After a period of preparation, 30 people, including Fu Xiuming, set off on a cruise bound for Algiers. On the other hand, Yan Shao was busy with the election of members of the Consultative Council.

"Speaking of which, the president has disappeared for more than three months, where did he go to be happy?"

After finishing the meeting on the election of the Consultative Bureau, Li Guoyun, as the vice president, asked Yan Shao beside him with a smile.

Hearing Li Guoyun ask, the others who were packing up their things and preparing to leave also pricked up their ears.

Whether as the president of the Innovation Association or the largest industrialist in China, Yan Shao has become a pivotal figure, and even Zhu Jiabao, as the governor, has to be scrupulous.

Such a character suddenly disappeared for more than three months, and naturally it became a thing that everyone was curious about.

"Me..." Yan Shao was thinking about machine guns and grenades there, and now he was stunned for a moment when he heard Li Guoyun ask this, but he would reach it after smiling later. It wasn't anything, it was just that Elano's father wanted to see me, so I accompanied Elano and the others back to their parents' house..."

"Oh........." Hearing Yan Shao say this, Li Guoyun lengthened his voice, and the smile on his face became much weirder.

Not only him, but also the others next to him who heard the conversation.

Yan Shao's past is well known to many as an important figure in Anhui, the most notable of which is not his performance of several epic works in a single day in Marseille, nor the invention of tungsten filament in the United States, which earned him more than four million dollars. It's what happened to him and a woman after he eloped.

Elopement, in this era, is actually similar to abducting a woman from a good family, at least in China in this era. If it were an ordinary person, I would have been arrested by the government and locked up for a few years by the way. But since the protagonist is Yan Shao, this matter will be looked at from another angle.

Putting aside the status and influence for the time being, it is important to know that Yan Shao is not less than Yan Shao when he repairs bridges and paves roads and provides relief to victims every year, and Yan Shao is often the one who contributes the most.

The company's hospital also holds a 10-day free clinic every year, which is basically not rejected by anyone who comes, even if it is a foreigner who arrives in Wuhu, he can also receive treatment.

So this kind of thing should have been arrested and locked up in the government for a few years. It has become a good story to talk about.

However, it is precisely because this incident has spread so widely that many people have learned about the heroine's background and what her father does. After learning that Elinor's father was an officer and threatened to break Yan Shao's body into ten thousand pieces. Almost everyone looked at Yan Shao's body, wanting to see if there were a few more holes in his body...

Yan Shao could only smile slightly bitterly and say nothing...

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Because Anhui is led by the Innovation Association, the establishment of the Advisory Bureau is very smooth.

Wait until Qin Zhen and the other first batch of people come back from France. The Advisory Council has been established. And Yan Shao and they also became the first batch of members of the Advisory Bureau, and Yan Shao himself became the Speaker of the Advisory Bureau.

On the other hand, due to the extremely powerful power of the Reform Council, which included 90% of the most influential gentry and celebrities in Anhui at the time of its establishment, more than ninety percent of the seats in the Advisory Council were obtained by members of the Advisory Council.

"Is this a blessing or a curse?" Zhu Jiabao let out a long sigh after glancing at the list just provided by the Advisory Bureau.

As a governor, his ability may not be as good as Enming's, but since he can sit in this position, he still understands some things.

The Consultative Bureau is a very special organization, and its members are almost all very influential people in the local area. Even if the government wants to manage the locality, it needs the cooperation of these people, and some officials at the county level even need to look at the faces of such people.

Of course, if that's all there is, it's fine. After all, in the past, this kind of character just united on his own territory, and the most difficult person was an official at the county level, and it had nothing to do with a local official like him.

But now that all of them are in the same council, and they are led by the same organization, even he, the governor, is afraid to have three points of concern.

"Forget it, if the building is really going to fall, what can I do..."

————————————————————

In a deep mountain in the south of Xiangshan Town, Hart was holding something similar to a wooden-handled grenade in the later generations to introduce them to Yan Shao.

"This is the new type of grenade that we have developed after a period of research..."

As he spoke, Hart gave a detailed introduction to the various parts, especially the bottom of the wooden handle.

"In addition, according to your opinion, boss, we have installed a bottom cover that can be rotated and unscrewed at the bottom to avoid accidental explosions..."

The grenades researched by the Hart trio are similar to the German M24 grenades, they are all wooden handles—————— of course, this is also because of Yan Shao's meaning.

However, even the grenade they researched also inherited the shortcomings of the early M24 grenade, that is, the bottom of the grenade did not have a bottom cover, but directly exposed the drawstring.

The earliest handle-shaped grenades had a permanent drawstring exposed near the bottom of the grip (instead of tucking into a removable bottom cover). These exposed drawstrings are often accidentally snagged during transport, causing the grenade to detonate, causing serious and often fatal injuries.

So after seeing their initial work, Yan Shao put forward some suggestions for improvement.

For example, make a bottom cover at the bottom of the wooden handle, which is at least safer.

For the finished product that Hart and they made, Yan Shao nodded with satisfaction. "Can I try it now?"

"Of course..."Hart's expression was also a little excited, the one thousand pounds of money that Yan Shao gave them at the beginning didn't use much. In other words, as long as today's results can satisfy Yan Shao, then the rest of the pounds will be shared by them.

After hearing Hart's words, Yan Shao nodded. By the way, they took two steps back to protect Elano.

After learning that Yan Shao was coming to Xiangshan, although Yan Shao was followed by almost a hundred people this time, the two of them still followed with some anxiety. Of course, while they were not at ease, they were actually a little curious about the grenade in their hearts. Want to see what the entity of this weapon looks like.

After all, before the First World War, weapons like grenades had been silent for quite some time, and even people like Katerina, who came from a military family, rarely saw the grenade entity...

However, although the two wanted to get closer, Yan Shao kept protecting the two of them and retreating.

Although it is unlikely that there will be an accident in the course of the experiment, it does not mean that there is none, and it is not strange to stay for a while, even if Hart suddenly blew himself up, Yan Shao naturally wanted to protect Elaline and them to take a few steps back. lest it be affected by the explosion.

Yan Shao, who was facing away from them, didn't notice this, just focused on unscrewing the bottom cover and pulling up the drawstring. Then he hurriedly threw it into the distance. However, because of the lack of exercise, Hart only threw a distance of less than 20 meters.

Seeing that the grenade had been thrown, Hart hurriedly covered his ears, and Yan Shao and others in the back hurriedly followed suit.

Just listen to a loud bang. Some of the planks around the grenade landing site were almost completely blown away. The blast also kicked up dust within a few meters.

Shaking his head, Hart who turned around was a little strange when Yan Shao had exited so far, but he still explained. "Although this weapon is not as powerful as artillery shells, it is easy to use and inexpensive, and even ordinary infantry can be equipped with this weapon in large quantities..."

Yan Shao knows these things without him, after all, the grenade itself is used in trench warfare and urban warfare.

And after seeing the power of the grenade, Caterina on the side was also dazzled.

"Words of this weapon. Looks like a good fit for our special affairs department..."

It is difficult for the secret operations department to use weapons that are too conspicuous such as rifles, so they usually use pistols when they act. It's not bad though. But the firepower is inevitably a little too weak, and it's okay indoors, if it's in an open place, whether it's range, power or accuracy, the pistol is obviously inferior to the rifle...

However, if such a grenade could be used as a weapon, it would certainly not be possible to compensate for the lack of a rifle, but at least it would increase the firepower of the members of the Special Services Section. Especially in places where special services are often active, such as indoors or street corners, the power of grenades is clearly not comparable to that of pistols and rifles.

Thinking of this, Katerina's expression also became much more anxious. "What about the cost of such a grenade? Is it easy to produce? ”

"It's very convenient," Hart replied without even thinking about it. This weapon is characterized by its simple structure and low cost, which makes it ideal for mass production...... Of course, if there is enough equipment, manual work is possible, but the output will be significantly reduced..."

"Another problem is the charge, which may not be a problem to produce in small quantities, but if it is produced in large quantities, the amount of explosives required is by no means a small amount..."

"It's not a problem..."Pointing to the soles of his feet, Yan Shao smiled slightly. Have you forgotten what this place is? ”

As if to cooperate with Yan Shao's words, as soon as Yan Shao's words fell, there was a rumbling sound in the distance, and listening to the loud noise in the distance and looking at Yan Shao's fingers, Hart also showed a look of sudden realization.

Indeed, a large amount of explosives may be a problem for ordinary people, after all, this kind of thing has a special purpose, even if the Qing court is mediocre, it is impossible not to check this thing, which can be seen from Sun Wu's own explosives made during the Wuchang Uprising—————— as a result, the explosives were later ignited with soot.

But what is difficult for others is very simple for Yan Shao, because there is a 'large' iron factory under his company, and the iron ore needed to mine the iron ore required by the iron factory requires explosives.

In other words, explosives or something, Yan Shao can get his hands on it by the most reasonable means.

————————————————————

The most difficult problem of explosives for others is the easiest for Yan Shao, and what really gives him a headache is how to get a small arsenal out of Xiangshan here without him knowing.

No, it should be a miniature arsenal to be exact. They don't need to make any particularly complex weapons, as long as they have imitation firearms and make grenades.

"I'll leave this to me. Boss..."

In the office, after hearing Yan Shao's words, Huang Hao patted his chest and said.

"Are you okay?"

"Of course..."

In any case, for the sake of the iron factory, Huang Hao has also been staying in Xiangshan for a long time, and he will walk around with the exploration team if he has nothing to do, to see where there are still undiscovered iron ores, and he is quite familiar with the terrain around Xiangshan. It's easy to find a place that's hidden and unnoticed.

"And we use explosives to mine here almost every day, so even if something makes a noise, it won't be a problem."

This is also the reason why Yan Shaohui chose the place in Xiangshan. First, there is an iron factory here in Xiangshan, and the steel used to make weapons can be obtained here, and secondly, explosives, which can be obtained under the cover of mining for various equipment. The last thing is that explosions happen here very often.

Although in order to improve the work efficiency of the iron factory, Yan Shao has tried his best to provide the best conditions for Huang Hao's side. But there are some things that can't be done, such as excavators...

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Yan Shao obviously couldn't find excavators for them to use, not to mention the mining trucks that often appeared in later mines, with tires alone that were one or even two people high.

Therefore, in order to improve efficiency, the use of explosives in the mine has become very frequent, and even if there are several explosions in the vicinity of the mine, no one will notice.

"That's okay..."After looking down for a while, Yan Shao nodded. I'll leave this matter to you, and I'm sending a squad of patrols over. Specialized in the work of the guards there. ”

Huang Hao also knew the importance of the Ludao Arsenal, so he did not refuse.

————————————————————

Nantong is on a shoal not far from the river. Many children were playing on the beach, and many adults were smiling and moaning as they washed their clothes.

But every time a child tries to run to a deep place, an adult pulls the naughty child ashore and reprimands them, and forbids them to go into the water again. With these examples, other children have become much more honest.

"Do you want to make an example of the monkey?" glanced at the obviously much more honest child, and a slight smile appeared on the corner of Peng Shan's mouth.

Hearing Peng Shan do this, the other person standing on the side also laughed. "Isn't it just a group of little monkeys, then again, when I was young, I was treated like this by my parents, and I was quite resentful at the time, but some things can only be understood when I grow up..."

"Yes..."Hearing his companion's words, Peng Shan also sighed, looked up at the sky that was gradually darkening, and didn't know what Lu Dao was thinking.

When it got dark, the children and adults on the shallows returned home.

By the time it was completely dark, only Peng Shan and the seven or eight people around him were left on the shallows.

In fact, those adults and children would go back so early and have something to do with Peng Shan, after all, whoever was not far away with seven or eight sturdy men, wearing black suits, would be a little panicked when they looked at the men who looked like the underworld.

Originally, there were so many people in broad daylight, and I was not afraid of what a few of them would do, but after it got dark, who knew if they would suddenly become animalistic?

They didn't know this, Peng Shan and they were leaning against a rock, quietly waiting for the person they were waiting for to appear, and after the last family left, only the sound of them talking to each other was left in the whole shallow...

I don't know how long it took to pass the road, but a black shadow suddenly appeared on the river in the distance, and Peng Shan, who was smoking there, snuffed out the smoke. "It's coming, it's all ready..."

Hearing his words, the rest of the people nodded and took out their weapons from their waists, and one even took out a light machine gun from a box he was carrying, and pointed it in the direction of the black shadow after assembling it.

After about a few minutes, the black shadow docked near the shallows, and soon Peng Shan and the others saw the true face of the black shadow, a river boat that was not very large, and then several people walked down from the boat.

"Hey, it's just an ordinary transaction, is it worth making such a big fuss..."

Looking at the pistols in the hands of Peng Shan and the others and the machine guns that had been set up on the rocks behind them, the person who led the group also spoke in a somewhat frivolous tone while raising his hands.

"There's nothing wrong with being careful..."

After signaling the few people who came with him to stay where he was, Peng Shan stepped forward two steps alone.

By the moonlight, he could see that there were several white men in front of him, and the one at the head had a cigar in his mouth.

"Did you bring everything?" Stopping five or six meters away from the other party, Peng Shan said in a cold tone.

"Of course—" The white man at the head smiled, and then a man behind him whistled, and it wasn't long before he saw more than a dozen people come down from the ship carrying some boxes.

After moving the box to Peng Shan's side, one of them opened the box, and by the moonlight, it was clear that it contained some machines.

"What about yours?"

Seeing that Peng Shan had already seen it, the white man with the cigar in his mouth raised his chin.

Waving his hand behind him, a man who followed Peng Shan pinned the pistol to his waist and also walked over with a suitcase. When you open the suitcase, you can quickly see the large denomination of British pound bills inside...

"Good..."

Although the transaction has gone quite smoothly at this point, no one dares to be careless. Because the trade was carried out in secret and was not known, that is, smuggling in the usual sense, the machines contained in the boxes were the manufacturing equipment needed by the arsenal.

These white people in front of me are some American smugglers, specializing in smuggling some contraband...

In this kind of transaction, it is almost a matter of course that something goes black and black, and in fact if it weren't for the light machine gun on the rock, I'm afraid that the American with a cigar in his mouth would really want to eat black...

Thankfully, the deal went smoothly and nothing unexpected happened...

When watching the river ship sail away from the river, Peng Shan breathed a sigh of relief unknowingly... (To be continued......)