Wild North America 1846

After the two parties reached an agreement, the imprisoned criminals were secretly transferred, and Baron Granville-Gower arranged for them to be transported away by ship. The relevant secret diplomatic emails were sent out immediately, with amazing efficiency.

three weeks later

September 28, 1847

The Oceanic Kingdom and the British special representative signed the "Oregon Treaty". The division of the Oregon State between the British and the Tang Dynasty was bounded by the 49° north latitude line (note: Vancouver Island belongs to the Kingdom of Datang), with the north belonging to the United Kingdom and the south belonging to the Kingdom of Datang.

The Tang Kingdom paid US$1.7 million to compensate the British Hudson's Bay Company for establishing settlements in the Oregon region and other colonial losses.

This article was a unanimous decision made by British Prime Minister William Lamb and Foreign Secretary Sir Henry John Temple after discussion, and it looked better in appearance.

The British want face, and the Tang Kingdom wants benefits.

The $1.7 million spent by the Tang Dynasty was not in vain. In addition to getting Vancouver Island, which the United States has never received in history, it will also receive additional British assistance to build two shipyards, San Francisco and Los Angeles docks, and excavate a large copper mine.

and all smelting equipment, as well as assistance from relevant administrative, legal and municipal professionals.

Its value has exceeded the US$1.7 million exceeded by the Tang Kingdom, which is equivalent to compensation in disguise.

The 15,000 cavalry equipment promised by the British has been shipped to the Kingdom of the Tang Dynasty. On this basis, some other materials have also been added, such as some excess tents, blankets, field cooking utensils, kettles, shovels, etc. that have been stored for nearly 20 years.

Black powder, etc. are considered gifts.

These supplies that are packed in warehouses are just a drop in the bucket for wealthy British people!

On the second day after the signing of the treaty, the Tang Kingdom publicly hanged nearly 300 white prisoners. Although there was no official explanation, rumors spread widely among the masses, saying that these were all the white prisoners who were executed for rebellion.

Taking into account the feelings of some white groups in the country, no special explanation was given and the execution was carried out in a low-key manner.

The officials kept a low profile, but the public couldn't contain their excitement, especially the Chinese community.

This move was very popular, and the Chinese people rushed to tell each other, beating gongs and drums to vent their joy. It greatly frightened a small number of people with strange thoughts and stabilized the social situation.

Grape Valley

A year and a half later, Grape Valley has changed dramatically.

Shanhaiguan, which originally had a wooden fence as its main body, has now been replaced by a tall and solid city wall. The two gilt characters "山海" are carved on the large stone slabs, which looks dignified.

Entering through the wide city gate, there is a road paved with stone slabs, winding along the river and the mountains into the distance.

A large number of houses were built along both sides of the road, with a distinctive Chinese style of pavilions and pavilions. The double eaves and brackets are unique and look like a beautiful landscape painting.

these two years

Chinese gold diggers made a fortune along the rivers of America. Many of them built houses and took wives and concubines. There were one or two or more large carriages parked in front of each house, indicating a wealthy life.

Beautiful Caucasian women are bought for three to four thousand dollars.

With the large influx of Chinese immigrants, many factories and iron mines have been put into operation, the population of Grape Valley has grown rapidly, reaching 27,000, and its growth momentum continues unabated.

In Erdaowan Village and Sandaowan Village, you can see a large number of wine shops, handicraft workshops and brothels along the streets. The horse-drawn carriages often cause congestion, creating a prosperous scene.

There are many factories in Sidaowan Village. The most eye-catching is the huge reinforced concrete mushroom-shaped factory building of Colt Arms Company. It is decorated with a grid pattern. It is the most abstract modern architectural work and a landmark building in the entire Grape Valley.

Accompanied by Mr. Samuel Colt, the company's director and general manager, Richard inspected the pistol production workshop and rifle production workshop along the spacious factory building, and finally came to the artillery production workshop.

The artillery production equipment in the workshop was provided by the British, and there were 76 engineers and technicians from the United Kingdom who helped the Chinese workers become familiar with the use of production equipment and taught production experience step by step.

The three caliber artillery produced in the artillery workshop are the British Whitworth 12-pounder field gun, the 20-pounder field gun and the 40-pound fortress defense gun.

The British-made Whitworth artillery is a relatively advanced rifled artillery in the world today. In the early 1940s, Italy developed a rifled artillery, and the British Sir Joseph Whitworth immediately developed a new 12-pounder gun. This is the British Army

Standard Whitworth artillery, and developed a variety of calibers.

"Your Majesty, to put it bluntly, the British artillery produced by our company can blow those arrogant Americans into pieces and let them know what firepower is."

After Samuel Colt was awarded the honorary title of King's Knight, he naturally took himself into the role of a subject of the Tang Kingdom and was proud of it.

Richard has recently enfeoffed 64 king's knights, including important officials in the military and political circles. The standard for enfeoffment of officers is major officers and above, and the officials and businessmen who have made important contributions in the political and economic circles.

Only those with the title of Honorary Knight of the King will be able to be ennobled as nobility in the future. Compared with an ordinary American nationality, it is not difficult to choose between the two.

Among white immigrants in North America, there is a deep-seated pursuit of noble titles. Unfortunately, in democratic countries like the United States and Mexico, this will never be possible.

There is only one monarch in the entire North American continent who is qualified to enfeoff nobility, and that is King Richard of the Tang Kingdom. He is the Grand Duke of California and His Majesty the King of the Tang Kingdom. He is granted the title of Grand Duke of California by Her Majesty Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

As the traditional top nobles in Europe, there are two types of dukes, namely grand dukes and dukes.

The Grand Duke family is more noble and powerful. It can inherit the Grand Duchy or create a new Grand Duchy. The royal power is generally recognized.

The Grand Duke's son is a prince and his daughter is a princess.

For example, the Prussian Kingdom of Bavaria, the Kingdom of Hesse, the Kingdom of Hamburg, the Principality of Luxembourg, the Kingdom of Bulgaria, the Kingdom of Tang Dynasty, etc. are all Grand Duchys.

As the monarch of a country, the Grand Duke has the right to ennoble nobles below the count. This is a dream that countless people are eager to pursue.

Dukes do not have such rights, and it is impossible to establish a country. Dukes in Britain, France, Tsarist Russia, Austria-Hungary, etc. are just members of the top nobility.

The inheritance of the ducal family is the same as that of other European nobles. The eldest son inherits the title and fiefdom. Before he ascends the title, he can all be called "the noble Lord So-and-so". Women have no inheritance rights, and their children become commoners in the third generation.

Behind Richard, stood a tall and thin middle-aged white man, about 40 years old. He was Lieutenant Colonel Harry Frazee, the former commander of the U.S. Army's Tennessee Cavalry, the U.S. military officer who was so cautious that Richard was in trouble.

, is also one of the newly enfeoffed king’s knights.

There is no doubt that he is an American traitor.

But Richard prefers to call him an Irishman with a bright heart. Yes, Harry Frazier is a white man of Irish descent.

Richard put his hands behind his back and looked at the rows of unfinished gun barrels with satisfaction. He turned back and asked, "Harry, can you analyze from a professional Army perspective, what are the advantages of the Whitworth 12-pound gun?"

Harry Frazier bowed down in greeting with a humble expression, stepped forward, pointed to the position of the gun barrel and said;

“Your Majesty;

The Italians introduced a hexagonal rotating rifling design into the artillery barrel, and paired it with hexagonal cross-section ammunition. The artillery shell gained rotational force when it came out of the barrel, making the artillery shell move more smoothly, shoot more accurately, and have a relatively longer range.

The British Whitworth 12-pound, 20-pound field guns and 40-pound fortress guns inherited this advantage, giving us a great advantage in battle.

Just take the British Whitworth 12-pound field gun as an example;

It adopts very advanced breech loading technology, and the gun's bore pressure is increased, so it can accurately bombard targets within a distance of 1,600 yards (about 1,463 meters), with a maximum effective range of 4,500 yards.

In actual combat

The French Napoleon 12-pound smoothbore artillery equipped by the US military has an accurate shelling range of about 700 to 1,100 yards, which is much behind it. The impact points are scattered and the precision shelling capability is limited. It belongs to the level of artillery equipment at the end of the 18th century.

Entering the mid-19th century

Along with artillery technology, firearms technology has also advanced.

In the 1840s, breech-loaded rifles and barrel rifling technology began to be used. Taking the more advanced Springfield rifle as an example, the effective shooting distance of this gun is 500 yards (about 460 meters), and the warhead is actually 1,000 yards (

It still has considerable lethality at a distance of approximately 914 meters.

In actual battles, the front-loaded Napoleon 12-pounder field artillery of the US military was easily attacked by the enemy's attacking infantry, and would be completely killed within a few rounds.

Everyone knows

Musketeers have a natural fear of the dark muzzles. If possible, they will involuntarily focus their guns on the artillery. Temporary artillery positions constructed in a field environment cannot provide reliable protection for the artillery.

Therefore, improving the performance of field artillery and making the shells fly farther, more accurately, more lethally, and with greater lethality has become an important performance indicator for advanced artillery.

During a battle, artillery with more advanced performance can kill enemy musketeers at a longer distance and have more opportunities for multiple rounds of shelling. Advanced breech loading technology can protect the safety of the artillery to a greater extent, becoming the final straw that breaks the camel's back.

A bundle of straw.

Based on the above, Weichen believes that the technical advantages of artillery will help us win the final victory and make an indelible and huge contribution."

"Pa bang bang..."

Richard smiled and took the lead in applauding, nodded in approval and said, "Okay, okay, very good, very thorough. Especially the sentence "win the final victory for us" is very well said."

His Majesty's compliment made Lieutenant Colonel Harry Fraser blush, and he bowed down humbly.

Richard didn't care about his embarrassment. After all, soldiers were not as thick-skinned as politicians, but their attacks were much more ruthless.

If Lieutenant Colonel Harry Frazier had not resolutely carried out the mission of killing young white males in Minneapolis, he would not have gained Richard's trust, let alone the honor of being a knight of the king.

No pain, no gain!

Richard asked questions as he walked, while Samuel Colt answered all questions and walked forward.

"In current production, can Chinese workers operate independently?"

"Your Majesty, these Chinese workers are the smartest and most diligent workers I have ever seen. Now they are able to operate independently on the revolver and rifle production lines, producing products whose quality is no less than that of experienced gunsmiths."

"Oh, that's good. Is it an exaggeration?"

"Indeed, I am very satisfied with these hardworking and willing Chinese workers. However, in the artillery production line, due to relatively high technical requirements, most of them are still operated by British technicians. This has to be done slowly."

"Didn't I send you a batch of literate young people at the end of last year? Have you passed the language barrier now?"

"Basic communication is fine, but they lack basic knowledge of physics, chemistry and geometry. They need to be taught slowly. I estimate it will take at least four to five years before they can have some basic knowledge."

"Take your time. There are a large number of recent Chinese immigrants who are teenagers up to the age of 16. I have instructed relevant departments to set up schools to focus on teaching basic knowledge of language, geography, mathematics, physics and chemistry, and to accumulate reserve talents for factories."

"Your Majesty is wise."

"Hahaha... These things have to be done sooner or later. It's better to do them sooner than later. You have to make up for the missed lessons." Richard smiled and then asked; "Today's gun production is enough.

Heavy machine guns and artillery are the focus of the next step, and by the way, there are also copper-cased custom ammunition."

"The production of heavy machine guns is still okay, 30 guns per month can basically meet the requirements. The production of artillery is relatively low, only about 6 to 8 guns per month. After becoming proficient, it may be increased to the level of more than 12 artillery guns per month.

The main reason is that the rifling process is difficult to master and the scrap rate is high, so I really can’t wait to do this.”

"How much does each cannon cost?"

"Due to the high scrap rate of new ones, the cost remains high for the time being. To build a British Whitworth 12-pound field gun, the cost will be about 640 pounds. However, importing such a gun only costs 300 pounds. The difference is relatively small.

big."

"Pay the tuition! It's understandable. No matter what, you still need to have the ability to produce independent artillery. After understanding the technology, you can develop new products and possibly export them to Europe or other countries. This is a good deal."

"Your Majesty has an insight into thousands of miles. Your humble ministers will feel inferior to you."

"Hahaha... Mr. Samuel, please don't be modest. I think your standardized industrial process is very creative. You can find more engineers to improve it. Don't be afraid of spending more money in this regard. Sharpen your knife and make sure you don't cut it by mistake."

A woodworker."

"Thank you for your understanding, Your Majesty. I am preparing to do this. I really need some excellent helpers to complete some administrative work. This way I can free up my hands to improve the weapon design, as well as the breech-loading rifle you mentioned, which is important to me.

I have a lot of interesting ideas in my mind, but I have never had the chance to put them into practice.”

"This must be supported! You are responsible for recruiting experts. The more the better. We are not afraid of having more talents. We can rest assured about the financial benefits. Colt Arms Company will never treat the experts badly."

Richard himself is the largest controlling shareholder of Colt Arms Company. If he talks about it, the funds will be secured.

The weapons industry is related to the safety of the Tang Dynasty, no matter how much money is spent, it is worth it.