The Second Reich: Beginning with the Prince of Prussia

Boom Boom!

Dense cannonballs fell into the tower city like raindrops from the sky, setting off orange-red sparks.

From the perspective of the German troops outside the city, these explosions inside the city are like fireworks they set off during the festival, which is dazzling and extremely beautiful.

However, from the perspective of the Gauls in the city, each spark from the explosion is like a roar from hell.

Every explosion has the potential to kill several, if not dozens, people.

The German artillery shells used smokeless gunpowder after the restructuring, and the power of this gunpowder explosion was more than ten times greater than that of ordinary black powder, and two or three times greater than that of yellow gunpowder!

Using this gunpowder to make artillery shells will increase the range of the shells by a large margin, and the trajectory will be smoother and more stable, and the hit rate will be greatly improved.

Moreover, the power of the explosion after the shell lands will be increased exponentially, so that the killing power and killing radius of the shrapnel when the shell explodes will be increased by several times.

This huge increase made the German artillery bombardment far more powerful than the Gauls imagined.

At the beginning of the large-scale shelling, the part of the city that was shelled immediately turned into a raging sea of fire!

"The power of this new type of cannonball has reached such a level, it is really terrifying!"

"Fortunately, this thing was used to bombard the Gauls, not to be used against us, otherwise, I would be a little worried about whether the trenches and anti-artillery holes I dug just now can withstand its attack!"

"It's hard to say, after we have this thing, other countries will compete to start developing it, and it may even buy spies and steal our technology, so this thing will inevitably be mastered by the armies of other countries in the future, once a war breaks out between us and them, won't this thing be used on our heads?"

"Looks like we've inadvertently opened a Pandora's box!"

On the German side, several officers were shocked by the terrible power of the new shells and worried about the possibility of encountering them on the battlefield in the future.

Hearing their unfounded worries, old Moltke smiled and said:

"Don't think about it, this thing, within twenty years, can't pose much of a threat to us!"

Hearing the words of the old Moltke, everyone was very curious, why was the old Marshal Moltke so sure?

They can all see the power of this new gunpowder, so are people in other countries blind and can't see it?

As long as they find out about this, they will inevitably imitate it, right?

Why is the marshal himself not worried at all?

"Worry, what's there to worry about, the advantages of this gunpowder are very obvious, you have all seen it.

But you don't know its shortcomings, if those countries really want to imitate it, they will find this shortcoming as soon as they get it, so they will not promote it on a large scale, and even if it is promoted, it will only be used on the primer of firearms and bullets at most. "

The more Moltke said this, the greater the curiosity in everyone's hearts.

"Marshal, what is the disadvantage of this thing?"

"Hehe, the shortcomings are very prominent, and that is one word - expensive!"

Smokeless gunpowder is made from cotton and other plant fibers soaked in high-concentration nitric acid, and cotton, which is very cheap and not worth mentioning.

But concentrated nitric acid is different, the manufacture of this thing is very troublesome, not only the technical threshold is extremely high, but also the cost is very high.

Historically, the technology for large-scale industrial production of concentrated nitric acid did not begin to appear until more than 20 years later.

Before that, countries could not produce concentrated nitric acid on a large scale, and could only use laboratory methods to manufacture it on a small scale.

Laboratory methods are expensive and inefficient, which greatly limits the production of concentrated nitric acid in various countries.

Without concentrated nitric acid, the mass production of smokeless gunpowder would not be possible.

This is also the reason why old Moltke is not worried, he does not know how much His Majesty the Emperor has spent to make these smokeless gunpowder.

But he was well aware that other countries could not afford that price.

However, because of this, after seeing that the emperor even took out such expensive smokeless gunpowder for him to use, old Moltke felt a great responsibility on his shoulders.

Therefore, he not only has to win this battle, but also fight beautifully and win cleanly!

If Andrews knew what old Moltke was thinking, he would have been unable to laugh or cry.

Concentrated nitric acid was indeed very expensive in this era, but in later generations, it was not difficult to make, and it could even be said to be very simple.

Because of this, the price of this thing in the trading system is not expensive, and Andrews did not spend much money at all, he bought a large amount of concentrated nitric acid, and used this concentrated nitric acid to produce a large amount of smokeless gunpowder.

This smokeless gunpowder was enough for their army to fight a large-scale war.

...... []

Boom, boom, boom

The German shells kept flying into the capital of the Gauls as if they didn't want money.

By this time, the number of cities under bombing had increased to three, and the entire western city had almost become a sea of fire.

The Gauls, who had fled their homes, turned pale with horror when they saw the sight of the whole area being engulfed in flames.

Fortunately, they had not listened to the officer, otherwise they would have been buried in the flames.

Although it is really possible to hide in the cellar to avoid the impact of the shelling, the fire caused by the shelling cannot be avoided.

If they really hid in the cellar, they were afraid that the poisonous gas from the fire would smoke them to death.

So, they were very glad that they had escaped before, so they had saved their lives.

It's just that after seeing their home turned into a sea of fire, they began to be at a loss again after rejoicing.

Their home is gone, so what are they going to do in the future?

Moreover, the Germans have now shelled only part of the blocks, and who knows if their shelling will continue.

If they continue to bombard like this, then the entire Tower City will sooner or later turn into a sea of fire, will they still be able to survive then?

......

In the Élysée Palace, high-ranking officials of the Gallic government gathered.

The constant sound of cannons and explosions outside frightened them.

The sound of artillery sounded as if they were getting closer, which meant that the Germans had begun to shift their targets and bomb other neighborhoods.

Although the tower city is large, how many blocks can be sacrificed?

If the fight continues, the entire Tower City will be burned to the ground!

Therefore, many high-ranking officials feel that there is no need to continue this war!

They have completely failed, and if they admit defeat at this time, they may be able to save the capital.

But if you don't admit defeat, Tower City is likely to become a historical term and be erased from the world!

"Your Excellency, admit defeat, we have lost!"