Chapter 51: The Gun Revolution, The Perfect Meeting, and The Arrival of War (part 1)

The Capa 1404 model rifle, with a bolt-action structure, was designed by Arthur with inspiration provided by Yang Hao and manufactured considering the physical attributes of the elves, as a replica of the new Isugard model rifle.

Without a doubt, this was destined to be a weapon that transcended eras. Not only did Yang Hao believe so, but the elder elves and Fen did as well.

Displayed on the magic screen was a comparison shooting test between an elf holding the Capa 1404 model rifle and traditional elf archers, targeting a range of 900 meters.

“Both sides consist of a youth with 100 years of longbow training experience in elven society and a young elf who has trained with the Capa 1404 model rifle for a whole day.”

Yang Hao introduced to the elves in the silent meeting room.

“The youth we have using the longbow is considered to be excellent in elven society. This, I believe the masters here can directly recognize, especially the youth using the longbow, whose performance is very outstanding among his elf peers.”

The elder elves nodded in agreement, and one of the master archers, who carried a longbow, even voiced out that this child was already qualified to enter the battlefield, and already considered a powerful warrior.

His words made everyone chuckle, and after laughing a few times, Yang Hao then said, “The youth using the Capa 1404 model rifle can only be considered ‘average’ among his peers. I think this way, everyone can more directly see the gap between the two types of weapons. Alright, please watch the following practical demonstration.”

He gestured to the elf mages behind him, who, understanding his cue, raised their hands and whispered to signal the start of the test to the testers at the testing site, and thus began the test comparing elf longbows with rifles.

On the magic screen, as the longbow user drew the bow fully, the elf using the rifle simply maintained a standing shooting posture and raised the gun.

The elder elves in the meeting room watched everything on the screen with surprise, their curiosity about firearms compelling them to simultaneously ask questions.

“What exactly is he doing? Is this a weapon that doesn’t need to be drawn?”

“The trigger mechanism below looks very much like a crossbow… but where is the bow arm? Could this be a magical weapon?”

“I can’t find the slot to insert arrows, that iron tube seems almost completely sealed… perhaps they are loaded from the front? But how exactly is it fired?”

The old conservatives, having not seen such a thing before, applied their understanding of bows and arrows to firearms.

Yang Hao just smiled and shook his head, murmuring to himself, “Fire.”

Bang!

The sharp sound of gunfire came from the magic screen, completely overshadowing the sound of the nearby archer shooting his arrow, and it captured everyone’s attention.

Under the astonished gaze of the elder elves, two new sections appeared on the magic screen showing data comparing firearms and bows and arrows.

As the bullet from the firearm hit the target at 900 meters in the bullseye and pierced through the wooden target, the archer’s arrow was still flying through the air.

When the shooter with the rifle fired a second shot and hit the target again, the archer’s arrow landed on another target by which time, the young elf using the longbow hadn’t even had time to draw and aim.

Elf longbows had a range that seemed extremely long to humans, but this range was achieved through the strength of the bow.

The farther the bow could shoot, the greater the strength required to draw the bowstring. From the perspective of ordinary elves, if a youth could draw the bow in two minutes and accurately aim and hit a target over 900 meters away, they would be considered an excellent archer.

What about the Capa 1404 model rifle?

A youth who had only trained for a day could easily hit a target 900 meters away with this strange tubular weapon, and the thing that was fired even had greater power than an arrow?!

Not only that, but he was also able to shoot a second time within a short period—

Bang!

With the elder elves staring in disbelief, the elf holding the firearm seemed to have found his rhythm, firing three shots in quick succession, and hitting the target with each shot.

The shooter beside him was still dejectedly drawing his bow. He had only managed to pull the bow halfway, let alone take a second shot.

The comparison between the two weapons was clear, even amounting to a one-sided slaughter and crushing.

It was truly too cruel, and even Yang Hao felt somewhat reluctant, as the advent of firearms declared the death of the bow and arrow, and elves happened to be the race that valued bows and arrows the most.

The skills that elves had trained for hundreds of years were now completely surpassed by a single firearm.

Anyone would find this hard to accept. But this was a pain that had to be endured.

Yang Hao had to help the elves break away from the perfect Stone Age. Even if this necessary process would bring severe pain, it was essential.

He was ready to face the criticism from the elves next, just like when he was in the Roman Empire and faced countless misunderstandings and criticisms for launching industrialization to save the country. He thought he had to go through it all over again here.

For the elves, the appearance of this new weapon brutally assaulted their senses without any warning.

What was going on?

Why did this weapon not only possess the firing rate of a short bow and the range and accuracy of a long bow but also launch projectiles at speeds invisible to the naked eye, and make earth-shattering noises upon firing?

What exactly was going on?

Could this really be a weapon created by humans?

How long have we been so detached from the outside world that we can’t even imagine how to operate such a weapon?

At this moment, even the most carefree of the old elves realized the gravity of the situation.

They watched the firearm in the magic screen that seemed to be loading ammunition. Their gaping mouths fluttered up and down, and what finally squeezed out was an almost manic exclamation.

“This… that must be the ammunition!”  A master arrow maker trembled as he pointed at the shooter on the screen who was loading the ammunition, “That thing is not even two fingers wide?! Even the smallest arrowhead is three fingers wide! It’s so small, yet its power and range are so vast?!”

“It looks very light too… No, how exactly is it fired? Wait… is there something strange inside the long tubular structure at the bottom of the ammunition?”

“You blockheads! Isn’t it obvious? The flash and deafening noise when firing. There must be something explosive inside. Just like a volcanic eruption, once it erupts, it propels the object out. But how does this tube withstand the impact? Is it enchanted?”

“Look! That must be the aiming structure. What is this? We don’t have anything like this on our longbows… Those numbers… 100? 200? And a cursor hovering over 900… This, our longbows can’t possibly be designed with a similar structure!”

What exactly was this weapon? What was the principle behind its design? It seemed to have not a single superfluous part. Every part had its own use. Every existing component was useful, with no decorations, simple and easy to understand, seemingly made purely for the purpose of killing.

And were those parts on it serious?

The experienced old elves could tell at a glance that this weapon dubbed the “Capa 1404 rifle,” used no expensive components.

The material used for the structure that seemed to rest against the shoulder was just plain wood.

The long cylindrical barrel might seem a bit more advanced, but that was about the only part of the weapon that seemed at all sophisticated.

The shooting mechanism of the trigger and the “bolt-action” structure did look somewhat intricate. But compared to the carvings on the elves’ longbows, these parts seemed like they could be easily made.

“Cheap”—that was the first impression of the old elves. 

“Cheap and powerful”—that was their second impression.

They really couldn’t find a flaw in it. If forced to point one out, maybe it was that this weapon couldn’t be used in close combat?

But only a fool would use a ranged weapon for hand-to-hand combat. Elves wouldn’t use longbows as hammers, so why would they use this kind of weapon as a hammer or machete?

They were dumbfounded, and for a moment, a new thought surged in their minds, “How beautiful…”

‘What a beautiful weapon… No… What a beautiful piece of art!’

The elves were in awe, and it was at this moment that the test displayed on the magical screen entered its next phase.

Since the first round of testing compared range, it naturally progressed to compare other aspects such as firing rate.

In terms of firing rate, unsurprisingly, the longbow archer could only have a slight advantage when shooting targets at a distance of 100 meters. But this advantage was only temporary. After all, elves were living beings, and like all living beings, they had limited stamina.

After all, using a longbow was too cumbersome.

After shooting an arrow, one needed to reload, draw the bow, aim again, build up force, and finally adjust based on the different interactions between the fingers and the feather of the arrow.

After multiple draws, even elves would start to feel a bit fatigued.

And what about that gun?

After the first aim, it was a direct shot. After shooting, pull the bolt for the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth shot, followed by rapid reloading and shooting again, in a continuous cycle.

This process hardly caused any physical strain, if there was anything negative to say, perhaps it was that the gunshots seemed too loud.

And then? That was it.

The second round of testing ended with a complete failure for the bow and arrow.

In the subsequent third round of testing on ease of use, when the old elves watched a tester hand the gun to a five-year-old child, who then actually completed a whole shooting action, they understood that they had also directly lost the third round of testing.

The fourth round of testing, concerning portability was, without a doubt, another defeat for the bow and arrow.

After all, the arrows used with longbows were too long and too large, and carrying about 30 arrows was already the limit for a ranger.

On the other hand, looking at the ammunition used by firearms, referred to as bullets by His Majesty the Regent, one could stuff 10 of them in a pocket, and with a special bullet belt, carry over a hundred bullets effortlessly, without any impact on physical agility.

The fifth round of testing related to power. The testing ground used wooden barrels filled with water, covered with armor, and a solid wooden shield a short distance outside the iron skin to simulate the armor worn by knights of the parish.

They placed this new target at the normal combat distance for elves, randomly distributed between 600 meters to 1000 meters. At this range, the difference between ordinary elven archers and riflemen became especially apparent.

Without any enchantments on the arrows, ordinary elven archers had to draw their bows fully to penetrate all defenses of the target at 600 meters distance and cause fatal damage to the wooden barrel inside.

At distances above 700 meters, their arrows could at most pierce the wooden shield and slightly penetrate the outer layer of armor, causing only minor scratches to the barrel inside.

What about the Capa 1404-style rifle?

Within a distance of 900 meters, the targets that were directly hit were penetrated from front to back. Within the range of 900 to 1000 meters, as long as the shot was accurate enough, the bullet could penetrate the wooden shield and directly pierce through the armor, then inflict fatal damage on the wooden barrel inside.

His Majesty the Regent explained that this was thanks to the initial velocity brought by the brutal destructive power of the explosive ore used to make the primer for the bullets. He marveled at the wonder and value of explosive ore and also mentioned that this gun still had many issues and would require countless improvements in the future.

However, the elves knew those minerals called explosive ore were once just annoying trash in the oak mines that easily damaged the oaks. This so-called new weapon with countless issues had thoroughly surpassed the perfect elven longbow.

In the past, the elves would directly dispose of this trash outside.

Now, the trash had become a precious resource, which truly made the old elves sigh with emotion, and after witnessing the debut of firearms, they fell into silence.

Everyone was extraordinarily agitated, including the Fen.

She was convinced. This was revolutionary, a product that could bring elves to the next era of prosperity, deserving to be commemorated forever on the elven national flag. But precisely because of this, Fen’s heart surged with excitement, yet also clenched with apprehension.

This was a new type of weapon destined to bring a complete transformation to elven society.

Those whose social status would be severely threatened by this weapon include bowyers, fletchers, and archers themselves.

Bowyers and fletchers, Fen could use her influence to assign them new roles and statuses in the new society. 

Since you can make bows, surely you can also make guns. Since you can craft arrows, surely you can also manufacture bullets.

These manual professions were destined not to disappear completely. Even if the oak factories took over the manufacturing of guns and bullets and even solved the enchanting process. There would always be elves who cherished handmade items, so these craftsmen needed not worry about their social status being greatly threatened.

After all, they are highly skilled and might even incorporate personal inspiration in the process of learning to manufacture firearms and bullets, eventually inventing unique weapons.

Thus, for them, the advent of new weapons not only meant drastic changes in their work but also signified countless fresh opportunities, passions, and novel possibilities that could stir the emotions of the serene elven society.

This would directly affect every aspect of elven society, and Fen could even foresee a future where elves did not monotonously repeat their daily routines but instead explored various possibilities on “imperfect” firearms, thereby igniting the vitality of the entire race in a beautiful illusion.

But… what about the archers, the master archers?

Their status ruthlessly stripped away, their centuries, even millennia of skill now seemingly inferior to that of a child who had just handled a firearm for a couple of days.

Would they, could they accept this harsh reality?

At that moment, as Fen observed a master archer in the meeting who was silently looking down, her heart leaped to her throat.

She realized she must placate them before the worst happened. Just as Fen was sweating bullets, deciding to step forward, ready to dampen the enthusiasm for guns to make the master archer feel better, even if it meant cooling the heated atmosphere, the master archer suddenly leaped from his spot, jumping down to where Yang Hao was standing on the stage.

“Master!?”

Fen instinctively stood up, wanting to prevent the master archer from doing something foolish, but what happened next left the nervous elven queen dumbfounded.

The master archer, eyes bloodshot and emotionally charged, grabbed hold of Yang Hao’s clothes, but instead of spewing insults and doubts, he…

“Regent! Your Majesty the Regent! Where is that weapon? I want it now! I want it right now!”

It was an immense yearning for the revolutionary new weapon.

Fen seemed to forget. Even for a master archer, after years upon years, nearly a thousand years of dedicated research into archery, one could still feel bored with the weapon at hand.

After all, the lifespan of elves was exceedingly long. No matter how many techniques there were to using a bow and arrow, over the centuries, they had already mastered their weapons, likely having used them to hunt down countless formidable foes. They were well aware of the different uses for different arrows and how slight variations in the way they drew the bow could lead to different outcomes.

They had already mastered everything.

After mastering everything, when they used their beloved bows, there was no longer any passion in their hearts.

It was like asking a physicist to repeatedly calculate 1+1=2.

Boring.

No variation.

Yet unable to change because everything else was even more monotonous.

Even if they find powerful adversaries, what could be defeated with a bow, what must be defeated with magic, all these things were already etched in their memory. Enemies that could be killed with a bow were almost mechanically dealt with, while those that could not be defeated by a bow were impossible to defeat in any case.

In other words, it was essentially a predetermined battle already known in outcome.

Just boring.

This had been the mentality of elven master archers for centuries.

And now, suddenly someone told them there was a new type of weapon, not only overwhelmingly superior to the bow and arrow in all aspects but also a flawed weapon that could be improved upon and even derived into variants with diverse uses and abundant variations.

Feeling utterly astonished in their hearts, and after witnessing the actual test, that astonishment turned into enthusiasm.

Unbounded enthusiasm.

Unparalleled enthusiasm.