204 – Before the Storm (7)
The cloning of gunpowder and matchlocks was already somewhat expected.
Because, not long after I was reincarnated, the cornerstone, a key material for gunpowder, which is a substance that lowers the temperature to the point where it becomes thin ice when put in water, was already developed.
So, no matter how secretly I proceeded to manufacture gunpowder… It was a definite future for other powers to clone gunpowder.
Even in the case of a matchlock, under the premise that gunpowder exists, if you succeeded in capturing even one gun, you could have copied it right away.
A matchlock can be made by disassembling it and assembling it by accurately mimicking the size and shape of each part.
So, in Japan, even though Western technicians who make matchlocks accidentally flowed in and learned about the manufacturing technology, in just two years, on an island with a population of less than 2,000, they perfectly mastered the technology and reached the point of self-production.
So, if the Duke of Brussels, who has a territory boasting a population of at least one million, did everything in his power, it would not be strange at all if clones appeared.
Even though my head and reason shouted as a matter of course, I was well aware of the power of the weapon the Duke of Brussels copied.
“It’s like a f*cking thief duke, so a duke picks up a weapon lost in the battlefield and duplicates it and aims it at us? There is no such morality… “
I wanted to relieve myself by continuing to curse, but in the medieval lord industry, swearing at the other person is generally a compliment.
And when you curse, you might feel like your heart is being blown open, but…
If the Duke of Brussels knew I was swearing at the fact that he had copied a matchlock, he would surely laugh.
‘I finally fed the Kreutels family! A lifelong dream has come true. Look good! I hope the f*cking Kreutel will get emotional and make some bad choices!’
Just as I was about to let go of my anger, I heard someone knocking on the door unknowingly.
Even if the door was closed, if I screamed, the sound would have been heard outside… He’s a really careless guy.
“Come in.”
As soon as I said that, a liaison officer in his late teens with a rank insignia came in and said.
“I have been instructed by Dean Lindell of the Academy of Technology. Since the first phase of the Eagle Plan has been completed, it is a message that I want you to come directly to the first test site of the academy immediately.”
It was said to be an eagle plan, but the specific content of that plan is a project to develop a matchlock gun that sold steel wire.
The reason why it was so named is that it has 2-3 times the range compared to normal rifles, so you can shoot enemies from a position as if you are looking down.
In addition, since the execution of a strategy that does not exist in this world using that range is the final stage of the plan…
In fact, the completion of the first stage is equivalent to saying that the initial model has been released.
Even though digging a steel wire itself is easy, I thought it would take more time to secure a sufficient range because it had to be created after considering the proper depth and spacing.
I was delighted with the better-than-expected results, so I patted the liaison officer on the shoulder and handed him some gold coins from the desk.
It might seem strange to give money when we didn’t barely deliver information while struggling hard on the battlefield…
This is because it is customary to pay money to a messenger or liaison officer who delivered a victory or congratulations corresponding to it, and secretly request that they be silenced.
“Thank you for the good information. Also, you should tell Baron Lauren and the chief of staff that I have an urgent matter today, so I went to the academy.”
“Yes, I understand, Your Highness.”
After saying that, I immediately got dressed and headed for the Academy 1 test site.
**
Unlike other labs, where all students of the academy can freely use the lab, Academy 1 has very strict access conditions.
First of all, those who can enter must be students who have completed a master’s course or higher in a related department that is subject to identification, surveillance, and protection inside the kingdom.
In addition, in order to prevent even the slightest leakage of confidentiality, students under the doctoral course who obtained a master’s degree and are treated as semi-nobility cannot even record or organize the results of experiments.
Other than that, only general manager-level or higher employees at the steelworks or the kingdom’s public factories, and soldiers of major rank or higher who have received permits, are allowed to enter.
So, on days when there was a lot to carry experimental materials, even an elderly professor had to be mobilized to do the equivalent of loading and unloading.
It is unimaginable in a typical graduate school, but it was possible because I personally threatened to cut my annual salary by 30-50% if I violated even the smallest security rules.
From Noble mtl dot com
However, thanks to maintaining such security, the technology under development has never been leaked, nor has it been in danger of being leaked.
As I entered the lab, Dean Lindell smiled at me and greeted me.
“Your Highness, after a year of experimentation, we have finally found a useful one. In order to distinguish this gun from other matchlocks, it is temporarily named the Kreutel Matchlock after His Highness’ last name… Could you give me your permission?”
“That will be decided after seeing the results of the experiment. Are you ready?”
“You can look forward to it. First of all, here are the guns and bullets we developed.”
At the place where Dean Lindel pointed with his hand, there were several bullets that looked like the tip of a blunt spear and a matchlock with a sight attached to the front of the barrel.
Looking closely at the matchlock and the bullets, there were six spiral steel wires dug in the barrel of the matchlock, and two grooves were dug on the side of the bullet.
It became clear that the items I had ordered were made as they were.
As I was looking at the newly developed matchlock and bullets with such a satisfied expression, Professor Lindell gave me a look that seemed to appeal strongly to me and said.
“Here is a thesis with the cost of development, development process, production process and future plans… If you read this, you will know more.”
“Wouldn’t it be different depending on what kind of results come out of the experiment rather than that? Should I continue to mass-produce it, or should I bury it and research it again?”
“Yes, Your Highness. Then I will show you.”
After the dean finished his remarks, he gestured to the graduate students wearing military uniforms full of black powder instead of the uniforms worn during research.
They moved to the prepared seats with fairly moderate movements, as if they had undergone some military training during this year.
Then the dean said, pointing towards the end of the shooting range.
“There are 10 graduate students who will act as temporary shooters, and the targets are 25*25 cm in size and placed at 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, and 500m respectively.
First of all, it is proven that it has a superior accuracy rate than a matchlock when it hits 80% at 50 and 100 meters.
In addition, it was discussed that a tactic called ‘sniper’ could be introduced as a result of discussions among the professors of the Military Faculty if the target was hit by more than 50% at a distance of 200 meters.”
Of all the ranged weapons available to individuals in this era, the bow is the one that flies the farthest and most accurately…
The maximum range is 300 meters, and the distance that can kill a person is only about 100 meters.
So, even from the point of view of marching, there are limits to reconnaissance capabilities… Even the assassins who are more than 200 meters away from the legion are not trying to find them.
Therefore, if you snipe an enemy from that distance, the high-ranking person in the enemy army will die without even knowing where the bullet came from.
Of course, it won’t be so easy from the second time onwards.
And I raised my hand up and then down to direct the fire.
The 10 graduate students who received such formal training fired a total of 15 shots, one shot every 20 to 30 seconds.
The dean and professors who watched the experiment performed the experiment in front of me, so they watched with trembling hearts, hoping for success, and I tried hard to hide my expectation and watched with a calm expression.
I hid my expectations because I was afraid that if I showed excitement before the results came out, graduate students would become more nervous and it would become a problem in shooting.
Anyway, the test shooting ended safely, and the graduate students of the Military Faculty rushed to calculate the hit rate to read the results.
After a while, the student who seemed to be the representative among them shouted with a happy expression.
“93% Accuracy at 50m, 85% accuracy at 100m, 75% at 200m, 34% at 400m, 21% at 500m! This is a number that far exceeds expectations!!”
At those words, the professors and graduate students embraced each other and hurrahed, and I also shared the joy with them.
In that sense, I hugged and encouraged the graduate students and professors who were wearing gunpowder-stained clothes while conducting experiments…
Some of them began to cry at the honor that the king of a country personally encouraged them while wearing dirty work clothes.
To them, I said this.
“It is all thanks to your blood, sweat, and boldness that you do not mind getting dirty.
How can such people be considered dirty even if they are covered with gunpowder and dust? No, it just looks noble.”
And after comforting them for about an hour, I spoke.
“This research will be treated as top-secret, and the professors of the Military Faculty recommend that nobles above barons secretly recruit soldiers who can operate this Kreutel-style matchlock.
Also, the Faculty of Technology wants to secure a policy to expand productivity.”