"Mr. Mauser, you are an expert, now all rifles in the world are single-shot rifles, and the biggest improvement of my rifle is that it can be loaded with five rounds at a time, and each shot only needs to pull the bolt once, and the density of fire has increased by five or six times at once, and the effective range has at least doubled, which means that the lethality has increased several times on the battlefield, and the combat effectiveness of this army has increased several times. If it's a war, I think you know what it means. ”

"If it's that magical, of course it's going to be an epoch-making rifle, can you draw a more detailed drawing?" Little Mauser was in hot pursuit.

"Of course you can, but this involves technical secrecy and invention patent rights, so please forgive me for not being able to give it to you now, if you are interested in this invention, we can talk about cooperation in detail", Master Liang naturally does not see rabbits and eagles.

"Cooperation? How to work together? ”

Young Master Liang stretched out two fingers: "There are two ways, one is that the patent belongs to me, I will provide the technology license for you to produce, and you will pay me a one-time payment." The second is that the patents and technologies are all yours, but you have to help me build a gunsmith here, and provide a group of engineers and technicians to make this gunsmith plant put into production quickly, and your Mauser company will also help me train a group of skilled workers. ”

Little Mauser couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard this, and he naturally preferred to take the second way of cooperation. If the patent rights and technology belong to him, there will be too many benefits, first of all, if this rifle is really so magical, this epoch-making product will naturally not worry about sales, and the profits will definitely be huge; Second, if he has this patent right, then he will be famous among his peers and in the entire industry, and the Mauser brothers' arms company will also stand out among his peers, which can really be described as fame and fortune!

Of course, he understands that there is no gain without giving, and that all this must be based on the fact that this invention is real!

To be honest, there are not many machines and equipment needed to build a firearms factory, and the cost is not too high, but if the land and factory buildings are included, he can't estimate the cost now, so he must ask clearly: "Does helping you build a gunsmith includes building a factory?" ”

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't make it clear, this is not needed, the factory is provided by us."

"So how do you prove that your invention is as amazing as you say?"

"So I need you to help me build a gun factory, I will make this rifle in this factory by myself, and you will verify it, if it does not meet the parameters I said, I will pay double your cost, oh, I will pay three times the price as compensation, what do you think of this suggestion?" Young Master Liang proposed this gambling agreement.

"Well, that's a good suggestion, but it's been a long time" Mauser was actually tempted.

"It depends on your efficiency, I can guarantee that a qualified rifle will be produced within one month of the official operation of the gun factory, and I also have a steel factory here, and we can solve the steel needed to make guns ourselves."

"Well, I'll admit that your suggestion is good, but I'll need to discuss it with China in a few days, and I'll reply to you after that."

"Okay", Young Master Liang stood up and prepared to send off the guests: "I am looking forward to cooperating with you". He was already somewhat sure of it.

Sure enough, three days later, Mauser Jr. informed him that he could sign a contract.

Before signing the contract, Mauser Jr. proposed that the salaries of the engineers and technicians they provided must be borne by Liang Sihan's side, because these engineers and technicians may need to work in China for a considerable period of time, and Mauser naturally cannot bear this expense; In addition, the total number of workers sent by Master Liang to Mauser Company for training and study cannot exceed 30, and the living expenses of these workers are borne by the Chinese side, and Mauser Company only pays some subsidies according to their ability. The Prussians settled the accounts clearly, and Young Master Liang could only agree.

Master Liang also proposed that the right to produce and sell products from all Asian countries belongs to the Chinese side, which means that the patent rights transferred to Mauser do not include the right to produce and sell products in Asia. Mauser Jr. is not very interested in the Asian market right now, so he agrees.

After the contract was signed, Mauser Jr. did not leave China, he only needed to inform the country to ship according to the list listed, and then recruit the corresponding engineers and technicians in Europe.

However, Young Master Liang discovered a problem that he had ignored before.

In the past, the iron and steel plant was located in the iron ore mining area to facilitate the nearby use of raw materials, but the steel plant also needs an important raw material - coal, and it is coal that can be coking, but where can this coal be found for a while?

Young Master Liang thought about it for a long time, but he didn't think of where there were coal resources in Hainan, it seemed that Hainan couldn't find it, so he could only think of a way nearby.

Neighborhood? Guangdong? Guangxi? He searched for memories according to the direction of the map, by the way, the west of Hainan is not Vietnam, Vietnam has coal mines, and Vietnam is very close to here, closer than to Guangzhou, Young Master Liang vaguely remembers that there is a coal mine near Ha Long City, Quang Ninh Province, in northern Vietnam, and the quality of the coal produced is good, it should be able to coke, yes, there it is! Young Master Liang, who had found the direction, was extremely excited, and the next step was how to plan to occupy this coal mine.

Vietnam is now theoretically still a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty, but this vassal country has a backbone behind its head, and when the suzerainty is strong, it sends tribute envoys to pay tribute, and now the suzerain's own strength has plummeted, and the Vietnamese Nguyen dynasty will ignore the Qing Dynasty.

Historically, in 1881, the French captured the royal city of Hue in Vietnam, forcing Vietnam to accept as a French colony, at this time the Vietnamese Nguyen Dynasty cried to the Qing government for help, and as a result, I thought that I was still the Celestial Empire, in order to save the face of the suzerain, for this intimately vassal brother, and the French. But after fighting for a while, I found that the other party was not a soft persimmon, but he was a strong outsider, so he shamefully decided to admit it halfway, and lost a lot of national strength in vain, and the famous Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau was also blown up by the French.

It was this inexplicable war that made the Japanese see through the weak and rotten nature of our Qing Dynasty and gave them the ambition to challenge this old empire.

By this time, several southern provinces of Vietnam had been de facto occupied by the French, who had set up a colonial governorate in Saigon. But the Nguyen dynasty of Vietnam endured it and did not ask for help from the suzerain, because they were afraid that the power of the Qing dynasty would affect their rule after entering Vietnam, and they did not remember the suzerainty until the French turned out the lights and pulled out the candles to drive them away.

Therefore, for the white-eyed wolf in Vietnam, who has milk and is a mother, Young Master Liang will not be polite to them, he will not slaughter this kind of fat sheep, and in the end it will be cheaper for the French.

Master Liang decided to adopt the British routine: first create friction, then use cannons to reason, and then extort money.

He planned to personally take an engineer platoon and a guard platoon to Quang Ninh Province in Vietnam to explore coal mines, and if the Vietnamese local officials came out to obstruct them, he would try to quarrel and friction with them, and then lead the whole army to press, occupy the provincial capital of Quang Ninh, and then negotiate with the Vietnamese government, symbolically pay some money to buy the coal mines, and if they did not agree, they would send troops to Hue Wangcheng to shoot a few cannons, so that the Vietnamese government could understand that the truth was within the range of the cannons.

Young Master Liang sent a telegram to Mr. Liang, asking him to hire two foreigners who were familiar with prospecting in Guangzhou or Hong Kong, and he summoned the staff officers of the group and battalion levels, and the officers above the battalion level, that is, his two masters, to come over together to discuss the plan of action.