African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 423 Military Industry Promotion

 Far East.

 After receiving the local telegram, Richard quickly met with the senior officials of the Far East government and began to promote the weapons production line.

Richard went directly to Li Hongzhang, the then Far Eastern University Scholar and Governor-General of Zhili, and said straight to the point: "Your Excellency, just tell me whether you want it or not!"

And Li Hongzhang was not ignorant of military affairs. He even knew a lot about it and was very clear about what was happening in the West. He looked at the sample of the Dreiser rifle sent by Richard and said: "The workmanship is indeed excellent. However, Ambassador Richard, if If I remember correctly, this Dresser rifle didn't seem to perform very well in the war between Prussia and France, so..."

 You even picked it! Richard was a little unconvinced, so Richard said: "That's right, what you said is true. The performance of the Dresser rifle is not perfect, but it is sufficient at present, especially in the Far East, and as far as I know you Many of the top military industrial companies are still producing extremely backward muzzle-loading rifles. Our Dresser rifle production line is more advanced than those rifles. This was proven in the Italian-Austrian War a few years ago. Take Jinling Manufacturing The 1853 Enfield rifle produced by the Bureau is completely behind the times."

“Ambassador Richard, this is the truth, but at present we do not have any demand in this regard, or we have no new procurement plan.”

In fact, Li Hongzhang had seen many foreign countries selling their own weapons to the Qing Dynasty. Generally speaking, the words of foreigners are not trustworthy. Moreover, the court is really short of money now.

Richard was not in a hurry, he said: "Mr. Li, don't rush to a conclusion on this matter. As long as you know their prices, I believe you will like them. The entire Dresser rifle production line only costs 110,000 taels of silver." , this price is absolutely worth the money, this is not an ordinary arms, but an arms production line, I can tell you this, after getting this batch of production lines, it can completely meet the needs of your army."

The price is indeed not expensive. This batch of production lines can meet almost all the needs of the Far East at full capacity. After all, the size of the East African Army remained at about 200,000 before disarmament, and there are 700,000 militiamen and police, all using East African products. Dreiser rifle. At this time, the standing military strength in the Far East was only maintained at about 800,000, so there were actually more in East Africa.

Of course, militias and police cannot be counted as standing armed forces in East Africa, but their combat effectiveness cannot be underestimated. They are the absolute main force in East Africa in terms of suppressing indigenous people. With such a large number of indigenous people and the large land area, it is necessary to maintain such a Huge military power.

Richard's words really frightened Li Hongzhang. He asked: "Does your country really only need 110,000 taels?"

You must know that Jinling Manufacturing Bureau is currently the largest military factory in the Far East. Its annual expenditure is only about 100,000 taels, but the production capacity of Jinling Manufacturing Bureau is extremely limited.

Richard: "Of course it is. Moreover, although these production lines have been used in East Africa, we have only purchased them in East Africa for a few years. You can still use them for a long time. They are definitely worth the money."

Li Hongzhang thought for a while and asked: "Even so, we don't need so many production lines. Can your country make it cheaper so that we can buy less?"

Richard shook his head and said: "That's not possible. This is a one-time deal for us. Either we sell it all or we don't sell it at all. Moreover, this kind of business is inherently loss-making, and we in East Africa can only make a little profit." fee, so the price cannot be reduced at all.”

It was indeed a loss-making business. Ernst spent a lot of money to buy these production lines, and they had to be shipped from Europe to East Africa, and now they have to be shipped from East Africa to the Far East. But this is all necessary. Ernst paid special attention to the development of military power in East Africa. Some things must be done even if he loses money. When the Dreiser rifle fell behind, it was inevitable to be replaced, even if it did not serve long in the East African Kingdom. long time.

Of course, Ernst only plans to sell about 60% this time, because the Dresser weapons production line is integrated and can still be used to produce Mauser rifles. From the beginning, the Mauser rifle was an upgraded product of the Mauser brothers based on the Dresser rifle, so there was no problem in producing the Mauser rifle after the modification, but many parts had to be re-produced.

Li Hongzhang had no choice but to give up when he heard what Richard said. It was also what others said. The price was so low, so some requirements were inevitable.

However, he still has to make sure that this East African kingdom is not making fun of himself. After all, the Far Eastern Army is currently the largest army in the world in name. How can a small German colony really have the strength to meet the needs of the Far Eastern Army without any shame?

So Li Hongzhang tested: "Your country is really capable of providing so much machinery and equipment. If it is Prussia or Austria, there should be no problem. After all, their armies are indeed huge. As for East Africa..."

As the exchanges between the Far East and East Africa deepen, the Far East actually has a more "deep" understanding of East Africa, that is, it understands East Africa as a colony like India.

At first, the East African Kingdom really scared the Far East, because at that time East Africa was playing the German card, Prussia, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as if they were representatives of the two countries, and neither of these two countries was inferior to Britain, France and Russia.

 In fact, this was indeed the case at that time. Wasn’t the Prince of Hechingen part of Prussia? At that time, East Africa was still the territory of the royal family of Hechingen, so there was nothing wrong with East Africa saying that it was Prussia. But after East Africa became an independent country, East Africa would no longer talk about Prussia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire at all times, and would instead talk more about Prussia. The general concept of East Africa or Germany calls itself.

As for why Germany is so general, it’s because Germany is too broad. Germany can say that it is Germany, Austria can also say the same, even Luxembourg can say the same, Liechtenstein can also say the same, and East Africa can naturally say the same. You can just talk about these countries. Isn’t it a German country?

Of course, East Africa is culturally German, and its race is mixed with a lot of water, but this does not prevent East Africa from calling itself a German country.

Perhaps some people in Germany, such as extreme nationalists like Adolf, might not recognize the German identity of the citizens of the East African Kingdom if they had a deep understanding of the national conditions of East Africa and how the East African Kingdom was formed.

This will not change anything. East Africa insists that it is Germany, and that is Germany. At least Germany and Austria will definitely recognize it officially. Excluding the factors of the Hechingen royal family, the two countries will have to rely on East Africa for their own interests.

Richard said: "Haha, don't worry about this. Do we have strength in East Africa? You can actually ask your country's ambassador in East Africa, Mr. Li Ge, directly about this question. There is a saying in the Far East that you can see the whole picture by looking at the leopard. Mr. Li Ge should You can be the person who sees the leopard."

 Li Ge! If Richard hadn't said this, Li Hongzhang would have forgotten that the Qing Dynasty still had such a number one person in East Africa. He originally sent Li Ge to supervise the East African Assistance Mission, but Li Ge never returned. A few months later, he was replaced by that East African guy. King Constantine sent a letter recommending Li Ge as the ambassador of the Far East to East Africa. At that time, the Far Eastern government pinched its nose and recognized it. After all, it had never encountered such a situation before. In addition, Constantine was still a foreign king, and Li Ge was just a civil servant before, that is, a reserve official. He was not considered one of his own. No unlucky guy was willing to go to East Africa as an envoy to ask what was going on. What if he was detained like Li Ge!

In fact, there is nothing wrong with Li Hongzhang's doubts. It is impossible for East Africa to shout to the whole world that it actually has a million troops. Except for Cape Town and Mozambique, which know that the East African Kingdom has at least tens of thousands of troops, other countries, including Germany, believe that East Africa is at best a military force. The level of an ordinary colony is still an extremely ordinary colonial country.

 (End of this chapter)