Automatic weapons and partition threaded cannon latches are currently in full swing in research and development, in view of the threat of armpit people and mutant beastmen, the killing effect of hot weapons with thin firepower is not ideal, and a weapon with good firepower and outstanding power at medium and short distances is urgently needed.

Based on pistol bullets, the development of a submachine gun will help to achieve the goal of low industrial starting point and high firepower output.

The navy is at an absolute disadvantage in numbers, and it also requires that the artillery must fire faster and more accurately, and the breech-loading rifled guns will undoubtedly greatly boost the existing combat strength of the navy.

While the three of them were talking, King Xian had already finished firing eighteen rounds under the guidance of Wei Qi, and he still felt that it was not enjoyable, and was about to continue to shoot them, when he suddenly thought of money, so he asked:

"Yongxing Hou, how many inches of silver does this revolver need?"

"Back to the king, most of the internal purchases are settled in Singapore dollars now, and the cost of a revolver of this kind is about five dollars and five plants, and the inch of silver will be cheaper."

"That doesn't sound expensive."

King Xian said casually, but Bailiyan was serious:

"King, in the future, the output of pistols will be less than one million, and more than ten million, and the cost of five or five plants will be fifty or sixty million yuan, and if it is included in the profit, I am afraid it will be 70 million yuan. This is not the most expensive, does the king know how much money was spent on the eighteen bullets just now? ”

"What, are bullets expensive?"

"Nowadays, one bullet is about two and a half catties of fine white rice, and eighteen bullets are forty-five catties of rice, and all that goes out is money."

King Xian was stunned when he heard the news, and Lu Gao on the side was busy listening to his heart cramps and face spasms, and he hurriedly said:

"Then aren't all the guns of these tens of thousands of people going out of money!"

Bai Liyan nodded and said:

"It's about the same, but the ammunition needed for the rifle doesn't cost so much, the main reason is that this copper shell is difficult to make, and in the last two or three years, the craftsmanship is expected to be more advanced in the future, and the price will be cut by at least half or even two-thirds."

In most cases, guns are long-term trial products with a one-time investment, while bullets are consumable products that need to be purchased for a long time, and the cost of pistol cartridges is equivalent to one-third to one-quarter of rifle cartridges according to different caliber and material, and the cost of an industrially produced ordinary rifle cartridge is roughly equivalent to the bulk purchase cost of ordinary rice.

Since the manufacture of gun cartridges was still in its infancy, it was still assembled manually in small batches, which also led to the cost of a pistol cartridge being eight or nine times that of industrial mechanized production.

But it's better than nothing, after all, it's just a pistol bullet, the firing frequency is not high, and the consumption of bullets is not very large.

However, in view of the fact that automatic weapons have already been launched, the mechanized production of ammunition, and the reduction of procurement costs have also reached the point where it cannot be delayed, and it must indeed be solved as soon as possible.

After the infantry artillery shooting review, the sky was getting dark, and King Xian decided to stay in the army, planning to eat with the soldiers, but after seeing the dishes, he lost his appetite.

It's not that the food is too bad, it's that King Xian is used to eating delicacies from the mountains and seas on weekdays, and it is inevitable that it will be a little difficult to swallow the soldier's food, so he ordered the accompanying Shangshan supervisor to borrow the stove to cook.

The next day, Wang drove back to Yongxing Xicheng by the same road, crossed the river by ferry and returned to Dongcheng, and went straight to the last stop of the trip, Beimen Station.

"Look, this is a steam locomotive, and there are two steel rails on the ground, and the locomotive will move through the rails."

"That's a big man!" King Xian exclaimed, and then said, "Much larger than most steam engines I've seen before." ”

"Yes, a prototype was built the year before last, only half of this locomotive, after two improvements and remanufacturing last year, three prototypes have been produced, this is one of the best, if there is no problem in testing and improving within two years, the prototype will be mass-produced in the future.

In the future, the dispatch of various armies, and even the transfer of grain and grass, can be used by railway as a carriage and horse, only need to burn coal, you can easily pull tens of millions of stones, grain and grass, not only can save a lot of manpower, but also can provide capacity for other goods in our country, and at the same time can also be used as a ride for the people, then collect some money, and the capital invested in railway construction can be fully recovered within twenty or thirty years. ”

At this time, Lu Gao had been pondering for a long time, and there were doubts in his heart, so he asked:

"This locomotive is so good, if you can't walk 180 miles a day, but you have to pave the best steel on the road, it's too much waste."

At this time, Duan Songzhi, the head of the Ligong faction, said with a smile:

"Hehe, if you only walk 180 miles a day, it is too little, only this locomotive locomotive, the fastest can run 160 miles per hour, if you fill ten carts of iron ore, you can also walk 40 or 50 miles every hour. If you change to pull people, you can travel sixty or seventy miles per hour. ”

"Sixty or seventy miles in an hour, so fast!"

Lu Gao was taken aback, and then Bai Liyan said:

"The infantry marched rapidly, sixty or seventy miles a day is already extremely fast. With this train to transport soldiers, it can travel seven or eight hundred miles day and night, and the soldiers can be repaired and can also rush at the same time, which is very convenient. King, you might as well get in the car to try, how convenient is this car. ”

"Well, that's what the widow wants."

The design of the train was first demonstrated in the first year of the Sheng, a car with a speed of about 18 kilometers per hour, and only six or seven kilometers after carrying goods.

In particular, Bailiyan was determined to build a broad-gauge medium- and heavy-duty railway, which was conducive to the speed of the early traditional locomotives, so the speed was too low, not only the investment was huge, but the efficiency was not high.

For this purpose, the design index was set at a maximum speed of 60 km/h at the front of the car, and the standard was redesigned.

However, the reality is cruel, after several designs and improvements, several prototypes produced one after another can not meet the design indicators, the fastest is the locomotive in front of the final put into use, the maximum speed of the nose is 45 kilometers per hour, an hour is 160 miles, a day can run nearly 2,000 miles, can pull 10 to 12 wagons of heavy-duty goods to maintain a speed of 14 to 15 kilometers per hour, basically meet the freight demand.

With the sound of a whistle, the train emitted white smoke and dragged the five passenger car boxes slowly on the road, and ran on the railway in the whining sound, the king of Xian was surprised and delighted, and hurriedly said:

"Aiqing, this car is going faster than the carriage."

"Yes, my lord, if it is slower than a carriage, it is meaningless. In addition, people eat horses and feed them in a delayed time and need to be repaired, and this car only needs to load a cartload of coal after docking, and it can run on the railway forever without stopping.

The minister intends to next year or the year after that, after the substantial increase in Yongxing steel, he will begin to build railways one after another, which can not only consume steel, but also after the completion of the construction of the railway, he will make profits to recover the cost and realize the profit by transporting goods from all over the world and the people. In wartime, it can be used as a transshipment utensil, to transport grain, grass and military materials, and even to quickly transfer soldiers to various places, which is very convenient. I don't know what the king wants? ”

"According to this, it can also be repaired to various parts of the Central Plains in the future?"

"Yes, wherever our country's territory goes, our country's railways go, so that we can solve the drawbacks of delayed troop deployment due to the huge territory."

"Since Yongxing Hou thinks that this method is feasible, then let it go, but the widow has a little requirement, Aiqing must remember it."

"Speak, my lord."

"Although the treasury and the money shop are rich, Aiqing, the chief manager, must keep the wealth of the widow and not abuse it. For many years, the widow has regretted not being at the beginning, but now he has finally accumulated some family funds, and he can't be defeated. ”

"The king can rest assured that the railway was not built in a day, only from the Sishui River in Ganfu County to the Wangqin River in Dongyuan County, and the minister is expected to take eight years at the earliest, and twelve years at the slower. During this period, a large number of craftsmen need to be trained to participate in the construction and accumulate experience and technology, so it is not fast. The money needed to build a railway connecting the east and west of the country in this way can be evenly divided into the national treasury for 12 years, but it will not have much impact. ”

The construction of the railway is a long-term project, especially the first trunk railway connecting the east and west, there is no experience, it is necessary to accumulate experience and train the construction team, and the progress cannot be too fast.

After the completion of the backbone railway, it is necessary to build the main railway of each county, and then the railway to the cities, and the initial improvement of the basic railway network, it will take at least 30 to 40 years, even if the length of the railway after 40 years is enlarged to the entire Central Plains, this cycle may take hundreds of years to build a railway network that basically runs through the major cities in the east, west, north and south.

In addition to this, the opening of the railway also faces another problem, that is, communication.

The dispatch of the railway cannot be transmitted by people, and if it simply relies on the rigid railway schedule, it will seriously reduce the efficiency of the railway, so the promotion and development of telephone and cable telegraph cannot be delayed, and the construction of power stations must also be launched as soon as possible.

The train came to an end after thirty miles, then began to reverse and return to the starting station at a much slower pace.

On the way back, King Xian was a little absent-minded, he didn't know what he thought, his eyes were confused, and he looked out of the car in silence, just like an ordinary passenger, looking at the scenery outside the window and thinking infinitely. However, Lu Gao and Jiao Muhua kept talking, and the content of what they said was a little boundless.

When the train arrived at the station, King Xian continued to take the train back and forth for four times, and sat until the afternoon after Shen Shi, and then left unsatisfied, and went into the city to visit the main hall of the Ligong faction, accompanied by Baili Yan, and Duan Songzhi, Cheng Jiyuan, Bao Ning and others until late at night.

The next day, after inspecting the main workshop, Wang Jia returned to Chenling in the afternoon of the same day, and this year's tour came to an end.

At the same time, Lu Jia, the envoy of the patriotic state, was rushing to Chenling at a "crazy" speed, and finally rushed to Chenling at dusk on the third day of King Xian's return.

"Master Hou, Lu Jia is here, it doesn't look like he's coming well." Wei Qi said quickly.

"Hmph, the one who comes is not good, and the good one does not come, I am afraid that he will not come. Go, arrange for him to wait in the front yard and front hall, and I'll go later. ”

"No!"

After Wei Qi left, Jiang Rong, who was sitting on the side, asked:

"What is Lu Jia going to do, it won't be to get cheap and sell well."

"There are some things you don't know, but you'll understand in a few days. What are you thinking about Xiang'er's marriage? ”

"I asked my brother to send someone to inquire, Gongliangxu, the second son of Gongliangxiu, looks dignified and talented, and is very smart."

Jiang Rong seemed to be quite satisfied, but Bai Liyan couldn't help but be a little worried, he said:

"If this embroidered pillow and a bag of grass don't get in the way, I'm afraid I'm a genius, but it's not easy to do. After all, I am a member of the Gongliang family, and if I die in the future, it will be a bit troublesome. ”

"Then it's okay if this in-law doesn't do it."

Jiang Rong proposed, and Bai Liyan shook her head again:

"No, the Gongliang clan has its fatality in the Zhiguo court, so if you can marry the Gongliang clan, it will be beneficial to the Xianguo. But I'm afraid that we won't live until then, and that's going to be troublesome. ”