The animal world of the head of the village

Chapter 492 Development of Arsenal

After another month, a messenger suddenly came to deliver the news, and it was still for Huang Xiaohu.

After Huang Xiaohu asked someone to read the letter, he realized that the person who wrote the letter was Shi Dakai's younger sister.

At the beginning, Huang Xiaohu himself promised to propose marriage to Shi Dakai, and also gave Shi Ximei a verbal promise, but later, with Shi Dakai's betrayal, Huang Xiaohu had already declared war on Shi Dakai, so this matter has been put on hold.

Thinking of Shi Ximei, Huang Xiaohu still felt a little pain in his heart, after all, the girl was sincere, but Huang Xiaohu himself was a little bit unreasonable.

With Shi Ximei's letter, Huang Xiaohu thought that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom still has Shi Dakai and Hong Xiuquan. It is said that they have captured many cities in Jiangxi, and the current main force should be near Nanchang.

The fighting between the Qing court and the British and French allied forces more or less gave the Taiping army a chance to breathe, so Shi Dakai's subordinates almost beat down half of Jiangxi, and even Hong Xiuquan hid there.

After analyzing the current situation, Huang Xiaohu felt that he should wait until all the combat ironclad ships and other advanced firearms arrived in Hong Kong before making any plans.

The Shenlonghui began to stand still, and has been intensively training the army, especially the musketeer team carefully selected by Huang Xiaohu.

According to the ratio of 3:1, soldiers with strict discipline and good eyesight are selected to form a musketeer team and receive special training on new firearms. Most of these firearms were captured by the British and French coalition forces and purchased from the German government.

Huang Xiaohu also ordered the seized weapons to be sent to Qingyuan's weapons forging factory, so that the craftsmen could learn to imitate them, and at the same time produce a batch of firearms similar to those used by the British and French allied forces.

After another half a year, Huang Xiaohu checked the training level of the Shanghai Musketeers and watched their shooting performance in person. He felt that he had improved a lot, and he was almost ready to fight against the British and French regular troops.

In April 1860, Huang Xiaohu received intelligence from Bozhou, saying that he found that a large number of British and French allied forces had gathered at Dagukou, and he seemed to be ready to take action.

Huang Xiaohu approached Zhao Yali and Zhang Yalan and asked, "Do you still remember when the British and French allied forces attacked Tianjin?"

Zhao Yali said: "Anyway, I remember that in history, the British and French allied forces burned the Old Summer Palace in September or October. I'm not sure when they attacked Tianjin. According to this calculation, it should be July or August."

Huang Xiaohu said: "Now that the British and French allied forces have abandoned Shanghai, they are going directly to Beijing. We also need to be prepared. At that time, I may send you back to Tianjing. After all, there are Ji Wu and the others in Tianjing. It's definitely not good to leave you alone in Shanghai."

Zhao Yali said: "Alright, I really want to go back to Tianjing. Although it's not bad here, but if you leave, we don't need to stay in Shanghai."

Zhang Yalan also said: "Actually, Tianjing is pretty good. At least we don't have to worry about foreign warships. Shanghai at this time is far from what we imagined. To be honest, it's really not as convenient as Tianjing."

Huang Xiaohu said: "Do you think this is the Shanghai Bund of our era? In this era, Shanghai is definitely not as good as Nanjing, that is, Tianjing. Now that you have figured it out, then make a decision. Anyway, Shanghai will be built by me in the future. become a military port."

Zhao Yali said: "Why haven't the Germans brought over those warships? It's been more than a year, right?"

Huang Xiaohu said: "Do you think it's easy to build a ship? It's a first-class ironclad battleship, the best ship of the Beiyang Navy. It will definitely take a lot of time and energy to build, but it should be soon."

Zhang Yalan said: "The best ship of the Beiyang Navy? It was sunk by Japan."

Huang Xiaohu said: "That's not a problem with ships, it's a problem with people. If the Qing government hadn't been so corrupt and the army had been managed better, the result would definitely not be like that. Besides, the fleet I personally cultivated, you think it would Is it so easy to be defeated by Japan? At that time, I will destroy them first while they don't have so many warships."

Zhao Yali said: "Japan? Huzi, you don't want to fight Japan, do you?"

Huang Xiaohu said: "I want to destroy the Japanese navy, and then blockade the Japanese ports and coasts. When the time comes, I will directly station troops in. Of course, it will not harm their ordinary people, but the army cannot let them exist. Only the police, There can be no soldiers."

Zhang Yalan said: "Is it the same as our era? It's just that there are self-defense forces, no army, and they can't fight, right?"

Huang Xiaohu said: "The Self-Defense Forces don't allow them to exist, and only leave them the security hall. Anyway, our Shenlong Society will protect the safety of the Japanese, so we won't let them have the opportunity to do anything."

Zhao Yali said: "China is so big, Huzi, do you have so much energy to take care of Japan's affairs?"

Huang Xiaohu said: "No matter what, if these hidden dangers are not resolved, Japan will attack China in the future!"

Zhang Yalan said: "Since you want to eliminate hidden dangers, it is better to liberate both North Korea and South Korea directly. In our era, one is desperately conducting nuclear tests, while the other is going to be a running dog of the United States, such as the THAAD plan."

Huang Xiaohu said: "North Korea and South Korea are not worth mentioning. The combined area is not as large as Zhejiang. Before I sent troops to Japan, I went to North Korea and South Korea. But at this time, they should still be called North Korea, right? Anyway, it's just a matter of dividing them up." Minutes."

Zhao Yali said: "Huzi, is the purpose of your training musketeers to use firearms for future wars?"

Huang Xiaohu said with a smile: "The foreigners all use guns in wars. Does our Shenlong still have to fight with them now? The musket team will definitely be very useful, and in this era, no country can form a team like our Shenlong. A musketeer of this magnitude."

Zhang Yalan asked: "How big is the scale?"

Huang Xiaohu said: "Shanghai already has almost 2 Musketeers, plus the 2 in the Daliang Town Barracks who are training, and the 1 in the Panlong County Barracks, there are already 5 people, not yet Count the other odd musketeers."

Zhao Yali asked: "There are so many people, what about the ammunition? What kind of guns are they holding? Are they still the firearms used by the Qing army?"

Huang Xiaohu said: "There are almost 3 pieces of firearms captured by the British and French allied forces, and more than 2 pieces were purchased from Germany. Another large amount of firearms will be shipped back together with the ironclad ships we ordered. As for the ammunition But it has already been mass-produced in Qingyuan's arsenal, and you are still worried that we don't have enough ammunition?"

Zhang Yalan said: "I remember that the arsenal of the Qing Dynasty should be in Hanyang, right?"

Huang Xiaohu said: "You reminded me, it seems that it's time for us to go and snatch something."

Zhao Yali said: "Are you going to fight Hanyang?"

Huang Xiaohu said: "The Hanyang Armory must have a large number of craftsmen. We are now in the time of employing people, so this should be carefully considered."

After talking to Zhao Yali and Zhang Yalan, Huang Xiaohu already had his own plans.

Ten days later, Huang Xiaohu returned to Tianjing with [-] soldiers. Zhao Yali and Zhang Yalan also went together. The defense of Shanghai was handed over to Jia Lin.

Huang Xiaohu left Jia Lin with [-] Musketeers, [-] soldiers, plus a large number of artillery and forts in the port, and more than a dozen battleships that are already operational, so Huang Xiaohu is not worried about the British and French coalition forces. violations.

After arriving in Tianjing, Huang Xiaohu immediately held a meeting to discuss the next steps.

Huang Xiaohu said: "Our Shenlong Society now has its own firearms forging factory, and can produce all kinds of firearms and ammunition by itself, but I think our scale is not enough, so I am going to let Mr. Luo be in charge of setting up firearms in Tianjing. A new arsenal."

Luo Hongfan said: "My lord, the construction of the arsenal is not difficult, but there is a lack of a large number of skilled craftsmen. How should this be solved?"

Huang Xiaohu said: "Actually, this time I am discussing with you about the establishment of an arsenal. I would like to hear your opinions."

Fu Shanxiang said: "Before, some of the firearms of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were cast by ourselves, and some were purchased from foreigners. Instead, we can consider recruiting firearms craftsmen with large sums of money from the people, which should solve some technical problems."

Zhang Chaojue said: "My lord, the Qing court doesn't even have an arsenal. I don't know where the lord is going to find craftsmen?"

Huang Xiaohu said: "Aren't there firearms made by Hanyang?"

After everyone listened, they all just shook their heads, as if they had never heard of it.

Huang Xiaohu was surprised, and immediately said: "Then according to Fu Shanxiang's intention, this matter will be handed over to Lord Luo and Lord Fu. Recruit craftsmen with a lot of money from the people, and then open it in Tianjing as soon as possible according to the design of the Qingyuan Firearms Foundry. The new arsenal focuses on the production of new types of firearms and ammunition."

After explaining, Huang Xiaohu hurried back to Tianwang Mansion to inquire with Zhao Yali and Zhang Yalan.

Huang Xiaohu asked: "Why is there no Hanyang Arsenal?"

Zhang Yalan said: "Is there no? Is it because they haven't heard of it?"

Zhao Yali thought for a while and said, "It seems wrong. The Westernization Movement should have started after the Second Opium War, that is to say, it has not reached that stage at all. In my impression, the earliest arsenal in the Qing Dynasty should also be run by Li Hongzhang. It is estimated that it should be after 1860."

Huang Xiaohu said: "I still want to go to Hanyang, and then rob the firearms craftsmen and come back. After a long time, we are still the first to establish a firearms factory in China. Unexpectedly, when we come back this time, we will actually change many things in history."

Zhang Yalan said: "Xiao Li is right, I was wrong. It is not yet that time, so the Hanyang Arms Factory has not appeared at all. But since we can build a firearms factory in Qingyuan, we must also be able to build it in Tianjing." Fuck. But I have a question, where did the firearms of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty come from?"

Zhao Yali said: "I made very few of them myself, most of them were bought from foreigners."

Huang Xiaohu said: "That's right, Fu Shanxiang said the same thing. I didn't expect the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to do business with foreigners all the time. It's a bit beyond my expectation."

Zhang Yalan said: "What if we don't do business? Many things can't be bought by foreigners, and China can't produce them by itself."

Huang Xiaohu said: "Anyway, our Chinese craftsmen are super capable of learning, borrowing and imitating. There is no way to do this. For the time being, we can only imitate British and French guns and improve them ourselves."

(End of this chapter)