Australian Storm 1876

  Chapter 224 Artillery Industry Cooperation

  After the encounter off Jayapura, the Red River Valley did not announce the battle immediately. The purpose is to create the best opportunity for the returning fleet to destroy the enemy.

  The battle of the Straits of Malacca shocked the world and heralded the rise of a new maritime power.

  In the final analysis

Due to the frequent faint moves of the Dutch East Indies Governor’s Palace, the Royal Navy's task force was too large, and the capital ships such as the "Seven Provinces" and the "Netherlands Giant" that were confronting the forward positions in the Strait of Malacca were removed and given The returning fleet is a good opportunity to wipe out the enemy.

   Once the Jayapura encounter was announced, it once again caused an uproar in European and American public opinion.

  People are speculating about how the Dutch landing force will behave. The off-Shangri-La Island also ushered in ships from Britain, France, Germany, the United States and the West, gathering here, smelling like vultures in the African grasslands.

  Albatross, Flamingo, Pelican, and Heron, the four warships that have made great achievements after rest, set sail again for Jayapura Port to rendezvous with other warships to form a new Shangri-La combined fleet.

  The combined fleet is led by four Seagull II ocean-going frigates and 12 Seagull I ships joined. Where is the commander of the Shangri-La combined fleet, and Geng Baobao is in the rear.

  There are minor adjustments in personnel affairs. Geng Baogui stepped down as the captain of the Flamingo and was replaced by Zhu Qingxi, and the captain of the Pelican was formally assumed by Luo Yun.

  End of January

The   Shangri-La Guardian Division was formally established. The entire division was fully staffed and equipped with advanced weapons from Europe and the United States, especially the famous Miss Australia artillery. It became the first army division in the world to be equipped with "Miss Australia".

  The war clouds in the west of the East Indies are dense, and the atmosphere is tense.

  This did not hinder the enthusiasm of the senior army and navy personnel from Britain, France, Germany and other countries. There is only one purpose, which is to witness and evaluate the "Miss Australia" artillery, and to discuss technology introduction and authorized production issues.

  With the successive victories of the Queensland Fleet, subtle changes have taken place in the Australian territorial situation. Victoria and New South Wales have successively sent reconciliation messages to Queensland, and passed the interim bill of the state assembly to unfreeze the issue of the circulation of Huitong gold tickets.

  The plan for the southern extension of the coastal railway continues to advance. Several railway line construction sites in New South Wales have resumed work one after another, while the Victorian construction site has been slow to move. As the base camp of horse bandits, it is still facing the trouble of gangster attacks.

This obviously cannot satisfy the appetite of the Queensland Lord Earl. He only agreed to continue to purchase wool from the south in the new shearing season without changing the plan to suspend dividends for three years. This hated the small number of white powerists in the south and seriously hurt them. The vital interests of the people, in the face of self-knowledge.

  In general, the tense situation in Australia has gradually slowed down.

  Perhaps seeing the power of the Earl of Queensland, there is not without the instruction from London, try to avoid the intensification of contradictions.

  The result of the Malacca naval battle obviously shocked the Manchu Qing court. Through the governor of Beizhili, Gu Yanchuan, asked the details of the inside. Li Fushou wrote a letter to inform him, and I will not list it here for the time being.

  Queensland issued a new round of orders to the British Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. A total of six Seagull Type II modification orders were rejected. As expected, only two orders were accepted.

  The reason is that the production capacity is insufficient.

  This trick suggested by He Fang is really useful. The upper limit of London's tolerance for the Queensland Earl is 6 Seagull 2 ​​high-speed frigates, no more.

  The displacement of these two Seagull II modified models was further increased to 2140 tons, and the speed was reduced from 21 to 19 knots. They were equipped with two backpack-mounted 239mm main guns, one front and one back, a total of 4, and 8 95mm Miss Australia secondary guns.

  The Seagull Type II modification focused on increasing armor protection, and built a separate explosion-proof wall for the secondary artillery, properly spaced apart, to avoid the end of the battle.

  Early February

  In Amsterdam

  The battle over the Straits of Malacca and the battle off Jayapura were announced to the world, ushering in the turbulent public sentiment within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Prime Minister of the Kingdom dismissed the cabinet sadly and took responsibility for the defeat.

  The 65-year-old Dutch King William III appointed Lord Van Horn as Prime Minister and ordered him to organize a new cabinet.

  Early 1882

  The Manchus obtained extraterritorial rights in North Korea, and the United States announced a new Chinese Exclusion Act, which further suppressed and excluded Chinese workers in the United States.

in Shanghai

  Danish North Telegraph Co., Ltd. opened the first artificial telephone exchange in Shanghai and successfully launched wireline telephone and telegraph services.

  Following, the Australian Telegraph Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Red River Valley, opened long-distance cable telegraph services in Peiping and Guangzhou, and expanded its business to major coastal cities.

  In Tianjin

  On January 17th, French Minister Bao Hai arrived in Tianjin to discuss Vietnam issues with Prime Minister Li Hongzhang, proposed the border and business of the first business, and asked China to withdraw its troops from North Vietnam.

  Because the butterfly wings from Australia flapped, which was 9 months earlier than the original history, the French seemed even more impatient.

  On the 18th, Li Hongzhang sent Ma Jianzhong to negotiate with Baohai to conclude three drafts:

   1. Vietnam pays tribute to China, China withdraws its troops, and France declares that it has no intention of invading Vietnam’s land or damaging Vietnam’s sovereignty.

  Second, Vietnam opens up to protect victory (Black Flag Army base area).

  3. China and Vietnam are bounded by the Red River, allowing navigation of the Red River.

  On January 22, the Qing court approved the draft and agreed to the retreat of the Qing army stationed in Beiqi.

in Paris

  The Parliament of the Third French Republic passed the relevant appropriation bill, giving the green light to colonize the Indochina Peninsula. A steady stream of French soldiers took steamboats to the Saigon colony, preparing to kick off a new round of colonial war.

  In Brisbane

In the magnificent hall, Li Fushou had a good talk with Alfred Krupp, a German Krupp company. Alfred Krupp was the nobleman who awarded the Red Eagle Medal and the Knight’s Cross by Kaiser Wilhelm I. The forger of the German sword.

  The two parties reached an agreement on the comprehensive introduction of Krupp’s artillery production technology in Australia, especially the 280mm Krupp cannon, and Krupp obtained a patent for the production and sale of artillery relocation machines, allowing it to be produced and sold in the German Empire.

  Krupp will send a senior artillery designer to assist the Deep Blue Alchemy Workshop in the development of retreat machines for artillery of various calibers, and obtain corresponding special production patents to equip the German Imperial Army and shore artillery units.

  The two parties agreed that Deep Blue Alchemy Workshop has a series of patents for the remanent machine of artillery, and Krupp will pay the corresponding patent fee for each set of remanent machines produced and sold in the German Empire.

  In order to show the sincerity of cooperation, Krupp has helped Red River Valley to establish its own military industry, including guns and ammunition production lines, at a preferential price.

Countries such as Britain, France, Italy and the United States received orders directly from Australia. In the early stage, all of them were 95mm Miss Australia artillery. The number of orders ranged from hundreds to dozens. The production capacity has been scheduled to 1884.

  After the arrival of Krupp’s advanced equipment and senior artillery designers, starting in 1883, Red River Valley will successively introduce reciprocating retreating machines that can adapt to heavy artillery from 120 mm to 305 mm to supply the needs of European and American armies.

Doing so is to feed Australia’s artillery and military industry with orders from Europe and the United States. Red River Valley abides by its duty and only expands and strengthens the field of artillery station and retreat. It does not endanger the interests of the original artillery manufacturers in Britain, France and other countries. Take what you need.

  From the point of view of value, the artillery retreat machine is an important core component, the value of which occupies 2/5 of the entire artillery, and the profit is attractive enough.

In the tug-of-war negotiations with the British representatives, Li Fushou, the Earl of Queensland, finally insisted on his bottom line and left the production rights of artillery retired aircraft products in Australia, because Australia itself is rich in coal and iron resources, coupled with abundant labor and labor. The patent for the artillery retreat machine possesses various conditions for the development of this industry.

  This military industry alone will create tens of thousands of jobs, drive no less than 25,000 jobs in the surrounding industries, and affect more than 100,000 people.

  For this reason, Red River Valley has made other concessions.

  Including two sets of steelmaking equipment and heavy plate production lines imported from the United Kingdom, the Hongshan Shipyard rebuilt and expanded a full set of equipment imported from the United Kingdom, and supplied high-quality coking coal to the United Kingdom at a long-term preferential price.

  British merchants got big contracts, and Red River Valley also benefited from this.

The scale of the industry has been further expanded, especially in the coking industry. The Songjiang Reservoir with huge power generation capacity will soon be completed and put into use, which provides a reliable energy guarantee for the large-scale development of the coking industry in the Red River Valley, and has the ability to transport large quantities of high-quality coking coal to the United Kingdom and even Europe. Base.

  Through conversations with British negotiators, Li Fushou found out that he had little knowledge and knowledge. The artillery and military industry of the Manchu Empire in this era is not backward, and can even be said to be relatively advanced.

  Thanks to the Westernization Movement, the Manchu Empire introduced a full set of British artillery production equipment and technology, and developed its own artillery industry.

   Around the 1860s

  Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau can imitate and produce various types of front-mounted smoothbore artillery from 12 to 32 pounds. By 1878, the British Armstrong 40-pound steel rifled gun had been produced, using a fairly advanced thermal sleeve technology.

  As of 1880

  Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau has the ability to produce 120-pound Armstrong heavy artillery, a cannon with a caliber of 150 mm, and a total gun weight of 4.5 tons.

This is the artillery production capacity that Red River Valley does not have so far. The Deep Blue Alchemy Workshop can only produce 95mm artillery supporting retreats on a small scale, and does not have the production capacity for barrels, sights, and gun mounts. It all depends on this aspect. import.

Not only that

  In the production workshop of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, 203mm Armstrong cannons authorized by the United Kingdom are being produced. This batch of orders has reached 160 in total, and there will be more demand in the future.

  Now British engineers are in the Jiangnan General Administration of Manufacturing, instructing them to imitate the British Armstrong 12-inch heavy artillery, which is a huge artillery with a caliber of 305 mm, an absolute killer.

  This giant cannon weighs 58.5 tons, and can fire a shell of about 300 kilograms. In addition to the special standard ammunition, the types of shells that can be launched include grenade, grenade and shotguns, with a range of 12 kilometers.

  The power of this giant cannon is very powerful. It can easily penetrate 400 mm thick iron armor within its effective range. Even if it is a 10,000-ton steam iron armored battleship, it can be penetrated by one shot.

  It can be regarded as one of the most advanced artillery in the world.

  With Li Fushou’s knowledge, he was dumbfounded, and he couldn’t stop talking in secret.

  Who would have thought that the decadent dynasty, which had always been weak and poor in the impression, had such a strong artillery manufacturing capacity, which was hardly inferior to the second-class European powers.

  If you can make good use of these powerful weapons, you won’t be bullied by the little Japanese.

  This can be seen

  Advanced weapons must be in the hands of a disciplined army, otherwise no matter how good the weapon is, it will be a fire stick, and it will not be able to exert its due power.

  (End of this chapter)