After visiting the Guangdong Arsenal for a while, Yan Shao finally had a better understanding of the current situation of the Guangdong Arsenal.

Just as Shi Lin just reported, after the first and second phases of the expansion project, the daily output of the Mauser 1904 rifle has reached 500 rounds, and the annual output is expected to be 180,000 pieces. Moreover, Shi Lin also made it very clear that because the current demand for the army is not large, the current arsenal implements two shifts a day, 16 hours a day, so the output is relatively small.

If there is a real emergency, the arsenal can continue to increase its output to more than 200,000 rods.

In addition to rifles, the existing Madsen light machine guns are produced at a rate of up to 1,000 units per month, and the Maxim heavy machine guns are produced at a rate of 300 units per month.

In addition, there are mortars, which are currently equipped with three calibers, 60mm, 80mm and 120mm. The output is 300 doors, 300 doors, and 100 doors. Of course, it must be a monthly send.

Compared with the above, the production of artillery is relatively small, of which only 50 infantry guns of 75mm caliber are produced, and even less are produced of 105mm caliber howitzers, only 15 units.

As for larger calibers, such as 150mm, 210mm, and 240mm calibers, only Anhui's arsenal in China is capable of manufacturing them. Although the Guangdong Arsenal and other arsenals have also purchased enough equipment, this kind of equipment has not yet been installed, and there are relatively few people who can use it, and they still need to wait for people from Anhui to come and conduct training.

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The above data may seem like a lot. But in Yan Shao's opinion, it is still a little insufficient.

According to the 'Seventh Five-Year Plan', which is the first five-year plan, as many as 10 arsenals will be built and expanded. They are Fengtian Arsenal, Inner Mongolia Arsenal, Beijing Arsenal, Hanyang Arsenal, Shanghai Arsenal, Guangdong Arsenal, Sichuan Arsenal, Anhui Arsenal, Lanzhou Arsenal and Dexian Arsenal.

However, the four arsenals in Fengtian, Inner Mongolia, Beijing, and Lanzhou are newly built. Get it out on the basis of being poor and white. Due to the relative remoteness of Inner Mongolia and Lanzhou, the railways were not opened to traffic when the plan was formulated. All the equipment can only be transported by truck, so until now it has only barely completed the first phase of the project, is the capacity...

It is no different from the Guangdong Arsenal in the former Qing Dynasty, at most a few hundred rifles and one or two dozen light machine guns are produced in a month. At most, it can produce some more grenades and gun shells, etc., not even mortars.

The arsenals in Fengtian and Beijing are relatively convenient because of their transportation. So the progress is a little stronger than the above two, but it's not much stronger.

The six arsenals in Hanyang, Guangdong, Anhui, Sichuan, Shanghai and Dexian in Shandong belong to the expansion category. Not to mention the Hanyang Arsenal. It is famous all over the country because of Hanyang-made. Although in terms of performance, Hanyang-made is actually a generation worse than Guangdong's 6.8mm rifle, but who called Hanyang-made cheap to use...

In addition, the Guangdong Arsenal, the Sichuan Arsenal, the Shanghai Arsenal (formerly the Jiangnan Machinery Manufacturing Bureau), and the Shandong Dexian Arsenal are also inherited from the original arsenals of the former Qing Dynasty.

plus an Anhui arsenal that Yan Shao has been operating for many years. These. is what Yan Shao can really rely on.

However, the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau has been somewhat deserted in recent years, and the Dexian Arsenal used to only be able to produce gunpowder and gun ammunition, and rifles and machine guns were not capable of manufacturing. After the government's investment, although it has the ability to manufacture guns and ammunition, it is actually not much different from several other newly built arsenals.

So now, Yan Shao can only rely on the Guangdong Arsenal, the Sichuan Arsenal and the Anhui Arsenal, and if the rest want to rely on, it will probably take a while.

However, according to Yan Shao's plan. The expeditionary force had to land in Europe by 1916. In other words, in the case that none of the other seven remaining arsenals can be relied upon. Yan Shao can only find a way to rely on these three.

And...

"Right now, there is a lot of fighting in Europe, and the demand for arms is also very high, you also have to work hard, don't always let people say that you will only spend money, not make money..."patting Shi Lin's shoulder, Yan Shao said to him with a smile.

"This is natural...," interjected a man on the side of the stone forest. Not long ago, after obtaining permission from the Ministry of Defense, we also exported a batch of grenades and mortars to the French, as well as about a hundred Maxim machine guns and more than 300 Madsen light machine guns, and the French were in a hurry, so we made a lot of money..."

Yan Shao also knew about this matter, but he was busy with a lot of things at that time, and he didn't know much about the details. So after hearing this, Yan Shao turned his head sideways and looked at Shi Lin as if asking.

"Is there such a thing..."Seeing Yan Shao look over, Shi Lin hurriedly replied. The total amount of this business is 1.13 million, and we have made at least 370,000 yuan from it, which is a big profit, which is probably the most money that our factory has made over the years..."

After speaking, Shi Lin said with some regret. "Actually, when I was trading, I also recommended the 6.8mm Mauser gun we were equipped with. The performance of this gun is really good, although it is not as good as the British Lee Enfield in terms of firepower, but the performance is absolutely excellent in other aspects, and it will definitely not be inferior to any rifle in the world, the French also agree with this after trying, but they feel that the caliber of the rifle is different from what they are using now, and they are afraid that if they use it, it will affect the logistics, and the French army uses German rifles or something......... So the most reluctant refused. ”

Shi Lin was not aware of the possibility that the Nationalist government might send an expeditionary force to Europe, so he felt that it would undoubtedly be a good idea to export some rifles to Europe when the domestic demand was not large. At the moment, the fighting in Europe is fierce, the demand for arms is great, and the French are offering high prices.

If he can take this opportunity to make a good profit, he can not only invest more money in the development of the factory, but also improve his life—————— he has never thought about being greedy for ink. Because now the Ministry of Integrity is investigating very well under the leadership of Song Jiaoren, and several people have already entered in Guangzhou, where does he still have the courage to do such a thing...

It's a pity. Although due to the shortage of supplies, this time the French and British ordered a batch of arms from the Chinese side. But there was little interest in the Mauser 1904 rifles, which were now fully equipped by the Wehrmacht, either the British nor the French.

The reason is also very simple, logistical problems, political problems.

First of all, there is logistics, the Mauser Model 1904 rifle has a caliber of 6.8mm, while the British's Lee Enfield has 7.7. It is precisely because of this that in history, the British-made Lee Enfield rifle will be called the British 77 rifle.

As for the French M1886 rifle, it is the same as the German Mauser G98, all of which are 8mm caliber—————— Lebel M1886, also known as or Lebel rifle, is a manual bolt-action rifle launched by France in 1886. by Nicholas. Developed by Colonel Lebel. The gun was used by Paul. Vienna's Powder B was the first and most successful smokeless gunpowder firearm in history. The advent of the Lebel rifle meant that those that used black powder became obsolete, and countries began to focus on the development and procurement of firearms that fired smokeless powder.

The Lebel rifle fires 8×50 mm all-enclosure rifle bullets with a load of 8 rounds. And feed with a built-in magazine. Besides. It can also be equipped with a long-needle-shaped heavy saber bayonet for white-knuckle combat. However, although the rifle has a high load of 8 rounds, it is actually very slow to reload.

In 1888, the Frenchman Berchtier modified the bolt of the French army's standard rifle M1886 at that time, and equipped it with the 3-round magazine of the Austrian Manlisia, and developed a rotary pull-back bolt motorized rifle, which is referred to as the Berchtier rifle. Although the rifle only has 3 rounds in its magazine, it is also named the Manlisia-Berthtier rifle because it uses a magazine to press the magazine into the magazine and reload faster than the M1886 tubular magazine.

Later this rifle received further improvements. At the same time, it was designated the M1907 rifle.

The problem is that although the performance of this rifle is stronger than the original, it is somewhat inferior to the rifles of its time. Usually there is nothing. But in World War I, this disparity became apparent.

The French were clever enough to quickly spot the problem, so in 1915 they switched to a five-round magazine, which was named the M1907 rifle with the "MLE1907/15 marking" engraved on the left side of the receiver.

In other words, the current European battlefield can be roughly divided into three calibers, one is the British 77, that is, 7.7 caliber, the other is the 8mm caliber of Germany, France and Austria, and the countries that use this caliber rifle are Germany's Mauser G98, France's M1907 rifle, Austria's Manlicha, and the last one is Russia's Mosin? Nagant...

In this case, it is really difficult to say that there is any market for the 6.8mm caliber rifles used by the Wehrmacht.

What's more, we also need to consider political factors, they are the French army, and now they are fighting with the Germans, let them use German-style weapons—————— they are not yet to the point of dying, France is also one of the world's most powerful land forces, even if the German Mauser rifles are better than theirs, with the proud character of the French, how can they use German weapons? Even if these weapons are made by the Chinese ...

"That's really a pity..."I once lived in France for a period of time and had a French wife, Yan Shao certainly knew what was going on with French pride, so he didn't say anything more.

However, Kaoru Otsuki, who had been listening to Yan Shao behind him, asked a little strangely after listening. "If it's just a different caliber, then it's okay to change the caliber, right?"

Kaoru Otsuki's words were clearly heard by the people around him, but for his question, none of the people present could answer it, and no one was willing to answer it. Although Otsuki Kaoru has not yet married Yan Shao, everyone knows that this woman who has always appeared by Yan Shao's side and even slept in Yan Shao's bedroom is likely to be Yan Shao's fourth wife, although her identity is a little criticized, but absolutely no one dares to offend her anything, especially in front of Yan Shao.

And after listening to Otsuki Kaoru's words, Yan Shao shook his head and said. "It's okay to do this, but although the caliber can be changed at will, after changing the caliber. I'm afraid that some parts of the rifle itself will also have to be changed, which will be too much of a waste of time. It is better to do nothing, and see if we can persuade the French to use our weapons, or..."

Yan Shao looked at the stone forest. "If you were asked to produce French rifles, would you be able to produce them?" Although it was a question sentence, Yan Shao's tone was affirmative.

In the handicraft workshops of later generations in Afghanistan, those Afghans could make AKs with simple tools and some parts in their hands. At present, although the Guangdong Arsenal and some other arsenals are much behind in terms of equipment compared with a few decades later, they are at least very comprehensive. And it's definitely much better than those handicraft workshops in Afghanistan.

Moreover, these devices were not only used to produce one type of non-gun, it was perfectly feasible for them to produce another rifle of the same era.

"Of course you can..."Shi Lin said calmly. If we need to do this, we only need a French rifle as a sample. Of course, it would be great if you could have some drawings and molds. ”

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After staying in the arsenal for a while, Yan Shao left the arsenal with Kaoru Otsuki and Lu Ying.

"Sir, before leaving. What did you talk about with that guy named Shi Lin..."

In an annex where I stayed. Lu Ying was lying naked on her back in Yan Shao's arms, a pair of plump snow-white breasts exposed to the air, covered with red fingerprints. On the side, Kaoru Otsuki, who was also naked, leaned against Yan Shao's side, looking like she was about to fall asleep.

"It's nothing..."After patting Kaoru Otsuki's snow back to make her sleep more peacefully, Yan Shao said to Lu Ying. Just let him prepare..."

"Ready?"

"yes." Before Yan Shao left Beijing, his side had just undergone some transfers. Wu Qianqiu has been transferred to the army. And Lu Ying and Otsuki Kaoru are serving as secretaries by his side—————— of course, they are close.

The task of the two is mainly to take care of Yan Shao closely. And help him with some official business. This time I will follow Yan Shao when I go south, on the one hand, to take care of Yan Shao's life, and on the other hand, ......... There is no intent to monitor it.

Because including Kaoru Otsuki, everyone agreed that as long as there were four women around Yan Shao, it was enough, and there was no need for a fifth to appear. So in addition to taking care of Yan Shao's life, the rest of the two are responsible for monitoring.

Even if he uses the ability to cry, make trouble, and hang himself, he must not let Yan Shao bring the fifth person into the house.

Yan Shao was not unclear about Elaine's thoughts, but he didn't care much about them.

He may be more, but he is by no means the kind of person who wants to see a woman, and he doesn't intend to make himself uncomfortable.

"Ready, what is the reason why the United States is constantly selling arms to France at the moment? Because of the war, France's steel production has fallen to a dangerous number this year. Although there were still millions of them, they were no longer enough to equip the domestic troops, so the French ordered a large number of French-style weapons from the United States. That's what I asked Shilin to prepare, and now the Americans are making a lot of money through arms, so why can't we? ”

Yan Shaoke did not forget that it was by virtue of the continuous export of arms and other materials by the United States during World War I that it was able to replace Britain in World War II and become the world's largest power. Now Yan Shao has to do almost the same thing as this.

At present, there are a total of ten arsenals in the country, although most of them can only barely produce some ammunition, and some insignificant quantities of firearms and other weapons, but even ammunition is considered income, right?

At present, the country has been fully replaced with Mauser 1904 rifles, and all that is missing is light and heavy machine guns, mortars and infantry guns of other calibers. Including the Guangdong Arsenal, the Anhui Arsenal and the Sichuan Arsenal are currently producing rifles in a state of reserve—————— although the Wehrmacht has fully replaced the Mauser 1904 rifle, but it has only barely completed the reloading, each unit also needs a certain amount of firearms as spare parts, and now the arsenal is doing this, and the firearms produced are also placed in the arsenal as spare parts.

"However, now that our country has not entered a state of war, it is completely possible to take out half of the output to produce French or British weapons, and the rest to meet the needs of the national defense force, which can not only stimulate the development of the arsenal, but also make more money..."Scratching Lu Ying's nose, Yan Shao smiled.

At present, because of the war, France's own industry can no longer meet the needs of the war, so it needs to import a large amount of arms from the United States. Since the United States can sell arms, why doesn't Yan Shao sell them with him?

And Yan Shao's selling here also has an advantage that the United States does not have.

Security advantages...

Since Italy had taken refuge with the Entente, there was only one Austro-Hungarian Empire left in the Mediterranean on the Mediterranean coast. And in the interior of the Mediterranean, there was hardly any threat, except for a few German submarines that had sneaked in. Coupled with the external resources of Britain and France, some of which are equivalent to coming from the United States on the other side of the ocean, it is clear that the Atlantic Ocean is much more dangerous than the Mediterranean...

And especially important, if you go through the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean, you can go directly to Marseille via the Ligurian Sea. Instead of venturing across the Atlantic and getting things to the Bay of Biscay on the northwest coast...

It was a sea area that was often infested by German submarines...

Any Entente ships passing through there, it was a risky move ... (To be continued......)