On 7 June, in the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau's test artillery factory, which is located west of the Gaojing Temple in remote Shanghai, more than 20 bureaucrats, including Wang Renkan, minister of the Qincha, Liu Kunyi, governor of Liangjiang, Huang Zuluo, Shanghai Daotai, and Sheng Xuanhuai, minister of post, had already gathered here early.

And Liu Kunyi, a handful of white-bearded people, was obviously impatient with the disturbance of these subordinates, and after a few polite words, he immediately turned to talk about business with Wang Renkan beside him in a low voice.

"Bachelor Wang, the problem of the Nanyang Sailor's funds, you have to appeal to Weng Ge Lao on behalf of the old man, the military expenditure is less than 800,000 taels per year, and even the military salary, the old man and I have to deduct a part of the salt tax to make up for it, and the salary of the Nanyang Sailor is far inferior to Beiyang, if once the war breaks out in China, how can the soldiers be allowed to use their lives!" The old man looked worried about the country and the people, but this truth is also very ...... Lao Liu, who was born in the Hunan army, has been suppressed by Li Hongzhang very much over the years.

Wang Renkan is naturally handy for such an officialdom entertainment, "Lord Liu, the treasury is now in a big deficit, and you know this, but if Weng Ge Lao opens this mouth, I don't dare to have any guarantees...... However, I will definitely tell you the truth about the situation of the Nanyang Sailors, and now the Sailors are indeed quite cold! ”

And Qin Tianmin, who was standing behind him, was also in a good mood at the moment, from a down-and-out corrupt official who was hunted down and killed, he finally walked to the periphery of the high-level bureaucrats of the empire, although he was ...... He is still far from the status of these masters, but now the machine factory he is in charge of has received absolute attention, and just now Mr. Wang also introduced himself to Liu Kunyi, which is an honor that he could never have imagined in the past, and he is also desperately learning the entertainment of high-level officialdom in such contact...... And hearing Wang Renkan's euphemistic refusal, he immediately understood this method of wanting to capture and indulge.

And Liu Kunyi on the other side is a fierce general in the officialdom, this little trick has naturally been understood, this time the military aircraft department transferred the warships of various naval divisions to Shanghai, and he is naturally the first to bear the brunt here, although he is not very clear about the intention, however, these Qingliu cadres seem to be repeating the old path of the Sino-French war 10 years ago...... It seems that he wants to fight for more power after taking charge of the army!

However, he knew better than anyone about his family background as a Nanyang sailor, and after he transferred Wu Ankang, the acting commander of the sailor, to inquire, he was even more sure of his judgment...... However, ten years ago, the Qingliu cadres actively prepared for war, and finally Zhang Zhidong took the position, but in the court, Qingliu planted a big heel, and now, the battleship of the Nanyang Naval Division, even Wu Ankang, did not dare to say anything about the war, which shows the bad armament!

Of course, if Wang Renkan wanted to get his support in this regard, he would naturally fully cooperate, and after the two bargained in the stands, Liu Kun was very happy to temporarily hand over the commander of the Nanyang Naval Division, who might provoke right and wrong, to Wang Renkan, who supervised military discipline, and he got some other secret agreements from Wang Renkan.

Just when the two were talking, two horsemen rushed in outside the artillery range, seeing that it was Liu Kunyi's personal soldier team who was dressed, and after running to the stands, a telegram was sent up, Liu Kun took a look, and immediately frowned, turned his head and handed the telegram to Wang Renkan, "Bachelor Wang...... What an accident! ”

Wang Renkan obviously thought of the matter of the DPRK that he had repeatedly mentioned before, and when he took it over and looked at it, he was also secretly frightened; just this morning, Komura Shotaro, minister to China, had officially sent a note to Prime Minister Yamen, saying that the cabinet had decided to send troops to the DPRK to protect the overseas Chinese.

The two were speechless on the other side, originally all kinds of speculations, but now it is obviously not necessary, Xiao Yue Ben has no intention of continuing to give face to the Heavenly Dynasty, and even after using various excuses to let the Qing Zheng axe send troops, he immediately came to a 180-degree change, proposing that because China sent troops, so he said that Ben would also send troops!

"The country of Wa has ill intentions...... Liu Kunyi almost did not hesitate, and immediately said his prediction.

Wang Renkan shook his head, but did not continue to speak, but reached out and took out a command flag and threw it down, "Order, start testing the cannon immediately!" ”

"Order!" On the high platform that was immediately centered, several flags danced in turn.

In the distance, next to the 210mm, 30 times the diameter of the Krupp cannon erected on the top of the huge bunker, Lu Hong was busy urging the soldiers to load, although he was full of confidence in the transformation of the shells, but the result of everything obviously had to be demonstrated by the facts, at this time, he was a little worried about the shells made by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, this kind of wrought iron thing, really can't give people confidence!

And Qi Fengyi, who was born as a gun officer, stood next to the commander of the heavy artillery, and gave orders back and forth very calmly, "Take direct aim, 4 medicine packs, strong charges!" ”

The four round propellant cakes were withdrawn into the barrel of the gun in turn, and this old breech gun was really troublesome to load, and then, a 210mm shell that looked black and shiny was slowly hoisted to the muzzle, and then wrapped in a layer of silk cloth and carefully stuffed into the barrel.

"Reloaded!"

A dark-skinned sturdy soldier reported loudly to Qi Fengyi, and then, with Lu Hong's order, Qi Fengyi pulled the cannon rope violently and ...... With a loud bang, a thick black smoke completely obscured the entire capped bunker, and in the firelight, the shells flew out and slammed into the target position less than 1,000 meters.

After reloading the explosives, the 210mm armor-piercing projectile weighed 2 kg lighter than the original, but it also exceeded 130 kg, and the huge kinetic energy made the entire artillery range hear a breathtaking humming sound.

The artillery on the test field does not need to be particularly aimed at all, and there is no doubt that it will hit the target, but today's target target is different from the past, it is a monolithic 120mm steel plate, and this steel plate is still purchased from foreign businessmen by the manufacturing bureau, and the Jiangnan Bureau, which owns the steel plant, has no supporting steel rolling equipment, so it does not have the ability to produce steel plates, and they manufacture all steel ingots.

Lu Hong had already jumped on the war horse at this moment, and rushed straight to the target position with a few of his subordinates, this distance of a thousand meters, but at this moment, he carried his incomparable confidence, and the transformation of the cannonball may be the only thing he can do so far, after all, the engineering force he controls is still too small......

In the distance, Lu Jianzhang behind him had already shouted loudly: "My lord, look, what a big rift!" ”

In the upper left corner of the big iron plate, a black hole with a large diameter is clearly visible, which makes Lu Hong also very excited, obviously his attempt is correct, if this kind of shell is put into the sea battle of this era, a heavy artillery that hits the vital point is enough to cause a lot of impact, that kind of armor-piercing shell that does not explode has long been an outdated and outdated thing!

When he arrived in front of him, Lu Hong immediately took out a ruler to measure the armor-piercing effect, which could penetrate the 120mm steel plate, which was originally expected, after all, this was only a distance of 1000 meters, and the kinetic energy of the shell was not lost at all at this distance...... And this newly modified 210mm armor-piercing projectile also successfully exploded in the dirt behind the steel plate after penetrating the steel plate, and the explosion formed a cone-shaped crater with a maximum caliber of more than half a meter behind the target target, which shows that the explosion power is not small, after all, it is 30 kg of explosives! The only pity is that the TNT explosives that have been developed in the West today have not been put into use at all, otherwise I would have considered getting some from foreign companies a long time ago, and that thing is called real explosives!

With the test firing results, Lu Hong rushed to the stands to report to Wang Renkan that for the technical details of this armor-piercing projectile, Wang Daxue did not have any curiosity, all he needed was that the shell was successfully modified and could cause more serious damage to the enemy ship...... If he can make the sailor glow with new energy, this is a good reason for him to master the sailor master, which is also the result that Weng Tongyi and the little emperor of the Yanjing Military Aircraft Department want to see.

Subsequently, the two artillery shells that were tested again also achieved good results, and then, Liu Kunyi asked with great interest about the possibility of transforming armor-piercing shells of other calibers, Shanghai Wusong Fort is the gateway of the Yangtze River, and it is also a matter of concern to him, the governor of Liangjiang, looking at the current situation, China said that war must still be seriously considered.

After many years of coastal defense operation, today's Wusong Fort is equipped with the most advanced Krupp 8-inch and 10-inch guns, but there are also the same problems, the variety of shells is outdated, if it can be improved, it is an absolutely good thing!

In this regard, Lu Hong replied very simply, "Governor Liu, this matter is actually not difficult, but there are many troubles...... Today's renovation of this shell, the cost of manpower is not small, so the progress on my side is limited, if the Wusong Fort needs to be renovated again, it is estimated that it will take a longer time...... Of course, there is a solution, and that is to give me manpower! ”

This is the governor of Liangjiang Liu Kunyi, naturally a trivial matter, now the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau is not surnamed Liu, but is Zheng'er eight under his control, today Sheng Xuanhuai is also there, he immediately made a decision, allocated 50,000 taels of silver, and at the same time temporarily handed over the two workshops of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau Artillery Factory to Huayi Machinery Factory for management, and at the same time allocated 100 engineers and apprentices.

And when Lu Hong followed Wang Renkan back to the official residence, he heard the news that Xiao Yueben had finally sent troops...... The development of this war was completely unaffected by himself, and it was obvious that he had quickly slid to the brink of war, and he immediately suggested that Wang Renkan propose the main battle to Weng Tonggong...... He had long known that this old man Weng Ge was bound to embark on the road of the main battle, the little emperor hoped to improve his status with war, and Li Hongzhang was bent on diplomatic mediation, which just allowed Weng Tongyi to find an opportunity at his fingertips.

Just when the Manchu Qing court was arguing about whether to continue to mediate, or to make a tough contribution, on June 8, Nie Shicheng's troops arrived in Asan, North Korea, and a day later, Keisuke Otori, the minister to Korea, was ordered by the War Department to lead 400 troops to land at Incheon, North Korea...... This news immediately made Li Hongzhang in Tianjin crazy! (To be continued.) )