MTL - The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria’s Mandate of Heaven-v3 Chapter 68 The future of the Prussians
Prussia, Berlin.
"Mr. Delaiser, please come this way, His Majesty the King wants to see you."
Johann Nikolaus von Dreiser, the son of a locksmith. Dreiser experimented with several breech-loading guns at the Paris Gunnery between 1809 and 1814, but without success.
After leaving the Paris gun factory, Delaiser returned to his hometown - Semerda, and set up his own factory to produce flash caps in 1814, and made a small fortune, but he never forgot the development of breech-loading guns. dream.
In fact, in 1836, Delaiser completed the design of the needle breech gun, and its performance has surpassed the Hall rifle produced by the Americans.
His patent immediately caught the attention of the Prussian government, which bought the invention, keeping the needle breech gun secret, allowing Dreiser to continue to perfect his invention.
Now Dreiser has finally broken through several key technologies of breech-loading guns, such as reducing the leakage of gunpowder gas. This means the arrival of a new era in which breech-loading guns are not mainstream weapons, and it is indeed a huge advantage for the Prussians to be the first to realize this.
Soon the herald and Dreiser came to a secret garden in the palace. It was more of a small training ground than a garden. There were targets for shooting practice and a place for galloping horses.
"Your Majesty the King, I have accomplished what you want."
In fact, in the garden, apart from William IV, there were several senior officials of Junkers, and General Potsdam, the chief weapon designer of Prussia, were all old acquaintances, so Dreiser didn't have too many scruples.
General Potsdam said seriously with a very displeased expression.
"Mr. Dreiser, who else have you told about your invention?"
Dreiser was not an idiot, he immediately recognized the danger signal in the other party's tone, and said hastily.
"My lord, I swear to God, I never mentioned it to anyone who has nothing to do with it."
Although General Potsdam was the person with the lowest official position and title besides the businessman Dreiser, he was a very rigid Prussian soldier who was unsmiling and serious, giving people a tough and stern impression.
"Then please begin."
The tone was cold and without emotion, and because of the responsibility he felt he was more qualified than King William IV to announce the start of the test.
Although King William IV of Prussia was no different from his father in essence, he was a very gentle person on the surface and would not pursue a general who was too responsible.
However, the others still chose to ask the king for instructions first, and the latter nodded to indicate that they could start.
Dreiser brought a total of 30 rifles of three types. The test shooter took out the rifles and conducted a simple inspection. After that, he began to pull the bolt and reload the rifles to get familiar with the feel of shooting.
After a burst of gunfire, the test firing experts announced to everyone that it was ready to start.
"Then please start, gentlemen. We can't wait to see your performance." William IV laughed.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I recommend model A to you. Its firepower and range are perfect, and it also has a relatively reasonable price, which is suitable for equipping large-scale troops."
Dreiser's flattery did not break the embarrassing atmosphere. Those high-ranking Junkers cared more about this weapon than its inventor.
As the first gunshot sounded, the continuous gunfire never stopped. Although there were only thirty people, they fired a company, no! It is the momentum of two companies.
All the high-ranking Junkers present sat up straight. Although they were serious before, they only now realized the true potential of this rifle and why the War Department felt that it could change the battlefield.
Even General Friedrich Graf von Wrangel, who had been dozing off all the time, cheered up. He was a veteran of the Anti-French War and hated seeing new weapons and tactics very much. A fan of Field Marshal Hill.
"My God! What is that, it can fire at least 8-10 rounds per minute, even my best soldiers can't do this kind of thing!"
The old general said what everyone thought, and at the same time they also foresaw a future, a future in which Prussia punched Austria and kicked France.
At this point, even the best musket shooter can fire up to three rounds in a minute, and can't even think about things like aiming.
For those experimenters who were new to the rifle, it fired up to ten rounds per minute and could fire and reload continuously.
This was unbelievable for the soldiers at that time. Some people may mention the American Hall rifle, but in fact the performance of this rifle has not been tested in the war. People are eliminated by themselves.
For ordinary soldiers on the battlefield, being able to fire two bullets a minute is good, but Dreiser's rifle can allow soldiers to fire five times the firepower, which has to be surprising.
Of course, the surprises are not over yet. The hit rate and power of this rifle have not been affected, which is slightly lower than that of ordinary rifles, but it may be caused by the test shooters using it for the first time.
There are only two small shortcomings. One is that compared with rifled guns, the range is insufficient, and the other is the old-fashioned problem of air tightness.
However, the range of the Dreiser rifle is superior to that of the common Charleville and Brown Beth. As for the problem of air tightness, it has improved countless times compared to those previous smoothbore guns, and it is no longer a big flaw. .
Dreiser designed three different types of rifles, but in terms of performance, the performance of the three rifles is actually the same, so the Prussian government decisively chose the cheapest design, and Dreiser's maintenance and maintenance were ignored up.
After a bit of haggling, the price of this 1841 Derby needle-action rifle was finally set at 50 florins.
This price is nearly double the purchase price of the 836 August rifle developed by Austria's chief weapon designer, which makes it difficult for many senior officials to accept.
"Oh! Damn it~www.novelbuddy.com~We have 200,000 troops in Prussia, but it's ridiculous that we spend the same amount on rifles as Austria."
Minister of War Gustav von Rauch couldn't sit still, because he knew very well that Prussia needed to equip not only the 200,000 standing army, but also a possible 450,000 reserve troops.
Then the cost is 32.5 million florins, which is a sky-high price. Coupled with the expensive maintenance price of this weapon, he began to understand why Dreiser recommended to them the a weapon with a relatively higher price but lower maintenance price. A rifle.
"Dear Mr. Rauch, the Austrian Empire has 420,000 standing troops, more than double that of ours. If Prussia wants to gain an advantage in future wars with Austria, this great invention is necessary."
Future Secretary of War Hermann von Goyen said he was a typical hawk, advocating both external and internal toughness.
(It not only advocates resisting foreign humiliation, but also advocates punishing national thieves internally.)
William IV and a group of high-level Prussians believed that this new weapon was the future of Prussia. Naturally, it was impossible to ignore Rauch's concerns. In fact, he was forced to resign soon after.
