"Expandable elastic belts do not have to be made of copper," Lin Shenhe said, his voice full of fatigue and his eyes bloodshot. [Read the latest chapter] The work of mapping and identifying the weapon parts and ammunition fragments Haiqi brought back from Manila piece by piece was not easy. The Intelligence Bureau wanted his appraisal report in such a hurry that he worked even during his breaks. "Just use lead." Yes, the cost is much lower and the processing is easy.”
"Cannonballs, ammunition belts, etc. are all trivial matters," Wang Ruixiang lit a gold limited edition Nanhai cigar, took a sip, and continued: "The key is what kind of cannon can he make? Rifling an old Spanish cannon. Forget about showing up in military parades. Is it so easy to build a large-caliber rifled gun? Do the Japanese have the ability to copy a Krupp company or a Rock Island Arsenal with their bare hands? Does he have a drilling machine or a boring machine? Is there a steam hammer? After all, there are two steam engines in Huangya Cave in TG. If he can lead those white-skinned and ignorant Filipino natives who only know how to play the Bible and matchlocks, he can use the entire artillery When the technological trees are climbed out, let’s all hang up street lights at the industrial entrance in Lingao.”
"I have a long telegram here from Manila Station. The Confidential Office did not translate it until before the meeting." Jiang Shan took over the conversation: "Reporting the latest situation, it was discovered that the Spanish authorities were west of Manila, between the Pasig River and A large-scale metal smelting plant was built at the confluence of the San Juan River. The authorities gathered Chinese plasterers, carpenters, blacksmiths and coppersmiths to work in Manila and Cavite. Four to five hundred people have been sent. About 1.5 kilometers upstream from the mouth of the river, they A barrage is being built on the San Juan River to store water, and Chinese craftsmen are making some kind of waterwheel device using hardwood cut down from the upper reaches..."
"This thing is useless," Wang Ruixiang blew out a smoke ring dismissively, "Hydraulic machine tool, hehe. The efficiency is horribly low. Do you still expect the hydraulic hammer to forge the cannon embryo? Then he will not be able to make a 12-pound Napoleon even if he dies. Bigger guy.”
"This is not the key. The key is that he thought he could do it, and the Spaniards also believed he could do it." Lin Shenhe said. "Besides, he can use the simplest method of rifling a smoothbore cannon to make large artillery. The Spanish are not very good at making cast iron cannons - it doesn't matter, you can use those bronze cannons. Anyway, the Spaniards are also very experienced in casting bronze cannons. . Let’s not underestimate his idea of maximizing energy in a simple environment. Let’s take a look at his works.” As he spoke, he took out something from the sample box. The rocket wreckage that Xue Ziliang once saw.
"Rudimentary enough. Right? Even compared with our Hale rockets, they are far behind, let alone any kind of modern rockets we are familiar with. Since the Japanese are smuggling modern weapons. Aviation rockets, Stalin Haven't seen anything like an organ or Type 63 107 fire? Why did he choose the Congreve rocket? Because it's simple enough: just add a balance rod to the projectile body. The projectile body is rolled with iron sheets and connected to seamless steel pipes. None are needed.”
Lin Shenhe took a breather by drinking water and continued to talk: "Some wreckage shows that this Paul has further simplified the process and used concrete paper to directly press the warhead shell on the mold. That's right. Even if this guy improves it Despite the design, the hit rate of these rockets is still very poor, and many of them will undergo Brownian motion when fired. But they are enough to blow up cities, burn ships at the docks, and demolish indigenous villages. Most importantly, they are not difficult to build. "
"What you mean is," Wang Ding tried to summarize: "He is proficient in arms technology, but he is not a simple admirer of technology. Instead, he focuses on making weapons with the best performance possible under the conditions allowed by the time and space environment."
"The price is cheap but the quantity is sufficient." Lin Shenhe replied: "This is the principle of those who engage in underground arms for irregular armed forces, if that Paul has done this kind of work in the past."
"This man is very dangerous. He used a fake name and identity when he was on Lando's ship. What secrets does he have that he wants to hide from his associates who are doing illegal things together?" Jiang Shan put forward his own opinion.
"Maybe before time travel, he was a weapons expert, or at least a technician in a related industry. Maybe he was a terrorist. But after time travel, he very wisely used his knowledge and skills as a stepping stone. At present, We don’t know whether he chose to surrender to the Spanish colonial authorities passively or actively, but the Spaniards would definitely welcome inventors who brought them new weapons.”
"Why? Just because we attacked the galleon and scared the Spanish devils in Manila to shit? They spent so much money on a yellow man of unknown origin just to calm their false fears?"
The expansion of the fortress alone had made the governor stretched thin in the history of the old time and space, and he had to repeatedly appeal to the king to increase subsidies. And the scale of colonial rearmament in Manila now far exceeds that of old times.
“First of all, historically, the current Governor of Manila has been immersed in the fear of an imminent invasion by the Dutch for many years. If you are interested in reading the historical data collection provided by the Grand Library, you will know how afraid the Spanish were of this threat. The Spanish Governor's letters to the East India Council, the Privy Council and the King were full of delusions of being besieged. And historically, he did invest a large amount of money in the defense of the Philippines and Manila." Wang Ding talked. Tan said, "After we robbed two Manila galleons and signed a business contract with the Dutch, the fear of the Spanish in Manila was further amplified. In addition to the Dutch and the British, their imaginary enemies included us. ." Wang Ding said, "Looking at the overall situation, it is now the Thirty Years War. France under Richelieu is about to form an alliance with Sweden against the Catholic camp, and Spain's situation in Europe will become difficult. War is military. The most technologically advanced propeller now has another weapons genius who is good at utilizing existing technological resources, and he also happens to be a devout Catholic. In the eyes of the Spaniards, it is simply a blessing from God. What’s more, the military pressure faced by the Spaniards is Global.”
"Global?"
"The Spaniards - or the Habsburgs - were the world's first global empire. Unfortunately, this empire was born in an era before radio and motorized ships. In the Mediterranean, they had to face the Turks; in continental Europe , were the Protestant German princes and the French with ulterior motives. Then came the Dutch and the British. In Asia and America, the Dutch and the British spared no effort to attack Spanish ships and colonies. It seemed that they were going to add more to this empire. Burden, now that the King of Spain has become the King of Portugal, the already stretched Spanish naval squadron still has to shoulder the task of defending Portuguese territories - so the decline of the Spanish is not accidental, it is inevitable."
Every governor of a Spanish or Portuguese colony knew very well that once they encountered an enemy attack, they would not receive any support unless a local squadron happened to be stationed in the harbor. The colonies can only rely on themselves for defense, and be ready for battle on weekdays.
Wang Ruixiang snorted: "This is a joke. Let the Spaniards set off rockets to burn Paris, and the French have learned how to make rockets and then burn Madrid. Isn't it great? As for the colonies, they can burn each other. The white-skinned devils are killing each other. The more you kill, the better, so that we can do it ourselves when we conquer Europe in the future."
"Thinking too far. Let's see what real threat this time traveler's work will bring to us," Quan Quan, who came from Kaohsiung to attend the meeting, spoke, "Let's not care about what kind of cannons will be installed on the Manila Fortress, Lando The mysterious ship under construction under the bamboo shed in the shipyard discovered by Mr. should probably attract our attention even more."
As he spoke, a tightly covered shipyard in the shipyard appeared on the projector.
"Judging from the outer dimensions of the dock and the area of the temporary bamboo shed, the tonnage of this ship is not large - it can even be said to be very small. If it were a ship, its displacement would not exceed one hundred tons."
The problem is that a ship of less than a hundred tons is not worth covering with a bamboo shed anyway.
"...Obviously, there must be some secret weapon under this bamboo shed."
"According to this book's usual nature, it must be something like the final decisive battle weapon."
"It's very possible. Could it be Gundam."
Xuanchan coughed: "The naval intelligence department believes that there is a half chance of submarines and rod mine boats being built under this bamboo shed. Considering that Hale has no signs of mastering steam engine technology, then the possibility of man-made submarines is very high. If we don’t pay enough attention, one day the fleet will enter Manila Bay, and the tragedy of the Housatonic will happen more than 200 years in advance."
"Are you kidding? If you say that, we will still build the Archon class. Besides, even if it is true, the fishery sonar on our 8154 cruiser is already thirsty."
"Submarines have a long history. It's not surprising that they can be built. They are just of little value. As long as there is a qualified lookout on board, this so-called submarine cannot avoid being discovered, and it cannot attack targets during navigation."
"It doesn't matter about the submarine. If this time traveler creates simple mines and lets the Spaniards take them to Keelung to deploy them, it will pose a threat to our fleet sailing in Taiwan waters."
"Mine? If this guy designed it, can the Spaniards build it?"
"A simple anchor mine is fine, but floating mines are easier to make and are much more convenient than cannons." Lin Shenhe said, "The triggering mechanism can use a chemical fuze. Since he can make mercury fulminate, this thing is not difficult. If the Spaniards plan to abandon their stronghold in Keelung but want to add to our difficulties, mines are a good choice."
