"These two brothers are from Guangxi, right?" Rong Hong asked the two Chinese without braids who accompanied them on a tour of the Guangxi accent.

"Mr. Rong, we've met." Wang Qinian replied, "In your words, I was still a 'bandit' at that time? ”

"Huh? You? You are ......" Rong Hong has a good memory, and when he heard Wang Qinian say this, he remembered that when he went to "Tianjing" to meet Hong Renji, the officer of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom who led him seemed to be the one in front of him.

"How did you come to the United States now?" Rong Hong asked curiously.

"After the defeat of the Kingdom of Heaven, I was caught by Li Fugui. Originally, it was like this, and it must have been a click. Wang Qinian smiled, "Who would have thought that Li Fugui would treat us as pig babies and sell them to the Americans for money." I came to the United States. ”

"It turned out to be a bandit." Zhang Yu pursed his lips and said. However, neither Wang Qinian nor Yang Tai paid attention to him. Because Mr. MacDonald has already told them that these two people are customers of the company, and the company is counting on them to make money. Since they have taken the company's wages, they have to work hard for the company, and they can't bring personal grievances in.

After staying in the United States for so long, both Wang Qinian and Yang Tai know that it is difficult to find a company with a good income like Blackwater. And for Wang Qinian, in a sense, Mr. MacDonald can be regarded as saving his life, otherwise, he would have been dragged by Stanford to build the railway, and I really don't know what the result would be. So now for Zhang Yu's provocation, they have all adopted the disregard **.

After touring the rifle production process, Wang Qinian and Yang Tai did not take them towards the shooting range of the MacDonald Infantry Weapons Company, but led them directly out of the gate, where a four-wheeled carriage was waiting for them.

"Didn't Mr. MacDonald say yesterday that we should go to the shooting range behind the company and try out the guns?" Zhang Yu asked.

"There was a shooting range behind the McDonald Infantry Weapons Company, but it was only for school guns. If you really want to know whether all kinds of weapons are good or not, you still have to go to our 'Blackwater' training ground to have a look. It just so happened that Blackwater was doing a live-fire drill this afternoon, so Mr. MacDonald asked us to show you there. Okay, let's get in the car, and now we can get over to catch lunch in Blackwater. Yang Tai explained.

……

Blackwater's lunch is still the same brown bread with eggs, plus a glass of milk and a piece of spam. However, compared to the standard of living of Americans at the time, this was definitely luxurious enough.

"Brother Yang, this mercenary from Heishui eats so well every day?" Rong Hong asked with some surprise.

"If you don't eat well, how can you have the strength to train?" Yang Tai replied, "There is such a saying in my hometown, saying that 'the poor learn literature, the rich learn martial arts', does Mr. Rong know the reason? ”

Rong Hong shook his head, he has been to the United States since he was a child, and he really doesn't understand these things.

"To practice martial arts, you have to temper your body, if you don't eat well, how to practice, plus some kung fu, such as iron sand palms, etc., you have to constantly use drugs, ordinary poor people, how to afford to practice martial arts." But Zhang Yu suddenly interjected.

"But in China, I have seen the green camp eat, and I have also seen the handsome Huai army eat, the food of the green camp is completely without oil and water, although the Huai army is strong, but it is also limited. Compared with Heishui, I don't know how much worse it will be. Rong Hong picked up a piece of black bread and said, "It's this bread, why don't you use white bread, it's not a little expensive in comparison, but it's a lot more delicious." ”

"The green battalion can't practice twice a month, and the Huai army only practices once every five days, and Heishui eats so well, I'm afraid that when it comes to training, it will also train the dead." How many days do you practice? Zhang Yu asked.

"All day long." Wang Qinian replied.

"Alas!" Rong Hong suddenly sighed, "In the past, I used to talk about wealth and strength with people, but I didn't know what it meant to be rich and strong. Brother Zhang, you only look at the flowers of Heishui's three meals a day. Without such material support, how can we train strong soldiers? ”

After eating, Yang Tai and Rong Hong took them to see the street fighting live-fire drill in Heishui.

The drill first focused on the offensive and defensive aspects of the plains, followed by the offensive tactics of street fighting. The soldiers practiced rifles, shotguns, and grenades, grenades, and infantry guns. For these drills, Rong Hong didn't understand it at all, but Zhang Yu didn't blink his eyes when he saw it.

After watching the drill, the two returned to the hotel in a carriage.

"Brother Zhang, I don't understand these drills at all, you can tell me about it." After sitting down in the hotel, Rong Hong said to Zhang Yu.

"Alas, in the past, when I looked at the victorious army of the Westerners, I felt that it was nothing more than Erer, but I only felt that Xiyi was nothing more than that. Watching Heishui's drill today, I realized that if our Huai army is compared with others, it is not an opponent at all. Let's not talk about skilled combat skills and well-trained, you just look at the cooperation of the soldiers, it's really ......" Zhang Yu couldn't find the words to describe it for a while.

"If you confront the Huai army, everyone uses the same weapons, what will be the result?" Rong Hong asked.

"If you don't consider morale, hehe, Heishui eats well and the military salary is sufficient, this morale is definitely higher than that of the Huai army." To his own people, Zhang Yu didn't tell a lie, "Even if you have five times the strength, you don't necessarily have the power to protect yourself." ”

"With the same equipment and five times the number of troops, you can't even protect yourself?" Rong Hong asked in surprise, "I heard that there is an important business in Heishui, which is to help people train the army. It was with Blackwater's training that the Italians defeated the Austrians a few years earlier with breech guns and trench tactics. We can also ask them to teach them. ”

"Please yes, you can please, but it's hard to say how useful it is." Zhang Yu shook his head, "In the past, the Huai Army invited foreign teachers to practice, but firstly, the language is not understood, and secondly, most of the soldiers in China are probably the most stupid people, and they can't teach it." Even the simplest queue takes months of practice. In the end, you see that the soldiers in the black water, all of them are skilled in combat, how long did it take to practice? Not to mention anything else, the target when shooting, it was definitely fed with a lot of bullets. According to the two bandits, live-fire drills like today's are just a daily routine, at least once every seven days. But I think that today, Blackwater fires more bullets than our soldiers shoot in a year. Look at their food again, only if they eat so well, then they can practice from morning to night every day, otherwise, no one's body can stand it. But our Huai army, can we get so much money like Heishui and them, shoot bullets like splashing water, and throw that grenade like throwing stones? I don't understand, where did these Xiyi get so much money. ”

Regarding this problem, Rong Hong, who has been in the United States for a long time, knows a little: "Brother Zhang, Westerners are good at natural science, good at mechanical methods, and the Westerners' political system is also dedicated to protecting their own industries. Take Mr. MacDonald, for example, who started out as a rifle manufacturer and founded the MacDonald Infantry Weapons Company with a new design. What would happen if this person were in our country? His factory, I'm afraid that as soon as it was built, it will be divided by everyone as fat, where can it be shown today? Yesterday, Mr. MacDonald told me that buying weapons alone is not the way to make a rich country strong and to strengthen its army. Without the support of basic industry, the arms manufacturing industry is nothing more than a source of water, and if there is no education and lack of qualified personnel, the basic industry bought back can only be a tree without roots, and it cannot develop and renew itself. Therefore, in a foolish view, the fundamental reason for enriching the country and strengthening the army is to change the law and reform, and to cultivate Western scholars. The matter of studying abroad is urgent. Yesterday, Mr. MacDonald had the intention of attracting Chinese students to study in the United States. When we get back, we'll take advantage of this opportunity......"

……

The next day, Rong Hong and his entourage visited the steel mill owned by McDonald Steel. They were arranged to visit a steel mill that had just been bought by MacDonald. Before going abroad, Rong Hong helped Li Hongzhang negotiate with foreigners and bought a steel factory opened by foreigners in China. For this kind of business, Rong Hong has done some homework in this regard. Therefore, when he saw this steel plant that had just been acquired, he quickly realized that the equipment used in this steel plant, whether it was advanced technology or maintenance conditions, was far better than the one he had seen in China.

"What about the equipment of this factory compared to the one we bought?" Zhang Yu basically didn't understand these at all, so he asked about a "knowledgeable" person like Rong Hong.

"It's so much better." Rong Hong replied, "If you look at the labels on these nameplates, these machines have only been used for three years, and they are much newer and more advanced than ours. This gap is as big as the gap between Huaijun and Heishui that you said yesterday. It is truly the factory of the strongest steel company in the United States! ”

However, the plant is not yet in production, as it is still undergoing technological transformation. An engineer told Sù Ronghong that they would first have to renovate the outdated equipment here, and only after the renovation was complete would they start production again.

"These machines have been used for three years, and they are already lagging behind?" Rong Hong asked in surprise.

"Yes, now is an era of rapid technological advancement, not to say three years, even half a year, some things will fall behind, and we must continue to improve." The engineer replied, "After the retrofit, the quality of the steel produced will be better and the cost will be significantly reduced, just like the other factories in the company." The original owner of the factory had to sell the factory to the company because he couldn't compete with us. ”

"Does this mean that even if we buy the most advanced and go back, if we can't improve it ourselves, it won't be long before it becomes backward and will be eliminated?" Such a rapid rhythm stunned Rong Hong and Zhang Yu at once.

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