Ottoman Turkey's purchase of Zhenguang series of small ironclad ships is naturally not because of how good the performance of this small ironclad is, or because the level of people in several other major shipbuilding countries in Europe, such as Britain, France, and Italy, is not enough, but because the price of this kind of ironclad ship after mass production is low enough.

Ottoman Turkey is also in decline, and the revitalization of the navy naturally needs to take into account the cost problem, coupled with the large number of small ironclad ships built in the Zhenguang series, which are widely used, and have been well received by international customers, so it is not surprising that Ottoman Turkey does not purchase small ironclad ships from the British or French, but instead runs to the empire to purchase.

However, because of the cheap warship orders, the domestic shipbuilding industry is not much interested, because the cost is too low, and the profit is very limited.

The domestic shipbuilding industry likes the most large-tonnage warship orders from foreign countries, and warships of more than 1,000 tons or even more than 3,000 tons are the most lucrative cakes.

The 1872 Northern Rifle was finally established as the standard rifle of the Royal Army and the Royal Marine Corps, and the first order from the military was up to 150,000 units.

And according to the speed of the military's reloading, at least 100,000 orders will be maintained every year.

In short, the military should complete the re-outfitting as soon as possible, especially the re-outfitting of the front-line field troops, so as to re-establish its rifle superiority over the armies of various countries, especially the British and Russian armies.

Most of the 1864 Linde rifles that have been replaced will be equipped with domestic garrisons and even patrol officers, who use rifles rather than pistols.

Meantime. Some of them will also be mothballed as strategic reserve weapons. Just in case!

After all, the 1864 Linde rifle was inferior to the 1872 Northern rifle, but it was still the most advanced metal bullet rear-loading single-shot rifle of our time. Even ten or even fifteen years later, the rifle will still be usable on the battlefield.

In addition, once a large-scale war breaks out between the empire and Russia or Britain and other countries, after the army is mobilized and expanded, the number of troops increased may be hundreds of thousands, and there will always be losses in the war, and then it is possible to demand hundreds of thousands or even millions of rifles in a short period of time, and it will be difficult for domestic arsenals to provide so many rifles in just a few months.

Just like the Civil War in the United States, the government of the North at that time also had industrial production capacity. But for He, he still purchased a large number of weapons from the empire and Britain, because the scale of the war was too large, and the expansion of the army was too rapid.

The official entry into service of the 1872 Northern rifle represented the rise of the Northern Arms Company, but although the Royal Arms failed in the domestic bidding for a new rifle, it turned around and rushed to the international market with great ambitions.

Just after the 1872 Northern rifle entered service, the 'Defence Technology Export Committee' under the Supreme Command officially approved the Royal Arms Company's application for the opening of export restrictions on the 1864 Linde rifle.

After obtaining the approval, the Royal Arms Company contacted the Pacific Trading Company. The 1864 Linde rifle was marketed worldwide.

For a time, Asia, the Americas, and even Europe could see the arms dealers of the Pacific Trading Company, who wandered among the military and political leaders of various countries, and then sold what they called the most advanced weapon: the "1864 Linde rifle".

Its cavalry rifle models, navy models, shorter barrel models for special forces, and so on. A range of 1864 Linde rifles are marketed worldwide.

This kind of marketing has also quickly attracted the attention of various countries, especially some countries with limited industrial capacity.

After all, countries around the world that are now able to design and mass-produce rear-loading rifles with metal bullets. There are really very few, and the only ones who can do it are some great powers.

And currently on a global scale. The only metal bullet rear-loading single-shot rifle that has matured is the Chinese 1864 Linde rifle. The German Mauser 1871, the British Martini-Henry rifle, and beyond that, there was no full-fledged product.

Among them, the Mauser 1871 and Martini-Henry MK1 rifles are just in mass production, and the armies of Germany and Britain themselves are waiting to use it, and it is difficult to supply them in large quantities to foreign countries in a short period of time, and it is worth noting that the British Martini-Henry MK1 rifle has large performance defects, and the British themselves are complaining, and now they say that they will improve, but when they are mature and reliable MK2, they don't know when they will go.

But unlike the 1864 Linde rifle, it has a mature and large-scale production line, and as long as you have an order, you can easily supply tens of thousands of units a month.

If the price is higher, the Royal Arms Corporation will even be able to contact other arsenals in the country, and orders for hundreds of thousands of rifles will be resolved.

Perhaps the advantage of the Linde rifle of the 1864 model on the international market was only a year or two, but this was enough.

As the arms dealers of the Pacific Trading Company traveled around the world, good news soon came, as a loyal user of Imperial ordnance, the Ning Kingdom had already waited for the Empire to open the export of the 1864 Linde rifle, and after this permission for export, it immediately placed an order for 5,000 rifles.

The army of the Ning Kingdom is all Chinese-style ordnance, its rifles are all 1858 Linde rifles, and the artillery is basically a front-loading gun purchased from the Empire.

Along with the 1864 Linde rifle, Ning also purchased 12 steel rear-loading guns, the model is the 1872 75 mm field gun, which is the export foreign trade version of the 14 year 75 mm field gun in domestic service, the cost has been reduced, and the performance has also been reduced.

Why did the Reich export its rear-loading artillery as soon as it entered service?

Because the Reich had no lead in this thing, the Krupp company had steel breech-loading rifled guns for several years, and those foreign customers who couldn't buy them from the Reich went directly to the Germans. So if it's hidden, it's better to take it out and make money.

Even in order to compete for orders. The arms dealers of the Pacific Trading Company also fought a price war, buying guns cheaper than Krupp's. It is also accompanied by the Empire's most advanced howitzer and the 1864 Linde rifle.

After a good start on the Ning Kingdom's side, the Pacific Trading Company is making persistent efforts. Orders have been obtained from several traditional arms sales countries in the empire, and the so-called traditional arms sales countries are naturally several small countries in East Asia.

Including the Kingdom of Vietnam, Thailand, and Japan, these three countries, but the orders are not much, as little as one or two thousand, and as many as seven or eight thousand, after all, the armies of these countries are not much, and there is no money, and the procurement of their ordnance is all budget-conscious.

However, the Royal Arms Company held the 1864 Linde rifle. Naturally, they can't just settle for East Asia, South America, the Middle East, Africa and even Europe are their targets.

It's just that arms sales have never been so easy, and the performance of weapons is only one of the factors, and there are other factors that affect whether they purchase or not.

For example, a country has no external threat, so it naturally will not spend a lot of money to buy advanced weapons, those ordinary rear-loading paper-shell rifles will do, and the most advanced metal bullet rear-loading rifles will do.

But at this time, representatives of the Pacific Trading Company, which was selling the 1864 Linde rifle in South America, received news that made them quite excited. That is, the Chilean Navy is actively seeking to acquire two ironclad ships.

Moreover, this kind of ironclad is not a small ironclad ship of several hundred tons, but a second-class ironclad ship with an expected tonnage of more than three thousand tons.

Later, I learned that Chile had sent people to Britain for an investigation.

After confirming that the news was correct, the senior management of the Pacific Trading Company was already excited, when was the last time to do business with large warships?

Or an Argentine order a few years ago. At that time, Argentina only ordered two 1,800-ton offshore ironclad ships.

Now Chile is asking for the purchase of ocean-going ironclad ships of more than 3,000 tons, and even if the Chileans have already gone to Britain to investigate, the Pacific Trading Company will not give up easily.

Immediately, it was the representative of the company in South America. Be sure to actively reach out to the Chilean top brass to sell Imperial warships. In addition, the company's representatives in Europe were asked to immediately go to the UK and directly find the Chilean delegation.

Moreover, arms sales have never been a simple business. There are often great political factors behind them, so they also asked the Imperial Foreign Ministry for help as soon as possible.

After the Ministry of Foreign Affairs learned the news, it did not take it lightly, and it was originally the responsibility of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to win orders for the domestic industry.

In addition, although several countries in South America are nothing in the world, the empire also hopes to establish friendly relations with them, and now the empire imports a large amount of saltpeter from South America every year, and now it is also willing, even hoping to increase the influence of the empire in the South American empire.

Even if it's not for anything else, as long as you can make trouble for the British and Americans, it's all earned.

Immediately, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also cooperated with the Taipingmen Trading Company, and the Imperial diplomatic representative in Chile soon extended an invitation to the Chilean side, inviting them to take them to the Empire for inspection.

But what is interesting here is that the diplomatic representative of the empire in Chile was not a diplomat, but a representative of the Jiangnan Mining Company.

Why? Because the empire did not have an official consulate or anything like that in Chile, there was only one office.

The empire established peaceful diplomatic relations with the countries of South America, especially several major countries in South America, including Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, etc., very early.

However, since the Empire's diplomatic focus was not in South America, and the Empire had no direct interests in South America, let alone expatriates or anything like that, business contacts were limited to a small number of products such as saltpeter.

Moreover, the diplomats of the empire were also very valuable and could not be sent casually, so the follow-up empire only set up consulates at the level of ministers in three countries in the Americas, namely the United States, Brazil, and Colombia.

All three ministers served on diplomatic missions to several countries, such as those in the United States, which served as foreign affairs for Mexico, British Canada, the Kingdom of Hawaii, and the former Federal Province of Central America. The Minister to Brazil is also responsible for the foreign affairs of Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and other countries. The Minister to Colombia is also responsible for the foreign affairs of Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and other countries.

Although there are so-called offices in Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, and other countries, they are actually staffed by employees of the Pacific Trading Corporation or other domestic companies who are dispatched to the country to handle the work.

At present, the empire does not have official diplomats in Chile for the time being, and daily diplomatic affairs are liaisoned by representatives of the Jiangnan Mining Company, which cooperates with Chile in the development of saltpeter, so it will send people to be stationed all year round.

Of course, there is actually no foreign affairs, and for the time being, the connection between the empire and Chile is limited to saltpeter, and these affairs are the business of the Jiangnan Mining Company.

Naturally, the representative of the Jiangnan Mining Company did not care much about whether the domestic warships could be sold to Chile, but the Pacific Trading Company promised him that if he could prompt the Chilean side to send an official delegation to the country for inspection, then he would give him a considerable bonus.

For this bonus, he is also quite hard. (To be continued.) )