But is it really possible to build such a structure in the Elf Forest in five days? Even if the oak tree grows as hard as it can, it will still take about two weeks, right
The elves widened their eyes, and Yang Hao pulled Arthur onto the stage and asked Arthur to explain with him the powerful aspects of the "Oak Factory" that were different from the elves' existing system.
“This is a microscopic model of the ‘Oak Factory’ that we plan to build in the core area of Japaria. As you can see, this type of Oak Factory only needs to invest ‘Metal Ingots’ to quickly produce a large number of metal arrows with the help of ancient trees to meet the archers’ consumption needs for arrows.
If nothing unexpected happens, compared to the workshops all over Caparia, with a stable supply of raw materials, only one Oak Factory is needed to produce the same amount of arrowheads as the entire country did last year."
"Last year's national output?! Just based on the Oak Factory you mentioned?!" Some old elves were stunned, but soon calmed down: "Think carefully, if it is just a standard "arrowhead", it seems that it is indeed possible... But, they should not be "enchanted products", right?"
"Of course not, but they can also be enchanted, but they still need to be manually operated by the arrow makers. However, the elves rarely use enchanted arrows, so considering the high-intensity war requirements in the future, after discussing with His Majesty, I think this is an acceptable small sacrifice."
Having said this, Arthur turned around and nodded to Yang Hao, then took a few steps back to indicate that he had finished his speech.
As soon as Arthur finished his speech, the old elves around him immediately fell into discussion.
"I see... In this way, if the masters want to use "Enchanted Arrows", they still need the help of the arrow makers, and it can also free the arrow makers from repetitive work..."
"Looking at it this way..."
"Then we don't need to worry about the consumption of arrows, but we need to worry about the output of mineral materials..."
Chirp, chirp.
The elves' discussion made Theresa look up at Yang Hao a few more times.
This man is also working hard to grow. In the past, he was simply responsible for industrial reform and would not think about how to compromise with the people who were destined to make sacrifices in the revolution, nor would he consider how to exchange interests between them.
In the past, he would just move forward towards his goal without thinking - that's just the kind of person he is, because in the past, he was just a cake maker.
The late emperor who distributed the cakes could take care of all his worries.
But after the death of the previous emperor, he could only rely on himself. After the disastrous defeat of the Roman Empire, this man finally realized that he had to grow on the road of politics.
It turns out that he did work very hard.
If he had not considered the social status and work interests of the arrow makers, and if he had not considered that change was destined to not be achieved all at once, he could have worked with Arthur to build an oak factory that could produce enchanted arrows a long time ago.
But if this were to happen, the discussion among the old elves would not be so harmonious. He would be as lonely as he was in the Roman Empire. Even with Finn's guarantee, he would not be able to gain the elves' sincere recognition without growth.
It’s really great.
The man in the family has finally come to his senses.
Mother Teresa lowered her head with satisfaction and prayed for the smooth progress of the next meeting.
…
The elves' discussion soon came to an end.
Finally, they asked Yang Hao the most critical questions in an orderly manner.
First, how many Oak factories should be built? Where should they be built
Second, can the Oak Factory produce other products
Yang Hao responded one by one, and when faced with the question of "Why not build it around the mine" from the innovative elves, he expressed his inner concerns about the structure of the elven mine.
He said he was worried that if important industrial areas were always located around raw material production areas, it was very likely that a natural disaster or man-made disaster would cause Caparia to lose both the raw material production areas and the vital industrial areas.
To avoid this possible outcome, he believes it is feasible to appropriately increase transportation costs.
Moreover, if the oak factories are scattered across the country, it means that most regions will have their own sufficient supply of arrows, instead of being centrally distributed as before, which would make logistics extremely troublesome.
In general, it is better to build Oak factories in a dispersed manner than to concentrate them in a certain area as before.
This conclusion was agreed upon by all the elves after discussion. With this, the "Oak Factory" proposal was completely concluded. Everyone agreed to the construction of the Oak Factory and also recognized some of Yang Hao's abilities as the regent.
So what next
Yang Hao waved again. This time, two longbows appeared on the magic screen.
It was a perfect long sky that the elves usually used and took a hundred years to make. It was covered with exquisite decorations, too many useless enchantments, incomprehensible scrolls and praise words, and "artworks" made of gems and gold foil powder used simply for decoration.
The other one was a plain longbow. This longbow was made by Arthur's wife, Weiya. It had no decorations on it. If one had to use a metaphor, it was the simplest and most perfect "weapon".
The old elves looked at each other, and Yang Hao said without hesitation - considering the upcoming invasion of the parish, in order to temporarily expand the number of weapons reserves, the elves must abandon all parts of the longbow that are not related to combat.
For example, the decorations, the gold foil, the scrolls, the reliefs, and even the lyrics used for an hour-long chant - Yang Hao has had enough of this recently. What on earth is added to this elven longbow
These things will not have any impact on the battle at all! But they will definitely seriously affect the production of longbows due to the overly complicated production process.
Although the elves may completely abandon the longbow in the future, as a weapon that is still needed in large quantities during the transition period, Yang Hao strongly stated that, at least during this period of time, bow makers should give up focusing on too many useless decorations on the longbow, and instead focus on "practicality" and produce it efficiently.
…
Because of the impact of the previous Oak Factory, this proposal was approved without any suspense.
Even the most stubborn bow maker said that now was not the time to delve into his art on the longbow—but he turned his inquiry around.
If the elves only had longbows, they would most likely not be able to prevent the enemy from entering the Elven Forest, or in other words, they would not be able to inflict heavy losses on the enemy before they invaded the forest.
Your Majesty, Regent, do you have any new weapons that can bring changes to the elves' "longbowmen"
The aggressive gazes of the old elves made Yang Hao reveal a bright smile full of confidence and sunshine.
He waved again.
This time, the magic screen appeared...
It's a strange tubular weapon.
"What's this?"
The elves were very confused.
Looking at the elf text of "Gappa 1404 Rifle" on the screen.
For some reason, their hearts were beating violently as if someone was grabbing them.
Chapter 24: The Gun Revolution, the Perfect Meeting, and the Coming of War
The Gappa 1404 rifle, a bolt-action structure, was designed by Arthur with the help of Yang Hao, who came up with inspiration. It was a replica of the new Ishgard rifle, which was made after taking into account the physical fitness of the elves.
There is no doubt that this is destined to be a weapon that transcends the times. Not only Yang Hao thinks so, but also the old elf and Fen think so.
What was shown on the magic screen was a comparative shooting test between an elf holding a Gappa 1404 rifle and a traditional elf shooter facing a target 900 meters away.
"The two sides are - a young man who has 100 years of longbow training experience in the elf society, and an elf youth who has trained with the Japar 1404 rifle for a full day."
Yang Hao introduced the elves in the silent conference room.
"The youths we selected to use longbows are all "excellent" in the society of elves. I believe that the masters should be able to see this directly - especially the youth who uses longbows. His performance is very outstanding among his peers in the society of elves."
The old elves nodded in agreement, and one of the archery masters who was carrying a longbow said that the child was already qualified to go to the battlefield and was already a powerful warrior.
His words made everyone laugh, and after laughing a few times, Yang Hao said:
"And the young man who uses the Gappa 1404 rifle can only be considered "mediocre" in the society of his peers. I think this way, everyone can see the difference between the two weapons more intuitively... Well, please watch the actual demonstration below."
He tried a color to the elven mages behind him, and the mages raised their hands and whispered to themselves after understanding. After conveying the "test start" signal to the testers at the test site, a test of the elven longbow against the rifle began.
On the magic screen, when the longbowman fully draws the bow arm, the elf using the rifle just maintains a standing shooting posture with the gun held horizontally.
The old elves in the conference room looked at everything on the screen in amazement. Their curiosity about the guns forced them to ask the same question:
"What on earth is he doing? This is a weapon that doesn't require drawing a bow?"
"The trigger structure at the bottom looks like a crossbow... But what about the bow arm? Could this be a magical weapon?"
"I can't find a gap to put the arrow in. The iron pipe seems to be almost completely closed... Can I put it in from the front? But how can I shoot it like this?"
These old fogies have never seen the world and impose their knowledge of bows and arrows on firearms.
Yang Hao just smiled and shook his head, muttering in his heart:
"Shoot..."
—
"Bang!"
The sharp sound of gunfire came from the magic screen, completely changing the sound of the archer shooting arrows nearby and completely attracting everyone's attention.
As the old elves watched in astonishment, comparison data of firearms and bows and arrows appeared in two new sections on the magic screen.
When the bullet from the gun hit the 10th ring of the 900-meter target and penetrated the entire wooden target, the archer's arrow was even still flying in the air.
When the shooter with the rifle fired the second shot and hit the target again, the arrow of the shooter next to him appeared on another target - and at this time, the young man with the longbow didn't even have time to draw the bow and aim.
The elves' longbow has a range that seems extremely long to humans, but this range is achieved at the cost of the bow's strength.
The farther the bow can shoot, the more strength is needed to draw the bowstring. From the perspective of an ordinary elf, if a young man can draw the bowstring within two minutes and accurately aim at a target 900 meters away and hit the target, he can be considered an excellent archer.
And what about the Gappa 1404 rifle
A young man who had only trained for a whole day could easily hit a target 900 meters away with this strange tubular weapon. What's more, the thing he fired was even more powerful than an arrow?!
Not only that, he was able to shoot a second time in a short period of time.
"Bang-"
Amid the stunned expressions of the old elves, the elf holding the gun seemed to have found his feel for it and fired three shots in succession, each of which hit the target.
The archer next to him was still pulling the bow in frustration - he had only pulled the bow halfway, let alone taking a second shot.
In comparison between the two, the advantages and disadvantages of the weapons are clear, and it is even a one-sided massacre and crushing -
This was truly too cruel, even Yang Hao felt a little bit uncomfortable, because the emergence of guns spelled the death of bows and arrows, and the elves happened to be the race that attached the most importance to bows and arrows.
The skills that the elves had trained for hundreds of years year after year were now completely surpassed by a gun.
This is not a good thing for anyone. But it is also a pain that must be endured.
Yang Hao must get the elves out of the perfect Stone Age, even if this necessary process will bring severe pain, it is necessary...
He was ready to face the attacks from the elves, just like when he was in the Roman Empire and was criticized by countless people for his efforts to save the country through industrialization. He thought he should go there again.
For the elves, the appearance of this new weapon directly raped their brain nerves without any warning.
What is going on
Why does this weapon not only have the firing speed of a shortbow, the range and accuracy of a longbow, but also the things it launches fly at a speed that is beyond the reach of the naked eye, and also make a shocking loud noise when shooting
What is going on
This is actually a weapon that humans can make
How long have we been out of touch with the outside world, to the point where we can't even imagine how such a weapon would work
At this moment, even the most cynical old man realized the seriousness of the problem.
They looked at the gun on the magic screen that seemed to be loading, their mouths moving up and down, and finally they exclaimed in a nearly crazy way:
“This… That should be the ammunition!” A master arrow maker pointed a trembling finger at the archer who was loading ammunition on the screen. “That thing is not even two fingers wide?! Even the smallest arrow has a tip that is three fingers wide! It’s actually this small, and yet its power and range are so great?!”
"It looks light too... No, how did it get launched? Wait... Is there something strange in that long cylindrical structure at the bottom of the "ammunition"?"
"You stupid cross-eyed bastard! Isn't this obvious?! The flash of fire and the deafening sound when shooting... There must be something in here that can "explode"!
Just like a volcano, once it "erupts" it pushes stuff out - but how on earth does this tube withstand the force? Is it enchanted?"
"Look! That should be the aiming structure... What is this? Our longbows don't have a similar structure at all... What about the numbers... 100? 200? And the cursor floating on 900... This, our longbows can't be designed with a similar structure at all!"
What kind of weapon is this? What is its design principle? It seems to have no encumbrance at all!
Every part of it has its own purpose! Every part that exists is useful. It is simple and easy to understand. It is simply a weapon made for killing people.
And are those parts on the body serious
The knowledgeable old elf could tell at a glance that this weapon, called the Gappa 144 rifle, did not use any expensive parts.
The material used to support the shoulder seems to be used to stabilize the structure, which is simply wood.
The long cylindrical "barrel" may look more advanced - but it is the only part of the entire weapon that looks slightly more advanced.
The trigger shooting and the "bolt pulling" structure seem to be quite delicate...
But compared to the relief carved by the elves on the longbow, this is simply a part that can be easily made...
"Cheap" - this was the old elves' first impression, "cheap and powerful" - this was the old elves' second impression.
They really couldn't find where the "flaw" was. If they had to say it, maybe it was because this weapon couldn't be used in close combat
But only a fool would use a ranged weapon against an enemy in hand-to-hand combat! The elves themselves wouldn't use a longbow as a hammer, so why would we use it as a hammer or machete
They were stunned, and for a moment, a new idea suddenly emerged in their minds: