Start: Datang Wanli a lonely city

Chapter 1047 The smell of gunpowder smoke ()

Time: February 7th.

Location: In a luxurious box of the Lishunde Hotel, the best hotel in Jinmen City.

A huge table is filled with all kinds of dishes made from precious ingredients that fly in the sky, swim in the water, and run on the ground.

The drink is whiskey, which is the favorite drink among Westerners.

Such a luxurious table cannot be purchased without one or two hundred taels of silver.

It's just that there are only six people sitting at such a table with good wine and food; even outsiders can tell at a glance that two of the men are the key, and the other four women are just the companions.

One of them was white and fat, and he looked like a harmless person when he smiled.

It was Shadow Rider, a not too senior member of the Xuan Ge camp; this profession in the modern dimension was the financial clerk of a private equity fund.

Of course, because he came here today to shoulder some special tasks, he had a pseudonym 'Wu Ming'.

After eating and drinking, Shadow Qi, who was already drinking until his neck was red, knew that the atmosphere was almost in place and it was time to talk about business.

After coughing a few times, he signaled the four girls accompanying him to go out.

He took out a thin list from his sleeve and handed it to a man in his thirties or seventeen years old opposite; Li Zhongtang's nephew Zhang Shiheng, who is now the head of the Beiyang Ordnance Bureau.

At first, after receiving the list, Zhang Shiheng was a little disapproving.

The man in front of me, who spoke with a Modu accent, had to rely on many connections to invite him out for dinner. I guess it was just because he was Li Zhongtang's nephew, and he had some things to ask of him.

Or maybe, I want to ask Li Zhongtang.

So he had already decided that if the other party could get enough benefits, he might as well do him some small favors.

If the benefits are not enough, then he will just eat this meal. Even if he, Uncle Zhang, can give him face to eat, it has already given him enough face.

But after seeing clearly the contents on the list, as well as the related sales price and quantity, Zhang Shiheng's eyes straightened; his eyes were full of greed.

Because what is written on the list is:

Krupp's latest steel explosive bullet, with a 305 mm caliber, costs ten taels of silver per round, and is shipped in quantities of 200 rounds.

The price of a 150mm caliber artillery shell is five taels of silver, and the supply is 1000 rounds.

Krupp's new armor-piercing bullet costs three taels of silver per shot for 305 mm caliber; one tael of silver for 150 mm caliber.

In terms of quantity, it is the same as the explosive bombs.

The above price is too expensive, why did Zhang Shiheng react like this? No, but the price of the above shells is too cheap, which is a cabbage price among cabbage prices.

You know, one of the biggest tasks of the Beiyang Ordnance Institute that Zhang Shiheng is responsible for is to produce and purchase artillery shells of various calibers for the Beiyang fleet.

Therefore, he is quite clear about the methods involved.

The artillery shells currently used by the Beiyang Fleet are basically armor-piercing shells and explosive shells.

The difference between the two is that the former's warhead is just a large iron mass, which relies on the kinetic energy it carries to cause damage; but the latter's warhead contains gunpowder, which can explode and be more powerful.

The former is less difficult to manufacture. The armor-piercing projectiles used by the Beiyang Fleet are basically produced by the Ordnance Institute itself.

However, the propellant is black powder, which is really not as powerful as foreign cannonballs.

The latter is more difficult to manufacture, and it is not impossible for the Ordnance Institute to manufacture it, but the quality and efficiency are hard to describe, so they are generally purchased externally.

Like this one produced by Krupp, the warhead contains a new type of explosive, a 305 mm caliber explosive bullet, and one shot costs 210 taels of silver.

The price of 150mm caliber explosive bullets is much cheaper, but it still costs 28 taels of silver per round.

Even the armor-piercing bullets they can produce have a production cost that is much cheaper than the above sales price.

Such a price is not cheap at all, it is simply giving him money.

The more critical point is that some time ago, Zhang Shiheng was a little short of money, so he sold all the account-opening ammunition of various calibers in his inventory to the Japanese devils for a price of one hundred thousand taels.

At first he thought it was no big deal, so he thought he would just spend 20% of it on things.

Let people turn these into training losses, and this matter can be fooled.

Result? The situation on the sea is now tense, and Admiral Ding of the Beiyang Fleet sends letters from time to time, saying that he needs to replenish artillery shells, especially explosive shells.

Facing the empty warehouse, where could Zhang Shiheng get it for a while? Now I have a headache. Countries are actually unwilling to sell artillery shells. Even if they are willing to sell them, the price is astonishing. I am afraid that I will go bankrupt if I fill this hole.

When you suddenly encounter such a good thing, you are overjoyed.

It's just that he also knows that there is no good thing in the sky, and there may be something fishy in these shells; in the current emergency situation, he must not fall into the devil's trick.

Otherwise, Li Zhongtang might not be able to save him after the incident.

But Wu Ming, the person opposite, seemed to have read his thoughts. He smiled and said, "Master Zhang, there is no need to worry about the quality of the shells. They are definitely the latest Krupp shells, but they cost a lot of money." Just bought it.

Besides, you can just pay for these shells after they arrive and are inspected.

The reason why it is so cheap is that on the one hand, the country is not peaceful, and Wu wants to reimburse the court and Beiyang.

On the other hand, there are some small things that I want to ask adults to help me with. "

After hearing such a sentence, Zhang Shiheng directly ignored the statement of "reimbursing the imperial court and Beiyang" and said, "there are some small things that I need to help with," but he listened deeply.

It was after hearing this sentence that I immediately let go of all the worries in my heart.

He had something to ask of himself, so giving such a large sum of benefits worth at least hundreds of thousands taels of silver was only fair and understandable to him.

Holding the wine glass, he took a sip of whiskey.

Then he said calmly: "Tell me, what do you want?"

After hearing this, Shadow Qi revealed the biggest purpose of traveling all the way from the Magic City: "The villain has some personal grudges with Commander Deng of the Zhiyuan Ship.

I have long been dissatisfied with the fact that a villain like him is actually in charge of a powerful weapon of the imperial court, such as the Zhiyuan Ship, so I wonder if Mr. Zhang can help with the operation and let him get off the ship? "

After hearing such a request, Zhang Shiheng quickly analyzed the stakes.

I soon figured out that because of the Sishui City incident, everyone in Beiyang had long disliked seeing Deng Guandai; in the past, it was just because of Emperor Guangxu that they couldn't handle him too much.

How could Emperor Guangxu have the time to care about such a small person now?

So as long as I spend one to twenty thousand taels of silver and manage Yang Shixiang and others, I can easily get rid of his position as commander of the Zhiyuan ship.

Let him find a casual job after disembarking, somewhere cool and somewhere to stay.

Finally, waving the list, he said:

"Send the cannonballs over immediately. When will they arrive? When will Deng Guan take them off the ship?"

"The shells have been boarded in the Magic City a long time ago, and they will be delivered tomorrow and the day after tomorrow at the latest." Shadow Qi gave such an answer...

Say it! Of course, Shadow Cavalry and Deng Guan led, there was no grudge between the two, and it was too late to admire such a respectable national hero.

There is a reason why he did this.

According to later data, one of the key reasons why the Beiyang Fleet suffered such a disastrous defeat in the Dadonggou naval battle in the Sino-Japanese War of 1891 was the serious shortage of artillery shells.

Especially the new type of explosive bullets, there are only a few rounds at all.

Why? It was not because Zhang Shiheng, the grandson of Zhang Shiheng, resold the inventory of artillery shells for profit, leaving the fleet with a serious shortage of artillery shells; by the time he filled up the inventory, the Beiyang Fleet had already been defeated.

Therefore, in order to strengthen the combat effectiveness of the Beiyang Fleet.

Xuan Geying could only ask Shadow Cavalry to disguise his identity and then come and deliver a large number of artillery shells at cabbage prices.

In fact, these shells are not the latest products of Krupp; more accurately, they should be the latest products of Xuange Camp.

The propellant inside is not black powder or picric acid, but a better trinitrotoluene; in terms of power, it is much more powerful than Krupp's artillery shells.

It's just that they still know the truth of being courteous for nothing and committing adultery or stealing.

In order to make Zhang Shiheng's grandson relax his vigilance, there was a request to let Deng Guan take the Zhiyuan ship.

By the way, I have a little thought. I just hope that Deng Guandai will not repeat the mistakes of history in this naval battle. He should not die so unwillingly.

Instead, he must live well and become the commander-in-chief of the Xuange Camp Fleet in the future.

Take the flower grower's powerful fleet to conquer all the oceans on this planet...

(End of this chapter)