European Financial Emperor - European Financial Emperor chapter 10

010 A boy’s idea product (2)

On the way from Indonesia to the Persian Gulf, Lee Hwan was doing his best to develop white powder.

It has been developing for four months already to make nitrocellulose.

In fact, there were several explosions, but in general, chemical formulas were made during the voyage and experiments were conducted while anchored, so even if an explosion occurred, people were not aware of it.

Of course, it never caused a mass explosion.

The process of obtaining nitrocellulose is simpler than you might think.

Soak the cotton in the mixed acid for about 2 minutes, drain the acid with cold water, and then dry it slowly at 38 degrees Celsius.

Of course, it included complicated and patient tasks such as removing foreign substances, stretching fibers, dehydrating, and adding stabilizers.

“… … done.”

In the fourth month of development, Lee Hwan finally succeeded in obtaining nitrocellulose.

However, it was absurd to make bullets with only this, and it had to be mixed with a stabilizer, an anti-inflammatory agent, and an anti-inflammatory agent.

It would probably take months or even years just to get the ratio right.

“I was lucky. It is possible to obtain nitrocellulose of this purity in this period of time.”

Hwan Lee has now partially succeeded in developing a rear-loaded bolt-action rifle, and is equipped with a perfect magazine-chamber linkage mechanism.

It was almost a realization of the 1903 Springfield rifle.

But there was one problem.

The point is that the design of the rifle must be different because black powder and white powder have slightly different combustion methods.

Therefore, Lee Hwan made a ‘cartridge steel wire rifle’ made using black powder and made it available for immediate use.

The last time I fired, I was able to fire 5 rounds per minute, and there was no problem in shooting in any position.

However, there was a bit of a problem when firing with the rounds because there were too many bullets, and there was a high possibility that the smoke from the gunpowder would be exposed to the enemy.

The strengths were that he could still shoot while lying down, and that the aim was not severely disturbed by pouring gunpowder with the muzzle upright.

“Well, in fact, if only the cartridge steel wire rifle was released as it is now, I would be sitting on a cushion of money.”

Lee Hwan made a casing out of brass just in case, and made about 100 cartridges of cartridge ammunition compressed with black powder in it.

It was because they might have to demonstrate shooting later in order to attract investment.

“Fufu, if this is enough, will I be able to rise to the ranks of millionaires?”

Lee Hwan swelled in a sweet dream.

Just then, people started pouring out onto the deck of East Stella.

ding ding!

Since Lee Hwan took part in the voyage, there has never been a time when the bell rang as urgent as it is now.

He went outside to see what was going on.

Then, the first sight came to mind when the captain Jeff was screaming at the whale whale.

“There is a black flag ahead! Everyone, load your rifles and wait for my orders!”

“… … Black flag?”

Since the first maritime trade in Europe, piracy and natural disasters have never been unheard of.

In recent years, to secure the safety of the trading base, the British and American naval forces have been taking turns sweeping pirates, so their prestige has waned a bit, but pirates who are aiming for a hot pot are bound to ride wherever they go.

Like the pirates in movies and cartoons, they weren’t so sloppy.

Pirates were those who had poison enough to chew human flesh because they were starving, so all the crew members of merchant ships would be annihilated as soon as they were caught.

Jeff clenched his teeth.

“… … damn it! I heard that the U.S. Navy won the Battle of Barbary. Have I heard the rumors?”

In fact, the Barbary pirates under the control of the Ottoman Empire were notorious for, and used to destroy the Strait of Gibraltar.

In short, it meant that his life was at stake.

Under Jeff’s command, the sailors each grabbed their rifles and started pouring gunpowder into the muzzle.

However, there were only a few skilled shooters, and all of them dropped their hands like an old man with tremor and couldn’t put in gunpowder properly.

“If we get close to the artillery range, we will surely die. Of course, if there was a hand-to-hand battle, there would be no chance of winning.”

Although Jeff was a mercenary, he was a commander comparable to that of a platoon commander and was at the forefront of the battlefield.

In his judgment, this fight seemed most likely to end in a one-sided defeat of the Ben Heren fleet.

Andre also ran out of the commotion.

“young master! Where are you, Master?!”

“Father, I am here!”

Andre sighed in relief as soon as he saw Lee Hwan.

Apparently, he was worried that Lee Hwan might have another accident in this uproar.

He took Lee Hwan’s hand.

“Master, let’s go into the cabin! This is going to be a battlefield!”

“… … But if we stay like this, we will be the first to suffer, right?”

“However, there is nothing the master can do now.”

In an instant, Lee Hwan felt the hot blood that had been sleeping in his body welling up.

Perhaps it was the courage of pride and experience as a former Marine sniper.

He quickly grasped the situation.

‘If we fight now, we will be defeated in a hundred battles. In that case, you must first find a way to destroy the enemy’s morale and sniper the commander!’

In the case of the cartridge rifle developed by Lee Hwan, the range is up to 1,000 meters, and it can be seen that it has a range that cannot even be reached with the existing matchlock rifles.

If so, the moment it was used against the enemy, the pirates were highly likely to be confused.

he decided

‘let’s fight!’

Lee Hwan quickly ran to his cabin.

In the cabin, the cartridge steel wire rifle he had completed and 100 rounds of bullets were prepared.

“I didn’t know it was going to be like this.”

He ran back to the deck after loading the bag with ropes and rubber bands for hanging convenience tools to make the rifle easier to use.

Andre was a little embarrassed when Lee Hwan, who he thought was running away in fear, came out armed alone.

“Do, Master… … ?”

“I’m going to break their morale! Father, get me some telescopes! Hurry up!”

“Hey, a telescope?”

“yes! Please!”

On the way, Lee Hwan started climbing up the watchtower without looking back.

Andre’s expression as he looked at it became mysterious.

Andre then sets out to find the telescope at Lee Hwan’s request.

Lee Hwan trusted Andre to grant his request and climbed up the watchtower, relying on a rope.

Lee Hwan had the muscular endurance to go back and forth more than 200 meters without resting on a single rope, which is difficult for even an adult to ride.

As I climbed the watchtower, I saw a pirate ship approaching slowly, as if something small but black was swaying.

The distance between the two was now about 300 meters, and it was possible to discern to some extent with the naked eye.

“There is still room in the city!”

After reciting Lee Hwan by himself, he opened the chamber of the rifle and loaded a bullet into it.

shudder!

This single-shot, bolt-action firearm had a mechanism in which a needlepointer pierces a cartridge to ignite a detonator.

It was similar to the dry needle rifle developed in 1836, but the accuracy was overwhelmingly high.

After putting his body as close as possible to the watchtower, Lee Hwan took a stable shooting position.

The buttstock was firmly attached to the shoulder, and the left arm was bent at 45 degrees to support the barrel as if it were lightly wrapped around it.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to shoot the Iksa-ho.”

Because my grandfather’s grandfather was a veteran, Lee Hwan could not go anywhere in the army.

Like his grandfather in his old years, Lee Hwan enlisted in the Marine Corps, and after adding another drink, he received sniper training in the reconnaissance corps.

His military service was ridiculously short compared to his grandfather’s generation, but Lee Hwan was a sniper he knew in his own way.

“Whew… … .”

After clearing his breathing, Lee Hwan became one with the heavy barrel weighing 4 kg.

Although the hasty voice is quite a flying scale and sight, it would be an aiming mechanism unmatched in this age.

Although it was crude, I made it by remembering the time when I treated the weapon like my lover as much as possible, so Lee Hwan only believed in his own memory.

Eventually, Lee Hwan controls his breathing, and strangely, his mind was very clear and his eyes were unusually good.

‘It seems that some kind of telescope is automatically attached to the eye.’

Lee Hwan waits for the right time, feeling his superhuman power.

Then, the distance between the two sides was about 250 meters.

He almost instinctively aimed at the top tenth of the enemy’s hull.

‘Are you feeling okay?’

Lee Hwan fired the first shot.

Taang!

A smoky gunpowder smoke rose thickly.

‘Oh, it’s firing!’

He was delighted inside, but apparently indifferent on the outside, he opened the chamber and ejected the cartridge case with a small pincer.

It was decided to drop the ejected cartridge case well on the floor and pick it up later to recycle it.

Lee Hwan takes one more step.

It was doubtful whether the black flag he had been aiming for had yet fallen.

Then he heard a voice from under the watchtower.

“young master! I brought a telescope!”

“Yes, Thank you! I will lower the rope, so tie it up!”

“All right! Oh, and on the deck, you can see the master sprinting right and left by hitting the enemy flag in the telescope!”

As Lee Hwan looked down, he could see that the sailors were cheering and cheering at Lee Hwan’s shooting.

He smiled softly and pulled up the telescope.

Two telescopes were tied with a rope, one was a small telescope used for watching performances, and the other was a monocular telescope used for sailing.

I don’t know which one would be better, so I guess I just brought everything I could get my hands on.

“You are a smart person, our priest.”

Lee Hwan placed the telescope on the barrel and woven it well with a rubber band and a rope.

In case Jonggu overheats, a cloth was added under the rope, and a crosshair was constructed by removing the hair for easy aiming.

Although it was made coarsely with glue and rubber bands, there seemed to be no problem with aiming.

“Okay, that’s right!”

Since he had only been looking through the scope for over two years, Hwan Lee could recognize the crosshairs of the scope even if it was bent a little like a ghost.

After attaching the telescope and aligning the reticle, it seemed to be possible to shoot.

After he broke his spectator binoculars, he left them fixed in his left eye.

He used both eyes in this way because it would be more advantageous to track him even if he missed the target.

When I looked through the lens of the enemy, I could see that they were really moving right and left.

What was impressive, however, was that everyone was in an orderly line with Owa, murmuring amongst themselves, only looking around.

“Have you been trained?”

If you were a Barbary pirate, you might have received a high level of training.

However, no matter how trained the pirates were, if the leader died, they would have no choice but to do so.

Whew… … !

Through the fluttering flag, Lee Hwan measured the direction in which the current wind was blowing and how hard it was blowing.

I had a rough idea of how to shoot, but I couldn’t say it was accurate.

“I don’t have any equipment, so what’s the point? There is no one to control the fire… … . I have no choice but to aim and shoot by myself.”

Lee Hwan had never fired in such an unfavorable condition.

Even without an adjunct, it was difficult to break through such a bad condition.

But he believed he could do it himself.

‘I became a monster for some reason. I can do this much!’

Lee Hwan caught his breath again.