Our family is in decline

Nothing relieves stress like sleeping until you wake up naturally.

Lance also forgot what time he went to bed last night. Anyway, he slept until early morning, and it was not until the naughty morning light came in through the window that he woke up.

I was originally worried that the old thing would cause a sudden incident, just like the Wolf Warrior invasion.

Fortunately, it was peaceful last night and he was not disturbed. He could even stay in bed for a while when he woke up and get up whenever he wanted.

Lance was tossing and turning as if he was almost feeling something, and suddenly he seemed to remember something and opened his mouth.

"Fucking ancestor!"

After scolding, it felt like some ritual had been completed, and the whole person felt comfortable.

The first thing I say when I wake up in the morning is scold my ancestor.

Only in this way can you feel comfortable.

In ancient times, Gou Jian endured hardship while lying on the firewood, bearing in mind the humiliation. Only then did he achieve the feat of swallowing Wu with three thousand Yue Jia.

Today, Lance gets up and curses, thinking about the inheritance. This is something that cannot be forgotten.

Thinking of this, Lance was not willing to slack off too much. After resting, his whole mental state was different from before.

He stood up and walked towards the window facing the rising morning light. He saw that the whole Hamlet had woken up, and the realm of vitality and all things competing was still before his eyes.

After breakfast, Lance stopped by to see Boudica.

This guy's physique is also strong. After receiving the correct treatment and rest, he is now able to land and perform some normal activities.

Of course, it also proves Greendale's strong healing ability.

"Boss~I..."

Boudica came over and wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Lance raising his hand.

"No! You can't drink until you feel better."

Lance knew what was going on in her mind without having to ask. Although he had stopped drinking for a month, according to the previous agreement, he should let her drink as much as she wanted.

But now the condition has just stabilized, but it has not fully recovered yet. No one knows what will happen to me if I drink alcohol.

Boudica seemed to have guessed the answer, and she leaned on the bed with her head drooped as if she had shriveled up.

Lance glanced at her and laughed angrily at her appearance. You are really worthless.

She was also unlucky. With so many people entering, she was the only one who got hit.

But this is because she rushes to the front and fights hard in every battle, and it is also related to her fighting style. Once she is on top, she likes to exchange blood with the enemy, so she is always there when she is injured.

"Okay, okay, let's observe it for three days. If there's no problem, you can drink as much as you like." Lance still drew a pie for her to comfort her a little.

"Three days and three days, boss, you won't lie to me, right?"

Boudica tilted her head and looked over. Her IQ was a little higher when it came to wine, and her expression was somewhat questioning.

How could she remember saying this when she was in the den?

"I think you deserve a beating~" Lance raised his hand and patted her head, "When did I lie to you?"

Boudicca, who was thick-skinned and thick-skinned, didn't react at all. It seemed that his IQ had been raised, but not much.

"But three days are so difficult~"

"Whoever made you injured and sick, I told you to prepare armor for you and you didn't want it."

Lance had long considered equipping her with armor, but he didn't expect Boudica to refuse it after he proposed it.

Because according to the customs of their tribe, the exiles must die in battle to atone for their sins, and they cannot wear armor during this process.

Lance scoffed at this. In what age are you still doing that?

But Boudica didn't like it, so he didn't force it.

But repeated injuries have shown the problem. It is impossible for Lance to be there every time. Many situations can actually be avoided.

Now I can't help but bring up this topic again.

Just listening to Lance's complaints, Boudica fell silent. She didn't say anything, her limbs couldn't help but curl up, and she leaned sideways on the pillow, but her emotions could never be concealed, and her face was full of loneliness.

Lance also realized that what he said was a bit wrong, and his tone softened. He sat on the bed and raised his hand to stroke the long burgundy hair and comforted:

"You are not an exile, your home is in Hamlet, and I will never give up on you, because we are family and companions..."

…………

Lance did not stop after leaving Boudica's room, and then went to inspect the project that he was most concerned about at present, which was the construction of artillery.

In this feudal era where capital was budding, knights were the noblest military branch, and only nobles had the resources to train a knight.

Riding is also a noble skill with a high threshold.

The simplest thing is that the price of a horse is higher than that of a person, and the price of a war horse that has been selected and trained is even more exaggerated.

Until now, cavalry is still a very valuable unit, which has been difficult to shake in thousands of years of war history.

Even Lance had to admit that a huge amount of money was spent on the formation of cavalry in the construction of the army.

But this does not mean that Lance will stick to cavalry. Muskets and artillery will be the protagonists of future wars.

In the past, the development of artillery was only due to the shelving of the number of artillery, but Lance did not skimp on investment. On the contrary, it has always been very concerned about the accumulation of artillery.

The reason is simple. The professional quality required by an artilleryman is very high.

Artillery also has a complete set of operating procedures, and each member of an artillery team has their own tasks.

Those operators are not very demanding, but the main gunner needs to learn how to calculate the impact point of the artillery shell. He is the most professional. It is even more difficult to train a qualified gunner than to train a cavalry.

Because mathematics requires talent, your efforts are useless, you just can’t do it.

Compare that to Totnes which has an entire gunnery academy and a series of schools where artillerymen are culled from millions of people.

Hamlet doesn't even have 10,000 people. What's even more difficult is that they are generally illiterate. Literacy work is still going on. Even the schools are just in bulk. Compared with those mature colleges, they are as ridiculous as kindergartens.

But difficulties are not a reason to give up. Talents will not emerge on their own, but rather be cultivated.

What Lance has to do is to cultivate his own talents from scratch in this era when learning costs are extremely high and people generally cannot read a single word.

It's a desperate gap, and it's why Lance has invested so much.

And it's clear that Lance's input is paying off.

After the cannon was successfully cast, the resources Lance invested in the artillery received immediate feedback.

"Prepare!"

With a shout on the training ground, the entire artillery crew began to move around the artillery.

The actions between the few people were quick and straightforward, and there was no appearance of conflict. Instead, they seemed to be running smoothly like precision parts.

"emission!"

The artillery crew completed cleaning, loading, and aiming as quickly as possible. The moment the shout was heard, the ignition hand handed over the ignition rod in his hand.

Almost at the same time, the rest of the gun crew dispersed to avoid the risk of the barrel exploding.

As the fuse burned out, there was an ear-splitting roar the next second.

The intense fire and smoke blurred everyone's attention until the target erected five hundred yards away broke instantly.

The wooden structure was like a thin piece of paper in front of the power of the artillery, leaving a crater.

Being able to see it from such a distance shows that the target is very large. In fact, it is just a large board supported by two pieces of wood.

But it's not over yet.

"Take turns shooting!"

With the commander's shout, the artillery that had just been fired immediately began a new round of cleaning and loading, and at this time another artillery that had been prepared for a long time was ignited.

There was another roar, connected to the previous shot, and the shell slid past the target at a slightly off angle, which was a bit different from the previous shot that hit the target.

But artillery in this era is inherently uncontrollable, not to mention that it would be nice to be able to see the target from such a long distance.

It is no longer the past. The second shot is not the limit of Hamlet's artillery, followed by the third and fourth shots, until the fifth shot is fired.

Three of the five shots hit, and the target in the distance also had battle scars.

"Target!" the commander shouted, waving the small red flag in his hand, and then pointed to the other side, "Nine o'clock direction."

Looking forward, there are scarecrows spread out in formation, simulating a cavalry attack from the flanks.

The artillery's response was... those artillery pieces quickly turned their muzzles under push.

"A salvo!"

Trained artillerymen know that facing cavalry does not require precise aiming at all. What is needed is visual observation of the situation and predicting their distance based on speed and time. This is what the artilleryman needs to calculate.

But someone has already calculated the simulation situation.

"Three hundred yards!"

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a continuous roar. The artillery shells were fired into the formation, and the target they hit exploded directly. It was more shocking than the wooden board just now. If it were flesh and blood, it would not be any better.

The shells continued unabated, destroying the scarecrows standing behind them in a straight line. The power of the five shells directly tore the formation apart.

But it didn't stop like that, but immediately started a new round of loading.

"Free Fire!"

But at this time, the commander was counting the seconds, simulating a cavalry charge.

"Two hundred and fifty yards...two hundred yards...one hundred and fifty yards!"

At this time, we will not wait to launch together. Whoever reloads faster will fire. Every second counts.

Several explosions could be clearly distinguished, but what spewed out from the muzzle was no longer one shell, but one.

These projectiles were fired into the scarecrow that was relatively close, and most of it fell down like a piece of grass.

"Okay!" Lance, who was observing not far away, couldn't help but nod when he saw this scene. He was finally able to see some combat effectiveness.

He invested so much money and built a war machine like an artillery machine at Hamlet's size at all costs. If he didn't see any return, he would cry to death.

Barton on the side also followed the lord's words and briefly introduced this kind of cannonball.

"This is grape bullet. Smaller projectiles are tied with a cloth bag and stuffed into the barrel like a bunch of grapes. When fired, these will scatter and cause large-scale damage.

Although the effective range is shorter than ordinary solid bullets and the trajectory is uncontrollable, the damage area is large and it can penetrate ordinary knight armor within a hundred yards.

It is more effective when facing unarmored targets. It can cause damage within two hundred yards. Especially when the formation is dense, it can kill most enemies with one shot and destroy the enemy's will. "

"Well, it's very good. This is a good tool for dealing with cavalry. Mount a few cannons and let them taste the power of artillery if they dare to charge. Tell them that times have changed."

What made Lance even more satisfied was that the exercises just now were all completed independently by them. They were not commanded by Patton, let alone operated by him.

This shows that it already has certain combat capabilities, and it is just a matter of actual combat testing.

Most of these people are civilians, or even refugees, by almost any definition of their origins.

Before coming to Hamlet and joining the army, you might not even know anyone, let alone how to operate an artillery piece.

But after receiving education and training they display the standards of a competent artilleryman.

One of the gunners was Bonaparte, who impressed Lance deeply. His talents were developed after joining the artillery, and his abilities surprised even Patton.

And Lance also noticed that his gun group had the best accuracy in the shooting just now, but you must know that a month ago he was still a serf.

This is enough to show that ordinary people are not stupid, they just lack a channel for learning, and everyone is a genius waiting to be discovered.

"How many artillery pieces are available now?"

"Twenty new six-pounders have been delivered, but we now have only ten artillery groups, of which only five are qualified.

These five groups have been accumulated in the past. The new five groups are newly recruited. It will be difficult to expand in a short time. It will take time to train the personnel to keep up with their quality. "

Speaking of this, Patton was also a little troubled. In the early days, he suffered from not having enough artillery. Now that there are even more cannons, there are just not enough people to operate them.

Lance was a little speechless when he heard this. No wonder Patton pulled out five cannons for practice. It turned out that there were only five that could be used...

Fortunately, Lance is not the kind of unrealistic leader. He knows that there is nothing he can do about this problem. Professional arms such as artillery cannot be cultivated in a day or two.

He was training spearmen at that time. After training for almost a month, his legs were still weak and he collapsed when the bandits charged him.

But now let them pick up the guys and form a formation, even the crazy cultists will be hard to shake.

The battle at the outpost showed that as long as they are given time, they will prove themselves.

"My support will not change, and I will not reduce your artillery force by tightening my belt, but we must form combat effectiveness as soon as possible. Now the situation is getting more and more chaotic, and we don't have much time left."

Lance is willing to give them time and will not give up his support.

And his attitude undoubtedly relieved Barton's pressure.

"Don't worry, sir. I have carefully selected these artillerymen. There are a few good seedlings among them. As long as they are trained, they can become team leaders. Then it will be easy to pull out a real artillery force."

Patton knew that the lord donated blood to the artillery regardless of the cost, but he didn't really dare to squander it because he was afraid of poverty.

He has been very conservative in expanding his recruitment, and now those who clean gun barrels are reserve gunners.

When this group is trained, there will be dozens of gunners.