Two days after the conclusion of the expanded plenary meeting, Tiechu received another order for a new weapon test firing.
Due to the possibility of attacks from demonic beasts in the northwest at any time, the new firing range was set up on the opposite bank of the Chishui River. When Tiechu arrived, the Prince's guards had already surrounded the open space with rope and red flags, and set up sentry posts at both ends of the steel bridge to prohibit irrelevant personnel from passing through.
Obviously, His Highness attached great importance to this weapon test.
Walking quickly in the snow of varying depths, watching the friendly gazes cast by the guards, Tiechu couldn't help but recall the scene when he first participated in the musket test firing. At that time, he was just an unknown alien sandman. The people of Graycastle always looked at him with suspicion and vigilance. Even after living in the town for five years, and impressing the surrounding hunters with his superb archery skills, no one would look at him twice outside the old district.
He originally thought that he would live in seclusion in this barren land as a hunter, either dying of old age in bed, or under the claws of demonic beasts or prey. He never expected that His Highness would value him, a sandman, and let him see the power of heavenly fire and thunder. The subsequent changes were so fast that he was caught off guard. From forming a militia to fight against demonic beasts, to the establishment of the First Army of Border Town, he jumped from the captain of the hunter team to the commander-in-chief of the First Army. Even more unexpectedly, because of His Highness's attitude towards witches, he also saw the heir of the Aosha clan in the town again, Zuoer. Yinyue, compensating for the biggest regret of his life. For this trust and appreciation, and the compensation for his destiny, Tiechu had already vowed in his heart to dedicate everything he had to this new master.
Walking closer to the center of the test site, Tiechu saw Roland's figure. What surprised him slightly was that, in addition to His Highness and the chief knight, there were also several witches from Sleeping Island.
"Your Highness, Tiechu reports to you!" He stepped forward two steps and saluted the Prince.
The latter nodded, "Now that everyone is here, we can begin." He distributed two rifles to Tiechu and Carter, "This is one of my newly developed weapons. It is still in the prototype trial stage, and the quantity is limited. Take turns trying it out."
Tiechu carefully examined the new gun in his hand - its shape was very similar to the revolving rifle, the only difference being in the loading part: the new gun did not have a cylinder.
He was stunned. Did this gun need to be loaded from the front of the barrel like the earliest flintlock guns?
"Its name is bolt-action rifle," fortunately, His Highness quickly explained, "The bullets use the latest smokeless double-base propellant, and the caliber is 8 mm, which is lower than the 12 mm revolving rifle, but the power is greater." He turned the gun body over, "The bullets are inserted from the front of the trigger. Each magazine can hold five bullets, but it cannot fire continuously like a revolving rifle. It requires manual ejection and loading."
According to Prince Roland's demonstration, Tiechu quickly understood the operation method of the new rifle, and tried firing a magazine of bullets - the new gun had a lot of recoil. Every time he pulled the trigger, he could feel the buttstock hitting his shoulder, and the sound was much louder than the revolving gun.
After firing five shots, he noticed that there was almost no smoke in front of the muzzle. If it were replaced with an old-fashioned rifle, the smoke emitted by five bullets would be enough to block the entire line of sight. This was probably thanks to His Highness's so-called "smokeless propellant." However, the gun itself was nothing special. Compared to the huge gap between the revolving gun and the flintlock gun, Tiechu felt that the new rifle was not an improvement, and even worse than the revolving gun. The most obvious thing was that the rate of fire was slower.
Compared to the former, which could fire continuously after aiming at the target, the new gun was extremely inconvenient when shooting while standing. After manually loading the bullet, raising the gun and aiming again required a process that was much faster than the flintlock gun, but it was necessary to suppress the enemy in a short period of time - for example, when cleaning up the rebel nobles in Changge Fortress, in close-range encounters that broke out in street corners or houses, the new rifle was far less useful than the revolving gun.
After Tiechu truthfully expressed his test firing feelings, Carter also expressed the same opinion.
The Prince nodded
and said, "Indeed, it is not as convenient as the revolving gun, but the advantages are also very obvious. Andrea, you demonstrate it," he handed a rifle to the witch, "Remember to use your ability to shoot."
"Hmm," the blonde witch took the gun, skillfully pulled the bolt and loaded it, showing that it was not her first time touching this weapon, "Watch carefully!"
With three deafening gunshots, Tiechu was surprised to find that the three wooden targets placed at the farthest distance fell down one after another - the bullets not only hit the targets the size of a fingernail, but also hit the vertical poles at the bottom of the targets.
The distance between them and the target was at least four hundred meters!
"Your Highness, this is..." Carter said in disbelief.
"Andrea's branch ability allows her to accurately hit the target, whether the weapon in her hand is a bow or a gun," the Prince smiled, "But it does not directly act on the crossbow bolt or bullet, but on the accurate mastery of weapon performance - in other words, if it is a stone thrown by herself, it is estimated that it can only hit a target of about ten meters, and if it is a flying bird thrown out, it is likely that nothing will be hit."
"You mean... ordinary people can achieve this level with training?"
"That's right, this is the biggest advantage of the bolt-action rifle. It will not leak air due to the gap between the cylinder and the barrel, thereby greatly improving the range and accuracy." Roland nodded, "When paired with a scope, even in the hands of ordinary soldiers, it can accurately kill enemies about four or five hundred meters away, while the accurate shooting distance of the revolving gun is less than one hundred meters."
Tiechu immediately understood the terrible thing about this weapon. Most people would not guard against sneak attacks launched at this distance. As long as they hide in residential buildings or highlands, they can easily take the lives of important targets. If Nightingale holds it, almost no one can defend against bullets fired from the corner.
"Your Highness, you said you would send me one when mass production starts," Andrea covered her mouth and said.
"Of course," Roland took back the two rifles, walked to the other side, and uncovered a raised piece of cloth, "In fact, the bolt-action rifle is just an appetizer before the test. This thing is the focus of today's test firing."
When the weapon hidden under the linen cloth revealed its true form, Tiechu instantly fell in love with it - compared to the rifle made of wooden handles and iron pipes, this new firearm was all black, as if it was made of metal all over its body, and it was much larger in size. Coupled with the triangular support below, it was almost half a person tall. The long barrel was as thick as half a wrist, and the shiny bullets were densely hung on a cloth belt, connected to the wide gun body. Whether it was its shape or posture, it was completely different from the previous weapons.