Just as Horn was flipping through the "Truth" newspaper from the recent period to confirm the developnts in the Thousand River Valley after he left, Moliat tapped her teacup with a spoon, the crisp sound echoing in the sunlit room.
Seeing the puzzled look in Horn's eyes, Moliat said, "You really made a huge impression with this battle. Your news of repeatedly defeating the Falan army is spreading throughout the Thousand River Valley. Defeating Leia in the north, Falan in the south—such victories have left everyone a bit unaccustod."
"Win a few more tis, and they'll get used to it." Horn nonchalantly put down the newspaper, grinning as he spoke.
Moliat's face also broke into a smile, "Is it my imagination, or have you beco more arrogant since I first t you?"
"What young person isn't arrogant?" said Horn, before shifting the topic and the tone of his expression a bit, "We benefited from the terrain and information disparity, otherwise, this victory wouldn't have been so easy."
This wasn't Horn being modest but was the consensus of the post-war summary.
In the swampy stream terrain, these knights lost their critical mobility and could only fight on foot.
Moreover, they weren't adequately familiar with the spring cannon, daring to advance in a dense deep phalanx, which resulted in such an effortless victory.
If it had been on a wide open plain, it's estimated those 3-pound cannons wouldn't have fired many shots before being suppressed by charging cavalry and arrows.
The extraordinary knights still had so skills. Although Horn had been obtaining victories and accumulated a lot of confidence, it couldn't always guarantee swift victories.
"I heard you've developed a new weapon, called the spring cannon?" Moliat's eyes glead with scrutiny, "I heard people say it could devastate several miles with a single shot?"
"How could that be?" Horn gave a wry smile, "It's just a large version of the spring musket, you haven't seen one of these spring muskets?"
In the Black Snake Bay war, the most outstanding was the spring cannon.
Originally just an enlarged version of the leather cannon, but under the pressure of war, the rear foundry and armory workshop quickly iterated updates.
Though not perfect in so aspects, it was basically problem-free for deploynt.
Unlike the holy musket, the spring cannon could be breech-loaded, but it's essentially a type of mother-daughter musket, with its fire rate impacted mainly by the spring warehouse replacent segnt.
Thanks to the Master Knights' outstanding contributions to the new spring cannon, Horn collected a lot of new data about this spring cannon.
The 3-Pound Falcon Cannon required a 1.5-pound mountain bronze spring, firing about every 1 to 2 minutes, using about 700 pounds of iron, with a total weight around 450 pounds.
The 6-Pound Sand Eagle Cannon required roughly a 3-pound spring, firing every 2 to 3 minutes, with materials used being 1800 pounds, and a total weight around 1580 pounds.
Since this type of spring cannon doesn't require airtightness, aning it doesn't need to consider the performance impact of cast iron annealing, a little brittle is fine, a little thin is fine.
When dwarves cast, they only need iron molds or even clay molds to cast into two halves, then bind the ends with long iron strips and rivets, leave an exhaust groove in the middle, and install a gear axis at the rear end.
A 3-Pound Falcon Cannon like this costs about 15 gold pounds, while a 6-Pound Sand Eagle Cannon is about 32 gold pounds, and a 12-Pound Griffin Cannon's cost is approximately 65 gold pounds.
According to the report from the rear, about 12 units of 3-pound cannons or 8 units of 6-pound cannons can be produced each month; the 12-pound cannon is still under improvent and has not yet been deployed.
The Female Grand Duke didn't bother with subtlety, speaking directly, "Give a few units, I'll also set up a foundry, give that hydraulic pre-tension thing too."
"Sure." Horn nodded, "However, you'll have to purchase the patent for this technology, and then pay a patent fee to the inventor annually."
Moliat knitted her brows, "This is used to deal with the Leia people, not for my personal gain."
"I know." Horn looked serious, "The patent fee you pay him, I can reimburse you through other budget channels."
"Why? Isn't that just transferring money from one pocket to another?"
"Whatever the essence of it, we need to have this attitude." Horn took a sip of the long-cold tea, "Otherwise, when the guild is opened up in the future, who would be willing to share their technology?"
Currently, laws and departnts related to patents are still being set up, because before the entire Hundred Households District was established, the Thousand River Valley governnt didn't have strong local control.
Initiating a patent and invention system prematurely can at most be implented on Autumn Dusk Island.
Reflecting on Horn's prior ntion of the patent system, despite reservations, Moliat exhaled a breath of turbid air, "Alright, but before my foundry is built, I'd like to place an order at the foundry in Mayo Town, I may need 10 Griffin cannons and 30 Sand Eagle cannons."
"What do you need so many cannons for?" Horn was startled by the numbers.
"To prepare for the Leia invasion." Moliat pointed north, "I intend to place coastal defense Griffin cannons at the rushing river sections of Rapids City and Xia Lvcheng to lock down the enemy and reduce their possibility of river transport and advancent.
As for the 30 Sand Eagle cannons, they are to be placed on six fortresses at the northeastern border, one of which is near a river where hydraulic pre-tensioning can be used.
There are also two fortresses at the gateway from Shattered Stone Plain to Shangruifo County and North Mangde County, where the wind is strong year-round; I'm contemplating whether wind power could replace hydraulic pre-tensioning."
Upon hearing "coastal defense Griffin cannon," Horn's eyes lit up.
Lightly rubbing the rim of his cup, his thoughts galloped like wild horses.
This point he hadn't thought of before, placing Griffin cannons and even 24-pound Giant Dragon cannons on the riverbanks or dams, continuously pre-tensioned with hydraulic power, perhaps compressing the 12-pound cannon's firing rate to under 3 minutes.
Understand, because of the long-standing waterworks in Hotam County, there are canals, water gates, and small dams everywhere.
Initially, Horn had been fretting over the Thousand River Valley Plains Region's lack of strategic terrain to block Leia's cavalry.
But without natural defenses, he could create them.
Eventually, when the Leia people co, they'll have to gnaw through fort after fort, with the large granaries of Langsande County and Kasha County in the rear.
Further back, the Black Snake Bay, as an ally, continuously funds through the spice trade, wearing the Leia people down until they cannot endure.
Unless the Leia people can obtain military passage from the Falan, but even thinking about it makes it clear that the Falan would never grant such passage, otherwise, dostic revanchism would explode.
With this thought, inspiration struck Horn as he suddenly looked up, "Why are you urgently requesting these spring cannons? Is there sothing amiss on the Leia side?"
Moliat paused for a mont, "You know, the Leia civil war is nearing its end, and the two Duke's armies have almost no chance of a counterattack, so the internal situation in Leia has undergone so changes."
"What changes?" Horn quickly asked.
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