Chapter 1306 Slideshow Cannon (First Update, Please Subscribe)
"Extra, Extra, British General Payne Simmons was killed in battle by the Boer Army..."
Early in the morning, the voices of newspaper vendors could be heard on the street, waving newspapers in their hands and shouting as they walked.
Half a year after the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War in southern Africa, news of the war there had difficulty attracting the attention of the people of the Ming Dynasty. After all, the war was too far away from them.
For the vast majority of Ming Dynasty people, instead of paying attention to the war there, it is better to pay attention to trivial matters of life such as food, clothing, housing and transportation. After all, for the citizens of the empire, all these are the most realistic.
However, not everyone will not pay attention. At least for some people, they will still pay attention to the war there.
At least for Zhao Qihang, he has been paying attention to the changes on the battlefield in South Africa. As the head of a company, he is keenly aware that this war may be his opportunity.
Any event will bring opportunities, and some people spend their entire lives waiting for their opportunities. Perhaps because he was thinking about something, he didn't even appreciate the scenery outside the car window while driving.
Although the morning breeze in the North Sea in April is a little chilly, this is also the best season of the year. During the long winter, people have been looking forward to the arrival of spring.
Feeling the bright spring sunshine and admiring the scenery outside the car window, Sun Mei's face was filled with a happy smile. Looking at Zhao Qihang who was driving and the children sitting in the back, her smile became even brighter.
What is happiness?
It’s actually very simple, it’s just a family living happily together.
Soon the car arrived at the school, and when the children got off the car, Sun Mei smiled at her husband.
"Okay, let's go to the company quickly. We can just take the school bus in the evening."
After saying goodbye to his wife and children, Zhao Qihang accelerated and drove towards the suburbs. Like all industrial areas, Beihai's industrial area was also full of smoke and dust, with tall chimneys spewing smoke and a faint smell of soot in the air.
Although the Bechuanaland Special Region in Africa replaced the North Sea as the largest coal supplier in the empire, this change in status not only did not affect the North Sea, but even promoted its economic development - thanks to the North Sea's rich coal and iron resources, it became a new investment hotspot, and many mainland companies invested in factories locally.
After 21 years of Shengde, Beihai has even become an industrial city that is not inferior to Linhai. From shipyards to various machinery factories, it can be said that it has everything. Zhao Qihang's factory is located in the industrial zone. Six years ago, Zhao Qihang left the mining company and founded the Qihang Iron Factory, which produces various weapons including pistols and rifles. The products are either sold to local immigrants or sold to the West.
Although the factory's products are quite popular, its scale is always limited.
Besides, Zhao Qihang was not satisfied with the present. After all, everyone has ambitions. He was no exception. When the car stopped in front of the factory, Zhao Qihang looked at the small factory gate and pondered for a long time, then talked to himself.
"Perhaps... this is an opportunity. If we can seize it..."
With this in mind, Zhao Qihang seemed to have made a decision. He turned the steering wheel and drove in another direction, heading towards the city center.
…
"What kind of weapon do you need? Gentlemen, you don't just need a machine gun. Even if one machine gun can fight against a hundred rifles, what you need is a weapon that one person can fight against 1,000 enemies. This weapon is obviously not a machine gun!"
In the conference room of the Peace Hotel, facing the Boers in front of him, Zhao Qihang began to paint his big picture.
These Boers came to Ming Dynasty to purchase arms. Compared with the strictly managed inland areas, the loosely managed Beihai was undoubtedly the best choice. Although there were no large arsenals in Beihai, there were dozens of small civilian factories of varying sizes. These small factories mainly produced rifles and pistols, but what they needed were machine guns.
However, this is nothing. As long as they can afford the money, these small factories can also manufacture machine guns on behalf of others.
And right now, the thing the Boers who control the Rand gold mines have the most of is gold!
Unlike others, Zhao Qihang never thought about getting any machine gun orders. It was just a few thousand rifles and a few hundred machine guns. How much money could he make?
"If it's not a machine gun, then what is it? Do you have any better recommendations?"
In response to the question from John, the head of the South African "Economic and Trade Delegation", Zhao Qihang took a sip of water calmly and continued.
"Of course, besides machine guns, you must have better options. As we all know, the 7.5mm bullet fired by a machine gun, although its performance is extremely superior, can only kill one enemy with one bullet. Of course, it is not impossible that it can penetrate the bodies of two people, but that's it. However, with its dense firepower, it can cause extremely heavy casualties to the enemy on the battlefield.
But we cannot just be satisfied with this. After all, what we need is a weapon that is more efficient in fighting and killing enemies. What kind of weapon is it? In response to this question, I visited some soldiers, veterans who had been on the battlefield, and also visited war memorials.
Through investigation, I found that the vast majority of casualties on the battlefield were caused by artillery shells. Gentlemen, this is supported by data - according to statistics from the Imperial Military, about 50% of casualties on the battlefield were caused by artillery shells.
This also means that artillery, which only accounts for 10% of the troops on the battlefield, caused more than 50% of the casualties. In other words, compared with rifles or machine guns, artillery caused more casualties.
So if we want to improve the killing efficiency, we need a more effective artillery weapon. But unfortunately, at present, neither howitzers, mortars nor rocket launchers are effective.
So, we decided to develop a new type of artillery weapon..."
As he spoke, Zhao Qihang used a slide projector to show pictures of new artillery models while introducing them.
"This kind of artillery is a machine gun. We borrowed the structure of the 10-year machine gun and theoretically enlarged each component so that it can fire 30mm shells. Compared with the 30mm Gatling machine gun, it is lighter. According to our actual estimation, its weight will be controlled within 100 kilograms, which means that it can accompany infantry attacks. When encountering the enemy, it can fire thousands of shells at the enemy in a very short time. It will be the most efficient killing weapon in history."
Zhao Qihang said as he changed the slides one by one.
“This is pretty much what we have achieved so far.”
Having said that, he pointed to the factory in the distance.
"Gentlemen, if you are willing to invest in my factory, you will soon be able to harvest this weapon that can defeat thousands of enemies with one person."
Before Zhao Qihang finished speaking, John couldn't help but speak.
"What? Invest in your factory? You mean you don't have the weapon yet? Are you using these slides to make a cannon?"
Spreading his hands, Zhao Qihang spoke directly.
"What's the problem? Don't think of us as the guys from Britain and the United States. This is Ming Dynasty, a place full of miracles. We are using innovative concepts to attract investment. With concepts, manufacturing will naturally follow."
(End of this chapter)
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