Siam continues it's research on flintlock rifles and bronze cannons, both of which are expected to be in a usable form around 7 years from now. Reagent Sri checked up on the progress today, asking our natural philosophers to show him the brass-cannon prototypes. The leading natural philosopher pulled out a long cylindrical tube around 3 feet long with a 37mm barrel. He loaded a powder charge and a iron ball down the muzzle of the barrel and packed it in tight. Then he lit the fuse and started to walk away. After 15 seconds most of the natural philospher's body parts had hit the ground and were able to be gathered and disposed of. Needless to say more work needs to be done on developing a cannon.
In other news modernization of the military had begun, and the first 1,000 1861 Springfield rifles have arrived in Bangkok. Thank you 'Murica!
