What is the cannon is like in the end, it is not just a matter of looking at it, but live ammunition can most intuitively show the power of the artillery. However, live firing is not casual. First of all, I have to take the French guys of this purchasing group to see the preset goals.

The preset target positions were located at a distance of about five kilometers from the gun emplacement. There are quite classic fortifications built here. The group took a horse-drawn carriage and visited the fortifications again, and then moved to a viewing platform about a kilometer from the target area to watch the artillery firing show.

Years later, in the later memoirs of General Charles, he described the demonstration as follows:

"The Americans first showed us five types of artillery, in addition to the 75-mm rapid-fire gun, which we knew and hated, a 70-mm infantry gun, a 105-mm rapid-fire gun, a 155-mm heavy gun, and a 203-mm fortress gun.

Their 70mm guns became famous, whether in the hands of the Free Cuban Army in the Cuban War of Independence, in the hands of the Filipino rebels on the Asian side, or later in the hands of the Boers, this lightweight artillery was a very headache weapon. Even it's with a McDonald pump-action shotgun, a multi-purpose hand. Ray became the 'Guerrilla Three Treasures'. But we are a regular army, and these things are too small for us, not powerful enough, and not enough range. So we have been focusing our investigation on 75mm guns.

The Americans, in addition to showing us artillery, showed us the fortifications they used as targets. To be honest, even if the expedition didn't achieve anything, just seeing such a fortification would be a good deal...... This fortification of the Americans was much more reasonable and stronger than what we had built back then. If our trenches had such a level back then, maybe the outcome of the war would have been different. The trenches were dug in a zigzag shape to ensure that if a single shell fell into the trenches, not too many people would be injured. At the same time, at intervals, an anti-artillery hole was built. The tops of the anti-artillery holes were either reinforced with logs and a thick layer of soil, while others were reinforced with reinforced concrete.

The first firepower demonstration was the 75-mm gun, and the Americans, in order to make a business of selling weapons to us, worked very hard during the demonstration, firing dozens of shells in one go. After the shelling was over, they invited us to the shooting range to observe the close.

To be honest, the scene after the shelling of 75 shelling is not the first time I have seen it. As I imagined, some of the shells fell into the trenches, but because of the many turns in the trenches, there were very few stakes that were used to simulate soldiers that were blown up by a shell. And the anti-gun holes fully withstood the test of 75-mm shells. Several shells fell on top of the holes, but these holes, including those reinforced with logs and soil, withstood the blows of the 75-mm guns. If we had built a large number of such anti-artillery holes in the war with the Prussians, our losses would have been much smaller......

Later the Americans showed us the power of even greater artillery. Under the blow of 105 caliber artillery, the general log-mud reinforced anti-artillery holes can no longer withstand it, but the reinforced concrete anti-artillery holes can still bring a safe hiding place for soldiers. When it came time to use 155-caliber guns, even ordinary reinforced concrete could no longer guarantee safety in the event of a direct hit. Only specially reinforced anti-artillery holes could withstand such a blow, and the firing of 203-mm guns was simply a terrible disaster......

Based on this test, I submitted a report to the country, strongly suggesting that the MacDonald 105mm gun be used as the prototype for our future divisional artillery. Because this kind of artillery is the best group after taking into account factors such as power, range, rate of fire, and ease of movement. There has been some resistance at home, and some guys, especially some in Congress, always want to equip us with the cheapest, not the best, as much as possible. In the end, however, we were able to find enough supporters to secure the budget, and it was these longer-range, more powerful divisional guns that helped us withstand the onslaught of the Germans at the most critical moments of the war, at Verdun...... If there are any regrets in this expedition, because the appearance of cars was not foreseen, it is probably the biggest regret that the 155-mm guns with a range of more than 20 kilometers and greater power were not purchased. Later, when the American army entered the war, the 155 guns they were equipped with were a little better than our 105. Of course, we still purchased some 203mm cannons for railway guns and fortress guns. And the technology we purchased is also used on our navy warships......"

In addition to the cannon, MacDonald Infantry Weapons also marketed a new firearm to the French, the M1871 water-cooled machine gun. The weapon, which could shoot six hundred rounds in one minute, also attracted the attention of the French, especially after they heard that the Germans had also purchased the relevant patented technology. In short, Scrooge could see that although the French pretended to be calm on the surface, they were actually very tempted, and getting another order should already be a sure thing.

……

Just two months after the federal legislature passed the enabling act, the Ohio State Assembly passed two state bills, the Ohio Food and Drug Safety Standards and the Ohio Drug and Food Inspection Act, with surprising efficiency, authorizing the state to conduct a large-scale inspection of food and drugs sold in Ohio.

The Ohio state government didn't actually have the technical strength to conduct such inspections, but at this time, the "standard testing" organization proposed by Scrooge, donated by Scrooge, Morgan and other social elites, was also established, and most of the members of this organization came from various universities in the United States, and many of the equipment and other equipment were moved directly from the University of Cleveland's Dashi yàn room. Originally, the facility was designed with the intention of testing medicines, but after the food safety scandal, the agency was also qualified to test food. Later, this non-profit organization even successively obtained qualifications for medical malpractice identification, forensic science identification, environmental monitoring, etc., and later became the most influential and authoritative "neutral" testing agency in the world.

Ohio stipulates that any drug sold in Ohio must obtain a safety certificate from a testing agency recognized by the U.S. Federal Congress within six months. Today, in the entire United States, there is only one inspection agency with this qualification, "Standard Inspection". As a result, the "standard inspection" is naturally extremely busy, all the staff are busy, and the whole organization is running non-stop 24 hours a day.

……

The sea breeze is light and the white waves are dotting. In early autumn, the sea outside New York Harbor is exceptionally calm.

A huge steel cruise ship is moored in New York Harbor and attracts many onlookers. It is a luxury cruise ship built by Morgan MacDonald Shipbuilding Company and the first passenger ship in the world with a tonnage of more than 10,000 tons. It now belongs to the Blue Ribbon shipping company controlled by Morgan Holdings.

Morgan named the ship "Hermes", an oracle in Greek mythology known for being fast and reliable. With this name, it is apparently hoped that it will be as fast and reliable as Hermes.

This was the inaugural voyage of the Hermes, and both Morgan and Scrooge personally came to see the ship on the voyage. In addition, Clark, one of the key figures of the MacDonald consortium, and a group of staff members will also travel to Europe on this ship, to France to prepare for the construction of the European branch of Macdonald Foods.

"I really want to get on this boat and go to Europe to have some fun." Morgan looked at the Hermes docked at the dock and said to Scrooge, "Unfortunately, it's too busy right now." ”

"Actually, you can go up and have fun." "There's a radio on board that can pick up communications from the New York Tower. There are big things you can command. Plus, the boat was a lot faster than the previous ones. I think when I went to the UK, I walked for half a month, and I was dizzy for half a month. ”

"Who told you to take a clipper boat to save time." Thinking of Scrooge's seasickness and vomiting, Morgan felt a little happy, "Now this boat can reach its destination in ten days at most, and the comfort is not comparable to the previous clippers." But to be honest, clippers are not slow, when I went to Europe to study, I walked for a whole month. ”

Morgan said as he turned his head to look in the direction of the harbor, which was bustling with steamers large and small. Morgan couldn't help but think back to when he was on his way to Europe, when the harbor of New York was much smaller than it is now, and the harbor was full of sailboats with tall masts and snow-white sails.

"When I went to Europe a few years ago, the port was full of sailboats, but now I can't find a single sailboat, and it seems like a completely different era in just a few years. It's really impressive. Suddenly, Scrooge's exclamation sounded in his ears. These words fell on Morgan's ears to the point that he felt a little bit of kinship. He raised his head and looked at Scrooge, but found that there didn't seem to be too much sentimentality in Scrooge's expression, but more of a taste of complacency.

"Many of these changes are caused by you, aren't you?" Morgan said, "What are you still pretending to sigh about there?" You're showing off, aren't you? I don't think you have any nostalgia for the past at all, but the way it is now, is it more to your heart? Morgan couldn't help but say this to Scrooge.

"No, it's not." Scrooge replied seriously, "It is true that I am not attached to the past era, but the present era does not satisfy me either. That's not the way it was in the times I liked. ”

"So tell me what kind of era you like?" Morgan asked, sarcastically.

Scrooge thought about it, and he couldn't answer, I still like the 21st century in my last life. So he replied, "I can't say it, but there's more to the world I like than that." Maybe, maybe when I die, I'll be able to make the world a little closer to what I like. Scrooge said.

"Then you can say, 'Stop, this qiē is so beautiful.'" Morgan said.

Scrooge knew that Morgan's "stop, this qiē is so beautiful" was a line from Faust. Legend has it that Faust made a pact with the devil, who drove him and gave him strength, and served him with all the wealth, power, and beauty of the world, so that he could be satisfied. And once Faust is satisfied, he dies immediately, and his soul belongs to the devil. Now Morgan quotes this sentence, apparently with the irony that he is going to hell when he dies. Morgan's foul mouth is sometimes really annoying. However, Scrooge was not unhappy about this. Because he thought about all kinds of things about himself, he found that he really seemed to have a lot of qualifications to go to hell. But as a guy whose soul came from China, as a guy with an atheist education, to be honest, Scrooge wasn't particularly worried about going to hell or anything. Anyway, if there is hell or not, who knows? Besides, even if there is hell, it doesn't have to be too bad to go anywhere.

Scrooge felt that if there was really hell, with the bad things he did, he should go to hell, and he could be a demon king. "Instead of being a slave in heaven, it is better to reign in hell." It seems that Milton said this sentence through the mouth of the fallen morning star in "Paradise Lost", right? It's very much in line with Scrooge's mentality. Of course, if Satan is unwilling to prepare a throne for Scrooge in the flames, Scrooge will not mind a "100,000 Banner Slashing Yama", and go directly to the deepest ice hell to snatch the frozen throne under Satan's ass.

Compared with the ethereal question of going to heaven or going to hell, Scrooge, whose soul comes from China, is more concerned with his own historical evaluation. China is a country of history, and compared to going to heaven and hell, the Chinese who have always "worshiped ghosts and gods and stayed away" do not care much. On the contrary, historical evaluation is more important to the Chinese. Sometimes, Scrooge also wonders what history will say about him when he dies one day.

To be honest, Scrooge doesn't think that the things he did can be hidden from the world forever, and others don't say it, at least, Marx and Engels can definitely see through themselves, and the Morgan next to him can almost see through himself. No matter how good a person is at disguise, there will always be a time when he will be seen through. Time will wash away Scrooge's pretenses, and when that time comes, what will history think of him?

"If you look at it in two, although I have done a lot of bad things, I have played an important role in promoting the progress of the whole era, and I may even have 'played a very revolutionary role' (the evaluation of the bourgeoisie in the Communist Manifesto). I developed the most terrible drugs, I made the best drugs interview in advance, I made weapons that killed countless people, and I also set off a revolution in productivity. Future generations will probably think it's very bad to judge a monster like me. Scrooge thought so, and somehow, he suddenly remembered the only female emperor in Chinese history, "When I die, I must have someone erect me a huge wordless monument like Wu Cong." Thinking like this, Scrooge smiled unconsciously.

"You're right." Scrooge told Morgan, "I have a friend who said something like this when he was talking about philosophy, 'Philosophers just interpret the world in different ways, and the problem is to change the world.'" That's how I see it, too. ”