The selection of a new rifle is largely based on test data, which is clearly written in the test report.

The next step was to listen to the feedback from the soldiers who were using the rifles.

After such a procedure, Lin Zhe found that the difference in performance between these five rifles was actually not large, and the specific difference was in manufacturing cost and reliability.

Then there is the difference in appearance.

Based on the memories of later generations, Lin Zhe's first choice was to exclude the two rifles, and interestingly, the first ones that were sent out were the products of the Royal Arms Company.

This made the face of the person in charge of the Royal Arms Company next to him instantly not very good, and even if he was eliminated, he was eliminated in the first step.

The next three rifles, in Lin Zhe's opinion, are much the same, after some trade-offs, Lin Zhe sent the design of Huguang Weapons Company again, the reason is very simple, their gun cost is higher than the other two.

The rest is the design of the Northern Arms Company and the Guangsheng Machinery Company.

The performance, cost, and reliability of the feedback from the troops of these two designs are comparable, and the appearance is similar to the later rifles in Lin Zhe's impression, so he was a little hesitant for a while.

However, after some hesitation, the design of Guangsheng Machinery Company was excluded, although the national defense industry did not say that private capital would not enter, but the strength of private capital, especially in terms of output, there is still a huge gap between these large imperial enterprises.

After the new rifle is decided, the Imperial Army will definitely issue a large number of orders in a short period of time, and this order is not tens of thousands. Rather, hundreds of thousands, there is no corresponding large-scale mature factory. It's hard to fulfill these orders.

When Lin Zhe made the final decision, several people in charge of the Northern Arms Company had ecstatic expressions on their faces. If it weren't for the restraint in front of the Emperor, I'm afraid they would have laughed out loud.

When their design is adopted, it represents an order for at least hundreds of thousands of rifles in the future, and even if they are forced to produce them by several other weapons companies in the country, they can still collect patent fees.

This rifle alone is enough for them to eat for five or six years.

As for the representatives of other unsuccessful companies, their expressions are naturally not very good, and their own designs are not selected. In the end, even if they can participate in the production of new rifles, they still have to pay for patent licensing, so that they can only earn an OEM fee at most, and the profit is very limited, and it can be used to maintain the normal operation of the factory, but it is impossible to make a lot of money in turn.

The Royal Arms Company is a bit better, and although their new design didn't make the cut, they still have a Linde rifle sign.

The Linde rifle brand created over the past decade is already known worldwide. When it comes to the most well-known rifle series of our time, it is definitely not the Mauser rifle of the Germans, nor the Enfield rifles of the British or the Martini-Henry rifles, but the Linde rifles from China.

Over the past decade or so. The Royal Arms Company's Linde rifles are sold all over the world, especially the 1858 Linde rifles, which can be seen in many countries.

And these two years. With the advent and service of metal bullet rear-loading rifles in various countries, the Empire also gradually opened export restrictions for the 1864 Linde rifle. In 1871, the Imperial High Command approved the first export of the 1864 Linde rifle.

It is exported to the Hokkai country of Japan.

Of course. The most important reason for this export was that the Hokkai Kingdom, one of Japan's three kingdoms, was far inferior to the Tokugawa shogunate in terms of population and economy, and its army was so small that it took great effort to arm an army of more than 3,000 people.

In order to improve the viability of the Hokkaido, the Hokkaido was suddenly killed by the Tokugawa shogunate, and then destroyed the balance of power of the three kingdoms of Japan, so the empire also appropriately strengthened the strength of the Hokkaido.

With a small population and economy, it is destined to be unable to form a large-scale army, and if the number of troops is small, then the performance of weapons is more important.

Now that the new rifle is officially in service, like the 1858 Linde rifle, the 1864 Linde rifle will inevitably be released from all export restrictions, and the Royal Arms Company will be able to make a big profit in the international arms market.

The Royal Arms Company was now the first to introduce the mature and reliable 1864 Linde rifle to the global market, taking advantage of the fact that the British and Germans had just launched the Martini-Henry rifle and the Mauser 1871, which had just begun mass production, and that early production capacity was to be prioritized in their own countries.

Even because this rifle has been produced more than 800,000 units over the years, the production line is very mature, and the R&D costs and equipment costs in the early years have been apportioned to a very low level, so even if there are other rifles competing with them, they can also use direct price reduction to open the global market with the most brutal attitude.

Domestic military orders were seized by the Northern Arms Corporation, but they are absolutely not able to compete with themselves in the international market?

Even if the new rifle is more advanced, why? Because the High Command will never open the export of similar rifles before they appear abroad.

Just like the 1864 Linde rifle, when it first entered service, it required a certain amount of technical secrecy, and it was also to maintain the performance advantage of the Imperial Army in weapons, so it would not be open for export.

It will not be until a similar product is developed abroad that the empire will open export restrictions.

Therefore, on this day in 1872, when the new rifles in China could not be exported, and the metal bullet rear-loading rifles abroad were just beginning to enter service, the Royal Arms Company was given an extremely rare strategic opportunity.

Their 1864 Linde rifle could seize the market years ahead of schedule.

Because the Royal Arms Company had Linde rifles there, it didn't worry too much about its own small arms factory, but the Huguang Weapons Company was a little embarrassed.

Whether it's a Linde rifle or a new rifle, it's not theirs.

There is no choice but to continue to survive on OEM, but they have a large number of orders from the military for field artillery, which is more profitable than rifles.

As for the private Guangsheng Machinery Company, they don't care, this can enter the top two, it is enough to prove their strength, plus they did not have a large-scale arsenal in the first place, and it was only OEM production before, so it is a big deal to accumulate for a few more years, and then compete for other orders.

Don't mention the ideas of these domestic defense manufacturers, but talk about the military's side.

After selecting the design of the new rifle of the Northern Arms Company, the military gave it the official military designation: the 1872 Northern Rifle.

The caliber of the gun is 11 mm, firing black powder metal bullets, the total weight is 4.4 kg, the total length of the gun is 1340 mm, the muzzle velocity of the bullet is 440 meters per second, the effective range can reach 1,300 meters, and the external single-row magazine is fed with a capacity of five rounds.

In terms of shooting performance, it is slightly less than the 1864 Linde rifle, but it is limited by the level of contemporary industrial technology, in fact, it is also limited, and the biggest difference is that after using the magazine to feed the ammunition, it can shoot continuously.

In addition, unlike the ordinary magazine supply, after the bullets in the magazine are shot, there is no need to directly replenish the bullets to the rifle magazine one after another, but can directly pull out the magazine that has been exhausted and replace the new magazine that has been loaded with bullets, so that it can be re-fired as quickly as possible without interrupting the firepower for too long.

At the same time, the external magazine can be loaded with bullets in advance, and you can change the magazine directly during the battle.

And this is the biggest difference between a repeating rifle and a single-shot rifle, its firepower is more than one level more dense than a single-shot rifle.

In addition, the number of the gun also announced the rise of a new rifle brand, that is, the 'Northern Rifle'.

Since 1871, the army has adopted the domestic calendar and the mixed mode of the Western calendar for the existing new weapons, and no longer simply adopts the Western calendar, the main difference is that the heavy weapons use the domestic calendar, and the light weapons are the Western calendar, the 14-year 75-year field artillery and the 14-year 75-year mountain artillery in service last year, and the 15-year-old 120 field artillery in service this year are all in this mode.

The rifle continued to be numbered with the Western calendar year, but at the strong request of the Northern Arms Company, the military also continued to use the name of this new rifle 'Northern Rifle'

The Northern Arms Company also has ambitions, and they also want to create a well-known rifle brand like the Linde rifle, and then go to the international market to make a profit.

If domestic orders can only be won by volume, and profits are ordinary, then the profits of the international ordnance market are very high.

No matter what the era, the profits of the arms business are comparable to those of the drug business, and 100 percent or even 300 percent of the profits are commonplace.

However, although the profits are high, the arms business is not so easy to do, and the most exported by the empire is the Linde series of rifles, which can be regarded as the best-selling arms of the empire.

The second is the iron-cast front-loading rifled gun in the sixties, and the twelve-pound iron-cast front-loading rifled gun and the Linde rifle are basically sold together, and the Linde rifle army can be seen. There will be such artillery more or less.

Then there are some small-tonnage warships, especially the 400-ton to 1,000-ton small ironclad ships extended from the Zhenguang-class small ironclad ships, which are the fist products exported by the imperial warships, not only purchased by several small countries in Southeast Asia, but even Ottoman Turkey has purchased this kind of small ironclad ships. (To be continued.) )