I can't die

This Hunan army doesn't seem to be disarming, and there are still a total of 20 troops in the southeast. Zai Chun's mind is obviously a little bit like moving to Shanghai.But no one dared to say this, for fear of committing a taboo.

Wherever the 20 army is placed, it is enough to make people feel frightened. Li Hongzhang, who was staying in Shanghai, saw his teacher Zeng Guofan leave, and he looked at the terrifying military power, thinking about it in every possible way.But before he had any plans for military power, Childe, the owner of a large American military factory, came to his door.

On February 1862, 2, U.S. President Lincoln ordered an army of 22 to launch a general attack on the South.The northern army represented by capitalism was victorious on the western front and almost opened up the north-south artery Mississippi River.The Navy also captured New Orleans, the largest port in the South.With the successive victories of the Northern Army, the voice of this large military factory owner became better and better, and his previous desire to make money began to move again.

Child came to Li Hongzhang's residence in Shanghai, and asked kindly, "Master Li, how are you doing?"

It was not the first time that Charles had met Li Hongzhang, and he knew a lot about the etiquette of the Han people, and he had learned enough Chinese, so he didn't need Charles to translate.

"It's not bad. Mister is concerned."

Li Hongzhang knew that Chard had a lot of advanced Western arms in his hands, so he was very polite to him.

"I heard that my lord led the army to defeat the enemy, and the world is peaceful now, but what should the foreign gun team say?"

Foreign gun team?

The "Foreign Gun Team" has been named the "Ever-Victorious Army" by the Qing court because of its repeated victories over the Taiping Army in Songjiang, Qingpu and other places, and is now nominally under the control of Jiangsu Governor Li Hongzhang.It's just that the actual command power is still in the hands of the American Charles.

There are a total of more than 1000 foreign gun teams, and the number is not large, but all of them have guns, and because most of them are foreigners, they can enter and exit the foreign concessions in Shanghai almost unimpeded. In the eyes of the consuls of any country, they are all An armed force that cannot be ignored.

Now the British are the most powerful in Shanghai, so naturally the foreign gun team led by the American Shire has also become a thorn in the side of the British.After much deliberation, Xia Ersi had to ask Childe to test Li Hongzhang's attitude towards him.

Childe knew that Li Hongzhang and a series of high-ranking officials in the Qing court had long been dissatisfied with the British, otherwise they would not have started smuggling with the Americans, so there is some speculation about Li Hongzhang's reaction at the moment.

Sure enough, Li Hongzhang said without hesitation: "The emperor of the Qing Dynasty has issued an order to reward the Ever Victorious Army, and he is naturally satisfied with the Ever Victorious Army."

Hearing Li Hongzhang's reply, Childe was satisfied, and continued to ask: "Then do you still need the business that your country needs before? I still have a batch of unpacked goods in your country, and I was wondering if I could It's done."

Li Hongzhang had thought of buying large quantities of firearms from the Americans before, but because of the uncertain situation in the civil unrest in the United States and the lack of arms production in Childe's military factory, he gave up and only bought a small part.Now that the domestic situation in the United States is very good, Child, as an authentic businessman, naturally thinks of this rare arms deal.It's just that he is not sure whether the Qing Dynasty, which has just put down the civil strife, still needs arms.

Li Hongzhang listened to Childe's words and thought about it, but he was a little undecided.Buying and selling arms is not a trivial matter. He dared to buy it with confidence because of the emperor's intentions. Now at this critical point, it's really hard to say.What's more, he was more worried about the result of Zeng Guofan's entry to Beijing this time.If Zeng Guofan can continue to hold the military power, it is natural that you are good, I am good, everyone is good, if not, I am afraid that Li Hongzhang himself will have to think about the way out, so don't violate the royal taboo.

"This matter has to be slow, I can't be the master."

Li Hongzhang smiled apologetically, told the truth, and then pointed to the sky: "It's always up to the higher-ups to decide."

Childe didn't know the meaning of pointing to the sky, but he could also hear the ambiguous meaning in Li Hongzhang's words, and he understood it: "Then Master Li should make up his mind quickly. I will go back to China in a few days." gone."

"Oh?" Li Hongzhang didn't expect that Childe made a fortune in the Qing Dynasty, so why did he want to go back to China, and he couldn't help being curious: "Why are you in such a hurry? Now that the civil strife in the Qing Dynasty has been put down, it is impossible to do arms business. Other businesses can be done.” According to Li Hongzhang’s thinking, although this businessman can make some windfalls in troubled times, peace is the best business environment. After all, no one wants to do well in his business one day. The goods were intercepted suddenly, right?

But he never thought that Childe would say this, and couldn't help but sighed: "I won't hide it from you, what you and I did was a shady business, the original British were busy helping you fight the civil war, and some With our help, we are happy to see it succeed, now that the civil war is over, why not turn around and deal with us?"

When Li Hongzhang heard this, he thought to himself that the business of "killing the donkey by removing the grindstone" really happened throughout the ages and in the world.It's just a pity for such a good businessman.

"Sir, if you're not shy, can you tell Mr. Li how much of that batch is left?"

"There are about [-] guns and [-] rounds of ammunition. These small items are nothing. There are five Armstrong cannons, which are not easy to get rid of."

Nowadays, with the opening of treaty ports in various places in the Qing Dynasty, many wealthy families have already seen the power of foreigners, so small items such as bullets are dismantled and sold. As long as they are not in a hurry to sell, they can always be sold without a trace. However, the five Armstrong cannons were no different than others, all of them were weapons capable of smashing through city gates. Even if ordinary people wanted to buy them, they had to weigh whether their brains were strong enough.After all, buying guns can still be said to be buying one or two weapons for self-defense. Are you planning to rebel with this cannon?

"May I ask how this Armstrong gun is different from ordinary cannons?"

Li Hongzhang's expression became serious.

Seeing Li Hongzhang's expression, Childe knew that the high-ranking Qing official's interest had been aroused by him, so he hurriedly said, "This Armstrong gun was developed by British talents a few years ago, and it was officially put into use last year. I am also useless." It took a lot of work to get it.”

"This gun uses a compressed barrel. The barrels at a considerable distance from the barrel are all the same width, and the inner diameter of the barrel at the rear of the barrel is significantly smaller than that at the front. When the gun is loaded and fired, the small inner diameter You can grind off the lead coating on the shell. So that when the shell starts to spin into the barrel, its diameter matches the caliber of the gun. This design greatly increases ballistic stability and has an excellent hit rate."

The more Li Hongzhang listened, the more serious his face became. Unexpectedly, when Childe said this, he continued to say: "To be presumptuous, before the British invaded your Takukou, the Armstrong cannon was used on the warship."