America 1881: Legend of the West

This sounds like a bold idea.

However, as a vehicle engineer, Diesel still couldn't understand his boss's thoughts.

"Boss, what do we need that thing for?" He asked weakly from the side after thinking for a long time.

"Plow the fields."

Chen Jianqiu replied absently.

Yes, it's just plowing, but it doesn't matter whether it's a track plow or a cannon plow.

The image of hundreds of tanks galloping across the Chihuahuan Desert instantly came to his mind.

There are various models, from "Tiger", to Sherman, to T34, until the M1A2, Leopard 2, and 99A appeared later.
This is a kind of romance unique to men, which makes people intoxicated.

But Diesel on the side was even more confused.

Fortunately, Boss Chen did not confuse this outstanding tractor inventor for too long.

He himself quickly recovered from the imagination of the torrent of steel, and his eyes stopped on the tractor in front of him again.

Ideals are beautiful, but reality is cruel.

Chen Jianqiu knew that the state he was in just now was a fantasy based on good wishes, commonly known as a daydream.

It's just that the protagonists of other people's White Gates are usually beauties, while his are weapons.

Daydreaming once in a while is good for physical and mental health; but if you do it too much, the person's mental state will be more or less problematic.

As a man of action, Chen Jianqiu would not allow such a situation to occur.

"Let's go back to the meeting hall. We'll have another meeting."

An hour later, a group of the top engineers and inventors in the association gathered in the Roswell conference hall, including Browning, Ford, the German cannon designer, and of course tractor development master Diesel you.

Chen Jianqiu started his "I draw and you guess" activity again.

But this time things are a little more complicated.

Chen Jianqiu had no foundation in cartography, so it was naturally impossible for him to hand-draw the drawings for them.

He just drew a schematic diagram of a tank with a rotating turret and a coaxial machine gun.

As for the parameters, we can only count on these talented designers to balance them themselves.

Due to the limited power of the internal combustion engine, Chen Jianqiu did not expect the tank to be much faster than a horse-drawn carriage. It would be about ten kilometers per hour.

What else can you expect from an early tank? Just have enough momentum.

With the successful precedent of mortars, scientists are very motivated.

Money is one aspect.

They marveled at their boss's imagination.

Chen Jianqiu has been brainwashing these people.

People who are troubled by Party A's high demands and weird ideas, or even fear them, are mediocre people.

What true genius can resist a wild idea?
What’s more, the idea is paid.

"It can be done!"

Several engineers, designers and inventors with different English accents studied and discussed for a while around the schematic diagram that was comparable to an abstract painting, and then came to the final conclusion.

Chen Jianqiu laughed.

This time, he did not give a specific time.

But scientists all know that the faster the results are produced, the more generous their bosses will be.

Chen Jianqiu handed over the research matters to the scientific research team, and went to Lincoln County to deal with another important matter.

He has an order from Africa.

Ever since Chen Jianqiu moved his family to New York, his house in Lincoln County has basically been empty.

Although New York's winters are cold, New Mexico doesn't look like a suitable place for a vacation.

Therefore, Chen Jianqiu is usually the only one who occasionally stays here.

It suddenly became busy here today.

Four or five European gentlemen in formal attire appeared at the door of the mansion.

"Mr. Chen is waiting for you inside." The Chinese guard at the door said to the group of people.

One of the four or five people seemed to be a translator. He translated the guard's words into an unknown language and told the following people.

The bearded leader nodded and walked into the room.

Chen Jianqiu is reading the newspaper in the yard.

Hearing the movement at the door, he stood up and greeted the translator warmly.

"Hey Mr. Schneider, long time no see."

The translator's name is Schneider, a German who is familiar with Chen Jianqiu. He is a manager of Knub Company and is responsible for business docking with Chen Jianqiu Company.

This person has lived in the United States for a long time and is fluent in English, German and Dutch.

"Long time no see, Mr. Chen." The translator stepped forward and held Chen Jianqiu's hand with a smile.

"Come and sit." Chen Jianqiu pointed to the tables and chairs in the yard.

It’s not cold outside in the winter in New Mexico.

A ray of sunlight hit the table, which was particularly gentle.

A group of people sat down around the table.

"You said in the telegram that it was not very clear. You only mentioned that you wanted to reach an arms deal with us. What? Is William II also interested in this?"

Chen Jianqiu asked half-jokingly.

Schneider's eyes hesitated for a moment, but he still chose to tell the truth:

"His Majesty the King is aware of this matter, but the arms purchased this time are not for the German army, but for the Republic of Swaziland."

Schneider began to introduce the bearded man and the people behind him to Chen Jianqiu.

The bearded man is a logistics officer of the Army of the Republic of Transvaalland, while the others are also members of the government of the Republic.

"Don't we have business dealings?" Chen Jianqiu was a little confused, and he pointed his finger between himself and the bearded man. He had been shipping goods to the Boers through a company registered in the Netherlands in exchange for gold.

"The British are planning to attack the Republic of Swaziland again," Schneider said. "They need more equipment."

Chen Jianqiu raised his eyebrows.

The bearded man looked a little anxious and started to dance and gesture.

"He's talking." Chen Jianqiu roughly understood and turned to Schneider.

"Well, that's right, it's the portable mortar you used when attacking the San Juan Highlands." Schneider added.

It turned out that these Boers were eyeing the mortars.

The bearded man muttered a lot, Schneider nodded repeatedly, and then translated to Chen Jianqiu:

"They thought the weapon would be ideal for fighting the British."

Chen Jianqiu said "Oh".

"But how did they know we used this thing?" He looked at Schneider and asked knowingly.

Schneider looked a little embarrassed, but he still answered honestly:
"We have sent observers, well, not just us, but all of Europe, so it doesn't seem to be a secret."

"Then I can't sell it to you."

Chen Jianqiu looked troubled.

"If the British knew that I sold mortars to you, how would my factory in the UK continue to do business?"

Schneider and the bearded man looked at each other.

"Mr. Chen, as you said, haven't you been selling arms to Dewasland through a Dutch company before?" Schneider asked in confusion.

"As you said, I am the only company in the world that produces this thing. If the British find out, won't they kill me?" Chen Jianqiu shrugged, "But."

"But what?" Schneider asked quickly.

"But just like the Maxim machine gun, I can license the patent to Knuber, and you just need to produce it. I will collect patent fees and sell mortar shells." Chen Jianqiu expressed his thoughts.

The technical content of the mortar is actually not very high, and there is nothing mysterious about the mortar shells.

On the contrary, the cost of mortar shells is actually much lower.

Because in order to produce a better blasting effect, the quality of the cast iron used in the shells is not very good.

Before these people figure out what's going on, let's raise the price and make some money.

The Boers signed a contract for mortar shells, some machine gun ammunition and a small number of rifles at Chen Jianqiu's villa in Lincolnshire.

A few months after the contract was signed, the Second Boer War broke out.

The first to launch the attack were the Boers.

They took advantage of their familiarity with the local terrain and their flexible tactics to harass the British supply lines and distribution points while sending their main forces to besiege the British main force in the Ladysmith stronghold.

More than 4,000 British troops in the stronghold, led by Lieutenant General White, tried to engage the Boers who besieged them, but were immediately beaten to a bloody pulp by the main force of the Boers led by Joubert. After losing more than a thousand bodies, they retreated back to Ladysmith.

At this time, more than 20,000 British expeditionary forces led by Admiral Buller also arrived in Cape Town.

They set out for Ladysmith to rescue the trapped local garrison.

It has to be said that the performance of the British Army in the first phase of the Boer War was as terrible as that of the American Army in the Spanish-American War. They were brothers in distress and rivals at the same time.

Admiral Buller's command was even worse than that of Major General Kent who had diarrhea.

With superior numbers, he launched an attack on the Boer army surrounding Ladysmith.

The Boers actually numbered only 3,500.

Logically speaking, this is a battle that should not be lost no matter how we fight.

But the British still lost, and lost miserably.

The Boers concealed their artillery positions, although they actually had only five field guns.

But they have new weapons provided by Chen Jianqiu.

The British troops charging in a group were hit on the head by a rain of shells.

A British commander who died could not believe until his death why the Boers had so much indirect fire.

The attacking British troops were quickly beaten back by Krupp's heavy artillery and mortars, and more than a thousand people were killed.

At the same time, the British troops on the Western and Central Fronts also suffered a defeat, losing more than 2800 people.

The Boers used new weapons and flexible tactics to defeat the British on every battlefield.

It has been a long time since the British Empire suffered such a complete defeat. It has almost lost everything!
"Why do they have such fierce firepower?"

After listening to the analysis of his staff, the new commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force, Lord Roberts, was puzzled.

"They used a new weapon called 'mortar' at the company and platoon level. This weapon was used by Americans in the Spanish-American War, when a Chinese regiment brought some mortars to destroy the Spanish defenses on Pot Hill Heights," said the staff officer.

"Chinese Legion?" Roberts thought for a moment.

A person came to his mind.

Chen Jianqiu is actually quite famous in the UK. After all, his staff member Maxim was awarded a medal.

"Was it that Chen who sold them the new weapons?" Roberts asked, frowning.

The staff officer shook his head.

"No, sir, we checked. Those mortars were made in Germany. They were probably copied by the Germans."

"What are you waiting for? Go find Chen!" Roberts shouted, "If the Boers have it, we must have it too!"

After the Maxim machine gun, the British government once again approached Chen Jianqiu.

After learning the purpose of this group of people's visit, Chen Jianqiu did not hide anything and directly took out a batch of inventory from the warehouse and sold it to them at a high price.

And, of course, there were mortar shells.

Roberts once again headed for Africa with new weapons and reinforcements from Australia, New Zealand and India to regain the glory of the British Empire.

Chen Jianqiu didn't care who would win the war between the British and the Boers.

When the cannon is fired, there is a thousand taels of gold.

When doing business, we should keep things one way and one way. (End of this chapter)