Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1429 Picking up Trash

His hard work would not be in vain, and at the very least, dismantling the iron ribs of the wreckage is also valuable to him-these are all malleable iron, which can save him a lot of manpower and material resources invested in metallurgy.

However, he soon got a gift more expensive than iron.The divers he hired to pick pearls soon discovered a "surprisingly large cannon" on the reef at a depth of more than two meters underwater.Evaristo Okamoto went into the water himself, and through the transparent blue water, he discovered that it was a Dahlgren cannon,

This is one of the two main guns on the 901.One of the doors was winched from the ship by a naval rescue team, and it could not be salvaged because it sank in the depths of the reef.This time the typhoon pushed it from the depths of the reef to the shallows.The storm destroyed its gun mount, but the entire gun barrel was intact, and the sea creatures had not even had time to cover the entire gun barrel.

Hale immediately ordered to salvage the cannon. With the help of tackle and the reef, hundreds of coolies worked hard for three days, and finally fished the Dahlgren Cannon from the reef.

The treasured Evaristo Okamoto immediately measured the cannon, and soon he found that the cannon was not manufactured according to the imperial system. Although he did not have a metric measuring tool, it was easy to guess that the caliber of the cannon was 130mm of.

"As far as the Dahlgren gun is concerned, the caliber is a bit small." This is Evaristo Okamoto's first evaluation of this cannon.

With the technology and craftsmanship he currently possesses, it is still impossible to manufacture such a powerful front-loading rifled gun.However, this artillery can be used as an important weapon to defend Manila.In addition, it also provided a reference sample for his next experimental manufacture of this artillery.

Soon he got a second and better gift: a small artillery.He has seen the small naval artillery made by Australians on the Hong Kong Haixun 64, and it is still a traditional smoothbore gun.But this gun is completely different, it is a 75mm Dahlgren gun.

This is the first time Hale has seen such a small-caliber Dahlgren gun. Dahlgren guns rarely have small and medium-caliber artillery. In the middle and late 19th century when this kind of artillery became popular, it was basically responsible for coastal artillery and fortress artillery. Most of the Dahlgren guns on many coastal fortresses in the United States have a caliber of more than 200mm, and 406mm Dahlgren guns are not uncommon.

This group of Chinese actually made a 75mm Dahlgren gun!This is beyond the imagination of Evaristo Okamoto.Apart from their unwillingness to waste resources and make their battleships overpowered, Hale couldn't find any other reasons.

"Ship the two cannons back to Manila at once and give them to Marcos," he ordered. "Tell him I want them back to their best condition soon!"

"Yes, sir."

"Twenty pesos will be given to the divers who find the cannon!" Hale ordered, "One peso per person who participates in the cannon hunting! Report any new discoveries to me immediately!"

Under the stimulation of the material, the coolies who had been struggling in the seawater under the scorching sun became more motivated.More things were salvaged, first some shells, and then powder kegs with propellant powder packs. Of course, these things were of little value, but he still did not hesitate to pay the bounty.

So a steady stream of junk was scooped up: several damaged Navy short-barreled Minie rifles, a 12-gauge shotgun, more shells, and a small amount of propellant.Then came the wreckage of boilers and steam engines, which had been blasted to pieces in storms and blasts, and many of the remains had disappeared.However, Evaristo Okamoto still carefully directed the coolies to roughly display the wreckage on the beach for his careful study.

Neither the boiler nor the engine could possibly be repurposed.Hale is very clear about this, the opponent is a veteran, and the damage to Nengchao can be said to be complete, but from observing these wreckages, he can still deduce what kind of industrial capabilities his opponents probably have.

Through the information collected in the past and the analysis of the wreckage this time, these Chinese from the same time and space as themselves cannot build iron-hulled ships. All their ships, including warships, are made of wood. Obviously, they do not think that this time and space Whose firepower can threaten their ships, this is in line with their thinking of equipping their main battleships with small and medium-caliber Dahlgren guns-"just enough".

He browsed through the highest crystallization of these "Australian" industries, and the shock in his heart could not be added.It's one thing to know what they have, quite another to see it with your own eyes.

"The gap is too big!" He thought to himself, what he saw today fully confirmed all the information collected so far.The Chinese on Hainan Island have an astonishingly large advantage in the strength of the industrial system.

In contrast, the little situation that I had worked so hard to create in Manila was really vulnerable in front of them.

If this gang of Chinese decides to intervene forcefully in Manila, everything he has done so far in the Philippines will be wiped out.Evaristo Okamoto was secretly worried.Fortunately, God sent him this cannon, which gave him a little more chips in his hand.Now it is necessary to upgrade Manila's defense level as soon as possible at all costs.The new large-caliber rifled cannon had to be started as soon as possible, and the progress of mines and mineboats had to be accelerated.

The scrap picking operation on the Chaochao is still going on. Although there is no possibility of repairing or using the boiler and steam engine, this pile of scrap copper and iron is still loaded on a ship and transported back to Manila.Then part of the anchor chain, the wreckage of the windlass, and the iron ship ribs salvaged from the water were all dismantled.Evaristo Okamoto didn't even spare the remaining copper skin on the bottom of the ship, organizing the coolies to peel off all of them bit by bit.

"The barrage dam on the lower San Juan River has been completed, and the water stored in it can be used to drive multiple sets of water wheels. Each set includes two to four water wheels of different sizes. I observed that all the water wheels are installed. Drive gear sets so that they transmit power to factory machinery smoothly and efficiently...

Even the native Spaniards in Manila were amazed by the efficiency of the colonial government, because procrastination and laziness were its normal style.The newly built gunpowder factory had an explosion recently, and the wooden sheds used as factory buildings were burned down. However, in less than half a month, they brought in new wood and repaired the damaged buildings.Even under the strict order of the governor, the workers have resumed production without waiting for the restoration work of the factory to be completely completed.At present, this military-industrial complex has recruited no less than a thousand Chinese laborers, and thousands of Tagalog coolies.The head of the Royal Shipyard complained openly that the new munitions workshop had attracted so many Chinese artisans that he did not have enough manpower to fulfill the orders of the Royal Colony.Therefore, the Manila authorities decided to further expand the recruitment of Chinese artisans.Special personnel have been sent to Macau for this purpose.Chinese working in the military-industrial complex can get double the wages of odd jobs in Manila and Parian. Artisans with specialized skills earn more, but they must reach the service period stipulated in the contract before they can receive it.And they were concentrated in camps attached to several specially-built factories, and their every move was closely monitored and controlled, almost like prisoners...

"Fort St. Anthony added a large caliber gun similar in appearance to Dahlgren's, which was brought in by ship. It is not clear exactly how this gun came from or whether it was actually rifled. However, the Spaniards were interested in Dargren The Lun Cannon is heavily guarded and no one is allowed to approach it. It is said that a brand new fort is being built for this cannon in the fortress, and the gun mount is also newly designed.

"Droideka's whereabouts and whereabouts are still unknown. According to colonial officers and priests who had close contact with him, he sometimes lived in a church, but more often he hid in a cave outside Manila or in his own He lived in a hut in a certain valley in the territory-it is said that he built a hermitage in the valley. But I personally think that he mainly operates in the newly built munitions factory outside Manila. It is heavily guarded and there is no governor for outsiders No one can enter. The guards were ordered to shoot anyone who tried to enter the factory without permission.

"Undoubtedly, he did this to avoid the interference of stupid and meddling Catholic priests in the design and testing of weapons. I think it is necessary to take some proactive action at present. If Droideka feels threatened by some If your whereabouts are limited to the city of Manila or the munitions factory, it will be beneficial to us..."

Jiang Shan put down a thick stack of translated manuscripts, and pressed his temple.Every time Weislando's report is a long and eloquent text, which keeps the translation office busy for a long time-fortunately, I can read English directly, otherwise this thing would be as slow as the Japanese embassy's declaration of war.He was writing the report as a novel, Jiang Shan thought, it would be a pity that this guy didn't become a reporter or write a 007 story.

It was already late at night, and the only thing that could be heard in the office building was the movement of the night duty personnel, and the crackling and typing sound from the secretariat from time to time.Jiang Shan packed up the documents, locked them in the safe, locked the door, and then went to the dormitory downstairs to take a quick shower.Except that work is work, he has not returned to his apartment for several days, and only asks his life secretary to deliver meals and a change of clothes to the gate post.If it weren't for running five kilometers every day or swimming 500 meters in the middle of the sea, I'm afraid it would have been impossible to continue working like this.

(End of this chapter)