African Nationhood

Chapter 118 Guo Songtao’s Travels (Part )
  After seeing the farm, Guo Songtao felt much better. This Shi Jintang did have some talents.

For such a talented person to work for the Queen of England, it is indeed a secret act.

To expand such a vast territory on your own, you should have no shortage of skills.

With his ability and a little bit of movement after returning to China, sooner or later he will be able to become a highly respected minister.

Wouldn't it be better to have great power in the future, help the country, and leave a name in history?

Why was he unwilling to return to China to serve the Qing Dynasty?

Could it be that this young man believed that the Qing Dynasty was hopeless from the beginning, so he turned around and started his own business.

If this is the case, this young man is much wiser and more insightful than me.

Qing Dynasty, Qing Dynasty, when will you revive the Restoration?
  At this moment, Guo Songtao put himself in someone else's shoes and felt the same way. He directly introduced Shi Jintang as a confidant, and immediately felt a sense of sympathy for each other.

"Mr. Guo, let's go and have a look at the arsenal."

"Well, let's go."

On the way to the arsenal, he took another route. On the way, Guo Songtao felt new about everything in Anhai Town.

So when he saw a group of black natives being supervised by Chinese people clearing weeds in the fields, he couldn't help but sigh.

The world has always been the same as it goes around. The weak will always prey on the strong, and the advanced will bully the backward.

After passing the farm, they gradually approached the embankment of the Anhai Reservoir.

Cai Shaoji asked Guo Songtao to get off the car and walk across the embankment.

Guo Songtao was so good at everything he did that he did not forget to observe the scenery on both sides of the reservoir while walking on the embankment.

"There's only one dike on this river?"

"No, there is another one more than ten miles away, and a separate stronghold has been set up there to distinguish it from this side."

Guo Songtao nodded, these young people are still doing things safely, and all matters are in order.

Under his rule, the people can live and work in peace and contentment. He is truly a capable minister in governing the world!

However, it is also related to the sparse population here. I heard that there are only more than 100,000 civilians here, while the Qing Dynasty has 400 million people, which is much more difficult to govern than here.

As long as these young people can play steadily, I believe they can do it easily one day.

After crossing the embankment, they walked a little further and came to the right side of the dam. Cai Shaoji stepped forward and handed a warrant to the soldiers guarding the embankment.

The soldiers saw the warrant and let them go immediately, and the group soon arrived at the gate of a factory.

There are six bright red characters stamped on the door of the factory: "Anhai Town Arsenal", and there are still soldiers guarding the door.

Cai Shaoji continued to step forward and handed over the order, and then the group entered the arsenal.

As soon as I entered, I found that everything in the arsenal was dark, obviously caused by excessive coal ash.

Cai Shaoji summoned Robin Trudeau, the person in charge of the arsenal, and he led everyone to visit inside.

Robin Trudeau was infected with malaria in Pontianak and returned to Southwest Africa for long-term treatment and finally saved his life. After recovering, he approached Shi Jintang and asked to step down from his position as a personal bodyguard.

Shi Jintang naturally agreed and asked Trudeau about his wishes and where he wanted to go.
  If he returns to the United States, he can give the other party a sum of money.

If he wanted to stay, he could also arrange a place for him to retire.

After some thought, Trudeau decided to stay and asked Shi Jintang to help him arrange a position.

So Shi Jintang arranged for Trudeau to come to the arsenal.

First, he is a professional counterpart, and second, after getting along with him for so long, Shi Jintang is satisfied with Trudeau’s character and ability.

Therefore, leaving the arsenal to him, he felt relieved.

Trudeau took everyone first to the production line of Martini-Henry rifles and bullets.

Let Cai Shaoji and Guo Songtao fully experience how steel and copper sheets are turned into guns and ammunition.

They also found that all the workers here were Chinese, and everyone looked solemn and meticulous when working.

Guo Songtao couldn't help but secretly lament that the Chinese were not stupid, they just lacked the guidance of masters. As long as they learned the skills, they could do no worse than foreigners.

After listening to Trudeau's introduction, they learned that workers' proficiency is constantly improving and production efficiency is improving rapidly.

With sufficient supplies, the arsenal has been able to produce 200-300 rifles and 3000 bullets per day.

If urgently needed, we can increase production capacity by another 20%.

Trudeau has already begun to try to make some upgrades to the Martini-Henry rifle.

For example, in the case of bullets, he plans to abandon the previous process of rolling thin copper bullet cases, but he is still in the exploratory stage on how to improve it. The technology of "mixed rolling of thin copper sheets and thin iron sheets" taught by the British has flaws.

During actual combat, this kind of bullet is prone to deformation, tearing, and moisture.

In addition, because this type of cartridge case is not rolled firmly, the barrel of the gun often overheats, causing the cartridge case to stick to the barrel of the gun and become unable to be pulled off.

During the attack, the soldiers were helpless. Forcibly tearing it off would damage the rifling of the barrel.

Trudeau had no experience and didn't know what to do, so he reported to Shi Jintang that he wanted to go to Europe to talk to British engineers.

Unexpectedly, Shi Jintang directly rejected his suggestion and replied that this problem had no solution for the time being and that he had to explore new processes on his own to solve it.

Therefore, Trudeau is still in the stage of exploring on his own and has no clue yet.

After viewing the rifle and bullet production lines, Trudeau took everyone to a secret area of ​​the arsenal.

After Cai Shaoji discovered that they had entered the restricted area, he felt a little hesitant.

"Mr. Trudeau, is it appropriate for us to come in here?"

Trudeau waved his hand and said, "It's okay. I'm letting you see it to boost your confidence."

As the guard soldiers saluted, Trudeau returned the salute, and then everyone entered a darker workshop.

Entering the workshop, you will find that it is filled with a variety of rifles and pistols.

春田m1863式、德莱塞1866式、温彻斯特m1879式、雷明顿1871式、毛瑟1871式等。

Most of the pistols are revolvers, such as Colt m1860/1861, Colt m1873, Smith & Wesson revolver, Remington revolver, Ramat revolver, etc.

These guns were placed randomly on the workbench, without any order.

Most of the staff here are busy drawing pictures or polishing parts.

Cai Shaoji and Guo Songtao were both a little surprised. Is this a new gun design workshop?

Trudeau walked over and took out one of the many steel guns scattered on the workbench, looked back and forth, and then came back with a smile on his face.

"This is one of our newly designed rifles, we named it Type 1883-9.

This gun is our high-precision weapon and can kill enemies at a distance of 1500 meters. "

"Is 1500 meters far?"

Cai Shaoji asked the question like a layman, which made Trudeau roll his eyes.

"A normal rifle requires two conditions to hit a target 1000 meters away. One is that the shooter is experienced, and the other is that he must have a good gun and bullets.

It’s not easy for our gun to accurately hit a target 1500 meters away, you know? "

Cai Shaoji nodded as if he understood, and said with a dry smile: "I'm just curious, I don't know how to do it, don't blame me."

Guo Songtao was somewhat interested in this rifle. He reached out and took the rifle and looked at it.

This rifle is heavier to start with, the barrel is longer, and the rifle's handguard is thicker.

This gun is somewhat similar to the "carrying gun" often used by soldiers in the Qing Dynasty.

"Is this gun too heavy?"

Trudeau nodded, "Yes, BOSS also thought it was too heavy, so he did not agree to mass-produce this rifle.

If you want to shoot farther, you have to increase the length of the barrel. The handguard is thicker to better resist the recoil when shooting. "

After hearing this, Guo Songtao felt that Shi Jintang was quite stable and knew how to make choices.

After putting the rifle back, Trudeau picked out a strange and square short gun and brought it over.

"This gun is a new type of pistol that has been finalized. The production design was determined by BOSS himself. His idea is very good and it is simply perfect.

I will soon leave for Europe to find a factory that processes lathes and apply for a patent. By then we will be able to mass-produce such semi-automatic pistols. "

"Semi-automatic pistol?"

"Well, the first shot of this kind of pistol requires the hammer to be opened manually, and subsequent shots are completely assisted by the gas when the gun powder explodes to fire subsequent bullets, so it is named a semi-automatic pistol.

At the same time, BOSS also named this pistol a shell gun. "

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(End of this chapter)