Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 310 Failed Crafts
"Tom!!!"

With a bang, Wang Dahong, who was hiding behind the sandbag, saw the mess on the shooting position, and shook his head helplessly. He really couldn't help it.

In May, He Shen came to the Royal Shotgun again, and took out a sandalwood box as if it were a treasure, which contained five rounds of bullets wrapped in yellow satin.He told Wang Dahong that this was the blunderbuss used by Zhao Ni, which he managed to obtain with great difficulty.Let him study it carefully and see how to imitate it.

The brass imitation Beihai town standard rifle has been placed for a long time, during which time it was presented to Qianlong for a look.

Now I finally have a blunderbuss, but how to install this thing?Wang Dahong and Ba Maozhen, two French craftsmen, thought about it for a long time, and finally loaded the bullet by accident.

Well, now you can try a real gun.Wang Dahong is old, and the young Ba Maozhen is responsible for the shooting.Two thick wooden boards were pasted together as a target, and Ba Maozhen stood 20 meters away and pulled the trigger with his gun raised.As a result, the huge gunshot shocked the entire Royal Bird Gun, and the recoil when the shot was fired shocked Ba Maozhen.

There is no problem with the original gun, so it is time to try the imitation handicraft next.Wang Dahong, who has played with watches all his life, is good at mechanics, but he is not a gunsmith.And even if he knows how to make guns, he doesn't understand the shooting principle of the Beihai Town rifle at all; being able to take apart the original gun is already his limit.He felt that it would be enough to carefully measure the dimensions of each component and then make an accurate imitation of the appearance.

The reason why it is called "handicraft" is because if you don't understand the aerodynamic structure of modern rifles, no matter how imitated it is, it is a handicraft.As for the air guide tube and the air guide method, let alone him, even the best gunsmith in Europe is useless.So as long as this thing is loaded with real bullets and fired, it will definitely explode.

Because of the recoil when the first shot was fired, Ba Maozhen's shoulder was injured, so a craftsman at the Royal Shotgun volunteered to apply for a test shot.The unlucky ghost firmly pressed the brass handicraft against his shoulder, and then pulled the trigger.

The first shot didn't fire, so he continued to pull it. After about seven or eight shots, there was a loud bang, and the bullet exploded. Cut it open, spurting blood wildly on the spot, no one can save him.

This time the trouble was serious, Wang Dahong and He Shen hurriedly pleaded guilty 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 shot.

Wang Dahong and Ba Maozhen carefully studied the blasted handicrafts. Finally, they thought that the blunderbuss from Beihai Town were too powerful and the hardness of the brass was not enough, so they decided to use the refined craftwork that had been tempered hard for the second imitation. Made of iron.But in this way, due to the lack of craftsmanship, the size of the entire imitation is much larger than the original gun.

A group of people over there were busy making guns, while several other craftsmen desperately used pliers to unload a bullet head and pour out the gunpowder inside.

The propellants of modern rifle bullets are all granulated smokeless powder, 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 couldn't figure it out even if they tried to break their heads.

Then, someone proposed to saw the bullet case into profile.Fortunately, the propellant in the shell was emptied, otherwise it would have been another accident.After research, Ba Maozhen felt that the primer should be a unique gunpowder to ignite the gunpowder in the shell. He was amazed at the person who could design this bullet structure.

After working day and night, a group of craftsmen produced a second "craft imitation" made of refined iron.This time the barrel is much stronger than the previous one, and the outer diameter is a circle larger; not even a small trachoma can be seen on the entire barrel.

Then try the gun.No one volunteered this time, and the last tragedy is still vivid in my memory!

So the gun was fixed on a wooden stand, and the trigger was pulled with a hemp rope, and the shooter hid behind a thick sandbag bunker.

After the first shot, the chamber didn't blow up, and all the craftsmen got carried away with excitement; and Bai Tang'a at the shotgun also hurried to report the good news to Shu Wen, Secretary of the Armed Forces Academy.

Shu Wen was also very happy when he heard this, and thought that the efforts of the past few months were finally not in vain.He just wanted to announce the good news to He Shen, but he always felt uneasy, so he went to the imperial bird gun in person and said to shoot again, and if there was no problem, he would go to He Zhongtang to report.

As a result, the second shot was just like what was written in the previous article. The barrel made of wrought iron finally couldn’t bear the chamber pressure of more than 300 MPa in the middle power bullet, and it exploded like twists and turns.

Done!

Seeing He Shen kneeling in front of him and reporting the situation at the Royal Shotgun, Qianlong smiled indifferently and said: "I have said long ago that if you can conquer the world with only sharp firearms, why would Jinchuan fight for 20 years? The rule of the world is to rule the hearts of the world. The way of battle lies in whether the general is determined and decisive. If all the ministers work together and the army is united and brave, why worry about success? Get up."

"Master is so clear and insightful! In short, it's the slaves who are not doing their job well, which makes the master worry!" He Shen kowtowed and got up.

"Is it okay to buy money for warships?"

He Shen hurriedly said: "Don't worry, master, the money will be collected by the thirteen banks, and the payment will be made through Guangdong Customs at that time. According to the rules of Westerners, [-]% is paid first after signing the contract, and then paid when the ship is delivered. [-]%, and the remaining [-]% will be paid one year after the delivery of the ship.”

In May, with the start of the tea trade season, Sun Shiyi, governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and the British finally finalized the purchase of warships.The East India Company was extremely delighted to get this business, and thought it was a huge breakthrough in trade with the Qing Dynasty, so it simply sent a special person from Bangladesh to be in charge of the negotiation.

Sun Shiyi still adhered to the official habit of not contacting foreigners, and all communication matters were mediated by the Pan family of the thirteen lines.After Zhao Xin made a fuss in Guangzhou, the Cai family of Wanhehang was fined 10 taels of silver, and the general merchant was handed over to the Pan family of Tongwenhang.The Cai family was hurting this time, and even the fine plus the previous repayment, they paid a total of 60 taels; but thanks to the money borrowed by Beihai Town, they survived the catastrophe.

The final purchase intention reached by the two parties was five second-class sailing battleships. The total cost of each ship and 8000 cannons was 15700 taels of silver, which was almost [-] pounds.Considering that the British still have to hire a large number of sailors to transport the ship from Europe, this price is considered a conscience price.

Regarding Sun Shiyi's urgent request to deliver the ship within two years, the representative of the East India Company who came from Bangladesh fully agreed. He said that he would immediately send people back to China to negotiate and bring over the latest sailing battleship launched by the Portsmouth Shipyard.

In addition, the training of sailors is also the 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, there was no need to send this proposal to Qianlong, and Sun Shiyi directly rejected it.The British were helpless, so they suggested to Sun Shiyi to buy an old third-class sailing ship first, and then send people from the East India Company to train.After all, a Tier 300 battleship requires [-] fewer people to control, and after two years of training, the ship can be used immediately when it arrives.

Sun Shiyi agreed to the British method after consideration, but in the end Qianlong still needed to agree.

In early June, Qianlong approved Sun Shiyi's note and ordered the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Lifan Academy, and the Ministry of War to handle it together.Five second-class sailing battleships, one third-class battleship, and 10,000+ taels of silver are really nothing to the finances of the Manchu Qing court at this time.

Compared with Zhao Xin, who has been standing still and not claiming hegemony, Qianlong's eyes are now mainly on the "leader generalissimo" in Taiwan.

In the first lunar month, due to the failure of Chang Qing, the governor of Minzhe, to suppress the campaign, Qianlong issued an order to exchange Li Shiyao, the governor of Huguang, with Chang Qing.At the end of the first month, the cover of the chaos in Taiwan finally couldn't be hidden.Since then, the Tiandihui, which had been secretly established for 20 years, finally entered Qianlong's vision.

After that, the Qing army continued to mobilize troops from the inland, while Lin Shuangwen led tens of thousands of people to encircle the capital city of Taiwan.During the period, a series of false and mixed memorials were reported to the capital, and Qianlong couldn't see what was going on inside, so he could only keep issuing orders.

In June, the old Qianlong also saw that Chang Qing, Lan Meiyuan and others were not doing their job well, so after thinking about it, he decided to use Fukang'an again.

"Hey, let me tell you, is the Tiandihui the same as in the novel?" Liu Sheng curiously asked Zhao Xin about Taiwan in the exercise headquarters in Fuldan City.

"Brother, you already said it's a novel, but you really thought it was tattooed on the soles of your feet? That's not itchy." Zhao Xin ate the lunch sent by the adjutant, chewed a few bites, and continued to explain: "It's been so long, you Still don’t understand? This is a group of reactionary sects, and they started conferring officials and titles before even taking down the Taiwan government.”

Wang Yuanfang on the side suddenly asked curiously: "You said what if they ask us for help?"

"Cold salad! I don't have time to talk to them." Zhao Xin blurted out.

Liu Shengdao: "By the way, I read the report written by Ding Guofeng yesterday. What about the village in the south of Kuye Island?"

Zhao Xindao: "I asked Lao Chen to arrange to send [-] immigrant households there, and the islanders should not be allowed to dominate."

Ding Guofeng has been back for almost half a month, and now he is busy pulling people back from Jeju Island.Before he left Dabo Town, he asked the acting mayor, Murayama Denbei, to gather his men to clear out an empty space of twenty acres in the north of the town, and informed him that two three-masted sailboats would bring people over next month.

In order to prevent Munshan Chuanbingwei from playing tricks, Ding Guofeng asked Chai Zhong to stay in Dabo Town with a company and wait for the construction team and immigrants to come over next month before considering rotation.

In order to keep his fiefdom, Murayama Denbei desperately flattered Ding Guofeng, almost emptied the warehouse of seafood, and even wanted to send a woman to Ding Guofeng to sleep with.But his calculation was wrong, Ding Guofeng already had a crush on him.

That girl is none other than Xue Wu, the younger sister of Shachuan patriarch.Zhao Xin was happy to see the success of this matter, and asked A Miao to help him as a lobbyist.

Since Xue Wu came to Beihai Town, she thought she would become Zhao Xin's wife, who knew that Zhao Xin didn't care at all.The little girl studied Mandarin at school for half a year, and after mastering hundreds of Chinese characters, she is now working as a nurse in Beihai Town Hospital.

After lunch, everyone got busy again.Zhao Xin returned to his office, and the adjutant Chen Jishan came to report that Shen Jingdan had come. The "quasi old father-in-law" came to report on official business. As the person in charge of the trade department, Shen Jingdan went to Jeju Island by boat a few days ago, and had private contact with Li Shangyi, a Hanyang businessman who had been here before.

"Li Chao asked us not to resettle immigrants in Jeju Island in the future, and someone in their court suggested sending troops to expel them."

Zhao Xin was delighted when he heard it, and said with a smile, "Do they really dare to do it?"

Shen Jingdan smiled and said, "We're still discussing, that Li Yan has never made a statement. But Li Shangyi is very satisfied with the goods he brought over this time, especially all kinds of iron farm tools and matches."

In the [-]th century, the Li Dynasty was short of supplies. When trading with Daiqing, they wanted almost everything, such as livestock, daily groceries, metal products, textile raw materials, medicinal materials, and so on.The commodities it exported 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 in the south of Jiangyuan, which annoyed Li Chao's monarchs and officials, so he has not formally contacted Beihai Town so far.

Zhao Xin asked: "How much Japanese lead did you buy this time?"

Shen Jingdan said: "It's a little less, only 15 catties, and the difference is made up with red copper and mulberry paper. Before I came back, Li Shangyi had sent someone to South Hamgyong Province, saying to buy another [-] catties of Japanese lead. He said that he would be able to guarantee an annual supply of [-] jin. In addition, I asked Xu Dayong to send someone to contact Lao Huang and ask him to help buy from Lianghu.”

The so-called "Japanese lead", that is, zinc, is the raw material for making brass.The brass used for rifle bullet casings requires a zinc content of 30%, so zinc has become an important raw material for military production in Beihai Town.

The zinc mines in Daiqing are mainly concentrated in Yunnan-Guizhou and Lianghu areas. They are used to prepare brass for casting coins 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, so try not to purchase them in another time and space.

In fact, the nearest large-scale lead-zinc mine to Beihai Township is in the Jiandeok area of ​​South Hamgyong Province mentioned by Shen Jingdan.This is a super-large lead-zinc deposit, and later generations have proved that the reserves of zinc metal are 7000 million tons.However, at this time, the Li Dynasty's mining of the Jiande mining area was mainly concentrated on silver and lead.

"It doesn't matter. When the Northern Navy occupies Hunchun, you can see how the people of Li Chao are begging us on their knees." Zhao Xinru explained.

Shen Jingdan's eyes flickered, 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's just a barren land. His best hope.

"Soon." Zhao Xin smiled lightly, showing his habitual cheating expression again.

Seeing this, Shen Jingdan didn't want to ask any more questions. He couldn't intervene in military affairs. This was the condition that Zhao Xin had negotiated with him before.The few Shen family children he brought from Yangzhou before have all gone to work as clerks in civil affairs, and none of them are willing to serve as soldiers, which also makes Shen Jingdan very headache.

In fact, Zhao Xin's plan is to train his troops this year and at the same time train a group of local management talents, and then take down Hunchun and Ningguta in one fell swoop next year, and then attack Khalkha Mongolia all the way west.

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 to threaten the capital, the various Mongolian ministries would become factors of instability.It would be too long-winded if these princes and auspicious people see that the situation is not good and hook up with the Tsarist Russians.

(End of this chapter)