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Border Town's second recruitment was much smoother than the first, thanks to the winter food rationing, so the militia could get more and better food. Every week on family visiting days, many of the militia members would secretly pass the bread and dried meat they saved on weekdays to their relatives. Roland told Carter and Iron Axe not to interfere in this matter, and those relatives happily brought the food home and spread the news to their neighbors.
An army made up of people was an excellent propaganda example in itself. Talking among neighbors was much more effective than deliberate propaganda in City hall. Now most people in the old town knew about this matter – His Highness' militia not only had a generous salary, but also could eat three meals a day, and the battle with the demonic beasts didn't seem so dangerous. Therefore, during the second recruitment, the number of people in the old town greatly increased, and even residents from the new town came to sign up.
The number of people who met the requirements was far higher than Roland expected, so the second militia was expanded to 200 people, and Carter led the training on weekdays. When the horn sounded, they would go to the city wall and be on standby as auxiliary troops.
Both the Chief Knight and the Assistant Minister had objected to this. At present, the first militia was already competent enough to fight against the demonic beasts. At this time, it seemed unnecessary to recruit a second militia with twice the number of the first one. Higher food and salary than the general people would lead to an increase in the financial burden, and the extra Golden Dragon would not play a significant role.
But Roland insisted on his decision.
Because these people were not prepared to fight against the demonic beasts.
For the time being, he did not dare to tell his subordinates about the plan brewing in his mind. Before the Duke took action, he already had a plan to attack the stronghold – if he said this idea now, Carter and Barov would not be able to accept it.
Longsong Stronghold was different from Border Town. As the official border of the Graycastle Kingdom, its walls were ten meters high, and they were made of bricks. The Duke and the six families of the Western Region were stationed in the inner city, and the number of soldiers they could mobilize was estimated to be about a thousand. Theoretically speaking, it was impossible to take down a fortress with less than three hundred people in the militia, even if they were equipped with guns that transcended the era.
And because of the existence of the God's Stone of Retaliation, witches could not be used as beheading weapons. Roland had repeatedly confirmed this point with Nightingale. Prominent nobles like the Duke Of Ryan and the six noble families would definitely spare no effort in purchasing the God's Stone of Retaliation. Of course, to the outside world, it was called a donation. This stone, which could only be obtained by donating several to dozens of Golden Dragon Stones, had the ability to seal a witch's ability within a certain range. It was the church's most powerful weapon against the demons, and it was also the church's biggest annual income.
Roland's only chance lay in a field battle.
Thanks to this era, most of the battles between lords were conscripted. If he wanted to gather his subordinates, they wouldn't run away halfway. The Lords would basically go with them, which gave Roland a chance to annihilate them. However, he was still at a loss as to how to grasp this opportunity. After all, all of his experience in luring the enemy came from movies and television works or historical stories, he had never used it in practice.
Since he couldn't understand, he thought, it would be better to do what he was good at first.
Roland stretched his body, walked out of the office, and went to the wooden shed in the backyard.
The assembled steam engine No. 2 stood quietly in the middle of the field. At first glance, its appearance was much smoother than the first steam engine. The weld marks of the large parts were no longer as uneven as before. This was the masterpiece of Anna's new ability. Her green fire could drill into small gaps to fuse, and the overall quality of the large parts was better than before.
In the spirit of research and development, the follow-up model was better than the original model, and the magically modified model was better than the follow-up model, the Steam Engine II had been equipped with a centrifugal governor. As the first automatic control system and feedback system in human history, its emergence could be said to be extraordinary. The structure of the governor was very simple. The main body consisted of two hinged thin rods with iron balls welded at the ends and a rotating main rod. At first glance, it looked like a bamboo dragonfly that he often played with when he was a child. As long as he quickly rubbed the bamboo rod, the two rotating fan blades would automatically rise due to the centrifugal force.
For the governor, the two iron balls were equivalent to the fan blades. When the steam engine worked, it drove the main rod to rotate. When the output was too high, the ball speed increased. Under the influence of the centrifugal force, it gradually rose and drove the lever to close the valve. When the output became low, the ball speed slowed down. Under the influence of gravity, the position of the ball was reduced, and the valve was enlarged. This kept the steam engine running at a relatively constant power.
With the governor, the second steam engine could now undertake some more delicate processing tasks.
The gears that were previously delivered to the blacksmith shop were all completed, and were now neatly placed in the corner of the shed.
From the perspective of industrial assembly line production, this batch of gears could not be called a qualified work. All of them were thrown into the defective box, waiting to be melted down. But in this era, they were rare works of art. The involute design of the gears had a natural sense of harmony. The wheel was soaked in lard, exuding a unique luster of metal.
In addition to the gear set, the carpenters were responsible for planing the base and cap, as well as other parts were ready. He asked the guard outside to call Anna, and together they began to assemble the first steam powered boring machine.
In Roland's plan, this was the fastest way to mass-produce firearms.
Relying on the blacksmith to hammer out a barrel was extremely time-consuming and laborious. But with the boring machine, he only needed to pour out iron rods, and then directly use the boring knife to drill holes. In one day, he could produce more than a dozen barrels.
At the same time, by replacing the knife head, the boring machine could also be used to cut the rifling. With the rifling, the firing accuracy of the flintlock would be further improved.
In this way, he was confident that before the end of the winter, the two militias, nearly three hundred people, would be fully armed.
But Roland still couldn't guarantee that his people would be able to calmly load and shoot in the face of the Knight's charge, instead of dropping their weapons and running away. After all, the two militias were established too recently, and they didn't have any experience in fighting with others.
Therefore, he had to bring more powerful firepower to the stage, and completely defeat the enemy before they could form a charge.
That was the artillery.
As the God of War in the history of human war, the lethality and deterrence brought by the artillery was not something that firearms could compare with. A six-pound field cannon, its range was enough to launch an attack when the enemy was assembled. In this era, it was impossible for the mixed army to maintain discipline under the attack of artillery. As long as they were equipped with three or four field cannons, the enemy wouldn't even have the opportunity to charge.
He had already planned step by step – with the manual milling machine, he would be able to process usable gears. With gears and the second steam engine, he would be able to get a steam-powered boring machine. And with the steam boring machine, he would be able to process a variety of gun barrels and cannon barrels.
There were still at least two months before the end of the Months of the Demons. As long as the plan was implemented smoothly, Border Town's militia would have the power to fully compete with the Duke's army.
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