Chapter 11: Power

Meng Yifan and Meng Dayong took the Bird Gun, loaded it with some newly formulated Black Powder, and went outside to test the power of the gunpowder.

Originally, when fired with Black Powder, the Bird Gun's effective range was only one hundred meters; beyond one hundred meters, the Lead Bullet was like an arrow at the end of its flight, possessing almost no lethality.

This time, Meng Yifan placed solid wood targets at 50 meters, 100 meters, 120 meters, 140 meters, 160 meters, 180 meters, and 200 meters respectively, drawing circles on them and painting red dots at the centers.

"Dad, you try it first." Meng Yifan handed the Bird Gun to Meng Dayong.

Meng Dayong had mainly served as an artilleryman in the Divine Machine Battalion, but he also knew how to use a Bird Gun; he raised the Bird Gun, aimed with the front sight, and then pulled the trigger.

"Bang!" Following the sound of the gunshot, the target at 50 meters suddenly toppled over.

Meng Dayong walked over quickly and was surprised to see that the center of the target had actually been pierced by the Lead Bullet; one had to know that this was a one-inch-thick willow wood target, which was very sturdy.

The original Black Powder could at most leave a dent on a solid wood target, but the current Black Powder could pierce a one-inch-thick willow wood target within fifty meters.

Being able to pierce a one-inch-thick willow wood target meant that on the battlefield, it could also pierce the iron armor worn by officers within fifty meters.

This was a huge breakthrough; Meng Dayong had been on the battlefield and knew that in a real battle, the power of a Bird Gun was not great, and it was very difficult to pierce through iron armor.

Precisely because of this, many powerful Martial Artists preferred to use bows and crossbows rather than Bird Guns.

The role of the Bird Gun was mainly to target soldiers; ordinary soldiers were not qualified to wear iron armor and could only wear a layer of cotton armor, which had much poorer defensive performance, so even a Lead Bullet fired by the original Black Powder could pierce cotton armor within fifty meters.

"Dad, try shooting the target at 100 meters again," Meng Yifan said.

Meng Dayong reloaded the Bird Gun, and after aiming for a moment, he pulled the trigger again.

"Bang!" This shot hit the target at 100 meters, but it struck the edge of the target, nearly missing it entirely.

According to the assessment standards of the Dongzhou Divine Machine Battalion, as long as one could hit the target at one hundred meters, one was considered a qualified soldier.

Meng Dayong ran over to check the target and was surprised to discover that the target at one hundred meters had also been pierced by the Lead Bullet; if this were a real battlefield, as long as one aimed accurately, one could kill an officer wearing iron armor within one hundred meters.

"This kind of Black Powder is too sharp, too powerful; it is truly worthy of being refined by Immortal Master secret techniques." Meng Dayong praised it endlessly; he was a man who knew his stuff and knew that if the entire Divine Machine Battalion used this new type of gunpowder on the battlefield, their combat effectiveness would increase exponentially.

Meng Dayong was very excited, but Meng Yifan was very calm; piercing a willow wood target at one hundred meters was just that—what was there to be excited about?

Any modern rifle on Earth in his previous life could do it, and the effective range of a Barrett Sniper Rifle was as high as 6,800 meters.

"Dad, try again, hit the 120-meter target," Meng Yifan said.

Meng Dayong waved his hand and said, "Your old man's level is only enough to hit a target within one hundred meters; beyond this distance, I can't aim accurately."

The original Black Powder fired Lead Bullets with an effective range of only one hundred meters, so when soldiers in the Divine Machine Battalion practiced shooting, the furthest distance was one hundred meters; shooting beyond one hundred meters was meaningless.

Meng Yifan took the Bird Gun, and after reloading the ammunition, he aimed at the 120-meter target and fired immediately.

"Bang!" The target at 120 meters fell to the ground in response.

"Good marksmanship!" Meng Dayong cheered loudly; such a level of shooting, even in the Divine Machine Battalion, was the level of an elite marksman, and one could become a Ten-Man Commander upon enlistment.

Meng Yifan smiled, continued to reload the ammunition, then aimed at the 140-meter target and pulled the trigger again.

"Bang!" The target at 140 meters was also knocked down.

Next, Meng Yifan shot once each at the targets at 160 meters, 180 meters, and 200 meters.

Meng Yifan discovered that even with the most scientific gunpowder ratio, the effective range of the Bird Gun was only 160 meters, and it could pierce a one-inch-thick willow wood target within 120 meters.

Although the targets at 140 meters and 160 meters could also be hit, the power of the Lead Bullet had already weakened significantly and could no longer pierce the targets at all.

Beyond 160 meters, the Lead Bullet began to drift, and where it hit was no longer under Meng Yifan's control.

"This kind of round Lead Bullet is not easy to use; if it were changed to the conical bullet from my previous life, perhaps it could shoot further and more accurately."

"The problem is, wanting to produce conical bullets involves metal smelting; unfortunately, I am not a professional in military manufacturing, so I really can't produce them for the time being and can only make do for now."

Meng Yifan was somewhat dissatisfied with the power of the Bird Gun, but Meng Dayong was full of praise; this new type of gunpowder increased the range of the Bird Gun by 1.6 times and its power by nearly double, which was already a huge improvement.

Especially since the raw materials to make it were actually refined from the white soil outside the latrine everywhere; if he hadn't participated in the refining process himself, Meng Dayong wouldn't have dared to believe that all of this was real.

There was a Heishi in Luolong County, where one jin of gunpowder could sell for two taels of silver; the new type of gunpowder Meng Yifan manufactured had doubled in power, so even if it sold for four taels of silver per jin, there would be people buying it; as long as he mastered this method of manufacturing gunpowder, the Meng family would become wealthy.

With a large amount of silver, not only could they buy food at high prices, but they could also purchase cultivation resources; Meng Dayong's cultivation was trapped at the First Grade High Stage bottleneck, and what he lacked was a First Grade Breakthrough Pill.

Pills were all refined by Immortal Masters and were very expensive; one First Grade Breakthrough Pill was worth one hundred taels of silver; even if Meng Dayong's whole family didn't eat or drink, it would take twenty years to save up enough to afford one First Grade Breakthrough Pill.

Meng Dayong previously had elderly parents and young children to support, and his income as a hunter barely maintained the family's expenses, so he didn't dare to dream of buying a First Grade Breakthrough Pill; now that Meng Yifan had mastered the method of refining the new type of gunpowder, as long as he operated it properly, getting rich would be an easy matter.

As long as he had the silver, Meng Dayong would be able to afford a First Grade Breakthrough Pill.

Thinking of this, Meng Dayong was extremely excited; being able to break through the bottleneck was something he dreamed of, but he suddenly thought again that now they, father and son, were both trapped in Qinghe Village and couldn't get out at all; even if he wanted to get rich, wanted to buy a First Grade Breakthrough Pill, and wanted to break through to a Second Grade Martial Artist, that would be a matter for after defeating the Flying Tiger Demon.

"Sigh! It's a pity that the Flying Tiger Demon has scales on its body and also has Demon Power protecting it; its body is like steel and iron, and although this new type of gunpowder is immensely powerful, it cannot break the Flying Tiger Demon's scales."

The muzzle of the Bird Gun was only so big, and the amount of gunpowder that could be loaded was limited; if too much was loaded, the Bird Gun would easily explode; even if the Bird Gun was loaded with the maximum amount, it could at most only injure a Level 1 High-Grade Demon Beast.

Meng Dayong sighed and muttered, "If only there were a Shenwu Great General Cannon; that cannon barrel is thick, so it could hold more gunpowder, and the power would be even fiercer; even a Third Grade Demon Beast would be heavily injured if it took one shot."