The European powers all pursue profit supremacy in essence. In order to open up the continental arms trading market, Germany took the initiative to lower the order price of warships and sold them to Li Hongzhang at a price of 1.42 million taels of silver per warship. However, during the actual construction process of the warships,
Vulcan Shipyard deliberately concealed the truth from the Qing government and carried out many technical verification hull modification projects, which resulted in the total warship construction cost rising steadily. The final price of a single ship sold was much higher than 1.42 million taels of silver.
Li Mingyuan considered that the Germans might repeat the same trick on the two battleships ordered locally, so he warned Chen Sen and others in advance.
"Your Majesty, the U.S. government has allowed domestic people to violently persecute Chinese compatriots. Currently, the anti-Chinese trend has spread to Canada and Mexico. Torti Island, where the Caribbean Squadron is located, has a large number of Chinese from North America arriving every day, seeking homeland.
government protection,
The living environment of the Chinese in North America is deteriorating day by day. Chen believes that the local government needs to take countermeasures to let the Chinese in the United States, Canada, and Mexico see that the local government attaches great importance to them, and to expose the Manchu Qing court's slander of the local government."
After making overall arrangements for the navy's base construction in the next ten years and the military inspection mission to Europe,
Hou Taiyuan waited for the opportunity and reported to Li Mingyuan the situation in North America and the Caribbean.
"Let the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issue a statement of condemnation, and at the same time order local consulates in the United States to advise local Chinese to evacuate the United States as soon as possible. Some houses, land and other properties that cannot be taken away should be disposed of as much as possible, and those that cannot be disposed of should be abandoned.
I estimate that the anti-Chinese trend in the United States will be even greater next year. For safety reasons, they should evacuate the United States and return to the mainland as soon as possible. There is no shortage of land in the mainland. After they arrive, as long as they work hard and spend the two-year inspection period, they will be able to get it.
With land and housing, the standard of living will not be worse than in the United States."
"The Chinese in the United States are grateful for His Majesty's kindness. Every month, there is an endless stream of people rushing to the transfer station on Torti Island. Because there are too many Chinese arriving on the island, his subordinates bribed a Haitian warlord near Torti Road to obtain from him
A piece of land was leased to settle some Chinese people."
"The island of Haiti has an important geographical location, but it is a pity that it falls into the hands of black people."
Li Mingyuan glanced at Hou Taiyuan meaningfully, discerning his little thoughts, and reminded him, "Haiti Island is not far from the mainland of the United States. Actions that are too obvious may easily lead to interference from the Americans and evacuate Chinese immigrants to the main island of Haiti."
The operation should be more covert, control the number of Chinese on the island, and not transport too many Chinese in at one time."
"Your Majesty will bear in mind His Majesty's instructions. From now on, only eight to nine hundred people will be transferred to the island of Haiti at a time. The number of people transported to the island in a year will be controlled within the range of four to five thousand, so that the United States will not find a reason to interfere."
"After sending Chinese immigrants to the island, subsequent management cannot be relaxed, especially in areas close to black gatherings. Intermarriage between Chinese and blacks must be strictly avoided. Whether it is a Chinese male or a female, once there are signs of intercourse with blacks,
, it must be stopped immediately.”
"His Majesty has established an inspection team on the island of Haiti to oversee such situations and prevent situations that His Majesty does not want to see."
"Okay, you are fully responsible for the situation in the Caribbean. If you find any abnormal situation in the Caribbean or the United States, you must immediately send news to the mainland."
"I understand that the Caribbean Fleet is only weak. If something unexpected happens, I am worried that it will miss His Majesty's important event."
"The Caribbean is right under the eyes of the Americans, so sending major warships there is of little use."
Li Mingyuan thought for a moment and said, "In October this year, Xinjing Shipyard and Royal Shipyard each will complete the construction of a 1,350-ton light cruiser. By then, both warships will be allocated to the Caribbean Fleet. You should be satisfied."
"Thank you for your majesty's grace. I will definitely protect Torti Island for your majesty and live up to your majesty's expectations."
"Okay, knowing your determination, I will work in the Caribbean for another year or two. At the latest in 1883, when the Navy has a suitable successor, they will transfer you back to the Navy Headquarters to seize this year or two.
If you work hard during the time you have, you will still have the opportunity to display your talents at the Navy Headquarters in two years' time."......
After calming down a group of restless senior naval officers, Li Mingyuan spent a relaxing time with the queen and concubine the next day, and then continued his busy day of work.
"Your Majesty, the explosive with picric acid as the main explosive substance has been tested and verified for one year, and seven technical problems have been solved. It is expected that the final technical route will be completed before December this year, and it will be ready for use around February next year.
Make raw materials for 105mm artillery shells and conduct trial production operations."
Zhou Sheng, who was awarded the hereditary baronetship for discovering the process of making picric acid, reported to Li Mingyuan on the research progress of explosives in the palace of the outer dynasty.
"Picric acid is a high explosive with unstable performance. It is used to make artillery shells and has certain risks. If the trial production at the beginning of next year turns out well, you must assist the artillery force in standardizing the rules for the use of such shells and pay attention to the personal safety of officers and soldiers.
."
"We are exploring ways to strengthen the stability control of picric acid shells, and have made considerable progress based on the technical research manual issued by His Majesty. In the future, we will develop the experience gained into a picric acid shell user manual and distribute it to those equipped with new types of shells
The artillery officers and men learned to use it."
Picric acid was the first important progress made by the Han people in the field of fire explosives. However, for Li Mingyuan, who had been a mercenary and was accustomed to using rifle bullets and artillery shells made from various single-base and double-base gunpowders in later generations,
The current progress is far from satisfying him.
Single-base smokeless gunpowder is often used as rifle propellant. Double-base gunpowder can be used as both artillery shell explosive and artillery propellant. Compared with various single-base and double-base gunpowders that were later discovered, picric acid has
Doesn't have any advantages.
According to the current level of technology research and development, the two types of gunpowder that Li Mingyuan has high hopes for are the two types of gunpowder that Han has the best chance of succeeding in research and development, namely type B single-base gunpowder and double-base smokeless gunpowder.
Medicine ballistite.
Type B single-base gunpowder, in its original history, was created by the French chemist and engineer Paul-Marie Eugene Viele in 1884 by mixing colloid, alcohol, ether and other stabilizers into a colloidal form.
It is a new type of gunpowder made from a substance, pressed into slices and dried into strips. It is a relatively mature propellant for smokeless musket bullets.
The double-based smokeless gunpowder ballistite was developed by Nobel
Using equal amounts of nitroglycerine and collodion, plus 10% camphor as a stabilizer, and then undergoing other processing and manufacturing processes, a new gunpowder with stable performance and great power is produced.
The main production principles and raw material distribution of the two types of gunpowder have been compiled into a manual by Li Mingyuan and handed over to Zhou Sheng, Lin Shenhe and others for study. This is only due to the uncertainty of the addition ratio of various main raw materials and some secondary raw materials.
, resulting in the delay in completing the final progress of the two research works.
The development of two new types of smokeless gunpowder ahead of the European powers would be of great benefit to Han's national defense strategy. Therefore, after carefully listening to Zhou Sheng's report, Li Mingyuan instructed, "B-type single-base smokeless gunpowder."
The research and development of ballistite and double-based smokeless gunpowder must be accelerated. The entire research and development progress must be coordinated with the new rifle using smokeless gunpowder. No later than February 1885, two technical research projects on smokeless gunpowder and the new rifle must be completed.
Finalized production.”
"Your Majesty, after the steel smelting technology exchange between the United Steel Group and Germany, the problem of limiting the hardness of the new rifle body and barrel has been solved. The design plan of the new rifle is about to enter the final stage. As long as the Chemical Industry Research Institute completes
With the research and development of smokeless gunpowder for rifles, new rifles can be put into verification production."
Officials in charge of military production took the initiative to report.
The new rifle is based on the Mosin Nagant rifle, and the difficulty of imitation is much lower than that of developing single-based B-type smokeless gunpowder. Li Mingyuan nodded and affirmed the achievements of the military manufacturing department.
"After the design of the new rifle is completed, we must pay attention to keeping it confidential. When the gunpowder for the new smokeless rifle is successfully developed, we will calculate the credits and rewards together."