Capítulo 111: The cannon (1

They passed through the hallway and Virtya could see that in addition to the samples of the weapons and the farm tools, the blacksmiths were also displaying the steel for construction. It was only the cannon which was not here.

[His majesty king Virtya has arrived and gone into the guild very quickly. I was especting to hear from him but it seems that he is in a hurry.]

[By the way, what do you think is the stuff that his majesty king Virtya is going to tell us to make this time round?"]

[Haven't you heard? King Virtya has come here to inspect something. Do you remember the time when Nataschenka told us not to get near the protected area of the guild? I think there is something being made there that is they don't want us to know.]

[Too bad. Only the best blacksmiths were selected for that job. I wish I was much better so that I could get recognized by his majesty one day. My stupidity has made me to miss such an important meeting and a chance to make this secret stuff and know what it could do.]

[Buddy? What do you think is the stuff that they are building in those secret chambers?]

[My best guess is that it is a weapon but what kind of weapon is that? We have seen all the weapons and there is no need to conceal them. Since they would get to be known later when the war comes. Whatever? My other guess is that Virtya is making a sex mannequin for himself... After all, I heard that Catalina doesn't accompany him to bed and therefore, Virtya had to seek other ways to satiate his urges.]

[Don't be that dump! It is not like Catalina is the only girl in Virtya's world, there are many desperate girls out there who just want food and then they would be yours, not to mention the countless brothels in Whiten. I don't think Virtya would stoop that low. Let's just stick to the weapon conjecture for now.]

At last, Virtya arrived at the protected chamber of the blacksmithing guild.

The chamber was simply a large hall with a high ceiling and storage rooms on the left side. The cannons had been assembled at the hall because the blacksmiths would mold their components and assemble them here.

Virtya could see that there were a hundred cannons here and more were still being made. According to Guarin, the number of cannons was expected to reach 120 and then that would be the end of manufacturing them as the budget of 5 million gold coins could not be stretched further.

Virtya smiled and touched the muzzle of the cannon in front of him.

All the cannons in this chamber were of the same design. The cannon was being carried by something akin to a cart because it had two wheels, an adjustable stand and a handle for pulling it forward.

The cannon was a large caliber gun for launching projectiles using explosion chemical propellant.

Just like the others, the cannon that Virtya was touching had a bore which was a hollow cylinder bored horizontally down the center of the cannon. One could peek through this hole when they brought their eye close to the muzzle of the cannon.

In fact, the diameter of the bore was what determined the caliber of the cannon.

Secondly, Virtya saw the chamber which was the cylindrical recess at the nearest end of the bottom of the bore where the gun powder is packed.

The next thing about the cannon was that it had a vent which connnected the explosive charge inside with an ignition source outside.

Anyway, to make the cannon useful, the gun powder would be poured into the bore and then followed by a layer of wadding. Virtya could either use paper or grass for wadding and after that, the cannonball itself.

One should know that the bore was wider than the cannonball so that a windage was allowed for the cannonball to roll out of the bore when the fuse was ignited.

Definitely, to fire the cannon, the fuse located in the vent would be lit and quickly burn the powder that exploded violently thus propelling the cannonball down the bore and out of the muzzle.

However, before loading one more time, the knights would have to clean the cannon with a wet cloth to extinguish any smoldering material from the last shot and then the powder would be set again. The cleaning was a needed to prevent the fresh powder from being ignited prematurely by the remnants of the smoldering material.

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