The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 96 Future Weapons and North American War Results

In the conference room of the flagship battleship Changfeng of the Ming Dynasty's North American Governor's Fleet.

A group of children ran back and forth at both ends of the conference room, fiddling with the simple telephone devices handmade by the craftsmen.

They shouted to each other through sound waves and electric currents, making some meaningful or meaningless sounds, but everyone was very excited.

Master Craftsman Song Wendao stood beside Zhu Jianxuan, unable to control his excitement and repeating:

"Amazing, it's really amazing. Electricity is really the most amazing power in the world. This is something that only electricity can do..."

Zhu Jianxuan smiled and said:
“In fact, there is something even more amazing. I should have said before that electricity is actually a wave.

"Sound waves can propagate through the air, so can radio waves?

“I’m not talking about simple tip discharge, but using radio waves to transmit meaningful information.

“For example, can the sound wave information obtained by the microphone be directly transmitted to a distant place via radio waves?
"Just abandon the cables and transmit radio signals through the air..."

Song Wendao was obviously stunned for a moment:
"Is it really possible? Your Highness, can you explain the principle? I will do the experiment as soon as possible?"

Zhu Jianxuan thought for a moment and said:
“This is a bit difficult, as we need to ensure the accuracy of transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves.

“We may not be able to make something usable on the ship, so we will start the actual research after we arrive in North America or return to Australia.

"But I can continue to explain the theory, and the following teaching may be mainly based on theory."

After Zhu Jianxuan accepted the telephone, he continued to explore possibilities based on the principles of electromagnetism.

At the same time, long-term tasks for the craftsmen and students were arranged in the future:
Continue to explore and optimize the reliability and usability of motors, electric meters, telegraphs, and telephones.

We strive to produce practical products for the market within two years, when we return to Australia.

All inventions related to electricity will first be verified in Australia, and then gradually put into commercial operation in Ming Dynasty.

The Americas should be promoted last because it is too close to Europe.

Although public technology will be leaked sooner or later, it is better to leak it as late as possible if possible.
In the following months, Zhu Jianxuan's teaching was indeed mainly based on theory.

Basically, they are based on the principles of electromagnetism, guiding craftsmen and students to think and do analysis at the mental level.

This has led to the design and production ideas for tape recorders, electric lights, vacuum tubes, triode vacuum tube amplifiers, and radio transceivers.

These devices basically have requirements for production precision and are not suitable for production on a ship that is constantly shaking slightly.

After Zhu Jianxuan talked about a lot of physical concepts related to electricity, he turned to chemistry.

Introduce students to the principles of camera and basic organic chemistry principles.

On this basis, the characteristics of nitration reaction and nitrates are introduced, and it is concluded that many nitrates can be used as explosives.

However, it is strictly forbidden for anyone to conduct nitration experiments on board. Those things are too dangerous and must be done after returning to Australia and taking proper protective measures.

After teaching a lot of very important chemical knowledge, Zhu Jianxuan's thoughts returned to mechanical design.

Zhu Jianxuan believes that after eight years of continuous upgrades with his craftsmen, Daming's mechanical processing technology has crossed a threshold.

You can start to gradually equip yourself with breech-loading rifles.

The bullets of a breech-loading rifle are loaded from the back of the barrel to the front, which is much faster than inserting them from the front of the barrel, so the overall rate of fire can naturally be faster as well.

However, before the mid-nineteenth century, most armies of various countries tried using muzzle-loading rifles.

The main reason was that the machining precision at the time was not enough, and it was difficult to solve the sealing problem when making breech-loading guns, resulting in the shooting accuracy and distance of breech-loading guns being significantly weaker than those of muzzle-loading guns.

The advantages of a breech-loading rifle can only be truly realized after the metal smelting and machining processes are qualified.

As a time traveler, Zhu Jianxuan could skip a lot of design exploration stages and go straight to the ideal rifle of the late nineteenth century.

A "breech-loading rifle" that uses a "rotating rear-pull bolt" is commonly known as a bolt-action rifle.

Many bolt-action rifles were used from the late 19th century until World War II.

There are many classic and useful designs.

At the same time, in order to match this new rifle, a pointed fixed bullet with a brass shell was designed.

The propellant is scheduled to use an unproven nitrified material.

At the same time, they began to design breech-loading rifled guns and matched them with cylindrical pointed blasting shells.

These two future weapons have requirements for materials and processing technology, and the Americas cannot find usable materials and processing equipment.

Only the small amount of steel and machine tools that Zhu Jianxuan brought on board can be used for processing, but they can only be used for verification.

It can't be done on the ship either, so we have to wait until we get to the American military camp.

Trial production can only be carried out after returning to Australia.

On this basis, Zhu Jianxuan made an additional request that if the craftsmen had the energy, they could start another research.

An attempt was made to use the gas generated by the explosion of gunpowder as power to drive the firearm to automatically reload and eject shells during operation.

Zhu Jianxuan wanted machine guns and automatic rifles.

But Zhu Jianxuan didn't know the working principle of this firearm. He only knew that it was propelled by gunpowder gas.

So these are the only reminders I can give you. Let the craftsmen demonstrate their abilities from now on.

It is impossible for me to be a direct scientific research guide forever. In the future, craftsmen will have to conduct theoretical research and inventions themselves.

The design of both the bolt-action rifle and the breech-loading rifled gun took time.

Even after the design is completed, a production line needs to be built for mass production, so it is unlikely to be used in the next few years.

In fact, Zhu Jianxuan has a "crossing artifact" in his mind that can quickly improve the combat effectiveness of the army - the bottom expansion bomb.

Zhu Jianxuan has seriously considered this artifact several times in the past few years.

However, after carefully and in-depth analyzing the characteristics of the bottom expansion bomb many times, Zhu Jianxuan finally chose to give up.

Rifled rifles have actually been around for many years, and now most countries have a certain number of rifled rifle soldiers in their armies.

Because the accuracy and range of rifled guns far exceed those of smoothbore guns.

However, the rifled gun never became popular and could not replace the smoothbore gun as the main weapon of the infantry.

Because at that time, both rifled and smoothbore guns were muzzle-loading guns, and bullets had to be loaded into the barrel from the muzzle.

The diameter of the bullet used in a rifled gun is slightly larger than the caliber of the barrel.

This is to allow the bullet to get stuck on the rifled chamber, thereby achieving sufficient airtightness and ensuring the accuracy and range of the rifled gun.

At this time, riflemen would even carry hammers, intending to knock the bullets into the barrel faster.

This also results in the loading speed of a rifled gun being much slower than that of a smoothbore gun.

It is now only suitable as a hunter weapon similar to special forces, performing early "special operations" missions.

The bottom-expanding bullet can solve the problem of difficulty in loading a muzzle-loading rifle.

The bottom-expanding bullet is no longer a traditional spherical lead bullet, but a cylindrical bullet with a pointed head and a flat bottom.

There is an inward depression on the flat bottom of the bullet, and inside the depression there is a plug that is smaller at the front and larger at the back.

The diameter of the bullet itself can still be made the same as that of a rifled gun, and can be loaded as easily as a smoothbore gun.

When the propellant is ignited, the gases push the plug inside the bullet forward.

The plug is small at the front and large at the back. When it pushes forward, it forces the bottom of the soft bullet to expand outward and embed into the rifling on the barrel.

This will ensure sufficient airtightness and the normal accuracy and range of a rifled gun.

The design method of this bullet is not difficult, and the manufacturing process is relatively simple. It can indeed be regarded as a time-travel artifact.

But they are artifacts from the era before the Industrial Revolution, or artifacts of the side with population disadvantage, or artifacts of the side with technological disadvantage.

Before the industrial age, when the production processes of the enemy and us were similar, our use of bottom-expanding bombs enabled us to gain short-term tactical advantages.

When your side is at a population disadvantage, using line infantry to fight the enemy with a "line-up shooting" tactic will definitely wipe out the population sooner.

With the bottom expansion bullet, we can cooperate with the rifled gun to fight the scattered troops and make up for the population base gap. After the Industrial Revolution, when the enemy's production technology is superior and the enemy can produce breech-loading rifled guns, we can only produce muzzle-loading guns.

Our use of bottom-expanding bombs can make up for some of the production technology gap between us and the enemy.

But the reality now is that the industrial revolution in Ming Dynasty has begun, and Ming Dynasty is still the most populous country in the world.

Zhu Jianxuan and hundreds of craftsmen have worked hard for many years to continuously improve the Ming Dynasty's steel smelting and machining technology, and now it is far ahead of all countries.

If we take out the bottom expansion bomb now, it would be purely giving the enemy a cheat.

Once a conventional weapon like rifle bullets is used against the enemy on the battlefield, it is basically impossible to keep it completely secret.

Any bullet that penetrates the enemy's body may become a target for the enemy to imitate.

The bottom expansion bullet does not have very high requirements for production technology, and craftsmen from various European countries can quickly complete the imitation after seeing the appearance.

But if I take out a breech-loading rifle, the enemy will not be able to imitate it even if they seize the finished gun.

Because their materials and craftsmanship do not meet the requirements at all, they cannot make it at all.

So Zhu Jianxuan decided to abandon the bottom-expanding bullet and now directly start to develop bolt-action rifles and breech-loading rifled cannons.

While Zhu Jianxuan was giving lectures on the ship, the Ming Dynasty North American Governor's Fleet was also moving forward.

It still takes the Sunda Strait between Java Island and Old Port, crosses the Indian Ocean diagonally and arrives at Madagascar Island.

The Ming Dynasty has been sending immigrants to the Falkland Islands for two and a half years and has already sent two groups of immigrants to the island.

The southernmost settlement in the Falkland Islands now has a population of more than 60,000 people.

A militia of at least 10,000 men has completely established a foothold in the area and is being sent to conquer the indigenous tribes on the island.

At the same time, with the Falkland Islands as its base, more than 10,000 immigrants were sent to the African continent.

In the southeast corner of the African continent, next to the Dutch Cape Colony, two immigrant settlements were built.

Of course, the Dutch did not want the Ming Dynasty to enclose land here, but they had no choice.

The Netherlands has been weak for many years, and the Ming Dynasty is still their major customer. They dare not take the initiative to conflict with the Ming Dynasty and can only watch the Ming Dynasty continue to immigrate.

This is also the most powerless situation for small European countries when facing the Ming Dynasty.

Even though the Ming Dynasty adopted a feudal system, the central court's jurisdiction was much larger than that of European countries, and the key was that the population was much larger.

The population of the vassal states also served as the immigration base that the Ming Dynasty could draw on.

In addition, official and private shipping was extremely developed, and the imperial court often sent tens of thousands of immigrants abroad.

Even after decades of immigration from European countries, it may not be possible to build a town with tens of thousands of people. New York City now has less than 30,000 local residents.

The Ming Dynasty directly occupied territory next to other countries' colonies, and the other country's colonial personnel did not dare to move at all.

They can only pray that there is land nearby and that the Ming Dynasty will not come to snatch it from them.

The North American Governor's Fleet, where Zhu Jianxuan was, was too large, and the two thousand-household units of the Ming Dynasty on the mainland could not provide sufficient supplies.

So they did another supply business with the Dutch, which made the Dutch Governor feel very complicated.

This kind of business is very profitable. The goods from the Ming Dynasty are all hard currency and are the main commodities they sell. Getting them in Cape Town saves the trouble of going to the Ming Dynasty to purchase goods.

But this business can no longer be sustained.

In ten years at most, the Ming settlement next to Cape Town could accumulate a population of 100,000 or even several hundred,000 people.

Later they will be able to supply themselves.

The Governor of Cape Town could not help but sigh in his heart after watching the Ming fleet leave the port:
"I don't know how long the Dutch East India Company can last..."

After entering the Atlantic Ocean, the Ming Dynasty's fleet headed north along the west coast of Africa, turned northwest near the equator, and crossed the Atlantic Ocean.

After crossing the Atlantic, the fleet once again entered the Dutch port of Suriname for supplies.

At the same time, a number of steam sailing ships were sent to the North American continent and the Caribbean Islands to find the base of the Ming expeditionary force.

The court bulletins and orders signed by the Emperor of the Great Ming were sent to the officers of the occupying forces in various places, and the general contents of the Treaty of Yingtianfu were spread to the occupying forces in various places.

It should be handed over to the French and Spanish occupation zones, waiting for Spanish and French officials and troops to complete the handover procedures.

The officers and soldiers in the expeditionary force who are willing to continue to stay in North America will be gradually incorporated into the newly established North American Governor's Office, which will be commanded by His Royal Highness the King of Wu himself.

Later, His Royal Highness the King of Wu will distribute land on the mainland to all officers and soldiers of the Governor's Office and bring their families over.

The expeditionary force that wants to return to its homeland will wait until the North American Governor-General's Office is reorganized and the North American occupied area is handed over, and then return with the permission of King Wu of the Ming Dynasty.

After resting in Suriname for half a month, Zhu Jianxuan set sail again on the Changfeng for New York.

Qin Nanxing, the admiral of the Ming Dynasty's North American fleet, immediately prepared the entire North American fleet after receiving the news from the steamship, and personally led the main fleet to set sail to welcome the escort.

Zhu Jianxuan's fleet approached the southern part of the North American continent, and when it was off the coast of the North Carolina colony, it met with the main North American fleet led by Qin Nanxing.

After both sides confirmed their identities by signaling with flags, Qin Nanxing, together with Li Anbang, the governor of the North American Expeditionary Force, boarded the Changfeng on a fast transport ship.

In the meeting room of Changfeng, Qin Nanxing and Li Anbang saluted Zhu Jianxuan:

"North American Fleet Admiral Qin Nanxing pays respect to His Highness!"

"Li Anbang, the Governor General of the North American Expeditionary Force, pays respect to His Highness!"

Zhu Jianxuan also smiled and returned a military salute:
"I am the King of Wu of the Ming Dynasty and the Governor of the North American Governor's Office of the Ming Dynasty. Thank you for your hard work, generals."

It was also standard procedure for officials of the Ming Dynasty court to greet each other and publicly state their identities.

After introducing himself, Zhu Jianxuan presented the imperial edict given by his father, the emperor.

He announced the establishment of the Ming Dynasty's North American Governor's Office, and took office as the governor of the North American Governor's Office, in charge of military and political affairs of the North American continent and surrounding areas.

In accordance with regulations, Qin Nanxing and Li Anbang personally inspected the imperial edict and seal, and saluted Zhu Jianxuan again.

From now on, Zhu Jianxuan obtained the command of all Ming troops in North America and the decision-making power over all political affairs in North America.

After the simple transfer of power was completed, Zhu Jianxuan asked the two to sit down in the conference room and asked about the situation in North America.

As a representative, Li Anbang gave a brief report to Zhu Jianxuan.

Before the winter of the 34th year of Xianning, the Ming expeditionary force had eliminated the main British strongholds north of the Great Lakes.

After the spring of the 35th year of Xianning, the expeditionary force once again led the North American militia northward and began to besiege Quebec and Montreal.

The expeditionary force occupied farmland outside Montreal and Quebec, and a naval flotilla entered the St. Lawrence River to block water access to towns.

This siege by land and sea lasted for more than three months.

The towns of Quebec and Montreal were out of ammunition and food, and never received any support from Britain.

In desperation, the two cities had no choice but to surrender to the Ming expeditionary force.

So as Zhu Jianxuan said at the peace talks, in the autumn of the 35th year of Xianning, the Ming expeditionary force occupied the last two towns on the North American continent that were loyal to the British king.

Up to now, in the entire North American and Central American regions, the Ming Dynasty has captured more than 50,000 British officers and soldiers, officials and clerks, church management and other official personnel.

At that time, there was no talk of preferential treatment for prisoners. For ordinary prisoners who could not pay the ransom, not torturing them was considered normal treatment.

The Ming army would not torture prisoners, but they would not let them eat free meals either.

After all, most of the people here surrendered after they had eaten up all the food, and subsequent food consumption is a big problem.

All the captives were forced by the expeditionary force and militia to either open up wasteland and cultivate farmland around the settlements or to cut down trees and build houses.

The largest group of prisoners in New York City, more than 20,000 British soldiers and mercenaries, were the first to start working.

From the end of 1779 to the beginning of 1782, over two years, they worked continuously on Manhattan Island and Long Island and reclaimed acres of arable land.

At the same time, more than 20,000 small houses were built using mud and wood, which were just right for the first batch of Ming immigrants.

After Zhu Jianxuan learned about the situation, he asked Qin Nanxing and other officers to return to their units and escort the fleet to New York.

(End of this chapter)