Tyranny of Steel

Another few weeks had passed, and Arethas had long since left to return to his home in Ionia; of course, he would first report to the Emperor about his visit and his success in acquiring firearms. Yet that was a story for another time.

At the moment, Berengar was in the testing facility once more, where he was observing the introduction of two new key pieces of equipment. Ones that would drastically change the results of the battlefield once again. 

Since Ludwig had designed the Schmidt gun, which greatly resembled the Puckle Gun from his previous life, he had spent a great deal of time and effort bringing it to reality. At the moment, three of such weapons were lined up in the testing field, with multiple cylinders loaded with either solid ball or shot.

The Schmidt guns were mounted on carriages that could be dragged by horses, much like a standard artillery piece. Thus allowing for excellent mobility of the weapons on the battlefield. This immediately caught the eyes of the artillery officers present, who by now had all engaged in battle at some point.

Soon these weapons would be demonstrating their capabilities to Berengar and many of his artillery officers who had gathered. Berengar was about to hold a speech, and Ludwig was standing next to him; this speech would do two things. 

It would introduce Ludwig as the inventor of the Schmidt gun and establish him as a new rank of landless nobility. Thus the charismatic young count spoke with a great deal of passion for the man in front of him, who was also a great friend.

"I have gathered you all here today to witness the birth of a mighty weapon, one that would not exist without the brilliant mind of this man standing before you. Most of you should be aware of his identity; he is Ludwig Schmidt; without his efforts, none of you would be equipped with the weapons you use in the field!

He is the director of Kufstein's industrial sector, and now he has invented a weapon that will change the course of the battlefield; what you see before you is known as the Schmidt Gun, named in honor of its creator!

It is a revolving artillery piece with the ability to fire nine rounds per minute! Either solid ball or a shot comprised of 16 musket balls! Its effective range is 75 yards, with its maximum range being 200! Now let us witness how effective this weapon truly is!"

Upon hearing this impassioned speech, a series of applause erupted from the audience of Officers who had gathered to witness the destructive power of the new weapon. An enemy formation of 100 straw targets was set up at 75 yards, each equipped with brigandine breastplates that simulated an enemy formation. The moment Berengar gave the order, the three guns began to fire their volley.

The first volley fired by the Schmidt Guns was filled with solid balls, and a total of 27 rounds were fired in a single minute; the large balls devastated the enemy formation, as they tore through not only one opponent but sometimes the target behind them as well. 

However, the demonstration was not finished with that. Instead, the cylinders were rapidly replaced with ones filled with canisters, and before long, another volley was fired off; each canister contained 16 musket balls that flew downrange into the targets and shredding them apart, a total of 9 canisters were fired per the three guns in the span of one minute resulting in a whopping 432 musket balls being fired into the enemy formation during that small time frame.

The resulting devastation of the simulated enemy formation was shocking even to the veteran artillery officers who had waged many battles. They could only imagine the effects such a weapon would have on the battlefield when used alongside standard cannons. It was indeed an astonishing degree of destruction that these so-called Schmidt guns wrought upon the armored straw targets.

After the demonstration was finished and the straw targets were thoroughly scrapped. Berengar noticed his officers were staring in silence for some time. Eventually, a single officer began to clap, and before long, it transformed into thunderous applause. 

So much so that Berengar had to calm the men down before saying his other piece of important news.

"Due to the great extent that Ludwig Schmidt has served our great County, I hereby anoint him as Baronet for his exceptional service to the County of Tyrol! For those of you wondering, Baronet is a new hereditary rank of landless nobility who shall be henceforth be appointed from the common people who have accomplished exemplary service to the County. For those of you present who are nobles do not fret, for it is the lowest tier of nobility!"

The news that Berengar declared just now was shocking to the people present, especially considering the officer class was almost entirely filled with Knights and Nobleman at the moment. Thus they were conflicted over the matter. However, Berengar did state that they were landless nobility, and at the bottom of the hierarchy therefore such a thing was somewhat acceptable to the old nobility.

Despite their concerns over the issue, they still applauded Ludwig on his promotion, and the old man shared his usual toothy grin in response. He was now a member of the nobility, even if he was at the bottom of the hierarchy. 

However, Berengar did not stop the presentation here; he had another critical invention to add to his military, one that Ludwig had helped produce; it was a relatively simple design and thus could be employed in mass numbers. 

However, this presentation was meant for the infantry officers, and thus he dismissed the Artillery officers before approaching the other test field where his infantry officers had already gathered. On the field was a platoon of Grenadiers, who appeared to be holding the standard 1417/18 Rifled Musket that was issued to the majority of Berengar's infantry. 

However, what shocked them was that their cartridge boxes were open, and in them were no longer the standard-issue paper cartridge but a wooden cartridge; this invention was based upon the Japanese Hayago from Berengar's previous life and essentially sped up the reloading process. Thus Berengar boldly declared its effects to the infantry Officers who were gathered and observing the strange new devices.

"This is the quick loading tube; it will replace the use of paper cartridges in our service. It is made of wood and contains a Minie ball projectile and the gunpowder inside of it! This device allows the gunpowder and projectile to be loaded in a single motion, thus allowing a far quicker reload speed! Instead of firing two rounds in a minute, your soldiers will be firing five!"

The Grenadiers present had spent the last few weeks getting accustomed to the device and by now were exceptionally proficient in its use. As such, they rapidly reloaded their first shot. In doing so, they placed the wooded tube to the bore of the rifled musket and then jammed its ramrod inside of it; with this act, the gunpowder and bullet were filled into the musket in a single motion. 

After doing so, they quickly cocked their rifles, aimed at the targets downrange, and fired. Within seconds the platoon of grenadiers reloaded their muskets and fired again. This rate of fire peaked at five rounds in a single minute, thus thoroughly shredding the enemy formation in front of them at a hundred yards. 

The infantry officers who were gathered for this demonstration were just as shocked at its display as the artillery officers were for the Schmidt gun. This small wooden tubular device would change the way they waged war. It would make Berengar's armies far more lethal than the enemy forces, even if the enemy got their hands on some primitive firearms. 

Thus a roar of applause echoed throughout the testing field as the infantry officers clapped to their heart's content. They would now be able to fire many more projectiles downrange at the enemy forces before having to engage in melee combat; such a device was genuinely revolutionary. 

Berengar himself was impressed with the speed and efficiency that his grenadiers utilized such devices with; if his entire army could be trained to be so efficient in their use, nobody in this world would be able to challenge him on land. Thus he too applauded the soldiers who had been used in the demonstration. 

Berengar could see the rise of his future Grand Army with the new military inventions, all he needed now was a matching Grand Navy, something he planned to begin construction on shortly. For now, in the following months, his troops would be adequately trained in the use of the quick loading tubes, which would become referred to as tubes in the future for simplicity. 

Berengar's grand ambitions were slowly but surely starting to become a reality, and thus he looked upon the new military innovations with pride. He truly believed the weapons his army currently wielded would establish his dynasty's dominance for years to come—something he greatly anticipated.