America 1881: Legend of the West

Chapter 558 "My marksmanship is not very good"

There are many towns called Springfield in the United States, but none of them are as famous as this one in Massachusetts.

In 1777, when the founding father, Washington, personally selected this small town as the federal weapons warehouse, he probably would not have thought that the guns produced here would later contribute greatly to the federal victory in the Mexican-American War and the Civil War.

Located at the intersection of three rivers and four main roads, the geographical environment is extremely advantageous.

In 1787, the peasant uprising army led by Daniel Shays focused on the arms stored here, but was suppressed before they could start a prairie fire.

Until 1795, the Springfield Arsenal had not produced a single rifle, and at best it could only build some gun mounts.

Later, the director of the arsenal built a water-powered mill on the Connecticut River and used it as a driving force to start large-scale industrial production of guns.

Chen Jianqiu, accompanied by Captain Rhodes, stood at the commanding heights of the river valley and looked in the direction of the arsenal.

The original four workshops have now been expanded to about twenty; those hydraulic workshops are still there, but they have long lost their original functionality and been replaced by steam boilers.

White smoke emerged from the chimney of the workshop, drifting into the air along the river valley, and then into the distance.

"Mr. Chen, how is it? Is our production scale okay?" Lieutenant Rhodes touched the two curls of beard on his lips and asked Chen Jianqiu proudly.

He was about forty years old. He was originally a quartermaster of the Northern Cavalry Regiment. He found the position of "director" of the Springfield Arsenal through unknown means.

Chen Jianqiu nodded.

Today, he did not wear his black cloth robe, but put on an exquisite suit and top hat. Apart from his beautiful and unstructured beard and his plump body, he looked the same as a business tycoon.

"Are you still using steam power?" he asked suddenly.

Lieutenant Rhodes was asked such a question that Monk Zhang Er was confused. He looked at Chen Jianqiu with a blank expression:
"Um, are there any other power options besides steam power?"

Chen Jianqiu did not continue this topic.

He now understood somewhat why the state-run arsenal was so relatively inefficient.

He did not tell the "factory director" that all his branches in Liverpool, England, had been replaced with machine tools driven by electric motors alone.

Milling machines, planers, grinders, and drill machines are all available.

Not to mention the main factory in Roswell.

It is difficult to communicate with a frog at the bottom of a well.

Chen Jianqiu just smiled and said:

"Yes, yes, under your leadership, Lieutenant, the Springfield Arsenal will surely return to glory. The future is promising, and the future is promising."

Being so complimented by a recognized arms tycoon in the American industry, Lieutenant Rhodes felt a little dizzy and top-heavy for a moment.

"Mr. Chen, let me take you to the shooting range where we test new weapons." Lieutenant Rhodes rubbed his hands excitedly.

Chen Jianqiu happened to be hit by the wind at the top of the mountain and got a headache.

"Okay, Lieutenant Lao will show me around."

The two men got on their horses and slowly swung down the mountain road, followed by a group of followers.

Along the way, Lieutenant Rhodes happily introduced the business of Springfield Arsenal to Chen Jianqiu:

"Mr. Chen, this arsenal is now the only state-owned arsenal in the country. The army's guns are basically purchased from us."

"Oh?" Chen Jianqiu agreed smoothly, but his eyes turned elsewhere.

But from what Rhodes heard, the other party seemed to have a strong interest.

"It turns out there was a Harpers Ferry Arsenal, but it was burned down by fire during the Civil War." He began to popularize science, "So now we are the only one left."

"Don't look at the fact that the Army's orders are not many now, but maybe one day when the war breaks out, they will come up all at once. By then, as long as we work together, we will definitely get something done."

Rhodes winked at Chen Jianqiu.

Chen Jianqiu was introduced by the Ministry of War, and there was a guarantee there, so he didn't have to worry about quality and productivity.

This is a completely empty-handed job.

Besides, he is Party B and he is Party A.

As a rule, as long as the tycoon produces more and earns more, his share will be indispensable.

Why not do this kind of thing.

Chen Jianqiu responded with a polite smile to Rhodes's secret glance.

He really didn't want to refute Lieutenant Rhodes's interest.

After all, he is still the "factory director".

A group of people wandered into an open space outside the town.

It was close to the forest, and there were boundary stakes every ten meters around, with wooden signs nailed to them that read:

Military shooting range, please do not enter.

At the outskirts of the shooting range, everyone dismounted and tied their horses outside the shooting range.

Rhodes took the lead and walked at the front.

He led Chen Jianqiu into the shooting range.

There are two wooden tables placed not far away, and several long wooden boxes are stacked next to the tables.

Several Springfield Arsenal employees were already waiting for them there.

"Please allow me to introduce our products to you." Captain Rhodes took a rifle from an employee's hand and held it in his hand.

Chen Jianqiu took a look.

Naturally, he knew this gun, the Clark-Jonathan rifle shot by shot and loaded by load.

When the Union frontier troops surrendered, this gun was piled in a warehouse at Roswell Farm.

Except for the guns of the leading guys who were imprisoned after being prosecuted and still lying there gathering dust, the others were all returned to the soldiers when they were released.

Chen Jianqiu despised this broken gun.

Not even touched.

Because it has to be reloaded shot by shot, the rate of fire of this gun is too slow.

Needless to say, compared with the semi-automatic and automatic weapons he had, even compared with the conventional bolt-action rifles from Roswell Arsenal, they were all very out of date.

But Lieutenant Rhodes didn't feel this way.

He proudly introduced this rifle to Chen Jianqiu.

"Mr. Chen, would you like to try this gun? This is a standard weapon exclusively for the Army and is not available on the market outside." Rhodes handed the gun over.

Chen Jianqiu was not interested and shook his head.

When Captain Rhodes saw this, he thought that the Chinese businessman didn't know how to use a gun, and couldn't help but laugh secretly.

He suddenly came up with the idea of ​​showing off his marksmanship in front of Chen Jianqiu.

"Give me the bullet." He stretched out his hand to the employee beside him.

The employee took out a few rifle rounds from the box on the table and handed them to Captain Rhodes.

Rhodes opened the magazine cover on the side of the gun and inserted the bullets one by one.

Because the captain was eager to take the gun and shoot, he was a little hasty when loading, and accidentally dropped a bullet on the ground.

The scene was a bit embarrassing.

The employee next to him was about to come up to pick up the bullet, but was stopped by another person with a slightly higher EQ.

The man took out a new bullet from the box and handed it to Captain Rhodes.

The captain's face turned red and white.

He stole a glance at Chen Jianqiu next to him.

Fortunately, Boss Chen didn't seem to notice it. He just smiled and looked at the target bottle in the distance.

Captain Rhodes quickly slapped the magazine cover shut, raised his gun and aimed.

He adjusted his breathing solemnly and focused his eyes on the crosshairs.

The people around also held their breath.

At this distance, a target like a wine bottle is not very big, and it is not easy to hit it.

After aiming for a while, the captain finally pulled the trigger.

In fact, he was not quite sure, but he did not want to show weakness in front of Chen Jianqiu.

There was a loud bang, and the glass bottle in the distance was obviously hit and exploded.

"it is good!"

The employee who handed him the last bullet was the first to cheer and applaud.

The other employees quickly reacted and started cheering and clapping.

"Captain, you have great marksmanship!"

"You are indeed a brave warrior who has fought Indians with real weapons!"

Captain Rhodes breathed a sigh of relief.

At least it wasn't embarrassing.

He looked with satisfaction at the stone in the distance, where the glass bottle that had been placed there had been smashed to pieces by him.

The captain felt somewhat smug.

The shot just now was definitely the result of my own strength and had absolutely nothing to do with luck.

He turned around and found Chen Jianqiu looking around with his hands behind his back.

"Mr. Chen, I really suggest you give it a try. It would be a pity if people like us who are in the arms business cannot experience the joy of using weapons." Captain Rhodes handed over the gun.

He didn't mean to embarrass Chen Jianqiu, but wanted to better highlight his outstanding marksmanship.

"I'm not a very good shooter." Chen Jianqiu waved his hand cheerfully, "Besides, I've never used this gun before."

After he said this, Captain Rhodes became more persistent.

Have you never used this gun? It's a standard model, so it's normal that you haven't used it.

My shooting skills are not good? That's right, otherwise how can I show my awesomeness?

"It's okay, just for fun." Captain Rhodes stuffed the gun into Chen Jianqiu's hand.

Chen Jianqiu looked at the gun in his hand.

This was his first close-up look at the gun.

The materials used in this gun actually seem to be of high quality, but judging from the bolt and the action, the workmanship is indeed a bit rough.

"Mr. Chen, there are four bullets left in the gun. You don't need to reload. Just follow the sight, aim in a straight line, and adjust your breathing."

Captain Rod unconsciously talked about his "shooting experience", but did not notice that Chen Jianqiu was just playing with the gun and was not listening to Rod at all.

"Thomas, go get a bottle and rearrange it." After saying almost the same thing, Rhodes ordered one of his employees.

"no, I'm fine."

Chen Jianqiu suddenly spoke.

He waved his hand and pointed to a place further away: "Or maybe those three tin cans."

Everyone looked in the direction Chen Jianqiu pointed.

Further away, there was only a big tree, no iron can at all.

Captain Rhodes and others were a little confused and didn't know what Chen Jianqiu was up to.

Only Thomas raised his hand.

"Well, I did hang three iron cans on that tree," he said carefully, "but they are for testing scopes, not for naked-eye shooting. There are words written on each can."

As the person in charge of the shooting range, no one knows better than Thomas what targets are placed here.

Everyone looked in that direction again.

There was indeed something hanging under the thickest branch of the big tree, but it was very, very small and could not be seen clearly without careful observation.

Thomas picked up a telescope from the table and handed it to Captain Rhodes.

Captain Rhodes raised his telescope.

"It seems that there is, but this seems..."

Before he could finish his words, the gun in Chen Jianqiu's hand went off.

It wasn't just one sound, but it sounded continuously.

"when!"

"Click!"

"when!"

"Click!"

In the distance, there was the crisp sound of a bullet hitting a metal object, accompanied by the crisp sound of a bolt being pulled.

Two flashes of fire appeared in succession in the air.

That was the spark of fire caused by the bullets hitting the tin can, indicating that the two bullets hit the can.

Everyone stared into the distance with bated breath.

They are waiting for the third round.

After the third bullet was fired, no fire appeared.

Could it be that it missed?

But before everyone could figure it out and guess what was going on, Chen Jianqiu pulled the trigger for the fourth time.

There was a crisp sound, and the fire reappeared, and the fourth shot hit.

Everyone has recovered from their shock.

Three hits out of four shots, at this distance, it is already a miracle. It is really amazing to see the shooting skills of this Chinese boss.

Everyone also applauded and praised.

Except for one person.

Captain Rhodes held the telescope for a long time without putting it down, standing there like a plaster statue.

Because besides Chen Jianqiu, he was the only one who knew:

The third shot did not miss, but directly broke the rope that tied the iron can. Then, before the can fell to the ground, Chen Jianqiu's fourth bullet hit it.

"Oh my God!" Captain Rhodes muttered to himself, still recalling what he had just seen through the telescope.

Chen Jianqiu walked up to the employee and handed the gun back to him:

"The loading speed is too slow. This kind of gun will suffer in the battlefield." He commented, speaking the truth, "The barrel is made with something to recommend it, but the other details are handled very roughly."

Captain Rhodes recovered from his shock only after hearing Chen Jianqiu speaking.

He finally put down the telescope and looked at Chen Jianqiu in disbelief.

Is this what "bad shooting" means?
"I was a cowboy for a while when I first came to the United States, so I practiced my shooting skills a little. I'm sorry to have embarrassed you." Chen Jianqiu laughed.

Captain Rhodes was obviously still in shock.

He really didn't know how to use words to describe and describe, and his already limited vocabulary and expression skills were made even worse.

At this moment, another man on horseback came galloping from the direction of the town factory.

He came up to Captain Rhodes and whispered something in his ear.

"No means no! It won't pass customs! And I haven't received any instructions from the Army Department regarding this matter." Captain Rhodes' attention was quickly diverted and he became angry.

Chen Jianqiu, who was watching from the side, suddenly interrupted: "What's making you so upset? Mr. Rhodes?"

Rhodes suddenly realized that Chen Jianqiu was talking to him and immediately put a smile on his face.

His admiration for Chen Jianqiu now was like a surging river, unstoppable.

Otherwise, why is he firmly sitting in the top position in the American arms industry? He has special powers and is an expert in marksmanship.

In response to Chen Jianqiu's question, he told the truth:

"A foreigner came and wanted to buy our guns, but we couldn't sell them to him."

"Oh?" Chen Jianqiu was really interested this time, "Why?"

Captain Rhodes shrugged:

“He’s from Cuba.”

(End of this chapter)