Chapter 456: Prototype of the Ampere Spiral Clockwork Gun
The arsenal was originally the site of an ancient noble country villa. Since there was a ready-made foundation, the entire arsenal was simply built on the site.

A two-meter-high wooden wall was built on dozens of acres of land outside the arsenal, and behind the wooden wall were temporary work sheds.

White steam billowed up from under the shed, and fresh ground-state peat was processed into loose dry coal, emitting light blue flames.

Blacksmiths swung their hammers, smashing the white fluorescence everywhere, and alchemists waved their hands, turning pound after pound of fine iron into mountain copper in the raging fire.

Around the arsenal there was a constant clanging and hot wind.

Passing through the narrow passage formed by work sheds is the gate of the arsenal, which is guarded by special guards and gendarmes.

The arsenal is surrounded by a high mortar wall, made of square stones one meter long and half a meter wide, which are bonded together with mortar.

In addition to a temporary wooden office on the second floor, several medicine jars and alchemical reactors used for research, there is a spacious shooting range.

Under the awning of the shooting range, Horn, wearing a simple sleeveless jacket, lowered his head and twisted his wrist, winding up the new clockwork gun in his hand.

The gears meshed with a creaking sound, and Horn wound up the spring of the gun in his hand by turning it four or five times.

He weighed the polished and oiled gun handle, which exuded an amber luster, and the slanted L-shaped buttstock was decorated with silver roses.

Lifting the clockwork rifle with one hand, Horn did not feel how heavy it was, just a slight sense of pressure in his hand.

After all, unlike heavy clockwork guns, this type of clockwork gun is only 35 cm long, so it is naturally light to hold.

Aiming at the target ten meters away, Horn casually pulled the trigger, leaving a tiny hole on the edge of the target.

"It doesn't seem as powerful as... a heavy clockwork rifle." Horn smelled the linseed oil coming from the barrel and weighed the pistol. "But it's good for officers to use for self-defense."

Heimolding put his hands on his hips, his nose almost pointed to the sky: "After all, the firing rod is so short, and it is already very impressive to be able to produce such a powerful blow."

This pistol was a gift from Hemordine to Horn after he arrived at the Arsenal.

Previously, Horn obtained a batch of mithril and refined gold from the secret party and local nobles.
Adding mithril to metal can magically reduce some of its weight, but it will reduce its hardness. It is often used to reduce the weight of armor.

Adding refined gold to the metal can increase its hardness and toughness, and in the hands of knights it becomes an extraordinary knight sword.

This kind of mithril is a product of the Crucible Plateau. It is extremely rare, and only the dwarves have mastered the art of forging it.

So Horn suddenly had an idea: could he mix mithril and adamantium into the firing rod to make it an alloy? Wouldn't that solve the problem of the length of the firing rod of the clockwork gun?

As for the question of Mithril skills, doesn’t we have Brock?

Brock also called over a dozen dwarves with their families. Since there was not much mithril to begin with, it would be no problem to ask them to help make some experimental products.

As the supreme commander of all government agencies in the Papal States, Horn immediately wrote this idea to Hemodin and asked them to try to produce it.

But you know what, you really can't believe it, they actually did it.

This hand cannon designed by Heimolding is one of them. Not only is the system smaller, but it can also be fired instantly with just five twists.

Hemodin also made some changes to the mainspring box and firing rod. Normally, Horn can put the lead in and jam it on the needle. When he needs to use it, he only needs to temporarily turn the mainspring five times.

However, since this firing rod requires both refined gold and mithril, only this one was made, prepared for His Holiness the Pope to use for self-defense.

After all, in previous times the Pope always rolled up his sleeves and fought himself, often scaring the officers and cardinals so much that they peed their pants.

"It's a very good gift. Love comes from the Papal Palace." Horne inserted the pistol into the belt at the back of his waist with satisfaction. "The appetizer is good. Where is my main course?"

The so-called main course was the new rifle that Hemodin told him about, or according to Hemodin, the prototype of the spiral gun had been designed.

"Here," Hemodin pursed his lips, and a young craftsman in a gray robe stepped forward and nervously handed over a holy gun that was no different from a heavy clockwork gun.

Feeling his shoulder sink, Horn clamped the spiral rifle on the gun rack, aimed at the target in the distance, and pulled the trigger again.

But this time, to everyone's surprise, the shot hit the fifth ring, which was much better than before.

All of a sudden, the craftsmen nearby offered their praises.

"As expected of you, he is the marshal among marshals, the commander-in-chief among marshals. His shooting skills are so accurate."

"Pious! Sincerely! Salute to the sun."

The craftsmen were praising him, but Horn knew in his heart that he had fired the shot from the same aiming and leaning position.

His shooting skills didn't improve at all, but his bullets became more accurate.

Ignoring the noisy craftsmen, Horn frowned and held the clockwork gun horizontally in his hand.

The next second, to everyone's surprise, His Majesty the Saint Sun actually turned the clockwork gun upside down, pointed the muzzle at his right eye, and looked inside.

This frightened the gendarmes, who even thought that a witch had controlled the mind of the Holy Sun, and they rushed forward, ready to snatch the spiral gun from the Holy Sun. The leading gendarme even kicked the spiral gun hard, sending it flying.

The kick was so strong that the firing rod was kicked off.

Pushing aside the military policemen who were surrounding Horn and asking him "Are you okay?", he looked at Hemoting in confusion and asked, "Didn't you say that you have solved the rifling process? This spiral rifle clearly has no rifling."

After glaring at the military policeman who kicked him, Hai Moting trotted over and picked up the spiral gun and the firing rod from the ground.

Handing the firing rod with a dull silver-gray luster to Horn, Heimerding said, "The secret is on this firing rod. You will know it once you see it."

Picking up the firing rod, Horn blinked in surprise. Unlike the usual firing rod, this time the firing rod was a spiral straight line along the axis forward.

The appearance is similar to that of a spiral staircase.

As if he had thought of something, Horn opened the mainspring box of the spiral gun, and sure enough, the gears inside were helical gears.

His eyes lit up, it made sense.

When the Pope's Palace gave orders to Hemodin before, it was to ask them to develop a holy gun that could shoot more accurately and farther.

They came up with many ways, such as adding tail fins to the back of the bullet, extending the barrel and even adding seven gears and chains to a holy gun, but none of them worked.

So Horn wrote, "Remember the principle I gave you, and make lines in the barrel, spiral lines, so that you can shoot lead more accurately and farther."

By analyzing the fundamental principle of rifling, we can know that it is the explosion and expansion of gunpowder gas that pushes the bullet to rotate in the spiral rifling, so that the bullet does not deviate from its trajectory.

But the clockwork gun is not driven by gas, but by the firing rod.

If you want to have the same effect as rifling, why not just work on the firing rod?

So the firing rod in front of you is spiral-shaped, and with a helical gear, it moves forward while rotating, and at the same time drives the lead to rotate.

The disadvantage of this is that it will slip, so paper bags, sawdust and corks are added to increase the friction between the lead and the firing rod push head.

"Great."

Even though the barrel was kicked crooked, Horn still couldn't let go of the spiral gun.

You know, this is a powerful weapon for skirmish warfare. Maybe it cannot completely replace the Holy Gun (heavy clockwork gun) at present.

But once the spiral gun became popular, Horn could deploy a group of light clockwork gunners and spiral gunners as skirmishers, provided they could shoot accurately at long distances.

This was only a small improvement, but it meant that he was one step closer to the era of offline tactics, and he had more confidence in dealing with the church and Prince Conde.

"How many clubs can you build per month?" Horn asked hopefully.

Hai Mo Ting thought for a few seconds and said, "Four or five shots a month."

"So little?" Horn's enthusiasm was dampened by Hemodin.

“This kind of spiral firing rod is made by twisting a narrow mithril wrought iron plate into a spiral shape, then drilling a hole in the middle, inserting an iron rod and welding it. It can easily get twisted if you’re not careful.

Since the spiral firing rod is thicker than the ordinary firing rod, it is impossible to make a firing rod chamber unless everyone drills a hole in the shoulder, so mithril must be used.

With our stock of mithril, we can build at most 30 or 40 of them. This is just a prototype. It may not be ready until next year."

Hemodine rolled her eyes and poured basin after basin of cold water on Horn's head.

Caressing the spiral gun reluctantly, Horn consoled himself in his heart that he had already solved the problem of whether or not to have it. As for future development, there was still a long way to go and it could not be achieved overnight.

"Okay, this spiral gun will be called the Haimoting spiral gun. It's registered. I'll give you more funding next year."

When she heard about the funding, Hai Moting's eyes almost glowed with gold.

But she was not the kind of freshman who could steal the research results of her students and colleagues. She just scratched her head and said with difficulty: "This was not designed and made by me. I only made the hand gun. This long-range and accurate gun was made by Ampere."

Horn then turned his attention back to the shy young man in gray.

His presence was ridiculously low. He was standing very close behind Horn just now, but Horn didn't notice him.

Seeing Horn noticed him, he saluted a little stiffly and said, "Good afternoon, Your Majesty. I am Ampere, the watchmaker from Ibe Township. It is my great honor to meet you."

"I'm also glad that the Arms Manufacturing Institute has a genius like you." Horn stepped forward and patted Ampere's shoulder affectionately. "Your name is Ampere, right? Since you designed and manufactured it, let's call it the Ampere spiral gun."

Like the two legendary gunsmiths Ankan and Nickdi of that time, Horn named this spiral gun after himself.

(End of this chapter)