Our Family Has Fallen

Barton was already prepared to increase their intensity, directly doubling the training intensity, using gunpowder and bombs to forge a batch of qualified gunners.

After all, there were extra cannons; an overheated barrel couldn’t hinder him.

Only in this way could he live up to the Lord’s trust.

The artillerymen were still immersed in the Lord’s praise just now, perhaps unaware of the more rigorous training they were about to undergo.

Earlier, they demonstrated tactics such as alternating fire and volleys with artillery, and also showed the effects of solid shot and grape shot.

But Lance soon discovered that among the piled bombs, there was another kind of distinctive bomb.

”Is this a stone shot?”

Lance went over and picked one up, weighing it; it was a stone polished into a spherical shape, and it was quite rough, its weight much less than that of iron shot of the same size.

The production of iron shot was much simpler than casting cannons; Lance had always been stockpiling iron shot, under normal conditions there shouldn’t be a shortage in training.

”The training ammunition I approved should be iron shot... Is there an issue with supply logistics?” Lance turned to Barton, questioning, ”This kind of thing wasn’t in the report you sent me?”

The supplies needed for army training had to be reported in advance to the logistics department, and only then could he approve the amount; one could say everything consumed was recorded.

The logistics department was an independent unit within the army; without his approval, not a single item could be dispatched, and this was key to his hold over military power.

Before he left, everything he approved for artillery training was iron shot.

How did it turn into stone shot when he came back?

Either the logistics department approved this batch of stone shot without his order, or Barton acquired them from somewhere else; both situations crossed his line.

The army wasn’t managed by law, but by military regulations; offenders faced military courts, and the severity wasn’t the same concept.

If there were problems under this system, it wasn’t just labor reform or beheading, but a trip to the sanatorium.

Let alone he was preparing for a major action, and you tell him there’s a logistics problem?

With regards to this issue, Lance wasn’t hasty and waited for Barton’s explanation, believing he had a reason for choosing to train with stone shot.

Noticing the Lord’s gaze, Barton appeared somewhat helpless and had to offer an explanation.

”There’s no issue with the supply of gunpowder and iron shot, and these stone shots were made by me and the artillerymen during our spare training time using those discarded construction stones...”

With Barton’s explanation, Lance understood that Barton indeed had been leading the artillerymen to make stone shots using scrap materials during their spare training time.

Since earlier there was only one cannon for training, consumption was not high, and it wasn’t worth having the workshop produce them specifically.

Moreover, stone shot was easy to make, and the raw materials were readily available.

More importantly, there weren’t so many resources to squander during the early stages of Hamlet, so Barton taking the initiative to make stone shot with the artillerymen was more of a pressure-sharing move.

Because the consumption by the artillerymen was too great without visible results, there had already been some murmurs within the army.

Gunpowder and iron shot depended on logistical supply, while stone shot was self-made; this frugal habit continued to this day, leaving these stone shots off the books.

Technically, Barton making shotheads without passing through logistics was overstepping, but he wasn’t embezzling or skimming off; the occurrence was largely due to Lance’s previous laissez-faire approach, not providing them clear plans.

Thus, this matter could be significant or trivial, wholly dependent on Lance’s stance.

Lance’s strictness towards the army predestined that many problems would arise in this system in his absence; a few days away, and with Grendel not touching military affairs, could lead to delays that even affected training.

”I’ll go back and issue the supply quickly; stone shot production will soon be supplemented, so let’s not have the soldiers doing these tasks anymore. Training is strenuous enough, allow them some proper rest during their downtime.”

This matter, in the end, was due to his own ineptitude, hence Lance couldn’t pursue it further.

His long-held practice was to leave professionals to handle matters, refraining from meddling in commands when uninformed, thus only allocating resources without overly interfering in artillery training.

Of course, this also had to do with the previous scenario where numerous artillerymen gathered around a single cannon, rendering any further intervention futile.

However, he needed to pay attention now; likewise, Barton’s mention of stone shot’s importance caught Lance’s interest.

Currently, there’s no such thing as a caliber for cannons; the pound designation relates to the weight of the filled shot, generally an iron shot.

Take, for example, the six-pounder cannon equipped by the artillerymen, referring to the loading of a solid iron shot weighing six pounds.

And this connects to the amount of gunpowder loaded and the power of the cannon.

Lance wasn’t unaware of stone shot; his choice of iron shot was simply because it was reusable, reclaimable after firing for a second round, and once deformed, reforge into a brand new cannonball.

Additionally, he had collected a lot of scrap copper and iron along the way, with such scraps being inferior in crafting equipment, but melting them into iron shot yielded the highest efficiency.

”Tell me, why use stone shot?”

”Because it’s cheap,” Barton immediately responded with an answer that didn’t surprise Lance.

And he further elaborated.

Barton wasn’t just an excellent graduate of the Gun and Cannon Academy, but also someone who worked his way up from the grassroots, having participated in wars, with a decent understanding of artillery operations on the battlefield.