Lide’an City was a majestic city built along a mountain, with distinct layers.
The lord’s castle sat like a majestic crown atop the rugged cliff, overlooking the sprawling houses below.
Inside the city walls lay the old city district, where cobblestone paths wound through the area.
Most wealthy merchants and minor nobles had their mansions here.
In the center of the square, there was even a small, extravagant fountain, and a weathered, slightly mottled statue stood holding a sword—it was Lai En’s great-grandfather.
The square was surrounded by a lively market, filled with the constant noise of hawkers and haggling.
Of course, as a clear representation of power and law, a gallows and a pillory stood prominently in the corner of the square, the dark brown, old bloodstains on the wood silently proclaiming the strictness of the rules.
After leaving the castle, the two rode a single horse, swaying as they made their way to the new city district outside the city walls.
Compared to the orderly old city, the new city district was chaotic and full of vitality.
There were no city walls here, but soldiers in bright armor patrolling the streets provided enough of a sense of security, and the residents didn’t seem too worried.
However, the living environment was completely different.
The dirt roads were rutted by wagon wheels and footprints, turning into sticky mud pits after rain.
The air was mixed with pungent smells—fresh and old horse dung, sweat and rotting food wafting from somewhere, and the soot from the blacksmith’s shop…
All these smells interwove into a unique and “rich” street atmosphere.
The young girl was already starting to miss the not-so-fresh air of modern cities.
At least it was better than the double assault of horse dung mixed with rot.
Sanitation and hygiene civilization building was urgent!
This wasn’t Alicia’s first time in the new city district.
She had already asked about the blacksmith’s shop’s location earlier.
That honest blacksmith was the royal blacksmith for the House of Maximilian, and his workshop was in a remote area, specially responsible for forging armor and weapons for the army.
After stating her identity, Alicia toured the prepared armor and weapons while discussing the configuration of armor and weapons with the blacksmith’s assistant.
In her plan, this two-hundred-man new army didn’t need particularly heavy armor.
Heavy armor and weapons would significantly limit the soldiers’ mobility on foot and also test their endurance in prolonged combat.
What she wanted was a standardized army that could easily crush militia, rival most regular soldiers, and strike a balance between combat endurance, mobility, and combat capability.
What?
It was only an infantry force of two hundred men.
Did she think she could go head-to-head with heavily armored cavalry in full plate?
At most, she’d have to handle a few light cavalry.
Winning a battle with a single type of troop was difficult.
This wasn’t Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, where a machine gun could blow up tanks or even battleships!
Just as Alicia and Andrew were discussing whether to equip the army with plate armor coats—
BANG!!!
A dull explosion, definitely not thunder, suddenly came from the edge of the forest far behind the workshop!
Immediately after, a conspicuous white smoke rose into the air, spiraled, spread, and then reluctantly drifted away with the wind.
In that instant, the blacksmith, who had been explaining the quality of the materials, changed color.
The few apprentices and assistants working in the workshop also subconsciously stopped moving, their eyes flickering toward the forest, then quickly glancing at Alicia and Andrew.
A faint, imperceptible tension filled the air.
Alicia sniffed.
Oh?
That smell was a bit like the smell after setting off firecrackers during the New Year…
Wait?!
Firecrackers?
Gunpowder?
The young girl’s eyes immediately lit up, but she didn’t notice at all that the blacksmith’s men seemed to have surrounded the two of them, ready to move.
Before Andrew could say anything, the girl dashed over and grabbed the blacksmith’s dirty hands, her face full of excitement and anticipation.
“Are you guys working on something new? Something that ignites, sparks, and even goes ‘bang’ when it explodes?! Right?!”
This caught the blacksmith off guard.
A flash of panic crossed his face, and he stammered without uttering a single clear sentence.
Just as she was about to press further, a short figure stumbled out of the forest.
The man was covered in the smell of gunpowder, his face blackened with either dust or mud, and his hair was very postmodern—a literal afro, still emitting white smoke and sparks.
“Bro! I messed up! All our stock is…”
This guy was clearly a blockhead.
He shouted at the top of his lungs for a while before noticing there were strangers in the blacksmith’s shop.
The blacksmith directly turned his head away, pretending not to know this guy.
“Bro! What’s going on? Are we exposed?”
The blacksmith now wished he could strangle him.
“Xindeli, before you opened your mouth, we weren’t exposed.”
“Is he an alchemist?!”
Andrew’s hand went to his sword hilt, his expression dark.
“Vile alchemy…”
“Andrew! Shut up!”
Alicia quickly interrupted him to keep him from adding fuel to the fire.
“Don’t mention alchemists or anything like that around me!”
“But the Church…”
“I don’t believe in the Church.”
Alicia cut him off decisively, waving her hand.
“My impression of the Church is that they want to hang me on some ridiculous charge. Whoever brings up the Church makes me angry!”
The atmosphere was a bit awkward for a moment.
Finally, the blacksmith, his face red, cursed and told the assistants to get back to work, and told the short man named Xindeli to go wash his face.
“Sorry for the embarrassment.”
The blacksmith wiped the cold sweat from his face with an oily rag.
“Shall we talk in detail in the back room?”
The young girl gladly agreed.
No way!
These guys were probably concocting gunpowder.
If they could get gunpowder technology working, her next step would be to train a batch of musketeers and give these local natives a taste of volley fire shock!
And if she could get some cannons, even if they only fired iron lumps, they were still cannons.
Then any city wall would come crashing down under the power of technology!
Then this baron and that grand duke would surrender one by one, kowtow at her feet, and call her boss!
That was the treatment a transmigrator deserved!
Thinking about how close she was to the Long Aotian path, Alicia couldn’t suppress the grin spreading across her face!
Training a competent musketeer was much faster than training a knight skilled in swordsmanship, archery, and horsemanship! With a bit of luck, a tiny lead ball could easily pierce through the expensive, well-crafted plate armor of those knight lords, instantly killing a elite knight who had spent over a decade training and a fortune to raise!
Needless to say, Alicia was itching for it.
She wished she could make the blacksmith brothers pull out gunpowder and muskets right now!
However, the young girl’s grand dreams were shattered by the harsh reality.
The blacksmith brothers were indeed secretly researching gunpowder, but their progress was rough.
First of all, this was another world after all.
There were always some materials and animals that didn’t exist on Earth.
What inspired them was a special mineral—Hellfire Ore.
This ore wasn’t rare, and when mixed with charcoal, it was quite flammable and explosive.
But the problem was, this stuff wasn’t saltpeter or sulfur.
The Earth formula of one part sulfur, two parts saltpeter, three parts charcoal didn’t work.
Currently, the mixing formula was incomplete and needed more materials.
As for a safe and effective mixing ratio, the two of them were still tinkering.
Alicia tried to suggest the traditional black powder recipe of sulfur and saltpeter.
However, in this world, anything with even a slight connection to chemistry was categorized by the Church as alchemy—evil and dangerous, the claws of demonic temptation!
Sulfur and potassium nitrate were out of the question for the time being.
But these two were actually defying the Church’s ban and privately researching gunpowder!
They were definitely talents!
Courageous and bold!
So, Alicia waved her hand generously and directly stated that she was willing to invest in their research and buy out their results!
What?
The royal blacksmith of House Maximilian couldn’t be bought?
Xindeli wasn’t the blacksmith.
She was buying his workshop.
What did that have to do with the blacksmith’s shop?
What could the blacksmith brothers say? This kind of secret experiment was originally not meant to see the light of day.
Now that they had a sucker willing to pay, and was so generous, even dismissive of the Church, they might as well accept it.
Having one more boss didn’t matter; research cost money everywhere.
So, somehow, it just worked out.
“Since I’m the boss now, Mr. Xindeli, please find a safe place to set up a workshop. Call it… the Advanced Firearms Research Institute!”
There it was!
The young lord’s incomprehensible terms had appeared!
Andrew looked at the money pouch the girl pulled out, and his heart ached.
That was pure silver!
Just given away like that?
“For the rest, please prepare equipment for two hundred people, according to the previous requirements.”
Alicia poured out the last of the silver coins from the pouch and pushed them in front of the blacksmith.
“I hope this is enough.”
The blacksmith and the tearfully grateful Xindeli exchanged a glance, and generously said, “Since it’s official business for House Maximilian, we can give you a discount!”
Andrew finally breathed a sigh of relief.
At least a few silver coins would be left over, and he wouldn’t have to follow the young lord to go mooch meals at His Highness’s place.