Chapter 418 How much wealth do I have?
Its slender body gleamed with a bright yellow, its exquisite surface exuded a mechanical beauty, and its sharp bullet head radiated a murderous aura.
This is a rifle cartridge with an all-metal structure, representing a revolutionary leap forward in the history of firearms.
With metal cartridge cases, musketeers finally became an all-weather, all-terrain combat force. Neither the drizzling rainforest nor the turbulent landing coast could stop their fury.
"Sean, well done, but... it doesn't need to be so elaborate!"
Looking at the bullets in her hand, which resembled works of art, Qin Mo felt a headache coming on. After all this time, Ximan still didn't have a deep enough understanding of the concept of "cost."
"I'm only in charge of research and development; how to improve and produce it is the military's business!" Simon replied to Qin Mo in a sullen tone, causing the dozen or so elves behind him to chuckle.
Master Siman now has many followers and students, all of whom are elves or half-elves with unremarkable combat talents.
"The cartridge case is still a bit soft. Let's try adding other metals to make a cheaper and stronger alloy cartridge case!"
Qin Mo squeezed the bullet and made a new request. The students behind Ximan immediately took out their notebooks and began to take notes. In their hearts, Ximan was already an alchemy master, but Qin Mo was Ximan's mentor, a greater being. Perhaps just one sentence from him could solve the problem that had troubled them for many years.
Qin Mo picked up a similarly exquisitely crafted rifle, pulled back the bolt, and loaded the bullet with a "click-click-click" sound. The excitement in her heart was almost impossible to contain.
After two lifetimes, I've finally picked up this "famous gun" for real!
"Bang...bang...bang"
Qin Mo fired five shots in succession, the rifle spewing out a large cloud of smoke that took a long time to dissipate in front of him.
"Alas! A Mauser 98K without smokeless powder isn't a Mauser 98K, it's a Mauser 71!"
"Your Highness, what did you say... Mauser?" Ximan, who was waiting for Qin Mo's praise, asked uncertainly when she heard Qin Mo talking to himself.
"Oh! It's nothing. Just try different calibers. They need to be lethal enough, but also have enough recoil for ordinary people to withstand..."
Qin Mo held the rifle in her hand, helping Seaman refine his research ideas, trying his best to perfect the classic World War II rifle in their hands—the Mauser 98K.
After Qin Mo returned, he saw that the Dayuan Iron and Steel Institute had not stopped developing in the past two years and had the conditions to process more advanced rifles. So he gave Ximan a blueprint of Mauser 98K. With this simple blueprint, Ximan made a bolt-action rifle that looked quite decent in just a few days.
However, the new metal cartridge cases still use safe and stable black powder, which produces a lot of white smoke and flash when fired. If the caliber is too small, the lethality is insufficient, and if the caliber is too large, the recoil is too great. Moreover, the use of black powder always leaves residue in the barrel, making it too troublesome to use and maintain.
The Mauser 71 was one of the last rifles to use black powder. Although it achieved a metal cartridge case, it still had many shortcomings, and Qin Mo, who was well aware of these, naturally wanted to solve this problem.
Qin Mo knew the basic manufacturing process of nitrocellulose, and both Da Yuan and Tian Zhu had large quantities of saltpeter and cotton, providing the essential raw materials for the mass production of nitrocellulose.
"Sieman, how's the research on that nitrocellulose smokeless gunpowder I told you about the other day going?"
“Your Highness, nitrocellulose is indeed very powerful, but like nitroglycerin, it is too dangerous. I once tried using it in rifle bullets, and it exploded in the barrel…”
"Oh! This... try treating it with alcohol or another solution, and then try to solidify it. Its combustion and explosion speed should slow down, making it less dangerous..."
Before Qin Mo went to Xizhou, he left Ximan the method for making nitroglycerin, asking him to try it carefully. Now it has begun to be used on a small scale in the mines controlled by Da Yuan.
He was aware of the instability of nitrocellulose. Compared to blasting, the stability requirements for gun propellants were undoubtedly much higher, and a solution had to be found before large-scale deployment could proceed.
"Simman, try using equal amounts of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin, plus a small amount of camphor. Eventually, you'll find a stable formula!"
"When will our new rifles and metal-cased bullets be produced?"
"Let's start production immediately! The output will definitely be small at first, but we'll adjust the equipment to increase production and gradually equip our main regiments!"
Qin Mo provided the basic formula for the double-base gunpowder invented by Nobela, and asked Seaman to try it out. Once smokeless gunpowder could be mass-produced, his modern firearms production line would be almost ready.
Seaman immediately led his men to excitedly study the new rifles and gunpowder. The clever but weak elves surrounded him, humbly asking him all sorts of questions. The once dull and silent Seaman had now taken on the air of an alchemy master.
After leaving the secret laboratory of the gun factory, Qin Mo, on a whim, leaped to the highest point of the entire shipyard.
Looking around, the entire shipyard occupied the entire mountain area, already resembling a modern industrial zone, with towering blast furnaces, adjacent factory buildings, and countless workers like worker ants.
Further afield, there were even more large-scale workshops for brewing, sugar making, textiles, papermaking, and so on, all of which belonged to Qin Mo.
"Wow! Just how much wealth do I have?"
Qin Mo racked her brains but still couldn't remember how much wealth she had now.
"Forget it, I'll just ask my wife about this troublesome thing!" In the end, Qin Mo gave up thinking about it and decided to go home, play with the children, and ask her wife.
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