Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1486 Collaborators

"But this guy must not be underestimated, he is a complete pragmatist. Just look at the trigger fuze he designed," Lin Shenhe said.Weiss managed to bribe some Spanish officers to steal several shell fuzes made by Hale in the name of scrap, and asked the Haiqi to send these dangerous goods back to Lingao for dismantling and analysis. "The structure is so simple that there is no explosion-proof safety mechanism except for a barrier spring. The key is that it does not require any complicated craftsmanship or many skilled craftsmen, which is very suitable for the production level of the half-baked factory in Manila. At least it can compare It fires reliably. Compared with the standard Fuze 1 fuze produced by Bopu Factory, the effective rate in the test on medium-hard soil is only 17% lower, and the performance is quite good. As for safety, except for our products, in the What kind of grenade fuze needs to consider safety performance in the [-]th century?"

The atmosphere in the venue turned solemn again.There has been no permission to speak, and he said: "The data on imported materials, combined with information from other sources, can basically conclude that the Philippine authorities currently do not have the ability to produce iron by themselves." He found a few photos from the file, "Big Book According to the information of the museum, the early iron smelting industry in the Philippines was closely related to the technology spread by Chinese immigrants. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the iron-making blast furnace used locally was the trumpet furnace that appeared in Fujian in the late Ming Dynasty. However, according to the report of the Manila station, black No similar equipment has been found in the Dole factory or anywhere else."

"If the personnel who infiltrated the melting and casting workshop of the Hale factory are not mistaken," Lian turned out some pictures, which were sketches made by the intelligence agency based on Gimmeade's description, "pig iron ingots and scrap iron were unloaded from the port to small boats , directly transported along the river to the factory wharf. The smelting equipment includes a simple hearth furnace. The Chinese workers use the traditional Chinese iron frying method to stir wrought iron to feed the forging and rolling machines. There are also two special castings Iron melting furnaces are very common in Europe at present. The core of the foundry is three reverberatory furnaces. According to the description of the Manila station, some may be used for melting copper, but they are mainly used for melting iron.”

"Among them is a relatively small reverberatory furnace. Workers are often seen pulling out red-hot clay pots from inside, and pouring red-hot molten metal from the pot into the slot mold. Intelligence personnel witnessed workers doing every step before entering the furnace. Weighed iron filings, broken small pieces of iron, charcoal granules and cut iron bars were put into the clay jars, and 12 jars were put into the furnace door each time. We deduced that this was producing crucible steel, and the process seemed It is similar to Krupp's method. But the output is not large. The main function of these reverberatory furnaces is to refine pig iron from different sources and with large differences in quality. Hale's factory cannot produce iron by itself, so he attaches great importance to this method The process makes sense."

"Please note that the style of the reverberatory furnace shown in the sketch is basically the same as the unfinished double-chamber reverberatory furnace found on Xiamen Island by Zheng's Group. A hollow iron core that can be cooled by flowing water was even found on the Xiamen foundry site. Casting furnace tuyeres. If Hale uses the same tuyeres in his Manila factory, then his reverberatory furnace should be designed with heat exchange chambers to increase productivity by hot blasting. At least in this foundry, Hale The reverberatory furnace is the most technologically advanced thing of this era, or black technology. As for the others, green sand casting molds, iron mold casting, etc., are nothing."

"Isn't Amaterasu going down to earth?" Someone asked back, "It doesn't matter if this little Japan is a weapon expert and a chemical expert, but now he's an expert in metallurgy?"

"We don't know much about him. But since he is a Japanese and is good at making weapons, I guess he may have done in-depth research on the history of military technology in his country. After all, the military industry in modern Japan was built from the reflections of Niyama and Kagoshima. According to some information I have consulted, some refining reverberatory furnaces in Japan at the end of the Edo period and the beginning of the Meiji period did indeed use hollow water-cooled nozzles with similar structures.”

"The metal minerals in all parts of the Philippines are very rich. Will this situation happen?" Wu Mu said, "In order to confuse us, or for the sake of prudence, on the one hand, Hale asked the Spanish Governor to import metals, and on the other hand, he asked the Spanish governor to import metals. Iron and copper are smelted in local blast furnaces in other areas, and then transported to the Manila factory for processing. I am not denying the work achievements of Comrade Lando and the Manila station, but the farthest area they have set foot in is limited to the suburbs of Manila, which will inevitably leave a gap .”

"I agree," Jiang Shan said, "I suggest sending remote resource exploration immediately to cooperate with the Manila Station to investigate the important mineral production areas in the Philippines, especially the current mining and processing conditions in the Philippines. It is necessary to have first-hand information. Considering the danger of this task, I request the assistance and support of my comrades in the Army and Navy Departments and the Special Reconnaissance Team.”

"Also, we have recognized the man's talents in Hale. What needs to be clarified now is the purpose for which he is so devoted to serving the Spanish colonial authorities. Whether he is friendly to us, or is he trying to be hostile, and if so The latter, how to eliminate him and his adverse effects. In order to solve this matter, Comrade Lando needs to actively contact him, which also has certain risks and needs everyone's assistance. We have to start to formulate various plans, do Prepare for everything from peaceful engagement to all-out war."

On the coast of one of the countless uninhabited islands in Manila Bay, a light glows in the morning mist.Flashing rhythmically.

With the flickering of lights, a light two-masted ship gradually appeared in the dense sea fog on the sea. It cautiously patrolled along the coastline, keeping a distance from the coast, and the lights on the mast were twinkling. Light signal.

After going back and forth with the lights on the shore for a few rounds, the rudder of the Guangzhou boat was moved, and the bow changed direction, heading towards the island.

The reefs on the coast of the island are rugged, and the dense forest and weeds almost extend to the reefs, and the coastline is barren.In this uninhabited small bay, there is a wooden trestle bridge.Judging from the decay of the stubble and the concentration of barnacles attached to it, the trestle bridge was recently built.

Although weeds have grown vigorously on the compacted gravel, it can be seen that the ground along the coast of the trestle has been leveled.

The Guangzhou boat approached the pier cautiously. On the bow and stern, several strong men in black clothes and hats were holding Japanese-style iron cannons, bows and arrows, and lighted matchlocks, carefully guarding the surroundings.

Everything on the sea and on the small island is completely silent, only the sound of waves crashing against the rocks echoes.The Guangzhou boat gradually approached the trestle bridge, and at the same time as the sailor at the bow threw the cable, a whistle came out from the shore, breaking the silence.A few skinny Malay sailors ran out from the forest, caught the cable thrown from the bow, and quickly fixed it on the boat pile.The two sides exchanged a few words in Hokkien dialect, and the springboard was quickly set up.

Marcos appears on the jetty.Greet the guests who come to you.

The two sides did not have much courtesy on the trestle bridge, and Marcos directly brought the people to the grass shed in the jungle.

Hale was already waiting for Zheng Zhifeng's arrival in the shed.

He didn't dress like an "old sea dog" like the last time he saw Zheng Zhifeng, but a monk-like black robe. Other than that, he was no different from when he met Zheng Zhifeng in Xiaoliuqiu.

In contrast, Zheng Zhifeng's elegant temperament of a noble son in the past has disappeared. He looks haggard, and he looks physically and mentally exhausted.

I didn't expect him to be so haggard!Hale was secretly surprised, but also secretly regretful.

Anping fell, and Hale was the first person in Manila to get the news.The destruction of Anping-Xiamen and the death of Zheng Zhilong was a devastating blow to the Zheng Group, and it was nothing more than a sap to Hale.He originally hoped that Zheng's Group would act as a stable supplier of Chinese goods, and then use the firearms they desperately needed to obtain financial resources to upgrade his own factory. action.Hale originally hoped that the Zheng Group would drag the Australians into the endless war of attrition along the coast of China, leaving them no time to look south.

However, the Australian attack on Xiamen-Anping completely broke his plan. Although the Zheng family has not been completely wiped out, and the territory along the coast of Fujian has not been damaged, the Zheng Group has disintegrated virtually, and the remaining people are scattered and powerful. It's not as good as before - the An Hai boat was not even sent to Manila back then.The spies he sent to the coast of China and Japan reported that the Anhai ship sent to Japan by the remnants of the Zheng family suffered serious losses in Japan: a merchant from the Ming Dynasty crossed the sea first in the winter when non-Chinese merchant ships arrived, and took a route that no one knew about. , shipped a large amount of Chinese goods.Not only that, but it is said that a large amount of goods have also been transferred from North Korea.As a result, when the ship Anhai arrived, it found that all the Chinese goods were abundant, and the market price was low, so the ship Anhai had to sell the goods at a lower price.Not only that, but the spies also reported that although the number of Anhai ships owned by the various forces of the Zheng family quickly recovered to a considerable number, many of them were rushed to build with the timber of the year, and the quality was very poor. They were typical one-off trading ships. .

What worries Hale the most is that the current division of the Zheng Group has seriously weakened their strength, making them even more insignificant at the overall strategic level.The split also made Zheng's group unable to resist the erosion of other forces: the Liuxiang group, which was compressed to the Chaoshan area, was ready to move with the support of the Dutch, who bargained among Zheng's various groups in an attempt to obtain the greatest benefit.The Australians turned a blind eye to the vicissitudes in Weitou Bay, but swallowed the Cheng Group's foundation in Tainan that has been painstakingly managed for many years.

(End of this chapter)