With an explosion, Wang Dahong, who was hiding behind the sandbags, saw the mess on the shooting position and shook his head helplessly. He really had no choice.
In May, He Shen came to the fowling gun again and took out a sandalwood box as a treasure, which contained five rounds of bullets wrapped in yellow satin. He told Wang Dahong that these were Zhao Ni's weapons that he had finally obtained.
Let him study the gun used and see how to imitate it.
The brass replica of the Beihai Town standard rifle had been sitting there for a long time, and was presented to Qianlong for viewing. After Qianlong saw it, he actually thought that the replica was accurate and was very satisfied.
Now we finally have a gun, but how to load it? Two French craftsmen, Wang Dahong and Ba Maozhen, thought about it for many days, and finally accidentally loaded it with bullets.
Okay, now we can try a real gun. Wang Dahong is old, and the young Ba Maozhen is responsible for shooting. Two thick wooden boards are pasted together as a target. Ba Maozhen stands twenty meters away and lifts the gun.
The gun pulled the trigger. As a result, the huge gunshot shocked the entire fowler area, and the recoil when the shot was fired shocked Bamaozhen.
There is nothing wrong with the original gun, so it’s time to try the imitation handicraft. Although Wang Dahong, who has played with clocks all his life, is good at mechanics, he is not a gunsmith. And even if he knows how to make guns, he doesn’t understand it at all.
The shooting principle of the Beihai Town rifle; being able to disassemble the original gun was his limit. He felt that as long as he could carefully measure the dimensions of each component and then make an accurate replica of the appearance, it would be enough.
The reason why it is called "handicraft" is because if you don't understand the aerodynamic structure of a modern rifle, it is still a handicraft no matter how you imitate it. As for the gas tube and gas guide method, let alone him, even if it is the best in Europe at present
It's no use even having a gunsmith come. So as long as this thing is loaded with real bullets and fired, it will definitely explode.
The recoil when firing the first shot injured Bamaozhen's shoulder, so a craftsman from the fowler department volunteered to apply for a test shot. The unlucky guy pressed the brass handicraft against his shoulder.
, and then the trigger was pulled.
The first shot didn't work, so he continued to pull the button. After about seven or eight clicks, there was a loud bang and the bullet exploded. The craftsman's face was covered with bruises, and a piece of copper was blown away from the carotid artery.
He was cut open and blood spurted out on the spot, and no one could save him.
Now they were in serious trouble. Wang Dahong and He Shen hurriedly apologized to Qianlong. Qianlong also knew that the development of firearms would be dangerous, so he just comforted them with gentle words and asked them to make another one.
Wang Dahong and Ba Maozhen carefully studied the exploded handicrafts. In the end, they thought that the gun from Beihai Town was too powerful and the brass was not hard enough, so they decided to use the hardened gun for the second imitation.
It is made of iron. However, due to the unsatisfactory craftsmanship, the size of the entire replica is much larger than the original gun.
A group of people over there were busy making guns, while several other craftsmen used pliers to remove a bullet head and poured out the gunpowder inside.
The propellant of modern rifle bullets is all granular smokeless gunpowder, which is obviously different from black powder particles in color and appearance. Not to mention the primer, a group of top gunsmiths in the Qing Dynasty tried their best to figure it out.
not understand.
Then, someone suggested sawing the bullet case into sections. Fortunately, the propellant in the bullet case had been emptied, otherwise it would have been another accident. After research, Ba Maozhen felt that the primer should be a unique gunpowder.
Igniting the gunpowder in the cartridge case, he marveled at the people who could design such a bullet structure.
After working day and night, a group of craftsmen created a second "craft imitation" made of fine iron. This time the barrel was obviously much stronger than the previous one, and the outer diameter was a circle larger;
Not even a tiny sand hole can be seen on the barrel.
Then let’s test the gun. No one came forward this time, and the tragedy of the last time is still fresh in our minds!
So the gun was fixed on a wooden stand, and a hemp rope was used to pull the trigger. The shooter hid behind a thick sandbag cover.
The first shot was fired, but the barrel did not explode. All the craftsmen were so excited that they forgot about it. Baitang'a from the fowling department also hurriedly went to report the good news to Shu Wen, the Minister of Military Preparation.
Shu Wen was also very happy after hearing this, and thought that the hard work of the past few months was finally in vain. He just wanted to tell He Shen the good news, but he still felt uneasy, so he went to the fowling place in person and asked for another shot to see.
, if there is no problem, go and report to He Zhongtang.
As a result, the second shot was just like what was written before. The barrel made of wrought iron finally could not withstand the more than 300 MPa chamber pressure of the middle-power bullet, and it exploded like a twist.
Finished!
Seeing Heshen kneeling in front of him and reporting the situation at the imperial bird gun, Qianlong smiled indifferently and said: "I have said long ago that if you can conquer the world just by relying on sharp firearms, why did Jinchuan and Jinchuan fight twenty times back then?
Nian. The rule of the world depends on the people's hearts. The way of fighting depends on whether the general is firm in determination and smart in making decisions. If all the ministers work together and the enemies are brave, why worry about success? Get up."
"Master is really a clairvoyant who knows everything! In short, it's all because of the servants' incompetence in doing things that makes Master worry about it!" He Shen kowtowed and stood up immediately.
"Is there any problem with the money to buy the warship?"
Heshen said quickly: "Master, don't worry, the payment will be collected from the returns of each of the thirteen companies, and will be paid through Guangdong Customs at that time. According to Western rules, 30% will be paid first after the contract is signed, and then paid when the ship is delivered.
60%, and the remaining 10% will be paid one year after the ship is delivered.”
In May, as the tea trade season began, Sun Shiyi, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and the British finally finalized the purchase of warships. The East India Company was extremely happy to obtain this business, thinking it was a huge breakthrough in trade with the Qing Dynasty, and simply started
Bangladesh sent a special person to negotiate.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Sun Shiyi still adheres to the officialdom habit of not having contact with foreigners, and all communication matters are mediated by the Pan family of the Thirteenth Bank. After Zhao Xin made the trouble in Guangzhou,
The Cai family of Wanhe Bank was fined 100,000 taels of silver, and the general business was handed over to the Pan family of Tongwen Bank. The Cai family was seriously injured this time. In addition to the fine and previous returns, they paid a total of 600,000 taels.
Two; but thanks to the money borrowed from Beihai Town, we were able to survive the disaster.
The final purchase intention reached by both parties was five second-class sailing battleships. The total cost of each ship and ninety cannons was 28,000 taels of silver, which was almost 15,700 pounds. Considering that the British had to hire a large number of sailors to move the ships from
Shipped from Europe, the price is considered a reasonable price.
In response to Sun Shiyi's urgent request to deliver the ship within two years, the East India Company representative who came from Bangladesh fully agreed. He said that he would immediately send people back to China to negotiate and bring over the newly launched sailing battleship from Portsmouth Shipyard.
In addition, the training of sailors is also a top priority. The British suggestion is to send special personnel to the UK for training, and finally let the sailors come back with the ship, so that combat effectiveness can be quickly formed.
However, this proposal did not need to be sent to Qianlong, Sun Shiyi rejected it directly. The British were helpless, so they suggested that Sun Shiyi buy an old third-class sailing ship first, and then have the East India Company send people to train it. After all, a third-class sailing ship
A battleship also requires 300 men to pilot it. After two years of training, the ship can be used immediately upon arrival.
After thinking about it, Sun Shiyi agreed to the British method, but in the end he still needed to report to Qianlong for his approval.
In early June, Qianlong approved Sun Shiyi's proposal and ordered the Ministry of Revenue, the Lifan Yuan, and the Ministry of War to jointly handle it. Five second-class sailing battleships, one third-class battleship, and hundreds of thousands of taels of silver were really considered for the finances of the Manchu Qing court at this time.
Nothing.
Compared with Zhao Xin, who had been standing still and not claiming kingship and hegemony, Qianlong's current focus was mainly on the "general marshal of the alliance leader" in Taiwan.
In the first month of the first lunar month, because Chang Qing, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, was unable to suppress the campaign, Qianlong issued an order to swap the governor of Huguang, Li Shiyao, with Chang Qing. By the end of the first month, the cover of the chaos in Taiwan was finally concealed. Since then, it has been secretly established for twenty years.
The long-standing Tiandihui finally came into Qianlong's sight.
After that, the Qing army continued to mobilize troops from the interior, and Lin Shuangwen led tens of thousands of people to surround the capital of Taiwan. During this period, false and mixed memorials were reported to the capital, which made Qianlong unable to see what was going on, so he could only keep issuing orders.
Warn.
In June, the old Qianlong also saw that Chang Qing, Lan Meiyuan and others were not doing things well, thought about it, and decided to use Fukang'an again.
...
"Hey, let me ask, is the Heaven and Earth Conference like what is written in the novel?" At the exercise headquarters in Fuldan City, Liu Sheng curiously asked Zhao Xin about Taiwan.
"Brother, you said it was a novel. Do you really think you have tattoos on the soles of your feet? That's not itchy to death." Zhao Xin ate the lunch brought by the adjutant, chewed two mouthfuls, and continued to explain: "You have been here for so long, you
Don’t you understand? This is a group of reactionary sects that haven’t even conquered the Taiwan government yet, and they have started to grant officials and titles.”
Wang Yuanfang on the side suddenly asked curiously: "What do you think we should do if they come to us for help?"
"Cold salad! I don't have time to pay attention to them." Zhao Xin blurted out.
Liu Shengdao: "By the way, I read the report written by Ding Guofeng yesterday. How to deal with the village south of Bitter Leaf Island?"
Zhao Xindao: "I asked Lao Chen to arrange to send two hundred families of immigrants there. We cannot let the islanders dominate."
Ding Guofeng has been back for almost half a month, and now he is busy pulling people back from Jeju Island. Before leaving Dabo Town, he asked the acting mayor Denhei Murayama to gather people to clear out a 120 yuan in the north of the town.
He found an empty space the size of an acre and informed him that two three-masted sailing ships would bring people over next month.
In order to prevent Murayama Senbei from playing tricks, Ding Guofeng asked Chai Zhong to lead a company to stay in Dabo Town and wait for the construction team and immigrants to arrive next month before considering rotation.
In order to keep his fiefdom, Murayama Denbei tried his best to curry favor with Ding Guofeng. He almost emptied the warehouse of all sea goods and treasuries, and even wanted to send women to Ding Guofeng to sleep with him. But his calculation was wrong, and Ding Guofeng
I have already fallen in love with someone.
That girl was none other than Xue Wu, the sister of the former head of the Shachuan clan. Zhao Xin was happy to see this matter come to fruition, and even asked A Miao to help as a lobbyist.
Since Xue Wu came to Beihai Town, she originally thought she would become Zhao Xin's wife, but Zhao Xin had no idea. The little girl studied Mandarin in school for half a year and mastered hundreds of Chinese characters. Now she is working as a nurse in Beihai Town Hospital.
After lunch, everyone got busy again. Zhao Xin returned to his office, and his adjutant Chen Jishan came to report that Shen Jingdan was here. The "quasi-father-in-law" was here to report on official business. As the head of the trade department, Shen Jingdan sat down some time ago
The boat went to Jeju Island and had private contact with Li Shangyi, a businessman from Hanyang who had been here before.
"The Li Dynasty asked us not to resettle immigrants on Jeju Island in the future. Someone in their court suggested sending troops to expel them."
Zhao Xin was happy when he heard this and said with a smile: "Do they really dare to take action?"
Shen Jingdan smiled and said: "We are still discussing, and Li Zuo has not expressed his position. However, Li Shangyi is very satisfied with the goods he brought this time, especially various iron farm tools and matches."
In the 18th century, the Li Dynasty was short of materials. When trading with Daqing, it wanted almost everything, including livestock, daily groceries, metal products, textile raw materials, medicinal materials, etc. Its exported goods were only ginseng, Korean paper,
Furs, dried seafood and some metal raw materials.
Because when Li Chao came to visit the year before last, Zhao Xin raised the territorial issue of southern Jiangyuan, which made Li Chao's monarchs and ministers very angry, so they have not yet made formal contact with Beihai Town.
Zhao Xin asked: "How much did the Japanese lead buy this time?"
Shen Jingdan said: "It's a little less, only 50,000 jins. The difference is made up with red copper and mulberry paper. Before I came back, Li Shangyi had sent people to South Hamgyong Province to buy another 100,000 jins of Japanese lead.
He said that in the future, we can guarantee the supply of 150,000 jins per year. In addition, I asked Xu Dayong to send someone to contact Lao Huang and ask him to help buy it from Lianghu."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The so-called "Japanese lead", which is zinc, is the raw material for making brass. The brass used in rifle bullet cases requires a zinc content of 30%.
Therefore, zinc has become an important raw material for military production in Beihai Town.
The pure zinc mines are mainly concentrated in the Yunnan-Guizhou and Lianghu regions, and are used to prepare brass for casting money and making various utensils. The purity of zinc ingots produced in Guiyang, Guangxi can reach 98.99%, and they are even exported to Europe.
Zhao Xin's current attitude towards raw materials for industrial and agricultural production is that they can be purchased from this time and space and try not to purchase them from another time and space.
In fact, the current large-scale lead-zinc mine closest to Beihae Town is in the Kandeok area of South Hamgyong Province that Shim Jingdan mentioned. This is a super-large lead-zinc deposit, and later it was proven that the zinc metal reserves are 70 million tons. However, at this time, the Li Dynasty's mining in the Jiande mining area mainly focused on silver and lead.
"It doesn't matter. When the Northern Navy captures Hunchun, look at how the people of the Li Dynasty will kneel down and beg us." Zhao Xinru explained.
Shen Jingdan's eyes flashed and he asked the question he was most concerned about: "So, when will we take Hunchun?" For him, no matter how good the outer Northeast is, it is just a barren land. Zhao Xin led his troops into the pass. That is his greatest hope.
"Almost." Zhao Xin smiled faintly and showed his habitual deceptive expression.
When Shen Jingdan saw this, he didn't want to ask any more questions. He couldn't interfere in military matters. This was the condition that Zhao Xin had negotiated with him before. Several of the Shen family children he had brought from Yangzhou were now working as civil affairs clerks. , no one wants to be a soldier, which also gives Shen Jingdan a headache.
In fact, Zhao Xin's plan is to conduct a large-scale military training this year and train a group of local management talents, and then capture Hunchun and Ninggu Pagoda in one fell swoop next year, and then move all the way west to attack Khalkha Mongolia.
The reason why he wanted to attack Mongolia first instead of going south was because he was worried that once he sent his troops south and threatened the capital, the Mongolian tribes would become a destabilizing factor. What if these princes and princes saw that the situation was not going well and colluded with the Tsarist Russians again? But that’s too wordy.