“Everyone stand up, the Fourth Prince is here,” Tie Xue shouted, clapping his hands, before they had even rested for a quarter of an hour.

Fanna quickly returned to his position. The special training he had undergone had conditioned him to obey orders, and almost instinctively, he had picked up the wooden pole and assumed the preparatory stance for a thrust.

The Prince and his entourage walked onto the city wall, passing behind the ranks. Fanna noticed out of the corner of his eye that the Prince slowed his pace as he passed his position.

Roland sighed inwardly. They say staying up late ruins the morning, and getting up early ruins the whole day. These words are indeed true. He had just finished dealing with the aftermath of the night's attack on the castle and now had to come and inspect the recent training results of the militia. He hadn't slept all night and was already feeling sleepy. But he couldn't avoid it. The team had now entered the pre-war training phase, and as the supreme commander, a long absence would lead to a decline in his presence and instability in morale.

Hmm… what should I say during a general inspection? Roland thought for a moment. "Comrades, greetings! Comrades, you've worked hard!"? If no one responds to the second half, it would be awkward to shout such a slogan. It would be better to just chat with someone casually, showing his respect for the virtuous and boosting his reputation.

With that in mind, he patted a young man who looked fairly robust.

“Training must be hard. Are you tired? Are you eating well?”

Based on his experience from watching the news, the other party should respond excitedly and loudly, "Not tired, very good!" But instead, he was agitated, turned around, and knelt down on one knee, giving Roland a big fright.

Fanna felt blessed by the heavens. The Prince was actually showing concern for his training with such a warm tone! Normally, not to mention royalty, even ordinary nobles wouldn't want to say a word to them. He subconsciously imitated a knight's salute to the Prince, regardless of whether the etiquette was appropriate for him. He had only one thought in his mind: when he returned to the old street, he, Fanna, would be someone of importance.

After being asked to stand up, Fanna's mind was still in a mess, and he couldn't remember how he had answered.

Finally, when the Prince asked if he had any opinions or suggestions about the training, Fanna suddenly became much clearer – this was a great opportunity! If he could convince the Prince that the militia alone could not bear the responsibility of guarding the city walls, would he no longer have to worry about whether to run or stay every day?

He carefully formulated his words in his heart, "Your...Your Highness, the militia is currently too small. According to the current formation of the training, when the demonic beasts attack, we can only defend less than one-third of the city wall. You see..."

Even if the Prince recruited more batches, the training time would probably be too late, Fanna thought. In addition, the weapons used by these people were also a major expense. Border Town would have difficulty raising spears for three hundred people, or even a hundred, within two months – so they were still training with wooden poles.

If the Prince realized this, he might recruit a batch of mercenaries from other towns to serve as the main defensive force. At least they could go to the battlefield directly without training, and they would bring their own weapons and armor. The only downside was that they were more expensive.

Roland thought for a moment and nodded. "You're right. It's indeed unrealistic to rely on a militia to guard the entire city wall."

Fanna was overjoyed. Did the Prince mean...he agreed with his view?

But the Fourth Prince didn't say the words he was expecting. Instead, he called Tie Xue to his side, "Demonic beasts are, in a sense, just variants of wild animals. They don't have the ability to think, right?"

"Yes, Your Highness. Ordinary demonic beasts are still the same as wild animals, and even their habits are basically the same...but mixed breeds, I haven't seen many, and I'm not sure."

"That's good. Although it's nearly a thousand hundred chi (six hundred meters) long from the Redwater River to the foot of the North Slope Mountain, we can lure them to attack a specific area."

"Do you mean setting traps?" Tie Xue asked.

"It's a trap, but not the kind commonly used by hunters. Ordinary traps rely on hiding themselves to capture prey, but I plan to do the opposite. Set up pocket-shaped roadblocks away from the city walls, such as fences, earth slopes, and ditches, to force these brainless demonic beasts to automatically detour. Continuous obstacles will guide the prey to a designated location, and ultimately concentrate them in the defensive area we have prepared," Roland said, looking at Tie Xue. "As for how to lure these monsters, I don't think anyone is better at it than you."

Tie Xue thought for a moment. "Guiding them is no problem. Wolf types don't like to touch water, wild boar types are afraid of light, and other demonic beasts have their own habits. But Your Highness, if we do that, all the demonic beasts will be concentrated in this six hundred chi range. Isn't that too dangerous?"

"If we only rely on spears and bows, it is indeed the case," Roland said confidently. "However, now we have new weapons."

As he was leaving, the Prince came to Fanna again, patted him on the shoulder, "Good observation. What's your name?"

"Fanna...Fanna, Your Highness."

"I will suggest to my Chief Knight that you be appointed as the deputy captain of the spear team, Mr. Fanna. Work hard."

*******************

Roland built another bungalow in the backyard of the Duan Kiln for making snow powder – which is huoyào.

This house, about three hundred square meters in size, had only one entrance and exit, and the strictest security system was in place. Two knights guarded the door, and anyone entering needed to register and be searched to prevent them from bringing in flammable materials. No source of fire was allowed indoors, so work was only carried out during the day. To prevent Nightingale from sneaking in, gauze curtains were hung on the door frame.

"Is this the new weapon you mentioned?" Carter, who had been summoned, picked up a little black powder with his fingers and sniffed it in front of his nose. "Isn't this snow powder?"

Tie Xue might not know, but Carter often attended royal ceremonies and naturally knew that the ceremonial cannons were filled with this stuff. It was the Alchemy Workshop's masterpiece, and the recipe was a secret to outsiders, but if the Prince wanted it, he could definitely get it.

"It's snow powder, but not entirely," Roland said. "The latest improved product from the Alchemy Workshop. I call it huoyào."

huoyào can be said to be an essential tool for any transmigrator to develop his territory. The materials are widely available. As long as you know the best ratio of sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter – 1:1.5:7.5 – you can make it without any technical barriers.

The snow powder of this era is an inferior product containing 60% charcoal, 20% sulfur and saltpeter, and 20% other strange materials (such as mercury, butter, honey, etc.). It burns slowly, releases little gas, and cannot fully exert the due effect of huoyào. But Roland knew that alchemists were constantly experimenting with other ratios. In at most thirty years, snow powder that was closer to the standard black huoyàopèifang would appear.

And in history, it took a long time for huoyào to completely eliminate cold weapons after it was invented, precisely because of the formula and the corresponding weapon manufacturing process not keeping up.

However, many people have overlooked that even without relying on guns and cannons, huoyào itself is an extremely terrifying weapon.