The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1632 Brownish-yellow explosives

After so many years of development, the shogunate and the various domains' naval forces had acquired a lot of equipment that had been phased out by the Austrian Empire, and even a few steamships.

When the combined fleet of various vassal states appeared on the sea, Russian fleet commander Putyatin chose to flee immediately.

This unsuccessful probe not only failed to bring Russia any benefits, but also sent a signal to St. Petersburg that it needed to strengthen its border defenses.

Meanwhile, in Kyoto, Emperor Komei pushed all the delicious food and wine before him to the ground. The reason was simple: for such a momentous matter, the Shogun and the various daimyo preferred to consult a priestess rather than the Emperor.

Tyrol, an extremely remote testing ground, is under strict control. Nearby residents have long been forcibly relocated, leaving only densely packed watchtowers and hunters traversing the mountains.

Apart from a few researchers, no one, not even nobles, officials, children, or shepherds, was allowed to approach this restricted area.

Auguste Transylvan was originally a French military scientist and chemist. After the fall of the July Monarchy, he fled to Austria and served as a chemical advisor to the Austrian Imperial War Department.

Christian Schönbein, a chemist from the Kingdom of Baden, currently works at the Royal Academy of Sciences of Austria.

August Trang's fingertips touched the detonator handle, an intricate brass rod containing a magnet and a fuse.

His forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat, and his eyes behind his glasses were bloodshot, but at this moment they were shining with an unprecedented fervor.

August Tran had paid too high a price for this day. He looked at his partner, Professor Christian Schönbein, his eyes filled with a burning desire for success. He wanted to prove that he was not a fraud.

Professor Christian Schönbein remained silent; he was somewhat tired, and the long period of closed-door experiments had left him somewhat dazed.

"I knew this money wouldn't be so easy to earn."

Christian Schönbein gave a wry smile.

"Detonate! Success or failure hinges on this!"

August Tran took a deep breath and pressed the brass switch.

With a deafening roar, a burst of orange flame erupted, followed by an exaggerated shockwave.

The target was a seven-foot-thick sand and gravel wall, which could withstand fire from all types and calibers of rifles at the time, and even direct fire from small-caliber artillery.

However, this sturdy defense was blasted to pieces in just a moment, with rubble and dirt falling like raindrops.

The surrounding livestock had long since disappeared, leaving only some indescribable dark red fragments and charred fur scattered on the ground.

A goat's half-charred head was slowly falling off a boulder, with only a patch of charred mucus remaining in its eye sockets.

Undoubtedly, their efforts finally paid off, and chemists Christian Schönbein and August Tran wept with joy.

On the distant observation platform, some people shouted with excitement, while others vomited from nausea. Regardless, they had finally succeeded; they had been confined to this testing ground deep in the mountains for three years to develop this new type of explosive.

Franz's expression remained calm and composed, as if everything was under his control. Vincent Augustin, the head of the Austrian Imperial Weapons Development Bureau, standing beside him, couldn't fathom the Emperor's thoughts. In fact, Franz had already concocted nitroglycerin, but it was far too unruly; even the slightest vibration, unintentional friction, or simply uncorking the bottle could ignite it.

Therefore, nitroglycerin was initially used for assassination, but later, under Franz's guidance, chemists and medical scientists extracted nitroglycerin from it.

The Austrian Empire had mastered the use of detonators by 1848, but it was still difficult to put them into actual combat, since they were often more lethal to its own people than to the enemy.

In an effort to tame nitroglycerin, Austrian chemists and weapons experts mixed almost every known material.

Franz had no choice but to know that nitroglycerin could be mixed with something to reduce its activity. So, the daily routine in the laboratory was for a group of chemists to carefully mix nitroglycerin in a certain proportion and then tap it with a small hammer.

The reality is that some mixtures will dislocate your hand if you hit them with a hammer, while other mixtures completely lose their activity and cannot be detonated at all, thus losing their original properties.

Until someone accidentally mixed diatomaceous earth and nitroglycerin together, the mixture could be kneaded into various shapes like clay, greatly reducing sensitivity.

But its power is still astonishing, enough to change the world today.

Take the city wall in front of us as an example. In the past, it would have required a long period of artillery bombardment or close-range heavy rocket bombardment to destroy it.

This new type of brownish-yellow explosive (the historical Dana explosive) could easily destroy it. In addition, the Austrian Empire at this time had developed reinforced concrete fortifications, which were several times stronger than traditional fortifications.

If gunpowder is too inefficient, war will turn into a real meat grinder when the defensive capabilities of both sides are far stronger than their offensive capabilities.

This was clearly not what Franz wanted to see; he preferred a quick victory, followed by further development and land acquisition.

In addition, the Austrian Imperial military finally obtained the high-explosive shells they had been dreaming of. Although few people would do this in later generations, at this time, this less stable explosive was definitely the first choice for high-explosive shells.

The airship forces also increased their drop options, and these high-powered explosives greatly enhanced their lethality.

This new brownish-yellow explosive would also have enabled the Austrian Empire to carve through the isthmus to open the Nicaragua Canal. Without it, it would have taken 7-8 years, or even longer, to excavate it manually.

Of course, Franz's main purpose in digging the Nicaragua Canal was to tame foreigners, and in that respect, he had already achieved his goal.

In fact, this new brownish-yellow explosive will reshape the landscape, and all kinds of seemingly insurmountable barriers and indestructible obstacles will no longer be a problem.

Furthermore, it will trigger a mining revolution, from which the depth at which mining can be carried out will no longer depend on the worker's hoes and shovels, but on the amount of explosives.

However, these ideas currently only exist in Franz's mind. He needs to pass on what he knows first, otherwise it would be too slow for them to figure it out slowly.

Initially, Franz wanted to let things take their natural course, but he found that his money, aside from causing frequent accidents and rampant corruption, had far less positive effect than he had imagined.

Left with no other choice, Franz resorted to the most rudimentary method—the process of elimination. However, the process of elimination and scientific research were conducted in parallel, since Franz himself was unsure which would succeed first.

Franz's next target is smokeless gunpowder; hopefully, this time everything will go smoothly.

In reality, the Austrian Empire's technology tree was quite haphazardly developed. Unbeknownst to Franz, the Austrian Empire's rockets had already begun using nitroglycerin propellant.