[EVENT] What have the Romans ever done for us?

The amazing power of the cannon cannot be understated. It can be used just as efficiently for offense as well as for defense, for land battles as well as for naval warfare, as a precision weapon and for crowd control. We have experienced their deadliness in our own flesh and we can attest to their power.

We have the means to create these machines, but from gathered theoretical knowledge as well as from physical examples gathered from the dead hands of our enemies. But we lack the important component that gives them their power: Gunpowder. Without it they are merely pretty decorations.

We lack the means to manufacture this component in any meaningful way, and it's much to late for us to start the gathering process, being as we are in the middle of conquest. Nevermind that King Perrault considers this gathering process beneath our people, as it consists partially of accumulating a large amount of human and animal waste, washing it with more waste, and recovering the resulting disgusting mixture.

"We might as well just throw dung at each other", the King is said to have been said after being told of the process by a captured soldier turned servant.

No, we must find a way to garner the power of the cannon and the gun by better means. Means more akin to the Viet's natural cunning and grandiosity.

Nevertheless, we have ships that need offensive power, and cities that need defensive. We must turn this cunning inwards, and outwards, towards history and science developments of days prior, to find an alternative.

The alternative we have found is ancient, much more ancient than even the old Viet kingdoms, coming from no others than the Roman Empire: The Ballista.

It is said that this weapon was mounted in most of their ships, making them win innumerable naval and land battles from the conquering and destruction of Carthage to the later successes seen by the Byzantines a thousand years later.

And now we will use this weapon too, making new the old, turning old successes into new ones.

We will begin by creating 200 of these powerful machines, an easy task thanks to our reliable and cheap access to steel tools and other metals. We will mount 10 of these machines in each of our vessels, affixing them with heavy steel bolts, and accompanying them with another Roman invention: The Harpax. To make boarding easier and more successful.

This will leave 100 for use in the defense of our cities. A task they will serve at the ports of Hai Phong, Dai Nam and Haikou, and at the cities of Ba Ngoi and Mui Ne. Giving for 20 of these machines to be present at each site.

At least another 200 of these machines will be needed, but that will take time. At least 4 months in total to produce 400 machines. In the meantime we will work with what we get, prioritizing defensive over naval use.

At the same time, research into a possible portable version of this machine is underway, with clues of just such an invention pointing towards those much closer to us geographically and culturally: The Chinese.