America 1881: They Call Me Legend

After the shipbuilding operation started, Armstrong began to regret taking this business a bit.

Party A, Chen Jianqiu, was very difficult to serve.

During the design period, every one or two weeks, he would come to the shipyard to put forward some ideas of his own.

Like: "Can it be faster? 12 knots is bullshit, I'm going to double it! At least 24 knots!"

Another example: "Can you add a torpedo tube for me? That thing will work."

Maxim is used to this, he knows that the boss has extremely strict requirements on weapons.

He often has some flashes of inspiration that come from nowhere. Although it sounds a little nonsense and reluctant at first, it can always prove to be a wise decision afterwards.

But the designers of the shipyard apparently did not know this yet.

These Brits are going crazy, and they're making resignations over and over again.

Armstrong also complained to Chen Jianqiu, but when Boss Chen waved his checkbook again, he gritted his teeth and went back to raise the wages of these designers.

After all, the power of money is powerful, and the Armstrong Shipyard was worthy of being the largest shipyard in Britain at the time.

After more than half a year, the ship Chen Jianqiu needed was finally launched. ,

The design displacement is finally 1200 tons, which is not a big problem.

But the speed can be doubled, more than 24 knots, which makes the designers very troubled.

The existing compound steam engine simply cannot push the speed of a warship above [-] tons to over [-] knots.

But at the request of that demanding party, they had to resort to some new technologies.

Eventually, the designers found Charles Algernon Parsons, an engineer working on improving the steam engine.

He does have an experimental steam turbine there.

This person is also in Newcastle, but he is looking for a partner because he has no money and cannot carry out the next mass production.

Armstrong hesitated again and again, and finally told Chen Jianqiu his predicament.

He originally wanted to invest a fortune, but he was not sure how much potential this new product had.

Boss Chen was simple and direct, and took out the check book without saying a word.

A month later, the steam turbine was installed on the ship.

The result shocked Armstrong and various ship designers!
In the case of no weapon load, the speed is as high as 30 knots!
In addition, the ship's main gun positions and rapid-fire gun positions were all empty, and the appearance was disguised as a merchant ship.

Armstrong looked at the ship in the dock, and the more he looked at it, the more regretful he was.

"Mr. Chen, you know, your ship is quite excellent, even the most advanced, uh."

He searched for words to describe the ship, but couldn't find the right words for a while.

Neither a large gunboat nor a small cruiser seems to be suitable.

"Well, this armed ship, but if it has no weapons, it is like a tiger without teeth. You know what I mean, so I still want to recommend the naval gun series of our shipyard to you, which includes."

Armstrong still couldn't help but began to promote his products, but Chen Jianqiu interrupted him halfway through his speech.

"Don't make it too exaggerated, it will embarrass our government." Chen Jianqiu stood outside the dock, looking at his ship in the berth.

"Let's get some rapid-fire guns." Armstrong was a little desperate.

You know, how can the profit of selling ships catch up with selling guns?It is a little bit to earn a little more!

"Yes, yes." Chen Jianqiu rubbed his hands.

"Jingle Bell!"

Suddenly, the bell of the carriage came from behind them.

Armstrong turned his head and found seven or eight carriages driving over from the gate of the factory and parked beside them.

The bearded Ma Keqin sat in the first carriage.

He jumped out of the car and lifted the cloth on the carriage behind him:

"Mr. Chen, the weapon you want is already in place."

Both Chen Jianqiu and Armstrong's eyes stopped on the weapons loaded in the carriage.

This weapon looks very much like the Maxim machine gun, but its caliber and size are much larger than the machine gun.

The rotatable gun body rests on a conical pure iron base, which looks powerful.

"Rapid fire gun?" Mr. Armstrong almost laughed his teeth out, "If you want this thing, just say it, we have it in our products! Why waste time and effort on research and development!"

He pointed to the similarly shaped weapons on a warship parked at the berth next door:
"Hotchkiss five-barreled rapid-fire gun, 37MM caliber, widely sold at home and abroad, it is worth your own!"

"Cost reduction! Cost reduction!" Chen Jianqiu tried to appease the director of the shipyard.

However, Mr. Ma Keqin on the side is more straightforward:

"Your cannon can't compare to mine. If I remember correctly, the rate of fire of that cannon is only 60 rounds per minute. It's too rubbish."

Chen Jianqiu winked at Ma Keqin, signaling him to stop talking.

But Ma Keqin was so excited that he didn't notice.

"The rate of fire of my cannon can be as high as 200-300 rounds per minute! It is an automatic weapon, and yours needs to be manually cranked, which is too bad." He proudly patted his masterpiece.

Chen Jianqiu began to rub his face.

"Why don't we go on the boat and have a look first." He talked about him from left to right.

But how can Mr Armstrong, who is challenged, stop there.

He also walked to the side of the carriage, checked the cannon up and down, and said to Maxim at the same time:
"Mr. Maxim, to be honest, your accomplishments in machine guns are amazing, but I really don't believe that this gun can have such a high rate of fire. Can you test fire and let me see?"

Ma Keqin knew that he seemed to have said too much.

He looked at Chen Jianqiu.

Chen Jianqiu nodded helplessly.

A cannon was towed to a firing range not far from the shipyard.

This shooting range is set up on a section of the coast where no one passes by.

The two sides were surrounded by fences, and the target floated on the sea with a floating bucket.

"Let's get started." Chen Jianqiu waved at Ma Keqin, "The speed is fixed, I have to ask him to quickly install it for us!"

Ma Keqin was very familiar with this kind of occasion.

He pulled out the belt and started firing the cannon like a machine gun.

All of a sudden, the muzzle of the machine gun began to spray flames, and there was a rapid "bang bang" sound on the coast, and the targets on the sea were torn to pieces with the roar of the machine gun.

Armstrong, watch in hand, was dumbfounded.

After searching for a long time, he found a shortcoming:
The rate of fire is too fast and the consumption of shells is too high.

This reason seems familiar.

"Mr. Armstrong, can these four guns be installed on my ship?" Chen Jianqiu looked at him with a smile, "I remember I paid for the installation fee!"

"What's the name of your gun?" asked Armstrong eagerly.

"I haven't decided on a name yet. The tentative model name is QF 1. What's wrong?" Chen Jianqiu asked.

"How about, let's sign a sales contract. Can you sell me these guns?" Armstrong proposed.

"Why, do you want to add my cannon to your weapon package?" Chen Jianqiu laughed.

Armstrong spread his hands and confessed frankly:

"It's more profitable to make a package! I just make a difference!"

"No problem, you can talk to Ma Keqin later, but you have to quickly install the cannon for me." Chen Jianqiu approached the factory manager and said.

"No problem, I will waive the installation fee for you!" Armstrong held Chen Jianqiu's hand, "But I hope to get the exclusive agent in the UK!"

"It's easy to say, easy to say." Chen Jianqiu smiled playfully.

Several QF1s were transported into the dock, and workers prepared to install them at the bow and stern respectively.

Chen Jianqiu and Maxim left the shipyard after communicating with Armstrong.

"Mr. Chen, didn't you say that pirates are nothing to worry about, and they can be bumped over? I thought you really wanted to go back to Mexico to equip weapons."

On the way back, Ma Keqin and Chen Jianqiu sat in the carriage together and said.

"I didn't want to install it at first. Krupp's main cannon should be shipped back to install it." Chen Jianqiu played with a straw in his hand, "But after I saw your product, I changed my mind."

"Look back, what weapon was invented on the land, after changing it, continue to sell him!" He said to Maxim.