Three Kingdoms: Fusion of Entries, Change of Destiny

Chapter 197 Eldest Brother, This Era Is About to Change!

A deafening roar, and the sky and earth shattered!

The power of the explosive charge left Old Cao dazed, his mouth agape in a wide "O" shape.

Xun You and Cheng Yu stood aside, equally dumbfounded, their lips trembling as they seemed lost in thought.

"This power...this loud noise...it must have scared people to death!" Zhang Liao, Xu Chu, and the others who followed in were so shocked that they were somewhat incoherent.

Zhao Yun stared at the large section of bluestone brick that had been blown off, and thought to himself, "So the thunderous sounds I've heard these past few days were coming from this thing!"

Dian Wei couldn't help but swallow hard, muttering to himself, "My God, who could withstand this?"

"This power is terrifying!" Chen Dao's face turned deathly pale. "Even the heavily armored Trapped Camp would probably be killed by this immense force..."

"Farewell, my dream of becoming a mighty general..." Cao Ang and Xiahou Lan were somewhat shocked, but even more so, they felt a sense of desolation. They seemed to hear something within their hearts shatter at that moment.

Everyone remained silent, staring blankly at the dilapidated city wall and the crater below it, which was about one meter in diameter and half a meter deep.

Although the crater wasn't big, it was just a bomb!
If dozens or hundreds of them exploded at once, they could easily collapse a city wall.

Ma Jun rubbed his slightly ringing ears and shouted, "Minister Situ, General Hou, all... esteemed generals, are you satisfied with the... power of this explosive charge?!"

Cao Yan shouted into Ma Jun's ear, "Not bad! You're starting to look good!"

"Hehe! Thank you so much for the compliment, General Hou!" Ma Jun replied with a smile.

Afu came back, covered in dust from head to toe, jogging along.

Seeing this, Cao Yan asked, "How much black powder was in that explosive charge just now?"

Afu respectfully replied, "General, the explosive charge just now only contained twenty catties of gunpowder!"

Cao Yan nodded and said, "That's about right. When we attack a city in the future, we can bury dozens of them at the foot of the city wall. I ask you, what city wall in the world can withstand that?"

Cao Yan then addressed Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao, and the others who had gathered around, saying, "You might imagine what it would be like if we used a catapult to launch these explosive charges at the enemy camp or city... What if we also filled the explosive charges with iron shards and gravel..."

"Hiss!" Upon hearing this, everyone gasped.

"So scary!"

"Like hell!"

After a long pause, Zhao Yun and the others said with a wry smile, "If this thing were to fall from the sky and explode in the middle of a crowd, it would kill a whole bunch of people."

Chen Dao shook his head with a wry smile and said, "Even immortals would find it difficult to withstand, let alone mere mortals?"

After expressing their feelings, everyone fell silent.

With such a powerful weapon now in existence, how will these martial artists conduct themselves in the future?

You can't really use your bare body to withstand those explosives, metal fragments, and rubble, can you? That would be like living too long.

Fortunately, they are the only ones who have developed gunpowder so far, so at least this weapon of mass destruction won't be used on their own army, which is some consolation.

I wonder how these people will feel when Cao Yan brings out the guns and cannons...

However, with the current level of industrial development, it is far from enough to manufacture guns and cannons; we need to complete more tasks and rely on the system's rewards.

Previously, Cao Yan had never revealed the matter of gunpowder to anyone because it was a powerful weapon and his strongest trump card.

At this moment, Cao Yan solemnly said to Cao Cao:

"Brother, the secret of gunpowder is of great importance. If the news of gunpowder is leaked, the feudal lords of the world will be extremely uneasy and may even unite against us."

Under no circumstances should any related information be disclosed. Remember this!

Cao Cao was well aware of the seriousness of the gunpowder problem and immediately ordered everyone to keep their mouths shut.

Especially Xu Chu, that big mouth; Cao Cao threatened him that if he dared to utter even half a word, he would cut off his future drinking.

Xu Chu's face turned green; he was practically ready to cut his tongue out with a knife...

Seeing that all the generals were solemnly swearing oaths, Cao Cao was somewhat relieved.

Cao Cao looked at Cao Yan and sighed inwardly, "It's only been a short time since I've paid attention to him, and he's already created such a terrifying weapon? If I let him run wild for a few more years, the world will be in chaos!"

After watching the demonstration of the explosive charge, the generals couldn't help but feel down, and the atmosphere became particularly heavy. They never expected that Cao Yan would invent such a new type of weapon.

This weapon is so powerful that it can even blow up city walls, and it can be mass-produced, just like the swords, spears, and halberds in the hands of soldiers today.

If this technology is really used on a large scale in the future, soldiers' lives will probably be worth less than they are now...

"If everyone uses this kind of weapon in the future..." The crowd couldn't help but sigh, "Alas... the battlefield in the future will probably be completely changed, and what will become of us martial artists?"

Cao Yan saw through everyone's thoughts and comforted them with a smile: "Don't worry, gunpowder alone is not enough to change the current way of warfare."

Even if it can be used in conjunction with some machinery, there's still a long way to go before gunpowder can truly revolutionize combat. You won't have the chance to slack off!

A glint of light flashed in Zhao Yun's eyes as he and the others asked, "Really?"

“Really!” Cao Yan answered affirmatively.

Hearing this, everyone's mood improved slightly.

They are not afraid of death, but they are afraid that all the skills they have painstakingly learned will end up being useless.

In fact, if you look at the Ming Dynasty, although firearms and cannons were already in widespread use at that time, it was still ultimately defeated by peasant uprising armies.

There are certainly many reasons for this, but it is undeniable that firearms still have a long way to go before they can completely replace cold weapons in warfare.

After seeing the gunpowder, Cao Yan took Cao Cao to visit the mine.

The mining operation has now commenced smoothly, and coincidentally, someone used explosives to blast open a section of the mountain.

Upon seeing this, Cao Cao exclaimed, "This gunpowder can not only split mountains and cleave rocks, but also kill enemies on a large scale. It is truly a revolutionary invention!"

"Gunpowder, combined with new forging techniques, will inevitably change the way battles are fought on the future battlefield," Cao Yan said, pulling out a map and a simplified outline of a three-masted sailing ship from his pocket.

"You just told them that things wouldn't change so quickly... were you lying to them?" Cao Cao asked suspiciously.

“I didn’t say a specific time.” Cao Yan grinned.

"..."

Cao Yan spread the map on the large rock next to him.

Cao Cao asked curiously, "Is this a map? But I've never seen a map like this before. What places are depicted on it?"

“Brother, this is a world map!” Cao Yan pointed to a small area, no bigger than the palm of his hand, and said, “Look, this is the Han Dynasty.”

Cao Cao was stunned and murmured, "The Han Dynasty is so small?"

Then, Cao Cao pointed to the area above the Han Dynasty's territory and asked, "Are these the grasslands inhabited by barbarians?"

"Yes."

"Damn it, it's even bigger than the entire territory of my Han Dynasty?!" Cao Cao was shocked.

Then, pointing to Europe, the Americas, and Africa, he asked, "Are these all land?"

"It's all land, and the people living here are all barbarians, easily defeated!"

"!!!" Cao Cao stared at Cao Yan and asked, "How do you know all this?"

"My master told me," Cao Yan lied without batting an eye.

"You have a master? Who is he? I don't know him?" Cao Cao asked.

“For those two years, you were so focused on getting into the circle of celebrities, visiting famous people everywhere to build your reputation, that you didn’t pay much attention to me, so of course you didn’t know,” Cao Yan laughed. “My master only taught me for a year, so I only learned half of it.”

"You're only half-baked? How powerful must your master be?" Cao Cao murmured. "There are indeed extraordinary people in this world. Could you please ask your master to come out of seclusion and help us?"

"impossible."

"Why?"

"He is dead."

"..."

(End of this chapter)