Chapter 1074: Chapter 1017: Return to Shuimi Town

Horn did not plan to introduce the rear-loading spring gun to all battle groups, but only to a select few elite units.

In other words, to classify the battle groups into defense and breakthrough units, equipping only the breakthrough units with such weapons.

The breastplate is fine; switching to the new style of breastplate is just right to eliminate the armor made by various nations during the Thousand River Valley War.

Currently, the armor rate among soldiers in each battle group heavily relies on contributions from the enemy, especially the strong support of the Leia people.

But precisely because of this, the armor varies in shape, weight, and maintenance is extremely troublesome.

Not to mention the lack of transparency in accounting resulting from this situation, leading to corruption.

Moreover, the inconsistency in armor weight has greatly impacted the staff monks’ march planning and logistical work.

Switching to uniform breastplates can reduce chaos index and decrease the occurrence of random events.

As for the eliminated armor and weapons, they can be given or sold to those who need them.

For instance, Horn thinks that the pioneers, Black Snake Bay people, Bear Castle Territory Norn people, and Leia’s Saint Father’s Association are in great need.

The rear-loading spring gun is different from the breastplate; it is not universally applicable.

Although it can fire ten rounds per minute, Horn at most set the drill to five or six rounds per minute.

With the alchemical bowl spring box, even the top soldiers have a firing capacity of only twenty rounds.

Sure, shooting all rounds in two minutes is exhilarating, but one must also consider the enemy’s feelings.

Two or three volleys can disperse a dense formation, and if there’s enough mana, someone like Horn can continue firing for three more minutes to exert suppression ideally.

However, most soldiers do not have this mana, so the best resources must be used wisely.

What Horn values is the ability to shoot from kneeling or prone positions.

The front-loading spring gun requires large movements during loading and must have the muzzle facing upwards.

If soldiers are lying down or kneeling, the muzzle being close to the ground prevents the powder and shot from being loaded smoothly.

The rear-loading spring gun perfectly solves this problem.

The advantage of shooting from kneeling and prone positions is a significant enhancement in guerrilla tactics and covert shooting.

Previously, shooting required standing, making the target too large.

Now, you can shoot while squatting or even lying down, and compared to previous loading, the movements are much smaller.

Combined with the high accuracy of the helical gun, this is indeed a tough challenge for the Great Knights.

If Horn had this stuff, Prince Kongdai and Raffel would’ve been killed during some routine patrol long ago.

You can’t patrol in full heavy armor, fully blessed, and charging at full speed, can you?

Of course, it’s still too early to think about this problem, especially since the production of mithril and steel is still quite limited.

After increasing the firing rate to the limit of ten rounds per minute, the Mechanical Palace can then slow down the improvements in this aspect.

Instead, it’s the mana capacity for ammunition that must be improved.

It’s important to know that in another world, the standard ammunition capacity for a rear-loading smoothbore gun is fifty to sixty rounds.

Horn can only manage twenty rounds.

Considering it took over three hundred years for Earth to evolve from matchlock guns to rear-loading smoothbore guns.

The Holy Alliance here accomplished it in just eight years, already a result of his advantage in knowing the design direction beforehand.

Thus, slowing down the increase in ammo capacity is understandable.

For example, the disposable spring box suggested by Haimodin.

It encapsulates the spring box with lead pellets, wound with water power before battle, requiring only the replacement of the spring box and pulling the trigger during combat.

However, the cost is simply too high, with sixty alchemical bowl spring boxes per person, it’s excessively luxurious.

After industrialization in the future, it might be worth a try, but for now, let’s forget it.

But recently, the breakthrough in ether resonance technology led Hilov’s Mechanical Palace to propose a new direction.

If ether resonance can cause errors in mountain copper springs, can we control these errors?

In other words, can we control the direction of these errors?

For instance, can we use ether resonance to wind the mountain copper springs carried by soldiers from a distance?

Compared to Haimodin’s high-cost plan, this is indeed cheaper, but truly unrealistic.

Without even inventing electrical wires, starting remote transmission, is that really feasible?

Yet Horn still allocated funds because it’s indeed a reasonable research direction; what if they do develop something?

Carrying a batch of new weapons and breastplates, Horn left Gray Furnace Town, sailing west from Joan of Arc Castle.

Even Rapids City was merely a brief stop for resupply before they continued on their journey again.

As the surrounding terrain gradually flattened, the distant mountains became farther from the river, everyone on the ship knew Xia Lvcheng was near.

However, their target was not Xia Lvcheng but to first inspect the newly built glass workshop outside Shuimi Town.

"Shuimi Town, my hometown."

Looking at the increasingly familiar scenery on both sides of the river, Michelle, the newly promoted Holy Armor Forbidden Army accompanying Horn, couldn’t help but sigh.

Michelle Nai is from Shuimi Town.

Years ago, Lauren led the Black Crown Battle Group to land at Shuimi Town, witnessing it firsthand.

The following winter, Jeska continued to support Xia Lvcheng, likewise landing at Shuimi Town, and that’s when Michelle joined the army.

The Redway Manor Defense Battle also occurred outside Shuimi Town, and Michelle, in the Chongxin Battle Group at the time, was supposed to provide support, but still couldn’t make it.

However, their family had already moved to Joan of Arc Castle before the battle due to changes in the war.

After the war, Michelle was busy, passing by Shuimi Town several times without getting the chance to take a good look at his hometown; today, he finally had the opportunity.

"Oh, you are from Shuimi Town?" Horn smiled at this unfamiliar newly promoted Holy Armor Forbidden Army member.

"I left my hometown too long, my emotions overwhelmed me, I violated military law, and will accept punishment upon return." Michelle bowed his head, feeling anxious.

Normally, the responsible Holy Armor Forbidden Army should not shout loudly.

Horn laughed heartily: "No problem, that counts as me asking you. Are you from Shuimi Town?"

"Yes, my grandparents’ house is in Shuimi Town. Later, my father went to Xia Lvcheng for business, leaving me in Shuimi Town."

Horn beckoned to him: "Great, then you can be my guide today.

I’ve passed by Xia Lvcheng several times, but only hurriedly passed through Shuimi Town, haven’t taken a detailed tour yet."

Michelle held back his excitement under jealous and envious gazes from the Holy Armor Forbidden Army and stepped forward, standing half a step behind Horn.

"Have we entered Shuimi Town now?"

"Look, Your Excellency, further ahead is a fishing harbor, and after that... huh? Where’s the fishing harbor?"

Michelle’s first words betrayed him.

The woods around the former fishing harbor were completely felled, leaving only a flat piece of land.

The reason for the felling is because they were all European Beech trees.

High-quality glass smelting requires the wood ash of European Beech.

Thus, numerous kilns emitting white or blue smoke are scattered at the edge of the forest to carbonize the wood ash of European Beech.

Sheds of various sizes are also interspersed among them, with lumberjacks and kiln workers coming and going.

Women can be seen washing clothes by the canal drawn from the river, and a communal kitchen is preparing a soup with river prawns and purple eggs.

Michelle stared stupefiedly at the windmills by the river and the huge mill crushing quartz sand, unable to speak for a moment.

Where is the small fishing harbor from his childhood where he fished and swam with friends, and his grandfather spanked him until his calves were swollen?

Beside him, Horn, like a mischievous child, applauded gleefully, seemingly proud to have tricked Michelle.

In fact, Horn chose to establish the glass industry in Shuimi Town for a reason.

The river near Shuimi Town has abundant high-quality quartz sand, and researchers even discovered veins rich in pure white quartz rock.

"This is your hometown, but don’t be surprised, your hometown is no longer what it used to be, my friend."