Struggle in Russia

Prince Mikhail loves the rifle in his hand very much. He has never used a rifle that is so simple to load and shoot so accurately. If his young man has such a weapon in his hand, he will not be afraid to fight Napoleon in Jerusalem!

After firing a few more rounds, Prince Mikhail began to carefully fiddle with the weapon in his hand. As mentioned earlier, this rifle is basically similar to the current Russian military-style smoothbore flintlock, except that the part of the barrel near the butt is cut off and replaced by a forward-turning hinge structure, and the rifling engraved in the barrel. In addition, the bullet is not the previous spherical bullet, but similar to the British Minie rifle bullet.

The so-called Minie bullet is actually an early rifled rifle bullet loaded in the front chamber. The bullet is no longer spherical but conical. In the Crimean War, the British and Sardinian troops who used Minie bullets inflicted huge damage on the Russian army, but the loading of this new type of bullet is still troublesome.

Li Xiao's improved version of the breech gun uses the bullet of the Mines bullet. When loading, the bullet is first inserted into the chamber, and then the black powder is filled into the turned-up barrel, and then the barrel is closed and locked, pulled up. Hammer with flint, then aim and finally pull the trigger to release the hammer.

This set of procedures is actually quite troublesome, but it is much simpler than a musket-loaded smoothbore gun, and it is very convenient to eliminate blind fire.

Don't underestimate the misfire of bullets. In the era of flintlock guns, there was one misfire every seven shots on average. However, it is not ordinary troublesome and cumbersome to eliminate the misfire of the front-loading gun. The breech gun is not so complicated. Opening the lock and flipping the barrel solves the problem.

In short, Prince Mikhail was very satisfied with this new rifle, and he sincerely praised: "Your Excellency, this is an epoch-making invention. With this weapon, we can conquer hell!"

Li Xiao just expressed his gratitude modestly, without much excitement. Because this kind of improvement is really not epoch-making. He just found inspiration from the valve rifle. In the 1860s, European powers had to improve the front-loading guns in their hands in order to adapt to the rifled and fixed-loading ammunition, and they all chose to modify the old weapons.

The outrageously crude valve rifle was born. This weapon is far from being easy to use. The only advantage is that it can be obtained by improving the old rifle. To put it bluntly, it is cheap and saves money.

The valve rifle offered no performance advantage over its contemporary lever-action, pop-action, drop-action, and bolt-action rifles. Sincerity is a kind of weapon that is very easy to deal with and make a living.

But this backward weapon is very suitable for Russia. Because Russia's industry is backward, it is impossible to replace new weapons on a large scale (even in World War I, the simple Mosin Nagan Russian army can't have one man, and it has to find "allies" all over the world to buy and replace rifles to make a living. ).

Moreover, Russia is also clinking poor, and there are a lot of muskets in its hands that are reluctant to throw away. Let Nicholas I, that old antique, spend a lot of money to buy a new rifle, it would be better to kill him directly.

Therefore, for Russia, the only way is to obtain fire sticks that can at least keep up with the times through low-cost investment. In this case, the valve rifle is the only choice.

Duke Mikhail immediately realized the ingenuity of Li Xiao's choice. The improvement is simple and easy, and there is no need to replace all the rifles, so the old antiques in the Ministry of War will not object.

The stock of old-style smoothbore guns in the Russian army is more than a million, and even if only half of them are improved, it is a huge business. Earning only one ruble per rifle is a huge gain in the hundreds of thousands of rubles. What's more, the cost of improving a rifle is far more than earning one ruble. No matter how you look at it, this is a big business worth millions of rubles!

Prince Mikhail immediately became excited. Because he can earn the money completely. And it is still reasonable and legal to earn. Even other allies of the Holy Alliance, such as Prussia and Austria, have similar needs. Even if they only grant patents, they can earn a lot, right?

"My lord,

Talk about your thoughts in detail! "

In the face of huge wealth, Duke Mikhail could not remain calm. He had to have a good talk with Li Xiao, and believed that the other party was so smart that he must know that the Gorchakov family was the best partner.

Li Xiao was actually very happy in his heart. For him, he has thousands of ideas about such a heinously simple trap-type rifle, and tens of thousands of them are good or bad. It is too cost-effective to use this kind of garbage as a stepping stone to gain the friendship of the Gorchakov family. You can even let him do it for nothing without money!

But now it seems that this Grand Duke Mikhail is obviously not greedy. Facing the huge wealth of millions of rubles, he has no intention of taking it by force. Instead, he wants to cooperate with him. This is already very kind.

Li Xiao knew how Menshikov and those guys ate, they just sucked the bones and sucked the marrow, they just wanted to take advantage of themselves, they were nothing but iron cocks.

Li Xiao is a person who is very stingy when he is shrewd and meticulous. For example, a bastard like Messadov must be penny-pinching. But if you follow the rules and speak well, it is not impossible for him to make concessions.

Li Xiao immediately replied: "This kind of rifle is simple and quick to improve, and it costs more than buying a brand new rifle. It can also significantly improve the combat effectiveness of our army. I personally think it is necessary to promote it comprehensively."

In fact, Duke Mikhail has no interest in these words, he is not blind, how could he not see the obvious advantages, without these, he would not talk nonsense with Li Xiao. That wasn't what he really wanted to hear.

Li Xiao also knew what Duke Mikhail really cared about, and he immediately said: "But I also know that it is not easy to promote this kind of improvement, and it takes a person of high moral standing to lobby... I think you are the Duke. The most suitable candidate!"

Prince Mikhail smiled and said, "Haha, that's ridiculous, I'm just a veteran."

Obviously this is still not what he wants to hear the most, but he is also patient, he knows that what Li Xiao really wants to say is yet to come.

"I personally think that if there is labor, there must be harvest. The promotion of new rifles is a huge project, and it will not happen overnight. The promoters must not be allowed to work for nothing, so I take the liberty to propose to you..."

"We provide the technology, you provide the funds, and establish a joint venture gun factory to take orders for improved rifles, and win-win cooperation and share benefits...Our technology accounts for 40% of the shares, and you are responsible for the construction funds and promotion of the factory, accounting for 60% of the shares,"

Duke Mikhail nodded in his heart, he also had the same idea, although the shareholding ratio is still a little bit different from what he expected, but it can still be discussed!