CH 363

I think we can solve the problems with the guns and their bullets. Making bullets isn’t that hard. Mass production would be possible if the barrel could be compressed. If the Minié gun spreads, the power of the gun units will jump by an order of magnitude. That’s about the difference between an army with modern or near-modern weapons and an army that looks like it’s still in the Middle Ages. In fact, the Minié gun must have been made at the end of the early modern period, just before the modern era.

And you can use rifled cannons by using the light system. It is important to have a true artillery shell that rotates with the new rifling.

“Is the prototype of the cannonball also progressing?” I asked.

“Yes! Goddess! We have already entered the demonstration experiments phase!”

No, that’s why I’m not a god… well, it’s fine. So if Eins is so convinced, let him think so. The scariest thing is when this overzealous loyalty is turned inside out, but for now, I’ll leave it believing that it will work for the better…

By becoming a shell-shaped cannonball, it will be possible to use the built-in fuses that I have been thinking about for a long time. As I said before, even round balls can become high-explosive cannonballs. However, it’s a dangerous thing that puts the fuse outside and you have to ignite it before shooting, and it explodes somewhere after piercing the target.

There are other types of cannonballs such as grape shot and canister shot for anti-cavalry and anti-personnel. But this is the same idea as the modern shotgun shell.

If you put a lot of sub-munitions in the cannon and shoot them, they will scatter the moment they come out of the barrel. That’s why, like a shotgun, it’s strong against close-range, top-most suppression, but it’s ineffective at long range because the bullets don’t reach properly. It is only used for taking down the foremost targets and close-range combat on the approach.

Grapeshot is a large artillery shell used primarily for anti-ship purposes, intended to attack equipment and personnel on enemy ships. Canister shots are small, bullet-like objects that are fired at enemy infantry or cavalry that approach the artillery positions, but let’s move on from this.

All modern artillery shells are like armor-piercing rounds. Simply shoot through the opponent’s armor with mass and kinetic energy. It might be good for destroying stone castles and forts, but the penetration power is too much for an anti-ship attack.

In this era of small and medium-sized wooden ships, our Caan Cannons are too powerful, and if you shoot them at close range, you can easily penetrate and pass through the other side.

At first glance, it may seem like it would be good if it could penetrate fully, but in order to effectively damage the enemy, it’s more effective to have the cannonball explode inside the target and spread the damage further, rather than simply penetrating through. Then, by making a honeycomb of a hull with a giant number of holes, you can make new holes on the bottom and sink the ship through those.

In an era when they had only experienced ramming and hand-to-hand combat if the hull was full of holes with artillery attacks from a distance, the opponent was unable to respond properly and was sinking in the blink of an eye.

If this attack is researched and dealt with, for example, a countermeasure such as leaving an emergency hole-repairing tool on the ship and filling the punctures with first-response repairs may be undertaken. If that happens, it will be difficult to sink it unilaterally as easily as before.

Then what should I do? Of course, it’s important to make a hole in the hull and sink it, but above all, it’s more effective to detonate after the cannonball enters the hull, destroying, killing, or injuring the facilities, equipment, crew, etc. inside. No matter how good a ship’s damage control is, if there is no crew to man it, it will sink in no time.

In order to make that effective attack, the artillery fuze I’m thinking of is important. In a nutshell, this fuze also doubles as the shell’s detonator.

The simplest way is to attach a fuze to the tip of the cannonball, and when the fuze is impacted, the gunpowder inside will detonate. However, in that case, it would just detonate if struck just like a percussion cap. On top of that, the fuze is something that can be manipulated and get a sense of when it will detonate.

A fuze, like a detonator, sets off an ignition charge on impact, transferring heat to gunpowder and setting it alight. This is no different than a detonator. However, the important thing about the fuze is that it can control when it will explode, and it has functions such as not detonating while the safety device is working.

The structure of the fuze I instructed Eins to make is that the firing pin which strikes the ignition charge is on top of a folded spring. When the spring is completely stretched, it straightens and hardens, and when the firing pin is pushed in with all its might, the ignition charge is impacted. However, since the spring is usually folded, even if the firing pin is hit a little, the shock to the firing pin is absorbed by the spring and is not transmitted to the ignition source.

This firing pin portion is locked by a lateral safety device. However, this centrifugal force safety device is structured so that when the shell rotates, the spring contracts due to centrifugal force, and the safety device retracts. As a result, only when the gun is fired and the bullet rotates will the safety device be disengaged and the firing pin extends, and when the firing pin strikes, the impact is transmitted to the detonator.

The momentary fire is the one that immediately spreads from the ignition to the detonator, from the detonator to the gunpowder, and then an explosion. The delay tube delays the detonator exploding the gunpowder. These two are called incoming tubes, and you can usually switch between both functions at any time.

There is a switching device on the shell, and it can be switched whether the fire is immediately transferred from the ignition charge to the detonator, or rerouted to add a delay between impact and explosion.

The advantage of the delay tube is that it’s effective when attacking ships as I said earlier. Instantaneous tubes will explode as soon as they hit the outer hull. That would only scatter debris outside without harming the inside. Even if the detonation starts when it hits the outer wall with the slow-fire tube, it can penetrate the outer wall during some of that time lag and detonate after reaching the inside where the enemy is.

If you can do this, you will be able to “attack those taking cover in your target.”

Furthermore, if you set a time interval with a fuze like a timer and detonate it in the middle of its projectile arc, you will be able to attack with shrapnel that scatters submunitions above the enemy, for example.

Grape bullets and canister bullets, which directly load submunitions and scatter submunitions immediately after shooting, cannot be used at long distances. So, if you put submunitions in a shell-shaped cannonball, detonate it at the time specified by the time fuzed, and scatter the submunitions inside before impacting something, the area suppression at a long distance becomes overwhelmingly powerful.

While high-explosive rounds pack explosives into the bullet itself and expand the range of damage by exploding, shrapnel scatters sub-munitions inside to attack. I don’t know the exact definition, but…

Anyway, with this fuze, artillery safety, operational efficiency, attack power against soft targets, and surface control power can all be improved.

“Although I would like to develop a breech-loading type in the future… First, let’s hasten the development of this new gun and new shells.”

“Leave it to me! I will definitely complete it and show you the results!” Eins said.

Uu… Eins’ eyes are so passionate. It’s almost like blind faith… This eventually turns into fanaticism, and when he thinks I’ve betrayed him… if fanaticism reverses all at once, it’s going to be really scary. That kind of thing has happened many times in history.

All I can do is control Eins so that he doesn’t believe too much, and do my best not to betray Eins’ expectations…

“Ah! And please make this, as well,” I said.

“This would be……”

Eins tilted his head when he saw the drawing I gave him. It’s a matter of course. To put it in extreme terms, it’s just a cylinder. He made several drawings and handed them over. The simplest would be really just a cylinder.

“This is for my experiment…” I said.

“Aah! Is that what you meant?!” Eins said. “Understood! We’ll have it ready for you!”

After nodding at Eins’ guess, I left the research institute. There are other things I want to do. I wonder what happened to the development of the steam engine… I’m curious, but if I do all that, I’ll probably never be able to leave this laboratory.

So, although I had regrets, I cut it off and returned to Cien’s town to join the Yamato Empire’s Delegation.

I was able to successfully join the delegation who continued their inspection as planned. After that, I will follow the inspections together with them. After finishing the first day’s rounds, we came back to Cien Villa.

The delegation will rest in the guest rooms, and I will clean up the work I had brought here. Today’s laboratory work was meaningful. I almost got too carried away.

It’s good to develop weapons one after another, but rather than that, we have to increase our basic industrial strength and productivity as a whole. No matter how good a weapon you develop, it is meaningless if you can’t use it because you can’t make enough of it. Considering the current situation of expeditions to the west and east, it is important to create a situation where even a small number of soldiers can sufficiently fight.

“Pardon my intrusion. Miss Flora, dinner is ready.”

“Understood. Thank you, Katharina.”

When I was called, I stopped and headed to the dining room. If it’s just me, I can say that I’ll be able to finish my work well… But now that I have the delegation to entertain, I can’t afford to be late. The number of meals to host the delegation has also increased considerably. I don’t think it’s okay to be so sloppy as to ask the delegation to figure out some way to live on their own, but…

Well, I won’t leave the delegation right away, so I’ll keep them company until then. I can’t say I’m going to make a joke out of them, but if I’m already leaving in the middle of the visit, it will leave the worst impression if I don’t even join them for dinner. At the very least, it would be better to have some food with them while I can.

“Say, Floto…” Subaru said.

“Yes?” I asked, raising my head and looking toward him.

The delegates who were present were also looking up, wondering what was going on.

“Does your side really need support?” Subaru continued. “Frankly speaking, this territory is too abnormal. You’d think that only the mansion in the capital is so luxurious, but this villa is also splendid enough to make you think it’s a palace, too. I’m pretty sure it was opened a few years ago, as well. Yet the town has developed to an unbelievable level. And those huge ships. The same goes for the carriage we’re riding in. I’ve never heard of a carriage that doesn’t even shake. It seems like we’d rather have you support us.”

“Ah~…”

Our country is small compared to the Yamato Empire. That’s why I had to put up a bravado in my own way so as not to be underestimated. But apparently, it worked too well. Naturally, in the event of a war, the population and national power would be overwhelmingly different. There is zero chance that we can defeat the Yamato Empire alone. I can confirm this.

There are certainly many areas in which we are leading. The things I developed with my knowledge were all things that didn’t originally exist in this world. Of course, there are technical advantages.

But I want to import animals and plants from the Yamato Empire and cultivate them. No matter how much you imitate sake and seasonings, they will always be a day ahead of us over there. The same goes for woodworking and metalworking. Regardless of which one is superior, mixing different technological systems to create a new one has a great effect in terms of technological innovation.

“We’re in the position of being taught the basics of agriculture and sericulture, but I also hope that engineers from both sides will be able to discover more excellent things through exchanges between the experts on wood processing and construction technology. It was an offer because I thought that we would not be the only ones who would receive benefits unilaterally, but…”

“So is that how it was? … I suppose that’s right,” Subaru said. “But the people who came here didn’t think so until just recently. They say House Caan is under our protection, that the Empire would be doing everything. The people who came here must have changed their minds after witnessing the reality, but there must be a lot of idiots who still think so back in the Empire.”

“Y-Your Highness…” the delegates stammered, panicking.

Well, thought most people in the Yamato Empire would look down on us. That’s why I put some bluff into it.

“Even during today’s inspection, the craftsmen who came from our country were surprised,” Subaru said. “At first, they were confused by the order. They said they didn’t want to spend too much time talking to amateurs unless the Empire was specifically telling them to. But a minute after they talked to your craftsmen, the conversation became lively, showing off their techniques, exchanging opinions, and in no time they got so passionate.”

“I agree……”

I’ve only seen it from the middle, but it’s true that when I went to inspect them, there were only such scenes. Technologies that have been cultivated in different design concepts and development systems come into contact with each other, absorb each other’s good points, and develop further. If that progressed, there was a meaning in having the engineers dispatched this time.

“Even within the Yamato Empire, the number of people who despise House Caan is gradually decreasing. But there’s more yet to go still. Later… if they have the opportunity, please accept more of our people. If they come into contact with your country, even for a moment, more of them will change their opinions.”

“Yes… I see… So that mutual understanding advances… we have to think and act.”

At Subaru’s words, the members of the mission looked down in shock. At least Subaru seems to be quite friendly with us. If Subaru becomes the next Emperor of Yamato, I think we’ll be fine for a while.