Wang Qinian looked intently at a metal object, he picked it up, put it down, picked it up again, looked closer, looked away from it, and scratched it with a knife. The deep brows and focused gaze all prove that Wang Qinian's attention is highly concentrated at this time.

Jiang Zhongyuan looked at Wang Qinian with great admiration, but after all, he couldn't continue to wait for Wang Qinian, so Jiang Zhongyuan smiled and said, "Wang County Order, what are you looking at?" ”

Wang Qinian was startled, and when he saw that Jiang Zhongyuan and Li Hongzhang were in the big room next to the factory, he hurriedly put down the things in his hand, got up and knelt down to salute Jiang Zhongyuan, "I have seen Lord Jiang in my humble position." ”

Li Hongzhang is a father and son and is very clear about things in the officialdom. Hearing Wang Qinian claim to be a subordinate, he couldn't help but laugh secretly in his heart. Jiang Zhongyuan attaches great importance to Wang Qinian, who can transform Huo Qiang on a large scale, and also writes Wang Qinian's name on the list of guarantees. As a feudal official that Xianfeng trusted very much, Jiang Zhongyuan's protection was naturally passed. And the gang of officials are really slippery, and they actually gave Wang Qinian an alternate official position as the magistrate.

The Manchus were openly engaged in official positions, so this caused a large number of people to be "candidates". If you want to get the title of alternate magistrate, you actually only need a few hundred taels of silver, which is really not very expensive.

These alternate officials have no privileges, and after becoming alternate officials, it is really difficult to "let go of the real shortage". First of all, you have to have a good reputation, or a good back stage, and then you have to have a good money bag, which can be more smoothly put into the real gap.

But where can ordinary people like Wang Qinian who were born in local buns understand the Taoism of these officialdoms, after learning that he has become an "alternate magistrate", Wang Qinian's strong joy in the whole person, Li Hongzhang can still remember it after these months. Because Wang Qinian was ecstatic on the one hand, and tried his best to suppress his ecstasy, he did not dare to have the slightest gaffe in front of the "benefactor" Jiang Zhongyuan. The two diametrically opposed expressions are really more fun to watch than to act in a big show.

Since he was promoted from a grass farmer to an "alternate magistrate", Wang Qinian has worked hard. Li Hongzhang felt that his benefactor Jiang Zhongyuan was indeed different, and Jiang Zhongyuan obviously admired Wang Qinian. Li Hongzhang thinks that such a working person is worthy of respect?

Jiang Zhongyuan didn't seem to see how bad the environment of this room next to the firearms factory was, he pulled over a dirty stool and sat down calmly. Then he said to Wang Qinian: "Get up." ”

"Yes! My lord! Wang Qinian stood up respectfully and stood in front of Jiang Zhongyuan with his hands down.

Li Hongzhang looked at the stool that was not clean, and he didn't want to sit on it, so he finally pulled the one that Wang Qinian had just sat on and sat down next to Jiang Zhongyuan. Jiang Zhongyuan glanced at Li Hongzhang, but didn't say anything. He said to Wang Qinian: "Why is the imitation of the fire cap gun so slow. ”

Wang Qinian replied cautiously: "My lord, the number of craftsmen who can get started is insufficient, and it is already very difficult to have a thousand a month. The lowly feared that those people were careless, and every gun was carefully examined. No matter how fast it is, I'm afraid that some guns won't work. ”

Jiang Zhongyuan knew that Wang Qinian was attentive to his work, so he didn't find faults, but asked seriously: "Qinian, I think Wei Ze has used other firearms to change tens of thousands of fire cap guns in a very short time. Why was he able to do it so quickly? ”

"Lord Jiang, the traitor Wei Ze himself is good at making firearms, and he also has a way to make good things with drilled holes." After speaking, Wang Qinian invited Jiang Zhongyuan to the table where he was. Pick up the metal object in your hand and put it on a wooden drill machine. First clamped a barrel on the drilling machine, and then used the metal guy to push the hole to the position, Wang Qinian shook the handle vigorously. Jiang Zhongyuan saw that the metal guy who was driven by the machinery quickly drilled iron filings on the iron barrel, and as Wang Qinian shook the handle vigorously, the iron guy drilled deeper and deeper.

This hard tossing made Wang Qinian gasp a little, he stopped what he was doing, calmed his breath, and then said to Jiang Zhongyuan: "My lord, this is the opportunity written down by the craftsman who escaped from Wei Ze's arsenal. He also stole a drill that the thief Weser used to shoot empty the gun. According to the man, there were many other opportunities in the arsenal of the traitor Wesser. A craftsman only manages one link, and it only takes two days to change an arquebus into a fire cap gun. Hundreds of craftsmen work together, and they can produce nearly 1,000 cap guns every day. We didn't have any of these brackets in our hands, and the other drill bits drilled holes in the barrel of the gun, and even with the brackets made by Weeser, a craftsman could only drill holes in one iron pipe a day. ”

Jiang Zhongyuan was a little puzzled, he pointed to the drill bit stuck on the drilling machine and said, "I don't think this is good, isn't it?" ”

Wang Qinian smiled bitterly: "My lord, we only have this one good drill bit, which was brought out by the craftsmen who escaped from Wei Ze's arsenal. As for how to make it, he didn't know. Wei Ze is treacherous and cunning, everyone only cares about one link, those who punch holes only care about punching holes, and those who make butts only do butts. Those who make fire caps and bullets are only responsible for one link. And each link is divided into different workshops, and the machine is strictly guarded. If we don't get the people in every link, and we have to be the ones who can figure out how these machines work, we can't figure out what Weeser's arsenal is. It is even more impossible to learn his tricks. ”

Jiang Zhongyuan is a smart person, and after hearing this, he basically understood what Wang Qinian meant. He pondered for a moment and suddenly asked, "Qi Nian, have you seen Wei Ze." Do you say that this set of things was made by Wei Ze alone? ”

In the face of Jiang Zhongyuan's inquiry, Wang Qinian didn't dare to slack off, he thought for a while before replying: "My lord, if you say that these are all made by Wei Ze, you can't get them." Wei Ze himself did not know the craft of folding and forging. But Weeser knew what crafts to learn, and where to use them. This ability is something that others don't have. ”

"What are you capable of?" Li Hongzhang looked down on a craftsman like Wang Qinian very much, so he praised Wei Ze for Wang Qinian in some vague terms, and Li Hongzhang couldn't help but provoke a thorn with a little ill will.

Wang Qinian didn't think about it so much, he frowned and thought for a while before he found a suitable word, "Wei Ze may not know anything, but he knows how to use those who know all kinds of crafts." The lowly job knew how to fold and forge at that time, so Wei Ze only let the lowly job do folding and forging. It was a lowly private look at Wei Ze's various processes, and then he knew how to make a flint. If the lowly position is a little lazy, or Wei Ze is a little stricter, the lowly position only knows how to build a bolt with folding forging. ”

Listening to Wang Qinian's words, Jiang Zhongyuan couldn't help but nod again and again, "I see." If so, it makes sense. ”

Leaving the factory where Wang Qinian was, Li Hongzhang couldn't help but think about it, and said to Jiang Zhongyuan: "My lord, I think that Wang Qinian is only afraid that he is not willing to contribute. ”

"How so?" Jiang Zhongyuan asked noncommittally.

Li Hongzhang replied: "According to what he said, Wei Ze's arsenal can only make 1,000 fire cap guns in two days, and Wang Qinian can only make 1,000 fire cap guns in a month with hundreds of people." That's a lot to lose. ”

"Then what do you think Wang Qinian has the courage to do this. He did this, but he wanted to blackmail me? Jiang Zhongyuan said with a smile.

"This ......" Jiang Zhongyuan's words made Li Hongzhang speechless for a while. Indeed, if Wang Qinian was given a few courages, Wang Qinian did not dare to use the method of sabotage to confront Jiang Zhongyuan. Recently, a considerable number of Jiang Zhongyuan's subordinates have been held official positions as "alternate xx". Most of these people are from humble backgrounds, if they want to remove the word "alternate", then they must give Jiang Zhongyuan a good life. In order to establish merit in the next battle to cross the Huai River to the south, and get a real promotion. Therefore, whether it is a civil official, a military general, or a guy in charge of craftsman affairs such as Wang Qinian, they are all full of energy. In addition to doing it fiercely, I was afraid that I would do something wrong and lose my name as "Alternate XX".

Regardless of his refutation of Li Hongzhang, Jiang Zhongyuan continued to say with some self-care, "Wei Ze does have extraordinary abilities, if it weren't for this, he wouldn't have killed tens of thousands of officers and soldiers when he went north." It is even more impossible to break through the Jiangnan and Jiangbei camps in one fell swoop. What Wang Qinian said should not be a lie. But I don't know how he did it at this point, so I might as well do it first. And a few days ago, Zeng Gong sent a letter, saying that he had bought foreigners at a high price and got the recipe for foreigners to make zuò fire hats. We've got to hurry, too! ”

"Got the recipe for the fire cap?" Li Hongzhang was taken aback. Since Wei Ze relied on the fire cap to defeat the Qing army, the Manchu Qing Dynasty paid special attention to the introduction of foreign military technology. And Zeng Guofan had already attached great importance to it even before the imperial court paid attention to it, and his Hunan army was equipped with guns and artillery imported from abroad. But at that time, the foreign devils were very cunning, and a thousand fire hats were sold for seventeen taels of silver. This doesn't seem like much, but when tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of fire hats are bought, the silver goes out like running water. Li Hongzhang has always felt that this is too expensive and wants to imitate it, but he has no clue at all. Now he didn't expect his teacher Zeng Guofan to get the recipe.

"Well, Zeng Gong got the recipe. However, Zeng Gong said that there was something strange about this time. The British seem to have clashed with Weeser and are about to go to war. So in order to allow us to fight well with Wei Ze, the British were willing to sell Fang Zi to Zeng Gong for a large price. Jiang Zhongyuan stated the new news.

Why is that? Don't foreigners and Weizer believe in some kind of God? Li Hongzhang was even more surprised.

"I heard that Wei Ze banned smoking in Guangdong, and anyone who sells big cigarettes will be killed! The British are not doing well in business, so they naturally want to kill Weeser! Jiang Zhongyuan said in a relaxed tone.

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