Chapter 401: Chapter 395: The Expensive Grand Napoleon Cannon
Gazing at the 12-pound bronze field cannon symbolizing the pinnacle of French muzzle-loading artillery before him, Jerome Bonaparte’s thoughts seemed to drift back to a summer in a previous life.
At that time, he was browsing a web novel titled "Lingao Awakening." While he can no longer clearly recall the content, the one thing that left an impression on him was the two 19th-century weapons in the hands of the "Lingao Five Hundred Baboon Brigade." With these two weapons, they launched a dimensional reduction attack against the Late Ming Dynasty.
However, stemming from the endless internal conflict since the birth of humanity, the internal political struggles of the "Five Hundred Baboon Brigade" far outweighed their external warfare.
One of these two weapons was the Minie Gun, actively used by the French, and the other was the product placed before Jerome Bonaparte, the Grand Napoleon Cannon.
Back then, out of curiosity, he even went online specifically to find the construction blueprints of the Grand Napoleon Cannon and its firing videos.
Now, as the physical presence of the Grand Napoleon Cannon was laid out in front of him, Jerome Bonaparte felt a sudden and inexplicable sense of disorientation swell within him.
Time has passed, and ultimately, there’s no going back.
Thinking of this, Jerome Bonaparte couldn’t help but let out a long and short sigh.
As Jerome Bonaparte was musing nostalgically, Vilnius, who stood to the side, noticed something unusual about him. She softly called out to Jerome Bonaparte, "Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"
Her calls snapped Jerome Bonaparte back to reality, and he offered an apologetic smile to the two slightly nervous artillerymen before him. Then, in a gentle tone, he asked those around him, "Who among you can introduce me to this cannon?"
Standing behind Jerome Bonaparte, Bashirio glanced at his team of field artillery engineers and signaled with his eyes for one of the main design engineers to explain the structure of the new-style cannon.
The engineer, understanding Bashirio’s hint, quickly stepped forward, bowed to Jerome Bonaparte, and said, "Your Majesty, let me introduce the structure of this cannon to you!"
"Are you its creator?" Jerome Bonaparte sized up the engineer before him. From his aged appearance, upright posture, and the callus on his right middle finger, he seemed like someone who had emerged from the military.
"Not just me!" The engineer revealed a shy smile and added, "There are more than ten people in our team; they are all creators of this cannon!"
"Alright! It’s you, then!" Jerome Bonaparte pointed at the engineer and said.
The engineer adjusted himself, with a serious expression, came to the front of the 12-pound bronze cannon. Stroking the bronze barrel, he said, "This cannon is a 12-pound field cannon, designed with improvements based on the original 6-pound field cannon. The caliber of the barrel is 114mm, which is 21mm more than the 6-pound field cannon (which has a 93mm caliber). The larger caliber allows the entire cannon to accommodate a 12-pound (5.44 kg) heavy iron shell.
With just 2.5 pounds (1.13 kg) of standard gunpowder, the 12-pound shell can be propelled at a very high speed (439 meters per second). When the muzzle is at a 5-degree angle with the horizontal, the precise distance is about 1480 meters. When the muzzle is at a 10-degree shooting angle with the horizontal, the precise shooting distance can reach around 1880 meters."
"1880 meters, huh?" Jerome Bonaparte pondered the data of the Napoleon Cannon in his mind as he stroked his chin.
After a long while, Jerome Bonaparte spoke again, "As I understand it, the maximum range of a 6-pound field cannon is only about 1300 meters! Right!"
"Exactly!" The engineer didn’t hesitate to respond: "Moreover, when the target is about 200 meters away, the power of a 6-pound field cannon diminishes, and its power can’t even pierce through half a column, while a 12-pound field cannon is enough to pierce through an entire column at 550 meters!"
"How about the weight?" Jerome Bonaparte inquired again.
Facing the endless questions from Jerome Bonaparte, the engineer was clearly well-prepared: "As for the weight, the total weight of the entire cannon is 1109 kilograms. If you add the carriage five ammunition boxes, it’s about 1750 pounds! Although it’s much heavier than the previous 6-pound cannon, it also greatly enhances its power. Moreover, this field cannon is much lighter than a siege cannon!"
"Sounds pretty good!" Jerome Bonaparte responded, then shifted his tone: "However, after hearing you talk so much, I just want to know if we can do a live fire demonstration! After all, what you hear may not always be true; only seeing it with your own eyes is believing."
"Of course!" The engineer answered without hesitation.
The reason the cannon was brought to the firing range today was precisely to let military personnel see whether they had faked anything. However, the Emperor’s arrival had forced the ongoing live fire demonstration to pause.
Since the Emperor said it could begin, they did not need to worry about other issues.
"Begin!" The engineer nodded to the two live-fire artillerymen beside him.
Upon receiving the engineer’s orders, the two artillerymen immediately sprang into action. One of them took the worm from next to the gun carriage and inserted it into the muzzle to scrape out leftover fragments from the previous firing inside the barrel.
With swift skill, the artilleryman scraped out the fragments. Another artilleryman placed the damp sponge inside the cannon bore for a second cleaning. The damp sponge can remove any hot fragments not cleared by the worm. After two sponge cleanings, the standard 2.5-pound gunpowder, packaged in a nylon bag, was inserted into the cannon bore.
Next, the 12-pound solid cannonball was laboriously pushed into the bore.
Finally, the solid cannonball and standard propellant are placed in the correct position in the cannon’s barrel using the rod.
For a skilled artilleryman, the entire process takes only 30 seconds.
However, these two artillerymen took more than 40 seconds, clearly lacking some technical proficiency.
Once everything was ready, the engineer turned to ask Jerome Bonaparte if he wanted to fire a shot himself.
Eager for this opportunity given his love for firearms, Jerome Bonaparte gently released Vilnius’ hand and stepped up to the Grand Napoleon Cannon.
"Your Majesty, you just need to pull here!" Due to the pull rope design principle of the Grand Napoleon Cannon, as opposed to the fuse used in the Little Napoleon Cannon, the engineer helpfully pointed to the pull rope of the Grand Napoleon Cannon to prevent Jerome Bonaparte from embarrassing himself.
Jerome Bonaparte gently grasped the white pull rope and stood to one side of the Grand Napoleon Cannon. Jerome Bonaparte was well aware of the recoil of the Grand Napoleon Cannon.
Then, Jerome Bonaparte gave a firm pull.
Accompanied by a thunderous roar, the muzzle of the Grand Napoleon Cannon formed a conical white cloud, which only occurs when a projectile breaks the sound barrier.
The solid cannonball breaking the sound barrier charged forward with unstoppable momentum, heading directly towards a group of straw mannequins 700 meters ahead.
A few seconds later, the speed slightly reduced, the cannonball plunged into the straw men like a tiger descending a mountain.
One, two, three... more than a dozen straw men were knocked down by the irresistible cannonball in an instant. If the cannonball were converted into real people, the scene would now be a bloodbath.
The cannonball, having "knocked down" nearly a column of straw soldiers, continued its flight, crashing into the forest behind the straw men.
The dull sound came from the forest nearly a kilometer from Jerome Bonaparte. Startled birds in the forest quickly took flight, creating a scene of a hundred birds soaring.
"Not bad!" Jerome Bonaparte nodded in satisfaction, then turned to ask Nie’er: "What do you think?"
"In terms of the cannon’s power, it’s indeed excellent!" Nie’er was also quite satisfied with the Grand Napoleon Cannon itself, then added: "If the price could be a bit lower, that would be even better!"
"Hmm? What’s the price of this cannon?" Jerome Bonaparte realized that this cannon might not be cheap.
Just from the amount of bronze used for the cannon itself, the total quote, including labor costs, is likely over 2000 francs.
What does 2000 francs mean? It’s equivalent to the total annual expense for a family of three Parisian workers!
"Our quote is 2500 francs!" The engineer told Jerome Bonaparte the price.
Hearing the engineer’s quote, Jerome Bonaparte took a deep breath.
A price of 2500 francs is equivalent to what two ordinary workers could earn in a year.
Now, using the equivalent of two workers’ annual earnings to produce such a cannon really made Jerome Bonaparte feel the pinch.
Moreover, buying a cannon isn’t a one-time purchase, it requires purchasing hundreds, if not thousands, so the initial cost of artillery plus ammunition wouldn’t be less than 5 million francs.
"Uh... can it be a bit cheaper?" Jerome Bonaparte didn’t hesitate, openly negotiating this with the engineer of his own company.
The engineer looked helplessly at Bashirio, at a loss for words.
Bashirio, originally standing at the back, stepped forward and said to Jerome Bonaparte, "Your Majesty, 2500 francs is already our best offer to the military! For export, this cannon would need at least 3000 francs."
"Is there really no way to make it a bit cheaper?" Jerome Bonaparte asked again.
"How about this!" Bashirio seemed to make a major decision and said to Jerome Bonaparte, "Each cannon for 2400 francs, no less! We’re already doing this at a low profit and high volume!"