Chapter 209: The Rune Flame Gun

At the Prefect's Office in Donghai Commandery. "My Lord, we have built what you described."

In the office hall, a middle-aged man with a disheveled beard hurried through the main gate, carrying something that looked like a long staff, and shouted with a face full of joy.

Su Fan, who was discussing countermeasures with many scholars and generals in the hall, suddenly heard the familiar voice and stood up immediately.

"Lu Shi, you really built it?"

Su Fan exited the hall as if in a flash, and his face lit up with joy when he saw the 'long gun' in Lu Shi's hand.

"Indeed, My Lord. This is the firearm you spoke of earlier. We used rune secret arts to forge this flame gun, and its power is several times greater than that of a standard firearm."

On the pitch-black barrel, glowing runes were carved, and the gun body resembled a bird musket from the Ming and Qing dynasties, though it was somewhat larger.

Su Fan took it in his hand and weighed it; it was about fifty jin. In later generations, this weight would be impossible, as few people could lift it.

But it was different in this world; even an ordinary adult male, as long as he was well-fed and trained for a few months, would be strong enough.

Rune Flame Gun.

"Can we test it now?"

"Yes, My Lord, please try it." Lu Shi, hearing this, was also full of excitement. He had followed Su Fan from Luoyang to Donghai, and at first, he had been very apprehensive.

But after arriving in Donghai Commandery, he discovered that what Su Fan had told him earlier was true: Donghai Commandery placed great importance on craftsmen like them, and they could even become officials.

Just like him now, in charge of tens of thousands of people in the Mohist Craft Department.

It was something he had never imagined before.

The one who caused all this was the man before him, and he was sincerely grateful.

"My Lord, this rune flame gun is the same as the firearm you described to us, only we used runes to replace gunpowder."

"However, because of the energy source, this rune flame gun can only be fired ten times at once. After ten times, it needs to slowly recover its energy. With the rune source-gathering array we built, it takes one day to fully charge this flame gun."

"Ten times a day?"

Su Fan, hearing this, was not too disappointed; after all, being able to build it was already quite good.

Su Fan aimed at the rockery in the garden not far away and pulled the trigger. Immediately, the barrel emitted a red light, like a laser.

Boom!

With a loud explosion, Su Fan saw a hole about the thickness of a fist appear in the rockery.

This power was indeed a bit stronger than the firearms he had them build before.

However, the firearm technology Su Fan knew was just that of a bird musket. To be honest, it was decent in the *Smiling Proud Wanderer* world, but in this world, it was truly difficult.

It was very hard to pierce armor.

Of course, if he could research the firearms of later generations, it might be possible, but the gunpowder was very difficult.

So Su Fan suggested to these Mohist craftsmen to use rune secret arts to replace gunpowder.

He didn't expect that in these few years, they would actually research it.

With this power, it should be able to pierce a layer of iron armor at a hundred meters. As for whether it could pierce three layers of armor, Su Fan naturally didn't care.

After all, those who could wear armor were no longer ordinary troops.

Even the Imperial Guard of the Divine Han was not fully armored, and most were not iron armor, but rather lamellar armor made of wooden pieces.

In an era where productivity had not significantly increased, iron armor was still something only officers could possess.

After all, the cheapest set of iron armor cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of coins; who among ordinary people could afford it?

So the power of this rune flame gun was almost enough.

"Lu Shi, what is the maximum range of this gun?"

For a firearm, it wasn't just about power; one also needed to look at its range.

If there was no range, then the gun would be useless; wouldn't a crossbow be better?

"My Lord, the maximum range of this rune flame gun can reach one hundred zhang, but as you said, the effective range is about fifty zhang."

"Fifty zhang? That's still a bit low. It would be best if it could reach one hundred zhang, or even further."

Su Fan, hearing this, shook his head.

Fifty zhang would indeed not be bad in the Ming and Qing eras, but in this era, common archers had an effective range of over a hundred zhang.

After all, because of the heaven and earth origin energy, as long as they could eat their fill and train, everyone had great strength, and their range was even further.

So this rune flame gun did not have an advantage against archers. The only benefit was that archers took a long time to train, while these musketeers did not need much time—a month or two would be enough.

"We have also started to improve it."

Lu Shi naturally understood.

"Then can this rune flame gun be mass-produced?" This was the most important thing; if it couldn't be mass-produced, it wouldn't serve any purpose at all.

"Because of the manpower, we can only build three hundred per month now." Speaking of this, Lu Shi felt a bit guilty.

This was indeed a very low output.

Three hundred per month meant only three thousand per year. Not counting training losses, three thousand would only arm three thousand people.

For the three hundred thousand troops under his command, it was truly a drop in the bucket.

"The output is too low. Can it be increased to at least three thousand per month?"

Su Fan also knew that this thing was definitely not simple to make. The barrel alone could not be forged from ordinary steel; it must be mixed with refined iron and the like. Plus, the rune secret arts were not something ordinary craftsmen could do.

"This..."

"Are there difficulties?"

"My Lord, the main thing is that there are too few Mohist craftsmen who know rune secret arts." Lu Shi's face was full of bitterness.

"In that case, I will give you fifty more people from the academy; they are almost ready to graduate."

Su Fan thought for a moment and said.

"Really? That's great!" Lu Shi, hearing this, was full of joy.

Su Fan instantly understood that this old fox had probably been eyeing them for a long time.

The academy was founded by him in the Donghai territory and had been around for six years. That batch of students from back then was almost ready to graduate.

Although most of their cultivation was very low, only around the fourth or fifth layer of Soul Nourishing, these students were quite formidable when it came to inscribing runes.

After all, what was taught to them in the academy was the methods of Mohist craftsmen, and the professionalism was quite strong.

"You, you, you're playing little tricks on me now too." Su Fan smiled and shook his head.

This guy, who was so honest and simple at first, had been taught to be cunning after a few years.

Of course, Su Fan was not angry.

"I'll give you these fifty people, but you must increase the output for me. Since this rune flame gun could be researched, then thunder talismans should also be possible, right?"

"Thunder guns should be even more powerful."

"Yes! Thunder guns are somewhat possible, but the material for the barrel is still being researched."

"Good! As long as it's researched, I won't be stingy."

"And there's the rune cannon. Since guns could be researched, rune cannons shouldn't be difficult either."

Su Fan's words made Lu Shi's old face bitter.

"My Lord, the difficulty of rune cannons is even greater than that of firearms, and our manpower is simply not enough."

On this point, he really wasn't lying. They had also researched rune cannons, but the number of people was too small, and now they were only scratching the surface.

"It doesn't matter. For now, focus all efforts on mass-producing the rune flame guns. When those fifty students grow up and can take charge, you won't be short of manpower."

Su Fan looked at him and smiled.