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

Chapter 1648 Geniuses go to the left, madmen go to the right.

The development of breech-loading cannons was not particularly difficult, as it was simply a matter of changing the structure.

Initially, the officers at the Royal Artillery College were quite dismissive of this, feeling that breech-loading cannons were too unorthodox and overly complicated.

Based on these officers' experience, the more complex the artillery, the lower the battlefield efficiency, and even the more unpredictable disasters may occur.

British weapons engineers quickly produced the first batch of breech-loading cannons, and during weapons testing they discovered that the rate of fire of breech-loading cannons was much higher than that of muzzle-loading cannons.

After all, each time a muzzle-loading cannon fires, the gunner has to use a push rod to clean the breech, then push the gunpowder pack into the breech, and then insert the shell. The whole process is very time-consuming and laborious.

The breech-loading cannon can directly open the breech, load the shell, and then close the breech to fire again. In terms of firepower density alone, the latter has an overwhelming advantage.

However, due to the weapons testers' lack of expertise and their eagerness to demonstrate the new artillery's capabilities to those old-fashioned veterans, the worst-case scenario, as described by the officers, occurred.

Two weapons testers mishandled the equipment, resulting in a leak of gunpowder gas that eventually ignited the entire artillery position.

One and a half tons of black powder exploded, and one of the weapons testers was blown to pieces, which scattered in the faces of the generals.

An old general immediately wiped his face and said angrily.

"I told you! Damn it! If those drunkards really get their hands on this thing, we're all doomed!"

Another general immediately echoed this sentiment.

"That's right, we can defeat Napoleon without this stuff. What's there to be nervous about when the French are defeated?"

The officers left the weapons testing range grumbling, and the test was thus terminated.

However, the resistance from these old-school officers had no effect; at least the Royal Navy decided to completely replace the breech-loading guns.

The main reason is ease of loading, especially on naval vessels, where using muzzle-loading guns is simply too inconvenient.

On a rough sea, using a muzzle-loading cannon is extremely dangerous, whether it's cleaning the breech or loading shells. He not only has to face the dangers on land, but also the swaying of the ship and the rocking cannon.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the cannons in the movies look small and are bound with ropes, so a collision wouldn't be a big problem. In reality, the navy used heavy artillery, with a 32-pounder cannon typically weighing between 6000 and 7000 pounds, or more than three tons.

68磅炮的重量更为夸张，甚至能达到6-7吨的重量。大家都知道二向箔神器——钢卷，但实际上钢卷通常也就是14-20吨。

While being hit by a 68-pound cannon is not as bad as being crushed by a steel coil, it can still cause a strong gunner to cough up blood and break ribs without any problems.

With the introduction of breech-loading cannons, artillerymen could fix the cannons to the hull, thus avoiding many problems.

Here, I'd like to briefly mention how wooden sailing warships managed to support such heavy cannons; the materials of the wood and the mechanical structure of the hull are too complex to discuss here.

In reality, those heavy cannons were not placed directly on the lower deck; they were usually mounted on specially designed gun carriages.

The large wooden blocks on these sports cars effectively distributed the weight of the cannons, so the cannons always appeared to slide around when they were fired.

This is precisely why the hit rate of naval artillery is often incredibly low, even at ranges where pistols could hit, the hit rate is only around 10%. This is also a major reason why the elite British Navy was previously rendered helpless by the Austrian Imperial Navy; the two sides' hit rates were on completely different levels, forcing the British Navy to resort to close-quarters bayonet fighting and trading blows.

However, Franz was not worried about that. After all, while the British Royal Navy was catching up, the Austrian Imperial Navy was not idle either.

The Austrian Imperial Navy had long since begun to upgrade its equipment, and the composite armor alone was enough to annoy the British.

In addition, the Austrian Empire also had true ironclad warships, which were a complete game-changer for artillery at the time.

Moreover, the gap between the British Navy and the Austrian Imperial Navy was not limited to artillery.
While Britain and Austria were engaged in a naval arms race, the French were not idle either; at least the French Navy and French ship designers were not idle.

It must be said that the French were incredibly lucky at this time. An engineer named Louis Lambert was deeply impressed by the strength of the British and Austrian navies and the weakness of the French navy.

Especially after losing the Grand Eastern Fleet, the strength of the French Navy plummeted. At this time, the French Navy was vigorously developing ironclad warships, but it was still uncertain whether it could catch up with the technology of Austria and Britain.

Moreover, even if they catch up, the French Navy will still be outnumbered. If things continue like this, the French Navy will never be able to recover.

So Louis Lambert began to study how to overtake the competition and disrupt the naval arms race at minimal cost.

He initially wanted to use steel instead of cast iron, but France's steel production couldn't keep up, and the price was prohibitive.

Not long after, Louis Lambert heard that the Austrians seemed to be building ironclad warships made entirely of steel. He immediately and without hesitation chose to abandon the project, because to do the same as Austria would mean that France had lost.

Louis Lambert considered many options, not only testing feasibility and strength but also taking into account France's financial situation.

As the saying goes, "Heaven helps those who help themselves," and Louis Lambert actually figured out a way to defeat the navies of Britain and Austria at a low cost.

In 1848-1849, Louis Lambert briefly lived in Vienna, where he discovered that the Austrians used the cast-in-place method to build tall buildings, which were exceptionally sturdy.

So, can this method be used to build ships?
At first, almost everyone thought he was crazy, and Louis Lamport's partner even sent him to a mental hospital.

Louis Lambert was able to reintegrate into society only after his wife led him out.

However, while in the asylum, Louis Lambert had already completed his design, and with his wife's support, he finally built the world's first reinforced concrete ship.

Although this ship is only 3.6 meters long, it can withstand multiple cannon fire, and its strength is far superior to wooden warships and ironclad ships of the same size. It is also resistant to seawater corrosion, and most importantly, it is very inexpensive.

Louis Lambert excitedly sailed his small boat to Paris, intending to present a grand gift to Emperor Napoleon III.

Unfortunately, Louis Napoleon was a bit like his uncle in one respect: although he appeared very open-minded, he was fundamentally distrustful of new technologies.

Napoleon III smiled and declined Louis Lambert's gift.

"Haha! Don't try to fool me, how could a stone possibly float!"

However, Louis Lamport's technology proved to be feasible, and the United States manufactured a large number of cement ships during World War II, which greatly contributed to its victory in the war.

However, Louis Lambert's technology was too advanced, so he was only regarded as a fraud or a mentally unstable madman.