Chapter 232 The Era of Huge Profits (Second Update, Please Subscribe)
The armored train is a land cruiser!
In a sense, this is true.
Feeling proud, Zhu Xianhai jumped onto the armored train with great interest.
In fact, the so-called armored train is just an ordinary train with steel armor, artillery and machine guns installed. To put it bluntly, this is entirely a matter of concept.
The steam tractor, the most powerful hero in Nanhua's fight against foreign enemies, was just covered with a layer of thick wooden boards, but it was able to play an unexpected role. Now, a similar concept is just applied to trains. Compared with the bulky steam tractor, the armored train is larger and can carry more weapons.
In fact, armored trains have long been used in the United States. In order to protect road workers and block attacks by Confederate cavalry, Union soldiers installed artillery on trains, thus ushering in the era of armored trains.
Inside the fighting compartment, Zhu Xianhai smiled as he looked at the four 3-inch Azerbaijan field guns in the carriage, which were mounted on naval-gun-style revolving gun mounts and looked no different from the cabins of a warship.
"These screw guns are obsolete, so they can be used on armored trains. One carriage can hold four cannons, and six carriages can hold twenty-four cannons, which is almost the size of a small cruiser. There is also a turret on the roof with a Gatling gun on it... In a word, the armored train must have strong firepower, with machine guns and artillery covering a 360-degree omnidirectional range, and the body of the train covered with heavy armor. This is enough to adapt to fierce wars."
Walking past a carriage, a half-open carriage came into view. Inside the half-open carriage, there was a huge cannon pointing directly at the front door.
"This is……"
With his eyes wide open in horror, Sun Hu spoke in an incredible tone.
"This, this is... a 180mm coastal defense gun?"
In fact, it is the 110-pound Armstrong cannon that was imitated by Nanhua in the early days. Now they have all been replaced by the Krupp cannon with a broken threaded breech block. However, because a suitable seller has not been found yet, they are temporarily used on armored trains. When a buyer is found, they will be replaced with the Krupp cannon.
"Yes, but if it is placed on a train, it will become a railway gun. With this railway gun, the so-called fortress will be vulnerable!"
Zhu Xianhai proudly patted the shell as thick as his thigh next to the side wall of the carriage. It was a 100-kilogram shell!
With his lips raised in triumph and his eyes slightly narrowed, he seemed to see the scene of thousands of Chileans falling in front of this armored train. That's right, after the last tunnel in the Andes Mountains is opened and the railway is built, this armored train will drive to Shanxi, and then he will blast all the way along the railway to... Santiago.
In the past few years, in order to defeat the provisional government in the south, the Chileans built the railway to the front line. There were still a few dozen kilometers in the middle, so they just had to work hard to build it themselves, and then use armored trains to blast open the gates of Santiago!
"Unfortunately, armored trains have too many limitations. As for steam tractors..."
The coal and water carried by the steam tractor are only enough to move forward for dozens of kilometers, which is totally insufficient. If there are armored vehicles, it will be different.
Armored vehicle!
Zhu Xianhai naturally thought of the "Qianlima car" in his garage. That car was completely his private toy and had not played any role for the time being.
"Otto..."
On the way back, sitting in the carriage, Zhu Xianhai silently repeated this name.
Ross August Otto's arrival at Nanhua was a completely unexpected gain. Zuo Zongtang's visit to Europe brought many technical personnel to Nanhua. Otto brought his gas engine. Although it was an old-fashioned vertical single-cylinder free piston engine, the gas engine was light and had a thermal efficiency of about 15%. In addition, it used less steel, so it was still very popular in the market. As early as a few months ago, the products of Otto Gas Engine Company had been exported to Britain, France and other countries. It used lighting gas as fuel and was very popular in Britain and France as soon as it was launched.
"As for the four-stroke internal combustion engine, we can first provide them with some information so that they can study it..."
The so-called technical information is actually just a few books ordered from the system that explain the principles of internal combustion engines. Don't underestimate those books. They may seem inconspicuous, but in the hands of a mechanic, it is easy to manufacture similar products. Besides, Otto had already invented the four-stroke gas engine, but the ignition problem has not been solved yet.
"Or, how about just copying it?"
Send that "Qianlima" over there... This seems to be a good choice. With an internal combustion engine, even if it is a gasoline engine with dozens of horsepower, the changes it brings are subversive. What's more, although there are no coal mines in Nanhua, there is oil!
Of course, more importantly, the oil price is cheap now. In the United States, oil has been extracted on a large scale. The purpose of their extraction is to extract kerosene. After extracting kerosene, a large amount of "waste oil" will be left, which contains a large amount of gasoline and diesel.
Zhu Xianhai knew this because while Nanhua was importing petroleum to extract kerosene, it also imported a lot of "waste oil". Those "waste oils" were real "waste oils" - you didn't have to spend a penny, just the barrel price and shipping costs. The reason why Nanhua bought "waste oil" was entirely based on military needs, in order to extract gasoline and make incendiary bombs.
"That's millions of barrels of waste oil..."
Zhu Xianhai suddenly became a little uneasy while talking to himself. How much "waste oil" is left in the United States now? More than two million barrels, and their only use is to extract kerosene fuel. Two million barrels of "waste oil" is not a lot, but it is definitely a lot!
“This business is promising!”
Pursing his lips, Zhu Xianhai chuckled.
"In this era, there are really business opportunities everywhere."
In this era, business opportunities are everywhere. Take the simplest steel as an example. The cost of producing one ton of open-hearth steel in Nanhua Steel Plant is only 10 yuan, but the selling price in the market is as high as 160 yuan per ton. Now Nanhua can make more than ten times the profit for every ton of steel sold. In the past few years, Nanhua Steel Company has made a lot of money just by exporting steel.
The profit of crude steel is even higher than that of monopoly. Only in this era can jade have such huge profits. Of course, it is impossible in another era. This is completely a monopoly advantage in technology!
In order to maintain this monopoly, Zhu Xianhai even took the initiative to reduce the use of "expensive steel" and imported wrought iron manufacturing machines from the UK. On the one hand, it was because it was cheap, and on the other hand, of course, it was for confidentiality. Who would use steel to make railroad tracks these days?
How expensive is steel?
Good steel must be used where it counts. We export expensive steel and import cheap wrought iron rails. Although the life of the rails is much shorter, it is still very cost-effective. After all, Nanhua has made a lot of profit by exporting steel.
"It's a pity that such a profitable business won't last long..."
It won’t be long because Nanhua’s technology monopoly will soon be broken. Soon European scientists will “invent” open-hearth steelmaking, and the price of steel will naturally plummet. Of course, this will take some time…
(End of this chapter)
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