My Italian Chapter 85

Guangzhou City is still so lively and prosperous. As the only foreign port, most of the prosperity of Guangzhou City is based on foreign trade. Even the Portuguese Macau and now the British Hong Kong still cannot shake Guangzhou's position in South China.

Even during the war with France, merchant ships from various countries rushed to Guangzhou City continuously. They shipped goods purchased from various countries, and then shipped special products from China from Guangzhou. In such an environment, a British merchant ship named Rhododendron docked at Tianzi Wharf inconspicuously.

However, after the Rhododendron was docked, it did not immediately find coolies to load and unload the goods, but continued to dock calmly. It was only at night that under the protection of a group of officers and soldiers, the unloading of the goods began.

In this darkened environment, a group of apparently unusual people stood by and watched silently.

Anyone who knows them will be surprised to see this group of people, because these people are extraordinary. Standing at the top is Zhang Zhidong, the new governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and standing beside him is Howard, an Italian white-glove businessman who has recently gained fame in the Far East.

"Your Excellency Governor Zhang, this time our company has deceived other countries, and it took a lot of effort to finally transport 3,000 quick guns and 27 steel cannons. These are all Chinese standard equipment, which can definitely add some points to your country. help."

It was Howard, an Italian businessman, who spoke, and Governor Zhang nodded in the face of Howard's words. "Thank you for your company's strong support. For your selfless help, I will definitely express this feeling to someone."

Although Howard is a company, who is behind it is basically an open secret in the Far East. The French Minister cursed Italy's shamelessness more than once in public, and almost had a physical conflict with the Italian Minister Jia Liwen.

In the face of the conflict between the two foreign ministers, many people were looking at the western scenery.

But for Zhang Zhidong, he didn't have the heart to watch such a western scene, the main reason was that the situation in Guangdong and Guangxi made him restless. Before he took office in Guangdong and Guangxi, Zhang Nanpi was worried about the current war with the French. He did not 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 bereaved his teacher and humiliated the country, and he was destined to be included in a book by himself. Even if he was Li Hefei's subordinate, he couldn't stop Zhang Nanpi's determination.

Of course, the impeachment of Pan Qinxuan can be put aside for a while. The most important thing is to guard the country's gate and not allow the French to enter Guangdong and Guangxi, otherwise he will be killed. So during that time, Zhang Nanpi scoured the land, trying to provide enough food and salaries for the soldiers on the front line. During that time, there was Zhang Nanpi's nursery rhyme in the city, the adults entered Guangzhou City, and the sky was three feet high.

Needless to say, this is scolding Zhang Zhidong for scratching the ground three feet. But he also recognized this. As long as the French are not allowed to enter Guangdong and Guangxi, they will scrape the ground three feet, and all the princes in the court can understand his painstaking efforts.

The food and salaries are easy to solve, but those who are on the front line keep calling for foreign guns and foreign artillery, in order to resist the French offensive.

Food and salaries can still be raised locally, but there is no place to buy foreign guns and guns now. Since the war with France, those foreigners have stopped selling guns to the imperial court. Even if they offered a high price, these foreigners who saw money would shake their heads like a rattle, saying that they should not sell weapons and other materials to the imperial court according to the principle of neutrality.

Just when he was troubled by this, Howard, the white-glove of the Italian country, quietly visited Zhang Zhidong and told him that he had a batch of arms to sell.

After learning the news, Zhang Zhidong was overjoyed immediately, and quickly said that he wanted it all. Although these weapons are a bit expensive, they can be bought anyway. The money in the treasury is a bit inconsistent, so that's easy. The governor of Guangdong and Guangxi invited the wealthy businessmen in the city to a banquet, and naturally he was able to raise money.

This is not after receiving the weapons and transporting them, but also watching the batch of foreign guns and cannons in person.

After waiting for the unloading to be completed, Governor Zhang walked over in person. Howard is also a clever man, and directly let people open a case containing guns and take out a Vitry M1870 rifle.

"Your Excellency, this is our country's standard rifle from our country, the Vitry Quick Gun. This gun can shoot quickly. A skilled soldier can shoot 12 rounds in one minute, and the effective range is 600 meters..."

Howard eloquently introduced the rifle in his hand, and Governor Zhang listened with relish without a trace of impatience.

Howard, having spent so much time teaching with Qing officials, certainly knew what they were interested in, so after a brief introduction to the Vitry rifle, he led the crowd to a cannon that was covered with tarpaulins.

After lifting the canvas to reveal a steel cannon, Zhang Zhidong and others immediately showed great interest.

"Everyone, this is an 85mm quick gun manufactured by the Turin Arsenal in my country. Its maximum range is 4,200 meters and its maximum firing rate is 6 rounds per minute. This is the best quick gun our company can produce at present."

"Good, very good."

Looking at the quick gun in front of him and listening to the data introduced by Howard, Governor Zhang nodded in praise.

Don't think that Governor Zhang does not understand the performance of weapons, you must know that this is a big change that has not been seen in three thousand years. As an aspiring person, how could Governor Zhang not understand this, let alone as the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, the army under his rule is still at war with the French, and he needs to understand the performance of weapons.

"By the way, what kind of gun is this?"

Governor Zhang asked, pointing to a figure that was also covered with canvas, but too petite.

"Your Excellency the Governor, please let me introduce this solemnly. This is our company's newly developed secret weapon, the Mark Qinsai Electric Cannon."

That's right, the Mark Qin heavy machine gun in history, but this is a black powder version. Its caliber is 10.4 mm (same as the rifle caliber), the rate of fire is 600 rounds per minute, the effective range is 800 meters, and the total weight reaches 94 kg (including the gun mount and mantlet).

As for why Howard called it the Sai Electric Cannon, don't blame him for the random name, because this thing is the same price as the artillery, and even more expensive than the ordinary artillery. In addition, it also looks like a firecracker from the outside. This time, in order to increase the bargaining chip for the Qing people, Carlo put the newly developed Maxim machine gun on the battlefield.

"The electric cannon?"

After listening to Howard's introduction, Governor Zhang became interested. "Open it for me to see."

Following Governor Zhang's words, the Mark Qin machine gun appeared in front of everyone for the first time.

However, the first appearance was not very good, because its small size did not have the image of Wuwei of artillery at all.

Governor Zhang also has this kind of thinking, and even thinks in his heart, shouldn't the Italians be bragging. Of course, Governor Zhang would not say this, and even praised a few good words.

Howard is a businessman, and observing his words is the most basic ability. He immediately knew that the Qing people did not take this weapon seriously, and he immediately had an idea.

"Everyone, it's too late now, why don't we go to the shooting range tomorrow to try it out~www.mtlnovel.com~ I'm fine, we'll go take a look tomorrow."

No need for Howard to say that these weapons, Governor Zhang, have to test the quality. Just handing it over to the front-line soldiers, he is not at ease.

After one night, the group appeared at the shooting range again, but this time Mark Qin's performance was an eye-opener for everyone in the Qing Dynasty. In order to have a more intuitive withdrawal, Howard purchased a batch of pigs and sheep overnight as experimental subjects. So when the pigs and sheep fell in pieces in front of Mark Qin's gun, the expressions of Governor Zhang and others can be imagined.

Of course, other weapons of the Italians are also good, the artillery is very sharp, and the rifle is also fine, but the ammunition is a little less.

After the demonstration, Governor Zhang immediately decided to put all three thousand quick guns down. After leaving four quick guns, they were all allocated to the lower ones. As for the Mark Qinsai electric guns, it was a little special because no one operated over this thing. But fortunately, Yiren took this into account, and specially appointed dozens of gunners.

In the end, Governor Zhang thought about it and decided that after leaving the four Sai Cannons and personnel, the other eight Sai Cannons were all set aside. Among them, as the main point of resisting the French army's attack, Zhennanguan got most of the ordnance, and six of them were sent here.

Chapter end