Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 46: A New Design 1

This morning, Ou Yang sold six defensive talismans to Zuo Hengbai for 500 yuan; he was now truly rolling in cash. So, without even glancing at the old junk, he picked up a brand-new Republic Model 28 breech-loading percussion rifle. As a military enthusiast in his previous life who firmly believed that “a poor pen is better than a good memory,” Ou Yang had a habit that others found very strange: based on his memories from various military magazines in his past life, he would draw blueprints of weapons—some detailed design diagrams, but mostly simple floor plans. This habit had persisted ever since Ou Yang was reborn into this world two years ago. One benefit of this habit was that Ou Yang could evaluate weapon performance by comparing firearms from the two worlds. For example, the needle rifle he currently holds closely resembles the French Chassepot rifle from Earth in his previous life. However, Ou Yang hasn’t noticed the rubber gas seal on the bolt designed to prevent gas leakage—which makes sense, since the current Empire hasn’t yet discovered the New World, and rubber is still an unknown material here. Opening the bolt reveals a long firing pin inside—a feature somewhat reminiscent of the German Dreyse M1841. “You’re clearly an expert, Magistrate Ou,” the gun shop owner flattered him from the side. “This is the next-generation standard-issue rifle that the Ministry of War’s Armaments Bureau just approved last year. It’s 135 centimeters long, with an 82-centimeter barrel and a 12-millimeter caliber. They say it has a range of over 500 meters—it’s practically a divine weapon!” ‘Five hundred meters? That’s nothing. The real Xiashaibo rifle has an effective range of eight hundred meters. But what’s the point? I’m not a sniper—I wasn’t expecting a rifle to be of much use beyond two hundred meters anyway.’ Ou Yang shot the man a sidelong glance, put the rifle back where he found it, and picked up another one to examine. In truth, complaints aside, at a time when the armies of other countries around the world were still equipped with swords and chain mail, it wasn’t at all unreasonable to call a breech-loading rifle with a range of 500 meters a “miracle weapon.” Perhaps influenced by the predecessors who had traveled through time, the progress of the Imperial Army’s rifles was meteoric compared to Ou Yang’s previous life. This was evident from the model numbers of the standard-issue rifles—in the twenty-fifth year of the Heta era, the Empire began manufacturing flintlock muskets, though these never became standard issue. Three years later, in the twenty-eighth year of the Heta era, the first type of serpent-barrel matchlock musket was issued to the troops. Next came the flintlock muskets, which began to be issued in the forty-third year of the Hetao era. The Hetao dynasty ended in its forty-eighth year, and by the eleventh year of the Republic, mercury-firing muskets had already appeared. Now, the new-style breech-loading percussion rifles are about to become widespread. Each revolutionary advancement took an average of only fifteen to sixteen years; in just fifty years, the Empire had covered the three-hundred-plus-year history that, in his previous life, had spanned from matchlock muskets to breech-loading firearms. This has led to a curious phenomenon. By the time the last field army units equipped with “new-style” firearms had completed their re-equipment, the Ministry of War had already begun issuing an entirely new standard-issue rifle. This is the case even for the field armies—the cream of the Empire’s military—and the semi-professional military-colony troops, whose personnel—such as officers like Ou Yang—are authorized to carry firearms. Yet their issued equipment is actually two generations behind the latest weapons, still consisting primarily of flintlock smoothbore muskets. And they couldn’t even complain about it—the Han soldiers in the colonization army (mainly Han conscripts who had been demoted to commoners as punishment) were even issued flintlock guns converted from the 28th Year of Hetao model matchlock muskets, which were older than many of the soldiers themselves. For the same reason, it had become a common sight in arms markets like Sixth Street to see flintlock, percussion, and needle-fire rifles displayed side by side for sale. Add to that the private creations of gunsmiths, and the variety becomes truly dazzling. For example, Ou Yang discovered several types of breech-loading rifles with sliding breeches in this shop; some looked almost exactly like otherworldly twins of the Martini-Henry. “Which one are you planning to buy, Brother Qubing?” Seeing Ou Yang wandering around and picking up every breech-loading rifle to inspect it, Zuo Hengbai found it a bit odd. There was ongoing debate within the Ministry of War’s Armaments Bureau over which was superior: the Republic Model 28—the first rifle Ou Yang had picked up—or the Liaodong Model 27 (the lever-action rifle that closely resembled the Martini-Henry), which had lost out in last year’s competition for the new standard rifle. It was perfectly normal to hesitate between these two rifles, but was it really necessary to examine every single lever-action rifle in the shop? In reality, most of the new privately manufactured firearms were simply改良 versions of these two rifles. To reap the benefits of such改良, it would be better to simply buy one of them and then have a gunsmith modify it to his liking—that way, at least he would be thoroughly familiar with the weapon in his hands. “I want a weapon of my own design,” said Ou Yang, having finally inspected every type of breech-loading rifle in the shop. His goal was to gauge the current state of the Empire’s military manufacturing capabilities; whatever he planned to present later couldn’t be too advanced—or it wouldn’t be producible—nor too primitive—or it would invite ridicule. This time would allow him to make a decision in his mind. “What kind of weapon?” The question successfully piqued the curiosity of Zuo Hengbai and the shop owner. Ou Yang looked down and rummaged through his crossbody bag to pull out a design sketch. Ever since he’d learned he’d be coming to Junwei City, he’d picked out a few of his old drawings that seemed useful and carried them with him. This was the second benefit of a good habit. As a military enthusiast and internet buff on Earth in his previous life, he had seen countless cross-sectional diagrams of ancient weapons. In his spare time, Ou Yang had traced them many times, clearly labeling the materials used for each part and their respective functions. The drawings didn’t need to be crystal clear, nor did they need to be to scale—he simply had to pull them out and hand them to the gunsmiths. The diagram Ou Yang produced was of a British Lee-enfield-style rear-locking, rotating, rear-drawing bolt action rifle with a detachable box magazine. In his past life, the design drawings for a single new weapon could have filled an entire room, but in this world where gunsmiths were so prevalent, there was no need for such hassle. All the components in this simple design could be found in this world; at most, the dimensions might differ slightly, so crafting a new one shouldn’t be too difficult. Ou Yang had originally considered a Winchester lever-action repeating rifle. This type of firearm had an extremely high rate of fire and could provide strong fire suppression in small-scale combat, preventing the awkward situation he’d faced during his last lion hunt, where he’d been limited to a single shot. However, the lever-action rifle’s drawbacks are equally obvious—it can only use flat-nosed bullets, resulting in somewhat limited range and power. This assessment was based on his experiences on Earth, and in this world teeming with monsters, Ou Yang didn’t want to engage in close-quarters combat with any unusually robust creatures; one such experience was more than enough. Therefore, he chose the bolt and magazine design of the M1879 Lee rifle. This famous rifle was, in a sense, born out of time in his previous life: shortly after its design was finalized, smokeless powder emerged, forcing all modern rifles worldwide to be rapidly modified to accommodate smokeless powder cartridges, causing the Lee rifle to quickly become obsolete. Fortunately, the designs of its key components—the bolt and magazine—continued to evolve. Even in the twenty-first century, police forces in a certain major power still carried late-model variants of the “old Lee’s grandson”—rifles that should have long since been consigned to a museum. Speaking of bullets, they’re just as important as the gun itself—if not more so. While Zuo Hengbai and the gun shop owner were huddled together examining the new rifle’s blueprints, Ou Yang dug out and inspected every type of bullet in the store. He set aside the smoothbore bullets—which were essentially just small lead balls—and saw no need to examine the standard Minié bullets either. But those various types of custom-loaded cartridges deserved a thorough inspection; a good rifle must be paired with advanced ammunition, otherwise he might as well just use a Winchester—at least that could guarantee firepower density. Most of the ammunition used in Imperial mercury-primed percussion rifles consisted of brass center-fire cartridges, but the casings were made of either paper or copper. Even the copper casings were crimped, resulting in insufficient gas-tightness and disappointingly low strength—they had to be discarded. The metal casings produced by deep-drawing processes for percussion rifles and modern breech-loading rifles, however, are quite good. These rounds come in two types: one with a straight, cylindrical structure, and the other with a curved base resembling a wine bottle—both feature round projectiles. It goes without saying that a single glance reveals the second type carries a much larger charge and is undoubtedly more powerful, but such rounds will almost certainly result in extreme recoil. Historically, the Martini-Henry rifle—which used similar cartridges—would induce a fear of firearms in soldiers after firing more than thirty rounds, and by the fiftieth round, the shooter would be unable to hit any target at all. Therefore, Ou Yang decided to go with the first type of bullet. But the moment he turned around, he saw the gun shop owner’s excited expression. “Did you really design this yourself, sir?” The gun shop owner clutched the blueprints tightly, as if holding some extraordinary treasure.