I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 118
  While George was working hard in business, he did not neglect his own job. The rubber group was his basic base.

Yasan adopted George's suggestion and established a new arsenal in Tula to produce smokeless gunpowder.

The name of the new factory is Tula Factory No. 2. Half of the workers are transferred from the three major factories and half are veterans who retired this year.

After Milyutin's restructuring, the service life of Russian soldiers was greatly shortened, but the traditional habits of Russian people have not changed. After retiring, most soldiers will not return to their place of origin, but stay in the city to find a job and become city dwellers. .

City life may look glamorous on the outside, but if you don't even have your own home, life will be very difficult.

Before the abolition of serfdom in Asia II, peasant riots often occurred in Russia.

After the abolition of serfdom, workers became the group most susceptible to incitement.

George and Nicholas discussed this issue.

The countermeasures given by George are to improve workers' treatment, follow the example of the United States, and transform Russian workers into the middle class. Workers will then transform from the most unstable group into the backbone of a stable society.

The hallmark of the proletariat is propertylessness. Without permanent property, there is no perseverance.

Therefore, we are concerned about finding ways to turn Russian workers into the property class, even if it is just a small shabby house.

Nicholas thought George was right.

But it is difficult to do.

It is impossible to expect capitalists like the First Lady to take the initiative to improve the treatment of workers. Even if the workers of the First Lady’s family rebel, the consequences will be borne by the empire. The First Lady and her husband are on vacation in Crimea, St. Petersburg The matter has nothing to do with others.

It is impossible to improve workers' treatment in factories directly operated by the empire, because the costs of factories directly operated by the empire have been reduced to the limit, and there is no excess profit to use to improve workers' treatment.

So this is another deadlock.

What disappointed George was not the insensitivity of the capitalists, but Nicholas's rejection of George's suggestions without even trying.

Well, as he got older, so did Nikolai.

However, Nicholas did not become a great tsar as George hoped, but began to show signs of being arbitrary.

This is not good, very bad.

George did not place all his hopes on Nicholas. George would use facts to prove that the difficulties Nicholas mentioned were all excuses, and George was right.

When the empire promotes certain things from the official level, it is still very efficient.

The Tula Second Factory has been put into production, and the first batch of bullets using smokeless gunpowder have been sent to the rubber group for testing.

Although many tests have proven that the stability problem of smokeless gunpowder has been completely solved.

However, in actual use, no one knows whether smokeless gunpowder will cause accidents.

This is also the reason why Nikola rarely comes to Oak Group recently.

George is also worried about accidents.

Therefore, the rubber ball not only tests the power of the bullet, but also tests the stability of the smokeless gunpowder.

In the past, smokeless gunpowder was piled in warehouses and would explode for no reason, so it could not be popularized.

The Academy of Sciences has indeed solved the problem of the stability of smokeless gunpowder. When the Tula Second Factory sent the bullets, they did not use a train, but a bumpy carriage.

Tula is more than a thousand kilometers away from St. Petersburg, and there were no explosions along the way. It is basically certain that smokeless gunpowder is safe.

After using smokeless gunpowder, the power of the bullet was satisfactory and it was still lethal at a distance of one thousand meters.

"Do we really need a thousand-meter range?" Vasily asked without understanding. He had completely integrated into the rubber group and became a part of it.

"Most of the time it's not necessary, but at some special moments, a thousand-meter range is not even enough." George hesitated whether to bring up the concept of a sniper rifle.

There is no doubt about the role of sniper rifles.

But it was just smokeless gunpowder and it was so difficult to mount a horse. George felt that it was useless to mention it.

"For example?" Vasily can be trusted, and his loyalty to Russia is unquestionable.

"For example, long-distance precision shooting." George was willing to communicate with Vasily, but in St. Petersburg, George could not find anyone with whom he could communicate most of the time.

Nicholas could only communicate with George on certain things. Nicholas was not interested in the military field.

In other words, Nikolay is only interested in waging war and does not pay much attention to technological improvements.

Vasily was a pure soldier and had a strong desire to improve himself. His biggest dream was to surpass his great-grandfather Suvorov.

"As far as a thousand meters?" Vasily was surprised. Only artillery could hit that far.

George nodded. He just said that one thousand meters is not even enough.

"Who can shoot accurately at such a long distance?" Vasily felt that George, like Suvorov, played in a queue to shoot.

A large part of lining up to shoot is to make up for shortcomings such as lack of range and accuracy.

George didn't talk nonsense and handed the monocular telescope to Vasily.

Vasily didn't understand what George meant. He looked over and over with the telescope and couldn't put it down.

It's really beautiful.

This monocular telescope is from George's personal collection. It was probably given to George by Ya San. It is made entirely of pure copper. When put together, it is only about ten centimeters long. When in use, it can be opened to have a clear field of view.

"With the combination of a telescope and a rifle, do you think you can shoot a thousand meters?" George reminded Vasily to come back when he has seen enough.

Doesn’t Grand Prince Suvorov even have a telescope at home?
  Vasily was sluggish and his mood was extremely agitated.

Combining a telescope and a rifle has never been done before.

It's not that it didn't happen. It existed during the Civil War, but Vasily didn't know about it.

There was no need to do this before, because the range of the Berdan II rifle was only 400 meters, and there was no point in installing a telescope.

After using smokeless gunpowder as the propellant, the range of the Bodin rifle has exceeded one thousand meters.

If, as George said, you combine a telescope and a rifle—

The more Vasily thought about it, the more excited he became. He finally saw the hope of surpassing his great-grandfather.

If a force can be established that can accurately attack the enemy at a distance of one thousand meters, especially if it surpasses Suvorov, Vasily will even have the confidence to push Europe flatly.

So here comes the problem.

Where can I get so many telescopes?

Vasily also had a telescope at home and knew how expensive it was.

If troops are equipped on a large scale——

This level of difficulty is about the same as man-handling an artillery piece. "Don't be disappointed. It is indeed impossible to equip troops with this thing on a large scale, but it is still possible if it is only equipped with elite shooters." George guided patiently. He could not spend all his energy on the rubber regiment and must cultivate capable assistants.

George was surrounded by Yeroshin, Andrei, Demet, and Vasily.

The eldest cousin can only be responsible for logistics and is not very talented in military affairs.

Ye Luoxin has no problem with her loyalty, but she is a bit old and cannot help George for many years.

Demit is the grandson of Milyutin. He came to the Oak League to gain experience. Sooner or later he will leave the Oak League and work alone.

George used to value Andre the most, and he took Andre with him when he went to the Balkans.

Vasily's status with George is the same as Andrei's.

"I'll bring the telescope from home and let's try it-" Vasily's execution ability is much better than Nikolai's.

Then try it out.

After Vasily came to Oak Group, he lamented that Oak Group had the most abundant resources in Russia.

Now Vasily finally knew how sufficient it was.

George called Nicholas, and the next day, Nicholas sent two engineers, a bunch of workers, and a box of monocular telescopes.

Both engineers are senior engineers at Xie Factory. Among the workers are fitters, lathes, millers, and even carpenters. There is a box full of monocular telescopes, and the wrapping paper has not even been opened.

That’s it for engineers and workers.

Looking at a box full of brand-new monocular telescopes, Vasily was filled with emotion.

Telescopes are not cheap. Although there are companies in Russia that can produce them, the output is not high. The Oak Group is already the most resourceful army in Russia, and the number of telescopes is still insufficient.

Telescopes are widely used in the military field, especially for reconnaissance troops and artillery.

The artillery battalion led by Vasily, including him as the battalion commander, only had 4 telescopes in total.

Although 4 is still not enough, Vasily is very satisfied.

This is the Oak Regiment. In the artillery units of some local military districts, the entire artillery regiment does not even have a telescope.

As soon as George called, Nicholas sent 20 to George, highlighting the large quantity and filling.

George was not satisfied with this.

George was very satisfied with Nicholas's attitude. He was dissatisfied because the performance of the telescope was not very good and could not meet George's requirements.

George called Nikolai and asked for the contact information of the manufacturer of the telescope.

Nikolai gave George an address in Moscow.

In 1837, the German Fyodor Schwabe opened an optical shop in Moscow. Since then, the Russian Empire has had its own optical enterprise.

In 1850, Schwabe opened a factory in Moscow to produce and sell optical instruments and equipment, which could produce all known optical instruments.

Moscow is too far away from St. Petersburg, and the telephone connection between the two places has not yet been connected. George sent a telegram to Schwabe and put forward his own requirements, hoping that Schwabe could produce a telescope with a longer distance and a clearer distance. Then George went to the Academy of Sciences. .

Bretlov burst into tears. The researchers finally had serious work to do, and no longer had to hang around flowers and plants every day.

George requires that the ingredients of cosmetics be natural and pollution-free, and plants become the best raw materials.

Makarova is efficient and is studying the effects of aloe vera in the hope of making new discoveries.

Many people know that aloe vera can beautify. The key is why it can beautify. This is what Makarova wants to study, which determines whether it can be industrially produced.

Although the performance of the telescope is not good enough, the combination of the telescope and the Bodin rifle still shows great potential.

When George used a rifle equipped with a telescope to accurately hit a target 600 meters away, a new era finally arrived.

"War is the driving force behind technological progress. As the range of rifles becomes longer and longer, and the number of automatic weapons increases, linear tactics will soon be eliminated. We must also study more advanced tactics to adapt to future battlefields." George often writes to Oak Regiment officers worked on small tasks to improve their military capabilities.

What is taught in the Russian military academy is basically the knowledge passed down from Suvorov's era. Milyutin reformed the system, not the tactics.

The speed of updating Russian knowledge is unbearably slow.

The teachers in military academies are either too old, their knowledge is seriously out of touch with current technological development, and they have no idea what war will be like in the future.

Either they are young people who have never experienced war, and their knowledge is passed down from the older generation of military teachers. Even if they want to improve, they have no way to start.

The reason why the Oak Group has such strong support has a lot to do with Yasan's attention.

The Tsar would look forward and backward in many things, but in military matters, the Tsar was never stingy.

George never disappoints. Since he has such strong support, George will give enough rewards to the Tsar.

In September this year, the Guards will still go to Rivne for routine exercises.

This time the exercise did not invite observers from various countries, all of them were our own people. Although the Oak Group had just been established, they still wanted to participate in this exercise. George hoped that the Oak Group could give its best performance in the exercise and become a blockbuster.

"Trench warfare will soon become the main method of combat. What we need to study now is how to establish the strongest position in the shortest time; how to better allocate firepower to eliminate the enemy during the attack." George advocates offense, but At a time when trench warfare is about to become popular, George must also suppress his desire to attack.

That's okay, defense is actually the best offense.

"What if the enemy doesn't take the initiative to attack?" Vasily asked the question proactively, thinking about it.

"Then hit it hard with cannon!" George had to admit that artillery is the eternal god of war.

Russia can now only produce copper artillery, and steel artillery needs to be imported.

Thinking about it this way, there is still a long way to go.

"But this is not realistic for us -" Ye Luoxin also thought.

Russian generals are not fools. Everyone knows that artillery is the god of war. If there were tanks, who would let the soldiers launch a desperate charge.

The Russian generals do not want to use the human wave tactic, but the actual situation in Russia forces them to do so.

During World War I, when logistics on the Eastern Front were at their most tense, three soldiers shared a rifle and let Russia play with technology. Can it afford it?

Ye Luoxin also knows that artillery is useful, but Russia cannot even produce steel artillery on its own. The number of artillery is seriously insufficient, and the range and power are insufficient. What can the generals on the front line do?
  After all, it is still difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without straw.

For Russia, the cost of soldiers is the lowest, so it can only use human sea tactics.

"So we have to take the route of elite troops, concentrate more resources, and build a force that is small in number but extremely powerful in combat effectiveness." George also has countermeasures for Russia's reality.

There are too many places where Russia needs to spend money. More than half of the limited military expenditure every year is divided by the navy, leaving very little for the army.

George hopes to show Ya San the value of the elite route through the Oak Group.

(End of this chapter)