Chapter 330: Returning to Service

Corporal Lach Wickten sat in the back of a supply wagon that was headed to the frontlines. The new and improved Schmidt Needle Rifle was in his hands that Ludwig had improved after thorough and rigorous stress testing. The young man cleaned the rifle with great care while dressed in his camouflage smock and field cap, with his helmet lying beside him. 

This supply convoy not only brought forth much-needed supplies to the frontlines but reinforcements to replace the soldiers who were wounded or killed in battle. Some of these men, like Lach, were returning to the frontlines after being injured themselves. 

The young Corporal could not wait to show off his new prototype rifle to the soldiers in his unit. As such, he was eager to regroup with them. By now, Berengar and his army had advanced beyond the City of Milan after stealing its treasures and was on its route to the small city of Parma, which lay between them and Bologna. 

Any minute now, he would approach Berengar's army, where he would likely regroup with at least one of the Jaeger units that were nearby. While the Italians had pulled back the majority of their soldiers to reinforce the city of Florence in a desperate last stand against the might of the Royal Austrian Army, they had kept some small amount of troops in the field in an attempt to slow down the Austrian advance to buy the main Italian army some much needed time. 

When Lach finally saw the tents of the Austrian encampment appear in the distance, he slung his rifle over his shoulder and placed his helmet upon his head before rushing towards the camp. The young Corporal waved at the supply convoy as he departed. 

When Lach arrived, he was surprised to see that his company was currently resting in the encampment and not out in the field; he quickly approached Captain Andreas Jaeger as he saluted the man with respect.

"Corporal Lach Wickten reporting for duty sir!" 

Captain Jaeger returned Lach's salute before responding.

"At ease Corporal, I hope you are well rested because we will be deploying to the front lines shortly."

After saying this, the Captain noticed the rifle slung on Lach's shoulder was vastly different from the muzzle loading Jaeger rifles that were currently issued to the Jaeger corps and could not help but inquire about it.

"Corporal, what is that, and where did you get it?"

The moment Lach heard this, he unslung the weapon and presented it to his commanding officer.

"This is called a Needle Rifle; while I was away, Ludwig invented it. This particular rifle is a second prototype, but Ludwig has assured me it is free from any potentially harmful malfunctions. It has the same degree of accuracy as our currently issued rifles but is capable of firing 12 rounds a minute!" 

When Andreas heard this, he was shocked that such a weapon existed, and as such, he wanted to see a demonstration; however, firing a gun while in camp was explicitly forbidden, and thus he would have to wait to see how well the rifle functioned until it could be demonstrated in the field. 

As such, the man sighed before giving the Corporal his orders

"get back to your squad; I am sure they will be happy to see you have made a full recovery..."

Lach saluted Captain Andreas once more before replying in the affirmative

"Yes, sir!"

After Andreas saluted the young man back, Lach returned to his tent, where he met with his fellow soldiers. As for Andreas, he immediately began to search for his commanding officer to inform him of this new weapon. Eventually, he found Colonel Dietrich von Lienz in a meeting with King Berengar von Kufstein within the Command tent. 

Knowing his place, the man patiently waited by the tenside until his superior officer departed; however, when Dietrich finally exited the tent, he was alongside Berengar, who looked at the young Captain with confusion. Seeing the King in front of him, Captain Andreas immediately saluted to him.

"Your Majesty, Captain Andreas Jaeger, reporting to his superior officer about some information received from a soldier returning to service after medical leave."

Berengar was curious as to what valuable intel a returning soldier could have and, as such, spoke up before Colonel Dietrich could respond.

"Speak, if this is something so valuable that you would await by the tent side for your CO, then you are free to discuss it with me."

Captain Andreas looked over to his Commanding Officer to see if he had permission. Meanwhile, the aging Colonel gazed at Andreas as if he were an idiot and silently nodded his head. As such, Captain Andreas no longer hesitated to speak his mind.

"One of my soldiers, Corporal Lach Wickten has returned with a Prototype weapon he has purchased from Baronet Ludwig; he calls it a Needle Rifle and says it is capable of firing a projectile out to a similar distance that our Jaeger rifles are capable of with more than twice the rate of fire!"

When Berengar heard this, he was shocked; the only needle rifles he knew of were the Dryse and Chassepot from his previous life, and they lacked in terms of long-range firepower compared to the Whitworth rifle that he had based his Jaeger rifles upon.

Not only that, but as far as he was aware, they did not yet have mercury fulminate to manufacture percussion caps; as such, he was pretty skeptical of this claim. Thus he responded with a hint of curiosity in his tone.

"Did the soldier call it a needle rifle?"

When Berengar asked this, the Captain looked at him with confusion in his eyes before nodding his head. Was it possible that Berengar knew about Ludwig's designs? Then again, he was the King, so it made sense if he knew about experimental weapons that were shrouded in secrecy. 

The moment Bernegar witnessed the man's nod, his expression turned serious as he spoke with an authoritative tone befitting a monarch.

"Take me to this man right away!"

Andreas led both Berengar and Colonel Dietrich to the tent where Lach and his squad were resting. The moment Captain Andreas arrived, the men jumped to attention, saluting their commanding officer. However, they were shocked to see the Colonel of the Jaeger Corps and the monarch himself standing behind their Captain. 

Before any of the soldiers could get a word out, Berengar immediately said his decree.

"Which one of you is Corporal Lach Wickten? 

Lach was astonished to find that the King of Austria himself had come searching for him; as such, he proudly presented himself to Berengar with his chest puffed out.

"Corporal Lach Wickten at your service, your majesty!"

After hearing this, Berengar inspected the man closely; noticing that there was nothing out of the ordinary, he quickly cut to the chase.

"Show me the rifle you have brought with you!"

Lach did not hesitate to do so as he retrieved the needle rifle and checked to see if it was clear before handing it over to Berengar with the bolt open. The Royal Austrian Army had always stressed firearms safety as a priority in the training of the recruits. As such, a soldier would be punished severely if they did not first check to see if a weapon was clear before handing it over to someone else. 

Berengar closely inspected the rifle and noticed that it greatly resembled a Mauser Model 1871 from his past life, except instead of a single-shot centerfire rifle, it was a needle-fired rifle. The gun's needle was easily replaceable if it was damaged, much like on the final design of the Dreyse Rifle that was added to the weapon variant in 1874. 

Berengar gazed down the bore and inspected it to see whether it had traditional or polygonal rifling. To his surprise, Ludwig had gone the extra mile with these rifles and improved the rifling just like how the current issued Jaeger Rifles utilized.  After closely observing the rifle, Berengar placed one of his hands out and ordered the soldier.

"Give me one of the cartridges."

When the man heard this, he rushed over to his cot, where he retrieved a paper cartridge from his web gear which contained the cylindrical .451 Whitworth style projectile. When Berengar saw this, a wry smile appeared on his face as he expressed his thoughts aloud.

"Ludwig, you are a genius..."

Without any guidance, Ludwig had done the unthinkable; he had manufactured a needle rifle from scratch, centuries ahead of its natural time. Having never shot a needle rifle before, Berengar was eager to test out the weapon, and as such, he swiftly walked out of the tent, where the others nearby pursued him. 

After leaving the confines of the camp, Berengar gave a command to his soldiers. 

"Set up a target 1000 yards out; I want to test this rifle."

The soldiers received their orders and placed a wooden bucket out at a thousand yards before returning to Berengar's side. Berengar immediately dialed in the sights so that they were at the appropriate distance, where he proceeded to shoulder the rifle in his left arm and gaze with his one good eye down the iron sights.

After acquiring his target, he inhaled deeply while holding his breath before squeezing the trigger; the moment he did so, the needle impacted the percussion cap and ignited the powder contained within, sending the projectile downrange at over 1300 feet per second where it struck its target, knocking the bucket into the air. 

The moment he did so, Berengar exhaled deeply and cocked the action back before handing the rifle back to Corporal Lach with a broad smile on his face. He was pleased with the performance of the rifle and could not contain his joy; as such, he grabbed ahold of Colonel Dietrich before giving him an order.

"Send word to Ludwig; I want him to produce as many as these rifles as he is able; before we march on Florence, I want your entire Jaeger Corps outfitted with these weapons!"

With this said, Dietrich immediately saluted Berengar and responded in the affirmative.

"At once, your majesty!"

With this, Berengar gazed into the distance at the bucket he had just shot with a warm smile curved upon his lips. It would not be long before Ludwig could create rifled breechloaders and cap and ball revolvers with a bit of assistance. Once more, a new era of warfare had just begun thanks to Berengar's intervention in the timeline. 

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