[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-rise-of-the-empire-spain":3,"chapter-rise-of-the-empire-spain-rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-119":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Rise of the Empire: Spain",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2365047,4632,"Chapter 119: Vitali M1872 Rifle","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-119",119,"\u003Cp>Since the decision to carry out military reform has already been made, it is naturally the faster the better.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter how the European situation changes, Spain will feel at ease as long as it possesses a powerful army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At present, Spain lacks the strength to develop a navy, and even if it could, it would certainly not succeed. After all, with the British Empire—the world's number one naval power—constantly looking for trouble on the sidelines, it is better to give up on naval development unless one intends to compete with Britain across the board.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To avoid attracting the attention of the British, the scale of the navy must be kept below that of the great powers, and the main battle ships must not threaten the British Royal Navy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Coupled with the fact that a navy is extremely expensive, Carlo currently has no intention of developing one; Spain's fleet consists of only those few small ironclad ships, which look quite pathetic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since there is no naval development, the army has become Spain's only hope for strengthening its military power. On this point, Carlo, Prime Minister Primo, and Grand Duke Serrano share a considerable tacit understanding.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Military reform must also be accompanied by another aspect: reform in weapon technology.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Spain's current standard-issue long guns are quite complex, including both the already obsolete muzzle-loaders with paper-wrapped cartridges and the more advanced breech-loaders with metallic cartridges.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since a large-scale reform of the army is to be carried out, it is only natural to take the opportunity to comprehensively upgrade the rifles equipped by the Spanish military.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The good news is that after more than a year of effort, Spain has made progress in breech-loading rifles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because there are two types of technology from Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Spain only needs to integrate these two technologies with the help of Austro-Hungarian technical experts to improve and create a standard-issue rifle belonging to Spain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under these circumstances, relying on the new generation model improved from the Italian Vitali rifle, the Spanish Vitali M1872 rifle was successfully born.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Vitali rifle was the first generation of breech-loading rifles developed by the Swiss, and the Italians made improvements on this basis. Spain then made further improvements on the Italian version, basically compensating for the shortcomings of this rifle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This rifle has a caliber of 10.35 mm and uniformly uses 10.35x47 mm black powder cartridges.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Smokeless powder has not yet been developed, and all countries in the world use black powder cartridges, which have significant drawbacks in terms of power and accuracy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Carlo's military factory is also currently engaged in the research and development of smokeless powder. Once there is some progress with smokeless powder, all of Spain's weapons will be re-equipped with smokeless powder cartridges.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The entire rifle weighs 4.6 kg, has a total length of 1350 mm, and the muzzle velocity can reach 415 meters per second.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Italy maintained the basic appearance of the Swiss Vitali rifle but changed the loading method from a tubular magazine to single-shot loading.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Spanish military factory made improvements on this basis by adding a magazine that can hold four cartridges.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Spanish Vitali M1872 rifle and the Italian Vitali rifle use the same caliber, which is also for the convenience of logistical supply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Spain's ammunition production capacity is insufficient in the future, it can easily purchase cartridges from Italy; in any case, the ammunition for both is interchangeable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By the same token, if Italy lacks rifles or cartridges, the cartridges produced by Spain can also be loaded into Italian rifles, which is a huge help to the logistical supply of both countries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unifying the military's weapon series can greatly facilitate the military's logistical supply. After all, if the soldiers are all using the same type of long gun, one only needs to transport and supply one type of cartridge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But if several types of rifles are used, especially those with different calibers, it is a huge trouble for logistical supply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the front line finally waits for a large batch of supplies, only to find that none of the cartridges fit their rifles, that batch of supplies is completely useless to the army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It is precisely because Carlo understands this point that he specified that the caliber should be consistent with the Italian rifle when this rifle was being developed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When smokeless powder is successfully developed in the future, it will not be too late to change the caliber of the rifle. Since they are all black powder cartridges now, it is best to keep them consistent to facilitate rear logistical supply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since the decision to reform the army has been made, Carlo ordered the Royal Military Factory to conduct the final test of the Vitali M1872 rifle; as long as the military gives the nod, it can be mass-produced and equipped to the army at any time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing that Carlo had even prepared the standard-issue long guns for the army, Prime Minister Primo and Grand Duke Serrano were naturally very curious and expressed their willingness to go together to watch the rifle test.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Carlo had no objections. Prime Minister Primo is in charge of the Treasury, and Grand Duke Serrano is in charge of the Defense Force. As long as their approval is obtained, the fact that the Spanish army will purchase the Vitali M1872 rifle can basically be confirmed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Carlo has no selfish motives regarding this. It is mainly because the current Vitali M1872 rifle is indeed Spain's most advanced rifle, and it is even one of the most advanced rifles in Europe at present.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even the technical experts from the Austro-Hungarian Empire marveled at such a rifle design, not to mention Spain, whose military industrial technology is not very developed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If this rifle can be equipped on a large scale, it will definitely improve the combat effectiveness of the Spanish army. Coupled with the reform of the Spanish army, the combat effectiveness of the successfully reformed Spanish army in the future will be greatly improved, which is also what Carlo hopes to see.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared with the Vitali M1872 rifle were the various rifles originally equipped by Spain, as well as the Austro-Hungarian Werndl M1867 rifle and the Italian Vitali M1870 rifle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Carlo is quite confident in the Vitali M1872 rifle improved by the Spanish arsenal; the reason for comparing it with these rifles is naturally to demonstrate the advanced nature of the M1872 rifle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Royal Military Factory naturally learned that Carlo, Prime Minister Primo, and Grand Duke Serrano were coming to observe the rifle experiment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The arrival of His Majesty the King and the two bigwigs of the government naturally attracted the high attention of the Royal Military Factory. Before the public test, the Royal Military Factory also carefully inspected and tested the M1872 rifle to ensure that there would be no problems during the public test.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, the worries of the technicians at the Royal Military Factory were somewhat redundant. After all, this Vitali M1872 rifle was improved on the basis of the Italian Vitali M1870 rifle; it couldn't possibly get worse with each improvement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And most of Spain's various rifles are muzzle-loaders; how can muzzle-loaders compare to breech-loaders?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The only rifle that actually competed with the Vitali M1872 rifle was the Austro-Hungarian standard-issue rifle, the Werndl M1867 rifle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The full name of the Werndl M1867 rifle is the Werndl–Holub rifle, which was jointly developed by Werndl and Holub.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reason for developing this breech-loading rifle was naturally seeing the excellent performance of the breech-loading rifles in the hands of the Prussian army in several wars.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, it was not just the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This period is an important time for the whole of Europe to transition from muzzle-loading rifles to breech-loading rifles, and also an important period for the transition from paper-wrapped cartridges to metallic cartridges.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides this, it is also an important period for the transition from ordinary black powder to smokeless powder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This also means that during this period, the weapon equipment and military technology of European countries will usher in a stage of explosive development.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In addition to these weapons and equipment for the army, the navy will also usher in great progress. Ironclad ships will evolve into battleships, battleships will evolve into dreadnoughts, and then to super-dreadnoughts, and so on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although it seems to require many generations of evolution, in reality, this period is only thirty or forty years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is also the reason why Carlo is vigorously building military factories. If Spain cannot catch up during this golden stage of military technology development, it will fall too far behind in military technology in the future.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although Spain does not intend to develop a navy at present, Carlo still attaches great importance to shipyards and related shipbuilding technology.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Italy's level in shipbuilding is quite excellent, and Carlo has also introduced Italian shipbuilding technology in his cooperation with the Italian government.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It is just that this cooperation is relatively secret, and the expansion of the Valencia Shipyard in Spain is basically in a state of confidentiality. As long as they do not start building warships with great fanfare, other countries will basically not be able to discover the changes in the shipyard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back to the rifle test.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under the personal witness of Carlo, Prime Minister Primo, and Grand Duke Serrano, the Vitali M1872 rifle officially began a competitive test with a series of rifles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This test will directly concern the future rifle equipment of the Spanish army. Whichever rifle can win in the test will basically become the priority procurement target for the Spanish army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As expected, the Vitali M1872 rifle won.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As mentioned before, in fact, the only one qualified to compete with this rifle was the Austro-Hungarian Werndl M1867 rifle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the Werndl M1867 rifle has two fatal flaws.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One is the 11.15x42mm rimmed metallic fixed cartridge used by this rifle; the bullet mass is less than 20 grams, and the lethality of the bullet is insufficient.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The second is the breech-locking mechanism. Although many breech-loading rifles of this era adopted locking mechanisms, the Werndl M1867 rifle still required rotating the locking mechanism when loading, which greatly reduced the number of bullets that could be fired per minute.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The bullet power was already insufficient, and the rate of fire was not as fast as the Vitali M1872 rifle, which led to the performance of the Werndl M1867 rifle in the test being far behind the Vitali M1872 rifle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But as can be seen from the codes of the two rifles, these two rifles actually already have a five-year difference. Even compared with the Italian Vitali M1870 rifle, there is a three-year gap.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this era, three years of military technology is already too much of a difference. The Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War were only three or four years apart (in this world), but the fact that the Prussian artillery went from being unable to beat the Austrian artillery at the beginning to suppressing the French artillery shows the changes in military technology over three or four years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since the Vitali M1872 rifle won the final victory, there is naturally nothing more to say about what happens next. Grand Duke Serrano smiled and indicated that he would use the military funds of the Defense Force to purchase a batch of Vitali M1872 rifles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the military reform is completed in the future, the Vitali M1872 rifle will be fully adopted to increase the combat effectiveness of the Spanish army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In addition to the order placed by the Defense Force, Carlo also placed an order for his own Imperial Guard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Imperial Guard could have purchased Vitali rifles from Italy for equipment. But Carlo considered that Spain was also developing breech-loading rifles, so he did not equip the Italian Vitali rifles on a large scale.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since the breech-loading rifle technology belonging to Spain has now been developed, it is naturally time for the Imperial Guard to be equipped with the new Vitali M1872 rifles on a large scale.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First update of three thousand words, please support!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had something to do yesterday and forgot to ask for leave, sorry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",2029,"2026-06-25T09:27:12.995Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","8d4fb11e6f986fa511fd0b3cd1df15986b3709bed647a44b0c92ca3368c7cf8e","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-120","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-118",493,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Frise-of-the-empire-spain-cover.jpg"]