At noon the next day, the delegates were led to the military base to witness the testing of of the canon.
Baroness Katrina after failing to win Ceaser over with her charms kept her distance from him since he sternly reprimanded her for her actions.
At the testing field, the first weapon to be tested, was the heavy crossbow with steel tipped bolts. After so many experiments, steel could now be produced in large quantities.
The crossbow impressed the degates , but it was not what they were looking for. They came here to see the weapons that rained thunder on the empire.
Their curiosity was soon satiated as the ten pound cannon was brought in, it was positioned to face different targets at different ranges.
On receiving command the artillery men who were selected for this proceeding fired the cannons just as they would have done in the heat of battle.
The effects of this was stellar, the shells smashed through the targets with great alacrity.
" Please Lord Ceaser, we must have this weapon, our lives depend on it." Count Eduardo said almost pleading.
" This is a very complex weapon count Eduardo, it required propellant, ammunition and training for the men that will man the weapons. All these cost money, an exponential amount of money." Ceaser replied.
" State your price, his Majesty has given me full authority to negotiate any dealings regarding this."
" Good, for the crossbows, they are worth ten gold coins each , the bolts cost a silver coin. The cannons cost five thousand gold, the ammunition cost fifteen gold coins for solid shot and seven gold coins for canister shots. The gunpowder would be sold at ten gold coins per barrel.
Training an artillery team costs two hundred gold coins per team of five.
Payment would be divided into three portions, two parts would be paid in gold and one part would be paid in grain, spices and livestock.
This would be the terms of our agreement for the time being." Ceaser said to the count whose jaws almost fell off in disbelief , but he steeled himself, it seemed like he was going to pay a steep price to be able to turn the tide of this war.
He was then given a comprehensive list of the sellable items. Whenever he was ready he would submit it to the secretarial office who would then be in charge of sending orders to the relevant factories and imputing the relevant information in the records.
" Ceaser, are you not a little bit worried that these people might one day use our weapons against us?" Sir Alfred asked.
" I have thought about it, infact I know as soon as they enter their kingdom, they would spend effort trying to replicate and reverse engineer the weapons, I also know that some of these weapons would eventually enter the hands of the Blackthorn empire." Ceaser replied.
" I also know that by this time next month, the weapons would become obsolete as the weapons engineers would have finished bringing my new weapons to life."
Some of the soldiers who were clearing the test site overheard this and soon the news had spread throughout the barracks, Ceaser was creating a new more powerful weapon.
This news has unknowingly lit up the fire of competition amongst teams as teams that performed well during the review were given priority during equipment distribution.
This would eventually lead to the soldiers turning into the most elite force of that period .
The soldiers, have come to view Ceaser as a god in human flesh, a god sent to rescue them from obscurity. Some soldiers were even making effigies of him that they held onto for luck . To them, Ceaser could do no wrong.
They knew that a large attack was around the corner and were tense with anticipation so when they heard that a new weapon was undergoing production, they felt very happy.
Soon , they received word from their superiors, their uniforms were ready.
The uniforms consisted of a field uniform which was a dark green uniform with a belt and black boots. Like something out of world war 1 or 2. It was couple with a stanheilm helmet for head protections. This was to be worn during combat or field exercises.
There was also the dress uniform which was a copy of the German SS officers uniform , except that the insignia of the Nazi party was removed and replaced with new insignias. No matter how hated the Nazis were, their uniforms were still considered one of the best uniforms even during the 21st century.Their headgear was a red wool beret.
Their formal attire however had not been made due to the lack of materials.
As for now there were two main corps , the artillery and the infantry . The artillery corps has an armband with the insignia of a cannon while the infantry had the insignia of a crossed gun and sword.
Now , Ceaser was proud to announce that they were no longer the defense force but had been recognized into a new army. He then proceeded to unveil a new flag, it was a red flag with a black eagle on perched top of a skull.
The army newly formed were now given as set of doctrines and rules that were supposed to be religiously followed, failure to abide by this rules was subject to imprisonment, demotion, dishonorable discharge and even straight up execution.
As members of the newly formed elite military, they were held to a much more higher standard of discipline than the rest of the populace.
Now, once the new weapons were produced, they could then begin to really strike back at the Blackthorn empire, ending years of oppression and begin their world unification project.