Zhao Yan's letter to the Pope didn't contain much content, just said hello, and then denounced the Protestant countries and conveyed his goodwill to the Pope of Rome.

Catholicism is a religion that prohibits the development of science and technology, and for Zhao Yan, who is bent on slowing down the development of science and technology in Europe, supporting the Holy Roman Empire is undoubtedly a good choice.

The Holy Roman Empire is now in the midst of the Thirty Years' War, a multinational war caused by the Civil War of the Holy Roman Empire.

The war began in 1618, and according to the original history, the war would have lasted until 1648, and now it is 1636, when the Holy Roman Empire has just defeated Sweden and is trying to send troops to France together with Spain.

As a result of the Thirty Years' War, firstly Germany was divided and the Holy Roman Empire was in name only, and secondly, France rose to become the hegemon of Europe, Sweden followed suit, and Spain also weakened.

At this time, Zhao Yan's strength was not strong enough to intervene in the war in Europe, so he only made contact with the Holy Roman Empire first, and maybe it would be of great use in the future.

As for the pagans locked up by the Holy Roman Empire, those scientists, Zhao Yan didn't have much interest, first of all, it was a question whether they would release them or not, how could the Holy Roman Empire send these heretics to other countries, and Zhao Yan didn't have enough reasons to convince them. In addition, the Denglai Institute of Science and Technology, which has been on the right track of research, is not short of those people.

However, Zhao Yan still mentioned the trade between the two sides in the letter, and if they were in trouble, Zhao Yan was willing to sell them advanced artillery to reverse their disadvantageous military position.

At this time, the Ordnance Bureau has also made great progress in weapons research, and the Denglai Science and Technology Institute has begun to carry out smokeless gunpowder experiments, and it is believed that in a few years, weapons will have made great progress, existing weapons will also be eliminated, and the artillery now equipped will enter the ranks of sale.

Of course, if the Holy Roman Empire and the Spaniards wanted to buy artillery now, it would be impossible for Zhao Yan to sell it to them, unless it waited for the appearance of smokeless gunpowder, it would pose a huge threat to the foothold of the navy.

When the Doge of New Spain received the letter, he apparently attached great importance to it, and asked the treasure fleet that was about to depart to take the letter to Europe and hand it over to the Pope.

At this time, the Jinshan Shipyard was stepping up the fitting and maintenance of the six warships in the shipyard, as long as these warships were equipped, plus the five warships reinforced from Qingdao, the number of warships would reach fifteen, far exceeding the strength of the First Fleet, as long as these warships arrived, they would be able to trouble the Dutch everywhere on the east coast.

Liu Yuan sent the captured French white slaves to the farm, and half of them were ready to be shipped back to China. These Europeans were good farmers who were proficient in extensive farm management. The white slaves left behind were basically farmers and had skills in this area.

Except for some of the female slaves who were left to set up the Jiyuan, the rest of the female slaves will be transported back to the country, and at Guo Zhiyun's request, some of them will be shipped to Hawaii.

The twelve merchant ships that had been newly captured had already begun to organize their return voyage to Shandong, and were sailing to Panama City to load goods, which, according to the agreement with the Spaniards and Portuguese, were to be concentrated in Panama City, while those on the east coast were to be transported to Puerto Dios, then to Panama City by mule and horse teams, and then to Panama City by the California authorities for trade.

The return voyage, the fleet will be escorted by two warships, and will also bring back 50,000 taels of gold mined, gold mining in California underground is very simple, as long as a few shovels go down is a piece, thousands of Indian slaves were sent to gold mining, according to this mining progress, can export 100,000 taels of gold to Shandong every year.

However, Cao Li snatched more than 300 fishing boats from the French, the food problem was solved again, and the marines could continue to capture the indigenous Indians, and Liu Yuan had decided to step up the mining of underground gold mines, and it was estimated that more than 200,000 taels of gold could be exported to Shandong next year.

With cotton and porcelain production starting next year, plus cotton from Central and South America, California will be able to trade frequently with the Spaniards and Portuguese, thus exporting more precious metals to Shandong.

At the end of November, after a two-month voyage, the fleet reached Jinshan. The strength of the American Fleet has grown to the point where it can mobilize nine warships, two troop carriers, and 3,500 marines, and by the time the six warships in the shipyard are equipped, the number of warships will increase to fifteen.

In terms of merchant ships, there were five clippers and twenty-four galleons.

Five clippers carrying gold and white slaves will soon return home, and these clippers will continue to transport arms to Jinshan, and the problem of munitions for the American fleet will be completely solved.

Twelve merchant ships, which had just been seized from the French, were escorted by two warships and went to Panama City for trade.

With seven warships and 3,000 Marines to mobilize, the time had come for them to expand outward, and they received an order from Zhao Yan to set up a stronghold in the Alaska region.

Alaska is home to an abundance of otters, schools of salmon, and a lot of gold, and although it is a little colder, it is better than any colonists in northern California to compete with.

As long as the news of the Alaska stronghold is not leaked to the Westerners, there is no need to beware of the threat of sea power for a hundred years.

On December 15, Liu Yuan asked Cao Li to lead seven warships and two clippers to the Caribbean Sea to raid ships, while two troop transports loaded with 1,000 marines sailed southeast Alaska.

Southeast Alaska is occupied by the Indians, who are not a very easy tribe to deal with their abundant fish, abundant food, and fierce warriors.

Some further north were also occupied by Indians, and were formerly occupied by Eskimos.

Liu Yuan is speeding up the development of the Central Valley in California, which is large enough to be developed into a rich agricultural area, and the essence of the whole state is here.

The twelve merchant ships reinforced from Shandong were left in Jinshan for personnel dispatch, although the warships were all dispatched, but there was no problem with the defense of Jinshan Port, Jinshan was defended by 2,500 marines, with a large number of advanced artillery, and it was almost impossible for Westerners to conquer it.

There are still six warships in the shipyard that are being equipped, and after they are equipped, they can form a perimeter defensive force, and before there are too many ships, whether the perimeter defensive force is about the same, as long as the police are called in time.

…… Zhaojiabao, the test site of the Ordnance Bureau...... Zhao Yan and a group of generals are reviewing the first research results of the weapons laboratory, which has finally developed a new type of musket not long ago.

A new musket appeared in front of everyone, this musket was exquisitely made, about one meter three long, with a wooden butt and a bayonet in front, and the firing device became something unknown to everyone.

"This new musket has changed the fire to a fire shot, the fire is faster, there is no sound in advance, and the rifling device is used, as well as a new type of bullet, and the effective range has been increased to 680 meters." Zhou Tieming excitedly introduced.

"680 meters! How can it be? Isn't it only 300 meters? Everyone looked incredulous, and Zhao Yong called out on the spot.

"An ordinary rifled gun, of course, is only 300 meters, but we used this new type of bullet." Zhou Tieming took out a bullet like an olive, one end was pointed like an olive, and the other end had a large concave hole, Zhou Tieming pointed to the big hole and said: "When shooting, this kind of bullet will expand and become larger, and then shoot out close to the rifling of the barrel, ordinary lead bullets can hit 300 meters, and this bullet will increase by more than half because it is closer to the barrel." ”

"Not bad." Zhao Yan nodded with satisfaction, this kind of bullet is called the Minee bullet, this kind of bullet pushes the range of the front-loading rifled gun to the peak of 750 yards.

"We also installed a bayonet in front of us, as the adults ordered."

"What is the rate of fire?" Lin Yi asked.

"Two or three shots per minute." Zhou Tieming replied, everyone couldn't help but shake their heads when they heard it, this rate of fire is a little slower, and the rate of fire of a smoothbore gun can generally reach five rounds per minute.

"Let's demonstrate it!" Zhao Yan said to Zhou Tieming.

"Yes."

Ten soldiers walked out, holding new rifled guns, quickly reloading, and then aimed at the target three hundred meters away.

A dozen shots were fired in a row, bang

"The smoothbore guns we use now almost never aim when a soldier shoots, because no matter how much they aim at a distance of fifty or sixty meters, they may not hit anything, but with rifled guns, a well-trained gunner can accurately hit the target from a distance of 600 meters." Zhou Tieming introduced.

"If our army can shoot from 680 meters away, then this gun is good, our firepower can be extended farther, and the actual design number may be more." Zhao Yong thought for a while and said.

"It's so far, and it's hard to guarantee accuracy, after all, as long as the muzzle of the gun is a little off, it will hit the sky, and the eyes can't see that far at all." Wang Wenyue had a different opinion, "Besides, our soldiers are used to using smoothbore guns, if they want to switch to rifled guns, their combat effectiveness will be affected to a certain extent, at least before attacking Liao, it is not appropriate to change their equipment." ”

"You can wait for the change of clothes." Zhao Yan nodded in agreement, "The laboratory continues to research new types of muskets, and I will send you drawings later." ”

Zhao Yan couldn't make up his mind, the rifle was indeed much better than the smoothbore gun, although the loading speed was slower, but the distance made up for it.

However, if you want to change your clothes, you will have to change your clothes when the smokeless gunpowder comes out.

Zhao Yansuo, who couldn't make up his mind, didn't think about this, and after he drew the design of the rear-loading rifle, he went directly to the Academy of Science and Technology to mobilize personnel to study the scope.

Now the front-loading rifled gun has reached the peak of the effective range of 680 meters, and there is no problem in accuracy, it can already be used as a sniper rifle, during the American Civil War, this kind of sniper rifle appeared on the battlefield, the north will have experienced hunters organized, with a few people as a small team, sniping the Southern army, and obtained good results.

With the current scientific and technological strength of Denglai, there is no problem in making a low-magnification scope, this thing is also a copy of the telescope, but the word 'ten' must be accurate.

(To be continued)