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  »"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The muzzles of the twelve guns on the port side of the battleship emitted white flashes one after another, and a thunderous bang shook the entire naval port, followed by thick smoke that covered the sky and covered the sun.

This movement frightened the war horses on the shore, and people stood up one after another. The riders on the side stood there dumbfounded, and even forgot to appease the frightened horses.

Cleopatra and Drogon were also startled, flapping their wings violently, and roaring full of sulfur.

Margaery and Daenerys were also taken aback. Even though Samwell had reminded them and asked them to cover their ears, they were still shocked by the scene before them.

In the blink of an eye, the unloaded iron shells hit the water surface two hundred yards away with a whistling sound, splashing waves one after another.

Until the choking smoke dissipated, Margaery and Daenerys hadn't recovered.

Bachelor Coben had seen such a scene before, so he would not be surprised. He was holding his head high and waiting for praise.

It's a pity that what he didn't know was that Samwell was a little disappointed in the power of this kind of artillery with a lot of thunder and little rain.

However, this is also because Samwell is used to the scene of the roaring giant cannon that will destroy the world in later generations, so he naturally despises this most primitive front-loading smoothbore gun, let alone the solid iron shells used.

According to the power of this kind of artillery, it is estimated that an ordinary large sea battleship will be hit by dozens of bullets, and it will not necessarily be sunk even if it is full of scars.

"Not bad." Samwell nodded slightly, not wanting to dampen the enthusiasm of his subordinates, "Try it with an explosive bomb."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Maester Qyburn passed on the order, and the soldiers began to reload.

The reloading process of this front-loading smoothbore gun is quite long. The gunners need to clean up the remaining gunpowder in the gun bore before reloading the shells and propellant.

These gunners were sent to demonstrate to the Storm King, they were naturally carefully selected, and their movements were extremely proficient and smooth, but even so, it generally took about five minutes to complete the process of reloading.

As the herald swung down the command flag vigorously, the gunners lit the fuses almost simultaneously.

"Boom! Boom!"

The continuous sound of gunfire sounded again, and the huge counter-shock force shook the nearly thousand-ton warship.

Since the blasting bombs were used this time, the spray from the explosion was obviously bigger than the first wave of shooting.

Of course, in Samwell's view, it was still unsatisfactory.

Moreover, the range of the blasting bullet is only half of that of the solid iron bullet, and the accuracy is much worse.

In fact, the accuracy of solid bullets is not very high. After all, it is a smoothbore gun without rifling.

"Is this magic? It's amazing!" Daenerys opened her mouth wide and didn't come to her senses for a long time.

Margaret saw some clues: "Sam, this should be the gunpowder you used to blow up the city wall before, right?"

"Yes." Samwell also showed a smile on his face.

He felt that he shouldn't be too demanding. After all, with the productivity of the Middle Ages, it is very rare for Bachelor Cobain to be able to fiddle with artillery under the casual guidance of his half-assed, even the most primitive version.

Although the power of this kind of artillery is not great, it can already be regarded as an epoch-making product.

With it, the warship has a systematic long-range attack method from then on, unlike the previous naval battle, which can only be hit with a sharp hammer on the bow, and then it is a boarding battle.

It is said to be a sea battle, but it is actually just a land battle where the battlefield is changed to the deck.

But now, with the addition of artillery, naval warfare will slowly shift to new forms.

When the enemy encountered this new type of warship in the stormy land, if they wanted to fight face-to-face, they had to endure several rounds of shelling first.

Samwell conceived the idea of ​​artillery as early as Maester Cobain developed gunpowder.

In fact, the principle of the artillery is very simple, and it is not difficult to manufacture. The difficulty is how to improve the power, increase the accuracy and reduce the weight.

In Samwell's opinion, the current batch of artillery is quite tasteless. Its power is not much greater than that of a catapult crossbow. The accuracy is not very accurate because there is no rifling. As for the weight, it is a big problem.

In order to prevent the chamber from exploding, the wall of the gun barrel is made very thick, which also leads to the need for at least two horses to pull a cannon, and you can only walk on that kind of well-paved flat road, and it is easy to encounter some potholes Breaking the axle, encountering a slightly more complicated terrain, such as forests and hills, let alone mountains.

Therefore, although the artillery has been developed a long time ago, it was not used at all in the process of attacking the stormy land.

Instead of wasting manpower and material resources to transport these artillery to the front line, it is better to bury the explosives directly to blow up the city wall.

However, if you load the artillery on the battleship, you don't have to worry about transportation. Such a small weight is nothing to a large battleship with a displacement of thousands of tons.

"Sam, is this the secret weapon you plan to use against the Arbor Island fleet and the Iron Fleet?" Margaery's eyes flickered.

"Yes." Samwell smiled, "Do you think there is a chance of winning?"

"How many battleships like this are there now?" Margaret asked.

Samwell looked back at Maester Qyburn.

Bachelor Coben immediately reported a number:

"Your Majesty, we have built twelve warships of the same new type, each with a displacement of 1,200 tons and equipped with twenty-four cannons. There are also thirty smaller warships with a displacement of 600 tons. They are all equipped with paddle wheels and cannons, but the number of cannons is also a little less, each ship has only ten."

"The number is still a little less..." Samwell rubbed his chin, frowning.

However, he did not blame Bachelor Coburn, after all, it is not easy to build a fleet of this size in such a short period of time.

The key is that Stormland is too far behind in naval construction, so it is naturally extremely difficult to catch up now.

In a short period of time, the gap in naval talent is obviously unable to catch up, so it can only be made up by scientific and technological means.

Needless to say, the artillery can greatly increase the long-range attack power of the warship, and the design of the paddle wheel is also to make up for the lack of paddlers.

Rowing may seem simple, but it is not easy to play various tricks. Experienced oarsmen are familiar with their warships and hydrological conditions. They cooperate with sailors and helmsmen to make warships go fast. Forward, backward, turn and U-turn, flexible like a fish on the water surface.

It will take at least ten years to cultivate such a veteran, and it is obviously impossible for Samwell to wait so long.

The operation of the paddle wheel sailboat is relatively simple. Sailors only need to step on the wheels, and the technical requirements are much simpler. Ordinary soldiers, even if they have never been on a boat, can basically be competent with a little training.

Moreover, the power output of the waist and legs is definitely greater than the power output of the back of the arm, and it is more durable. The continuous operation of the paddle wheel drive is also an advantage that the paddle drive does not have, especially when sailing against the current in inland waterways and when the wind and waves are small. The advantage of the wheel is even more obvious.

Coupled with a simple lever and gear structure, the output efficiency of the paddle wheel to beat water is significantly higher than that of rowing. Traditional sailing boats require hundreds of oarsmen, and rotation operations can ensure the continuous sailing of the warship. A ship needs to be equipped with half the number of wheel treaders to continuously drive the warship.

Of course, paddle wheel sailboats are actually inferior to galleys in terms of flexibility, but for stormy lands that lack naval talents, paddle wheel technology is the most suitable means for them to achieve cornering overtaking.

And in Samwell's vision, the paddle wheel can be driven by a steam engine in the future—of course, the premise is that Bachelor Cobain can first tinker with the steam engine.

Ships driven by steam engines, equipped with artillery, are the real killers that dominate inland rivers and coastal waters.

But now, this big killer is still in a semi-finished state, and time is running out.

"Your Majesty, we still have three thousand-ton warships under construction." Bachelor Coburn added, "It will be completed in two or three months. If you can wait a year, our fleet size will be about 10000 tons." Doubling it, when the time comes, even if the Qingting Island Fleet and the Iron Fleet join forces, we are confident to fight against it."

"I'm afraid we won't be able to wait that long for a year..."

Winter was approaching, and the situation in the northern border was eroding faster than he expected. Samwell planned to attack King's Landing immediately after the Unsullied army arrived in Westeros three months later.

If it was later, perhaps the ghosts had already broken through the Great Wall of Desperation.

In Samwell's plan, it is best to enter King's Landing before the official arrival of winter.

This is the best solution to unify the power of the Seven Kingdoms and stop the ghosts at the Great Wall of Desperation.

Thinking of this, Samwell said: "Since we can't deal with the combination of the Qingting Island Fleet and the Iron Fleet for the time being, let's lure one of them first and catch him by surprise. They don't know the power of the new warships yet, and they will definitely be paralyzed Basically, this is our chance."

Margaery suggested after hearing the words:

"Horace Redwyne is currently leading an Arbor Island fleet in the Greenblood River Basin. Maybe we can lure them over and destroy them."

"Horace is at the Greenblood River?" Samwell was stunned for a moment, then came to his senses, "They must be delivering supplies to Sunspear."

"Yes." Margaery added, "Since the Reach issued a food embargo to Dorne, Sunspear City's food was in short supply. If it wasn't for the emergency assistance from Arbor Island, the Riverlands and Valleys The captives nearly rioted."

Samwell was not surprised by this either. Earl Paxter must have hated him deeply because of Lady Olenna's death. As long as he was an enemy of the Stormlands, he would be willing to support him.

"How is the civil war in Dorne going?" Samwell asked.

"Still anxious." Margaret said, "The Yronwood family sent an envoy to ask us for help, but since you were not here, I did not agree without authorization. He has been waiting in Storm's End for several months. Do you want to meet him?"

"Okay, take him to the Hall of Storms."

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