26th April 1574"Okay then. Now that we know what you will be aiming for, I will make sure to forward this offer to all the parties that might be possibly interested. As for the price…"
If we were talking business, then the worth of the wares produced by my furnaces was of the utmost importance. With how most of its elements were made out of simple steel, as long as I could improve the quality of the metal produced by my furnaces, most of its cost could be decreased from even tens of red goldens to just a few of them.
But the problem here wasn"t in casting the proper shape or readying it for the use. Just like with working around the wood, with enough effort and steam engines in place, automating the process of casting, cooling and sharpening could be done. The worst part when looking at the sabre from an industrial point of view laid in finis.h.i.+ng the handle off with a material that allowed for a good grasp of the weapon!
Yet just like in modern times, if something would pose the trouble for the automation, I could simply outsource it to someone else!
"While this is just a rough estimate, I think we could get a raw sabre for about one or two red goldens. That would include all the costs of ores, smelting and casting it, all the way to sharpening. The problematic part is finis.h.i.+ng the handle off. As long as you could find a bunch of craftsmen that could focus only at this task alone, then from tens of ducats that the sabres can cost right now in their pure state without any decorations, we could lower their prices to just a few red goldens!"
As I was saying those words, my mind was already wandering through all the possible arnments that my future plants could produce. While making a pistol required one to just get a barrel, firing mechanism and the handle done, I didn"t see any reason to make this outdated technology if I could invest in more advanced types of weapons!
If only I could push forward the creation of the fused ammunition…
But wait, didn"t I already create the great way to do it?
What if I replicated the concept of my reaper guns in form of a mix between a carabine and revolving gun?
The greatest hurdle to overcome while creating fused ammunition was developing an element or mixture that could serve as the ignition mechanism for the gunpowder loaded inside. But what if I simply ignored that step, created a simple, iron casing, as thin as it could get, hammer the bullet at its top, loaded the gunpowder to the back and cover it with oiled paper?
With the abundance of the wooden dust that would come out of the sawing plant, creating simple paper ma.s.s was as easy as it could get. Just by enriching it with a bit of oil to make it just a bit more resistant to the moisture while increasing its burning potential would make for a great igniting plate! While it would still have to be fired with a burning match, it was a problem that all kinds of armies had to face!
"Your face is changing rapidly. Did you thought of something?"
Seeing the ongoing transformations of my expression, Governor stopped me from diving even deeper into the field of my imagination. But the excitement that took over my mind was simply too great to be calmed down by a single question.
"Sir, you surely remember those reaper guns, do you?"
As the concept behind those early type of machine guns and my idea for a personal weapon was basically the same, it was easier to simply point out at something that already existed and explain the intended changes rather than explaining the concept from the scratch.
"Yeah, I even fired them a few times to see their potential, and I have to admit, as long as you could improve the production of gunpowder as well, then it would change how all the wars will look from now on. After all, no one will find enough suicidal people to line against those machines of death!"
Hearing the confirmation from the governor, I asked him to come with me. After reaching my private tent, I grabbed one of the free pieces of parchment and the loose piece of charcoal, kneeled right on the ground and started drawing.
"We won"t make any big changes to the design. But just by taking a single barrel, that we can easily cast with the technology we already have on hand, locking it in line with the ignition mechanism by just two pieces of wood and adding the trigger that would push the burning match to the shoot rather than using a pedal, we could turn those heavy and hard to move around cannons, into something that all of the soldiers could be equipped with!"
After sending a glance towards the simple blueprint I drew on the paper, Governor kneeled in front of it and after thinking for a while, raised his head to line up his sight with mine.
"But you are still how are you going to make the bullets? From what I saw when testing the shots you gave me, they were all made with oiled cloth! While it pains me to say it, we don"t have enough cloth to produce it on a scale large enough to provide enough munition for even a single battle."
Hearing Jan"s input, I was too excited to even try to hide the proud smile from my face. With just a few more swings of my palm, I drew a simple design for the bullet casing, the bullet itself and its firing mechanism, before explaining the entire concept.
"So you want to do it like this! But what about the casing? If it will be shot along the bullet itself, won"t it decrease its reach due to the added weight?"
Once again, stunned by how smart this man was to point out something that even a man from the future like me forgot to even consider, I thought about it for a moment, before adding a few lines to the design of the magazine that would once again, go from the top of the gun to the bottom, only allowing one to shoot when it was perfectly lined with both the firing pipe and the barrel itself.
"That"s actually pretty simple. We will make the holes in the magazine a bit smaller than the casing, yet big enough for the bullet to pa.s.s. This way, the casing will remain in the used magazine, allowing us to melt it down and reuse it later on!"
In fact, when thinking about the design, I already realised that I could do a small improvement to the barrel itself! As long as it would be rifled, not only would the accuracy of the weapon improve, but so would the range at which it could be shoot!
"Sir, right now, I have simply too many ideas roaming through my head. For now, I will do my best to start the production of the simple sabres. As soon as I will have enough free time on my hands, I will make sure to focus on creating this new kind of gun. On the other side, if we want to have any chance at promoting this weapon, we will need an insane supply of the gunpowder itself. Do you think you could increase the local production with your own influence?"
Since I was now focused on the industrialization of the lands rather than making use of all the newly implemented inventions into their military aspect, I simply couldn"t waste my time on increasing the production of the gunpowder. As long as it would be done with the standard means available to the governor, even if only a small amount, those new rifles could enter the local market and earn us quite a lot of gold!
"Yes, it won"t be that much of a problem… But you said something about creating a portable steam horse, didn"t you? Would you mind showing the prototype you spoke about to me? As long as I could bring one or two machines like that to the sulfur mines, I"m sure the production of the gunpowder would skyrocket!"
Only now recalling the fact that my half-sized model of the mark two engines was most likely already done, I quickly stood up and cleaned my clothes from the dirt that attached to them while I was kneeling directly on the ground.
"Sure thing, sir. Follow me."