If you traveled back to ancient times, while others ate Guanyin clay, you would actually have giant

"Zhou Wu, are you slacking off here?"

Li Junren's voice suddenly rang out from behind, startling Zhou Wu so much that he almost dropped the gunpowder in his hand.

"Your Highness, I am currently conducting a very important experiment, which is crucial for my Great Dragon."

This was the first time Li Junren had seen Zhou Wu so serious, his expression not at all like he was joking, which piqued Li Junren's interest in the so-called experiment in his hands.

"Sorry, I don't know, but what are you doing?"

Li Junren was like that. Although he was the crown prince, he would admit his mistakes and not make excuses. This was one of the reasons why Zhou Wu always thought Li Junren was not bad.

"This is a secret, but since you are the Crown Prince, I can naturally tell you. However, I hope you will keep it a secret."

"Don't worry, I will definitely keep it a secret."

"I'm conducting gunpowder experiments. Gunpowder is something similar to lightning; it's incredibly powerful. Even the walls of the capital city would be nothing more than paper in front of it."

"What! Is this true?"

"It's true."

"So we're making this gunpowder for you to fight pirates?"

"Yes and no."

"What does it mean."

Li Junren was puzzled, not understanding what Zhou Wu meant.

"Initially, it was indeed intended to deal with pirates, but when I actually started working on it, I realized that it was much more complicated than I had imagined. Gunpowder was just the foundation; it wasn't a complete weapon. If Li Zheng hadn't come to me, His Majesty probably wouldn't have sent the Crown Prince to fight the pirates, and I would have had ample time to carry out the next phase of cannon development. But now, I guess I won't be able to make it in time."

"Is the gunpowder now finished?"

"Pretty much, Your Highness would like to see?"

"Ah."

Li Junren nodded vigorously, like a chick pecking at rice. Zhou Wu then took out the gunpowder and showed it to Li Junren.

"That's it."

The thing that Zhou Wu had touted as some kind of magical art turned out to be nothing more than this dark, fine sand. To be honest, Li Junren was somewhat disappointed, and Zhou Wu naturally took all of this in stride.

"I'll take you to hear a sound."

After saying that, he pulled Li Junren into the carriage and drove towards the outskirts of Niujia Town.

The western outskirts of Niujia Town are sparsely populated. This is the test site that Zhou Wu selected for live-fire artillery firing. For now, it is temporarily being used by Zhou Wu to test gunpowder.

"You wait here. When I run back, you'd better grab your ears."

"Oh."

Li Junren didn't understand why Zhou Wu would give such an order, but he still responded.

Then they saw Zhou Wu carrying a small bundle in his arms, walking forward alone. After about a hundred paces, Zhou Wu stopped, put the bundle on the ground, took out a tinderbox from his body, and started fiddling with it.

Suddenly, Zhou Wu started running back anxiously. Li Junren was stunned by this unexpected turn of events and completely forgot Zhou Wu's earlier instruction to cover his ears.

Zhou Wu had already arrived beside them.

Cover your ears.

Upon hearing Zhou Wu's words, Li Junren suddenly realized what was happening, but it was too late. A loud crash came from a hundred paces away, and countless stones and dirt fell from the sky, like a rain of mud.

Li Junren was dumbfounded. He couldn't hear what Zhou Wu was saying as he waved his hands. His head was spinning. It must have been a spell cast by the Thunder God and Lightning Goddess. How could there be something with such power in the mortal world?

Upon seeing Li Junren's appearance, Zhou Wu knew that the other party would definitely need to take a break, so he simply left him behind and went to check the explosion site.

"This time the power is much better than last time, but it's still just black powder. Sigh, what will we do when it rains?"

Li Junren had followed Zhou Wu to his side and slowly came to his senses. His hearing gradually returned, and he could vaguely hear Zhou Wu's voice, which seemed to reveal a hint of dissatisfaction with this divine technique.

"Zhou Wu, Zhou Wu,"

"Your Highness, I can hear you, you don't need to shout so loudly."

"Is this the power of gunpowder? It's truly divine! With this magic, how can my Great Dragon not pacify the world?"

Li Junren's eyes were now filled with madness. And thinking about it, it made sense. In his eyes, it was like humans mastering the power of lightning. How could he not be shocked and go crazy?

"Your Highness, this is just the raw form of gunpowder; it's not very useful."

"What? You're saying it's not very useful? Zhou Wu, do you even know what you're saying?"

Li Junren felt that Zhou Wu was just showing off, but he had no evidence.

"Your Highness, gunpowder may seem to be extremely powerful, but it actually has many drawbacks. First, gunpowder becomes useless once it comes into contact with water. Second, there is the issue of how to deliver gunpowder during combat."

Zhou Wu's words were like a bucket of cold water poured over Li Junren's head. He originally thought it was an invincible immortal technique, but he didn't expect it to have such obvious weaknesses.

"So you mean gunpowder is just for making a sound?"

"Your Highness, one must eat one bite at a time, and the same principle applies to gunpowder. As I said, gunpowder is just the foundation. With gunpowder, we can do many more things, such as..."

"Like what?"

Zhou Wu successfully piqued Li Junren's curiosity.

"artillery."

"Cannons? What are those?"

"Artillery is a weapon that requires the aid of gunpowder. It can shoot iron shells to great distances, causing damage to buildings and people."

"When you said the capital's city walls were as flimsy as paper, were you referring to the cannons?"

Li Junren suddenly remembered that Zhou Wu had just mentioned the city walls of the capital.

"Yes, Your Highness, cannons can cause enormous damage; even city walls are nothing but decorations in their presence."

"Hiss~~~~"

Although he had already guessed it, Li Junren still couldn't help but gasp when Zhou Wu said it in person.

"How long do you estimate it will take to build Zhou Wu's cannons?"

"It can take anywhere from a few months to one or two years."

"What~!"

Li Junren still held a sliver of hope, but as Zhou Wu had predicted, the bandit suppression campaign wouldn't be able to wait for artillery fire this time.

This wasn't just Zhou Wu making things up. Cannons may seem simple, like a big, thick iron pipe, but there's actually a lot of science involved. For example, what kind of material can withstand high temperatures and resist deformation? How to make the cannon barrel more compact and free of air bubbles to prevent it from exploding, and so on.

Therefore, you can't just cast a cannon barrel and turn it into a cannon. If that were the case, you probably wouldn't even know how you died.

Since artillery can't be used in this bandit suppression campaign, we can only wait until the campaign is over before making any further plans.

"Zhou Wu, we'll set off the day after tomorrow."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Thanks to Lin Niangzi, the intelligence on the pirates has been almost fully gathered. They have been discussing countermeasures for the past few days, and a general plan has been finalized. Therefore, the departure date cannot be delayed any longer. Li Tiancheng has already sent people to urge them twice.