I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 54 Slap
  Chapter 54 Slap
  George was worried that Mikhail was entangled in the winery. Before Mikhail left, George reminded Mikhail again not to get involved in this type of project.

"Why?" Mikhail couldn't figure it out. He didn't even want the money delivered to his door?

"Why do we need a winery? Are we short of money?" George is not greedy. Too many people have died because of this word.

Even if he has no other income, with the Duke's annual salary, George's income has exceeded that of most people.

Why bother? What George wants to do now is not to accumulate wealth, but something other than wealth.

"But who would think too much money-" Mikhail didn't know what George wanted.

"My dear uncle, please always remember that our rights and status come from the Tsar, not anyone else." George did not explain too much and let Mikhail realize it on his own.

If he can't figure it out, then George can only write to Catherine and ask her to come over with someone else.

Mikhail was still very efficient. Within a few days, he sent George a retired engineer from the Tula Arsenal and two maintenance workers from the Firearms Administration.

The retired engineer's name is Joseph, who is less than 50 years old this year. He retired because his son needed this job.

There are two maintenance workers, one named Igor and the other named Karpov. They are a pair of masters and apprentices, and their current occupations are railway switchmen.

"Why do you do this?" George didn't mean to look down on the switchman. In terms of professional skills, the gap between the two was still a bit big.

"It can fill your stomach." Igor's answer was sad. Both he and Karpov were pitifully thin.

Then let’s eat enough first.

At noon, it was still beetroot soup and potato stew. George was tired of eating it. When next spring comes, George will open a vegetable field on the manor and plant all kinds of vegetables.

Igor didn't eat quickly, one mouthful of meat and one mouthful of wine, and it seemed that he could eat it for a long time.

Karpov gobbled it up and ate no less than Yelokhin. Igor did not allow Karpov to drink, so George asked Dalia to bring Karpov milk, a big one-kilogram cup, and Karpov drank it in one gulp. All.

George was worried that the master and apprentice would stretch him to death.

It seems that the living standards of Russian urban workers are indeed much lower than those of farmers.

After George and Joseph talked, they learned that Joseph was actually a baron, so Joseph was qualified to eat with George.

George and Joseph ate hot pot. Ye Luoxin had good knife skills. The beef was cut as thin as cicada wings and light could pass through when facing the lamp.

There is still fresh seafood, and I don’t know how the fishermen catch it in the winter. What they are drinking must be St. Louis.

It can be seen that Joseph did not succeed in his career at the Tula Arsenal, otherwise he would not have retired early to make room for his son.

"Tula is terrible. The managers are busy making money, the production efficiency is low, the machinery and equipment are seriously backward, the workers' wages are too low to support their families, and the experienced technical workers can only leave. It is unbelievable that this is actually the largest company in the empire. Arsenal-" Joseph felt sad, Russia's military industry is indeed not good.

Russia has resources, technology, and policies, but it just cannot produce first-class weapons and equipment.

After a few more drinks, George learned more secrets.

When Russia tried to improve the Berdan-1 rifle, it once tried to replace the tapered spur with a dagger-type spur.

The material of the dagger itself is a problem.

Another more serious problem is that because Russia's manufacturing level is also unqualified, the tolerance between the barrel and the spur sleeve is too large, and the combination is not tight enough. Every time a shot is fired, the spur will impact the barrel, which leads to some The accuracy of a rifle equipped with a dagger-type spur drops seriously after firing 20 rounds of bullets.     When Russian designers made improvements, what they did was not just changing three edges to four edges.

Joseph and his colleagues designed a new rifle that used magazine-type ammunition.

Engineers from the Ordnance Section of the Artillery Committee imitated the American Winchester 1866 rifle and designed a rifle with a tubular magazine for ammunition, with an ammunition capacity of 9 rounds.

Neither of these guns was adopted by the Russian army because the cost of large-scale replacement of weapons was too high.

"Do you have any kind of gun?" George was curious. His only impression of Russian weapons was the famous AK47.
  The AK47 was designed by Kalashnikov in 1947.

But Kalashnikov was not the father of Russian automatic weapons. As early as 1913, Fedorov designed Russia's first semi-automatic rifle.

In George's mind, the world's first semi-automatic rifle was the American M1 Garand.

The M1 Garand was designed in the 20s and began to be equipped with troops in 1936.

If after Fedorov designed the semi-automatic rifle, the Russian Empire began to change equipment on a large scale, the outcome of World War I would be difficult to say.

This can only be wishful thinking.

In World War I, the Russian army, not to mention advanced semi-automatic rifles, even the Mosin-Nagant, which began to be installed in the army in 1891, could not guarantee that every man could shoot. There was even chaos in the frontline troops with several soldiers sharing the same rifle.

"No, we have no funds, and Tula does not support our work. We don't even have the money to buy drawings." Joseph's face was full of regret and sadness. After this incident, he retired from Tula.

"I have a lot of drawings here. Please help me draw them all -" George was planning for a rainy day. It doesn't matter if he doesn't need it now, just save it first.

Smokeless gunpowder was a major opportunity. The famous rifles during World War I and World War II only appeared after the performance of smokeless gunpowder became stable.

The Berdan Type 1 and Type 2 rifles currently in use by the Russian army will all be replaced by Mosin Nagant after the smokeless gunpowder is stabilized.

George didn’t want the winery and it was clear that he would not give up.

Sudjekin did not give George a chance to take the initiative. After George refused to buy the winery, the secret police who took away the wealth were sent to Siberia.

This matter is not over yet, the aftermath is still lingering.

Since the secret police officers were sent to Siberia, the area around Oak Manor has finally become peaceful.

George's reputation finally hit rock bottom. Petersburg was full of legends about George being mean and unkind. No amount of donations to the Petersburg Academy of Sciences could restore George's image.

It doesn't matter to George, this is what George wants.

George didn't need to please anyone but Nicholas.

Entering December, the snow became heavier and heavier, and traffic between Oak Manor and Gatchina Palace was temporarily interrupted. George finally had an excuse to be lazy.

When he wasn't going to Gatchina Palace, George would stay at Oak Manor and be an obedient cat.

The manor was very lively during this time. The young men of the Guards indulged in various exciting games every day. Wrestling was no longer played. The most popular one now was slapping.

　I can’t even make it onto the list of new books on history. I want to die. Please recommend, collect, and reward~~
  　　fish head code
  　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)