136: Chapter 136 One-Handed Prayer to Buddha, Buddha's Compassion

At the horse ranch in Xianyang, Zhao Fusu personally selected three thousand strong and sturdy steeds, then went to the army to select soldiers to serve as cavalry.

The selected soldiers were all of a lean and strong build, with heights ranging between 1.7 and 1.8 meters.

Cavalrymen could not be exceptionally burly, otherwise the burden on the warhorses would be too great.

They also couldn't be too tall; if their legs were too long, it would be difficult to ride properly.

Nor could they be scrawny, or they wouldn't be able to withstand the sixty catties of the Iron Pagoda armor.

After Zhao Fusu finished selecting the candidates for the cavalry, he began to drill them.

In addition to being able to ride, they also needed to possess a certain level of shooting ability.

After Zhao Fusu issued them the striker shotguns, these cavalrymen immediately began to eye the strange-looking weapons with curiosity.

“The gun is the man!”

“A gun is a soldier's second life!”

Zhao Fusu began to influence these cavalrymen through the Thought Steel Seal.

To Zhao Fusu, the striker shotguns and revolvers were currently the strongest thermal weapons in his hands.

This was the foundation of his confidence to sweep through this era.

Once the striker shotguns and revolvers leaked out, it would definitely not be good news for him.

Therefore, Zhao Fusu strictly controlled the striker shotguns and revolvers.

Every striker shotgun and revolver had inscriptions marking its serial number and was registered in a ledger.

Anyone who lost their gun would face severe punishment and collective responsibility.

From production to distribution, the striker shotguns and revolvers were handled by soldiers under Zhao Fusu's Thought Steel Seal; thus, even He Zhi, the commander of the Black Ice Platform, had no way to obtain them.

Meanwhile, the over one thousand members of the Ministry of State Security that Zhao Fusu had sent out also noticed that many people were attempting to infiltrate the munitions factory.

This made Zhao Fusu realize that a mysterious force had already set its sights on his thermal weapons.

Zhao Fusu felt a strong sense of crisis; he conscripted another thousand soldiers into the Ministry of State Security to investigate this mysterious force.

The fact that a mysterious force was lurking in Xianyang City made Zhao Fusu very uneasy.

It was difficult to predict their objective—whether they intended to assassinate him just like Zhang Liang.

After interrogating the heavily wounded assassin, Zhao Fusu learned that the person who wanted to assassinate him was Zhang Liang.

Knowing that Zhang Liang wanted to kill him, Zhao Fusu also had the Ministry of State Security track him down.

If he didn't get Zhang Liang—who was constantly after his life—under control, Zhao Fusu didn't know what other methods Zhang Liang would use to assassinate him.

After all, it's easy for a thief to strike, but hard for the victim to stay on guard forever!

To scale up the Ministry of State Security as quickly as possible, Zhao Fusu invested a large sum of funds into it, allowing members to recruit external personnel as informants to increase their eyes and ears and obtain more intelligence.

Zhao Fusu then went to check the munitions factory producing revolvers.

Because production capacity had been focused on striker shotguns recently, only a thousand revolvers had been produced.

Zhao Fusu distributed these guns to the soldiers guarding him.

If another assassin came for him, his guards could fight back with revolvers; his life was, after all, the most important thing.

With revolvers and striker shotguns in hand, the next weapons Zhao Fusu wanted to create were more powerful explosive packs and the meiliangxin cannon.

The inner layer of these explosive packs used oil paper for moisture resistance, while the outside was tightly bound with kraft paper.

To enhance their power, each satchel was packed with a large amount of smokeless powder, weighing ten or even twenty kilograms.

The construction of the meiliangxin cannon was quite simple; its exterior was essentially a gasoline drum.

When in use, the gasoline drum first needed to be secured with a fixed baseplate; if no baseplate was available, part of the drum had to be buried in the ground.

Because the 'meiliangxin cannon' would generate massive recoil when launching explosive packs weighing 10 or 20 kilograms, failing to secure the drum would not only affect accuracy but could also cause the drum to shift backward and result in friendly fire.

Once the drum was secured, the propellant powder would be poured in, covered with an isolation wooden board, and then the explosive pack would be placed inside.

The isolation board played a crucial role: it separated the propellant from the explosive pack to prevent barrel bursts, and it acted as a gas seal to increase gas efficiency, thereby extending the range of the satchel.

The reason why the meiliangxin cannon was called the 'conscienceless cannon' was not only because of its immense power but also because it didn't distinguish between friend and foe.

After lighting the fuse for the propellant, the fuse for the explosive pack also had to be lit; if the propellant fuse went out halfway, the satchel would explode right where it was.

Therefore, after lighting both fuses, the gunners would run as far away as possible as fast as they could.

Although this weapon was powerful, its drawbacks were obvious: poor accuracy, short range, low stability, and long reload times. It was only effective against large, specific targets, so it often couldn't be used and served only as an emergency measure.

Zhao Fusu gently rubbed his temples.

He felt that the meiliangxin cannon could deal with stationary targets, like city walls.

When the enemy tried to hold a city, he could use the meiliangxin cannon to blast them.

Against the Xiongnu cavalry, however, Zhao Fusu felt this thing probably wouldn't be very useful.

He still needed to use mortars; they were lightweight, portable, easy to move, and highly lethal.

There were legends in the Eighth Route Army who could fire 40 to 50 mortar shells in a single minute.

They had even performed 'magic modifications' on the mortars.

A standard mortar has its muzzle angled upward; shells are loaded from the muzzle and rely on sliding down to trigger the firing mechanism, projecting the shell in a parabolic arc to cause area-of-effect damage.

Standard mortar shells had a flaw: they couldn't be fired horizontally.

Magically modified mortars could fire both in high arcs and horizontally like a field gun, greatly adapting to the changing battlefield environment.

A 60mm mortar had a maximum range of 5,532 meters.

If he could have mortars and mortar shells, he would have absolutely no fear of the Xiongnu cavalry.

Zhao Fusu looked at the industrial products he had obtained through his check-ins over the past week.

“mortar Forging Methods.”

“Detailed Explanation of mortar Shell Manufacturing.”

“Detailed Explanation of Magically Modified mortar Shell Manufacturing.”

“Detailed Explanation of mortar Usage.”

“Detailed Explanation of Horizontal Firing with Magically Modified mortar Shells.”

“One-Handed Buddha Salute Firing Method.”

Zhao Fusu carefully examined the One-Handed Buddha Salute firing method.

The One-Handed Buddha Salute wasn't actually about worshipping Buddha; it was a firing posture.

When firing, artillerymen used a thumb-jump method for rangefinding.

Then, they used a formula to calculate the tilt angle of the muzzle to hit the target.

Zhao Fusu couldn't help but smile. If they were using a Buddha salute gesture before firing, should they also say, 'My Buddha is merciful'?