Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 377 Smokeless Gunpowder
The European powers essentially pursued a profit-first approach. In order to open up the continental arms trade market, Germany took the initiative to lower the price of warship orders and sold them to Li Hongzhang at a price of 142 million taels of silver per warship. However, during the actual construction of the warship, the Vulcan Shipyard deliberately concealed the Qing court and carried out several technical verification hull modification projects, which led to the total warship construction cost rising steadily. The price of a single ship finally sold was far higher than 142 million taels of silver.

Li Mingyuan considered that the Germans might repeat the same trick on the two battleships ordered domestically, so he reminded Chen Sen and others in advance.

"Your Majesty, the US government has allowed the domestic people to violently persecute Chinese compatriots. The anti-Chinese sentiment has now spread to Canada and Mexico. Every day, a large number of Chinese from North America arrive at Tortuga Island where the Caribbean Squadron is located, seeking asylum from the local government.

The living environment of Chinese in North America is deteriorating. I believe that the local governments need to take countermeasures to let the Chinese in the United States, Canada, and Mexico see that the local governments value them and expose the Qing court’s slander of the local governments. "

After making overall arrangements for the Navy's base construction in the next ten years and the military inspection team to Europe,
Hou Taiyuan waited for the opportunity and reported the situation in North America and the Caribbean to Li Mingyuan.

"Let the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issue a condemnation statement and order the consulates in various parts of the United States to advise the local Chinese to evacuate the United States as soon as possible. If there are properties such as houses and land that cannot be taken away, try to dispose of them. If there are properties that cannot be disposed of, give them up.
I estimate that the scale of anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States will be even larger next year. For safety reasons, they should evacuate the United States and return to their homeland as soon as possible. There is no shortage of land in their homeland. After they arrive, as long as they work hard and pass the two-year probation period, they can be allocated land and houses, and their living standards will not be worse than staying in the United States. "

"Chinese Americans are grateful for your kindness. Every month, a constant stream of people rush to the Tortuga Island transit station. Because there are too many Chinese arriving on the island, I bribed a Haitian warlord near Tortuga Road and leased a piece of land from him to settle some Chinese people."

"Haiti is an island with a critical geographical location. It is a pity that it has fallen into the hands of black people."

Li Mingyuan looked at Hou Taiyuan meaningfully, saw through his thoughts, and reminded him, "Haiti is not far from the U.S. mainland. Any action that is too obvious will easily lead to American interference. The action of evacuating Chinese immigrants to the main island of Haiti should be done more covertly. Control the number of Chinese on the island and don't send too many Chinese in at once."

"I will remember your majesty's instructions and transfer only 800 to 900 people to Haiti each time. The number of people transported to the island each year will be controlled within 4,000 to 5,000. This will not give the United States any reason to interfere."

"After sending the Chinese immigrants to the island, the subsequent management affairs cannot be relaxed, especially in places close to black populations. We must strictly prevent the occurrence of intermarriage between Chinese and blacks. Whether it is Chinese men or women, once the signs of dating with blacks are found, they must be stopped immediately."

"I will immediately set up an inspection team on the island of Haiti to monitor such situations and prevent any situation that Your Majesty does not want to see."

"Okay, the situation in the Caribbean is entirely your responsibility. If you discover any abnormal situation in the Caribbean or the United States, you must immediately report it to the mainland."

"I understand, but the Caribbean Fleet is weak. If an unexpected incident happens, I am worried that it will affect your majesty's important event."

"The Caribbean Sea is right under the noses of the Americans, and sending main warships there won't be much use."

Li Mingyuan thought for a moment and said, "In October this year, the Xinjing Shipyard and the Royal Shipyard will each complete the construction of a 10-ton light cruiser. By then, both warships will be allocated to the Caribbean Fleet. You should be satisfied with this, right?"

"Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty. I will definitely protect Torti Island for Your Majesty and live up to Your Majesty's expectations."

"Okay, I know you are determined. You can work in the Caribbean for another one or two years. By 1883 at the latest, the Navy will have a suitable successor and will transfer you back to the Navy Headquarters. Seize the opportunity to work hard in these one or two years. After two years, you will still have the opportunity to display your talents in the Navy Headquarters."…………

After pacifying a group of restless senior naval officers, Li Mingyuan spent some time relaxing with the queen and the imperial concubine the next day, and then continued his busy day. "Your Majesty, after a year of testing and verification, the explosive with picric acid as the main explosive material has solved seven technical problems one after another. It is expected that the final technical route will be determined before December this year, and around February next year, it can be used as the raw material for 12mm artillery shells and trial production will be carried out."

Zhou Sheng, who was awarded the hereditary baron title for discovering the process for producing picric acid, reported to Li Mingyuan on his research progress on explosives in the outer court palace.

"Piric acid is a high explosive with unstable properties. It is dangerous to use it to make artillery shells. If the trial production is successful early next year, you should assist the artillery unit in standardizing the rules for the use of such shells and pay attention to the personal safety of officers and soldiers."

"We are exploring ways to strengthen the control of the stability of picric acid shells, and according to the technical research manual issued by His Majesty, we have made considerable progress. Later, we will compile the experience gained into a manual for the use of picric acid shells and distribute it to artillery officers and soldiers equipped with new shells for learning how to use them."

Picric acid was the first important breakthrough made by the Han Dynasty in the field of explosives. However, for Li Mingyuan, who had once been a mercenary and was accustomed to using rifle bullets and artillery shells made from various single-base and double-base gunpowders of later generations, the current progress was far from satisfactory.

Single-base smokeless gunpowder is often used as rifle propellant, and double-base gunpowder can be used as both artillery shell explosive and artillery propellant. Compared with the many single-base and double-base gunpowders discovered later, picric acid does not have any advantages.

According to the current level of technological research and development, the two types of gunpowder that are most likely to be successfully developed in Han State and that Li Mingyuan has high hopes for are Type B single-base gunpowder and double-base smokeless gunpowder.
Medicine ballistite.

Type B single-base gunpowder, in its original history, was invented by French chemist and engineer Paul Marie Eugene Vieille in 1884 and is a relatively mature propellant for smokeless musket bullets.

The double-base smokeless gunpowder ballistite was invented by Nobel Prize winner

After going through some other processing and manufacturing processes, a new type of gunpowder with stable performance and great power is produced.

The main production principles and raw material distribution of the two types of gunpowder have been compiled into a manual by Li Mingyuan and handed over to Zhou Sheng, Lin Shenhe and others for research. However, due to the uncertainty of the addition ratios between the various main raw materials and some minor raw materials, the two research projects have been delayed in completing final progress.

Developing two new types of smokeless gunpowder ahead of the European powers would be of great benefit to the Han Dynasty's national defense strategy. Therefore, after listening carefully to Zhou Sheng's report, Li Mingyuan instructed, "The development of type B single-base smokeless gunpowder and double-base smokeless gunpowder ballistite should be accelerated, and the entire development progress should be coordinated with the new rifle using smokeless gunpowder. The technical research and development of the two smokeless gunpowders and the finalized production of the new rifle should be completed no later than February 1885."

"Your Majesty, after the United Steel Corporation exchanged steelmaking technology with Germany, the problem limiting the hardness of the new rifle's gun body and barrel has been solved. The design of the new rifle is about to enter the final stage. As long as the Chemical Research Institute completes the research and development of the rifle's smokeless gunpowder, the new rifle can be put into verification production."

The official in charge of military production took the initiative to report.

The new rifle is based on the Mosin-Nagant rifle. The difficulty of imitation is much lower than that of developing single-base B-type smokeless gunpowder. Li Mingyuan nodded and expressed his affirmation of the achievements of the military manufacturing department.

"Once the design of the new rifle is completed, it must be kept secret until the new smokeless rifle gunpowder is successfully developed, and then the credit and reward will be calculated together."

(End of this chapter)