Early in the construction of the cement kiln room, Roland had already planned several subsequent project testing rooms. Most of them were built around the North Slope mining area, which could be effectively concentrated for guarding. These flat-roofed houses with mud-brick walls and wooden roofs were extremely quick to construct and did not affect the progress of the city wall construction.

Large quantities of saltpeter purchased from Willow Town were transported to nearby warehouses for storage. When needed, they were ground and weighed by laborers and sent to the flat rooms in batches. The same was true for charcoal and sulfur. The transportation and mixing of the three raw materials were carried out by different groups of people, which could minimize the risk of information leakage.

Roland weighed out twenty pounds of the prepared black huoyào and slowly poured it onto a prepared sheepskin.

These huoyào had been soaked, compacted, dried, crushed, and sifted, and were now in the form of evenly sized particles, with excellent combustion performance. To prevent accidental sparks from collisions, no metal utensils were used throughout the entire production process; most were ceramic or wooden products.

After pouring the huoyào, Roland layered the sheepskin, wrapping it in three layers, and then tied it tightly with rope.

"Is that it?" Carter asked. Could this thing be called a weapon? Although it was an improved version of snow powder, who could be deterred by the sound alone? It might work against farmers who had never been on the battlefield, but any trained warrior or mercenary wouldn't take it seriously. But... the Chief Knight carefully considered that His Highness's recent actions seemed nonsensical, but most of them were surprisingly effective. If the intelligence of the Evil Beasts was similar to that of wild beasts, perhaps this thing would be unexpectedly effective? For example, a loud bang could startle them and make them scatter, thereby reducing the pressure on the city defense team.

Roland stuffed the wrapped huoyào into Carter's arms and then picked up a bag of finely ground huoyào powder for ignition, "That's about it. Let's go outside the city wall, Iron Axe should be ready."

About two miles west of the city wall, a clearing between the Misty Forest and the Desolate Mountain Range was the test explosion area he had designated.

Iron Axe and several other hunters had been waiting there for a long time. Except for Iron Axe himself, everyone else was local and among the best archers. When they heard that Prince Roland had a task for them, they eagerly followed Iron Axe.

Now everyone knew that the new lord of Border Town was never stingy with employment rewards.

As Roland instructed, they erected long wooden poles around the area and tied ropes to form a warning circle of nearly half a mile. Knights were arranged to patrol near the city wall to prevent accidental access.

Roland checked the warning circle and nodded, "Have the prey been brought?"

"Your Highness, they are here," Iron Axe walked forward dragging a cage. Carter noticed that it contained several pheasants and rabbits.

"Good, put them five steps, ten steps, fifteen steps, and thirty steps away from the center point, tying one to each stake."

Carter shook his head secretly and stepped forward to suggest, "Your Highness, the animals you have chosen may not test the effect well. They are naturally timid and will scatter at the slightest noise. Even if they can scare them, they may not scare away the Evil Beasts."

"Scare away the Evil Beasts?" Roland was slightly stunned, then realized, "I don't intend to scare them away, although the sound of this thing bàozhà is indeed startling."

He led the Chief Knight to the center of the circle, put down the huoyào package, and used a bishou to make a small opening, allowing some huoyào to leak out. Then he took out the leather bag containing huoyào powder, sprinkled it from the opening, and retreated while sprinkling.

Today was a windless day, very suitable for this primitive method of ignition.

After retreating nearly a hundred meters, Roland put away the leather bag.

"Alright, light it here," he repeatedly estimated the distance, and after confirming that it was correct, he said to Carter, "Go and call the hunters over."

At this moment, Roland was also a little excited. He had previously done small-scale flash combustion tests, and he was not worried about the test results. What he cared about was that this would be a great moment. From today on, hot weapons would officially take the stage, and he would be written into history as the leader.

After everyone gathered, Roland lit the huoyào powder.

Carter lay on the ground, watching the rapidly receding spark, feeling quite disapproving.

At such a distance, and without being placed in a bronze barrel, it was questionable whether the explosion of snow powder could be heard here. Prince Roland actually asked everyone to lie on the ground. However, since the Fourth Prince took the lead in doing so, he couldn't say much.

The ground in winter was extremely cold, and he could feel the cold seeping up even through the chainmail. As Carter shifted his body, preparing to turn his chest to the side, a deafening explosion suddenly rang out -

Because the distance was too close, the bàozhà sound and shockwave arrived almost simultaneously. He felt his ears buzzing, and the world suddenly became quiet. The earth's tremor was fleeting. He looked up and saw a black cloud slowly rising, followed by falling gravel and mud like rain.

Roland received a much smaller impact than the Chief Knight. Having always covered his ears when setting off firecrackers, he had immediately taken protective measures after lighting the huoyào powder. The bàozhà point was not like what was shown in the movies, where a huge fireball would erupt. The fire flashed and disappeared, and a large amount of sludge was lifted by the air wave and rushed to about ten meters in the air. When the dust settled, Roland's only feeling was: this sound was much louder than firecrackers.

As for Iron Axe and the other hunters, they were stunned. Only Iron Axe knew that this trip was to test a new weapon, but he did not expect the weapon to be so powerful.

Perhaps only the thunder of the heavenly punishment could compare!

Roland stood up and led everyone back to the bàozhà point. There was a half-meter deep pit in the ground. The rabbit closest to the epicenter was gone, leaving only a short section of the wooden stake on the ground.

He checked the other animals one by one. The pheasants placed at ten steps and fifteen steps were lying motionless on the ground, obviously dead. Although no obvious external injuries could be seen, Roland knew that they had died from the shockwave during the bàozhà.

The only survivor was the gray rabbit thirty steps (about 15 meters) away. Blood was oozing from its thin ear walls, and it no longer struggled when someone approached, as if the loud noise had taken its soul.

Carter swallowed. The buzzing in his ears gradually returned to normal. Only then did he understand what Prince Roland meant by "not intending to scare them away." Was this really an improvement of snow powder? Alchemists, based on this achievement alone, would be far superior to astrologers.

Iron Axe's gaze toward Roland completely changed. "Your Highness, if the militia team could have such weapons, Border Town would no longer fear the threat of the Evil Beasts. I wonder if it can be mass-produced?"

Roland spread his hands, "Probably not. When the Months of Demons arrive, it is estimated that there will only be enough to make twenty or thirty." The main key was saltpeter. The means of making saltpeter in this era were still very primitive, relying on pouring a mixture of lime into human and animal manure circles to collect the precipitated potassium nitrate crystals. Apart from alchemy workshops and the upper nobility, there was almost no other use for it, so there were not many such refining sites, and if they were all used to make zhàyào, they would soon be exhausted.

As a trump card, this weapon must be used in conjunction with muskets and gongnu.

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