According to Guan Zhuofan's view, the history of modern shijie is inseparable from a history of war and a history of trade, so as a professional of shijie history, although he does not have an in-depth understanding of things such as weapons and equipment, he undoubtedly has a deep memory of those epoch-making revolutionary inventions that completely changed the form of war.

And the Minie bomb must be listed in this category of inventions, and it is said that the status of this gadget is comparable to the appearance of tanks. To put it simply, the Migne bullet combined with rifling increased the rate of fire of the rifle by five times, the range by five times, and the accuracy by an unknown number of times. In the near future, the kind of infantry phalanx in the Battle of Baliqiao will be wiped out, and the soldiers will no longer have to gather in a row and rely on dense barrages to kill a small number of targets, but will truly have the combat ability to break through and kill the enemy with a single shot.

Skirmishers were about to emerge, and skirmishers were undoubtedly more suited to the poorly trained Chinese soldiers.

Such a good thing, naturally Guan Zhuofan never forgot it, and before the Minne bomb became the standard equipment of foreign soldiers, he relied on his own memory, at this node, entrusted Libin to purchase it from the French businessman with a lot of money. And these 1,000 carbines, the range and accuracy are slightly worse, but they are enough, and the advantage is that it is convenient for the cavalry to carry.

"Put all the guns and ammunition away, cover them with tarpaulins, and send extra people to guard them, and no one will be allowed to move until the teaching comes tomorrow." After Guan Zhuofan finished ordering, he looked at Daniel Zhang and added: "Even you!" ”

"Yes!" Ding Shijie and Daniel Zhang answered in unison.

"Let's go, Ding Dusi, and talk to your Chinese military tent." Guan Zhuofan waved his hand and walked towards the largest military tent in the middle.

"Boss, the military tent marked is there." Ding Shijie pointed to a felt tent on the left.

"Huh? What is the use of the top in the middle? ”

"Back to the boss, this is the boss's Chinese military account!" Ding Shijie said loudly.

Not...... I'm optimistic about you.

Guan Zhuofan, Ding Shijie, Daniel Zhang, and Libin sat down in their "Chinese military tent" and first asked about the teaching: "Mr. Li, what do you say about the teaching that will come tomorrow?" ”

"There are five Portuguese teachers, one French 'coppersmith', and three interpreters." Libin explained, "The 'coppersmith' gave a clear account of the guns and bullets, and went back the next day; five lessons, each of which was eighty taels of silver a month, and he could stay as long as he wanted; the Portuguese interpreter was hard to find, so there were only three, but fortunately there was another one who could speak some Chinese." After Libin finished speaking, he lowered his voice again and added: "Those teachers said that it is okay to help fight the war, but when the time comes, each person will have to add another salary of three hundred taels." ”

Hmm, the Portuguese officer corps? Guan Zhuofan hesitated and looked at Ding Shijie and Daniel Zhang.

"Fighting with foreign devils, I haven't tried it." Ding Shijie, who has always had a very steady idea, also scratched his head a little, "But the brothers have never touched this thing with foreign guns, if they ...... together."

"Hey, it doesn't matter what kind of devil he is, it's the right thing to defeat Long Hair first," Daniel Zhang said very simply, "If you take our money, isn't it the person we hired?" Then you have to listen to us! ”

Guan Zhuofan smiled when he heard it - Daniel Zhang, who grinned a lot, said it to the point this time. He made up his mind and said to Libin, "Success, promise them." Tell them that as long as you teach well and win the battle, I will give them another bonus! ”

When Ding Shijie and Daniel Zhang got up and left to assign their own affairs, Guan Zhuofan said to Libin sincerely: "Mr. Li, this time it really depends on you, I sit back and enjoy it." ”

"What words! When I receive your letter, I will do it with all my heart. ”

"By the way," Guan Zhuofan asked with a smile, "How did you block the batch of firearms that Li Hongzhang bought from the British for three months?" ”

"Hehe, I don't do much about this." Libin said with a smile, "The batch of goods of the Hunan army was ordered from Jardine Matheson, the Taipan of Jardine Matheson, called Boris, I spent two hundred taels of silver to buy off one of his servants, and secretly added a zero to the price of the contract. This contract was delivered to the UK, and naturally it could not be shipped, and three months passed after a lot of revisions. ”

Guan Zhuofan couldn't help laughing. In the secret letter, he asked Libin to see if he could find a way to delay this transaction, which he thought would be extremely difficult, but he didn't expect Libin to use such a method and easily do it.

"Yixuan, is there anything strange about his deal with the British?" Libin didn't think he had made a great contribution, but was very interested in the inside story of this matter.

"It's weird." Guan Zhuofan casually talked nonsense and replied ramblingly, "There is a lot of inside information here." ”

*

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Even to Libin, he couldn't speak his mind.

Because he was going to the county office tomorrow to receive the seal, Guan Zhuofan went back to the mansion early, had dinner, held a cup of tea, and sat in the room to ponder.

It has been one year and three months since the time travel, and the game of chess he laid out has just begun to enter the middle game. Maybe it's really the struggle that makes people grow, and now he thinks about himself before the crossing, the student who was boiling in blood in the Baliqiao Museum, holding the sword and daydreaming, it seems to be a very distant thing.

According to Guan Zhuofan's thoughts, if history is just a calm and stable river, flowing slowly, then with his ability, I am afraid he will not be able to make any waves. And if the river is turbulent, with undercurrents, whirlpools, sharp bends and turns, then he can show his strengths, after all, he is like an incomparably skilful boatman, who knows where these undercurrents, whirlpools, and turns will appear.

During his year in the capital, he seized the first turning point and completed his first "primitive accumulation" in this era by chance. What he got was a stable home, a status that could be used in officialdom, connections in the palace and the court, a resounding reputation, and an army of 600 men loyal to him that could be used as a base force.

The most important thing is that he has gained the trust of the Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces and Prince Gong.

What he still lacked was power, wealth, and freedom of movement.

The situation in Beijing has returned to the great river that flows smoothly, and the inertia and inertia of the system are equally great, so that people can hardly feel the flow of water. Above and below him, there are high-ranking officials, and it is difficult for him to find a suitable point of force to seize greater power.

As for the money, not to mention. Among his original wealth, except for the national treasures snatched at the auction of the Old Summer Palace, other things that can really be used are all from other people's rewards. And now, in Shanghai, a place like a strange second, the annual flow of money is dozens of times the income of the imperial court, so that he can find enough support funds for his huge jihua.

Thinking of the freedom of action again, Guan Zhuofan couldn't help laughing, now it is really a sea wide and a fish jumping, and the sky is high for birds to fly! He'd found the second turbulent whirlpool, and the rest was up to him.

I have to say that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is close to the end. What he wants to do is to get a piece of the pie from this Zuihou feast and lay his foundation in the southeast. He blocked Li Hongzhang because Li Hongzhang was a person with too powerful means, and if he was allowed to come to Shanghai now, he would not be diluted under the foundation, not whether he would be diluted of credit, but whether he would have no merit.

What's more, what he wants to do is not just a piece of the pie. If he could, he also wanted to rely on his own intervention to speed up the process of this period of history - he would eventually have to repay his debts from Britain and France, and on this shijie, his time was limited, and he couldn't tell if one day, he would die because of a minor illness such as appendicitis. Therefore, he does not mind letting the clock of history move a little faster at certain times, freeing up more time for himself to prepare for future showdowns.

And to do all this, Xuan Jun is his most important capital, from now on, he can let go and expand, and it must be expanded to the point that Li Hongzhang can't eat it. This army must become an army that truly belongs to him.

Guan Zhuofan thought to himself, "Analects" says that a gentleman should stand up, stand up, and establish morality, but I am thinking about meritorious service, power, and money, and the teachings of the saints are completely different, so it can be seen that I am not a gentleman.

After thinking about it again, he was not a gentleman in the first place - how could a gentleman carry his sister-in-law to bed?

When I thought of my sister-in-law, I suddenly became messy, and my thoughts about the Bai family suddenly burst like a flood, which was unstoppable, and my heart fluttered, and I hated to fly back to the Guan family mansion in the capital immediately.

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(Second more, ask for recommendation votes~)

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(PS: The content of the first chapter of this volume has been slightly revised, to the effect that Guan Zhuofan went out of Beijing, and then explained it more clearly, and there is also a foreshadowing that was originally buried in the back, and it will be brightened in advance.) You can go and take a look, but even if you are too lazy to look through it, it will not affect the subsequent reading. ）