Chapter 14: 14 Money is the catalyst
Chapter 14 14 Money is the Catalyst
After watching Tang Mo’s continuous shooting performances, Matthews’ aloof demeanor was gone.
He was like a curious baby who wanted to touch but didn't dare to reach out. He stretched his neck hesitantly and curiously looked at the revolver in Tang Mo's hand.
While looking at it, he was still chattering: "It looks like a very complicated rotating structure... Do you use it to achieve continuous shooting?"
"Yes." Tang Mo fired six shots in a row, and after finishing all the bullets, he began to clean the barrel of the gun.
This process is actually very annoying, but it has to be done - Tang Mo increasingly feels that it is necessary to develop smokeless gunpowder.
He really missed the feeling of firing continuously, then easily ejecting the magazine, reloading gracefully, and then firing fiercely at the enemy.
At this moment, the old dwarf Matthews, who was standing there trying to get a better look at the revolver in Tang Mo's hand, was still praising in a low voice: "What a genius idea! You are simply a genius!"
He seemed to find it difficult to express his admiration for this exquisite design without making a sound, but he was also afraid that the loud sound would disturb Tang Mo and make Tang Mo feel uncomfortable, so he could only murmur in a low voice.
Finally, he couldn't help it any longer, pointed at the revolver in Tang Mo's hand carefully, and asked, "Can you tell me what this is?"
“I call it a revolver.” Tang Mo picked up the pistol and replied to Matthews.
Matthews is like a child who sees a favorite toy but has no money to buy it. He just stared at the pistol and continued to mutter to himself: "Oh my God! It's unbelievable! By the gods... It's unbelievable."
"Did you see it? This thing represents the future!" Tang Mo said to Matthews with a smile.
"You are right, you will definitely win... No, we will definitely win!" Matthews subconsciously corrected himself: "Ingenious linkage...how did you think of it."
Tang Mo smiled wildly. He handed the pistol to Matthews: "Take it and take a closer look."
In fact, as long as you take a brief look at the structure of this thing and dismantle it, it is almost effortless to imitate it.
The only technical difficulty lies in the mercury fulminate. Without the flash cap, this thing is almost worthless.
But after adding the fire hat, it is the most advanced and unquestionable king of melee combat in this era! It's the Ranger Killer that even Wes talks about!
"Stay and work for me, you will see a different scenery." Tang Mo looked at Matthews who was playing with a pistol and said to him.
"I'll make the parts you want right now! I can make it before dark! As long as you don't drive me away, old man, I will be here until I die." Matthews raised his head and said to Tang Mo solemnly said.
When he said this, his eyes shone, full of piety. Tang Mo knew that this old dwarf really regarded this place as his life's work.
“There are many things we need to improve, but the first thing we need to do is to automate production as much as possible!” Tang Mo snapped his fingers and said to Matthews.
“Automation?” Matthews didn’t quite understand what the word meant.
“Just let the machine tool equipment move on its own!” Tang Mo explained.
“Are you the God of Craftsmen?” Matthews stopped and looked at Tang Mo in disbelief.
"No, I'm just a businessman..." Tang Mo gestured for him to follow him: "Come on! We still have a lot to do."
The early research and development of bullets was actually very imaginative. In the time and space that Tang Mo was familiar with, some people even connected the production of bullets with sausages.
A famous arms manufacturer once poured gunpowder into the casings of animals like sausages, and used this method to produce fixed ammunition.
What’s interesting is that this businessman even had the clever idea of applying a glue to the outside of the casings to make the casings thin and fragile. In this way, after the fire is fired, the intestines from the animal's body will fragment and dissipate as the gunpowder burns and explodes.
Human wisdom is really shining brightly at this moment - using sausage making method to make ammunition, and even thinking about some problems of repelling the ammunition!
Although later, this kind of cortical bullets was finally completely eliminated with the progress and development of mankind. But the data cannot be faked. The cold numbers recorded on paper can prove the popularity of this bullet at the time.
Yes, during the American Civil War, there were orders for more than 60 million rounds of this kind of bullet! God knows how many small animals have been gutted by this war in the beautiful country. The face of the American Humane Society was really slapped out of shape... Tang Mo, who is familiar with all this, will naturally not take such a detour. , so in the production process of bullets, he directly chose the most correct path.
But the most correct path is not necessarily the one that can be taken right now. Because there is no smokeless gunpowder, the existing industrial base does not allow him to directly produce metal fixed-loading ammunition, so everything can only be done honestly according to the existing technical conditions.
He didn't have a magical witch, and he didn't have a big tree in his head that could help him with everything, so he could only go down step by step.
Paper shell custom-loaded ammunition is a more realistic type of ammunition that he can handle now. In order to add insurance to himself, he also dug a big hole for himself.
In fact, with paper-cased fixed-loading ammunition and a new invention such as a flash cap, you can still play a lot of tricks.
For example, when choosing the assembly form of the flash cap, Tang Mo has two mature options to use - one is a long needle gun with a bullet with a flash cap installed in the middle of the projectile body, and the other is a A short needle gun with a bullet with a flash cap installed at the bottom of the projectile.
The answer to which of the two methods is better has actually been answered in history. In fact, in the world that Tang Mo is familiar with, French small arms at the technological level of this era are the real leaders in the forefront of the world.
At that time, Prussia used long needle guns, and France used short needle guns. Finally, metal fixed-loading ammunition was invented. Primers became the most mature, convenient and commonly used method for metal fixed-loading ammunition. Long needle-fired guns were instantly thrown into the Into the dustbin of history.
Then why did Tang Mo take out the long needle gun? In fact, there are many reasons for this. One is that Tang Mo wants to buy some time for his own development, and the other is that Tang Mo's resources are really limited.
There is no such thing as patent protection in this era, so Tang Mo can only protect his technology from being stolen by others.
Everyone knows that the Cyric Conglomerate that has infiltrated into the Kingdom of Wright is a huge super arms dealer. Once they get a sample of Tang Mo's new weapon, it's very easy to copy it in large quantities.
As Tang Mo had recommended his weapons everywhere, no one could guarantee whether the news would reach the ears of Sirik's people.
Tang Mo took out the needle gun first. In fact, he was intentionally or unintentionally digging a hole for Cyric, a potential opponent. Once the opponent enters the big pit of needle guns, it is equivalent to being led astray, and naturally a lot of resources will be wasted.
When Cyric came back to his senses, Tang Mo had a brief chance to breathe, and he could deal with it calmly and use better weapons to achieve another transcendence.
What if Cyric is a gentleman and doesn't copy Tang Mo's needle gun? That needle gun is also more advanced than Cyric's flintlock gun, isn't it? It was clear at a glance which one was better, and Tang Mo didn't suffer, right?
Besides this insurance, another reason is actually very straightforward - Tang Mo is just the owner of a handicraft workshop, and he really has no way to seriously mass-produce bottom flash cap paper case custom-loaded ammunition.
Although this thing is not too precise, it is still more demanding than a flash cap directly wrapped in the middle of paper shell gunpowder, so Tang Mo cannot guarantee its quality control.
With the support of Count Fischereau, Tang Mo could expand his production line and recruit more workers. It is estimated that he would be able to produce custom-loaded paper shell ammunition with a flash cap installed at the bottom of the ammunition, but he does not have the strength yet.
Hence, the ammunition used for the long needle gun, which is simpler and easier to rub out by hand, became Tang Mo's temporary choice.
There is really no way. His small workshop with a hundred people has limited productivity and cannot keep up with Tang Mo's requirements.
Among these hundred and ten people, there are seventeen or eight who are blacksmiths and smelters in the traditional sense. They operate equipment such as furnaces to process metal and turn it into usable raw materials.
There are less than twenty people who are parts manufacturing workers. They are craftsmen in the true sense. They operate simple equipment and rely almost on handwork to make some parts and drill out expensive gun barrels!
Do you know how many days it would take a serious worker in this era to drill out a qualified gun barrel using a semi-automatic method? It takes about three days!
How many guns can Tang Mo's small workshop produce every day? About a third of a stick! He can probably make a rifle in three days, and the weapons for an infantry company are enough to keep him busy for a year!
So this time he went to Beiling to meet with the Count. In fact, what he wanted was not just an order for weapons production, but also the Count’s full support and a series of production capacity expansion plans to strengthen the workshop!
He will consume almost all of Northridge's steel production in the future, and then first build two coal-burning steam engines in his own workshop. Use these modern machines to create perfect gun barrels.
In short, everything requires time, energy, technology, and talents to build...
Before that, before all of this happened, Tang Mo needed to prepare another catalyst for these "chemical reactions"—money!
Yes, he needs a lot of money! Everything needs money to support it. Without money everything is just a dream.
Now that he had money, everything could be put into place—and that's exactly what he did. Today, the parts of the steam engine are still being manufactured, and soon Tang Mo will have two drilling machines that can work day and night!
With this thing, his production speed can be increased exponentially, and the count's order is no longer an unattainable goal.
(End of this chapter)