Trench Bolts and Magic

Chapter 48 HEAT
"The Great Lucia Empire? That corrupt and reactionary cage collapsed a year ago!"

Andrei's tone carried a rare hint of pleasure.

"Most of the vampires from the Romanov family were sent to the gallows by the angry people and received their just deserts."

Morin was startled.

The 'Tsarist Russia' of this world actually collapsed a year ago, and it seems that the Romanov family's fate was no better than in the previous life.

"And Lucia now?"

"Lucia now?"

The chemistry professor sighed and then took over the conversation.

"Lucia now is nothing but a war-torn hell."

"After the Romanov family fell, the whole country shattered and split into countless different factions, big and small, fighting each other to the death."

"There are those like us who hope to establish a communist state; there are royalists who want to restore Tsarist rule; there are various ethnic groups that want independence and separatist regimes; and of course, there are some places controlled by lawless warlords."

"So, who is currently the most powerful?"

Andrei: "The 'Universal Supreme Duchy of All Russia' was established by former Imperial Navy Admiral Kolchak and those royalist nobles. They have the support of the Britannians, are well-equipped, and have a strong army. They are our most powerful enemy."

Damn, it's the White Army.

In Andrei's subsequent description, Morin kept hearing prompts to gather more information, and he himself had a general understanding of Lucia's current situation.

Simply put, it's like entering an 'All-Russian PUBG Championship' that started more than a decade earlier.
Currently, the two warlord forces established by former Admiral Kolchak and former Army General Denikin are the most powerful.

Moreover, these two forces, supported by the Britannians, have been trying to eliminate other forces standing between them in order to achieve their 'union'.

At this point in the conversation, Maureen thought of someone she couldn't avoid.

"And Andrei, have you ever looked into whether there is a famous proletarian revolutionary in Lucia?"

"Revolutionaries? We have plenty of revolutionaries where we're from. One pops up here today, and another one pops up there tomorrow."

"Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov? Does that name ring a bell?"

"No."

"And what about Lenin?"

No, why are you asking?

Andrei looked at Morin with some confusion. He didn't know why this lieutenant from the Saxon Empire was suddenly so interested in things in Lucia.

"Because you just said you wanted to establish a communist state, I want to know who your leader is."

"Oh, you wanted to ask about that? Hey, you Saxon are quite interested in this!"

Andrei suddenly realized, paused as if pondering something, and then continued:

"The original leadership group, due to Kolchak's duplicity and the involvement of the royalists, basically all perished in the revolution that overthrew the Romanov dynasty. The current leader is a man named E. Kerensky."

"However, this person is clearly not good at governing the country, so our economy, production and the like are all in a mess right now."

The conversation with Andrei further improved the system's information gathering rate, bringing it to 23%.

This also made Morin increasingly curious about what would happen when this thing reached 100% collection. Would it become omniscient and omnipotent?

At the same time, the system map has also been greatly updated. After zooming in, it can be seen that many areas in Lucia have also broken free from the fog of war, allowing Morin to see many forces of all sizes.

The world's structure and revolutionary landscape are far more complex than Morin had anticipated.

The man who was called 'mentor' in the world before he transmigrated seems to have already made his exit.

Although the Romanov dynasty had ended, the red state was never established; the only power that was even remotely related to it ended up being led by Kerensky.
The entire Lucia region has been thrown into chaos by external forces, and judging from the current situation, it seems unlikely that either side can end this chaotic war quickly.

Therefore, Andrei and others chose to take a different approach, hoping that with the help of the Saxons, they could slow down or even severely damage the Britannians in other places.

They can allocate less of their energy and resources to Lucia.
This also means that the Kingdom of Aragon was just one stop on their long journey.

"This world is so dark! Is this some kind of DC Universe?"

As Morin pondered this, he tried to look at the map towards the familiar east, only to find a line of small print in addition to the tightly obscured 'fog of war'.

Let's explore this area another time.

"I'm super."

Just as Maureen was still processing this information, a worker suddenly shouted excitedly:

"Alright! The hollow cone is cast!"

Everyone's attention was instantly drawn to it.

Morin and Andrei immediately stopped talking and walked over quickly.

A hollow copper cone, now cooled, was placed before everyone.

Its surface wasn't perfectly smooth, but the cone angle was perfect, and all the data matched the calculations made by Morin and the chemistry professor. Meanwhile, the artillerymen had already separated all the yellow explosives from the dozen or so shells and neatly stacked them in wooden crates.

A worker who had once worked part-time as a watchmaker brought over a small, intricately designed metal gadget made of components such as springs and striking pins, indicating that he had also completed his work.

All the parts are ready.

"Begin final assembly!" Morin gave the final order.

The following steps will require even more skill and courage.

Under Morin's guidance, the veteran artillerymen first installed the ingeniously designed manual trigger fuse deep inside the 105mm shell casing.

Then, they began by adding a layer of fabric to the hollow cartridge case to prevent metal from entering, and then refilled it with explosives.

This time, however, they did not fill the warhead with explosives. Instead, they left a precisely calculated cavity in front of it.

Finally, and most importantly.

They carefully installed the completely cooled copper cone into the cavity at the front of the cartridge case, with the tip of the cone facing inwards, directly towards the explosive at the bottom of the cartridge case.

Once the last component was in place, a strangely shaped, somewhat incongruous 'projectile' was born.

It has the bulky body of a 105mm shell, but the warhead is a funnel-shaped inward-curving shape.

At the rear end is a mechanically triggered fuse, and the extended structure is fixed to several lances that have had their heads cut off and are tied together.

Morin glanced at the time; from start to finish, it took one hour and thirty minutes.

This aligns with his impression of German engineers in another world, who were efficient at repairing artillery on the battlefield using similar methods.
Ludwig stepped forward, looking curiously at the newly made 'weapon'. No matter how he looked at it, he felt that this thing seemed unreliable.

"Morin, is this the 'can opener' you were talking about?"

“That’s right.” Morin nodded. “To be precise, it’s a shaped charge armor-piercing projectile.”

"So, the purpose of a shaped charge anti-tank projectile is to stuff this thing into the gun barrel and aim and fire it like other munitions?"

Ludwig asked his questions while circling the thing with a mixture of curiosity and wariness.

Morin: "No, you armored knights need to take this and rush to close range to detonate it. Otherwise, why do you think I added a pole on the back?"

"Wait a minute." Ludwig paused, "Didn't you just say this was some kind of bomb? Why do we have to manually detonate it?"

"Because I haven't found any other reliable delivery methods yet."

Morin shrugged, then suddenly looked at Ludwig with a shocked expression, as if he had just realized something.

"Good heavens, sir of the Teutonic Knights, you don't mean to have infantrymen use this with their own flesh and blood, do you?"

"Huh? No, I didn't."

"Sir, with the explosive charge on this thing, the recoil from the explosion alone would be enough to kill them half to death. It's a suicidal attack; I'm not as ruthless as you."

"Alright, alright, we armored knights will use it. Tell me how to use it, and let's do a test."

Ludwig eventually surrendered, then nimbly ran to the other side and climbed onto his vehicle, intending to test it himself.

Before crawling into the cockpit, he waved his hand, and several knights brought over a piece of the thickest main armor plate from the wreckage of a destroyed Garde Knight.

The armor plate was leaning against a broken wall, still bearing exquisite emblems and traces of battle.

Morin leaned closer to take a look, and judging from the cross-section, it wasn't 60-70 millimeters thick; it was at most 35-40 millimeters.

In other words, through special craftsmanship and demon-subduing techniques, this armor plate can achieve a defense boost of nearly 50%.

"This damn magic... it's actually pretty good."

Just as Morin was marveling at the sight, Ludwig, piloting the 'Siegfried Type 1' armored knight, also stepped forward.

Then he carefully picked up the weapon that Morin called the 'Combat-grade Charged Armor-Piercing Bullet'.

"So you just disable the insurance and then fire at the target?"

Ludwig's voice came from somewhere on the armored knight, and it even sounded a bit reverberant.

Morin: "That's right. To ensure penetration, I recommend keeping the distance between the bullet and the target at around 20 centimeters."

"Okay, I understand. Everyone, stand back!"

Ludwig shouted, and after everyone had retreated to a safe position, he aimed the warhead of the shaped charge at the target like he was raising a spear.

"Will this thing really work?"

Ludwig was filled with doubt.

This thing looks like something out of a drunken creation by third-rate artisans in a country workshop, full of wildness and uncertainty.

But he still chose to trust Morin and then activated the armor-piercing round without hesitation.

(End of this chapter)