219. Wait for the Central Plains to cast troops

The most profitable in the industry? Smoke? Wine? Salt? Medicine? Smuggle? Drug trafficking? Prostitution? Official? …… It seems that every single profit is staggering. No pop-up window update fast //!d to win phone bills)

Sun Yuanqi thought for a moment and gave this answer: "In my opinion, any industry that uses state violence to prevent ordinary people from entering is generally very profitable. ”

Liu Qingen didn't expect Sun Yuanqi to give this answer, and he was a little stunned for a while: "Mr. Baixi said it thoroughly, but for the steel industry, there is only one that is the most profitable!" ”

Sun Yuanqi had a flash of inspiration in his head: "Arms? ”

That's right, it's arms! As I said earlier, "In addition to those who rob the road, there are those who sell medicine." "There is no doubt that the arms dealers are hijackers. In order to make super-profits, they even go so far as to promote wars, support rebellions, condone massacres, and cover up crimes.

Among the world's top 500 enterprises, there has always been a place for arms dealers, and their share is not in the list in 2012, there are more than a dozen companies such as Boeing, European Aerospace Defense, United Technologies, China Ordnance, Lockheed Martin, Honeywell, General Dynamics, and Raytheon. In addition, it should also include ThyssenKrupp, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and many other enterprises involved in the military industry.

Of course, all this is on the surface, just the tip of the iceberg, and the real wealth of the arms tycoons is definitely a staggering figure, and it will never be known.

Sure enough, Liu Qingen nodded: "Yes, it's arms!" For example, the Type 88 rifle produced by the Hanyang Arsenal has a factory price of 20 taels of silver. However, according to our calculations based on relevant information, including steel, raw materials and labor, the cost is definitely not more than 5 taels, and the profit reaches 300 percent!

"It's not the blackest. Because China is temporarily unable to produce some advanced weapons, foreign firearms companies are sitting on the ground and raising prices, and their profits are even more jaw-dropping. For example, the Makqin heavy machine gun costs only about 200 taels of silver, but in China it costs between 1,000 and 1,200 taels of silver. This shows the extent of the huge profits of arms! ”

Sun Yuanqi understood their intentions: "You want the Beiping Iron Works to produce munitions?" ”

None of the four lads spoke, but their faces were full of smiles, and their true intentions were self-evident.

"Actually, I also wanted to make munitions, after all, it is so profitable that anyone who sees it wants to pounce on it and take a bite, and the importance of munitions is well known. But I gave up on the idea. Sun Yuanqi said generously.

"Why?" Several young men asked in unison.

"There are many reasons, but in the end, technology doesn't work." Sun Yuanqi was a little ashamed, "Let's take the simplest rifle as an example, you must first have design drawings before manufacturing, right?" No one in our country has yet been able to design an advanced and stable rifle, and the design drawings can only be purchased from foreigners. Foreigners are not stupid either, how can they sell you advanced weapons? Most of the obsolete gun models are sold to China. Hanyang-made is a lesson from the past. ”

The prototype made in Hanyang was a German-style commission rifle.

The French Army was equipped with the all-new Lebel rifle, the world's first small-caliber military rifle using smokeless propellant, which far surpassed the German firearms of the time in terms of lethality and ballistics. As a hostile neighbor, the Germans immediately felt the pressure of the new guns, and immediately set up a rifle test committee to design new guns to fight the Type 86 rifles. This new gun of the Germans, the Ready-to-Style Board Rifle.

After the Type 88 rifle was officially put into service, many problems were exposed in the process of use, such as the difficulty of loading and rejecting, the neck of the cartridge case is easy to break when the shell is drawn, and the chamber pressure is too large and it is easy to explode. Although a series of improvements have been made since then, some of the problems are congenital deficiencies, and small repairs and small changes will not help at all. In 1898, the Germans decided to replace it with the Mauser 1898 rifle.

What to do with this obsolete gun type? Dusting it up? The Germans were not so simple, and they sold the rifle to Turkey and some backward countries in Africa, including China.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Westernists trusted the quality of Germany as well as the Chinese people of today, and the German businessmen falsely called the rifle Mauser. When Zhang Zhidong and others heard that it was a "Mauser" brand rifle, they were like a little woman who saw a Prada bag, a Patek Philippe watch, and a Lamborghini sports car, and their eyes turned into peach hearts, and they willingly paid for a full set of design drawings and production equipment.

"Even if there are drawings, the processing of parts such as barrels and rifling requires reliable technology and skilled technicians. The Beiping Iron Works had just been established, and there was no technical accumulation, let alone technicians, and they could only sigh when they got the drawings. Sun Yuanqi smiled bitterly and shook his head, "How can it be so easy to produce munitions?" If it was easy, it would have been rotten on the street a long time ago, and there would be no huge profits! ”

Several young people glanced at each other, and then Wei Zhenxiong, who was in the lead, said: "Mr. Baixi, to be honest, we have a few friends who have designed a new type of weapon, which has a simple structure and great power, and is very marketable. This time, I wanted to discuss cooperation with Beiping iron manufacturers. ”

"Oh? Can I see the design drawings? Sun Yuanqi was aroused, and even speculated: Could it be a famous conscienceless cannon?

"Okay." Liu Qingen got up and went to get the drawings. The remaining three people all glanced at Cai Qide from time to time, quite guarded. Are you afraid that Cai Qide will see the drawings leaked?

The design drawings sound very mysterious, but in fact they are very ordinary, that is, the combination of patterns and data, and the number is relatively large, even if it is a design drawing of an ordinary rifle, there are at least dozens or hundreds of drawings, including the plan of each component, elevation, enlarged drawing, etc., each with a large number of data to indicate the shape, size, material, and function of the parts. For non-professionals, the design drawings are no different from the book of heaven, they can't be understood, so how can they leak secrets?

Obviously, they didn't want Cai Qide to hear the conversation between the two sides.

Cai Qide has worked hard in the business for many years, and his observation of words and expressions is first-class, so he hurriedly got up when he saw this: "Everyone, you guys are busy first, I'll go downstairs to arrange a table, and let's have a light meal together at noon." ”

Sun Yuan smiled and said: "Zicheng is the assistant manager of the Beiping Iron Works, not an outsider. In case we cooperate in the future, he will inevitably need his help in production, so there is no need to avoid it. ”

Cai Qide humbly gave a few words, but still said goodbye.

Liu Qingen took out a large stack of drawings, picked up the top one, carefully spread it on the table in front of Sun Yuanqi, and began to introduce: "Mr. Baixi, this is the overall structure of the weapon. ”

Sun Yuanqi's understanding of weapons is limited to a superficial understanding obtained from war films, and when he sees the overall structure diagram, he can't help but blurt out: "Isn't this a mortar?" ”

"Mortars? Mr. Baixi has seen it before? Liu Qingen looked at Sun Yuanqi in surprise.

"Oh, no, I've just heard of it......" Sun Yuanqi hurriedly denied it. But I was thinking in my heart: I have seen it in TV and movies, I don't know if it counts?

Liu Qingen not only did not ask, but nodded: "Indeed, the mortar was not our first creation, but was born during the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, and the inventor was the Russian artillery captain Gobiato. However, Gobiato only modified the old 47mm naval mortar gun and placed it on a gun carriage with wheels to fire a long-tail shell at a large elevation angle. In contrast, our design is more unique. ”

As he spoke, he pointed to the structural diagram: "Look, our mortar is composed of four parts: the gun body, the gun mount, the seat plate, and the sight. The standard length of the gun is 83 cm, and it can also be selected differently according to the distance of the firing range; The gun carriage is a bipod, which can be adjusted according to the height and direction of the target position, and can be folded up when marching; The seat sheet is the main component that bears the recoil, and at the same time, together with the bipod, it plays the role of supporting the mortar body; The sight is an optical sight engraved with direction and high and low divisions.

"The mortar has a caliber of 60 mm, weighs 30 pounds, has a rate of fire of up to 30 rounds per minute, and the firing range is expected to be between 150 meters and 3,000 meters; The shell weighs 3 pounds and has an effective killing radius of 13 meters. It can be carried by individual soldiers, as an infantry standard fire support weapon and an effective suppression weapon, used in mountain warfare, trench warfare and jungle warfare, it is a rare melee weapon. ”

Sun Yuanqi naturally knows the power of mortars: in the anti-Japanese film, the little Japanese bullied the squadron with few guns and no artillery, and often used grenadiers (also called ultra-light mortars) and mortars to abuse the chickens and dogs.

Wei Zhenxiong squeezed over at this time and concluded: "As a kind of curved artillery that uses the seat plate to bear the recoil to fire shells, the mortar has very obvious advantages compared with other conventional artillery. First of all, it has superior performance. It has a large firing angle, small muzzle velocity, curved trajectory, and a short minimum range, which can not only approach direct fire at close targets, but also be suitable for overtaking shooting at targets behind concealed objects. Moreover, it is easy to reload, has a high rate of fire, and can fire twenty or thirty shells per minute, which is not to be underestimated.

"Secondly, it is not picky about shells, as long as the caliber is suitable, it can be equipped with a wide range of shells. Anti-personnel explosive bombs are generally used to annihilate and suppress the enemy's living forces and technical weapons, and to destroy obstacles such as barbed wire; It can also be equipped with special shells such as smoke bombs and flares.

"Third, it is only thirty pounds, light weight, small size, easy to operate, strong mobility, and the gun body and seat plate can be disassembled when marching, which is easy to carry; When fighting, you can carry people on horsebacks, run when you fight, and quickly transfer positions.

"The most important point is that it has a simple structure, low cost, low technical content, and is easy to produce on a large scale. We have already inspected the Beiping Iron Works before, and we think that as long as the equipment in the factory is slightly modified, this mortar can be produced! ”

"What about the shell manufacturing process?" Sun Yuanqi asked impatiently.

The production process of bullets and shells is not much simpler than that of firearms. Without suitable shells, mortars are not as good as burning sticks. And at the end of the Qing Dynasty, due to the use of brass as a cartridge case, the price was also high. It costs 40 taels of silver per thousand rounds of ammunition, not to mention artillery shells. In many cases, it is the same reason that you can afford guns and ammunition, and you can't afford to buy a car and can't drive a car right now. These are all inappropriate for Sun Yuan.

Wu Jian took out another drawing: "Please see, the tail and shell body that maintain the flight attitude are made of iron shells, and they are formed at one time by casting process, which is not very difficult. The key is the firing cap part, which requires fine machining and is not very difficult.

"It is better to use nitroglycerin explosives in the primer and in the body of the projectile. This high explosive is a patent applied for by Nobel in 7 years, and the patent protection period has long expired, and China does not have perfect patent regulations, so it is easy to make it. Of course, black powder is also fine, but I am afraid that the range will be greatly affected. ”

Hearing this, Sun Yuanqi's heart beat a few more times: "Then how do you plan to cooperate?" ”

!#