Shanghai, Huangpu River, Olifin Wharf. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Two large passenger ships with a mixture of steam and sail slowly left the dock with a long whistle, this kind of passenger ship belongs to the name of the joint venture steamship company of Yuanqi and the American Olifin Comptoir, usually specially traveled from Shanghai to New York, these years the Qing Dynasty and the United States can be said to be in the honeymoon period, frequent personnel exchanges between the two countries, ocean liners naturally came into being.

These two passenger ships carrying the first envoy of the Qing Dynasty to Western countries are going to detour to Europe this time, and then cross the Atlantic Ocean to the United States, there are many people on the wharf to see them off, densely packed with wharves, all frequently wave goodbye, Yi Zhizhi and Prince Hui Mianyu stood at the front of the wharf, the two also waved slowly, this part, I am afraid it will take two or three years.

Watching the passenger ship drift away, Yi Zhizhi turned around and got into the sedan chair, returned to the Zhenhai Mansion, and after getting off the sedan chair, he issued the sedan chair of Prince Hui Mianyu actually followed behind, and Mianyu, who was waiting for him, got off the sedan chair, he paced slowly and said, "Is there something wrong with the prince?" ”

Mianyu smiled: "I don't know the bottom of my heart, come to the national city to sit here." ”

"Lord Wang, don't worry." Yi Zhishu stretched out his hand and made a gesture of please, and said slowly as he walked: "The ocean liner travels back and forth between Daqing and Western countries all the year round, and it has rich experience, so there will be no accidents, and it is still two passenger ships traveling together." ”

"That's not what worries the king........" Mianyu said softly.

What to worry about? Worried about the outbreak of war and the safety of the legations in Europe and the Americas? Yi Zhifen glanced at him, and simply lazily took the stubble.

Seeing that he didn't answer, Mianyu only continued: "Guocheng is so relieved of Citi Country? ”

After a slight sigh, Yi Zhizhi said: "Citigroup does not have any strength to provoke my Qing Dynasty now, and there is no major conflict of interest between the two countries. ”

"Since the city says so, the king is relieved." Mianyu turned her head as she spoke, "The envoy delegation is visiting, and it costs a lot of money, right?" ”

"Not too much." Yi Zhizhi said disapprerovingly: "The visit of the Qing envoys will inevitably be warmly received by Western countries, and there will not be too many places that require Yuan Qi to give silver." ”

The two had a casual chat, entered the Changle Book House, and after sitting down, Mianyu said business, "This time, the national city is urging Heilongjiang to use troops to fight quickly, and it is also to reduce the scale of troops in the northwest...... and it also said that the British and French invasion is inevitable, will it be true?" ”

Yi Zhixin knew that this must have been Xianfeng who asked him to test his tone, and he also hoped that the imperial court would be psychologically prepared, besides, Zhang Lexing's move to Xuzhou was also something that could not be hidden, and if he didn't make it clear, the imperial court should be suspicious again.

He lit a cigarette and took two puffs slowly before he spoke: "The last time Britain, France and the United States joined forces to propose a treaty amendment clause under the pretext of amending the treaty, it was already very revealing, what does it mean?" Britain, France, and the United States were very dissatisfied with trade with the Qing Dynasty and hoped to further develop the Qing market.

As I said before, the Qing Dynasty's population of 400 million, accounting for 40 to 30 percent of the world's total population, is the largest market in the world, and opening, occupying, and constantly expanding this market is the most urgent task of Britain, France, and the United States at present, and it is also most in line with the interests of the domestic bourgeoisie of the three countries.

It can be said that this is a strategic issue of the national interests of the three countries! After the end of the Crimean War, Britain and France will have their hands free and will inevitably solve this problem as soon as possible.

In addition, the Crimean War, Russia's defeat and great loss of vitality, need to calm down and lick the wounds, will inevitably slow down the expansion in Asia, Britain and France, as the victors, will naturally not let go of this rare opportunity to accelerate the expansion of Asian power.

What is Daqing doing? The Qing Dynasty expanded in the northwest, in Southeast Asia, in the southern foothills of Tibet, in Kamchatka, in the northeast to suppress Russia, so to speak, the Crimean War, the Qing Dynasty became the biggest beneficiary! Moreover, it has curbed the expansion of British power in Asia, so will Britain and France not give up?

In addition, the Qing Dynasty has vigorously introduced and developed industry in recent years, and its national strength has become stronger and stronger, which is also intolerable to Britain and France, and they are unwilling to lose the largest market in the Qing Dynasty! I am even more reluctant to rise strongly in the Qing Dynasty, affect the trade between the East and the West, and destroy the pattern of the East and the West! ”

Speaking of this, he paused and said in an accentuated tone: "That's why I will say that this war with Britain and France is inevitable!" Since it is an inevitable war, since it is a war at the strategic level of national interests, Britain and France will not delay, and will take advantage of the unfavorable situation of the Qing Dynasty to use troops on the frontier to launch a war! ”

Mianyu was silent for a long time, and only after a long time did he speak: "That being the case, why doesn't the national city withdraw its troops and take strict precautions, maybe this war can be avoided." ”

"Didn't the prince understand?" Yi Zhizu knocked the ashes, "This is an inevitable war, even if the Qing Dynasty is solemn, Britain and France will start this war!" It is highly likely that this is a great war between the East and the West, and it is possible that the Qing Dynasty will face the combined forces of Britain, France, the United States, Russia, Spain and the Netherlands!

Even if diplomacy succeeds, it may face a large-scale invasion by the British, French, Russian, Western and Dutch forces! In my opinion, if the Qing Dynasty wants to rise strongly, it must also go through the test of war, which is both a test and an opportunity for the Qing Dynasty! ”

Six-nation alliance, five-nation alliance? Mian Yu listened to the horror, a British could fight back then, let alone the five-nation and six-nation coalition troops? Calming down, he pondered for a while, and then realized that the other party's tone was wrong, what is both a test and an opportunity?

Thinking that the other party's super ability to predict and be able to assert the outbreak and scale of the Crimean War a few years ago, he hesitated before saying: "When the Crimean War was about to end, the national city used troops everywhere, could it be deliberate?" ”

Yi Zhizhi smiled contentedly, "Yuan Qi is not arrogant enough to think that he can resist the alliance of several Western countries, besides, now is a critical period for Yuan Qi's development, and what he is most afraid of is war, after all, war is too destructive." ”

Hearing this, Mianyu nodded slightly, indeed, although Yi Zhixiang is bold and reckless, he has never fought an uncertain battle, knowing that he may face the alliance of several Western countries, and will never take the initiative to provoke or guide a large-scale war that is uncertain.

After a slight groan, he said, "For this inevitable war, what are the chances of Yuan Qi winning?" ”

Yi Zhishu said lightly: "At least sixty percent of the chance of winning." ”

"Sixty percent odds?" Mianyu looked at him in disbelief, this is a five-nation or six-nation alliance, how can it have such a high chance of winning?

"What is the biggest advantage of our Daqing? There are two points: one is that the territory is vast and has great strategic depth, and the other is that it has a large population and a steady stream of soldiers. Yi Zhicontent looked confident, "What is the biggest drawback of Western countries?" For transoceanic expeditions, the logistics supply line is too long, the scale of the troops is large, the logistics supply is a big trouble, and the scale of the troops is small, so it is not enough to fight at all! ”

Isn't this nonsense, Western countries have huge naval fleets, huge merchant fleets, and Britain still has huge colonies in Asia, what is the logistics supply? Mianyu glanced at him and said, "In the Crimean War, the British and French armies were equipped with Mini guns ....... ”

"Aren't we armed with Minnie guns too?" Yi Zhixiang smiled: "Fight casualties? Spell the population? No one is afraid of us in the Qing Dynasty! ”

Seeing that he was full of confidence, Mianyu no longer rapped, he was anxious to go back to sort out the conversation between the recital and Yi Zhicontentment, and he was afraid that there was something missing, so he immediately laughed and said: "What Guocheng said is that our Daqing Dynasty has a population of 400 million, spanning tens of thousands of miles, who are you afraid of." As he spoke, he stood up, "The affairs of the kingdom are busy, and this king does not bother ...... much." ”

Yi Zhifen naturally will not stay, immediately got up to send off, to the gate of the courtyard, he stopped to say goodbye, but at a glance saw the porter head leading the Baoshan Ordnance Factory manager Tang Renhui over, couldn't help but feel a slight surprise, he was also planning to take time to go to the ordnance factory in the next few days to see, it seems that it should be good news, otherwise, Tang Renhui will not come to the door.

Tang Renhui brought good news, entered the study, and after seeing the ceremony, he took out a few yellow bullets and said with a smile: "Big shopkeeper, after nearly a year of test shooting and continuous improvement, now all tests have been qualified, and the response is also excellent...... Let's be mass-produced. ”

Custom-mounted metal bullet shell bullets, Yi Zhishu carefully played with the yellow bullets, his heart fluctuated, and he was extremely emotional, he had not been in contact with this thing before, but it was also a lot, and he had never taken it to heart before, and now he knew how difficult it was to manufacture this bullet, six years, six years! With the support of his specific ideas, drawings, and sparing no effort, it still took six years, how could he not sigh!

"Let's go, go back to Baoshan." Yi Zhishu stood up, hearing is false, seeing is believing, he has to witness with his own eyes.

"Bang bang bang" a crisp burst of gunfire sounded at the shooting range in the mountain behind the Baoshan Ordnance Factory, with a sound of pulling the bolt, the gunfire rang out again, the gunfire followed one wave after another, and the whistle sounded, and the gunfire stopped.

Although you can also smell the smell of gunpowder, but there is no smoke, this is the most obvious difference between smokeless gunpowder and black powder, of course, the power of smokeless gunpowder is far greater than black powder, which is reflected in the range, smokeless gunpowder bullet range is much farther.

Smokeless gunpowder - nitrocellulose, can be said to be the first developed by Yuanqi, in 1846, there were chemists in Europe who invented nitrocellulose, however, nitrocellulose is very unstable and cannot be used as gunpowder for ammunition.

However, the research institute of the Shanghai Ammunition Bureau dissolved nitrocellulose in ether and ethanol to make it a gelatinous substance, and then pressed it into sheets, cut into strips, and dried and hardened it, so that smokeless gunpowder could become ammunition medicine. Of course, for this technology, easy to know content is still a secret.

After the gunshot, Yi Zhizu raised his telescope and looked at the target sign opposite, almost all of the more than a dozen breastplate targets placed at a distance of 400 meters were distributed with more than eight or nine bullet holes, this distance, to have this hit rate, it is already very good, not only the gun is good, the bullet is good, the shooting technology is also very good.

Seeing Yi Zhicontent, he put down the binoculars, and the company commander Sun Changgui reported lightly: "The effective range is 800 meters, the maximum distance can reach 1,100 meters, the rate of fire can reach 10 to 12 rounds in one minute, and the combat state can reach at least 7 to 8 rounds per minute, and you can take standing, squatting, and horizontal loading bullets and shooting ........ ”

Yi Zhizu waved his hand and said, "Try five hundred meters." ”

Sun Changgui was not verbose, and hurriedly ordered the target to be moved, and Yi Zhizu took advantage of this gap to ask a few soldiers who were shooting at the target, "Have you found any jams?" ”

"Yes." One soldier whispered, "But it's rare, and sometimes you may not be able to meet it once a day." ”

"How's this gun?"

The gun used for target shooting is the Baoshan rifle developed by Yuan Qi himself - a rear-loading gun with a rotary pull-back bolt lock, which was also repeatedly modified for several years before it was finally finalized, and the most advanced Dressy bolt-action pin gun in Europe at the same time was completely a burning stick compared to it! The front-loading Mini gun is not comparable in the slightest, it is completely different.

When asked about the rifles, the eyes of all the soldiers were shining, and they said, "Great! ”

"Countless times better than the Minnie gun!"

"It's simply incomparable, the Mini gun is not even as good as a burning stick."

"Not only is the rate of fire fast, but the hit rate also seems to have increased."

"Crushing a Minnie gun completely is like crushing a smoothbore gun."

Listening to the applause, Yi Zhizhi smiled contentedly: "Are there any shortcomings, inconveniences?" ”

After a moment's hesitation, the soldier spoke: "I really haven't found anything lacking......." ”

Yi Zhizu smiled and said: "This rifle is still a transitional product and is not perfect, you are welcome to feedback at any time on the unreasonable design or defects of the gun, so that the researchers can make targeted improvements." ”

As he spoke, he turned his head, "With an effective range of 500 meters or 600 meters, how high is the hit rate?" ”

Sun Changgui hurriedly replied: "The hit rate of 500 meters is only half, 600 meters, not even 30 percent, however, excellent shooters, 600 meters of hit rate is still very high, 800 meters can also have one or two percent of the hit rate." ”

Can 800 meters also have a hit rate of one or two percent? Yi Zhishu couldn't help but secretly say to himself, today's rifles don't have scopes, how do they fight? Sharpshooter? The Yuanqi recruits especially like to shoot officers, and he also wants to figure out the scope, but he doesn't know how that thing works.

A long whistle came, this is the target card has been set, Sun Changgui hurriedly ordered the whole team, and the soldiers entered the shooting position, but Yi Zhifen caught a glimpse of Tang Renhui leading a team of people to carry a long box and come quickly, he couldn't help but smile, no need to guess, he also knew that it was a grenade!