When Baldemi met Li Yongji again, he finally got some accurate information, but it was not surprising that when he heard that the Sino-British alliance was actually going to deal with the United States and hoped to pull France together, he was also stunned to recover.

"Now you get the idea." Li Yongji smiled, "Our cooperation with the British is not aimed at you, but we are just going to the United States to do a vote." So now the question is, do you want France to join this alliance and everyone go to the United States to make a fortune together? ”

"Let's go to the United States to make a fortune?" Baldemi frowned slightly, and then shook his head, "Your Majesty, the United States is not so easy to interfere with, this country, well, how to say it, has a very strong background, and it is not something that can be defeated lightly." ”

"But now this country with a strong heritage is divided." Li Yongji said, "We are supporting the Confederate States, and the main force of intervention does not need you France, you only need to send the navy to help the British Navy kill the American Navy, and send some transport ships to help us transport troops to California, is it also difficult?" ”

"I can't do that." "I'm afraid I'll have to send a letter to the country, and let our majesty call the shots." ”

"I know." Li Yongji nodded, "So you'd better hurry, you know that we will soon declare war on the United States, and if you France want to take a ride, you'd better make a decision quickly." In other words, the sooner you participate, the more benefits you have, and the later you do, the less benefits you have, and hopefully you will understand that. ”

"I see, Your Majesty." Baldemi bowed slightly.

After receiving the French envoys, Li Yongji again met with the envoys from Burma, Siam, and Vietnam.

The envoys of these three countries are different from the French envoys, although these three countries are not yet vassal states of the Chinese Empire, but the posture of the envoys is very low, not only insist on kneeling and bowing, but also when talking about the Chinese Empire, they open their mouths and close their mouths to the Heavenly Empire, showing great humility.

It's a pity that Li Yongji was not frightened by their appearances. Because while they are humble, they are constantly asking for practical benefits, in short, they are crying poverty, asking for money and weapons from the Celestial Empire, to resist the aggression of Westerners, especially Britain and France.

"I also sympathize with your plight, after all, we in China have also been bullied by foreign powers." Li Yongji said, "However, we in China are also in difficulty now. So free support is definitely not possible, but we can sell you a batch of weapons at a preferential price, and the performance is guaranteed to be better than that of Westerners, I don't know if you are interested? ”

"Of course there is." The envoy of the Burmese State hurriedly said, "The minister has also heard that your army's armament is first-class, no worse than Xiyi, if you can sell us a batch." That, of course, is unwanted. However, we have only heard a lot, but we have not seen the excellent equipment of your army with our own eyes, can you let me wait to open my eyes? ”

That's just as well. Despite the many victories of the Chinese Empire, this is not the Internet era after all, the news is blocked, and the secrecy measures of the Chinese Imperial Army are not bad. Therefore, although the envoys from Burma, Siam, and Vietnam came to China, they still knew very little about China, especially the Chinese imperial army. There are also weapons used by the army, which are almost unknown.

Of course, it cannot be said that they are ignorant, after all, the Praetorian Guards guarding the Imperial Palace and the State Council are all armed, especially those soldiers standing guard, who are carrying Type 1860 rifles.

However, since it is a visiting envoy, before someone agrees, he must not go up and touch it, so at most he can see a look, and firearms are useless just by looking at them, after all, no matter how good they look, they are just as useless as if they have poor performance.

Like Siam, Burma and Vietnam, due to historical and geographical reasons, the penetration rate of firearms in their troops is not low, even more than the previous Manchu Qing, but limited by technology, most of them are honest front-loading arquebuses, so in the battle with the British and the French, the disadvantage is obvious.

You must know that today's Britain and France, although due to financial problems, are still not generally equipped with rear-loading rifled guns, but the front-loading rifled Mini rifle has become a standard equipment, and this Mini rifle far exceeds the honest arquebus smoothbore gun in terms of range and power, which can be said to be a revolutionary change.

In addition, the artillery of the British and French armies is generally equipped with flowering and explosive shells, and the power has been greatly increased, so although the British and French armies are scum in the face of the Chinese army, they still have obvious advantages in the face of those small countries in the Indochina Peninsula.

For example, the French army, a few hundred people dared to fight against thousands of Vietnamese troops, and they did not fall behind; Not to mention the British army, the British lobster soldiers were in full swing at this time, although the number of troops in Burma was small, but the morale and training were quite strong, coupled with excellent equipment, the Burmese were miserable.

However, just like the Manchu Qing Dynasty at the beginning, Burma and Siam did not think that their armies were not brave and had poor organizational skills, so they could not defeat the British and French, and they generally believed that it was because of poor weapons that they could not fight, and felt that as long as they had the same weapons as the British and French soldiers, they could rest easy.

Because of this, when they heard that the Chinese had weapons that were not inferior to those of Westerners, they began to think about whether they could ask for a batch of weapons back, or if not, they could spend money to buy them.

Of these, the Siamese were not enough, but the Burmese were suffering from direct British incursion and were particularly interested in new weapons.

"I want to see the goods first, no problem." Li Yongji clapped his hands, called a guard, and then said to him, "Take these envoys to the shooting range and show them our foreign trade weapons." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." The guard bowed deeply, then looked back at the Burmese, Siam, and Vietnamese envoys, and nodded slightly, "Gentlemen, please come with me." ”

Soon, the guard led the three envoys to the shooting range in the backyard and demonstrated to them the power of the Huaxia series Hua1 Hua 2 rifle and Hua 1 Hua 2 artillery respectively.

The Hua 1 rifle, specifically numbered HQ-SB1 rifle, is actually a homemade Sharps rifle. Among them, H refers to the Huaxia series, Q refers to rifles and pistols and other light weapons, SB refers to bolt-action rifles, and 1 is the standard number of this rifle, which refers to the first generation.

The Hua Type 1 field gun, specifically numbered HP-YQ1 gun, is a homemade 12-pounder Napoleon gun. H refers to the Huaxia series, and P refers to artillery. Y refers specifically to field artillery, Q refers to light, and the 1 immediately following refers to the first generation of artillery.

It can be seen from the number that this rifle and artillery are the first generation of products, which refers to the old version of the Sharps rifle and Napoleon gun used by Li Yongji at the earliest, and it is also the obsolete goods used by the Jingwu Army at the beginning.

The reason why it was renamed and renumbered, instead of continuing to be called the Sharps rifle and the Napoleonic cannon, was because the Chinese Empire had already been established and was no longer in its initial stages. There is no need to hide the fear of interference from the great powers, so I started a series of weapons myself.

Anyway, these weapons are all produced by themselves, and there are many differences from the original, and continuing to call them Sharps or Napoleon guns is not only faceless, but also inconsistent with the facts.

The simplest point is that at this time, the barrels of real Sharps rifles were mostly cast iron, while the Hua 1 rifle was made of steel! In the same way, the barrel of the Type 1 field gun is also made of steel. It is a seamless steel pipe, and most of the Napoleonic guns in the West are made of cast iron or bronze.

So, the rifles and artillery of the Huaxia series. The difference with Western weapons is still not small, and the weapons exported now are basically named after Huaxia.

In addition, the meaning of the Huaxia series. It refers to the weapons produced by the empire itself, which are basically from the Ma'anshan Arsenal, and the weapons imported by modern times do not belong to this series.

Up to now. The Hua 1 rifle and the Hua 1 field gun have long been out of production, and the Ma'anshan Arsenal is now mass-produced with the Hua 2 rifle and the Hua 2 field gun, the specific numbers are HQ-SB2 rifle and HP-YQ2 gun.

The Hua 2 rifle refers to a 9 mm caliber rifle, and the prototype is the last generation of Sharps rifle in history, that is, the 1878 Sharps rifle, but with some changes on this basis.

This rifle has improved air tightness, much better than the previous Sharps rifle, and the bullet used is still a linen fixed bullet, not a copper shell bullet, but the gunpowder uses smokeless gunpowder, and the bullet is also a lead Mini bullet, so the overall power is much better than the original Sharps rifle.

The Hua 2 field gun refers to a self-made front-loading rifled gun with a caliber of 85 mm, which is similar in appearance to the structure of the Napoleonic gun, still a rigid gun mount, without a brake, but with an increase in rigidity and low frame, and the whole body parts are made of steel, which greatly reduces the weight, and there are six rotating rifling wires in the barrel, which can fire solid shells, blasting shells, shotguns and howitzers.

This 85 mm caliber front-loading gun because of the addition of spiral rifling, the propellant also uses smokeless gunpowder, the barrel is also longer, the caliber ratio reaches 22 times, so the range is more than 1 times higher than the smoothbore gun of the same caliber, the use of pointed bullets, the firing range reaches 2900 meters, and the weight is reduced a lot, the whole gun is only 320 kg, much lighter than the M1841 6-pounder gun.

The reason why the production of more advanced weapons has not continued, for example, the use of artillery control devices is not a technical problem, but a cost problem.

With the current technology of the Chinese Empire, the cost of making a brake is comparable to that of a Napoleonic cannon, and it is easy to be damaged, while the cost of making a pre-loading gun is very low, sturdy and durable, easy to maintain, and it is most suitable for people with a low level of knowledge.

In addition, the ammunition of these homemade weapons is not made of metal shell ammunition, and the cost has been reduced by at least half, which is most suitable for the current Chinese Empire.

Moreover, in this era, after the use of smokeless gunpowder, the power of the Hua-2 rifle and the Hua-2 artillery is enough, and it is more than enough to equip the Wehrmacht, which is, in a fashionable phrase, the world's leading level.

In addition, although the performance of these weapons is good, the technical content is low, mainly because the material is good, such as the barrel and barrel are all made of steel, so they are not afraid of imitation and can be exported with peace of mind, so there is no need to be so advanced.

As for smokeless gunpowder, you don't know the recipe and production process of this thing, and at the level of this era, you can't imitate it.

Of course, the Ma'anshan Arsenal is also producing more advanced weapons, such as artillery with brakes, but they are all secretly making technical reserves, and they are not mass-produced out of the technical accumulation stage of learning and exploration.

However, even the weapons of the Hua 1 and Hua 2 series opened the eyes of the envoys of Burma, Siam and Vietnam.

These envoys were actually very good at all, and they knew a lot about weapons, so it was clear at a glance that these weapons were better than those of the British and the French. In particular, the Hua 2 85 mm caliber field gun, this kind of artillery is light in weight, powerful, long in range, and easy to maintain. It can be disassembled and assembled flexibly, making it ideal for jungle and mountain warfare, and is most suitable for use in places like Myanmar.

"It's just a little more expensive." After the visit, the Burmese envoy said to the guard who brought them, "These weapons are very good, but unfortunately a Hua 2 field gun costs 500 Chinese yuan, which is equivalent to more than 500 taels of silver." ”

"You get what you pay for." The guard lifted his chin and pouted, "Look closely, it's a steel cannon!" And the power is not comparable to ordinary artillery. To tell you the truth, if you don't sell eight hundred taels of silver for takeaway, I'll sell you five hundred. It's already His Majesty's grace, and I've specially explained it, if you don't like it, okay, don't buy it. ”

"That's it, don't buy it if it's too expensive." The Siamese envoy sneered at the Burmese envoy, and then bowed his hand to the guard, "My lord, do you just need to give money." How much are sold? ”

"That's right." The royal guard nodded, "Your Majesty, the price is here, as long as you have money." There is no limit to how much. ”

"The craftsmanship of all weapons is the same?" The Siamese envoy asked again.

"It's not bad." The royal guard said, "What is your Majesty's identity?" Do you deceive you? Hum! ”

"Yes, yes, my lord." The Siamese envoy hurriedly smiled.

"Your Excellency." At this time, the Burmese envoy suddenly said, "We in Myanmar are weak and the people are poor. I'm afraid I don't have so much silver, I don't know if I can barter? ”

"I don't know." The guard shrugged his shoulders, "Aren't you envoys?" You can ask your majesty in person. ”

Hearing the guard's words, the Burmese envoy and the other two looked at each other.

That's right, they are envoys, what are you messing with a palace guard, if you have any questions, you can go back and ask Your Majesty directly.

In this way, the three envoys immediately stopped talking about the price, and continued to study and visit these weapons, not only did they go down to see and touch and touch, but even with the help of the weapons instructor, they operated one by one, and felt the performance of these weapons more directly.

After all were satisfied, these people returned to Li Yongji's imperial study and faced the emperor again.

"Well, are you still satisfied with those weapons?" Li Yongji asked with a smile.

"Satisfied, of course satisfied." This time, it was the Siamese envoy who was the first to speak, "The weapons of the Shangguo are extremely sharp, as far as I am concerned, I am definitely willing to buy weapons from the Shangguo, but I have to go back and discuss how much to buy." However, this back and forth is a long way away, I don't know if His Majesty is willing to cut my love, let me bring some samples when I go back? ”

"No problem." Li Yongji nodded, "As long as you fancy those weapons, pick them yourself, and if you pick them, I will let you take them back as samples, and I will also equip you with accompanying weapons operators." But then again, after the samples are sent to your country, they also have to spend money to buy, and they will never be returned, and you will also be responsible for the travel expenses and the salaries of those accompanying operators, can you? ”

"Of course." The Siamese envoy said, "Of course, we have to pay for this money, and Your Majesty can rest assured." ”

"陛xià." The Burmese envoy said, "We also want to buy it, but we don't have much money on hand, so we don't know if we can barter?" ”

"Barter, no problem." Li Yongji nodded, "Then, I personally like jadeite, I heard that your jadeite in Myanmar is famous all over the world, why don't you exchange jadeite for arms, others like rubies, sapphires, and precious wood, you can also exchange them with us." ”

"That's great." The Burmese envoy breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Then I don't know if I can exchange it for anything other than weapons, such as exchanging food with the country?" ”

Myanmar was still an agricultural country at this time, although it was located in the subtropics, agriculture was not bad, but unfortunately Myanmar was mountainous, grain production was not high, coupled with years of war, the people were poor and the country was weak, and the country's grain was no longer enough to meet the needs of the people, and the price of grain was extremely high.

On the contrary, because of China's bumper grain harvest, the price of grain in the market is very low, which is already lower than that of the Indochina Peninsula, so the Burmese envoy came up with the idea of buying grain directly.

"Absolutely." Li Yongji smiled, "That's it, it's not easy for you to read it, you go back and tell your king that from now on, the trade between you Burmese and our country will be fully liberalized, and there will be no more restrictions, such as our country's grain, salt, ironware, etc., you can buy as much as you want, and you don't need to go to a special place to buy it." All parts of our country are open to you.

That is to say, in the future, the trade between you and me will no longer limit the quantity and type of trade, and I can also exempt you from tariffs, so that you can reduce losses.

In addition, you Burmese people can enjoy the national treatment of our Chinese empire during the period of doing business in our country, not only enjoy the protection of our imperial government, can apply for loans from our banks, can also buy land and houses in our country, and even get married and have children. What do you think about the assurances of officials at all levels that they will not trouble you Burmese businessmen? ”

"That's great." The Burmese envoy was overjoyed, and immediately knelt down and kowtowed, "Your Majesty's great kindness to our country, a small country will never forget!" ”

"Uh-huh." Seeing him like this, Li Yongji nodded with a smile.

Li Yongji deliberately did not say what treatment the Chinese would enjoy when they went to Myanmar, as if he had forgotten this stubble, but in fact, it was deliberate.

Because the conditions mentioned by Li Yongji are equivalent to completely opening up the country. It's okay to open up on your own, but if you also ask Myanmar to open up, then I'm afraid the other side will have great concerns.

You know, after the last Anglo-Burma war. The British's demands on Burma, except for the concession, are almost the same as those that Li Yongji himself said, so if Li Yongji asks for the same with Burma. The Burmese are expected to be resistant.

Now it's different, Li Yongji only said that he treats Burmese people preferentially, but does not say how Chinese go to Myanmar. This means that Chinese are still restricted in Myanmar, but Burmese people enjoy all kinds of preferential treatment in China, which naturally makes the Burmese people feel good.

On the surface, it seems that China has suffered a loss, after all, this is a unilateral unequal most-favored-nation treatment, but in fact, it is China that has made a big profit, and it is not an ordinary big bargain.

The reason is very simple, China is now in a period of economic upswing, and the prices of various daily necessities such as grain, salt, and iron tools are far lower than those of Myanmar itself, and once trade with Myanmar is fully opened, then with a market as small as Myanmar, it will inevitably be strictly dependent on China for a long time.

Think about it, Myanmar comes to China to buy things, even if it is cheap, it has to spend money, where does the money come from? It can only sell its own things to China for money, but Myanmar is still a poor agricultural country, except for jadeite, precious stones, precious trees and other minerals, China has no shortage of things.

In this way, in order to buy things from China in exchange for money, the Burmese people will inevitably invest a lot of manpower and material resources in the mining industry, and over time, Myanmar's economy will be strictly dependent on China.

In fact, this is a disguised economic aggression, or a kind of soft strategy, which is to take advantage of China's higher productivity and richer products to make these agricultural countries in the Indochina Peninsula completely dependent on China economically, thus giving up economic autonomy in disguise, and becoming China's resource production area and consumer goods dumping market, and over time, it will become China's vassal, and a large amount of blood will be transfused for China's economic take-off.

Moreover, deliberately only giving special preferential treatment to the Burmese, but the Burmese did not give preferential treatment to the Chinese, after a long time, the Chinese businessmen will be indignant, and when the time comes, the Chinese themselves will not be satisfied without being reminded by Li Yongji.

When the dissatisfaction increases, the empire can justifiably put forward reciprocal demands to Burma, demanding that the Chinese enjoy all kinds of privileges in Burma, and if Myanmar agrees, it will accelerate the economic aggression against Burma.

Of course, these things are not something that the Burmese envoy can see clearly, and he still thinks that Li Yongji is so happy that he has committed the mistake of saving face for the kingdom of the Celestial Empire.

You must know that in the past, China's trade with neighboring countries was strictly restricted, and neighboring countries had no choice but to trade in China in the name of tribute, but the quantity was too small to form a scale at all.

But now if Li Yongji fully liberalizes trade with Burma, then the Burmese will be able to obtain a large number of cheap goods from China, which is indeed a boon for the Burmese people.

In fact, the British colonization of Burma, although it was a kind of plunder, was actually equivalent to improving the living standards of the Burmese people and promoting social changes in Myanmar...... Well, the British don't seem to have that much to do.

"Majesty!" Seeing this, the envoys of Siam and Vietnam also knelt down, "Ask for the grace of the kingdom and treat everyone equally." ”

"Okay, then I'll treat everyone equally." Li Yongji nodded, "You Vietnam and Siam are the same, you can freely do business and trade in our country, enjoy the same conditions as Myanmar, and are also exempt from customs duties. ”

"Thank you!" Siam and the Vietnamese envoys kowtowed at the same time.

"But that's the point." Li Yongji said, "If your people commit adultery in our country, no matter what their status, they will be punished in accordance with the laws of our country, and they will not be tolerated, you know?" ”

"Naturally, yes." The envoy of Siam nodded, "Our people will abide by the laws of Shangguo when they come to Shangguo. ”

"That's good." Li Yongji nodded with a smile, looking at the happy look of the envoy of the Three Kingdoms, he was also overjoyed.

"Sample, I really think I've made a big profit, let's see, you'll know how powerful I am in the future! Hmph, now let you have fun first, and when I get the United States, I'll slowly clean you up when I come back. (To be continued......)