On August 7, 1868, Peruvian and Bolivian border guards arrived in the Acre border area and immediately launched an attack on the local Brazilian defenders, recovering more than a dozen towns occupied by Brazilian troops.

Two days later, the reinforcements sent by the Brazilian Empire arrived in the Acre area, and the offensive momentum of the coalition forces composed of Peru and Bolivia was blocked, and the war temporarily entered a stalemate.

At the training ground outside Porto Alegre, rows of Chinese soldiers were scattered around to prevent strangers from approaching.

In the center of the training ground, a group of senior officers huddled together, staring at the soldiers fiddling with artillery in front of them.

The two Chinese soldiers took off the marching bag they were carrying, took out a black cannon barrel from the bag, then installed two brackets, raised their right hand to aim at the target in front of them to test the position, and then fixed a assembled small cannon on the ground to complete the preparation before firing.

A soldier turned around and asked for a combat order, the commander of the training ground quickly waved a small flag in his right hand, the soldier understood, squatted down and took out the ammunition and loaded it into the barrel, while the two soldiers blocked their ears and quickly fell down, almost at the same time as the two soldiers lay down, the shells flew out of the barrel and shot at the wooden house built in front.

The "bump" shell hit the target, and the cabin collapsed instantly.

Li Mingyuan stood in the center of the crowd watching the test firing, and after the shell hit the target, he was the first to show a satisfied smile.

The Chinese Independence Army stabilized, the rifle and ammunition production facilities seized from Peru were placed in the vicinity of Porto Alegre, and a production plant for simple grenades was officially established, which was managed by the Arms Production Bureau under the name of the Ministry of Industry.

There were still a lot of muskets in the Chinese Independence Army, and rifle ammunition could be produced by itself using the newly established ammunition production plant, but the production and construction of artillery and artillery shells could not find a solution for a long time.

Compared with muskets, artillery and artillery shells belong to more high-tech weapons, the Chinese Independence Army has also captured some small earthen artillery production plants in the continuous fighting, but the captured artillery production equipment is seriously behind the current war level, some time ago the use of small artillery captured in the artillery production plant for test firing, a total of less than five shells fired, the artillery exploded in the chamber accident, three Chinese soldiers operating the artillery died on the spot, and two soldiers near the test firing site were also injured by shell fragments.

The equipment used to produce earthen artillery was backward and aging, and the artillery produced was inferior in performance, and the use of such weapons to fight the enemy seriously weakened the combat effectiveness of the Chinese Independence Army.

After learning about this problem, Li Mingyuan contacted Captain Hans, the representative left by Colonel West, to express to him his intention to purchase artillery production equipment, and at the same time, Li Mingyuan was also considering how to use the existing production equipment to design simple and effective weapons.

After thinking about it for a long time, Li Mingyuan spent two days really making him think of a solution.

The actual situation of the Chinese Independence Army at this stage is that the weapons production facilities are weak, and the industrial foundation is almost none, and in such a situation, only the manufacture of simple and low-tech small artillery is suitable for the Chinese Independence Army's own production, and the mortar invented by a Russian artillery captain during the Russo-Japanese War is undoubtedly the most suitable choice.

Mortars can be modified from traditional artillery, a small artillery, remove the fixed wheels, and then fix two brackets, a simple mortar will be declared a successful transformation, in accordance with the steps of modifying mortars, Li Mingyuan instructed the responsible person of the Weapons Production Bureau to transform two small artillery, after the successful test firing, Li Mingyuan officially issued the task of producing the first batch of 10 mortars, and the artillery that is being test-fired on the training ground today is the first batch of mortars produced.

The first mortar was successfully test-fired, and although the power of the shells was not much weaker than that of mature mortars, Li Mingyuan was generally satisfied.

The workers used in the manufacture of mortars were employees of captured small artillery production plants, whose technology for making artillery was too far from that of their European counterparts, and the aging of artillery production facilities and the average quality of steel produced, which limited the performance of mortars.

Improving the level of manufacturing artillery involves smelting steel, lathe mold manufacturing, etc., and a complete set of industrial systems is needed to improve the quality level of artillery.

Li Mingyuan still has more than half of the gold in his hands that is useless, and the material wealth captured in the previous battles is also stored in the headquarters of the Chinese Independence Army, which is relatively sufficient in terms of funds; the purpose of this mortar test-firing exercise is to familiarize his senior generals with the use of new weapons, and on the other hand, to take the opportunity to show Captain Hans the new weapons of the Chinese Independence Army and increase the depth of cooperation between the two sides.

At the end of the test firing, the commander of the training site came to Li Mingyuan to report the test firing results.

"The results of the test firing were good, and the two soldiers who operated the mortar were credited with their merits, and they will verify and report after the exercise."

"Yes" The commanding officer of the training ground gave a military salute and turned back to his position.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I named the artillery I tested today, we have seen the test results just now, the range and power of the mortar are slightly insufficient compared with ordinary small artillery, but its advantages are obvious, the mortar manufacturing process is simple, convenient for large-scale industrial production and arming grassroots troops, at the same time light weight, easy to load and unload, two soldiers can carry mortar parts to quickly transfer, in artillery, machine guns gradually enter the battlefield, trench warfare is becoming more and more common, Mortars can provide the most powerful support to the front-line troops.

In front of the enemy's defensive points composed of machine guns and heavy fire, the relatively long range of mortars can create a direct threat to the opponent and facilitate the breakthrough of our troops to the enemy's positions. ”

Li Mingyuan briefly explained the use and function of mortars on the battlefield, and the eyes of the officers around him quickly lit up.

Since the formation of the Chinese Independence Army, many battles have been fought, and the Chinese officers who are not accustomed to hot-weapon warfare have either died in battle or have lost their qualifications for promotion and have remained in the grassroots units.

And those who can be in high positions are all officers who quickly adapt to changes in the battlefield situation and are relatively familiar and sensitive to the use of artillery and rifles.

The advantages and combat methods of mortars were explained by Li Mingyuan in layman's terms, and although they were not specifically applied to actual combat, the officers present could also imagine the scene of attacking the enemy with mortars in their hearts.

With the addition of new weapons, the attacking side uses mortars to knock out the defenders' key points, the attacking soldiers rush along the gaps in the defenders, and the Chinese Independence Army's grenades kill the enemy at close range.

"A perfect and cheap fine weapon, general, the creativity of your army is amazing."

Hans, who was standing beside Li Mingyuan, sighed.

"Thank you, Your Excellency, although the mortar is a weapon that is simple to manufacture and easy to use, but with the current production capacity of our army, it is difficult to make it exert its maximum power, and I think that if this weapon is placed in the Prussian army, it will definitely play a greater role."

"General, what do you mean?"

"This weapon is a gift from the Chinese Independence Army to His Majesty King William of your country, and it can be regarded as a thank you for your country's cooperation with our army and the captain's help in training our army's sailor soldiers."

The principle of mortar manufacturing is simple, once it appears on the battlefield, it is easy to be imitated by other countries, so instead of hiding it, it is better to give it to Prussia as a greeting gift, which is also convenient for the follow-up cooperation between the two parties, as for whether Prussia will get the mortar will pose a threat to the Chinese Independence Army, there is no need to worry at all, the Chinese Independence Army and Prussia are thousands of miles apart, whether it is now or for a long time in the future, there is no possibility of conflict between the two sides, on the contrary, with the development and growth of the Chinese Independence Army, the two sides will have more common interests.

"I will convey the general's kindness to the colonel, and Your Majesty will surely be satisfied with the gift from the general."

An excellent weapon can even change the outcome of a war, and in the face of a gift from Li Mingyuan, Hans could not refuse.

"The survival and development of the Chinese Independence Army is inseparable from the support of rifles and artillery, and the current conditions in Rio Grande do not meet the requirements of the Chinese Independence Army.

Of course, in terms of price, your country does not have to worry, the Chinese Independence Army has moved to nearly half of the Americas and it is impossible to do it without sufficient funds.

Therefore, I hope that the captain will report the situation to your country and reach a concrete cooperation project between the two sides as soon as possible. ”

"The purchase of industrial production equipment requires domestic consent, and I will quickly contact the country and give the general an answer as soon as possible, but I believe that the domestic industrial owners will not refuse the general's big business."

Germany was not united, and Prussia was not the First German Reich that challenged Britain and France during World War I. Prussia at this time was relatively low-key in foreign affairs.

Two years ago, in 1866, because Prussia promised not to expand on the land of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and won the favor of Li Hongzhang, the first batch of Manchu diplomats arrived in Europe to visit Prussia, and purchased a large number of weapons and equipment from Prussia.

The purchase of machinery and equipment is not something that can be explained clearly in one or two sentences, Li Mingyuan handed over this matter to the people below to take charge, and then continued to watch the grenadiers' drills.

After the invention of the grenade, soldiers began to throw grenades in the Chinese Independent Army, but the formal establishment of grenadiers was not completed until they arrived in Rio Grande do Sul.

The scale of the grenadiers is not large, and each brigade or division-level unit has set up a grenadier company with an establishment of about 150 people, which is under the direct command of the division headquarters and brigade headquarters.

The grenadiers have a long history of development in Europe, and Captain Hans has some knowledge of the grenadiers, but after the exercise, he only praised the high accuracy of the Chinese grenadiers in bombing, and did not show interest.

Li Mingyuan didn't care about Hans's performance, the grenades produced by the Chinese Independence Army were still relatively rough and could only cause small damage to the enemy, but with the improvement of technology, the role of grenades will become more and more significant. That's when others take grenades seriously.