America 1881: Legend of the West

After the shipbuilding operation began, Armstrong began to regret taking this business.

Chen Jianqiu, Party A, is very difficult to serve.

During the design period, he would come to the shipyard every one or two weeks and come up with some of his own ideas.

For example: "Can it be faster? 12 knots is too much nonsense, I want to double it! At least 24 knots!"

Another example: "Can you add a torpedo tube for me? That thing works great."

Maxim was used to this, and he knew that his boss had extremely strict requirements on weapons.

He often has some flashes of inspiration that come from nowhere. Although it sounds a bit nonsense and forced at first, it always turns out to be a wise decision afterwards.

But the designers at the shipyard apparently didn't know this yet.

These British guys were driven crazy and started resigning over and over again.

Armstrong also complained to Chen Jianqiu, but when Boss Chen waved his checkbook again, he gritted his teeth and went back to raise the wages of these designers.

The power of money is powerful after all, and Armstrong Shipyard was indeed the largest shipyard in the UK at the time.

More than half a year later, the ship Chen Jianqiu needed was finally launched. ,

The design displacement was ultimately 1200 tons, which was not a big problem.

But the speed is doubled, to more than 24 knots, which makes the designers think a lot.

Existing compound steam engines simply cannot push a warship over a thousand tons to a speed of more than 20 knots.

But at the request of the demanding Party A, they had to resort to some new technologies.

Eventually, designers turned to Charles Algernon Parsons, an engineer who was working on improving the steam engine.

He did have an experimental steam turbine there.

This person is also in Newcastle, but he is looking for a partner because he has no money and cannot proceed with the next step of mass production.

Armstrong hesitated again and again, and finally told Chen Jianqiu of his dilemma.

He originally wanted to invest a fortune, but he was not sure how much potential this new product had.

Boss Chen was simple and direct. He took out his checkbook without saying anything.

A month later, the steam turbine was installed on the ship.

The results shocked Armstrong and various ship designers!

Without weapons, the speed is as high as 30 knots!

In addition, the main gun position and rapid-fire gun position of the ship were all empty, and the appearance was disguised as a merchant ship.

Armstrong looked at the ship in the dock, and the more he looked at it, the more regretful he became.

"Mr. Chen, you know that your ship is a very good one, it can even be said to be the most advanced, eh."

He searched for words to describe the ship, but couldn't find the right words for a while.

Large gunboats or small cruisers don't seem to be suitable.

"Well, this armed ship, but without weapons, is like a tiger without teeth, you know what I mean, so I still want to recommend to you our shipyard's naval gun series, which contains."

Armstrong couldn't help but start to promote his products, but was interrupted by Chen Jianqiu mid-sentence.

"Don't make it too exaggerated. It will embarrass our government." Chen Jianqiu stood outside the dock and looked at his ship in the berth.

"Let's get some rapid-fire cannons." Armstrong was a little desperate.

You know, how can the profit from selling boats be as good as selling cannons? It would be nice to earn a little more!

"Yes, yes." Chen Jianqiu rubbed his hands.

"Jingle Bell!"

Suddenly a carriage bell rang behind them.

Armstrong turned around and saw seven or eight carriages driving past the factory gate and parked next to them.

The bearded Maxim sat on the first carriage.

He jumped out of the car and opened the cloth on the carriage behind him:

"Mr. Chen, the weapons you want are already in place."

Both Chen Jianqiu and Armstrong's eyes stopped at the weapons loaded in the carriage.

This weapon looks very much like a Maxim machine gun, but its caliber and size are much larger than the machine gun.

The rotatable gun body is mounted on a conical pure iron base and looks very powerful.

"Quick-fire cannon?" Mr. Armstrong almost laughed out loud. "If you want this thing, just ask. It's in our products! Why waste time and effort on research and development!"

He pointed to a similar-looking weapon on a warship parked at the berth next door:

"The Hotchkiss five-barreled rapid-fire gun, 37MM caliber, is widely sold at home and abroad. It is worth owning!"

"Reduce costs! Reduce costs!" Chen Jianqiu tried to appease the shipyard director.

However, Mr. Maxim on the side was more upright:

"Your cannon can't compare to mine. If I remember correctly, the rate of fire of that cannon is only 60 rounds per minute. It's so rubbish."

Chen Jianqiu winked at Maxim, signaling him to stop talking.

But Maxim was in high spirits and didn't notice.

"The rate of fire of my machine gun can be as high as 200-300 rounds per minute! It is an automatic weapon. Yours has to be manually cranked. There is a big difference." He patted his masterpiece proudly.

Chen Jianqiu began to rub his face.

"Why don't we get on the boat first and take a look." He looked around.

But how could the challenged Mr. Armstrong stop there.

He also walked to the side of the carriage, looked at the machine gun up and down, and said to Maxim:

"Mr. Maxim, to be honest, your accomplishments in machine guns are amazing, but when you say that this gun can have such a high rate of fire, I really don't believe it. Can you test fire it and let me see what you can see?"

Maxim knew that he seemed to have said too much.

He looked at Chen Jianqiu.

Chen Jianqiu nodded helplessly.

A machine gun was towed to a shooting range not far from the shipyard.

This shooting range is set up on a stretch of coast that no one has passed.

The two sides were fenced off, and the targets floated on the sea on floating barrels.

"Let's get started." Chen Jianqiu waved to Maxim, "We'll do it quickly, I have to ask him to install it for us quickly!"

Maxim was all too familiar with this kind of situation.

He pulled out his bandolier and began firing the cannon like a machine gun.

Suddenly, the muzzle of the machine gun began to spray flames, and there was a rapid "bang bang" on the coast, and the targets on the sea were torn into pieces with the roar of the machine gun.

Armstrong was stunned, watch in hand.

After searching for a long time, he found a shortcoming:

The rate of fire is too fast and the shell consumption is too high.

This reason seems familiar.

"Mr. Armstrong, can you install these four cannons on my ship?" Chen Jianqiu looked at him with a smile, "I remember I paid the installation fee!"

"What's the name of your cannon?" Armstrong asked eagerly.

"I haven't decided on a name yet. The tentative model is called QF 1. What's wrong?" Chen Jianqiu asked.

"How about, let's sign a sales contract. Can you sell these cannons to me?" Armstrong proposed.

"Why, do you want to add this cannon of mine to your weapon package?" Chen Jianqiu said with a smile.

Armstrong spread his hands and admitted frankly:

"It's more profitable to make a set meal! I just make the difference!"

"No problem. You can talk to Maxim later, but you have to load the cannon for me quickly." Chen Jianqiu came to the factory director's side and said.

"No problem, I'll waive the installation fee for you!" Armstrong held Chen Jianqiu's hand, "But I hope to get the exclusive agent in the UK!"

"Easy to say, easy to say." Chen Jianqiu smiled playfully.

Several QF1s were transported into the dock, and workers were ready to install them on the bow and stern of the ship.

Chen Jianqiu and Maxim left the shipyard after communicating with Armstrong.

"Mr. Chen, didn't you say that pirates are nothing to worry about and can be knocked over? I thought you really wanted to go back to Mexico to load weapons."

On the way back, Maxim and Chen Jianqiu sat in the carriage together and said.

"Originally I didn't want to install it. Why don't we just wait until the Krupp main gun is shipped back?" Chen Jianqiu played with a piece of grass in his hand. "But I changed my mind after seeing your product."

"If you look back at what kind of weapon was invented on land, change it and continue selling it!" he said to Maxim.