In mid-July, Lin Ziran was stimulated by the production capacity of Fuyuan Ordnance Factory and Nanzhou Machinery Bureau controlled by Shao Bing.
With two such large arsenals, Shao Bing will have plenty of guns, cannons and ammunition, so he can easily expand his army and prepare for war, eventually accumulating a huge military strength.
By then, Lin Ziran would probably have to worry about Shao Bing sending his army north, let alone taking the initiative to go south.
This period of time is pretty good now, because with the wave of breech-loading rifles, all the muskets used in various vassal towns became obsolete overnight, and Shao Bing's side was no exception.
However, as the first large-scale equipment of breech-loading rifles besides the Nanhai New Army, the Luoan Garrison completed the rear-loading of rifles faster than other vassals.
And this will be Lin Ziran's advantage.
However, this window of advantage will not last long. It can be as short as two or three months, or as long as half a year, and it will be eliminated.
Because everyone is busy, the major vassal towns, especially Shao Bing, have their subordinate arsenals working day and night, striving to fully replace the breech-loading rifles as soon as possible.
For this reason, Lin Ziran has decided to use this short window of advantage to establish a strategic advantage as soon as possible.
For this reason, in mid-July, Lin Ziran once again summoned all the generals under his command to discuss the possibility of sending troops to Luohai County within a short period of time.
When many generals heard that Lin Ziran said that they would send troops to Luo Hai County within a short time, they all couldn't believe what they heard.
Wu Guanlin said with doubts: "Sir, if you are in such a hurry to go south, has something happened?"
Lin Ziran nodded slightly, then pointed to a document on the table and said: "This is the production capacity report from Fuyuan Ordnance Factory and Nanzhou Machinery Bureau sent back from the south. Take a look at it first!"
Everyone was still a little confused about Lin Ziran's words, and they quickly circulated them one by one.
After seeing it, everyone's expressions were not very good.
Everyone here is the core general of the Luoan garrison, and they still have the vision. When they see the production capacity reports of these two arsenals, they can immediately think of the possible consequences.
Zhou Ancheng, director of the Ordnance Department, frowned and said: "Fuyuan Ordnance Factory's rifle and ammunition production capacity is almost three times that of our two factories combined. For every breech-loading rifle we produce, they can produce three more."
A breech-loading rifle, the same goes for rifle bullets!”
"The artillery aspect is pretty good. Our artillery production capacity has now been fully converted to the production of steel breech-loading cannons. However, their Nanzhou Machinery Bureau still produces mainly front-loading cannons, although they have also trial-produced a batch of front-loading cannons.
Rifled guns, but they should not be able to produce breech-loading guns in the short term, but their front-loading rifled guns are not bad, and their large number will be enough to erase the performance advantage of our army's breech-loading guns."
At this time, Lin Ziran directly interjected: "There is no airtight wall in this world. We can still keep the technical details of the breech-mounted artillery secret, but we can't keep it secret for long!"
This is true. The biggest secret of the breech-loading rifled guns currently produced by the Luoan Arsenal is not the barrel itself, but the wedge-type gun bolt and the cylindrical shell with a collision fuse.
But strictly speaking, the gun bolt does not have any technical uniqueness. In terms of simple structural design, any technician can imitate similar gun bolts and similar shells even with just a glance.
As for whether it can be built after the design is made, it depends on who the other party is. If it is other small and medium-sized arsenals in Nanhai Prefecture, they will not be able to build it if they are given the design drawings.
But Nanzhou Machinery Bureau is different. Their technology is even more powerful than Luoan Arsenal.
To put it bluntly, once you let them know the secret of the breech-loading artillery bolt, they will be able to produce a prototype gun for you in just three to five days.
The collision fuse technology for artillery shells is a little more complicated, but with so many technical talents in the Nanzhou Machinery Bureau, it won't take long if we really want to do it.
Combining these points, Lin Ziran doesn't think he can maintain the advantage of breech-loaded artillery for much longer.
It may be a few months, it may be a year and a half, but it cannot be longer.
If it lasts longer, Lin Ziran will doubt whether Shao Bing is an idiot.
Because it was a normal vassal town, after learning that Lin Ziran was equipped with a breech-loaded artillery, they would send spies to find out the relevant technical secrets.
Whether it is the performance advantages of breech-loading rifles or breech-loading artillery, Lin Ziran does not think that they can be maintained for long, so he said: "We don't have much time left. Once they complete the comprehensive replacement of breech-loading rifles,
We even let them know the technical details of breech-loading artillery, and then when the breech-loading artillery is installed on a large scale, our situation will be very pessimistic by then!"
Regarding Lin Ziran's words, the other generals became even more thoughtful and silent after hearing this.
Some time ago, everyone was still full of confidence, thinking that they could rely on Luoan County to prepare for war with peace of mind, strive to increase the combat effectiveness of the troops, and wait for the right time to send troops to expand.
But now it seems that the longer we wait, the smaller the advantage will be.
At this time, Wang Dao was the first to speak: "Sir, if this is the case, then we should not wait any longer. Now most of our troops have completed the replacement of breech-loading rifles, and there are also a smaller group of breech-loading artillery. Now
Just go south and catch Shao Bing by surprise!"
Xu Zhongshu on the side also said: "Yes, while we still have the equipment advantage of breech-loading guns and cannons, and the enemy has not completed the installation of large-scale breech-loading weapons, we can strike first and march directly south.
Capture Luohai City."
Zhou Ancheng spoke again at this time: "If we can seize Luohai City and the surrounding areas, then the entire essence of Nanhai Prefecture, especially the industrial zone, will fall under our control!"
"Especially because we can control the Fuyuan Ordnance Factory, Nanzhou Machinery Bureau and several other large factories, it is enough to increase our ordnance production capacity several times and completely lay the foundation for the unification of the South China Sea!"
"Luohai County is the essence of our Nanhai Prefecture. It has a large number of factories of various types, is rich in various resources such as coal and iron, and has convenient transportation. It also has a huge area of arable land and a large population."
"And our Luo'an County is the largest county in Nanhai Prefecture after Luo Hai County. Once the two are added together, we can directly control more than 90% of the industrial scale of the entire Nanhai Prefecture and more than 50% of the population.
, more than 70% of the grain output, and 80% of the coal and steel resources."
"The most important thing is that by then we will be able to directly control the estuary of the Luo River. Not only can we control the lower reaches of the Luo River, but we can also obtain more strategic resources through sea routes!"
At this time, Ding Quankun said something: "Once we can seize the Luo River outlet, our kerosene can be transported by sea and sold to surrounding coastal states and even to other countries."
These words instantly attracted the attention of others, because everyone knows that kerosene is now the largest financial source of the Luoan garrison, especially after Lin Ziran implemented the tax restriction order, the benefits brought by the petroleum-related industries
He was even more valued by a group of generals.
Because this represents fiscal revenue, and fiscal revenue represents military spending, military spending represents military expansion, and military expansion represents promotion!