Chapter 12: Elm Cannon

"Shenwu Great General Cannon?" Meng Yifan paused for a moment, quickly checked the original owner's memories, and realized that the technological level of this world was similar to the late Ming and early Qing dynasties on Earth.

Here, there were Bird Guns, Great General Cannons, horse-riding and archery, formidable Martial Artists, and Immortal Masters who could fly through the sky and burrow into the earth.

The Shenwu Great General Cannon that Meng Dayong spoke of was a very primitive muzzle-loading cannon. In Meng Yifan's view, the structure of this muzzle-loader was very simple: it was just a large iron or bronze pipe with its end plugged.

A touchhole was drilled at the rear of the cannon barrel to ignite the Black Powder inside the chamber. When using this cannon in battle, one would sequentially stuff the gunpowder and the cannonball into the chamber from the front muzzle, then ignite the priming powder to trigger the combustion of the Black Powder inside, shooting the cannonball out to kill the enemy.

The cannonballs for the Great General Cannon were divided into two types, loaded with solid iron balls and Shrapnel Shells respectively.

Solid iron balls had a longer range, with an effective range of five hundred meters, and could be used for sieges, piercing through enemy formations with a single shot to intimidate the enemy's courage.

Loading Shrapnel Shells could strike hundreds of targets simultaneously, with fierce firepower, much like hundreds of people firing Bird Guns at the same time.

Meng Dayong's words gave Meng Yifan a flash of inspiration. The structure of this Great General Cannon was very simple; he could completely manufacture some. If he couldn't make iron or bronze cannons, he could certainly make Elm Cannons.

Elm wood had a hard texture and was heat-resistant. One only needed to cut a whole section, hollow out the middle to serve as the chamber, and then wrap it with iron wire on the outside to prevent the barrel from bursting.

By drilling a hole in the rear of the elm wood to install a fuse, an Elm Cannon would be completed. One only needed to load the elm wood with Black Powder and an iron ball, then ignite the fuse to fire it; it was just that simple.

"Dad, do you know carpentry?" Meng Yifan asked.

Meng Dayong said, "I do. Our family's thatched cottage was built by my own hands. I even know a bit of blacksmithing; forging hoes, kitchen knives, and the like is no problem."

Meng Yifan was somewhat pleasantly surprised and said, "That's great, Dad. Let's hurry up and start making the Elm Cannon."

"Elm Cannon? Can elm wood also make cannons?" Meng Dayong was stunned. The Shenwu Great General Cannons he had encountered were all made of bronze, each weighing over a ton, with immense power. He had never heard of using elm wood to make cannons; wasn't this just nonsense?

"Yes, use elm wood to make cannons." Meng Yifan explained the cannon-making method he knew to Meng Dayong. Meng Dayong listened in a daze, then asked, "Will this work? Don't end up blowing ourselves up before hitting the Flying Tiger Demon."

"Dad, don't you worry. This is a production method taught to me by an old immortal. Could it be wrong?" To dispel Meng Dayong's concerns, Meng Yifan brought up the old immortal again.

Once Meng Dayong heard it was taught by an old immortal, he believed it immediately. In his heart, the old immortal who could allow Meng Yifan to rapidly improve his strength was an immortal with vast Supernatural Abilities. The methods he imparted must be extraordinary skills.

It was just that this old immortal was a bit strange; why did he only teach refining gunpowder and manufacturing cannons instead of teaching Meng Yifan about Cultivating Immortality and Seeking the Dao?

Next, the father and son of the Meng family began to busy themselves. They found a fifty-year-old elm tree, sawed off a three-meter-long section of the trunk, and then started clattering away at their carpentry work at home.

The production method for this type of Elm Cannon was very simple. For an experienced hand like Meng Dayong, he understood it as soon as it was explained, and it was not difficult at all. An hour later, an Elm Cannon was completed.

"Will this work?" Meng Dayong still had some doubts.

"Dad, let's push the Elm Cannon out and fire a shot; won't we know if it works then?" Meng Yifan laughed. He had only seen in books that people in the past had made such Elm Cannons and had never seen the power of an Elm Cannon with his own eyes.

"Alright, let's go out and fire a shot." Meng Dayong had been an artilleryman in the Divine Machine Battalion. Since leaving the Divine Machine Battalion, he had never used a cannon again. Seeing this Elm Cannon he had made himself, he also wanted to try whether it could actually be used.

Compared to the bronze Great General Cannon, the Elm Cannon had a significant advantage: it was very lightweight, weighing only a little over a hundred catties. Meng Dayong was a First Grade High-Level Martial Artist; he could easily pick up the Elm Cannon, and even carrying it while running was no difficult task.

The villagers of Qinghe Village, hearing that the Meng father and son were going to test a cannon, all followed along to watch the excitement.

"Dad, right here." The location Meng Yifan chose was at the east end of the village, where there was a small hill not far away, very suitable for firing the cannon.

Meng Dayong nodded, placed the Elm Cannon on sandbags, and then placed wooden targets at one hundred meters, two hundred meters, and three hundred meters away, respectively.

Meng Yifan placed Black Powder wrapped in cloth into the muzzle, then used a wooden stick to push it to the bottom of the Elm Cannon, followed by inserting a palm-sized iron ball, and finally installed the fuse. The preparations before firing were complete.

"Yifan, you step back." Deep down, Meng Dayong was still a bit uneasy about this Elm Cannon, fearing that it might burst later and hurt Meng Yifan, so he told Meng Yifan to hide far away.

Meng Yifan was very obedient and hid behind a low wall not far away.

Meng Dayong held up his thumb to aim at the target one hundred meters away, observed the target with his left and right eyes respectively, slightly adjusted the position of the Elm Cannon, and then used an incense stick to ignite the fuse.

"Sizzle... sizzle..." The fuse burned rapidly. Meng Dayong did not foolishly wait by the Elm Cannon but ran quickly toward the back, leaping to hide behind the low wall as well.

Two seconds later, Meng Yifan and Meng Dayong heard a loud "Boom—". Sparks splashed from the muzzle of the Elm Cannon, the air was filled with the smell of gunpowder smoke, and that palm-sized iron ball flew out as fast as Thunder, streaking through space toward the target one hundred meters away.

"Bang!" That solid wood target, as tall as a person, was smashed directly into pieces. If this hit a person, it would surely smash them to smithereens.

"Haha, Dad, you hit it! I didn't expect your cannon-firing technique to be really good." Meng Yifan was overjoyed.

"That goes without saying. Your old man was a veteran gunner in the Divine Machine Battalion." Meng Dayong was also very happy. It seemed this Elm Cannon could really be used; it was just too great.

The villagers watching the excitement also cheered and jumped for joy. With this kind of Elm Cannon, they had the power to fight back when facing the Third Grade Demon Beast, the Flying Tiger Demon, and were no longer lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

Meng Dayong quickly rushed to the side of the Elm Cannon and carefully inspected the cannon body, confirming that there were no cracks on the body. This meant that this Elm Cannon would not easily burst; at the very least, firing a dozen shots should be no problem.

Convinced that there was no problem with the Elm Cannon, Meng Dayong operated the Elm Cannon again and fired two shots at the targets two hundred and three hundred meters away. Meng Dayong could accurately hit the target within two hundred meters; he missed the target at three hundred meters, but the iron ball still landed within one meter of the target.

Meng Yifan also tried it out. His Level 2 Shooting Technique not only made his Bird Gun firing hit the bullseye every time, but he could also accurately hit the target when firing the cannon.

After testing, he confirmed that the effective range of the Elm Cannon was 300 meters. This was also something that couldn't be helped; materials were limited, and he could only make an Elm Cannon with this level of power.

Meng Dayong placed a target every ten meters horizontally fifty meters away, then loaded the Elm Cannon with Shrapnel Shells composed of pebbles, iron slag, and the like.

This time, the Shrapnel Shells swept across a large area, and the targets within a one-hundred-meter horizontal range in front of the Elm Cannon were all knocked down.

"Good! Although the power of this Elm Cannon is a bit worse than the Shenwu Great General Cannon, it is enough."

Meng Dayong was extremely excited. If there were dozens of such Elm Cannons firing at the same time, even if the Flying Tiger Demon came, he would have the confidence to blast it into slag.