The anti-Qing movement began with the looting of the Eight-Nation Alliance.

Shen Lian, along with Dong Shaohua and Nie Yuanshan, rushed to the arsenal. The masters who had been notified gathered in the lobby.

"Greetings, Your Excellency!" Upon seeing Shen Lian, everyone knelt down to pay their respects.

"Please rise, everyone. You've all worked hard!" Shen Lian subconsciously reached out to shake hands, then quickly withdrew his hand and clasped his hands in a fist salute.

"I am truly honored that you all are here. As you can see, this place is in dire need of rebuilding. I'm just waiting for you all to show your skills. Hehe!"

"Thank you for your appreciation, sir. We will certainly do our best!" a master in his fifties said with a smile.

"Who is this?"

"Sir, this is Master Qin. He is a master craftsman we invited from the Tianjin Machinery Bureau. His gun-making skills are second to none in the entire Machinery Bureau," Nie Yuanshan hurriedly introduced.

"Great! We need skilled people like Master Qin!" Shen Lian nodded.

"I hope you can all work here with peace of mind. Your compensation will be doubled from what you were paid before, with all food and lodging included." Shen Lian naturally knew what these people cared about most.

"Thank you, sir!" everyone shouted happily.

"This is just the most basic treatment. There will be additional bonuses for every new weapon developed in the future."

"Excellent!" the crowd cheered loudly again! This Lord Shen is indeed a good official. Not only does he provide excellent treatment, but he also has no airs whatsoever. This makes all the masters feel very at ease.

"You all need to make proper arrangements for everyone's work and life. Assign specific people to take charge!" Shen Lian turned to Dong Shaohua and Nie Yuanshan and instructed them.

After exchanging pleasantries, Shen Lian summoned the master chefs to his office.

"Masters, I have a little thing here. Do you think you can make it?" Shen Lian took a wooden grenade from Lu Da and handed it to them along with several structural diagrams drawn on paper.

Shen Lian didn't want to deal with overly sophisticated weapons right now, but he could still manufacture hand grenades. Western countries already possessed them, but they hadn't yet attracted his attention. Hand grenades truly shone during World War I.

"This must be what they call hand-thrown ammunition, right? I've heard that Western countries already have these things." Master Qin examined the wooden grenade, then handed it to someone else. He then picked up the blueprints and began to study them.

"So? Is everyone confident that we can make it?" Shen Lian asked after everyone had looked at the blueprints.

"Sir, this hand-thrown ammunition actually existed in my country as early as the Song Dynasty. It's similar to the old 'Ten Thousand Man' ammunition,' only the shape is different!" said Tan Zhenglin, a young gunpowder master in his thirties.

Shen Lian nodded, signaling him to continue.

"The difference is that in the past, you needed to light a fire, and the adults required you to pull the hair. With current technology, it's not a problem at all; there should be several ways to do it," Tan Zhenglin said boldly.

"Okay! I wonder how long it will take you to design a prototype?" Although Shen Lian knew that making hand grenades was not difficult with current technology, he was still very happy that these people were able to do it.

"Half a month! We'll definitely make a sample within half a month." Tan Zhenglin turned to discuss with the other craftsmen and said through gritted teeth.

"Alright! Then I'll trouble you all to finish making this bomb in the meantime. I'll reward you with two hundred taels of silver if you can produce a qualified product!"

"Thank you, sir! We accept this mission," Tan Zhenglin said confidently.

"Okay! Then I'll have to trouble you. If you need anything, just contact them! For the short term, all I need is for us to be able to manufacture all kinds of gunpowder, reload bullets, and repair firearms."

"Just tell me what materials or machinery you need, and I'll try to get them for you."

Shen Lian gave everyone some more instructions and then left with the guards.

In the following days, Shen Lian plunged back into the military camp. As the deadline drew closer, Shen Lian's sense of urgency grew stronger.

After the New Year, the Boxer Rebellion in Beizhili and Shandong intensified. The influx of landless refugees swelled their ranks, and they began openly attacking churches, foreigners, and believers.

Chaos is about to begin!

With a deafening roar, Shen Lian emerged from his bunker, dusted himself off, and excitedly headed towards the site of the explosion. Lu Da quickly led several guards to protect him.

Upon approaching, one could see a shallow crater about a meter deep in the ground, blasted out by the explosion. Water bags hanging from the surrounding wooden stakes were spraying water rapidly. Shrapnel could be seen embedded in the stakes about ten meters away.

Shen Lian nodded. It worked! Its power was not much less than that of a modern hand grenade.

Shen Lian took another sample from Tan Zhenglin and examined it. The projectile body was made of cast iron. The engraved lines on the pineapple head were pre-made shrapnel. Although it was a bit rough, it was still usable.

Shen Lian weighed it in his hand; it was about a pound, a bit heavier than he had expected.

Shen Lian got into position and threw the ball forty or fifty meters away in a flash. He then had Lu Da and the others try it out, but of course they didn't have Shen Lian's freakish stamina. Most of them could only throw it twenty or thirty meters.

"Hmm! Not bad, we can start mass production now!" Shen Lian nodded and said. Tan Zhenglin and the others also breathed a sigh of relief.

"Master Tan, let's start mass production first! We can then work on it and reduce the weight a bit. I think around one pound would be ideal!"

"Yes, sir! That should be fine. We just need to adjust the size of the cartridge case slightly and make it thinner."

"The power won't be reduced, will it?" Shen Lian nodded and asked.

"Probably not. We just need to change it to a long barrel shape. Although it will be a little smaller, the outer wall will be thinner. The amount of medicine it can hold shouldn't be less," Tan Zhenglin said after thinking for a moment.

"Good! The most important part of this thing is the fuse; it must be produced in a standardized manner. Make sure every single one is exactly the same. It absolutely must have a five-second delay! This is no small matter; you know the consequences if it detonates prematurely!"

"Yes! We will definitely pay attention!" Tan Zhenglin nodded solemnly.

"This thing is thrown by hand, so let's call it a hand grenade!" Shen Lian shamelessly plagiarized the name in advance.

The next training session incorporated the use of hand grenades, which Shen Lian personally demonstrated. Of course, he had learned all of this in modern times.

By the end of the month, the arsenal had finally produced several thousand hand grenades. After several days of emergency training in actual use, although each squad could only be equipped with about ten grenades, Shen Lian still prepared to send troops to suppress the bandits.

His five battalions covered four prefectures and one state, with each battalion responsible for one prefecture. There were bandits on that mountain. Shen Lian had already had each prefecture thoroughly investigate this beforehand.

Shen Lian glanced at the bandit suppression plan submitted by the General Staff and signed it in approval. He knew absolutely nothing about warfare; these people were probably more professional than him. Shen Lian's job was simply to fill in any gaps.