Guan Zhuofan did not go out of Beijing with the "American delegation to China", and he arrived in Tianjin two days early for the sake of that "interesting thing". The only American who accompanied him was Sandos.

The entrance of the small station barracks.

"What about people?"

This was the first thing Guan Zhuofan said to Wall, Daniel Zhang, Forrest and others who came out of the camp to greet him after the military salute at the beginning of getting off the bus.

Wall was stunned for a moment, and then reacted: "At the shooting range." ”

"Okay, go to the shooting range."

Good guys, so simply, you don't go into the camp, you don't drink a sip of water?

Wall ordered the guards to hurry to the shooting range first, and informed the relevant people that the prince was going to come over to inspect.

Daniel Zhang danced on the side: "Wang Ye, things are really good!" Just ......"

"Just what?"

"We have been fighting for more than ten days," Daniel Zhang smiled, "and later, everyone was red and their necks were thick, but they were still not sure, what should we do...... Swing it? ”

Swing it?

These words seemed to have no beginning or end, but Guan Zhuofan knew what he meant, and smiled slightly: "Don't worry, everything is always more and more clear - first see what is good about things?" ”

The group was furious and came to the shooting range.

At the entrance of the shooting range, "related people and others" were already waiting, among them, there were three or four foreigners in hunting suits.

Shandushi turned around and said something to Guan Zhuofan. Guan Zhuofan nodded, the first to jump off the horse, strode over, there were still a few steps to go, and his hand had already stretched out: "Mr. Gatling, we finally met." ”

Richard. Jordan. Gatlin hurried up to meet him, first bowing deeply. Straighten up. Only then did he hold Guan Zhuofan's hand: "His Royal Highness." It is a great pleasure to serve you. ”

Richard. Jordan. Gatling, the inventor of the Gatling gun.

*

*

As explained above, when Guan Zhuofan was in the United States, he asked Richard. Jordan. Gatling bought his patent for the "Gatling Rapid-Fire Weapon" and promised to provide funding for subsequent research and development and improvements, with no upper limit. Other than that. It was also agreed that he would be hired to be in charge of the manufacture and production of the "Gatling rapid-fire weapon," which would be finalized in the future.

Gatling couldn't refuse the price and conditions offered by Kwan Zhuofan. At the same time, and Christopher. Like Spencer, Gatlin's "acquaintance" with the Duke from China also has a sense of a long drought and a rainy day. In fact, his feeling was even stronger than Spencer's.

In the process of promoting his "Spencer Repeater Gun", although he was repeatedly cold-eyed and white-eyed, the "Spencer Repeater Gun" is strange, and it is still a "gun". It's barely within the world's comprehension. But Mr. Gatlin, can you tell me clearly? "Combined rapid-fire weapons" ...... What the hell is it? Gatlin felt that in the eyes of one lobbyist after another, he was a joke, a monster.

It's not all strange that people don't have a vision, in fact, Gatling himself really can't tell what his "rapid-fire weapon" is - a gun, or a cannon?

In fact, in the era of queuing to shoot, Gatling's design ideas were too advanced, and the tactical system at that time did not have any position for machine guns at all. Only when the breech gun was converted to a breech gun, and the skirmish tactics appeared, did the concept of fire suppression and support of machine guns have a real meaning.

Just when Gatling was basically desperate for the American market and planned to try his luck in Europe, the order of the Sandol rank Guan Zhuofan appeared.

The reason why Guan Zhuofan wanted to buy the patent for the "Gatling Rapid-Fire Weapon" was because the patent declared by Gatling was very exclusive:

There are two statements in this patent, one is "a cylindrical rotating body with a firing pin inside the chamber that provides a lock chamber, which rotates with the barrel"; One is that "each barrel has a separate firing pin."

As a result, all future designs similar to the Gatling gun could no longer be patented.

This is the most important reason why no other similar machine gun has been "invented" for decades before the advent of the Maxim machine gun. On the issue of patent rights, foreign devils -- especially the "first-mover" Britain and France -- are really a rule, and they don't tend to be casual copycats.

As for the Maxim machine gun, it is powered by its own gunpowder gas and is mechanically driven by the external force of the Gatling gun, and the design idea is completely different.

Guan Zhuofan's wishful thinking was that as long as he did not publicize and sell "Gatling rapid-fire weapons" to the outside world, the British and French would have no machine guns available for a long time, especially the French -- at least, you would have no machine guns available until Lao Tzu fought with you.

The British, well, will suffer more from the Zulus and the Boers, and I may have seen the beautiful sunset of the empire a little earlier.

Of course, the United States is a "blood alliance", and if I'm interested, I can sell you a few - and print the natives! However, since Mr. Gatlin no longer continues to sell his "rapid-fire weapons," I doubt that the Americans will be as interested enough in this kind of "ghost thing" that is not guns or cannons, as they did in the original time and space.

In this way, Guan Zhuofan will be able to maintain a certain weapon generation advantage over the Western powers for a considerable period of time. Of course, it is impossible to talk about crushing the gods, but in the possible conflicts between them in the future, the probability of your own victory will be greatly increased.

It's a brilliant way to get paid from the bottom of the kettle.

How many little secrets do I have? -- I won't sue you, I won't sue you.

*

*

Gatlin's visit to China is in the nature of a "debriefing performance". He and his R&D team came to China after the "American delegation to China", and the arrival date was only three or four days. He was not a member of the "delegation to China" and did not enter Beijing, but stayed in the Tianjin Xiaozhan barracks, where he and the generals and technicians of the Xuan Army used the sample guns he brought with him to do a series of demonstrations and tests.

Well, let's see how the "show looks"?

At first glance, it was quite unexpected by Guan Zhuofan.

Three different models of "Gatling Rapid Fire Weapons" lined up.

These are the three most cutting-edge and most cutting-edge weapons in the world in this era.

The one in the middle is Guan Zhuofan's impression of the Gatling machine gun: six long barrels are surrounded by a circle, the body of the gun is mounted on a two-wheeled vehicle, and a slender magazine is inserted high above the bore.

The one on the right is also on a two-wheeled vehicle, but the barrel is not bare, and at a glance, it looks like a cannon. If you look closely, on the "muzzle", ten small round holes are enclosed in a circle -- yo, this Gatling actually has ten barrels!

Guan Zhuofan understood after a little thought: this is a "strengthened version" of the six-barrel one, except for four more barrels, there is no essential difference, except that a metal cylinder is put on the barrel.

However, in addition to the addition of four barrels and one "barrel", there is another difference - the magazine is different.

The magazine of the "ten-barrel version" is a huge cylinder, and Guan Zhuofan estimates that it takes about two people to work together to be able to load and unload normally. Looking closer, he saw that this magazine was actually an "enhanced version" of the slender magazine used in the "six-barrel version": in the cylinder, a dozen or so similar elongated magazines were enclosed in a circle—only the length was shortened by about half.

That is to say, the ammunition capacity of this cylindrical magazine is about five or six times that of an ordinary long magazine.

The one on the left, not on a two-wheeled car, but on a large tripod, is shaped like the "ten-barrel version", but the length of the gun is half shorter.

The barrels are six.

The magazine inserted above the bore is also different from the other two: it is flat and round, with a hole in the center, which looks like a large copper coin from a distance. Or, well, a little bit like a film cassette from an old-fashioned movie projector.

Of course, "old-fashioned and not old-fashioned" is relative to Guan Zhuofan, in this era, serious movies have not yet been invented.

In Guan Zhuofan's impression, one of the biggest characteristics of the Gatling gun was that it was "cumbersome" and had to be mounted on a car, otherwise it would be difficult to rotate, and when marching, it had to rely on animal power to pull it -- no different from a small cannon.

The "miniature version" of the Gatling in front of him, if the magazine, gun body, and bracket are disassembled, the weight of the three can be borne by an adult male. A squad of four or five people—one or two more to carry more magazines—can carry a Gatling on foot!

This is of great significance for the wider and more efficient use of the Gatling gun.

Well, when he first acquired the patent, he put forward the request to "reduce the weight of the 'continuous rapid-fire weapon'", and Gatlin actually did it, not bad, not bad.

*

(Tips: Two shifts tomorrow)

*(To be continued......)