Guangzhou City is still so lively and prosperous. As the original only foreign port, most of the prosperity of Guangzhou City is based on foreign trade. Even the Portuguese Macau and the British Hong Kong still cannot shake Guangzhou's status in South China.
Even during the war with France, merchant ships from various countries continued to arrive in Guangzhou. They transported goods purchased from various countries and then transported specialties from China from Guangzhou. In such an environment, a ship named Azalea
The British merchant ship docked at Tianzi Pier inconspicuously.
However, after the Rhododendron docked, it did not immediately find coolies to load and unload the cargo. Instead, it continued to dock unhurriedly. It was not until night that it began to unload the cargo under the protection of a group of officers and soldiers.
In this dark environment, a group of obviously unusual people stood aside and watched silently.
Anyone who knows you will be surprised to see this group of people, because these people are extraordinary. Standing at the top is the new Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Zhang Zhidong, and standing next to him is Howard, an Italian white-glove businessman who has recently become famous in the Far East.
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"Your Excellency Governor Zhang, this time our company hid it from other countries and spent a lot of effort to finally transport 3,000 fast guns and 27 steel cannons. These are all standard equipment of our country and can definitely add some value to your country.
Help."
The speaker was Howard, an Italian businessman, and Governor Zhang nodded in response to Howard's words. "Thank you for your company's strong support. I, Mr. Zhang, will definitely express my gratitude to your company for your selfless help."
Although Howard has a company, who is behind it is basically an open secret in the Far East. The French Minister cursed Italy's shamelessness in public more than once, and almost had a physical conflict with the Italian Minister Jia Liwen because of this.
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Faced with the conflict between the two foreign ministers, many people acted like they were watching a Western.
But for Zhang Zhidong, he had no intention of watching such a Western scene. The main reason was that the situation in Guangdong and Guangxi made him uneasy. Before he took office in Guangdong and Guangxi, Zhang Nanpi was worried about the current war with the French.
He didn't expect that Pan Dingxin, the governor of Guangxi, would give him such a big surprise after he took office, which almost made him breathless. He, Pan Qinxuan, had lost his master and humiliated the country, and he was destined to be implicated by himself, even if he was Li Hefei's subordinate.
Blocked Zhang Nanpi's determination.
Of course, the impeachment of Pan Qinxuan can be put aside for the time being. The most important thing is to guard the country and not let the French invade Guangdong and Guangxi, otherwise he will also suffer. So during that time, Zhang Nanpi looted the land and tried to give it to the frontline soldiers.
They replenished enough food and wages. During that time, there were nursery rhymes by Zhang Nanpi in the city. When adults entered Guangzhou City, the blue sky was three feet high again.
Needless to say, this is to scold him Zhang Zhidong for scraping the ground three feet. But he also admits this. As long as the French are not allowed to invade Guangdong and Guangxi, the ground will be scraped three feet.
I can understand his painstaking efforts.
The issue of food and wages is easy to deal with, but the gangsters on the front line kept clamoring for foreign guns and cannons in order to withstand the French offensive.
Food and salary can still be raised locally, but there is no place to buy foreign guns and cannons now. Since the war with France, those foreigners have stopped selling firearms to the court. Even if they pay high prices, these foreigners who are greedy for money will shake their heads.
Like rattles, everyone said that the principle of neutrality must be followed and arms and other supplies cannot be sold to the imperial court.
Just when he was worrying about this, the white-glove Howard from Italy came to visit quietly and told Zhang Zhidong that he had a batch of arms for sale.
After learning the news, Zhang Zhidong was immediately overjoyed and quickly said that he wanted them all. Although this batch of ordnance was a bit expensive, it was still possible to buy it. The money in the treasury was somewhat limited, so it was easy. He, the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi
Inviting wealthy businessmen in the city to a banquet will naturally raise all the money.
This is not just after receiving the weapons, but also to personally look at these foreign guns and cannons.
After waiting for the unloading to be completed, Governor Zhang walked over in person. Howard was also a smart man, so he directly asked someone to open a gun box and took out a Vitri M1870 rifle.
"Your Majesty the Governor, this is our country's standard rifle, the Vitri Quick Gun. This gun can fire quickly. A skilled soldier can fire 12 rounds per minute, and the effective range reaches 600 meters..."
Howard introduced the rifle in his hand eloquently, and Governor Zhang listened with interest without any impatience.
Howard had spent so much time teaching Qing officials, so of course he knew what they were interested in, so after a brief introduction to the Vitri rifle, he led everyone to a cannon that was covered by a waterproof canvas.
After lifting the canvas to reveal a cannon with a steely air, Zhang Zhidong and others immediately showed great interest.
"Everyone, this is an 85mm fast cannon manufactured by our country's Turin Arsenal. Its maximum range is 4,200 meters and its maximum rate of fire is 6 rounds per minute. This is the best fast cannon our company can produce so far."
"Not bad, very good."
Looking at the fast cannon in front of him and listening to the data introduced by Howard, Governor Zhang nodded in praise.
Don't think that Governor Zhang doesn't understand the performance of weapons. You must know that this is a major change that has not happened in three thousand years. The strength of foreign ships and artillery is engraved in everyone's heart. As an ambitious person, how could Governor Zhang not understand this?
Not to mention that as the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, his army was still at war with the French, so he needed to understand the performance of weapons.
"By the way, what kind of cannon is this?"
Governor Zhang asked, pointing to a figure that was also covered with canvas, but much smaller.
"Your Majesty the Governor, please allow me to solemnly introduce this to our company's newly developed secret weapon, the Maxim Sai Electric Cannon."
Yes, it is the historical Maxim heavy machine gun, but this black powder version has a caliber of 10.4 mm (the same as the rifle caliber), a rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute, an effective range of 800 meters, and a total weight of 94 kg (including
Gun carriage and mantlet).
As for why Howard called it a electric cannon, don't blame him for choosing the name randomly, because this thing has the same price as an artillery piece, and is even more expensive than an ordinary artillery piece. In addition, it also looks a bit like an artillery piece in appearance. This time
In order to increase the bargaining chip for the Qing people, Carlo put the newly developed Maxim machine gun on the battlefield.
"Electric cannon?"
Listening to Howard's introduction, Governor Zhang immediately became interested. "Open it and let me take a look."
Following Governor Zhang's words, the Maxim machine gun appeared in front of everyone for the first time.
However, the first appearance was not very good, because its compact size did not have the powerful image of an artillery at all.
Governor Zhang also had this thought, and was even thinking in his heart, whether the Italians were bragging. Of course, Governor Zhang would not say this, and even praised him with some good words.
Howard was a businessman, and his most basic ability was to observe people's emotions. He immediately knew that the Qing people did not pay attention to this weapon, and he immediately had an idea.
"My lords, it's too late now. Why don't we go to the shooting range and try it out tomorrow?"
"That's fine, I'll just go take a look tomorrow."
Needless to say, Howard said that Governor Zhang wanted to test the quality of these weapons. He was not at ease if they were handed over directly to the frontline soldiers.
After one night, a group of people showed up at the shooting range again, but this time Maxim's performance was an eye-opener for the Qing people. In order to have a more intuitive cash withdrawal, Howard purchased a batch of pigs and sheep overnight as experimental subjects. So he became a pig and a sheep.
One can imagine the expressions of Governor Zhang and others after Maxim fell in large numbers at the muzzle of his gun.
Of course, the other weapons of the Italians are also good, the artillery is very sharp, and the rifle is also good, but the ammunition load is a little less.
After the demonstration, Governor Zhang immediately decided to unload all three thousand fast guns. After leaving four quick guns, he also allocated them all. As for the Maxim Sai electric cannon, it was a little special because no one was operating it.
But luckily, Yi Ren took this into consideration and specially assigned dozens of gunners.
In the end, Governor Zhang thought about it and decided that after leaving four electric cannons and personnel, the other eight electric cannons were removed. As the key point to resist the French attack, Zhennanguan got most of the ordnance, including
