Ryukyu Islands, Naha.

The Anglo-French fleet was anchored in the bay, and on the shore was an endless barracks where 200,000 Anglo-French troops were temporarily stationed.

On the teaching field, the British and French troops were in intense training.

The neat queue, the all-enfield P1858 rear-loading rifled rifle, the tactics are no longer the three-row rotation of the previous musket era, with the advanced rotary rear-pull rifled gun and integrated bullets, now only one row of soldiers can easily achieve the firepower output of the previous three rows of soldiers, and the speed is faster.

This Enfield P1858 rifle is actually the British version of the Patriotic rifle, but the British Empire is thin-skinned, in the Second Yapian War in the first Battle of Songhu was defeated, the culprit is the Patriotic rifle used by the Shanghai Army at that time, considering the feelings of the British soldiers and British nationals, the British military after the introduction of the Patriotic rifle, it was transferred to the Enfield Arsenal, renamed the Enfield P1858 rifle.

The Battle of Songhu took place in 1860, but the British changed the rifle to P1858, which in the eyes of uninformed people at home and abroad, they will think that it was successfully developed in 1858, and they will not think of the patriotic rifle.

This is a simple method of fooling the people, but it is the government's favorite and most effective method of controlling public opinion, and it has been tried and tested time and again.

However, the Enfield Arsenal is also arrogant, how can the strongest arsenal in the British Empire rely on copycat rifles from other countries to whitewash itself? Even if it is a copycat, it is necessary to copy the personality and dignity of the British, and not let other countries laugh, especially not let the Chinese see jokes, that would be even more shameful.

As a result, dozens of excellent firearms experts and technicians at the Enfield Arsenal began to upgrade the Patriotic rifle, so that the original castrated version of the Patriotic rifle quickly became the British version of the Enfield P1858 rifle.

I have to admit that the heritage of a big country and a strong country is very strong, in less than a year. The Enfield Arsenal thoroughly understood all the technology of the Patriotic Rifle, combined with the ingenuity of the British, and soon designed the British version of the advanced rifle.

The Patriotic rifle is already very advanced and powerful in terms of structure, which already has all the features of a modern rifle, and the changes are not very significant. However, the British suffered a heavy loss in the Battle of Songhu, and the British military, which had always been weapon-oriented, believed that the army that defeated Li Weiguo only needed to be equipped with rifles with a larger caliber, faster rate of fire, and more abundant ammunition, so the Enfield Arsenal was heavily armed in this regard.

In terms of caliber, the Enfield P1858 uses a barrel of point 577 inches, which is a full 9 mm larger than the 5.6 mm caliber of the Patriotic rifle.

Outwardly, the Enfield P1858 rifle increased its caliber. It's getting more powerful. But that's not the case, because it's a new technological revolution, and that's the one-piece bullet over there.

Before the Battle of Songhu, the British army also used muskets, and the bullets were detached, that is, the warheads and propellants were loaded separately, which did not require any technology, and each soldier only needed to use the crucible pliers himself to make bullets. But after the introduction of the Patriotic rifle, the British discovered that the Patriotic rifle used a 9 mm one-piece rifle cartridge. This requires new production technologies.

Bullets, which seem simple, are actually very difficult to process, and the machinery and production processes involved are a huge test. In the beginning, the Enfield Arsenal was not capable of replicating the 9mm rifle cartridge. It wasn't until the British military spent a lot of money to get the bullet processing equipment from Li Weiguo's Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, and then they figured out the full set of bullet processing technology.

As a country, the caliber of the bullet must not be the same as that of other countries, especially not of the hostile country. This is to prevent the hostile country from seizing its own weapons or ammunition in a war and using them directly, which is tantamount to financing the enemy and is not allowed.

Therefore. Against this background, the British military also asked Enfield Arsenal to change the caliber of bullets.

In this way, the Enfield Arsenal changed the 9mm rifle cartridge to the dot 577-inch rifle cartridge. But the problem comes again, the 9mm rifle cartridge produced by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau is smokeless, although this smokeless medicine was available in Europe more than ten years ago, but unfortunately the production cost is too high, and it is extremely unstable and easy to be irritable, so all European countries are using hey, and at the same time, Li Weiguo did not hand over the smokeless stabilizer formula to the British military, so the Enfield P1858 rifle can only continue to use hey, but after this bullet is fired, a large amount of residue is left in the chamber, The Enfield P1858 rifle often had problems.

But the British military still adopted it, they felt that it was not a big problem, the point was that the Enfield P1858 rifle was more powerful than the Patriotic rifle and took advantage of it on the battlefield. At the same time, the Enfield P1858 rifle made significant improvements in the magazine, which was one of the reasons why the British military finally decided to purchase it.

You must know that the magazine of the Patriotic rifle is five rounds, and the Enfield P1858 rifle is improved, using a side-by-side ten-round magazine, which is an advanced improvement of the magazine, the British military is only weapons, and believes that the Enfield P1858 rifle with a ten-round magazine absolutely suppresses the five-round Patriotic rifle.

It can be said that the British military just wanted revenge, so the Enfield P1858 rifle was aimed at the Patriotic rifle everywhere, so that the Enfield P1858 rifle surpassed the Patriotic rifle in terms of rifle caliber and rifle bullet capacity.

But the British military did not take into account the defects of the Enfield P1858 rifle, the 14.6 mm caliber, coupled with the ten-round magazine of the bullet, led to the large size of the Enfield P1858 rifle, making the whole rifle 1.8 kg heavier than the Patriotic rifle, and it is not conducive to the soldier to carry it for a long time, if in battle, shooting for a long time, the more tired the soldier will be, affecting the speed and accuracy of shooting, in fact, it is not conducive to combat.

However, the British military did not care about this at all, they were blinded by hatred, and they would not be remembered for a long time without suffering a little.

On the high platform, Lieutenant General Claus, the commander of the British army, paid close attention to the training of the British troops on the school ground, with a proud face.

This time, he personally led the team, ready to wash away the shame of Britain's defeat in the Second Yapian War.

"General Klaus, your army is already very elite, I don't think you need to train anymore."

At this time, the commander of the French army, Lieutenant General Guba, came over, and he had come to inquire about the news. By the way, observe the training of the British army. Although Britain and France were allies, they were not monolithic, and France today is trying to break free from British control and restore the tyranny and independence of the Napoleonic era.

Klaus said with a smile: "I heard that Li Wei has an army of one million, and we only have 200,000 people in our hands, so we can't do it without stepping up training." ”

Gu Ba didn't care, and said: "We didn't intervene in the Chinese's civil war at the beginning, and when the Chinese themselves fought about the same, we will give them a thunderous blow and destroy them all." Wash away the stigma thoroughly. ”

Guba is right, from the very beginning, Britain and France did not plan to intervene in the civil war first, they are not fools, how can they be a gunman for Yixin, they are waiting for the Qing government to start a war with Li Weiguo, and then take advantage of the fire to rob, that is the real purpose of the British and French powers.

Klaus said: "The Qing government has ordered Li Weiguo to send troops south to Burma and Cambodia, as long as Li Weiguo's army moves. We had an excuse to tear up the alliance agreement with Li Weiguo and declare war on him. ”

Gu Ba smiled: "When the British and French parliaments approve the declaration of war, it will be more than half a year later, so we don't have to worry." ”

Klaus shook his head. "You're wrong this time!" ”

Puzzled.

Klaus smiled bitterly: "Now that the submarine telegraph line has been laid in Singapore, the situation here will soon be known in China, and it will not take three days." Orders will come from within the country. ”

Guba was taken aback, and he didn't expect that the British were so powerful that the telegraph line had been laid to Singapore. The project cost tens of millions of pounds, to say the least, but poor France did not have such abundant funds.

"Since we will receive an order to declare war in three days, what shall we do? Wouldn't sending troops immediately allow the Qing government to take advantage? ”

Klaus snorted coldly and replied, "How is that possible! The Qing government wanted us to send troops to contain Li Weiguo first, they wanted us to have a decisive battle with Li Weiguo, and they would do it after both sides were defeated. ”

Gu Ba asked rhetorically: "But we don't send troops, it's morally unjustifiable, we took their money!" ”

Klaus smiled: "Don't worry, I have a plan, I will send a fleet and a marine corps to provoke Li Weiguo first, and make a show for the Qing government." ”

Gu Ba immediately agreed: "That's a good idea. ”

"However, this time will we attack Beijing first, or will we attack Shanghai first?"

Clausen lowered his face, as if he thought of the shame he had had, and said hatefully: "We have no excuse to attack Beijing, we will attack Shanghai first and wash away the shame." ”

Gu Ba guessed that this was the result, and he didn't have a surprised expression, but just asked: "Shanghai is Li Weiguo's base camp, and now it is also China's only industrial base, and our intelligence shows that Li Weiguo's AIIB is the real behind-the-scenes of the Qing Imperial Bank, with gold and silver reserves of more than 5,000 tons, and I don't know what to do with this wealth?" ”

Before he fought, he began to think about how to divide the spoils, and he was too arrogant.

However, Klaus is also full of confidence, thinking that this time he will win, and he knows the gold and silver mountains in the AIIB treasury and wants to keep them for himself, so he smiled and said: "Whoever occupies it first is who's it?" ”

Gu Ba was stunned for a moment, and then sneered: "It's okay, anyway, we have the same number of armies in our two countries, let's see who is more powerful." ”

The two looked at each other, and they both saw the greed and domineering in each other's eyes.

The brothers settle the accounts clearly, and the spoils are not good, and whoever has the ability will take it.

North of the Great Lakes in North America, in Canada, the remnants of the United States of America retreated to form a government-in-exile to continue the fight against the Confederate States of America.

This is also a conspiracy of the British, don't look at the victory of the American Southern Army raised by the British, but Britain does not want the United States to be reunified, so sooner or later it will surpass Britain, after all, the United States' resource and population advantages are there, and they are by no means comparable to Britain. Therefore, although the United States was already the domain of the Southern slave owners, Lincoln's government-in-exile was secretly sheltered by the British, whose purpose was simple: to make the Americans fight each other every day, and have no time to develop the economy.

In a large mountain, in a cave, a bearded Lincoln held a war report with a sad face.

This was the battle report three days ago, and the Northern Army guerrillas lurking in Washington District were wiped out by the Southern Army, greatly reducing the strength of the Northern Army, which was already under-armed.

Hey, Lincoln sighed, the Northern Army's demographic and industrial superiority was defeated by the Southern Army, and this bitterness was indescribably sad.

"Damn Li Weiguo, if he hadn't given so many advanced rifles and artillery to the Southern Barbarians, we wouldn't have been so defeated."

Lincoln counted all the hatred on Li Weiguo.

At this time, Grant and Sherman walked in happily.

"See what I got?" Grant shouted excitedly.

It's just a bottle of whiskey, and you're already poor enough to do that? Excited to get a bottle of whiskey? Lincoln was a little speechless.

Still, he smacked his lips, the last time he drank whiskey, it seemed like a year ago.

Sherman smiled: "The wine is for the celebration later, and my intelligence here is what we should be happy about, Your Excellency the President, take a look!" ”

Lincoln listlessly took the information in Sherman's hand, read it again, then looked at it again with round eyes, and jumped up suddenly.

"Haha, good, great, it's finally evil and evil is rewarded! I can't imagine that Li Weiguo has today, he really deserves it! ”

Sherman and Grant were also happy, they had already read the information in advance and knew the contents.

It turned out that the intelligence was about Li Weiguo, and the Qing government asked Li Weiguo to send troops south to Cambodia and Burma, and Britain and France naturally had an excuse to declare war on China.

Sherman said with a smile: "Britain and France declared war on China, and I heard that in fact, only Li Weiguo's army was fighting, and the British and French forces were on the side of the Chinese government army. ”

"Well deserved!" Lincoln said angrily: "If it weren't for Li Weiguo, how could the Southern Barbarians beat us?" ”

"You deserve it!" Grant also agreed: "Now Li Weiguo is in danger, it is said that the British and French forces have invested 300,000, plus the Chinese government army of 1 million, and Li Weiguo also has an army of 1 million, this will be a tragic war, and the defeat will definitely be Li Weiguo." ”

Although Lincoln hated Li Weiguo, he was still very smart, and quickly sighed: "What happened to Li Weiguo today is what happened to us in the past, we were too careless, damn the British and French, they are the real masterminds behind the scenes." ”

Sherman said, "But the British have provided us with a guerrilla base!" They're helping us! ”

"Bullshit!" Lincoln said: "The British and the French wish we had a civil war every day, but they didn't expect the Southern Army to defeat our Northern Army so quickly, and a unified United States is not what Britain and France are willing to see, so the British will help us, and they want us to continue to fight with the Southern Army, so that the United States will not be at peace, and then it will never be able to threaten Britain and France." ”

Grande nodded, "Well, that's true. Britain and France finished messing with us in the United States, and then went to China, and now the Chinese civil war is really repeating our mistakes! ”

Sherman understood and asked, "So what do we do?" ”

Lincoln paced back and forth, and suddenly had a bold idea, saying: "The Southern Army has few troops, and it is all suppressed by advanced weapons, and now Li Weiguo is too busy to take care of himself, and it is impossible to supply weapons to the Southern Army." This is our chance, the South is empty, millions of black slaves, and if we take advantage of it, we may be able to turn defeat into victory. ”

Sherman said, "But, we are in the north, and we can't go to the south!" ”

Lincoln thought for a moment and said, "There's a way, I don't know if you dare?" ”

"What's the solution?" Sherman and Grant asked at the same time.

"How about we abandon our northern bases, detour through the Andes, cross the Colorado Desert, cross the Mississippi River, and then enter the southern hinterland for a 25,000-mile long march?" (To be continued.) )