War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Prussia, Berlin.

"Mr. Dresser, please come this way. His Majesty the King wants to see you."

Johann Nicholas von Dreiser was the son of a locksmith. Dresser experimented with several breech-loading guns at the Paris gun factory between 1809 and 1814, but they were all unsuccessful.

After leaving the Paris gun factory, Dresser returned to his hometown of Semelda, and in 1814 he established his own factory to produce flash caps and made a small fortune, but he never forgot to develop a breech-loading gun. dream.

In fact, in 1836, Dresser completed the design of a needle-fired breech-loading gun, and its performance exceeded the Hall rifle produced by the Americans.

His patent immediately attracted the attention of the Prussian government, which purchased the invention, classifying the needle-fired breechloader as a secret, allowing Dresser to continue perfecting his invention.

Now Dreiser has finally broken through several key technologies of breech-loading guns, such as reducing gunpowder gas leakage. This meant the arrival of a new era in which breech-loading guns were not the mainstream weapon. It was 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 like a small training ground than a garden, with both targets for shooting practice and a place for galloping horses.

"Your Majesty the King, I have completed what you wanted."

In fact, in the garden, in addition to William IV, there were several senior Juncker officials and Prussia's chief weapons designer, General Potsdam, who were all old acquaintances, so Dreiser didn't worry too much.

General Potsdam said seriously with a very unhappy expression.

"Mr. Dreiser, who else have you told about your invention?"

Dreiser was not an idiot. He immediately heard the danger signal in the other person's tone and said hurriedly.

"General, I swear to God, I have never mentioned it to anyone who has nothing to do with it."

Although General Potsdam had the lowest official position and title except for Dreiser, a businessman, he was a very stereotyped Prussian soldier who was unsmiling and serious in his work, giving people a strong and stern impression.

"Then please begin."

His tone was cold and emotionless, and because of his responsibility, he felt that he was more qualified than King William IV to announce the start of this test.

Although King William IV of Prussia was essentially no different from his father, on the surface he was a very gentle man and would not pursue a general who was too responsible.

However, 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 thirty rifles of three types. The test shooter took out the rifle and conducted a simple inspection. Then he began to pull the bolt and load the rifle and began to test fire to familiarize himself with the feel.

After a burst of gunfire, the test firing expert announced to everyone that it was ready to begin.

"Then please start, gentlemen. We can't wait to see your performance." William IV smiled.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I recommend model A to you. Its firepower and range are perfect. It also has a relatively reasonable price and is suitable for equipping large-scale armies."

Dreiser's flattery did not break the awkward atmosphere. Those Juncker officials cared more about the weapon than its inventor.

As the first gunshot sounded, the continuous gunfire never stopped. There were only thirty people, but a company fired, no! It's the momentum of two companies.

All the senior Junkers present sat up straight. Although they had been serious before, they now realized the true potential of this rifle and why the War Office felt it could change the battlefield.

Even General Friedrich Graf von Wrangel, who had been dozing, cheered up. He was a veteran of the anti-French war and did not like new weapons and tactics. A fan of Marshal Hill.

"Oh 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 spoke what everyone was thinking, and they also foresaw a future in which Prussia punched Austria and kicked France.

At this time, even the best musketeer could fire at most three bullets in one minute, and at the same time, he could not take into account matters such as aiming.

And those testers who have just used the new rifle can fire at a rate of up to ten rounds per minute, and can shoot and reload continuously.

This was simply unbelievable to 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, and even because the performance was too unreliable, it was eventually used by the United States People eliminated themselves.

For ordinary soldiers on the battlefield, being able to fire two bullets per minute is a good thing, 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. It is slightly lower than that of ordinary rifles, but it may be caused by the test shooter's first use.

There are only two small shortcomings. One is that compared with rifled guns, the range is insufficient, and the other is the common problem of air tightness.

However, the Dreiser rifled gun has an advantage in range compared to the common Charleville and Brown Bess. As for the air tightness issue, it has been 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 was actually similar, so the Prussian government decisively chose the cheapest design, while the care and maintenance Dreiser said were ignored.

After some haggling, the price of this 1841 Dresser needle-fired rifle was finally set at 50 florins.

This price is nearly double the purchase price of the M1836 August rifle developed by Austria's chief weapons designer, which is difficult for many senior officials to accept.

"Oh! Damn it, we have 200,000 troops in Prussia, but it's ridiculous that we spend the same amount on rifles as Austria."

War Minister Gustav von Rauch could not sit still because he knew very well that Prussia needed to equip not only the 200,000 standing troops, 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 high maintenance price of this weapon, he began to understand why Dreiser recommended to them Model A, which is relatively more expensive but has lower maintenance costs. Rifle.

"Dear Mr. Rauch, the Austrian Empire has 420,000 standing troops, which is more than double ours. If Prussia wants to gain an advantage in future wars with Austria, this great invention is necessary."

The future Minister of War Hermann von Goin said that he was a typical hawk who advocated toughness both externally and internally.

(It advocates both resisting external humiliation and punishing national traitors internally.)

William IV and a group of Prussian senior officials believed that this new weapon was the future of Prussia, so it was naturally impossible to ignore Rauch's concerns. In fact, he was forced to resign soon after.