Aye, the lad has something, said Raj.
The Talla bridge is closer to Garangipore, at league nine point seven of the eleven point two six leagues between Hestinga and Garangipore.
I would destroy the bridge while I was making the ambush farther down the road.
Theoretically, yes, Raj replied. But coordinated attacks are a very difficult proposition to pull off when you’re essentially a rabble of mounted horse.
They’re beginning to acquire discipline. That’s probably all Rostov has been working on in the past three-moons, and even before that. You saw how he’d concentrated them at Awul-alwaha.
Easier wished for and blustered about than actually done, Raj said. Of course they might try.
And we could be there, ready.
Exactly.
So a thrust across the Canal road coming from south and moving to the north, wheeling out of Garangipore, thought Abel. That narrows the possibilities considerably.
But leaves seven point two leagues of open road, Center said. We have not won even this theoretical battle yet. And there is one other factor to consider. The levies themselves have pathways running along their tops. These are wagon tracks for transport of the sluice-gate machinery. Furthermore, there are the gates themselves.
Yes, that’s right, thought Abel. The fields between the Canal road and the levee are rice paddies. They’re kept dry half the year, and flooded the other half. This is, of course, not long after harvest time, and they are dry. But that’s the point: we keep them dry.
And they don’t have to be, Raj added with an evil chuckle.
We now have a workable plan, said Center. It is time to risk discovery by Zentrum. It is time to introduce the innovation you and Golitsin have been preparing.
So, he was finally going to see in reality what had only been an idea placed in his mind for years. But surely there’s no time to convert the Regulars guns, Abel thought. And the Militia is mostly pikemen and archers, of course.
Converting regular army rifles to breech fire will not be necessary, said Center. No, only one military component need receive the innovation.
Scouts, Abel thought.
“Delta gum,” Golitsin said. “It is the most amazing substance!”
“You mean the nasty stuff the Delta men chew instead of nesh?”
“Exactly. We’ve solved the blowback problem with it.”
“I’ll have to see it to believe it.”
“I’ll do you one better than that,” said Golitsin. “You can shoot it to believe it.”
He showed Abel the prototype.
He half cocked the hammer to safe in order to slide back the breech dog, the heavy covering that kept the trapdoor opening fully shut during firing. Then he fingered the little hook and latch lever he’d created and popped the top of the breechlock up. It did look like a trapdoor, swinging on a hinge open upward and toward the muzzle of the rifle. He pulled the breech piston back and showed Abel his latest innovation. “See how I’ve made a round, flat piece out of the Delta gum, but left a hole in it so the hammer can strike the percussion cap?”
The ancient term for such an object was a “rubber washer,” Center said.
“That stops the back-gassing problem we were having,” Golitsin went on. “Forms a tight seal, like beeswax, but won’t melt and is reusable. Well, reusable to a point. Until I can perfect the formula, those gum pieces will need to be replaced ever twenty or thirty rounds. But if you look at the rear of that stock…”
Abel turned the rifle over in his hands and saw a small sliding wood door intricately set into the wood of the rifle butt. He pushed it aside to reveal a small compartment.
“Spare parts and cleaning kit go there,” said Golitsin. “We’ll put five of these washers in every gun to start with.”
“Nice.”
“Now, I know we were talking about an ejection device for the spent caps, but I haven’t had time to do that yet. The chamber will have to be cleared by hand. They’ll probably get it down to the flick of a thumb, or hooking a finger inside to pop it out.”
“What about papyrus residue?” asked Abel. “We were getting fouling on the tests before.”
Golitsin chuckled. “Solved that, too,” he said. “I got some of those lucifers you Scouts always seem to be carrying against Stasis, and figured out how they’re made. I used some of the same essence of sulfur in a liquid goop I cooked up to soak the paper. Then I let it dry and, bang, you have cartridge paper that burns completely up, leaves as fine an ash as you could wish for.”
“Which brings me to the cartridges.”
“You’ll have to see this to believe it,” Golitsin said. He rose and indicated that Abel should follow him out. The pounding and scalding cacophony of the smithery reached their ears full force. He ushered Abel into the rear of the complex with its final assembly stations. “We’re turning out five hundred a day. We have a built stockpile of five thousand. And we’re getting faster at it.”
Golitsin reached into a wicker basket and picked up four of the paper cartridges, about all his hand could hold. Each was about as big around and as long as a regular-sized man’s thumb.
Equivalent to forty-five caliber, eight-five grain cartridges, Center said. Impressive.
The construction was simple. On one end was a standard percussion cap of the sort that all muskets used. Glued to this using standard dakhoof glue was a cylinder of about a thumbnail in length. The cylinder was made of thinly peeled rolled papyrus, and was a pale yellow in color. Inside, the paper cylinder was two-thirds filled with gunpowder. On top of that, a lead two-ridge minie ball was fitted and attached with a dab of wax where bullet met paper casing.
What about those metal cartridges you told me about, Abel thought. Wouldn’t it have been better to manufacture bullets instead of this?
With what? said Center. Your society’s metallurgy skills are barely good enough to create the breech lock mechanism. The large-scale production of copper casing is beyond your existing technological base for the time being. That will change rapidly after successful deployment of these cartridges. For the moment, paper will have to do. It will prove effective if deployed correctly. In ancient times, paper cartridges were extremely effective in the Chassepot needleshot breechloaders of old Earth, and elsewhere. And the fact remains that we simply do not have appreciable supplies of metal to work with.
So we go with paper casings, said Abel, and hope the paper is mightier than the sword.
It will certainly have a longer range, Center answered.
Most importantly, your rate of fire will be at least three to one, Raj said. Probably more, after the Scouts get the hang of it.