After adding hundreds of laborers in one go, the construction of the coastal camp was finally in full swing. The construction crew drew two defensive lines in the east-west and north-south directions along the perimeter along the area where the temporary wharf is currently located, preparing to isolate an area near the water and serve as the main camp of Haihan on the coast of Miaoli. This area is located at the mouth of Houlong Creek, and the plan makes the most of the terrain advantages, allowing the water surface to be used as a natural barrier in the west and north directions, and only the east and south sides of the defense line can be set up to deal with threats from land.

At present, most of the west coast of the island of Taiwan is under the control of Haihan, and although the Dutch still have a colony in Dayuangang, the local governor Hans knows very well what can and cannot be done. According to the understanding agreement signed by the two sides last month, Dutch ships entering and leaving Dayuan Port cannot go from the Fujian Strait to the waters north of Dayuan Port, and even Dutch merchant ships bound for Okinawa and Japan can only make a detour through the Bass Strait in the southern part of Taiwan Island.

The pirates and Spaniards who originally operated in the Fujian Strait had all been wiped out or driven out of the waters around Taiwan last year, so there was no need to consider the man-made threat from the sea in the Miaoli region in the middle of Taiwan's west coast, and the camps near the sea could deploy the main defense force in the land direction - after all, the only people who could threaten the Haihan in this area were the indigenous tribes in the inland mountains.

Considering the level of armament of the indigenous tribes, of course, Haihan did not need to use big moves such as building forts here, as long as he dug trenches on the periphery and pulled barbed wire, and then laid some obstacles such as deer and horses to establish the depth of defense while narrowing the defensive surface as much as possible, and then built breastworks and concealed fortifications near the several main passages set aside, so that the defenders could gather troops to steadily implement firepower output in wartime, and the pressure on defense would be reduced a lot.

Before Morgan returned from the mountains, Tian Yeyou had already divided the migrant workers in the garrison into two groups for him, one group was responsible for building military facilities, and the outer fortifications were the main ones. The other part is responsible for civilian facilities, such as docks, warehouses, barracks, and various facilities necessary for life in the camp. In addition, it is necessary to start preparing more building materials using the local forest resources for the initial construction of several inland sites. In particular, in the area where the oil field is located, the number of personnel stationed in the local area during the exploration period will be close to 1,000, and the long-term camp area required to accommodate such a large number of people is also a large project, and some building materials do not need to wait for the large army to enter before being prepared locally.

Although Tian Yeyou is not from the construction industry, the places he goes to are often in the wilderness, from the Tiandu Iron Mine and Heitugang Coal Mine in the early days, to the later Shilu Iron Mine, the Jilong Gold Mine, and then to the current Miaoli, each place is built from scratch little by little. Compared to Morgan, he is at least half a professional, and he is already familiar with how to build a camp, and can take on the role of on-site command.

Morgan didn't have many opportunities to lead troops alone, and occasionally there were field trainings, that is, taking his scouts in the mountains near Sanya, and there was no need to build such a large amount of camps and fortifications, so naturally his experience in this field was not as rich as Tian Yeyou. However, it was rare to seize the opportunity to meet someone who knew how to do it, so Morgan asked Tian Yeyou a lot of questions about this at the dinner table. The two drank and talked until late at night.

The next day, while still asleep, Morgan was awakened by a noise outside the tent. Morgan said in his heart that the fleet from Penghu had arrived, and just as he was about to get up, the guards had already entered the tent and reported to him: "Chief, there are a few natives from outside the camp, and it seems that they want to convey some message to us. ”

Hearing this, Morgan hurriedly put on his clothes, walked to the door, and turned back to the guard, "Take my gun." ”

The gun Morgan was referring to was not his precious M200, which was usually disassembled into several large pieces and placed in a moisture-proof box, and was rarely assembled for use. Now Morgan is using a new product of Haihan Ordnance Industrial's small-batch trial production, which is a rear-loading repeating rifle that imitates the Spencer M1865 rifle.

This rifle uses brass cartridge casings, which expand when fired to lock the rear of the chamber, thus solving the problem of air leakage from the breech gun, and metal cartridge cases also solve the problem of moisture protection of ammunition. To reload, remove the supply tube from the rear of the stock, and then push the seven rounds of copper-cased cartridges through the hole in the stock. When the trigger retainer is pulled, the rotary bolt steps back to open the chamber and pulls out the empty cartridge case, while the spring in the butt pushes the next round out of the supply barrel, pulls the retainer on, and the bolt pushes the bullet into the chamber while locking the space.

Although the rifle requires the hammer to be pulled before each shot, and the trigger retainer needs to be pulled up and down after the shot to complete the action of unloading the shell and reloading, its rate of fire has far exceeded the current rate of fire of three to four rounds per minute with fixed-load flintlock pistols, and it only takes more than ten seconds to complete the seven rounds loaded in the butt. If the bullet is replaced with a preloaded barrel, the sustained rate of fire can even reach 21 rounds per minute, and it is not an exaggeration to call it a repeater. The firepower output of this gun alone is equivalent to six or seven flintlock guns, and according to the internal test of Haihan Ordnance, there is no need to clean the chamber when firing two hundred rounds of ammunition in one go, which is much stronger than the flintlock pistol that fires paper fixed ammunition.

Of course, the shortcomings of this "advanced weapon" are also obvious, that is, the cost of construction and use is too high. At present, the cost of one of these repeating rifles is about seven flintlock muskets, which means that it will cost seven times as much to install them in a single unit. In addition, because the structure of the gun body is more complex and the production cycle is much longer than that of the flintlock pistol, it is almost impossible to achieve a formed assembly in a short period of time, and it is obviously difficult to give full play to the power of the new weapon with scattered installations.

Another shortcoming is ammunition, the production technology of copper shell fixed ammunition is still relatively difficult for the current Haihan ordnance industry, and the almost manual production process leads to very low production capacity, and the bullet made by a skilled worker in a day is only enough for a gun to fire for one minute. Moreover, with the performance of this gun, the consumption of ammunition is so large that it is impossible to ignore the gap between its cost and the ammunition used in the flintlock pistols that are now installed in large areas of the army.

This book was first published on the Genesis Chinese website, and the following content will be re-edited later for anti-theft

After adding hundreds of laborers in one go, the construction of the coastal camp was finally in full swing. The construction crew drew two defensive lines in the east-west and north-south directions along the perimeter along the area where the temporary wharf is currently located, preparing to isolate an area near the water and serve as the main camp of Haihan on the coast of Miaoli. This area is located at the mouth of Houlong Creek, and the plan makes the most of the terrain advantages, allowing the water surface to be used as a natural barrier in the west and north directions, and only the east and south sides of the defense line can be set up to deal with threats from land.

At present, most of the west coast of the island of Taiwan is under the control of Haihan, and although the Dutch still have a colony in Dayuangang, the local governor Hans knows very well what can and cannot be done. According to the understanding agreement signed by the two sides last month, Dutch ships entering and leaving Dayuan Port cannot go from the Fujian Strait to the waters north of Dayuan Port, and even Dutch merchant ships bound for Okinawa and Japan can only make a detour through the Bass Strait in the southern part of Taiwan Island.

The pirates and Spaniards who originally operated in the Fujian Strait had all been wiped out or driven out of the waters around Taiwan last year, so there was no need to consider the man-made threat from the sea in the Miaoli region in the middle of Taiwan's west coast, and the camps near the sea could deploy the main defense force in the land direction - after all, the only people who could threaten the Haihan in this area were the indigenous tribes in the inland mountains.

Considering the level of armament of the indigenous tribes, of course, Haihan did not need to use big moves such as building forts here, as long as he dug trenches on the periphery and pulled barbed wire, and then laid some obstacles such as deer and horses to establish the depth of defense while narrowing the defensive surface as much as possible, and then built breastworks and concealed fortifications near the several main passages set aside, so that the defenders could gather troops to steadily implement firepower output in wartime, and the pressure on defense would be reduced a lot.

Before Morgan returned from the mountains, Tian Yeyou had already divided the migrant workers in the garrison into two groups for him, one group was responsible for building military facilities, and the outer fortifications were the main ones. The other part is responsible for civilian facilities, such as docks, warehouses, barracks, and various facilities necessary for life in the camp. In addition, it is necessary to start preparing more building materials using the local forest resources for the initial construction of several inland sites. In particular, in the area where the oil field is located, the number of personnel stationed in the local area during the exploration period will be close to 1,000, and the long-term camp area required to accommodate such a large number of people is also a large project, and some building materials do not need to wait for the large army to enter before being prepared locally.

Although Tian Yeyou is not from the construction industry, the places he goes to are often in the wilderness, from the Tiandu Iron Mine and Heitugang Coal Mine in the early days, to the later Shilu Iron Mine, the Jilong Gold Mine, and then to the current Miaoli, each place is built from scratch little by little. Compared to Morgan, he is at least half a professional, and he is already familiar with how to build a camp, and can take on the role of on-site command.

Morgan didn't have many opportunities to lead troops alone, and occasionally there were field trainings, that is, taking his scouts in the mountains near Sanya, and there was no need to build such a large amount of camps and fortifications, so naturally his experience in this field was not as rich as Tian Yeyou. However, it was rare to seize the opportunity to meet someone who knew how to do it, so Morgan asked Tian Yeyou a lot of questions about this at the dinner table. The two drank and talked until late at night.

The next day, while still asleep, Morgan was awakened by a noise outside the tent. Morgan said in his heart that the fleet from Penghu had arrived, and just as he was about to get up, the guards had already entered the tent and reported to him: "Chief, there are a few natives from outside the camp, and it seems that they want to convey some message to us. ”

Hearing this, Morgan hurriedly put on his clothes, walked to the door, and turned back to the guard, "Take my gun." ”

The gun Morgan was referring to was not his precious M200, which was usually disassembled into several large pieces and placed in a moisture-proof box, and was rarely assembled for use. Now Morgan is using a new product of Haihan Ordnance Industrial's small-batch trial production, which is a rear-loading repeating rifle that imitates the Spencer M1865 rifle.

This rifle uses brass cartridge casings, which expand when fired to lock the rear of the chamber, thus solving the problem of air leakage from the breech gun, and metal cartridge cases also solve the problem of moisture protection of ammunition. To reload, remove the supply tube from the rear of the stock, and then push the seven rounds of copper-cased cartridges through the hole in the stock. When the trigger retainer is pulled, the rotary bolt steps back to open the chamber and pulls out the empty cartridge case, while the spring in the butt pushes the next round out of the supply barrel, pulls the retainer on, and the bolt pushes the bullet into the chamber while locking the space.

Although the rifle requires the hammer to be pulled before each shot, and the trigger retainer needs to be pulled up and down after the shot to complete the action of unloading the shell and reloading, its rate of fire has far exceeded the current rate of fire of three to four rounds per minute with fixed-load flintlock pistols, and it only takes more than ten seconds to complete the seven rounds loaded in the butt. If the bullet is replaced with a preloaded barrel, the sustained rate of fire can even reach 21 rounds per minute, and it is not an exaggeration to call it a repeater. The firepower output of this gun alone is equivalent to six or seven flintlock guns, and according to the internal test of Haihan Ordnance, there is no need to clean the chamber when firing two hundred rounds of ammunition in one go, which is much stronger than the flintlock pistol that fires paper fixed ammunition.

Of course, the shortcomings of this "advanced weapon" are also obvious, that is, the cost of construction and use is too high. At present, the cost of one of these repeating rifles is about seven flintlock muskets, which means that it will cost seven times as much to install them in a single unit. In addition, because the structure of the gun body is more complex and the production cycle is much longer than that of the flintlock pistol, it is almost impossible to achieve a formed assembly in a short period of time, and it is obviously difficult to give full play to the power of the new weapon with scattered installations.

Another shortcoming is ammunition, the production technology of copper shell fixed ammunition is still relatively difficult for the current Haihan ordnance industry, and the almost manual production process leads to very low production capacity, and the bullet made by a skilled worker in a day is only enough for a gun to fire for one minute. Moreover, with the performance of this gun, the consumption of ammunition is so large that it is impossible to ignore the gap between its cost and the ammunition used in the flintlock pistols that are now installed in large areas of the army.