The World Dragon's Heir
Chapter 172: Safety Measures?

Chapter 172: Safety Measures?

Dominic considered what it would take to make the tubes quickly and efficiently.

A handle mounted to a tube with a hole in the side, where a rough rotating striker could slide along the side of the loaded mortar, would do the job. He wouldn’t even try to enclose it, just teach the teams how to load them safely with the striker moved out of the way.

These weapons would be insanely dangerous, not only to their enemies, but possibly to the users as well. But the men were intelligent, they would figure it out soon enough.

Plus, this version could be kept loaded.

Take it out of storage, aim and fire, then drop it back into your storage cube or reload it.

The simpler the design, the better.

Dominic finished the design, then made a cutting template out of the copper sheeting he already had. It would cut the clay like a cookie cutter, and then he just needed to bend it to shape and assemble the launchers.

He could probably even get the unit to help make their own, and he would finish them.

That would save a lot of time, and if the goal was to have five hundred mortar launchers, it was the best option.

"Commander? I need helpers. Some to roll the clay into thin sheets, then reform the scrap clay after I stamp out the pieces. Then I need a few to bend the copper tubes and handles into shape, so I can assemble them later.

If you want to equip whole teams of the Regiment, this is the only way it will happen in under a month." Dominic explained.

Dax nodded. "I have a few with some mechanical skills as the sons of Knights and Barons. We will get it handled."

A few minutes later, clay was rolled thin on a table, like biscuit dough, and Dominic cut the pieces, then turned them to copper and let them gather the scrap.

The pieces were moved to a bucket, and a pair with hammers and wooden dowels bent the copper into a tube, and capped the end with the attached flap. Dominic would have to braze that and attach the handle pieces later, but ninety percent of the work was done.

Over and over, they cut and stamped, until afternoon came around, and Dominic started the final assembly of a hundred units.

He still hadn’t even made more ammunition for them, but by night, he should be ready to teach the unit how to use them, and then they could go test them on the first army unit they found moving around in their territory.

"Alright, there are two basic things to remember when using these. I put a wooden stick in this hole, so a preloaded mortar doesn’t fall out. Remove it before use. The striker is stored in the ready position and there is a bit of cloth around the tube to keep it from striking the mortar accidentally. That also gets moved before use.

Make sure the striker is in this position, and nobody is on your right, remove the safeties, and do not point the mortar downward. It’s not a rifle, the fit isn’t that tight, and it could slide down the tube far enough to disengage.

Once you have fired, ensure that the striker is rotated back into position. It should be, but if there is damage, it might not rotate smoothly.

Drop another mortar down the tube. Thump it on the ground to get the mortar to the bottom, and then put it back on your shoulder and fire."

The men chosen for the first mortars practiced the motion dozens of times using rocks instead of mortars.

Once they were sure they had it, Dominic had them cover the striker hole and gave them the first round of mortars to load.

"Now, put the safety rod in them to hold it in place, and put them in storage. I will make more munitions right away, so you have spares. Those will detonate either on hard contact with something, or at two hundred metres.

The casings are ceramic, and they’re full of ceramic balls, so they’re meant to take out infantry, but they will also punch holes in most steam vessels.

Any questions?" He finished.

The team smirked. "No, we’ve got it, boss. The boys have been practicing without them since you first explained it this afternoon. Twenty mortars in the camp was great, so this should be even better. And we will be able to see what we’re shooting at."

The opportunity to test them came the next evening, just before sundown. A team had been sent out, travelling south along the river to meet up with a larger group that was supposed to come along later in the week, according to the scouts who had been visiting with the locals.

At first, the locals had been reluctant to discuss anything that would get the patrols attacked, but a little persuasion by the Natural Sons had gotten them to reveal that it had been six months since the last time they had anyone of recruitment age, so not a one of the young soldiers being deployed was from their region at all.

Once that started to sink in with the locals, they were much less averse to providing information to the bandits who supplied them with food stolen from the soldiers.

It was a trade of necessity. The Regiment didn’t mess with their farms, they didn’t report the fact that all of their food was being donated from the ’bandits’.

"Commander Dax will lead the strike team today, all armed with the new mortar launchers. Good luck, Commander. Collect as much data as possible, and we will see you soon." Dominic informed them.

Princess Alexis cleared her throat. "Actually, we will join them and watch from a distance. We need firsthand knowledge of how they are working in practice, or we won’t be able to effectively deploy them in a larger battle."

"Understood. Well, Gentlemen. It looks like you’ve got a couple of observers. Just give us some time to get in place, as your mechanical horses are faster than our legs."