Like other manufacturing factories and bureaus today, the factory also has a large number of foreigners, and what is worse than those government-run factories and bureaus is that the factory not only has a large number of foreigners in the technical links, but also has a large number of foreigners in administrative and financial management.

Below the board of directors, including the general manager, chief financial officer, chief engineer and other important positions, most of them are held by foreigners hired with high salaries, and the proportion of Chinese in the entire senior management and technical personnel is less than one-third.

This is not to say that Zhao Dongyun deliberately admires foreign countries, but he really can't find suitable Chinese people to hold senior management positions for a while. To put it bluntly, China in this era does not have a normal enterprise management talent, let alone a professional manager who understands modern enterprise management.

In this case, Zhao Dongyun can only spend a high salary to hire foreigners, and even more foreigners in the factory, especially the high-level managers.

In the eyes of later generations, it is estimated that the nation and the word "country" will come up, but in fact it has nothing to do with the country and the nation.

Capitalists have no borders, and money has no borders, when Zhao Dongyun paid Dougal and others a high salary, Dougal and others had to be dedicated, and after spending countless money and months of time in the Fuyuan Machinery Factory, those engineers finally tried to produce the Type 88 rifle.

"Mr. Zhao, you see that the rifling of this gun is deeper than that of the old Type 88 rifle, which can greatly slow down the wear of the barrel, and at the same time, it can also effectively alleviate the problems that may arise due to excessive chamber pressure!" Standing in front of Zhao Dongyun and speaking was Kurt 61 Schneider, the chief engineer of the Fuyuan Machinery Qì Factory, who was said to be an engineer of the Mauser Factory in the past, as for why he came to this remote place in the Far East, or even whether he was an engineer of the former Mauser Factory, only he himself knows.

However, regardless of whether his background experience is true or not, but the technical ability is still there, not long after he was hired, he came up with a complete set of factory construction plans, and then in the past few months, he began to trial produce the Type 88 rifle using the equipment that has been shipped one after another.

The one in his hand in front of him is the trial gun he just brought from the Fuyuan Machinery Factory, although these trial guns do not represent the real production level of the Fuyuan Machinery Factory, but they can also reflect the technical ability of the Fuyuan Machinery Factory, and many design problems can be solved by taking out samples in advance.

This Type 88 rifle is superficially similar to the existing Type 88 rifle in China today, still with a barrel jacket, but the internal rifling has been improved, and it is based on the improved model of the Type 1888 rifle: the 88\Z rifle.

Zhao Dongyun picked it up and looked at it for a long time before he said: "Although this barrel jacket can prevent hot hands, there are many inconveniences in use, is there a way to solve it?" ”

At the beginning of the design of the Type 88 rifle, it was limited by the design concept, and when it was unable to hold the gun due to the overheating of the barrel for continuous firing, it adopted a rather creative barrel jacket design. However, as time passed, technological advances and a number of new rifle designs emerged from various countries, which led engineers to pay attention to this problem and began to solve the problem, and in 1904, the Hanyang Arsenal replaced the barrel sleeve with a handguard.

This method is not an innovative method, but imitates the design of today's mainstream rifles, so as soon as Zhao Dongyun said this problem, Kurt said: "Do you mean to remove the barrel jacket and add a handguard?" ”

Zhao Dongyun nodded: "Well, I don't know if there is a technical problem with zài?" ”

"It's going to require a design change, but I'm sure it's fine!" Kurt said: "If Mr. Zhao feels it is necessary, I can also refer to the Mauser 1898 rifle to make certain details of modifications, such as the door, ruler and so on!" ”

Zhao Dongyun said: "That's better, I hope it won't be long before I can see Mr. Schneider's latest works!" ”

Kurt 61 Schneider took back the sample of the Type 88 rifle in his hand, and then said: "This time, in addition to wanting Mr. Zhao to show our rifle design, I also brought the mortars and grenades that Mr. Zhao said before!" ”

"According to the design sketch and design requirements submitted by you, Mr. Zhao, we carried out a preliminary design, you see, this is the grenade sample we designed!"

Anyway, Kurt took out a small arm's size.

The size of this grenade is larger than the grenade in Zhao Dongyun's influence, more than 30 centimeters long, Zhao Dongyun is not good at judging whether this is big or small for a while, because his influence on the grenade is basically from film and television dramas, he has the impression of those wooden-handled grenades during the Anti-Japanese War, but it doesn't seem to be so big.

At this time, Kurt said: "This wooden-handled grenade is thirty-two centimeters long, the structure is relatively simple, in addition, in order to reduce the cost, black powder is used, and at the same time, in order to increase the power of the explosion, the charge is specially increased, and the volume of the guide bomb is relatively large!" ”

Zhao Dongyun nodded while listening, the grenade is not a big problem, the problem of the projectile body and the fuse is not big, if you have to say that there is a technical problem, it is a charge.

If you want to achieve the ideal explosion effect, it is best to install TNT explosives, followed by picric acid explosives, but the tragedy is that these two explosives cannot be produced in China now, and the price of imports is not cheap, and it is only cost-effective to use imported TNT or picric acid explosives in the production of artillery shells, as for the positioning: cheap and simple grenades with expensive imported TNT explosives, it is pure waste.

So it can only be filled with black powder, maybe someone asked, isn't there smokeless powder? It's a pity that smokeless gunpowder, also known as nitrocellulose, is a propellant, that is to say, gunpowder used to fire bullets and shells, and its function is to launch bullets and shells.

Before 1885, black powder was generally used, and then picric acid was used in Western countries, and now, Western countries have begun to use TNT instead of picric acid.

At present, there is no arsenal in China that can produce picric acid or TNT, and it can only rely on imports.

In the case of the high price of imported explosives, the use of black powder as a grenade charge is a necessary choice for cheapening.

"Let them try!" Zhao Dongyun's interest in this grenade is actually greater than his interest in the rifle, and Zhao Dongyun's participation in the rifle is not big, even if he proposes some small changes, the impact is not big, to put it mildly, whether he has him or not, those engineers can make the Type 88 rifle.

However, the grenade has had an important relationship with him from the beginning, and it can be said that this grenade was made after his suggestion.

In addition, there is another tactical reason, for an army whose soldiers are almost all illiterate, and for an army whose live-ammunition training is far inferior to that of the Western powers, the individual soldiers of the Beiyang New Army are absolutely inferior to the troops of the great powers.

So when the infantry's ability to shoot and even hand to hand combat is inferior to that of the opponent, then what weapons can complement this? Is it a more advanced rifle? Is it more machine guns or artillery?

Neither!

What could make the Beiyang New Army in 1902 more effective was not advanced rifles, nor more machine guns, nor artillery, but a large number of cheap grenades.

In history, whether it is the warlord melee for many years, or the War of Resistance against Japan that lasted for many years, among the many weapons in the hands of the Chinese troops, the contribution of grenades is definitely the largest.

The training cost is low, because you don't need to train with live ammunition, you just throw stones.

The requirements for a soldier are low, you don't need to be smart, literate, or even deaf and dumb, as long as you can throw a grenade then you are qualified.

When these two articles are combined, it is enough to prove the applicability of grenades to today's Beiyang New Army!

Under the guidance of the technicians of the Fuyuan Machinery Factory, several soldiers began to prepare one by one, and it didn't take long for a soldier to throw out a grenade in his hand, and a few seconds later, a ball of fire rose at the same time, and a loud explosion also sounded.

Without waiting for Zhao Dongyun to speak, Lin Yongquan, who came with him, spoke: "I'm afraid it's more than 30 meters away!" ”

Kurt 61 Schmidt said: "In our preliminary test, depending on the physical fitness of the soldiers, the distance of throwing was between 20 and 40 meters! But most of them are concentrated between 25 and 30 meters! ”

"Now the weight is nine hundred and fifty grams, the length is three hundred and twenty millimeters, and the charge is one hundred grams! Black powder is cheaper, but it is slightly less powerful, but if TNT can be used, the power can be greatly increased! "It's clear that Kurt, who focuses on technology, is quite unhappy with the use of black powder in order to control costs.

According to his design, if TNT can be used, then the power will not be what it is now.

For his little grudge, Zhao Dongyun just smiled, using TNT explosives, just kidding, then the price will go up, how can a lot of equipment be equipped!

After watching the live fire test of multiple grenades, Zhao Dongyun said that he was very satisfied: "This grenade looks very good, although the power is a little smaller, but it is not a big deal!" ”

At this time, he turned his head to Zhao Chenbin next to him and said, "You go back and prepare a batch of samples to send to Baoding, I will try it for a period of time, and then invite Lord Yuan to see it!" ”

Zhao Chenbin said: "I know, I'll prepare it when I go back, this thing is also simple, it doesn't take half a month to make a batch and send it over!" ”

Seeing that the grenade he designed was satisfied with Zhao Dongyun, Kurt's resentment about not being able to use TNT explosives in the grenade disappeared, and then he looked like a treasure: "Mr. Zhao, look at this, this is the mortar you said, you see I will make it!" ”

But when Zhao Dongyun looked at the big iron frame that was more than one person tall, he was puzzled, this doesn't look like a mortar, this big guy that looks so thick is estimated to weigh five or six hundred kilograms!