As soon as Lu Yuan spoke, Song Chi’s wives rushed forward to support him from behind.

With two of them holding him steady, riding was a completely different experience.

The ride went much more smoothly.

The tricky part about this thing is just getting the hang of it at the beginning.

After that, it’s incredibly easy.

After a few laps with his wives holding him steady, Song Chi shouted: 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Alright, alright! I’ll ride on my own now. You can all let go."

Hearing this, Song Chi’s wives immediately stopped and wiped the beads of sweat from their foreheads.

Running a few laps with their husband had really warmed them up.

But as Song Chi continued to ride, something went wrong. His voice grew panicked.

"Hey?!!

Huh?!!!

Brother-in-law! How do you stop this thing?!

Huh???"

CLANG.

He’d fallen.

Song Meiqin stood to the side, a look of complete disdain on her face. ’What an idiot,’ she thought.

’I figured it out just by watching!’

’When Lu Yuan came back with Su Liyan earlier, didn’t he just squeeze that lever on the front to stop?!’

After they had all been horsing around for a bit, Song Chi’s soldiers arrived.

They reported that an area had been cleared and they could proceed with the Mortar test firing.

Now that it was time for proper business, they naturally set these other things aside.

However, Song Chi insisted on riding the bicycle out, seeming quite taken with the contraption.

He rode on ahead. The ground outside, even in the farmland, was ridable now.

It was the dead of winter, and the ground was frozen solid, so he could ride wherever he pleased.

Soon, the group followed the paths between the fields northward and saw Song Chi’s soldiers posted everywhere—a sentry every five steps, a guard post every ten.

They had cordoned off a large, open area and driven away the common folk who had gathered to watch.

Once they arrived, they saw a table set up with several Flintlock Guns and a few Mortars.

About fifty or sixty meters away stood a large paper target.

This was all equipment the Zhao Family Firearms Team used for regular training, now brought over for the demonstration.

After arriving, Song Chi propped up his bicycle and picked up one of the Firearms.

Song Chi had seen these things on Liangshan and had been curious, but he’d never had a chance to try one.

At the time, he’d been too busy pestering Lu Yuan about how he had managed to find the Liangshan bandits.

By the time he came to his senses and wanted to take a look, Lu Yuan and his group were long gone.

Now that he had the chance, Song Chi immediately snatched up a Flintlock Gun and examined it closely.

This thing was said to be similar to the older Firearms.

But on closer inspection, the only similarities were that they both had a barrel and could fire a projectile.

And they were both shaped like long rods.

Everything else was different, especially the ammunition.

The older Firearms used iron sand, with more than ten pellets loaded at once.

But these Firearms fired a single, large projectile.

’Can it really be powerful enough to shoot that far?’

’And be this accurate?’

After examining it for a moment, Song Chi raised the Firearm and took aim.

Then, he pulled the trigger.

CLICK. The trigger activated the external firing mechanism.

A moment later, there was a FIZZ, like a sparkler on the night of the Lantern Festival.

About half a second to a second later...

BANG.

The shot pierced straight through the paper target fifty meters away.

Seeing this, an incredulous look appeared on Song Chi’s face. He clicked his tongue in amazement.

"No wonder...

No wonder sixty men could trap several hundred bandits in that cave, leaving them too scared to even show their faces!"

Song Chi had heard about the power of these Firearms when he interrogated the bandits later.

According to the bandits, they had thought Song Chi’s main army had arrived.

After all, given the rate of fire and especially the accuracy...

Anyone who peeked out was basically killed instantly. With that rate of fire and hit probability, just how many Firearms Soldiers could there be?

After Song Chi fired, the Zhao Family Traveler beside him immediately began to help him reload.

Loading one of the older Firearms, for instance, took at least three minutes.

Typically, on a battlefield, a cavalryman carrying one of the older Firearms would fire a single shot, then use it as a club.

This was mainly because the process of loading and firing the older Firearms was far too cumbersome.

Most critically, the ignition method for the older Firearms required you to light a fuse with a tinderbox.

But a Flintlock Gun, in the hands of an experienced member of the Zhao Family, could be reloaded and fired in half a minute at most.

Song Chi said with a sigh of admiration,

"A fine weapon, a truly fine weapon.

It’s so powerful, and it reloads so quickly."

It’s just a pity the war on the Northern front is almost over.

Even if the war wasn’t ending, the Beast Race never really had the resources to wage a full-scale war against the Divine Ling Empire anyway.

They were basically on the run from start to finish.

There were very few proper, large-scale battles.

Otherwise, can you imagine how many of those Beast Race bastards these things could have killed?

The Traveler standing nearby, however, seemed a little displeased with Song Chi’s assessment.

"It’s not just that! The most critical thing about the Firearms our Young Master developed is their accuracy!

In autumn and winter, we can even shoot down low-flying birds with these Firearms!"

The Traveler’s words were filled with pride, and justifiably so.

After all, this Flintlock Gun wasn’t like a Bow and Arrow, or a modern Rifle, that fires the instant you pull the trigger.

There’s a half-second to one-second delay.

Hitting a flying bird with this thing really took some skill.

Zhao Qiao’Er was a little displeased that one of her family’s men had spoken out of turn.

It was a serious breach of etiquette.

’But since he’s singing my sweetheart’s praises, I’ll let it slide.’

Just then, one of Song Chi’s soldiers came over, holding the paper target.