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Sun Yuan: "Sir Wolf is not here, where is he now?" ”

Pablo smiled: "Where else can I go, naturally I will go to Father John Tong." Isn't Father John Tang making cannons for the emperor of your Ming Dynasty? The old sir was so poor that he had been hungry for several days now, and to tell the truth, his craft at casting cannons was still very good, so he wanted to go there and see if he could do a few months of short-term work. ”

This Pablo's Chinese level is very bad, and he even drew for a long time, with Garcia translating on the side, and Sun Yuan only understood it after a long time.

Suddenly took a breath of cold air and said busily: "When will I be able to see him?" "If it's too late, won't this Father Vol be busy in vain when he enters John Tong's gun factory?

"Sir, do you want to ask Sir Wolf to forge a cannon for you?" Pablo asked.

Sun Yuan nodded.

Pablo: "It's easy, didn't Sir Wolf and I come to the East just to make a fortune?" As long as there is enough gold, he will come. ”

Sun Yuan threw over another piece of gold the size of a peanut: "This is a little bit of my heart for Wolf." ”

"It's easy to say if you have money, Sir Wolf has been fascinated by the light of gold now, and when he sees gold, he will definitely come. He worked with Father John Tong, and how much he could get a salary in a month, one or two pieces of silver. Pablo gracefully saluted Juting with a European salute.

Zhu Ting was very unhappy when he saw his bewildered gaze, and was about to do it, when Sun Yuan grabbed her hand and said, "These barbarians don't understand etiquette, you don't have to take it to heart." ”

Then he smiled and said, "Pablo, you have to hurry." If Father John Tong's gun factory had really hired Sir Wolf, things would have been in trouble. ”

Pablo was quick, and in the evening, the Portuguese adventurer entered the camp of the Ningxiang Army with a bruised face, luggage, and a blonde old man. Needless to say, what kind of Wolf is this old Germanic man? Baron Wolfe.

Unlike the Portuguese boy who looked around after entering the big tent of the Chinese army, with a trivial expression, Wolf stood there and straightened his body. By contrast, he was more of a military man than a business owner than Pablo.

Pablo's appearance is already strange, and this Wolf's appearance is even more vicious. As soon as the two arrived, they immediately caused a sensation in the Ningxiang army, and almost all the officers of more than 100 households gathered in Sun Yuan's Chinese army festival tent to watch the excitement.

Pablo's next sentence shocked everyone: "General Sun Yuan, what about the beautiful young lady in the morning, why didn't you see it, why didn't you see it, it's so disappointing!" ”

Seeing him talk about Zhu Ting, he looked lewd again. The donkey and the others were furious, and they put their hands on the handle of the knife, and just waited for Sun Yuan to give an order to chop this foreign devil into meat sauce.

Sun Yuan didn't care, and shook hands with Wolf: "Sir, it's been a long time." I must have told you that Pablo would have asked us to open a cannon factory in our army if I wished. A salary of five taels of silver per month, and a red envelope during the New Year's holidays. In the event of a war, there is another reward. ”

There is simply no need to talk so much nonsense when dealing with Europeans, everything is based on interests.

Hearing such a generous treatment, the generals were in an uproar. The salary of the Ningxiang Army is not high, and ordinary officers of 100 households also have about two taels of silver per month, and this demon-like foreigner has a salary of five taels of silver a month as soon as he enters the barracks, isn't he just an ordinary craftsman, as for it?

But he didn't want to, but Wolf shook his head: "General, what if my answer is no?" "This man's Chinese is unusually fluent, even better than Garcia's. Only among them, vaguely with a Cantonese accent.

"What?" At this time, not only Sun Yuan, but even Pablo also shouted.

Pablo exclaimed angrily, "Sir, when I brought you the letter for the General, you readily agreed. Now why do you regret it again, you have to be trustworthy. ”

"But you think I'm being paid too little?" Sun Yuan said slowly: "You must know that the salaries of soldiers and officers of my Ningxiang Army are all subject to upper limits, and no exceptions can be made. ”

Wolf: "The general misunderstood, I don't want you to pay a penny." ”

Sun Yuan: "Please Sir elaborate." ”

Wolf? Wolfgang said, "My lord, I am a merchant, not a mercenary, and I am not effectively loyal to any lord. If your army needs artillery, you can buy it from me. As for the price, I can give you a certain discount. ”

"Buying from you?" Sun Yuan didn't expect such a result, and his eyes were about to fall off.

"Yes." Wolf nodded: "The latest infantry artillery in Europe, and even naval guns." ”

"Naval guns?" Sun Yuan's heart moved, and after thinking about it, he couldn't help laughing, and said in his heart: I have also stayed in the Ming Dynasty for too long, and this way of thinking has become more ancient. After all, this German grandmother was a businessman and business owner, although he was a very unsuccessful arms dealer. Between working for others and being a boss, anyone who changes will choose the latter.

Sun Yuan was a businessman in his previous life, and when he heard this, he immediately switched his thinking to businessman mode, straightened up, and said to Wolf unceremoniously: "Sir, as far as I know, you are now completely bankrupt, and you no longer have any capital, no factories and workers. To make a cannon, there should always be raw materials. In our East, copper can be used as currency. To put it mildly, Sir, you don't even have money for your next meal, so why are you talking to me? ”

When these words were said unpleasantly, the old German man blushed, clenched his big fist and said: "With the advanced technology of our Prussians, to put it mildly, the artillery in your Oriental army is garbage, garbage, garbage. You only know how to put cannons on the walls to defend the city, and you don't know how to use them flexibly in the field. Also, you only want large-caliber guns when you build cannons. In fact, large-caliber artillery is inconvenient to move, and it is okay to use it to defend passes. But when it comes to field warfare, it is of no use. ”

Sun Yuan came to the spirit: "Let's talk about it." ”

The old German man took out a stack of drawings from the leather bag he was carrying on his waist, picked one out and handed it to Sun Yuan: "Your Excellency can take a look." But in his expression, he didn't think so, in his opinion, the Oriental people couldn't understand it at all.

Sun Yuan took the drawing and only glanced at it, then took a breath of cold air: "A pound of infantry artillery!" Not bad, not bad, really good. ”

That's right, the cannon on this drawing is a rare prototype of a one-pound Rothstein cannon from the era of the Napoleon wheel in the eighteenth century. The cannon is so lightweight that it resembles a wheelbarrow that can be dragged around the world with just one artilleryman.

At the time of the mixed army history forum, Sun Yuan was only interested in the battlefield of cold weapons, and he didn't have much research on firearms, and only knew some fur. However, this infantry light artillery is really interesting, and it has caused heated discussions among netizens on the forum at the beginning.

The so-called one-pounder guns, four-pounder guns, and eight-pounder guns refer to the weight of the shells, and later became the specifications of field guns, rather than being distinguished by caliber as in later generations.

That's because, in eighteenth-century France, the French field army still used a wide variety of ammunition, both made in France and imported from abroad, and in a variety of calibers. Such an artillery ammunition system is a nightmare for all artillery logistics officers. Gun transport was another challenge, as cannons were often extremely bulky. For example, a twelve-pounder field cannon requires nine horses to tow, and sometimes even calves. It can be seen that these cannon wagons are extremely inflexible and fast. In the early 1670s, the gunners were officially soldiers under Louis XIV, but it was civilian contractors who were responsible for transporting the artillery, and they were usually reluctant to transport the bulky guns and ammunition to close proximity to the enemy. If the gunfire comes closer, they usually run away.

In 1732, the French royal decree adopted the Vallière system, which replaced the complicated rest of the previous French army. The main purpose of this system is to streamline the various and complex ammunition calibers and to standardize the cannon barrel and mortar barrel, so that both ammunition and artillery can be manufactured in France.

After the use of shells of standard weight, the cannons made in France matched them in caliber. In order to facilitate disassembly, assembly and adjustment, many advanced equipment was also used on the cannon. For example, the height adjuster with screw control, and the operating tools hanging on both sides of the gun carriage.

On the one-pound cannon drawing in front of me, a delicate height adjuster was also used. However, a pound weighs less than a pound, and a bowling ball weighs six pounds, which is a larger lifting gun. In fact, when it comes to the battlefield, it is useless.

However, through this kind of drawing, Sun Yuan immediately saw the value of this old German man.

Mechanical drawing is simple to say, but it covers a wide range of disciplines and represents the highest level of science and technology in the late seventeenth century.

"Yes, a pound of shells." Wolf nodded slightly.

Sun Yuan: "It's small, I'm interested in four-pounder guns, eight-pounder guns, and twelve-pounder field guns, sir, can you build them?" ”

"Yes." The German grandmother didn't talk nonsense, but nodded: "I don't know how much the adults want to buy?" ”

Sun Yuan thought for a while: "In the next ten years, I need to buy 40 four-pounder guns, 80 8-pounder cannons, and 80 twelve-pounder cannons. ”

"My God, this can already equip a hundred infantry battalions, how is it possible, how is it possible?" Wolf and Pablo exclaimed at the same time, a hundred battalions, the sky, even the French army in Europe at the same time did not have such a large scale. Two hundred artillery pieces required more than 2,800 pack horses and four hundred and forty transports, and such a powerful army was enough to conquer the whole world.

Is this little lord crazy, does he have so much money, and a large enough territory and population to feed such a large army?

Sun Yuan laughed, he also knew that in the next ten years, not only him, but the entire Han nation would have to face the stormy attack of the Jiannu in Liaodong.

As far as he knew, in the battle of the Qing army's southward attack on the Southern Ming Dynasty, more than 200,000 troops were concentrated, and they came almost with all their might.

This is a life-and-death contest between nations, and no one can stay out of it.

Today's Ningxiang Army is still very weak, but there are still seven or eight years before then, and there is enough time, and the Ningxiang Army needs to continue to grow stronger in this short time.

Sun Yuan: "Why, I really haven't heard of big orders for doing business." ”

Wolf: "My lord, you need too many guns to produce in a short period of time. ”

"No hurry, this is a long-term contract, for ten years."

"Ten years, then it's no problem." Wolf subconsciously wiped the sweat from his forehead, two hundred guns are scary to say, it can be divided into ten years, and there are only twenty guns per year, which is not an order that cannot be completed.

"Next year, I need four four-pounder infantry guns, two eight-pounder guns, to form a battalion of infantry corps." When Sun Yuan said this, he looked at the old German man with a straight face: "Sir, to put it mildly, you don't have a penny on hand now." And to make a cannon, it requires a lot of brass and a lot of skilled workers. I would like to ask, how do you complete this contract? ”