The Hebei Weapons Company was also worried that something would come out, and the cavalry would be cheap... so they said this at this time.
Luo Zhixue felt that if this gun was produced and the cost was not expensive, it could really equip the cavalry on a large scale, thereby improving the cavalry's combat effectiveness. As for the cavalry's reluctance... they would feel better after using it.
Immediately he nodded slightly: "Well, I'll send a few over after I've made them, and I'll check them for you!"
As soon as Luo Zhixue said this, the person in charge of Hebei Arms Company immediately laughed!
It shouldn't be a problem to sell this kind of advanced pistol for twenty or thirty Chu Yuan. After all, it is a rifled gun, and if nothing unexpected happens, this will be the first rifled gun put into large-scale mass service in the Chu Empire.
Twenty or thirty Chu Yuan is really not expensive anymore!
The few cavalry generals following behind frowned slightly... In order to sell pistols to them, these weapons companies really used all kinds of dirty tricks.
The previous sales failed, but now they dare to come in front of His Majesty and forcefully sell them. Now if His Majesty likes it and lets them equip their cavalry, their cavalry troops will have to hold their noses and force the purchase.
But this situation makes them dislike it because it makes them feel like they are being force-fed shit.
They were the cavalry of the Great Chu Empire, and they were invincible in every battle... Alas, they suffered some losses in the early years of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Later, they became the invincible cavalry of the Great Chu Empire.
They don't need any pistols, that's a coward's weapon!
They are the brave and invincible cavalry of the Chu Empire, and a saber is enough!
Charge while riding on the wall, cover with saber, this is the romance of cavalry!
What kind of cavalryman is he playing with a pistol?
Moreover, the pistol cavalry can easily bring back very bad memories to the cavalry elders of the Da Chu Empire: In the early years of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the cavalry of the Da Chu Empire Army once formed a large number of pistol cavalry, but they were defeated by the Ming Army. The frontier cavalry was all over the place!
There are not many examples of defeats in the history of the Da Chu Empire, but cavalry accounted for more than half... And most of the cavalry who created these defeats were pistol cavalry!
From this, you will know why the cavalry generals of the Great Chu Empire are so disgusted with pistols and pistol cavalry.
Those are the scars of the cavalry of the Great Chu Empire, a tragic history that is unbearable to look back on!
This period of history also led to why the cavalry of the Great Chu Empire today admire the saber charge so much... Because back then they were defeated by the charge of the Ming army's frontier cavalry. Later, they calmed down and played with the saber, and it was ineffective. They imitated the infantry and played a dense array, and finally carried out a wall-mounted charge to kill the Ming army's frontier cavalry and even the Eastern capture cavalry, and even a large group of Mongolian cavalry.
Now it is said that they will be equipped with new pistols, which makes the cavalry generals very unhappy.
But Luo Zhixue didn't pay attention to these cavalry generals. A group of big men were playing coquettishly with pistols every day... As the world's largest industrial country, the empire has been industrialized for more than 20 years, and there are still some cavalry playing with matchlock cavalry pistols. .
Who are you embarrassing to see!
You are shameless, but I still want shame.
After seeing the pistol, I looked at a lot of other firearms, such as cavalry models, bell-mouthed front-loading rifles, and other weird weapons, such as a large-caliber shotgun designed for close combat. This thing is a flash cap fired front-loading smoothbore large-caliber shotgun.
But none of these attracted much attention from Luo Zhixue. After looking at it like a quick glance, he went directly to the artillery exhibition area.
Artillery is the god of war and the most indispensable weapon in modern warfare. You can live without guns, but you cannot live without artillery!
Luo Zhixue hopes that in today's weapons exhibition, those new artillery can bring some surprises to him, even if it is some laboratory equipment or concept equipment.
However, what disappoints Luo Zhixue is that compared with the rapid development of firearms and weapons, the technological advancement of artillery is obviously slower.
At this point in the development of artillery, it is actually time to promote rifled artillery. However, compared with the technical difficulty of firearms, the rifled artillery is even more difficult.
Just engraving rifling on the barrel is not that easy. After all, artillery is a big thing, and processing is not easy. If you want to engrave rifling on the artillery, the processing will be quite difficult.
But the real key issue is not here, but the barrel material issue.
If you want to engrave rifling, whether it is a gun or an artillery piece, the strength must first be ensured. If the strength is not up to standard, the rifled artillery will have its rifling polished after just a few uses, and the rifled artillery with polished rifling will be polished. It's no use anymore.
If it is a firearm, although the current smelting level of the Dachu Empire cannot cast a barrel of sufficient strength at one time, the strength of the barrel can still be enhanced by hot forging and then processed.
But as for the gun barrel, it is very difficult to carry out large-scale forging and improve the quality of the gun barrel with the current technical level.
The current artillery manufacturing in the Dachu Empire is actually mainly based on casting.
First make a model, and then pour it. After pouring and shaping, the gun barrel is enlarged and surface processed, and finally the gun barrel becomes brilliant.
Whether it is bronze artillery or iron artillery, this is actually how it was made.
However, the iron barrel produced in this way has a very poor service life after being rifled. At the same time, the cost is significantly higher than that of the previous smooth-bore iron cannon. Even the navy that can afford the higher cost finds it too much to bear. None of them could decide to equip themselves with front-loading rifled iron cannons.
As for the Army, they are even more reluctant and would rather continue to use bronze artillery.
Nowadays, the Chu Empire Army is equipped with various new bronze field guns, and their performance is quite good. The 115mm standard field gun can have an effective range of about 1,200 meters when firing solid shells.
This performance is actually enough to ensure the army's absolute advantage when facing the indigenous army.
Due to insufficient materials and insufficient processing levels, the Chu Empire still faces many difficulties in making iron rifled artillery.
This has led to the fact that in today's artillery exhibitions, there is no rifled artillery that can be put into practical use immediately.
After Luo Zhixue learned about the situation in detail, he didn't find it strange. After all, the industrial foundation level of the Chu Empire was here, and the level was still relatively limited. Even if it developed well in special fields, industry was a system, not that It is possible to develop a certain industry alone, but the entire industrial system needs to be developed.
What determines the level of an industrial system is not the best field, but the worst field.
In this regard, Luo Zhixue encouraged the defense industry, telling them not to lose heart, but to maintain their fighting spirit, continue to study various technical problems, and strive to develop rifled artillery as soon as possible.
Not to mention breech-loading rifled artillery, even front-loading rifled artillery must be developed and used first.
After seeing the artillery, Luo Zhixue looked at many other military equipment.
Military equipment is not just as simple as firearms and artillery, but also a lot of other things.
For example, the current army of the Dachu Empire needs to equip an ordinary soldier with not only muskets but also winter and summer military uniforms. Military uniforms include regular uniforms and formal uniforms.
Then there are hats and shoes, tactical gloves, rainproof ponchos, straps, water bottles, lunch boxes, armed belts, bullet pouches, blankets, backpacks and a lot more.
At the same time, when performing combat missions, it is also necessary to distribute emergency dry food, candy, cigarettes and other supplies to the soldiers.
Depending on the situation, infantry-specific light half-body plate armor and helmets will also be issued. Whether or not they are issued mainly depends on the enemy's equipment level. If the opponent is also equipped with a large number of cold weapons, especially bows and arrows, then they will be issued.
If the other party is equipped with a large number of firearms, such as the Russians, then they will not be issued.
The cost of arming a soldier is not just as simple as a rifle, but also requires a lot of things.
Although these things may not seem as important as guns and guns, they will also greatly affect the combat effectiveness of the army.
Therefore, in addition to guns and cannons, the Chu Empire's military procurement also included a large number of various military supplies.
Now Luo Zhixue simply looked at various military supplies, from tents to warm military uniforms in severe cold climates, to small military dry food, candies, etc. Luo Zhixue looked at them as if they were just a quick glance.
I even personally tried several kinds of military rations... These military rations are naturally not ordinary rice and noodles, but military rations that can be stored for a long time, are easy to carry, and can be delivered to the front line in time.
The military rations used by the Dachu Empire's military are basically all kinds of cans, from early glass cans to current tinplate cans.
Tinplate cans do not require any preservative additives and are very simple to produce. You only need to put the cooked food into the can and seal it completely, and finally perform high-temperature sterilization.
Most bacteria die at high temperatures.
Therefore, this kind of tinplate cans can have a long shelf life. This unique advantage has also made various tinplate cans an indispensable military ration for the military.
Everything from canned meats to canned fruits.
In addition, various types of biscuits are also a type of military ration.
Generally speaking, the military of the Dachu Empire has tried its best to provide better emergency military rations to the soldiers performing combat missions on the front line.
From all kinds of cans to biscuits and chocolates as well as candies and tea.
However, the above-mentioned so-called military rations are all emergency military rations. They are only eaten during combat when the supply lines in the rear are unusual and the cooks are unable to provide normal diet for the soldiers.
When normally stationed or marching, soldiers actually still eat ordinary meals, which are staple foods such as rice or steamed buns plus various traditional Chinese dishes.
In terms of food, the Dachu Empire's military, whether it is the army, navy or Guards, is quite good.
Even today, after more than 20 years of industrialization, among the ordinary people in the Chu Empire, the best-fed are still the bald soldiers.
Let alone the people at the bottom, even the seemingly respectable middle class in some cities and the so-called small landowners in rural areas cannot compare with an ordinary army soldier in terms of food.
The soldiers were not only well fed, but well fed…
Apart from anything else, you don’t see much chocolate on the market. Ordinary middle-class families have never even heard of this thing, but three years ago, this thing has become a One of the military emergency rations of the Da Chu Empire began to distribute chocolate to soldiers performing combat missions.
Not for anything else, but because chocolate can quickly replenish a large amount of energy for soldiers.
Similar to candies.
Chocolate and candies are expensive these days, and it’s actually hard for ordinary people to get them.
There are also various kinds of canned food. Even if you look at it as just a canned food, you may not think it is anything, but the various canned goods on the market in the Dachu Empire are actually not cheap, especially the various kinds of canned meat.
You know, the canned meat of the Dachu Empire is all genuine canned meat, not the canned luncheon meat produced by the US military in later generations... It’s not that I don’t want to do it, but the technology is not that awesome yet, how can I fill my stomach if I can’t do it? And eat the immortal canned luncheon meat.
Ordinary people are only willing to buy a few cans during the holidays, either to give gifts to others, or when the whole family gets together, they open a can to satisfy their cravings and leave the cans and bottles for stuffing after they finish eating.
But when those big soldiers were on the front line, they could only eat canned food because they couldn't eat normal meals. If they ate for a long time, they would eat themselves until they vomited...
This is why the Chu Empire is always overcrowded when it recruits new soldiers every year.
Today, in the twenty-fifth year of Chengshun, joining the army is still the best way for countless people in the Chu Empire to get ahead, including those from the middle and upper classes.
Children from the middle and upper classes want to apply for military academies and then become officers. It is best if they can survive in the army. If they cannot survive, they can wait until they retire and transfer to the local government to continue serving as officials. This will help improve themselves and even their family’s social status. Of great benefit.
As for the children at the bottom, except for a very few who have the talent to report all the way and can become officers, the vast majority of them want to be soldiers... Although being a soldier is tiring and hard, there are various benefits. of.
After four years of serving in the army, he was able to turn a farm boy into a strong young man. He was also able to study in the military's internal study classes during his military service and obtain a higher elementary school or even junior high school diploma after passing the exam.
As for elementary school... Now the Chu Empire's military recruits recruits with an elementary school diploma, and they no longer need to be purely illiterate.
Four years later, let’s not talk about those who can stay in the army as non-commissioned officers, only those who have retired.
After serving for three years, soldiers can study in vocational skills training classes within the military so that after retirement, those who choose to change jobs in a certain province can be arranged to work in major government-run enterprises or as assistants in various administrative agencies. jobs, such as security guards, drivers, etc.
If you are unwilling to accept the job change arrangement, you can simply start your new life with a substantial retirement compensation.
Generally speaking, serving in the military is a valuable opportunity for many poor rural children to escape poverty and rise to a higher class.
Precisely because joining the army has such great benefits, the enthusiasm for joining the army in the Chu Empire is very high.
However, this also has a negative effect, which is that military expenditures are flowing out every year...
In the twenty-fifth year of Chengshun, the conventional military expenditures of the Da Chu Empire, due to the rapid popularization of high-pressure steam engines in recent years, the large-scale use of trains and ships, and industrial high-pressure steam engines, have driven the explosive development of the domestic economy of the Da Chu Empire, and then As a result, the tax revenue of the Great Chu Empire also continued to rise, reaching more than 400 million Chu yuan.
As a result, regular military expenditures have also increased a lot. This year, they have exceeded the 60 million mark and reached 63 million Chu Yuan!
This is a relatively terrifying number!
For comparison, the Qing Dynasty in the 18th century, that is, in the middle period of the Qing Dynasty, was considered to have entered a stable period. Well, it was the so-called prosperous period of Kangxi and Qianlong. Around the 30th year of Qianlong's reign, its central fiscal revenue was only 50 million. Two up and down, no less, no more!
It’s not as much as the conventional military expenditure of the Chu Empire!
Moreover, the silver during the Qianlong Dynasty was not as valuable as the Chu Yuan of the Great Chu Empire today, because the Chu Yuan of the Great Chu Empire now adheres to the gold standard.
Although Chu Yuan of the Great Chu Empire implemented the silver standard in the early days, he found out within a few years that the silver standard was very unreliable... and quickly changed to the gold standard. Even though the gold reserves at the time were not sufficient, he still changed directly. For the sake of the gold standard, in order to avoid a run on gold, an indirect gold standard was specially established. That is, only banks can take banknotes to the central bank to exchange for gold, and ordinary institutions and individuals cannot.
The reason why the Chu Empire quickly switched to the gold standard after establishing the silver standard was that the gap between domestic and international gold and silver ratios was too large.
Across Europe, the gold-to-silver ratio has remained around one to fifteen for a long time, but within the Chu Empire, the gold-to-silver ratio was only around one to ten.
This resulted in huge profit margins. Those European merchants who came to the Dachu Empire to trade all packed strings of silver to purchase goods from the Dachu Empire. Sometimes they even simply bought gold directly back...
Although at that time, the Chu Empire specially established a gold settlement system for foreign trade in order to cope with it, it was actually difficult for many trading companies to implement it because they also wanted profits...
At the beginning, Chu Yuan was still a silver standard. For businessmen, the more silver they had, the more they would earn. Gold was just a precious metal commodity, not money!
The Da Chu Empire originally wanted to obtain more gold through foreign trade and was preparing to establish a gold standard. Unexpectedly, after a few years of implementation, the domestic gold reserves were not large but small. On the contrary, a large inflow of silver was provided to the Da Chu Empire. The financial environment caused relatively big troubles.
In the end, the senior officials of the Da Chu Empire simply gritted their teeth and implemented the gold standard in advance. According to the domestic gold coin ratio at that time, each Chu Yuan was worth 3.5 grams of gold.
After switching to the gold standard, domestic silver continued to depreciate, and now it is basically the same as the international gold-silver ratio, which is about one to fifteen.
But even now, the Chu Empire rarely talks about doing business with the indigenous people with a large amount of silver, taking advantage of the low local gold-to-silver ratio to plunder their gold.
It’s not that I don’t want to, but it’s not necessary!
Because the Chu Empire has always had a trade surplus for so many years, and it is still a huge trade surplus... Most of the time, it is actually the indigenous people who use gold, silver or various local products to purchase the goods of the Chu Empire. .
Even if it comes to merchants specifically, it is more convenient and more profitable for you to bring a shipload of industrial goods than to go out for trade with a shipload of silver.
Therefore, even so, the silver reserves in the Da Chu Empire are actually increasing...and the depreciation is getting more and more severe. In a few years, the gold and silver coins may only be one to seventeen or eighty, or even one to twenty. went……
At the same time, domestic gold reserves are also increasing, and a large amount of gold has been obtained from foreign trade, especially from Fuso, America and other places. This gold eventually entered the central bank vault under the Financial Management Department of the Dachu Empire. Here, used as a gold standard reserve, the current scale has exceeded 500 tons, and this number continues to rise.
It is worth noting that the Chu Yuan banknotes issued by the Dachu Empire have far exceeded the value of five hundred tons of gold... This is why the Dachu Empire wants to establish an indirect gold standard, because if gold exchange is really liberalized, The deposit standard system of the Dachu Empire will be over in minutes.
As for the indirect gold standard, it actually means there is no exchange... because it is impossible for domestic banks to actually hold a lot of banknotes to exchange for gold. There is no need for that.
As for overseas... In the colonies of the Dachu Empire, there is naturally no need to think too much. As for the indigenous countries with business contacts, such as those countries in Europe, people actually do not keep the banknotes of the Dachu Empire in their hands, and often buy them on the spot. Various industrial goods are included.
The Da Chu Empire had a trade surplus, and this surplus was extremely large. Most countries that did business with the Da Chu Empire had to pay with gold and silver in addition to various local products.
So in reality, there is no situation where foreign countries use banknotes to exchange for gold... because they themselves use gold to pay the merchants of the Dachu Empire!
After the Chu Empire adopted the gold standard system, the currency value of Chu Yuan was guaranteed and large-scale inflation was avoided.
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After adopting the indirect gold standard, deflation caused by insufficient gold reserves was avoided.
However, this has also led to many new problems, that is, the Da Chu Empire's own gold production is still relatively limited. Even if it controls part of the gold production in North America and Southeast Asia, the Da Chu Empire's gold production is still not much, so The combined annual gold production of many sites is only a few dozen tons.
It's not that there aren't enough gold reserves in the Chu Empire itself and in the many overseas territories and colonies controlled by outsiders. In fact, there are plenty of them... But the problem is that they haven't been surveyed yet or the mining technology is not up to standard.
Therefore, in addition to more exploration and development of gold production, Luo Zhixue also set his sights on South Africa!
Not only does it contain half of the world's gold reserves, but the gold mines there are also easy to mine...
If this place can be captured, I can't say that the gold standard system of the Chu Empire will be worry-free in the future, but it will definitely be able to operate stably for many years.
It’s just that South Africa is too far away from the mainland of the empire. It would be more troublesome for the Chu Empire to directly send troops. After all, the Chu Empire’s overseas colony closest to South Africa, the “Hongkou City” in the southern part of the Red Sea, is also seven miles away from South Africa by sea. More than a thousand kilometers...
This is not an easy distance to cross!
After all, the route is not deserted and deserted, nor are there only barbaric natives. There are also a bunch of colonial ports from European countries such as the Dutch, Portuguese and even the British.
Looking at the globe, Luo Zhixue felt that it was necessary to call people from the Western Trading Company to discuss and see if they could find a way to establish a colony in South Africa and occupy the gold mines there that had not been discovered by others in advance.
