readx; Li Zhigao said this, of course, he has confidence, and the source of his confidence comes from his understanding of Japan's strength at this time and his confidence in his own strength. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

At this time, the Japanese army was not the Japanese army of World War II, not only was it small in number, its heavy firepower was extremely limited, and the most important and fatal point was that it lacked finance, so it was impossible to mobilize as it did before and after World War II, showing the same strength as before and after World War II.

On the other hand, Li Zhigao, because he can trade with modern society at any time, is tantamount to opening a cheat, not only can he directly buy arms from later generations, but also buy machinery and equipment and cheap raw materials from later generations, and blatantly produce cheap arms here.

Take the rifle as an example, for example, at this time, the Japanese army of the latest 6.5 mm 38 rifle, because it is basically still made in the workshop, its current factory price is as high as 30 yen, converted into silver dollars, it is almost equal to 30 pieces of Eagle Ocean, as far as the rifle at this time is concerned, it is a fairly cheap rifle among the powers, cheaper than making a Mauser 1898. Of course, if this new rifle is willing to be sold to China at this time, it will cost at least 60 silver dollars, but this new rifle will not be sold by Japan easily, and it is not enough to change its outfit.

So, how much does it cost for Li Zhigao to produce a medium full-fledged rifle? Due to the use of modern equipment and technology, and the use of a large number of surplus raw materials in modern society, coupled with unscrupulous mass production, even if the cost of purchasing machinery and equipment is added, the production cost has been reduced from the original 500 yuan to 100 yuan.

Doing the math, purely in terms of silver content, a Mexican silver dollar contains 72% silver. That is, one silver dollar contains 16.66 grams of silver, according to the modern society of 4 yuan a gram of sterling silver, then it costs 30 silver dollars to make a Japanese 38-style rifle, which is 30 * 16.66 * 4 is equal to RMB, which is 2,000 yuan less, and 2,000 yuan is compared to 100 yuan. What is this concept? Needless to say.

In addition, although the 7.62 bullet is not as big as the price of the gun compared to the Japanese bullet at this time, it is also much cheaper, and the craftsmanship is much better.

The reason why the gap is so big is entirely because of the big difference in technology generation, you must know that Li Zhigao's guns and ammunition are all used in automated assembly lines, and raw materials, such as military steel and other gunpowder, are also because of the large-scale production of modern society. It is not possible to reduce the cost, so there is no difficulty in the manufacture of tethered rifles in modern society, and the main thing that restricts the production of guns is the social system.

As far as power is concerned, after testing the Type 38 rifle made with modern technology, although Li Zhigao's new Zhongzhong formal rifle is not as accurate as the Type 38 at a distance of 700 meters, its power is far superior, and it is also far superior to the Type 38 in terms of safety, reliability, and maintenance. It can be said that it deserves the first place among the tethered rifles in this era, according to the use of officers and soldiers of the troops. Everyone praised this rifle so much that the Chinese government has become a symbol of the Jiangnan Army.

It is precisely because this kind of medium formal rifle has great advantages in power, accuracy, reliability, safety and price that although the production of semi-automatic rifles has begun later, the production of medium and formal rifles has not been stopped. It is specially used for the production of Chinese formal rifles, and after such a long time, the workers have basically been proficient in the use of production line equipment, so in half a year, the output of Chinese style has continued to erupt. There is already a trend towards flooding.

According to statistics, so far, only the new Chinese official rifle has reached 10,000 per day, and the inventory has reached 500,000, and nearly 300,000 rifles have been exported, including Britain, France, Austria, Italy, Greece, Turkey and other countries.

Although the export price of this gun is as high as 60 silver dollars, which is nearly 4,000 yuan when converted from the price of silver to modern yuan, it is completely super profitable, and the landed price is at least 80 silver dollars, but because the performance of this gun far exceeds that of similar guns of European powers, and there is no political purpose attached, it is super good quality and cheap, and it is well received in Europe, America and other small countries.

Although this Chinese rifle, plus 7.62mm cartridges, has been licensed to Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy and Turkey in addition to Japan and Russia in previous negotiations, and the technology has been transferred. Although these countries can also produce this gun on their own, but because the technology is not up to par, especially the barrel performance is far inferior to the 50ba semi-calm steel purchased by Li Zhigao from later generations, and the bullet is not as good as the original version produced here, so although the original rifle ammunition is a little more expensive, the market is still very good, and many customers are crying and shouting for export, and the export volume is increasing.

Specifically, the export value of this gun began to blow out in the middle of last month, and suddenly several large orders were generated, and the customers who ordered the most this gun were the first to recommend the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire alone ordered 150,000 rifles, followed by Italy with 50,000 rifles, Greece with 30,000, and these three countries alone ordered 230,000 rifles, and other small countries such as Switzerland also ordered a lot. As for the British, French, German and other powers, because their own production capacity is also very strong, and the army has already produced a large number of self-produced guns, so they did not order in large quantities, but only ordered some of them as a reference, mainly self-produced.

However, due to the recent situation in Europe is becoming more and more severe, especially the situation in the Balkans, so more and more people have ordered this gun, not only government procurement like the Ottomans, but also some resistance forces have begun to come to contact one after another, hoping to buy this kind of gun.

Of course, this kind of procurement of arms is still relatively secret in this era, and it is difficult for anyone other than the parties concerned to know exactly the secrets of these arms deals, such as Japan, although it knows that Li Zhigao is exporting arms, but it does not know the specific export quantity at all, and if it does, I am afraid it will not be so excited. At least I'll be a little more prepared.

In addition to the middle formal, there is also one of the most popular weapons, that is, the 10B1 90mm mortar, which is an imitation of the 97-type 90-mm mortar.

10 refers to the age, and B refers to the model, such as a medium mortar, which is B. Heavy mortars are A, light mortars are C, and the number after the letters refers to the style, such as 10B1, which refers to the first medium mortar produced in 10 years, usually in order to make it easier to distinguish, the caliber will be added to the back, such as the 10B1 90mm mortar.

This 90mm mortar was originally used by Li Zhigao for his own family to practice. Later, after he was able to produce 82-mm mortars, he let the troops fully replace them with 82-mm mortars. Although in terms of power, weight and other aspects, this 90mm mortar is inferior to the Type 67 mortar that imitates the Type 10B2 mortar of the Type 82 type, and even inferior to the Type 10C1 type of the 60mm mortar, but as an export weapon, this 90mm mortar is still well received by foreign countries.

You know, mortars are still a novelty at this time, and they have just appeared. It's not called a mortar, it's called a thunderbolt. It was a temporary product of the Russo-Japanese War, and it was converted from a naval mortar, and because it was an emergency item, it was generally not taken seriously.

Historically, the development of mortars was during the First World War. At that time, trench warfare was widespread, and there was a great need for a ballistic curved, lightweight, and easy-to-carry artillery, which was the case. Countries are only beginning to pay attention to mortars and invest energy in developing them. The real sense of the mortar that could be dismantled, that was not until 1915, by the British inventor Winfred. The first mortar in the modern sense appeared after Sir Stokes invented the Stokes-type trench mortar in 1915.

Although at this time countries did not pay much attention to mortars, once a mature sample came out and showed extraordinary power, then everyone is not stupid, and there will always be smart people who value the value of this weapon.

Just as machine guns were first used in large quantities during World War I, this time, Germany was the first to see the value of this mortar, so it not only spent a lot of money to buy the production technology of this weapon, but also bought 200 guns back for research and imitation.

Originally, Germany wanted to buy 20 doors, but Li Zhigao didn't do it, and he insisted that if he wanted to buy it, at least 200 doors would be shipped, but there was no way, the other party really couldn't put down this weapon, so he gritted his teeth and bought it. Of course, with Germany's technology and industrial capabilities, it is not a problem to imitate this weapon, but it is still limited by the material, especially the barrel material, so the power is definitely not as good as the "original" produced by Li Zhigao here, and the weight will be much heavier.

Germany was only the first to buy this weapon, but the biggest customer was France!

The French originally had no intention of buying, after all, their Miss 75 rapid-fire gun already considered itself the world's most advanced artillery, and they did not believe in how powerful this thin small cannon tube could be, but occasionally "heard" that the rival Germans bought 200 mortars, and they also began to be anxious, so they also bought 200 and went back. However, after testing the power, they were amazed by this artillery, and found that this mortar had completely destroyed their 75 miss in some aspects, at least in terms of rate of fire and power, at most the range was slightly inferior, but the weight was ridiculously light, so they bought two hundred more, making a total of four hundred.

It should be noted here that between the Franco-Prussian War and the First World War, in addition to siege mortar guns, the vast majority of land field guns were between 50 and 90mm in caliber, including the gun carriage of about one to four tons, the reason is also very simple, larger guns, pack horses can not be dragged, after all, this is not an era when the internal combustion engine dominated.

If it is used to attack the fortress for the use of train guns or siege mortars, it is enough, but in the field, a heavy artillery that cannot move will bring a serious supply burden when attacking, and it will not be able to keep up with the advance of the troops, so at this time, the field artillery of European countries generally does not exceed 90 mm, and most of them are mainly 75 mm.

However, the 90-mm mortar produced by Li Zhigao was extremely light in weight, extremely high in rate of fire, good in power, and passable in range, which was extremely liked by France, which attached great importance to the rate of fire at this time.

As for why it bought more, although France also purchased the production technology of this weapon, the Frenchman in charge of the purchase happened to know the cannon very well, and he understood very well that the most important thing about this mortar was the high-performance barrel and high-performance special shells, and it was difficult to produce such a mortar with French military technology. And in terms of production price, it may not be much cheaper than this export price of only 6,000 silver dollars.

Take their M1897 75mm gun, that is, the 75 Miss gun, for example, if this gun is produced in France, the factory price will be at least 6,000 US dollars, which is equivalent to silver dollars. At least more than 12,000 silver dollars, although the range of this 90 mm mortar is far inferior, but it is very light, extremely fast, and powerful, and can be used as a battalion-level fire support, and the price of 6,000 silver dollars, to be honest, he does not think that France can make such advanced technology at such a low price.

With the French cannon steel process at this time, if it is a 90 mm barrel. The weight will definitely be a lot heavier, but then the most important feature of the mortar will be lost - lightness. Therefore, this purchaser simply ordered 200 more guns, and planned to continue lobbying in the future, and order more of this kind of guns in the future, because it is more cost-effective to buy than to build, and the French at this time are not as rigid as the Germans, and everything must be made by themselves.

Except for Germany and France. The one who is most interested in this artillery is the Ottoman Empire, but it is a pity that people have just ordered so many guns. There is not enough money for the time being, and Li Zhigao's minimum of 200 doors also stumped the other party.

At first, Osman wanted to pay half the money to buy 200 doors first, and then pay the full amount after half a year, but unfortunately Li Zhigao did not do it, and finally had to book 400 doors. Half a year later, come to pay and pick up the goods. At the same time, the Ottomans were also very interested in the 92 infantry guns, which were cheaper and sold for only four thousand silver dollars, and ordered 600 guns at one time, and they also came to pay for the goods after half a year.

The Ottomans were a big country though. However, the country's military production capacity is very poor, and it has recently faced various challenges, so they are salivating over Li Zhigao's cheap arms here, not only buying guns but also artillery, and even the steel helmets that Li Zhigao's troops are generally equipped with.

It was precisely because he saw Osman, a potential big customer, that Li Zhigao gave a lot of discounts, otherwise, he would not want to buy a 92 infantry gun with 4,000 silver dollars. This is a World War II weapon, and it is a 70 mm caliber artillery, in this era, it is definitely a representative of advanced technology, and it has a wide range of uses, the most important thing is that the price is super cheap, and the shells are cheaper than the shells of 90 mm mortars, especially suitable for poor countries like the Ottomans.

In short, Li Zhigao's arms trade has been in full swing recently, and it is completely a kind of staggering profiteering, and it is precisely because of this kind of private arms trade that Britain, France, Germany, and other powers have taken a high look at Li Zhigao's military strength, and only then have they coldly watched Japan's moves.

Just like Britain, Britain is also a member of the arms trade, and it also bought a lot of Li Zhigao's rifles and a lot of 92 infantry guns, all of which were planned to go back and make their own, only mortars were not bought because of the minimum order of 200 units, but this did not delay Britain's overestimation of Li Zhigao's military strength.

From the bottom of their hearts, the British did not think that the Japanese would be able to defeat Li Zhigao, at least not as devastating as before, but they were still very happy to see Japan touch it, after all, an army should not only look at the quality of weapons, but also look at the overall combat strength, so it is still necessary for Japan to test the depth of Li Zhigao's troops.

Other countries are also thinking the same way, it is conceivable that once Li Zhigao is defeated, then all countries will pounce like hungry wolves, and nothing else, at least Li Zhigao's factories and technology, especially military steel technology, will inevitably be jointly divided by these countries, and at that time, Li Zhigao will really want to cry without tears, and if he wants to make a comeback, it will be really difficult, very difficult, very difficult.

Although the arms trade has given Li Zhigao a high profit, after all, the quantity is scarce, and compared with other civilian projects, it is a small thing.

Today, the iron and steel plants in the Taiping area have been relatively perfect, and three large blast furnaces have been built successively, and in terms of steelmaking, civil steel is basically a converter with top blowing pure oxygen, and military steel is mainly synthetic steel produced by electric furnaces.

Although the iron content of iron ore in Ma'anshan area is not high, because of advanced equipment, mature technology, and more and more skilled technicians, the steel production capacity is rising.

In terms of civil steel, it has reached a monthly output of 300,000 tons, and the monthly output of electric furnace military steel has also reached 100,000 tons. Among them, military steel is basically digested internally, and immediately sent to military factories to become weapons and ammunition, civilian steel is mainly used to produce steel bars and rails, there are 200,000 tons in this regard, and the remaining 100,000 tons are used for private consumption, used for the production of stainless steel and other civilian products.

In addition, new factories such as cement plants, chemical plants, and tobacco factories are Li Zhigao's joint factory in Taiping Province. It has begun to explode production capacity one after another, producing many industrial products at low prices and high quality.

Up to now, in the joint industrial zone, basic heavy industries such as three acids and three alkalis and cement and steelmaking have been basically sound, the basic petrochemical industry has also begun to take shape, and the civilian industries dependent on heavy industry have blossomed everywhere.

Don't say anything else. There are more than 60 factories under Li Zhigao's name alone, and these are all really large factories, not the kind of small factories of national capital.

In this era, there is no such thing as overcapacity, it is a completely seller's market, and basically everything produced by the factory is sold out as soon as it comes out.

Taiping Manufacturing has basically occupied the civilian market in the Jiangnan area. Li Zhigao's civilian factories were robbed of matches, soaps, cigarettes, cloths, pots and pans almost as soon as they appeared, and as much as they were produced, they were sold. Other high-end products that are mainly exported, such as traditional stainless steel tableware and kitchenware, as well as soap and perfume shampoo, as well as the largest production of various high-end synthetic fabrics and satins, that is also how much comes out. Just grab as much as you want, and even many foreign businessmen still buy pre-sale coupons with banknotes. As a result, the export volume increased month by month.

It can be said that just one Taiping industrial zone has already driven the economy of the entire Taiping Province and even the entire Jiangnan region, with expanding domestic demand and expanding exports, resulting in the economic growth rate of the Jiangnan government under Li Zhigao's rule. It is soaring at a rate of more than 300 percent, and this growth rate continues to climb, and there is no hint of slowing down.

If these data are still relatively boring, then let's be practical, Li Zhigao so far. Even if a large number of harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes have been exempted, because of the rapid development of industry and commerce, relying on the normal financial revenue of the government alone, only in the first half of 1911 to June, the income was 300 million silver dollars, and according to the current rising development trend, if everything is normal, then after the second half of the year, the comprehensive income of the whole year will at least exceed 1 billion! This is not counting the huge profits that Li Zhigao himself made through business and his own factory! If Li Zhigao's personal income is included, it will have to be at least five times greater!

What is this concept? Before the Qing government was destroyed, it only earned 80 million taels of silver a year, and Japan's fiscal revenue in 1910 was less than 300 million yen, and the exchange of the yen and the Chinese dollar, that is, the silver dollar, was basically one to one at this time, because at this time one dollar could be exchanged for two yen, and it could also be exchanged for two Chinese dollars, after all, Li Zhigao's silver dollar had a high silver content.

It can be seen from this that Li Zhigao is only a region south of the Yangtze River, and its annual fiscal revenue will surpass that of Japan, and in terms of military spending, Japan's military expenditure last year reached 45 million yen for the army and 35 million yen for the navy, for a total military expenditure of more than 80 million yen.

What about Li Zhigao's military spending? Because the labor cost is extremely low, the weapons are not excessively advanced, and the navy has not been vigorously developed, Li Zhigao's military expenditure is actually not much; so far, in more than a year, he has spent a total of more than 30 million Chinese yuan, but this money is basically invested in the army, and the proportion of the air force and the navy is very small.

Although it seems that the military expenditure is less than that of Japan, considering the cost-effectiveness of weapons, Li Zhigao's 30 million can completely top Japan's 200 million, not to mention the advanced nature of those weapons.

In short, the comparison between China and Japan, no, is only in the comparison of the strength of the Jiangnan government and Japan's conquest, whether it is financial, military, scientific and technological content, or development momentum, Japan has already lagged behind in an all-round way, but because the time is too short, Li Zhigao has done a very good job of secrecy, so the outside world, especially Japan, does not know much.

This is an out-and-out economic miracle, an economic miracle that cannot occur under normal circumstances, an economic miracle that Li Zhigao induced under the circumstances of crazy cheating and dumping two world materials day and night, and it cannot be explained by any normal economic theory.

Therefore, it is normal for Marven, as an outsider, to be worried, but Li Zhigao, a person who understands, knows that unless he goes against the sky, as long as he does not make a foolish move, he may not be able to attack Japan, but if Japan dares to come and fight him, it will definitely be no return.

Of course, as a cautious, Li Zhigao can't just rely on data, in order to deal with the upcoming Japanese invasion, Li Zhigao has also prepared a lot of killer weapons that can be called big killers, which can't be said to Marven, an American. (To be continued.) )