Kingdombuilding: All My Inventions Are Novelty

As children, they had envied those who could attend private schools, knowing that education was the path to becoming officials. Without it, their fate would be the same as their ancestors’, generation after generation of nothing but fishermen.

”Naval Academy? Your Highness, does that mean we artillerymen should have an Artillery Academy too?” Liam chimed in, half-joking.

Simon smiled. ”Of course. The empty room next door is reserved for the Artillery Academy. Once I teach you the cannon-aiming method, you’ll be responsible for instructing the artillerymen.”

”Wait, seriously?” Liam grinned. To outsiders, the Oxford Academy was a mysterious place. Despite being an educational institution, it was guarded like a military camp, with strict security.

Unlike the cramped quarters of traditional private schools, the Oxford Academy was expansive, with numerous classrooms, some already in use, others still under construction. Earlier, while passing by one of the classrooms, Liam had been stunned to see James lecturing a group of scholars on what seemed like bizarre, unfamiliar knowledge.

Simon nodded. For convenience, he intended to develop the Oxford Academy into a comprehensive institution. Otherwise, shuttling between multiple locations would be exhausting.

Even with many scholars admitted, the total number of students, including those from Brambleford, as well as technical personnel from the Machinery Department, mines, and military workshops, barely exceeded two thousand. By modern standards, it was little more than a high school.

Thus, each speciality currently had only one dedicated classroom.

After designating the room as the Naval Academy’s classroom, Simon turned to Desmond. ”You claim sailing is simple? Then tell me, how do you navigate at sea?”

”By following the coastline, of course,” Desmond replied matter-of-factly, a hint of pride in his voice. It seemed even Simon had gaps in his knowledge.

Simon smirked.

The classroom, built with brick-and-concrete construction, essentially a modern tiled structure, featured a blackboard at the front, a concept the craftsmen had initially struggled to grasp until Simon personally guided them.

The blackboard itself was simple: a smooth cement slab painted black.

Now, in front of Simon lay a stick of chalk, made from limestone and gypsum. To facilitate teaching, he had specifically ordered its production, a straightforward process that piggybacked on cement manufacturing.

Picking up the chalk, Simon drew a large oval on the blackboard, then meticulously filled in the details. Twenty minutes later, an accurate world map stared back at the audience.

”My Lord, what is this? A map? Of where?” Liam recognised it as a map but couldn’t identify the region.

”This is a world map. This entire shape is called the Earth, and we currently live on it. Now, another question: Do you believe the saying ’Heaven is round, Earth is square’ is correct?”

Liam, raised in a religious scholarly environment, replied confidently, ”My Lord, you jest. The Book of Rites records: ’Is it true that Heaven is round and Earth square? If Heaven were round and Earth square, then the four corners would not be covered.’ Clearly, the principle is indisputable.”

Desmond, however, fell silent. Uneducated and illiterate like most in his fishing village, he had never engaged with such debates. Suddenly, he said, ”Your Highness, this commoner knows nothing of classics or philosophy. But whenever I watch ships return, we always see the sails first, then the hull. If the Earth were flat, why would that happen?”

Simon smiled approvingly. Liam’s beliefs were deeply ingrained, while Desmond’s lack of education made him more open to questioning.

”The reason you observe this phenomenon.” Simon declared. ”Is because we live in a spherical world.”

Liam burst into laughter as if hearing a great joke. ”My Lord, I believe you on many things, but this, forgive my bluntness, contradicts our ancestors’ teachings. You can’t just say such things lightly.”

Simon had anticipated resistance. Changing an era’s entrenched beliefs would be far harder than establishing an industrial system.

Thus, he had never planned to disseminate such knowledge widely, only to introduce it gradually within the Oxford Academy.

Yet Liam’s reaction made it clear what he was up against. And Liam was just a military officer. If he voiced these ideas to the more rigid scholars, the backlash would be explosive.

Suppressing a sigh, Simon reminded himself that spreading scientific knowledge was a marathon, not a sprint. He would need patience and thick skin.

”Liam, you seem quite knowledgeable,” Simon said dryly. ”Then tell me: Why is it that when you aim a cannon at a target, the projectile never lands exactly where intended?”

Liam hesitated. ”My Lord, it’s like archery. An arrow always drops in flight; cannonballs are no different. With enough practice, skills will follow.”

”You know what, but not the why,” Simon said, amused.

Liam scratched his head. ”There’s a why?”

Though Liam had once studied diligently, in Simon’s eyes, his decade of learning amounted to little more than literature. It was no wonder ancient scholars surpassed modern ones in prose, but when it came to physics and mathematics, Liam might as well have been clueless.

Cannon aiming involved the principles of projectile motion. Currently, their cannons relied on a simple three-point alignment system, with front and rear sights.

But these sights were crude stopgaps, often inaccurate. The reason Simon had summoned Liam was to teach him parabolic calculations and sight adjustments, ensuring that where the sights pointed, the projectile would land.

Inside the academy, everyone turned to look at Simon, their eyes full of anticipation, including Liam.

At present, the cannons in Brambleford were smoothbore, meaning they were direct-fire weapons. In ancient times, firearms were essentially miniaturised versions of cannons, and because of this, the ’three-point alignment’ principle also applied to them.

However, this principle couldn’t be implemented by casually installing a front sight and rear sight. Different firearms required different configurations for these sights, all of which needed to be calibrated and tested; after all, the power of each cannon and the weight of the cannonball varied.

Therefore, his cannons would also need to be tested to gather data before precision sights could be installed.

”This all comes down to the principle of parabolic motion. When a cannonball is fired, it’s affected by gravity.” Simon explained.