Life of Being a Crown Prince in France - Chapter 1258: 1163: The Eve of the Military-Industrial Explosion

Chapter 1258: Chapter 1163: The Eve of the Military-Industrial Explosion

“You’ve built it so quickly?”

Joseph looked in surprise at his father, who wore a proud expression, and weighed the gun in his hand.

The gun was heavy, easily usable as a hammer, exuding the heavy metallic feel of the steam era.

Louis XVI happily remarked, “Initially, welding was necessary for the hammer’s connecting rod, which lacked sufficient strength, but now it’s directly machined with this milling machine. And for the rotating cylinder, achieving high airtightness through manual polishing was challenging.”

He gestured towards the revolver: “Now this, I can barely see a gap with my eyes.”

He then turned and took another cylinder from the box he brought: “This was filed by Mr. Emmerich, the difference is quite apparent.”

Joseph took over the handcrafted revolver, noticing the file marks, and observed that its smoothness and edge finishing were far inferior to what the rotary milling machine produced.

Industrialization is indeed the most formidable force. He marveled internally; with high-precision machine tools available, numerous new weapons could be developed at once.

The first thing that came to his mind was the breech-loading cannon.

The greatest challenge in manufacturing breech-loading cannons lies in the airtightness of the breechblock—

The simplest way to make a breechloader is to block the end of the barrel with an iron block, then seal it using an oversized “screw”.

This requires that the iron block fits snugly with no gaps at the barrel’s end.

Additionally, the bolt must not deform under the enormous pressure of the chamber, yet be easily opened and closed at any time.

This cannot be achieved through manual craftsmanship.

Of course, Joseph doubted whether even the precision of the “Royal Type I” would suffice, and Whitney would need continuous improvements.

Yet, once breakthroughs are made in breech-loading cannon technology, the French Army’s combat strength will increase exponentially.

Firstly, the firing rate of breech-loading cannons completely surpasses that of muzzle-loading cannons. Roughly, a breech-loader can fire two to three times for every one shot from a muzzle-loader.

This directly equates to a two- to threefold increase in firepower density.

Secondly, breech-loading cannons inherently suit rifling. The projectile of a breech-loader must be slightly larger in diameter than the cannon’s caliber to fit into the rifling, aiding in loading gunpowder.

Thus, once the projectile is fired, it embeds into the rifling and spins, achieving frighteningly high accuracy.

Conversely, loading rifled muzzle-loaders is extremely laborious, as one has to hammer a slightly larger projectile into the gun’s bottom—never mind whether the soldiers have enough strength, but the time taken allows the opponent to fire several rounds.

Lastly, breech-loading cannons can have gun shields mounted, which means a large iron plate is fixed in the middle of the barrel, allowing gunners to operate the cannon from behind it, rather than at the muzzle.

This greatly enhances the safety of the gunner, making it difficult for enemy infantry to shoot them.

All the cannon’s ammunition can also be stored behind the gun shield, avoiding explosion risks.

For the navy, breech-loading cannons are the ultimate weapons.

On land, artillerymen can move in front of the cannon to load them. But onboard ships, after firing, cannons must be pulled back into the central deck to be reloaded before being pushed out again.

With breech-loading cannons, gunners merely need to continuously reload and shoot, boasting a firing rate over three times that of muzzle-loaders.

This practically allows Level 5 Cruisers’ firepower density to approach that of Third Level battleships!

And that’s not even considering the enhanced firepower from the high hit rate of rifled cannons.

Joseph was enthusiastically preparing to discuss breech-loading cannons with his father, when his attention was drawn to the revolver in his hand.

He realized immediately that his father likely delayed some progress on the steam forging machine’s development to produce this item.

Hmm, it’s better not to distract the “Steam Forging Machine Project Leader” with new weaponry.

Let the Engineering Design Institute and Royal Armory handle breech-loading cannon development. After all, France cannot always rely on His Majesty the King for weapon development.

Moreover, the complexity of these exceeds that of previous firearms, involving metal materials, casting, chemistry, and many areas outside his father’s expertise, necessitating a specialized R&D team.

Over there, Louis XVI was learning from Renou how to operate high-precision milling machines.

He tinkered with it until nearing midnight, only then reluctantly signaling for it to be shut down.

Joseph hastily approached and inquired, “Dear Father, should we now…”

He originally intended to say “return to the Palace of Versailles to rest,” but unexpectedly, Louis XVI exuberantly nodded and replied, “Yes, let’s head to the shooting range to test the revolver!”

“Ah…” Joseph had no choice but to muster his spirits, smiling as he nodded, “I’m eager to see how this unprecedented weapon performs as well.”

On the way, Joseph subtly asked about the steam forging machine’s development progress and was surprised to learn his father hadn’t neglected official business despite “playing with guns.”

Currently, their project team had produced a full-sized, low-power prototype, only lacking sufficient reliability.

“However, after seeing that milling machine, I already have many improvement ideas,” Louis XVI said. “For instance, some load-bearing parts can now be manufactured as a whole, greatly enhancing sturdiness. The airtightness of those piston parts can also improve significantly from before.”

“Oh, and the bearings. I’ve heard the ironworks in Namur produced a highly wear-resistant steel, which could enhance the bearings’ performance…”

Listening to his father’s incessant chatter, Joseph suddenly felt everything inside the carriage was so warm, discussing light-hearted topics with loved ones, together anticipating a better future.

This was the best reward for all his years of toil.

Absolutely no one would be allowed to disrupt this tranquility and harmony!

When Louis XVI spoke of anvil material, the carriage came to a gentle stop, and the King’s close assistant opened the door, bowing: “Your Majesty, we have arrived at the shooting range.”

Joseph followed his father out of the carriage, noticing the gas lamps all around were already lit, lighting the area as bright as day.

Louis XVI expertly walked to the shooting area, took out the treasured revolver, carefully loaded it with 6 rounds via the barrel, then handed the gun to the test shooter.

“I feel like I can shoot with it right away.”

As Louis XVI spoke, a loud bang echoed nearby, “Bang—.”

The test shooter swiftly opened the breech, inserted a percussion cap, raised the gun, and fired again.

“Bang—”

“Bang—”

In less than 8 seconds, he fired all 6 rounds, white smoke curling up around him.

The target reader at a distance poked his head out, loudly announcing, “All 6 shots hit the target.”

Narrowing his eyes, Joseph looked to see a humanoid thick wooden board 25 meters away split in half by the bullets.

Yes, this revolver used a rifled barrel, significantly increasing its accuracy.

As for the difficulty in reloading, since it could pre-load 6 rounds, it barely posed any issue.

In truth, a firing rate of 8 seconds for 6 shots could already be considered this era’s “machine gun.”