Chapter 113 The Beggar Emperor

"In history, there are only two people who were born as beggars and eventually became the king of a country. One is Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and the other is Ali Pasha of Egypt." The new vizier boasted about Ali Pasha's achievements.

Abdul was named vizier by Muhammad Ali because of his successful mission to Russia and the secret agreement he signed with Tsar Nicholas I.

The prime minister in Egyptian history was also called vizier, and Ali Pasha's ambition was obvious. He wanted to be the sultan of Egypt and establish an Arab empire, not a lackey of the Turks.

Franz still had some respect for this kind of hero who started with a bowl and achieved a hegemony, but this era did not belong to Egypt.

Ali Pasha understood that the victory in the naval battle was just his ticket to participate in the division of the Ottoman Empire. The real decisive battle was still on land. Because the French refused to sell the formula of fulminate of mercury to Egypt, the Egyptians could only make flintlock rifles.

Ali Pasha was naturally unwilling to accept this. He ordered his craftsmen to develop a percussion gun, but there was no craftsman who could make a percussion gun in the whole of Egypt.

Finally, Egyptian officials had to spend 10,000 florins to get the formula of fulminate of mercury and the design of the percussion gun from Tuscany.

The formula of fulminate of mercury is actually very simple, but at this time, Egyptian chemistry had not yet developed to the level of medieval alchemy, so it was not surprising that fulminate of mercury could not be made.

Of course, Ali's ambition was not just to make a few guns, he also needed powerful artillery.

The Austrian M1832 super cannon, this plan abolished by the Austrians, was praised by the Tuscans.

This super cannon has the world's longest range, the largest caliber, and exaggerated power, but what the Tuscans did not explain to the Egyptians was that the reason why Austria abolished this weapon plan was because of the amazing rate of explosion of this thing.

It even created the miracle of Penta Kill, including the gunner, loader, observer, a general who came to inspect, and the flag bearer who was responsible for guiding the direction.

During that test firing, due to excessive gunpowder filling, the barrel exploded on the spot, and no one around the cannon was spared, and a piece of cannon fragments flew backwards like a meteor and hit a general who came to inspect.

The barrel explosion caused the trajectory of the shell to change. A huge shell flew over the head of the flag bearer. Although it did not hit the flag bearer, it took his soul directly. When people found out that something was wrong, he had already bled from all seven orifices and died.

The original intention of the design of the M1832 super cannon was to build the largest and most powerful cannon in the world. However, the cannon manufacturing technology and steel quality at that time could not support the ambitions of the Austrian military, resulting in the fact that this kind of cannon had no stability at all, and it was almost certain to explode when firing, so the military had to reluctantly abolish this plan.

100 pounds/50 calibers, this data is almost catching up with the naval guns of World War I. Of course, the Austrians at this time could not make it. Even if they did, they could only put it in the fortress or on the warship.

In the Austrian army, this artillery was called the Hell Messenger. However, once the name was translated to the Egyptians, the Egyptians were very excited and prepared to name it the ultimate weapon.

Under the strong request of the Egyptians, Tuscany began to ask Austria for the design drawings of the M1832 artillery.

The Austrians did not know what the Tuscans wanted to do. They just thought it was a failed design and did not want to make this embarrassing design public, so they rejected the Tuscans' proposal.

However, this aroused the Egyptians' desire to buy, and Austria finally sold the design drawings of the M1832 artillery because the Egyptians gave too much.

The Austrian military felt that they had made a lot of money by selling a completely useless design for 100,000 florins.

The Egyptians bought the ultimate weapon in their minds and felt that they had made a lot of money.

As an intermediary, the Tuscans received a 5% commission and felt that they made a lot of money.

When Ali Pasha got the design of M1832, he immediately asked Egyptian craftsmen to imitate it. However, with the Egyptian technology, it was impossible to make such a large cannon model, and Ali Pasha's order was absolute. If the deadline was exceeded, the whole family of one person would be killed every day.

Under the circumstances of being forced, the Egyptian craftsmen thought of the most ancient way, using clay models.

It is reasonable to say that this kind of thing is impossible, but God favored these craftsmen and really let them build a cannon, but the problem came again. The cannon barrel made by the clay mold was uneven, which not only weakened the power of the cannon, but also easily exploded.

So, they came up with a new way, using a burnt iron level to level the inner chamber and an iron hoop to reinforce the outside. As for whether it can be fired or exploded, only God knows.

On the day of the test firing, Ali Pasha looked at the huge cannon in front of him, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of dominance. He decided not to shoot at the target set before, but to point at a merchant ship passing by.

You have to know that the cannons of this era may not hit fixed targets, and shooting at a moving merchant ship is simply a fantasy, not to mention whether this cannon can be fired.

But under Ali Pasha's order, the gunners could only turn the cannon and aim at the moving merchant ship.

The craftsmen on the side were even more worried. They were more worried than the gunners, because the gunners were only worried about not hitting the target, while they were afraid that the barrel would explode. If the cannon exploded, their lives would be gone.

However, good luck favored them again. The cannon was successfully fired. The huge explosion made the gunner's ears bleed.

The shell hit the merchant ship squarely, and something unexpected happened. After being hit, the merchant ship actually made a huge explosion, which directly blew the entire ship into pieces.

Although a shrapnel shell loaded with more than 100 kilograms of gunpowder is powerful, it is definitely not enough to blow a merchant ship into pieces.

In fact, the merchant ship was loaded with flour, and when the huge shrapnel shell exploded in the cabin, the dozens of tons of flour exploded like a bomb, instantly magnifying the power of the shrapnel shell by dozens or hundreds of times.

The gunners and craftsmen were all dumbfounded. They really didn't believe that a cannon could produce such power, but the fact that happened right in front of them made them have to believe it.

At this time, Abdul was the first to react and knelt down to salute Ali.

"Thank Allah for giving my Lord the sword, and my Lord will restore the glory of the Arab Empire."

"Thank Allah for giving my Lord the sword, and my Lord will restore the glory of the Arab Empire."

All the soldiers and craftsmen around knelt down. They all believed that this was a miracle, indicating that Ali would become the master of this world, and they would become the sword and shield in the hands of the master.

However, Ali Pasha did not look at the crawling crowd, but just looked at the dazzling fireworks, with a sinister smile on his face. He named this cannon "Pluto" on the spot.

A raging fire burned in his eyes, and this fire would burn towards the Mediterranean, Istanbul, Albania, and London.