Our family is in decline

After dealing with the sudden appearance of the Devourer, everyone who had rested for several hours had recovered.

Lance naturally asked to continue the strategy and investigate the situation of the cave as clearly as possible.

But the deeper the structure of the sewer went, the more surprised Lance was. It was completely connected in all directions, and the nodes connecting the channels were also different. Some had quite a lot of space, while others were divided by a rusty gate. Come.

The deeper you go, the more complicated it becomes. The map in Lance's hand has been drawn until there is no room for drawing, and the dagger with the inscription has been sharpened.

Lance couldn't figure out why a sewer was built like this. He even had a feeling that his ancestor had expanded and renovated it.

This is even part of the dungeon. Following these passages, you may be able to reach the darkest...

But before that, they were unlucky.

"Why did it collapse again!"

Disma felt dissatisfied when he saw that the road ahead was blocked by bricks and stones. This was not just this time, but many times along the way.

If there are other passages, you can find a way around them, but if you encounter something that you can't avoid, there is only one way - dig.

Lance pried open the masonry with a shovel and explained with a smile.

“The passage is not finished once it is built. Although it does not withstand wind and rain on the ground, it still has to withstand the squeeze of the earth.

Everything needs regular maintenance, otherwise water seepage, landslides, and ground subsidence are very common, not to mention that these are places that have been abandoned for countless years. "

Lance was personally involved in everything. He was the first to fight when there was a battle, and he also took the lead in clearing the masonry blocking the passage when it collapsed.

The other people didn't have any objections. After all, the boss took the lead. Forget about complaining, you still have to do it.

The masonry was quickly cleared away. In fact, it was just a little digging, just enough to allow people to pass through. It was not a big project.

But what’s interesting is that Lance discovered something. There were corpses under the collapsed masonry.

"Hurry and dig." Lance continued digging.

With the help of everyone, several corpses that had long been turned into bones were quickly cleared out from the masonry.

One was human, and the human corpse looked unusual because it was wrapped with dead bones and covered with a pair of thick scales and a metal helmet that had been dented and deformed. Before death, it still held the ax in its hand firmly.

From these equipment alone, it can be seen that this man was definitely not an ordinary person in life, at least he was a highly skilled mercenary.

Lance also probably guessed that the cause of the collapse of this section was probably that this man encountered several pigmen, and then accidentally attacked the surrounding walls during the battle. These places were originally in disrepair, and now they naturally collapsed. Then buried them all underneath.

Of course, there is another possibility, that is, this human was a member of the team and was unable to defeat the pigs after encountering them. In order to cover his teammates, he stayed behind and broke up. In the end, it is not known whether he caused the collapse intentionally or unintentionally and died together with the pigs. .

As for why he came out and why he died?

The truth has long been lost to time, and Lance is not the kind of person to dwell on the situation back then.

The real reason he dug up the body was because of the equipment.

In this era of low productivity, if a blacksmith wants to complete a complete set of armor, it will take at least three months. But now this set can be used after just taking it back for repair, which is equivalent to picking it up for free.

Lance cleaned out the armor, but unexpectedly found that there was a pendant in the shape of an eagle's talon hanging around the body's waist, emitting a faint spiritual light.

If this set of armor is a bargain, then this extraordinary piece of equipment is just pure luck.

An uncontrollable smile appeared on Lance's face, and he quickly picked up the eagle claw pendant and looked at it carefully.

It is indeed extraordinary equipment. It has been left here for so long and has not changed at all. It only takes a little water to rinse it and it becomes the same again.

The eagle's claws were slightly folded, and there was a circle of black metal fixed on top. There were complex spells engraved on it, and there were two black feathers attached to the rope.

Lance felt the power contained in it carefully, and Disma and others realized that this thing was not simple when they saw the lord treating it so seriously.

"The agility claw, with the extraordinary power contained in it, can make the body's reaction sharper."

The joy on Lance's face was undisguised, because not only was this an extraordinary piece of equipment, but it also had no side effects, meaning it could be used by them.

"Tardif, take it first." Lance didn't hesitate too much. He couldn't use this piece of equipment, and Disma was also very fast. As for Boudica wearing the [Legendary Bracer], Lance didn't have much use for it. Dare to give it to her rashly, because she has just adapted to her current state, and having to adapt again is a taboo in actual combat.

Tardif didn't know much about it, but he could tell that it was a good thing, but he didn't expect that his employer would let him equip it.

However, his character would not dwell on anything, so he directly reached out and took it. At this moment, he felt the power of the equipment blessing his body.

He was silent, but he could still feel the inexplicable trust.

Disma and Boudica didn't react at all. They believed that Lance had a reason for doing this. What's more, the management of the extraordinary equipment showed that it was not given to him and would be recycled at the end of the mission.

Lance continued to dismantle the armor, tearing the rotten leather bag around his waist with a little movement, and all kinds of messy things fell out from it, but the most clear thing was the sound of the gold coins colliding.

It immediately attracted everyone's attention, and Tardif quickly turned his attention to it, regardless of the [Agility Claw] in his hand.

Gold coins, even in this dirty environment, still maintain their golden luster that will never fade.

Not only were there more than a dozen gold coins, but Lance actually found some cut yellow crystals among them, which looked like faded hope.

There are also some scattered jade stones with irregular shapes, the dim green color looks like rotten meat.

But there is no hiding the expensive price, and some people will like these things.

These gains were real. Lance didn't waste any time and just divided the dozen gold coins among them.

"Come, come, come and see me."

Disma and Boudicca were used to this kind of treatment from the lord, but Tardif was not happy with the gold coins, but rather a little scared.

"This...is against the rules~"

"That's quite a lot!" Disma frowned, seemingly dissatisfied with Tardif's greedy attitude.

But Tardif was not angry, but explained.

"The bounty was negotiated on a per-person basis. How can I get the money now that I haven't done anything?"

"That's the basic bounty, the more you work, the more you get, now it's commission. Our rule is to share a certain percentage of the mission income with everyone." Lance smiled and waved his hand when he heard this, "Let you come in with me and risk your life, always. You can’t really rely on that fixed bounty, right?”

Tardif has been a bounty hunter for a while, and even went to prison for further training, but he has never heard of such a rule.

He took the money, but it felt a bit hot. He had to kill a few more pigs before he could get it safely.

Lance raised his hand to sacrifice the remains, but he never expected that there would be no reaction at all. He knew without thinking that too much time had passed, and the power of flesh and blood contained in them, that is, the spirituality, had probably already entered the ancestor's pocket. .

But he didn't pay too much attention and quickly cheered up.

"It seems that this place may not necessarily look so barren. Maybe there are many good things waiting for us."

All ideals and beliefs are false, and interests are the core driving force for the mission. Lance leads the team to go deep in, and Piggy is going to be unlucky.

…………

According to the Totnes Gunnery Academy's instructions for the use of artillery, a cannon requires at least 7 cannons to operate properly.

The gunner responsible for aiming and correcting the ballistics here is usually a sergeant. One is responsible for moistening the barrel, a loader is responsible for compacting the ammunition, one or two are responsible for carrying the powder package and shells, and a muzzle operator is responsible for puncturing. The last igniter is responsible for igniting the medicine pack and completing the launch.

If there is only one person carrying ammunition, the remaining person will stand by behind the horses and the "front car" and wait for orders. There is a lieutenant in charge of every two guns, and the entire artillery battery is headed by a captain.

Once upon a time, Patton was that captain, leading a powerful artillery company.

But that was all in the past. What he needed to do now was to train an artillery unit from scratch for Hamlet as quickly as possible.

At this time, he was on the training ground. A large number of students were divided into five groups, and each group was a complete artillery squad.

If he was in the gunnery academy, he would have shot desperately, but now he seemed a little embarrassed, so many people were shooting at one artillery.

But fortunately, the lord did not skimp on the consumption of cannonballs and gunpowder, otherwise it would be even more difficult for him. He couldn't just rely on fantasy to teach them how to shoot.

1. The loader used a vortex-shaped hook to remove any remaining paper or fibers in the gun barrel (because at that time, the gun charges were all wrapped in paper or linen).

2. Dip the wool-wrapped artillery brush in water and put it into the wet barrel to extinguish the remaining sparks in the barrel. Then use a dry brush to wipe away the remaining moisture in the barrel. At the same time, the burner operator needs to hold the burner down with something. (This is done because the temperature in the breech of the firing chamber will drop rapidly, the chamber pressure will decrease, and air will pour back into the barrel from the ignition port. If there is unburned gunpowder and there are residual sparks in the chamber, it will damage the dipping process. Wet gunner.)

3. The two carry the medicine package and projectiles into the artillery respectively, and the loader uses the loading rod to compact the ammunition.

4. Use an awl to insert an awl from the ignition port to break the charge bag to facilitate ignition. Then insert the fuse or fill the ignition port with gunpowder.

5. The ignition hand lights the fuse and launches it.

The relevant procedures for artillery firing are basically copied from the Gunnery Academy, which is quite cumbersome, but there are no unnecessary steps because they are all completed at a heavy cost.

Here are the steps for continuous firing. If it is the first launch, you can omit the first two steps and directly load the ammunition and launch.

The steps of aiming and correcting the ballistics are omitted in the standard operation, because the artillery produced by Totnes is too bulky and does not have much room for adjustment.

Basically, it was fired in a straight line. Whether it could hit or not basically depended on the experience of the gunner. Even Patton himself actually fired the gun by feeling and rarely used calculations.

"Ready - fire!" the gunner aimed at the target, then waved the red flag in his hand and shouted loudly.

The igniter had been prepared long ago. After receiving the order, he lit the ignition stick on the mouth of the fire and the fuse was lit.

"Bang!"

Soon a loud noise was deafening, and the wheels of the base connected to the cannon retreated as if they could not stop. The vibration even caused the dust on the ground to stir up.

Solid metal cannonballs the size of fists were spit out along with the gunfire. The powerful force even tore the air apart with a roar, and flew hundreds of yards away in the blink of an eye.

This eight-pounder gun produced in Totnes is a light gun with a range of about 800 to 1,000 yards.

This range does not mean that the artillery shells can directly hit precise targets hundreds of yards away. In fact, it means that the artillery shells have sufficient lethality within this range.

The motion trajectory of a solid cannonball is to bounce forward. For example, the cannonball may have fallen to the ground two hundred yards from the barrel. However, at this time, the cannonball still has considerable kinetic energy. After touching the ground, it will jump up again until it reaches the ground several times. It won't stop until it completely loses momentum after jumping.

It's like a wasted effort, but the power contained in the shell will destroy everything in its path, even plowing across the span of an entire infantry corps.

The cannonball was shot out, splashing soil on the ground upon impact, but it did not stop, but continued to roll forward.

However, the target standing in the distance was unscathed.

Barton was quite helpless when he saw this and could only wave his hand.

"The next group, target target No. 5."

The team that missed the target had no choice but to leave their posts and give them to the next group. It was normal for them to be disappointed.

Because training is about recording results, and as a rule, there are generous rewards for excellent results. Similarly, if the results are too poor, additional training will be given. If the results are too poor, the gunner qualification will be revoked.

This system is actually quite normal, because artillery training consumes an exaggerated amount of resources. The one shot just now cost a person several days' salary, and this is assuming that solid metal shells can be recycled.

If it doesn't work in practice, it's useless no matter how good you are in theory. You might as well change your job and become a teacher.

There was another cannonball, but it also missed the target, causing the group of people to wail.

Barton didn't react much;

"Stop and wait for the barrel to cool down. What do you think, first group of gunners? Target No. 3 is obviously within the range of the first ricochet..."

Basically, the barrel will overheat if fired two to three times in a row. If you continue to fire, it is okay, but you will be exposed to the risk of exploding the barrel at any time, so a gunner must be able to judge the status of the gun.

And Patton would take the opportunity to explain to the artillery the mistake just now, how to calculate and how to aim.