Chapter 343: No Rabbit, No Eagle.

The Elegance not only has all the facilities for eating, drinking and having fun, but also has hundreds of strong and armed private bodyguards, and even naval guns.

Liang Yao once suspected that this was not only a large yacht, but also a warship.

Lionel led Liang Yao to a cabin where four cannon-shaped objects were placed.

The reason why it was said to be a cannon-shaped object was because it was covered with a black curtain. Liang Yao could only judge based on the rough shape that it was four cannons.

Laoner waved his hand gently, indicating to his men to lift the curtain. After the curtain was lifted, the true face of Lushan's four cannons was clearly revealed in front of Liang Yao.

Two of the four cannons are relatively mature front-loading rifled cannons, and the other two are breech-loading rifled cannons.

Liang Yao carefully observed the barrels of the four cannons. The barrels of these four cannons no longer used the integral casting process, but adopted the latest winding process.

The material of the gun barrel has also been changed from the mainstream pig iron to a wrought iron jacket wrapped around the steel inner barrel to enhance the strength and toughness of the gun body and extend the life of the gun barrel.

This also means that these guns can withstand larger charges and have a longer range than traditional guns.

The tails of the two breech-loading rifled guns have the unique tail bolts of the early Armstrong guns with a crank handle. This tail bolt was called an Armstrong screw in later generations.

This was the bolt-locked breech gun he wanted, and it was also a technical difficulty that California gunnery engineers had not been able to overcome.

Liang Yao stepped forward, held the handle on the tail bolt and turned it a few times, then lifted the air-holding device in front of the tail bolt vertically, which was also a heavy iron block like a weight.

Liang Yao then pushed the breath-holding device vertically back to the distance, turned the handle and used the tail bolt to tighten the breath-holding device. This kind of breath-holding structure is called a vertical breath-holding structure, and the design is very clever.

After playing with the air-holding structure of the artillery, Liang Yao checked the muzzle. The caliber of the artillery is 75 inches (45mm). The barrel length is about 1m, which is 22 to 24 times the diameter. The weight of the gun body is roughly estimated. It should be just over 300 kilograms, and including the gun carriage, it is estimated to weigh around 700 kilograms.

Overall, this is a small but sophisticated gun.

"Are there any cannonballs?" Liang Yao turned around and asked.

Liang Yao was a soldier, and being able to skillfully handle artillery was considered very normal for Lai Onner and James, uncle and nephew.

But in the eyes of the accompanying French gunnery engineers, it was a bit abnormal.

This is a brand-new artillery. They had never been exposed to this kind of artillery before boarding the Grace. In the end, it took them a while to figure out how to operate this artillery. They were impressed by the exquisite design and structure of this artillery.

The American general seemed to have been exposed to this kind of artillery before. Once he got started, he could play with this unique breath-holding structure very clearly.

Lionel winked at his men, and the two of them took down and pried open the four ammunition boxes on the side.

There were only four ammunition boxes placed respectively, including solid rounds, grenades, explosive rounds, and shrapnel shells. The types of ammunition were quite complete.

It can be seen that although this type of artillery is still under experimentation, the degree of completion is already very high.

Liang Yao picked up a solid bullet and weighed it in his hand. It weighed about 6 pounds. The solid bullet looked like an enlarged version of the Migne bullet. The shell was engraved with threaded grooves that fit the rifling.

"General Liang, we have paid a lot of attention to your matter." Lionel said, "Our Rothschild family is already so sincere, shouldn't you also show your sincerity?"

"Of course, of course." Liang Yao smiled, "It would be better if we could take a look at the technical drawings again."

"It's okay to see the technical drawings, but not until we see your kerosene plant."

When he came to Oonner, he didn't let the eagle fly before he saw the rabbit. During the visit to Liang Yao's kerosene factory, he had no intention of showing Liang Yao the relevant drawings.

The purpose of his special trip to the United States was to see Liang Yao's kerosene production plant with his own eyes to confirm whether Liang Yao's plan to increase kerosene production to 50 million liters within two years was reliable.

After so many years in finance, he has deceived many people, and in the end he was worried that he would be deceived.

Although August repeatedly told him that Liang Yao was a reliable person, Lai Onner still only believed in what he saw with his own eyes.

"You want to visit my factory?" Liang Yao couldn't help but frown.

"What? Can't you?" Laonar looked at Liang Yao, "For such a large cooperation project, I want to visit your factory. Is this a reasonable request?"

"It's reasonable, very reasonable. For such a large cooperation project, you should be cautious." Liang Yao said, "It's just that my factory is in California, and the transportation there is not very convenient."

"It doesn't matter, for the sake of our cooperation, I think it is still necessary to make a trip. The children of the Rothschild family are not as delicate as you think, and the hardship of traveling is still bearable." Lai Onner carried it on his back. He started to say.

"I heard that the California government is currently in financial difficulty. Our Rothschild family has always been very enthusiastic and committed to helping the government solve their financial crisis in Europe. As long as Guizhou can pass our assessment, I would like to provide Guizhou with a personal We can still do it with loans of millions of pounds.”

James on the side also said with a smile.

"Thanks to your concern, the California government's financial problems have been solved, and there is currently no need to borrow foreign debt." Liang Yao politely declined James's kindness.

The Rothschilds are not easy to get, and their money is not so easy to get, especially the money of James.

During the reign of Louis XVIII, James did sell bonds that saved France and restored the credibility of the French government.

But all this also came at a price, that is, the financial lifeline of France has been controlled by James since then.

Letting a Frenchman control the economic lifeline of California is something Liang Yao cannot accept.

This is also why he insisted on issuing California government bonds on Wall Street. Wall Street is no longer a thing, but it is also American capital, and the federal government has some constraints on Wall Street. The appearance of these domestic capitals is not too ugly.

But foreign capital will not care so much, especially Rothschild's borderless capital.

"Oh? That's a pity." Liang Yao's reaction surprised James.

"But my refinery still needs your 1 million pounds to expand its production capacity." Liang Yao added.

"That's great, I just have a sum of spare money waiting to lend to people who are worth investing." James squinted and said.

"I heard that California can also produce a firearm with performance comparable to that of the Delysse needle-fired rifle. His Majesty Napoleon III is also very interested in your new rifle. The French Army is considering replacing it with a new rifle. I can still say a few words in front of His Majesty. You know, the French Army is the No. 1 Army in Europe. Replacing the No. 1 Army in Europe with firearms is an inestimable market."

James has made it very clear that as long as the two sides cooperate happily, he will recommend the Walter M1851 rifle produced in California to Napoleon III for equipping the French Army.

The Minié rifle was first invented by France, but because the political situation in France before the establishment of the Second French Empire had been turbulent, the matter of replacing the army's weapons was also shelved.

This has also led to the current embarrassment of the French Army.

As the inventor of the Minié rifle, the standard rifle of the French Army is still the old MLE1842 smoothbore rifle, almost becoming the last power to equip rifled rifles.

On the other side of the English Channel, Britain began to replace rifled guns in 1851, and France was obviously lagging behind in this regard.

Even in the next year, when the French army participated in the Crimean War in 1854, the French army was still equipped with the old mle1842 and mle1853.

Although judging from the year of the weapon naming, 1853 should be a rifled gun handle, at least it should be rifling in the barrel of the smoothbore gun like the old American, and used as a transitional weapon.

However, mle1853 is a serious smoothbore gun.

In the middle and late stages of the war, a small number of elite French troops were able to replace mle1854, which was the first serious rifled gun of the French army, but the equipment ratio was still very touching.

Equipment problems are also the reason why the French army suffered far more casualties in the Crimean battlefield than its British allies.

The British army suffered less than 5,000 casualties in the Crimean battlefield, while the French army suffered more than 30,000 casualties.

Liang Yao was very happy to sell weapons to France.

Although France's industrial capacity can fully master the technology of the Walter M1851 rifle immediately, France will rush to join the war next year.

Even if the technology is fully mastered, it will not be enough to build a new production line for mass production, and it still depends on Liang Yao to provide ready-made arms.

During the war, Napoleon III can also be a personal favor. After all, after the Crimean War, the American Civil War will soon come, and California also needs the recognition and assistance of the international community.

If you want to become a great power, you need the existing great powers to recognize and accept your existence first.

And France is obviously more willing to recognize that the United States is a great power than Britain.

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The waters of Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire.

The Mosetz frigate, flying the St. Andrew's Cross flag of the Russian Imperial Navy, appeared on the Bosphorus coast of Constantinople.

A majestic Russian marshal stood at the bow of this Russian Imperial Navy cruiser.

His chest was covered with medals, which showed his extraordinary status in the Russian Empire.

He was Prince Menshikov, the Russian Empire's naval marshal.

Of course, these were just two of his identities. In addition, he was also the Tsar's adjutant and the Governor-General of Finland.

Menshikov had so many prominent identities not because of his outstanding performance in the Patriotic War of 1812 and the Russo-Turkish War of 1828.

It was largely due to his wealthy ancestors. His great-grandfather was Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, the first Russian marshal and the closest comrade-in-arms of Peter the Great.

This was also the reason why Nicholas I trusted Menshikov so much. Nicholas I often compared himself to Peter the Great, so he also had great expectations for the great-grandson of the first marshal of the Russian Empire.

Peter the Great had capable ministers like Alexander Danilovich Menshikov as his right-hand man, so his great-grandson could naturally become his right-hand man, Nicholas I.