Episode 8 Terminally ill

"The most commonly used 7.62 mm rifle and machine gun bullets, and everyone knows that almost a quarter of the country's artillery shells and bullets are produced here...... If nothing else, the daily output of rifle machine gun bullets alone is more than 100,000 rounds. And those pistol shells, artillery shells, and bullet shells combined, which should use up almost 5 tons of copper a day. ”

Mu Long walked around the room with his hands behind his back and his stomach propped up, his eyes shining with excitement. The two financial officials sat there with the selected data in front of them, looking respectfully at their superiors and listening.

Mu Long turned his face and asked:

"5 tons of copper a day, how much is a year?"

A financial officer smiled respectfully: "My lord, it's 1,825 tons." ”

Mu Long waved his hand and gritted his teeth:

"That's 1,825 tons of copper a year! But how many do we see in Curry? 20 tons is remarkable! 5 tons a day, and only 20 tons in the warehouse? Hmph, there is no copper factory near Baoding, and you have to go more than 600 miles away to transport it! …… With such a long distance, could it be that he would run once in three or four days? It's not enough for gas! …… Copper should be used in the production of gun bullets, and he doesn't save copper, but what does he do with so much steel? When I don't know?

“…… Use me as a mallet, huh? Make bullets out of steel and cast iron, and buy copper for money...... This trick is now being played in arsenals all over the country, and he thinks I don't know? Originally, if he had confessed to us well, then he would have said anything. Now that he is using us as mallets, we can't be polite to him. Calculate how much this Niu Zhongqing can make in a year. ”

The financial officer under his command had already calculated it, and said with a smile:

"My lord, now a ton of pure copper is 554 oceans, and a ton of steel, which is the kind of steel they use to make bullets, only costs 72 oceans per ton. In this way, he can be greedy for 482 oceans with one ton. With 1,825 tons a year, that's 879,650 oceans! My lord, this is only calculated by the weight of copper, not the difference between the specific gravity of copper and steel! The specific gravity of copper is 8.9, while the specific gravity of steel is only 7.8. For example, a warhead of the same caliber will cost 8.9 grams if it is made of copper, and only 7.8 grams if it is made of steel. The less used part is not counted!

"And, my lord, this is still said to be made of steel, and if he uses cast iron, then a ton of cast iron will only cost 25 oceans! He can be greedy for ink 965425 the ocean in a year! My lord! ”

Mu Long sneered, calculated in his heart, and said:

"No, he didn't dare to use all cast iron. The cast iron stuff is so rough that it doesn't make much money...... At most, he used a part. We give him two equals and one flat, even if he makes 900,000 oceans a year. ”

"Your Excellency!" Another treasurer immediately reminded, "This is just a small head!" The big head is not copper, it's still tungsten! ”

"Oh? By the way, I almost forgot. Armor-piercing shells are also produced here. ”

Mu Long sneered and counted one by one:

"Although the number of armor-piercing shells is small, there is a lot of tungsten alloy used for each round! Those anti-tank guns are at least 14.5 mm caliber, and there are more than 20 mm and 30 mm calibers...... And armor-piercing shells, more than forty millimeters, more than fifty millimeters...... There are also shells for naval guns, more than 100 mm, more than 200 mm...... There are also even bigger ones, and there are many coastal defense guns of more than 200 millimeters in various coastal defense areas...... Hmph, that bell cannonball, a few rounds of tungsten core is enough for a ton...... How much is tungsten alloy a ton? ”

The so-called tungsten alloy, later called "cemented carbide", is 95% tungsten carbide plus 5% cobalt, and cobalt is more expensive than tungsten. It is also commonly known as "tungsten steel", but there is no iron in it, and it is not steel. It's super hard, comparable to diamond. Make all kinds of lathe tools, not only sharpen iron like mud, but also cut steel like mud, known as "industrial teeth", is the basic raw material of a country's machinery manufacturing industry. Moreover, it is resistant to high wear and high temperature, and is also an important raw material for the arms industry.

……

"My lord," the first financial officer hurriedly said, "tungsten alloy 1 ton 8630 ocean!" ”

More than 8,000 oceans a ton...... Such a sky-high price can almost be called a precious metal. But Mu Long'e understands that tungsten is so expensive in the Qing Dynasty now. As the most important mineral resource in industry and military, tungsten is very rare in the Qing Dynasty. It can't be helped, God always seems to like to put something in one place. For example, 780% of the world's tungsten is in Nanming, and the price in Nanming is only less than half. And it was sold by Japan halfway through, and then sold to the Qing Dynasty, which became such a sky-high price.

Of course, it could have been less expensive, six or seven thousand one tons, but the Japanese middlemen fed all the relevant officials up and down the Qing Dynasty, and one ton was sold for one or two thousand more smoothly. As a result, the Qing Dynasty can only use more than 8,000 tons of tungsten in China.

Mu Long's estimate that the production of armor-piercing shells is not as stable as ordinary bullets and artillery shells, but it is still very realistic for the plant to use 200 tons of tungsten a year. He asked people to calculate, according to 200 tons, you can be greedy for 1,726,000 oceans in a year.

Copper and tungsten combined, this arsenal was greedy for ink 2,626,000 oceans a year!

More than 2.6 million oceans, and this is just this arsenal. It is an open secret that the arsenals of the whole country are basically like this. It can be said that the whole country purged the emperor who was not greedy for ink alone, and everyone was greedy for ink. In the ammunition alone, tens of millions of oceans across the country enter the pockets of relevant officials every year.

…… The price is: except for a few Eight Banner Divisions and some key units that can use copper bullets, 90% of the Han army uses steel bullets, or worse cast iron bullets. The cannon also used steel shells, not copper shells. Countless anti-tank guns, anti-tank guns, tank guns, shore defense guns, naval guns...... The so-called "armor-piercing bullets" fired by these armor-piercing weapons are basically steel cores. The tungsten core bullet has become a "black heart bullet", and the armor-piercing effect can be left, which can be imagined.

The bullet is made of steel instead of copper, which brings the following costs: first, the barrel wall is seriously worn out and the life of the weapon is greatly shortened. Second, steel is lighter than copper, and the range, bullet flight stability, and so on are much inferior. Thirdly, steel is not as malleable as copper, and cannot quickly fill all the gaps in the barrel under explosive high pressure, like copper, and the thrust effect in the chamber is not ideal. What's worse is that if the barrel is not made a little precisely, the steel bullet may be stuck in one place and cannot be fired, resulting in an explosion. Fourth, it is not easy to deform when it enters the human body, and the lethality is small. Fifth, it is easy to get stuck. ……

In addition, there is a saying: the collision and friction between steel and steel is too easy to produce sparks, which can easily lead to misfire......

……

The reason why the military industrial system dares to cut corners so blatantly is that, in addition to the fact that all levels and levels are greedy for ink and the protection network has long been seamless, a very important reason is that they know that these shoddy munitions will not be used at all. Since the last Ming and Qing wars at the end of the 19th century, arsenals have been producing these rags, year after year, the old ones are scrapped and the new ones are sent out, and the "Thousand Divisions Army" of the Qing Dynasty has never fired a gun. Even if it's in tatters, what can it do?

Especially after the Wuxu Reform and the Manchu Qing Dynasty formed a strategic offensive against the Southern Ming, the entire empire, from the emperor to the common people, had a deep-rooted view: it could only be the Qing Dynasty that fought over, and it could not be that the Southern Ming Dynasty fought over. In addition, Nanming was terrified to build the Yangtze River defense line, as if it could block the Qing army...... the concept of "Nanming could not fight over, only the Qing Dynasty could fight over" was even more deep-rooted.

However, under the influence of this concept, the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which was already relatively decadent, quickly became more corrupt after successfully changing the law and achieving great results...... On the contrary, the Nanming Dynasty, which was originally relatively clear, embarked on the road of gradually becoming a constitutional monarchy and becoming more politically clear in the past few decades.

Until the latest war of the Ming and Qing dynasties not long ago, it really made these moths of the military industrial system sweat. In this short campaign, the problem of the quality of the munitions was not clearly exposed. The biggest reason is that the main ones who fought with the Ming army were the Eight Banners Division. As an elite unit, the weapons and ammunition of the Eight Banners Division are all "specially supplied", and the quality is not bad. And those Han soldiers were either killed in the river and used as cannon fodder, or they were captured back to the south bank as prisoners, and it is exaggerated to say that they did not even have a chance to shoot.

This "conflict" ended in a flash of lightning, and the entire group of corrupt Manchu officials let out a long breath. Originally, they even had their own scapegoats in mind, but now it was a false alarm. Soon, the arms system began to unscrupulously produce junk arms again, and the entire corrupt official clique began to unscrupulously collect protection money and give the green light to junk arms.

……

Mu Long's forehead commanded:

"Bring that plaque again."

Two subordinates immediately lifted a plaque from the cabinet. This plaque was sent by Niu Zhongqing arranged for hundreds of workers to beat gongs and drums before eating "Female Body Sheng" in the evening. The four old-fashioned big characters on it: love the people like sons. But although the characters are old-fashioned, they are very valuable, first of all, the wooden plaque is made of two wide rosewood blocks. Rosewood is the most precious in wood, and large materials are even more scarce. Although this is not a whole plaque, but two splices, each red sandalwood board is also extremely valuable. The four big characters are written by the first-class masters in China, and they are plated with real gold. This plaque alone is worth tens of thousands of oceans.

However, Mu Long'e, who is experienced in receiving gifts, naturally understands that the mystery is generally behind the plaque. He doesn't know how many of these "sandwich plaques" he has received. But this one, I haven't had time to open it yet.

He tapped it with his hands, and sure enough, behind the rosewood board, there was a thin layer of cardboard. At the same time, the scent of the ink is also coming out. Gently pried it up, revealing a whole plaque of "paper" underneath.

Not banknotes.

The papers were stacked on top of each other, the size of a book, neatly stacked, and each stack was tied with brown paper tape. Although it is not a banknote, it is printed with intricate patterns and a foreigner's head. Each one has Arabic numerals on it: 1000

The two subordinates understood it at a glance. Mu Long's well-informed and countless gifts have long understood what this is. The only thing he asked was:

"Which bank is this?"

A financial officer swallowed lightly and said:

"My lord, Citibank."

Well, that's the bearer bond of Citibank in the United States. $1,000 each.

This bearer bond is equivalent to a large amount of banknotes, which can be exchanged for cash at any time at the bank. And it's not like a check or something, but you have to have a real name. It's very convenient.

Mulon grabbed stacks of bonds, took them out, and placed them on the table. Although the whole plaque is lined up, each stack is not thick, there are only about a dozen. Because the plaque itself is not thick.

After taking them all out, I counted them, and there were 100 in total, 100,000 dollars.

It is equivalent to 329,000 clear oceans, or 143,000 clear oceans.

Mu Long's sneered and threw the stack of bonds on the table:

"It's really like a mallet. They catch more than 2 million oceans a year, and now they want to send us away with more than 300,000? Are you kidding. ”