Top-notch Little Horseman

"That's my business. You just need to be prepared and come with me to Desolate Dust Pass in seven days."

Ye Chen waved his hand and said, "Although the warhorses need to rest and don't eat much, we still need to continue harvesting the pasture. Today, Smoker will take you there."

"Just do as we agreed before. Smoker will make all the arrangements. Just do what he says."

As he spoke, he turned to the monkey and continued, "Go buy a roast chicken and come with me to a place."

……

The monkey, carrying a roasted chicken, followed Ye Chen to see Er Gouzi.

Er Gouzi acted like he belonged there, grabbing a roast chicken from the table and starting to gnaw on it.

He ate like he hadn't eaten for days, taking huge bites. Ye Chen was worried he might choke.

The monkey stood silently to one side, watching with curiosity as Er Gouzi wolfed down his food.

Ye Chen sat opposite Er Gouzi, but he didn't eat with Er Gouzi. He just quietly watched him eat.

"You... are very good..." Er Gouzi commented while eating. This was the happiest day he had eaten since arriving in the Northern Territory.

"Thank you so much. This meal will last me for seven days."

"Don't be so polite with me. We agreed on one roasted chicken a day, and I'm just following the rules," Ye Chen said with a smile.

"I'll take care of the chickens, and you take care of modifying the gun for me. We'll even."

He brought the roast chicken today, which means he fulfilled his promise and satisfied Er Gouzi's request. I just don't know if Er Gouzi can actually do it.

"You're treating me to roast chicken, so you'll be my big brother from now on. What do you say?" Er Gouzi looked up at Ye Chen and said.

"If I can do it, I will definitely do it for you. Even if I can't, I will find a way to do it for you."

Er Gouzi was truly moved by Ye Chen; this is what they mean by "a scholar would die for a chicken farmer!"

Since Er Gouzi said so, Ye Chen didn't hold back and immediately put forward various groundbreaking ideas.

Upon hearing Ye Chen's idea, Er Gouzi opened his mouth wide, and the chicken in his mouth fell out.

He frowned slightly, first with immense excitement, then his expression tightened.

He listened repeatedly, and Ye Chen actually wanted him to saw off a gun barrel so that the entire length from the grip to the muzzle was no more than three feet.

The matching bullets were replaced with more robust steel ball bullets, each ball being only the size of a mung bean and perfectly round and full.

"Brother, if you modify it like this, the range of the lightning gun will probably be less than 10 paces!" Er Gouzi said, looking at Ye Chen with a somewhat dazed expression.

"These marbles are so small! How can such tiny marbles be lethal?"

Er Gouzi roughly understood Ye Chen's meaning, but the other musketeers who modified their guns all wished the bullets could reach the ends of the earth.

This method could kill without leaving a trace, and it could be modified according to Ye Chen's wishes, which could be considered as crippling one's own martial arts.

"Don't worry about that, just do as I say. I just want to know if you can do it?"

Ye Chen had no way of explaining to Er Gouzi that what he ultimately wanted to make was a shotgun.

The most difficult thing for the Northern Barbarians to deal with is their cavalry, and this shotgun is the nemesis of cavalry.

"What you're saying isn't difficult. Just give me three days, and I can complete the modification." Er Gouzi nodded and agreed.

"I also need to buy a gun. When you do, you have to seal the barrel for me, making sure it's a perfect fit. The grip should be replaced with a stock, something like this."

As Ye Chen spoke, he took out paper and pen and drew the shape of a World War II rifle stock for Er Gouzi, which could be fired from the shoulder, greatly improving the stability of the electric gun.

"You...you have a great idea. Could it be that you were once a craftsman?" Er Gouzi couldn't believe that a horse herder could come up with such a wonderful idea.

"Next is the hardest part. I need Brother Er Gou to help me draw six rifling grooves in the barrel of the long gun..." Ye Chen said, and once again picked up his pen and drew it for Er Gou.

"Look, like this."

Er Gouzi opened his eyes wide and saw the painting Ye Chen had drawn; cold sweat poured down his face in fright.

"Brother... this is... very difficult!"

He took a deep breath and said, "If it's as you require, these six concave lines must rotate regularly in the gun barrel, and the depth interval of each line must be exactly the same..."

"This workshop doesn't have such tools. We need to manufacture the gun drill bit separately. If we pull it by hand, the whole gun barrel will be ruined if our hand shakes even slightly."

What Er Gouzi said was not an exaggeration. In order to ensure the explosive combustion requirements of the musket, each barrel was made of two layers of cast iron, and then skilled craftsmen used a gun drill to drill through it inch by inch until it was pierced through.

This process will take at least a week.

"Does Er Gou's hand shake?" Ye Chen asked with a smile.

Er Gouzi understood immediately, took off his clothes, revealing two massive arms that were disproportionately large to his body, with arm circumferences as thick as thighs.

The little dog's muscles were surprisingly human-like.

He smiled, looked at Ye Chen, and asked, "Do you think I'm trembling?"

"I'm relieved to hear that." Ye Chen smiled and nodded, knowing he had stumbled upon a treasure trove of craftsmen.

If I could get Er Gouzi to come over and be tied to my boat, just thinking about it would be wonderful.

"I understand what you mean. Adding rifling will cause the bullet to spin upon firing, increasing its speed and range. However, the spherical lead bullet will not fit snugly against the rifling, so I'm afraid... it won't achieve the effect you want."

Er Gouzi is exceptionally gifted; he can calculate the possible physical changes of a bullet using only a few rifling grooves.

"So the bullet needs to change, this is the kind I want." Ye Chen nodded slightly and continued drawing.

Its shape is similar to that of a modern 9mm bullet, except that it does not have a cartridge case and has a tail with three concave rings.

"This is... a long bullet?!" Er Gouzi's eyes widened when he saw what Ye Chen had drawn. He felt like Ye Chen was going to pry open his skull.

This design... I simply can't imagine such a design.

"Yes, this is called a Miner's Bullet. I once saw a merchant from the Western Regions demonstrate it," Ye Chen nodded slightly.

"When the gunpowder impacts, the bottom expands slightly, allowing the projectile to fit perfectly into the barrel, thus avoiding the problem of uneven sizes."

What Ye Chen didn't say was that the Western Region merchant was named Norton, a captain in the British 34th Regiment, and also, he was from the future...

"My God! That's brilliant! Bro, you're amazing, you're a genius with guns!"

His hands weren't shaking at this moment; in fact, he was so excited that his whole body was trembling. He was most confident in his technique, but he could only create, while Ye Chen displayed unparalleled imagination.

If the Lightning Gun is improved according to Ye Chen's design, its original range of 200 paces could very likely double to 400 paces, or even 600 meters.

Imagine firing a gun from 400 paces away to kill someone. With the unique rapid reloading mode of the musket, even if the enemy is cavalry, a skilled musketeer can easily take them down.

This is the fighting power of a modern musketeer—a power unimaginable to most, practically equivalent to the King of Hell on his roll call.