Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 408: Arms Arrival
Although the road from Suez to Port Said is mostly desert and Gobi, the road is rugged and difficult to travel.

But in any case, this 200-kilometer land route is definitely more efficient and faster than taking the sea route around Africa.

As for the cost of land transportation?

This is not important!
During war, what is needed is efficiency and speed.

The cost factor should be put at the back of the list!
As long as the war can be won, the cost of the war can be doubled back from the enemy after the war!

The fleet sailed towards Sevastopol in a mighty manner.

The bow of the ship cut through the waves, carrying everyone forward.

After they arrived at the outskirts of Sevastopol port, they saw a steamship coming up and blocking the fleet's way.

"Who are you?"

The steamer opened its gun ports and sent out flag signals to inquire.

The first step of the British and French forces' attack on Sevastopol was for the fleet to blockade the port of Sevastopol.

Now, the blockade has finally been established. In order to protect its home port, the Russian Black Sea Fleet even sank its warships in the port. The situation on the coalition side is very good.

Under such circumstances, it would be impossible for the coalition fleet that blockaded the sea area to allow any fleet to enter or leave the port at will.

Even if this fleet was also flying under the Allied Forces’ flag, it wouldn’t work.

Because no one could guarantee whether this fleet was a sea reinforcement from Tsarist Russia, preparing to sneak into Sevastopol under the banner of the Allied Forces.

If this speculation is true and the Russian sea reinforcements enter Sevastopol, the previous encirclement of the coalition forces will fail.

Then this result is really too serious.

Therefore, even for the sake of safety, the coalition forces would not easily allow any fleet to enter the port of Sevastopol.

Soon as the fleet confirmed its identity, it was allowed to enter the port of Sevastopol.

When the fleet arrived outside the port, the Allied soldiers on the shore cheered in unison.

Although they didn't know what exactly was being transported on the fleet.

But as long as the fleet can come, it is a good thing.

Whether it is transporting supplies to them, bringing them bread, beer, medicines and weapons, or sending them reinforcements, or even evacuating them from the quagmire of Sevastopol, it is all a good thing.

The commander of the coalition forces, Baron Raglan, received the news and went to the port in person to welcome the arms that had come from afar.

The fleet docked and the barge went forward to meet them.

Boxes of ammunition were unloaded from the ship and then transported to the port via barges.

Raglan stepped forward and turned to give instructions.

"Open the box and take a look!"

A soldier beside him heard this and immediately agreed.

Then, he picked up a crowbar and pried open a box.

When the box is opened, the first thing that comes into view is a few bundles of straw. Only by pushing aside the straw can you see the weapons underneath.

This box contains five breech-loading rifles.

Raglan took up a rifle himself and examined it.

Soon, his brows frowned unconsciously.

These rifles seem to be well maintained, with gun oil applied to the gun bodies, and all accessories such as bayonets and triggers are intact.

But the problem is that these rifles all have very obvious signs of use.

It's obviously a used second-hand item.

"Why do these guns look like they've been used?"

The leader of the fleet nearby heard this and spoke.

"Your Excellency the Baron is right. These weapons have indeed been used."

"The production capacity of the arsenal in Datang is limited, and we need it urgently, so we can only increase the price to get the spot goods."

That’s right, although this batch of arms is second-hand, you still have to pay a higher price if you want it.

You know, a considerable portion of these second-hand weapons were directly transferred from the Tang army’s arsenal.

If you don't raise the price, why would others sell you the weapons they are currently using?

Is it because of your big face?
Hearing this, Raglan's mouth twitched, and he felt a little helpless.

On the side, French commander Carloporte was also checking the guns in his hands.

Pulling the bolt, pulling the trigger, feeling the feel of the gun, Carlopot couldn't help but nodded.

“Although the goods are second-hand, they feel very solid.”

“It’s good stuff!”

On the side, the leader of the fleet spoke.

"These weapons were all transferred from the Tang Army's active troops. Our people saw them sorting and packing the weapons with their own eyes. There is no doubt that the quality will not be a problem."

Carlopote heard this and said with some intention.

"Commander, do you want to find a place to conduct experiments?"

Raglan only considered it for a moment and then nodded in agreement.

"Well, it would be nice to find a place to test it out."

Soon, the two men ordered their men to carry boxes of weapons and ordnance towards the military camp.

……

Inside the Anglo-French camp.

On the training ground, several boxes were opened, and the weapons inside were taken out, assembled, and placed on the training ground.

Inside, there are five breech-loading rifles, a box of grenades, a rotary machine gun, and a 75mm breech-loading rifled cannon.

Captain Liu Fusheng, wearing the uniform of the Tang army, stepped forward and began to introduce how to use these weapons to Raglan and others.

This time, when Britain and France purchased arms from the Tang Dynasty, they not only bought arms, but also hired a group of active soldiers from the Tang army to instruct the British and French soldiers on how to use and maintain these new weapons.

If there is no one to guide you, it is not easy to master the use of new weapons that you have never seen before.

And Liu Fusheng was the officer leading the team.

Liu Fusheng picked up a breech-loading rifle and began to introduce it.

"Generals, this breech-loading rifle is called the Yuannian-style breech-loading rifle. It was finalized in the first year of Zhaowu and began mass production."

"This rifle is 1.4 meters long, 15 mm in caliber, has an effective range of meters, and uses a breech-loading magazine."

"The rate of fire is as high as 10 to 12 rounds per minute, far exceeding that of traditional muzzle-loading rifles."

Liu Fusheng introduced the various parameters of this breech-loading rifle to everyone in great detail, and Raglan and others on the side nodded repeatedly as they listened.

Although Liu Fusheng did not understand English or French and used Chinese when introducing himself, it did not matter as long as there was a translator.

After the introduction, Liu Fusheng began to demonstrate the operation himself.

Pull open the bolt, insert the bullet, and close the magazine.

Aim and pull the trigger!
Liu Fusheng's movements were done in one go.

The next moment, a target three hundred meters away fell down.

Liu Fusheng pulled the bolt and loaded the gun again.

He fired several shots in succession, and almost every shot hit the target, with an incredibly high hit rate.

You know, Liu Fusheng is definitely not an ordinary person, as he was chosen to lead a team to Crimea to teach the British and French forces how to use new weapons.

He is an elite veteran soldier in the Tang army. In other words, he can be called the king of soldiers, and his qualities in all aspects are top-notch.

Raglan and others on the side couldn't help but look amazed.

With such a fast firing rate and such a high hit rate, the quality of this gun is indeed good.

No wonder the Tang Dynasty wants a high price!
It really is true that you get what you pay for.

Afterwards, Liu Fusheng demonstrated to Raglan and others how to use the rest of the weapons.

The sound of machine gun fire rang out, metal bullets rained down, and a large number of targets were knocked down in the blink of an eye.

Seeing such a scene, Gralen and others frowned, and couldn't help but think of the battle report submitted by the Eight-Nation Alliance after they returned empty-handed from the Far East.

My goodness, it turns out that the fire blockade they faced back then was so terrifying.

No wonder the coalition forces’ attack on the Tang army’s artillery positions was unsuccessful!
Immediately afterwards, there was the rumbling sound of artillery firing.

One shell after another landed accurately on the predetermined impact point, exploding balls of fire in the training ground.

More importantly, the breech-loading rifled cannon not only has an incredibly high shooting accuracy, but its range, rate of fire and other data are also far beyond those of ordinary artillery.

Looking at the weapons and ordnance in front of him, Raglan suddenly felt a sense of pride.

"Good! Good! Good!"

"Thank God, these weapons and ordnance arrived just in time."

"With the support of these new weapons, our army will be able to defeat the Russian reinforcements in this battle, capture Sevastopol, and achieve the final victory in the Crimean War!"

Carlo Porter also spoke.

"The weapons and armaments of the Tang Kingdom are really good."

"The Tang army has these advanced weapons, so it's no wonder that the Eight-Nation Alliance failed to achieve results in the Far East."

Carloport was originally a little curious about why the Eight-Nation Alliance organized by Britain lost the war in the Far East. Now he realized that the defeat of the Eight-Nation Alliance was not unfair.

Sir Bognee on the side spoke up.

"The two commanders don't need to have such a high opinion of the Tang Kingdom's weapons and armaments."

"As far as I know, London and Paris have already started developing new weapons such as breech-loading firearms and artillery, as well as rotary-barreled rapid-fire machine guns, after the Eight-Nation Alliance returned empty-handed from the Far East."

“Now there is a finished product!”

"I believe it won't be long before these new weapons can be mass-produced and delivered to the Crimean front."

"Our weapons and ammunition will definitely not be worse than those of the Tang Army!"

In terms of technology, the current British and French powers are actually not inferior to the Tang Dynasty.

Old powers such as Britain and France have a solid foundation in science and technology, as well as industrial capabilities.

Even if Li Yi cheated, it only allowed the Tang Dynasty to slightly narrow the technological gap with the Western powers. It was not easy to completely surpass them in a short period of time.

Under such circumstances, the reason why the Western powers still spent huge prices to purchase military equipment from the Tang Dynasty was not because they were incapable of producing them.

It was because of Li Yi's foresight that the Tang Dynasty had already surpassed the West in the research and development and production of breech-loading firearms.

While countries like Britain and France are still in the research and development stage for breech-loading firearms, the Tang Dynasty has already built a complete industrial chain and started large-scale industrial mass production.

In addition, the situation in Crimea is in full swing, and it is obviously too late for Britain and France to produce their own weapons.

Therefore, Western countries want to purchase a batch of emergency weapons from the Tang Dynasty first.

The Tang Dynasty was also happy to see this happen.

Since Western countries have the production capacity, there is no need for the Tang Dynasty to impose a technological blockade.

Since the other party wants it, just sell it!
Wouldn’t it be nice to use the real money he gets in exchange to support domestic development?

(End of this chapter)