Steel, Guns, and the Industrial Party that Traveled to Another World

Two days after receiving the distress letter, intelligence chief Cecil placed the intelligence about the Bailding situation and his own analysis on the Earl's desk.

Paul frowned after reading it. It seemed that his friend was really in danger. He was now under house arrest. He was just waiting for the traitors to divide the stolen goods and pick a suitable day to make a plot. Accidents come, just like his unlucky father.

Cecil asked: "If your Excellency wishes to rescue Earl Canard, I will send all the personnel I can mobilize to Bairding and try to find out the details of those traitors."

Paul rubbed his chin: "I still have to discuss with everyone whether to rescue me, but it is always right to get information early. You should send someone there first."

Half a day later, Paul summoned senior officials from both the military and the government to gather in the Lord's Mansion and showed them a letter of distress from Myron Gardner.

Although there are not many cases of vassals plotting to take away the master's throne, it is not necessarily unusual. It is said that another neighbor, the Kent family of Emden, has a somewhat shady origin for the title of earl, so here we are No one showed much surprise.

Watching everyone circulate the letter one by one, the earl sitting at the head of the table felt uneasy: "If my future reforms conflict with the interests of these people here, will they conspire to kill me?"

Just as he was thinking wildly, Controller Ford asked: "What are you going to do with this letter?"

Paul replied: "Cecil has sent people to Bailding to find out the details of those rebels. But I haven't decided yet whether to rescue Mellon immediately. If I want to rescue, how to rescue him, so I want to find Let’s discuss it.”

After hearing this, Bryce banged the table: "Count Garnard is your friend since childhood and your blood-sworn brother. You will be scolded if you ignore him."

Hey Bryce, although I know you have an upright personality, can't you tell me in private? It’s very embarrassing for me to say it in public.

Paul's face was a bit uncertain: "I didn't say not to save him, but we also have to weigh our own strength. Don't we invite everyone to discuss this."

The so-called blood-sworn brothers are somewhat similar to the sworn brothers in China. When they were young, Myron and Paul got along very well. Under the control of their respective mothers, the two little kids became blood-sworn brothers.

Speaking of which, their mothers died very young. Paul felt a little emotional that he couldn't even remember what his mother looked like in this life, and there was no portrait or anything like that.

Butler Ford was very pleased that the young lord did not become arrogant because of his victory over the pirates, nor did he recklessly provoke a war that might not be winnable because of a moment of bloody courage. Instead, he weighed the pros and cons, called for extensive consultation with everyone, and as a lord of one party Already very qualified.

He stroked his long gray beard and said: "It is indeed wrong to abandon the blood-sworn brothers. If there are rumors, it will be bad for your reputation. But you cannot act rashly. Don't forget that Lord Canard is still in the hands of the other party. "

"Furthermore, judging from the meaning of this letter, the rebels have not yet discovered that the matter has been compromised. If we directly send troops under the banner of rescuing people, let alone the outcome, what if we push the opponent into a hurry and it will be detrimental to Earl Garnard? manage?"

Paul found the steps and said with a worried look on his face: "That's what I'm worried about."

All of a sudden, Bryce blushed.

Manager Ford continued: "I have an idea. Lord Earl's birthday is coming soon. You can send invitations widely and invite the nobles in the northwest region to come to the party."

"Oh?" Paul had forgotten his birthday. He was very busy during these days, fighting pirates and building a navy.

"I personally brought the invitation to Butua to invite Count Garnard to confirm whether he is safe and reasonable. As a blood-sworn brother of your lord, he must come to congratulate him even if there is a big event. If he doesn't come, It is too unusual, so the rebels should have no reason to stop it, of course, provided that they still do not realize that Earl Garnard has learned about the conspiracy. "

"Well..." Paul almost understood what he meant.

Manager Ford stroked his beard and said: "It will be easy to wait until Earl Garnard arrives in our territory. We will directly issue a notice in his name and call on the surrounding lords to crusade against this rebellious gang."

Paul slapped his palm: "That's it, or I'll go there myself."

Everyone in the hall objected.

"Your Excellency, the Count, cannot take personal risks!"

"What if those rebels notice something?"

Paul had to give up the idea.

…

Controller Ford soon left for Butua with invitations, while Paul prepared for possible future war.

With the continuous recruitment of craftsmen and training of apprentices, the firearms manufacturing team has reached 30 people. After the efforts of the craftsmen during this period, the number of muskets owned by the Arda army has reached 60, which can arm a platoon and a shift. of troops.

This number allows Paul to play tactics such as "three-stage attack" and "six-stage attack" to maintain continuous firepower without interruption.

But what makes Paul regretful is that the various technical problems of the flintlock gun have not been overcome.

First of all, spring reeds are more difficult to manufacture. This does not mean that qualified ones cannot be produced, but the pass rate is too low. If the strength of the spring is slightly weaker, it will not be able to produce sparks.

There is no mistake. One post, one content, one 6 one, one book, one book, one read!

Even if the fire is struck, there is still the problem of gunpowder. The experimental flintlock guns now take more than 3 seconds from pulling the trigger to firing, because the flintlock gun can only shoot a little spark into the powder pool. If the burning rate of the gunpowder is relatively low, it takes a lot of time to ignite the entire powder pool, and the gunpowder with low sensitivity cannot be ignited at all with just the little spark.

Although both rely on the ignition hole to ignite the gunpowder in the barrel, the requirements of the matchlock gun for propellant are obviously lower than those of the flintlock gun. After all, the end of such a thick matchlock burning and inserted into it can ignite a large piece of gunpowder at once and burn quickly into the ignition hole.

To solve this problem, you need high-quality, extremely finely ground gunpowder, but the grinding efficiency is too low under purely manual conditions.

Every time Paul saw the long matchlock on the soldiers when they practiced shooting, he was very unhappy.

The matchlock gun was greatly affected by the weather, and when shooting, the matchlock was bounced by the explosion of the primer, which could easily ignite the gunpowder on the musketeer and his comrades, so the musketeers had to keep a certain distance from each other, and the shooting array needed to be arranged sparsely, resulting in the inability to form a denser firepower.

However, there were still two advances that made Paul feel relieved. One was that the sleeve bayonet was made, so that the musketeers could not rely on the protection of the spearmen to a certain extent. Fortunately, the matchlock guns equipped today are not as bulky as the early matchlock guns on Earth, otherwise it would be unrealistic to equip them with bayonets.

The second is that with the invention of new paper, "fixed bullets" made of paper shells were mass-produced. The paper shells were wrapped with lead bullets and gunpowder, and the outside was coated with butter to prevent moisture. From then on, the musketeers no longer had to hang bottles and jars filled with gunpowder on their bodies, which increased the loading speed and could accurately control the amount of powder.

As for heavy firepower, the 6-pound bronze cannon was successfully tested and added to the equipment sequence of the Arda army. So far, two have been built, and another four 4-pound cannons have also been cast.

In addition to these large cannons, Paul also made the "Tiger Crouching Cannon" of the Ming Dynasty.

This lightweight cannon has a thin barrel and is not very powerful, with a maximum range of 500 meters. But it is flexible and can be carried by two soldiers. It can be fired at a large elevation angle with a curved trajectory. The cannon body is fixed to the ground with large iron nails and the iron claws in the front, and shot or gravel are fired to kill the enemy. And it is made of pig iron, which is extremely cheap.

As a weapon for close-range support of infantry combat, it is somewhat similar to the later mortar, so in this world, it is directly named mortar.