As early as the beginning of the construction of the cement section, Roland had set up plans for several subsequent projects, most of which were built around the northern slope mining area, which could be effectively guarded - this kind of adobe wall and wood roof bungalow construction speed was extremely fast, and did not affect the progress of the construction of the city wall.

The saltpeter purchased in large quantities from Liuye Town was transported to a nearby warehouse for storage, and when it was needed, it was ground and weighed by the helpers and sent to the bungalow in batches. The same goes for charcoal and sulfur, where the handling and mixing of the three raw materials is done by different groups of people, which minimizes the risk of leakage.

Roland weighed twenty pounds from the prepared black powder and slowly poured it onto a piece of cut sheepskin.

These gunpowders have been soaked, compacted, dried, malletted, sieved and other treatments, and have been in the form of particles of uniform size, with excellent combustion performance. In order to prevent electrostatic accidents, not a single metal vessel is used in the entire production process, and most of them are ceramic or wood products.

After pouring the gunpowder, Roland layered the sheepskin, wrapped it in three layers, and tied it tightly with rope.

"Is that all right?" asked Carter. Can this thing be called a weapon? Although it is an improvement of snow powder, who can be frightened by sound alone? It may be useful against farmers who have never been on the battlefield, and no trained warrior or mercenary will take it seriously. But...... The chief knight thought about it carefully, and what His Highness had done recently seemed unreasonable, but most of them had amazing results. If the beast has an IQ similar to that of a beast, maybe it will be unexpectedly effective, such as a roar that startles them and scatters in all directions, thus reducing the pressure on the defending team.

Roland shoved the wrapped gunpowder into Carter's arms, and then took the bag of finely ground gunpowder powder for ignition, "Almost, let's go outside the city walls, the iron axe should be ready." ”

About two miles west of the city walls, a clearing between the Hidden Forest and the Desperate Mountains was the area he had set out for the test explosion.

Iron Axe and several other hunters have been waiting here for a long time, except for Iron Axe himself, everyone is a local and the best in archery. Hearing that His Royal Highness the Prince had a task entrusted to them, they immediately couldn't wait to follow the iron axe.

Everyone now knows that the new lords of the border towns are not stingy with their hired honorariums.

According to Roland's instructions, they erected long wooden poles around them, tied ropes, and formed a cordon circle of nearly half a mile. Knights patrolled near the city walls to prevent anyone from approaching unexpectedly.

Roland checked around the ring and nodded, "Have you brought all the prey?"

"Your Highness, it's all here," Iron Axe approached with a cage in tow, and Carter noticed that there were several pheasants and rabbits inside.

"Very well, put them at a distance of five, ten, fifteen, thirty paces from the center point, and tie one to each stake. ”

Carter shook his head secretly and stepped forward to propose, "Your Highness, these animals you have chosen may not be effective, they are extremely timid, and they will scatter and flee at the slightest noise. Even if you can scare them, you won't necessarily be able to scare away the beasts. ”

"Scare away the beasts?" Roland was slightly stunned, then reacted, "I didn't intend to scare them away, although the explosion of this thing is amazing. ”

He led the chief knight to the center of the circle, put down the powder bag, and made a small opening with his dagger to let the gunpowder leak out. Then he took out the leather bag containing the gunpowder powder, sprinkled it from the breach, and fell back as he fell.

Today is a windless day, which is suitable for this primitive way of detonation.

It was only after retreating for nearly 100 meters that Roland put away his leather bag.

"Alright, let's light the fire here," he said, after repeating the distance and making sure it was correct, he said to Carter, "Go and call the hunters." ”

At this moment, Roland was also a little excited in his heart, he had already done a small flash test before, and he was not worried about the test results. What he cares about is that it will be a great moment, and from today onwards, thermal weapons will officially enter the stage, and he will be written into the milestone of history as a dominant player.

After everyone was concentrated, Roland lit the powder of gunpowder.

Carter lay on the ground, looking at the rapidly departing Mars, and felt a little disapproving.

At such a distance, and it was not placed in the bronze barrel, it was still a question whether the sound of the snow powder could reach here, and His Royal Highness the Prince actually made everyone lie on the ground. But since the fourth prince took the lead in doing this, he didn't want to say anything more.

The ground is cold in winter, and you can feel the chill spreading through the chain mail. Carter shifted his body and was about to turn his chest sideways when an earth-shattering bang suddenly sounded-

With the distance so close that the sound of the explosion and the shock wave reached almost simultaneously, he felt his ears buzz and the world fell silent. The tremor of the earth was fleeting, and he looked up to see a black cloud slowly rising, followed by rubble and mud falling like rain.

Roland was much less affected than the chief knight, and even firecrackers would have blocked his ears, and he was immediately prepared to protect himself after igniting the gunpowder powder. The point of explosion is not like in the movie, which frees up huge fireballs. The fire flickered, and a large amount of mud was lifted by the air wave and rushed into the air about ten meters into the air. When the dust settled, Roland's only feeling was that it was louder than a firecracker.

As for the Iron Axe and several other hunters, they were already stunned with fright. Only Iron Axe knew that the trip was to test a new weapon, but he didn't expect it to be so impressive.

I'm afraid that only the thunder of heavenly punishment can compare with it!

Roland stood up and led everyone back to the explosion site, where there was a pit half a meter deep, and the rabbit closest to the explosion was long gone, leaving only a short stake on the ground.

He examined the other animals one by one, and the pheasants placed at the ten- and fifteen-paces lay motionless on the ground, apparently dead, and although there were no obvious external injuries in sight, Roland knew that they had died from the shock wave of the explosion.

The only survivor was the gray rabbit thirty paces away, its thin ear walls oozing blood, and it stopped struggling when it saw someone approaching, as if the loud noise had taken its soul.

Carter swallowed, his buzzing ears gradually returning to normal, and it was only then that he understood what His Royal Highness meant by "not intending to scare them away". Is this really the improvement of snow powder? Alchemists are afraid that with this result alone, they are afraid that they will be far above the astrologers.

Iron Axe's eyes as he looked at Roland changed completely, "Your Highness, if the militia can have such a weapon, the border town will no longer be afraid of the threat of evil beasts. I wonder if it can be made in large quantities?"

Roland spread his hands and said, "Probably not, when the Demon Moon comes, it is estimated that it will only be enough to make twenty or thirty." "The main key is saltpeter, which was still very primitive in this era, and relied on pouring lime mixtures into human and animal manure and urine rings to collect the precipitated potassium nitrate crystals. There are few other uses other than the alchemy workshop and the upper nobility, so there are not many such refining grounds, and if they are all used for explosives, they will soon be exhausted.

As a killer weapon, this weapon must be used in conjunction with muskets and crossbows.