Since it's discovery gunpowder has always been a valuable resource in warfare from the 14th centuries till the 21st century. One could even claim that gunpowder paved the way for nuclear power , and Ceaser planned to harness the power of gunpowder to destroy anything that that threatened his survival.
As the construction of the wall continued, Ceaser employed the services of the less busy women and children to help extract potassium nitrate also known as saltpeter from the mines and sulphur from the salt mines .
These items were then processed and stored separately until a time when they would be mixed up together with charcoal.
Producing charcoal was easy because all it required was to burn wood in a low oxygen environment which was something that had already been perfected , all that remained was the mixing of the compound and the production of cannons. But cannons needed metal to be produced and metals could be gotten from melting ore with furnaces .
Making steel at the moment was unfeasible, the best he could make was wrought iron which was almost as good as steel.
The furnace he chose to build was a blast furnace . The raw materials were all there all that remained was the manpower. He needed to wait at least a few weeks before the fortifications were completed before he could move on to other projects .
Two weeks later, the fortifications were finally completed and the sheer sense of pride shown on the faces of the men who worked the walls was worth their weight in gold . But all that could not compare to what they felt for their new cabin homes, people who had to live in dilapidated shacks , exposed to cold and other elements while also being subjected to the cruelty of slave labor.
This made Ceaser very popular with the people of Patagonia who showed respect for him every where that he went. But there were few people who were unhappy, mostly about the fact that Ceaser was employing the services of the former soldiers who were now prisoners of war. But it was nothing other than back talk that faded into the the wind.
Now Sir Alfred, Brutus , Zack and Zacks right hand man named Festus were inside Ceasers cabin where Ceaser handed then two different blueprints, one for the blast furnace which he handed over to Zack and a blueprint for a newly improved crossbow and crossbow bolts.
Soon enough, two furnaces were built which were producing at least three tonnes of wrought iron each. This prompted Ceaser to now reveal the blueprints for the canon.
The cannon he had chosen to produce was the Napoleonic twenty pound cannon and a smaller version of ten pounds. Now people had chosen not to question any of Ceasers shenanigans as it had always turned out to make their lives much more easier so the blacksmiths worked around the clock to produce the cannons.
The people working on the crossbows were also working very hard, pumping out the improved crossbows and bolts to arm the defensive force who had been undergoing the specialized training which Ceaser had set out for them .
They learnt how to follow orders , marching in line , maintain formations and maneuvers. They were also training with the crossbows, at first the could fire one crossbows per minute but now they could fire three bolts per minute .
The greatest morale booster for the defense force was when it was time for the canons .
That evening the defense force and few selected people made their way to a clearing few meters away from the forest, there they saw the cannons lined up pointed into the tree line . They all waited around as Ceaser and his prisoners worked their way around the cannons. First they fired the solid shells and with a thunderous roar that shook the core of the witnesses , they exited the barrels of the cannons in quick succession traveling and smashing through the trees that stood in their way . As they were still in shock about what happened they cleaned the barrel in case of gunpowder residue and inserted the exploding shells which were hallow balls made out of cast iron , filled with gunpowder and had a fuse connected to it. The next volley was much more dramatic because when they fired the shot, it acted exactly like the solid balls . But when it reached the target, it exploded sending flames and hot shrapnel around.
Ceaser then decided not to show them the canister shots and the ten pound cannon as he had already convinced them of the power of the weapon. He also led them further to the landing site of the shells so they could see the destruction caused by the weapons which they saw and were amazed .
" If you are surprised by this just wait till you see what it does to human flesh." Ceaser said smiling at them.
As they exited the area several pieces of snow fell, winter had begun and so the countdown till the day of their exposure has begun. The way they handle the future situation would determine their fates in the grand scheme of things.
If they could strengthen their claims and hold on these mines, it would be one of the first major victory against the Blackthorn empire and serve as a rallying point for others who wanted to rebel against the tyranny of the Blackthorn empire.
Failure to hold on to this region was bound to be catastrophic as history had proven time after time that empires love to make an example our of rebels and outliers just like the mass crucifixion of Spartacus followers and Russian decemation in Crimea.
The truth however was that Ceaser didn't care about the Alfonse kingdom or it's politics, all he cared about was his survival and self reliance, leading these refugees and rebels was what could get him exactly that.