, only to see a samurai knocked to the ground by a close-range explosion. The boy hurriedly commanded the rescue and brought the fallen warrior back to the nearby place.

Afterwards, Shulot took a closer look and saw that one side of the warrior's double-layered shield was completely shattered, and the other side was embedded with dense fragments. A few fragments penetrated the shield and got stuck on the cotton armor. The wooden shield was ablaze, but the cotton armor did not ignite. The guards checked for a while, and there was no wound or blood on the warrior. It's just that his foot was sprained, his mind was shaken and dizzy, and he couldn't stand up at all. On the battlefield, it meant death.

During the observation, another warrior had returned with an extinguished pottery caltrop, and threw the spiked ball into the prepared pool next to it.

Shulot smiled and praised him, asked the warrior's name, and wrote it down in his mind. Then, the boy continued to think, shaking his head.

"Of the ten pottery caltrops, one exploded prematurely, and two were duds. The timing of the explosion of the remaining seven fluctuated. The biggest problem is that there is no stable fire tube. The quality of the fuse that ignites the fire is unstable. In addition, the grenadiers have to Equipped with a slow-burning match for the purpose of ignition."

Thinking of this, Xiulot sighed. This is still a test field that has no enemies and can be stably ignited. If it really comes to the battlefield, this weapon is a bomb that will explode at any time, and it can only be used by desperate warriors.

"The grenadier needs to be tall and strong. The effective throwing distance is more than ten meters to more than twenty meters. The killing distance without armor is within seven steps, and the killing distance of cotton armor is within five steps. If you face a shield, the explosion must be within three steps. Within. The sound of the explosion can greatly deter the enemy and severely damage the morale of the enemy."

Shulot shook his head lightly. In his opinion, the power of this most primitive grenade is very limited. However, Bertard and the other warriors were already full of awe, looking at the spiky ball like a fetish, amazed. This is the power of the gods!

"It takes a long time to prepare, ignite, and throw Taoist Tribulus. To avoid enemy attacks, the throwing distance is also very short, and it works best against dense formations. From this point of view, the occasion where this weapon exerts its greatest power is not field battles. Instead, it is a siege battle, and it will be used by Xiandeng who dares to die!"

The young man thought for a moment, his eyes suddenly lit up. Then he nodded with a smile and looked at the crowd who respected them like gods.

"continue!"

With the cooperation of several peasants, a simple wooden cannon with a copper hoop was transported to the center of the venue. Long ago, civilians dug the earth to build a shooting platform, and fixed the wooden cannons with wooden frames. Afterwards, under the command of the craftsman, the peasants clumsily filled the gun barrel with gunpowder.

In front of His Highness, the craftsmen only filled eight or nine catties of crude black gunpowder and dared not fill it up. Then they put more than a dozen catties of stones into the muzzle, drew a fuse, sealed the muzzle with cotton, and aimed at the straw man fifty paces away.

Xiuluo nodded. The boy hugged Talea's arm, pulling her back seventy or eighty steps. Then twenty warriors held up their shields, forming a three-layer protective shield array in front of them. Only then did His Highness give the order to fire and fire.

After a long count of breaths, there was only a loud bang, followed by another crash.

Xiulot strode out from behind the shield formation, only to see the wooden cannon bounce back a few steps, and all the peasants around were prostrate on the ground, praying in fear. Fifty steps away, a puff of rising smoke was splashed, and the straw man in the experimental field had disappeared. When the smoke dissipated, the young man took a few steps forward, and saw the scattered straw man, densely packed stones embedded in the soil, and leather armor that was torn like a sieve.

Shulot paced from the center of the densest stones, judging the degree of dispersion of the ammunition. Afterwards, he ordered the warriors to set up a wooden frame, place many shields at a distance of 50 to 100 meters, and continue to ignite and test fire.

The repeated bombardment was accompanied by terrifying explosions, like the roar of a wild monster in mythology, shaking the hearts of all warriors. This is the weapon of the gods in mythology, and it is a giant beast raised by the gods!

In Xiulot's view, compared with the real copper cannon, this kind of wooden cannon is more like a big intimidating firecracker.

It can kill unarmored targets within 100 meters, and it can kill cotton armor within 50 meters. Facing a warrior with a shield and armor, he had to get as close as 30 meters to generate enough power. The firing speed of wooden cannons is extremely slow, fixed loading and ignition, cleaning, inspection and reset, the craftsmen can only fire one or two rounds in a quarter of an hour. After firing more than a dozen rounds, the craftsmen hurriedly said that there might be a danger of explosion. As for the aim of the wooden cannon, it can only maintain a general direction, and it is normal to deviate from it by more than ten meters.

Looking at these new gunpowder weapons, Xiulot was dissatisfied for a long time, and then smiled with satisfaction.

"It's time to surprise Avette!"

Shulot turned his hands away and looked at the palace in the northern capital. Behind him, there are admiring girls, loyal warriors, and everyone kneeling in awe.