Part 3 Chapter 20: A solid progress

Keze gently patted his daughter's face and signaled her not to be excited. After pondering for a while, Keze smiled and said, "Mr. Stephen, I am very grateful for your invitation. Your invitation reminds me of my former German soldier. However, I am afraid I will disappoint you. I don't think I can accept your invitation."

Stephen showed a different expression. The salary of nearly 20,000 taels of silver a year cannot impress Keze? What a joke! Zheng Guanying, as the number one white-collar worker in China, has an annual salary of only 7,000 taels.

However, Stephen did not show a disappointed expression, but asked with a smile: "Mr. Kezer, can I know why you rejected me?"

Kezer hesitated and smiled, "Mr. Stephen, are you sure there is indeed an army in the far east, and you need a chief of staff? And you are willing to spend a lot of money to hire a retired German soldier?"

Khan! Stephen sweats wildly! It turns out that the problem lies here, and the money is given too much. It’s all because Chen Congyun repeatedly emphasized in the telegram that he had to build a high-quality staff team from Germany at all costs. Chen Congyun also proposed the final bottom line of a monthly salary of 1,500 taels in the telegram. Stephen was eager to get things done, so he took out his old lady. No wonder Keze didn’t believe that there was a good thing about a pie falling from the sky.

Stephen found that he was treated as a liar and quickly explained with a smile: "Mr. Keze, you misunderstood. I have no intention of lying to you. This is the case. Your Excellency Chen Congyun has an army of 50,000 people, and he really needs a team of staff. If you can pull over a qualified staff team, your monthly salary is 1,500 taels of silver. Of course, if you go alone, your salary will be a little discount. As for whether the salary can be fulfilled, please rest assured. As long as you sign an agreement with me, I can pay you a year's salary first."

It turned out that there were additional conditions and you could sign a contract and pay. Now Keze was not worried about being deceived into the Vietnamese place where the birds and ghosts do not lay eggs and do not poop.

"So that's the case. I have to think about this question for two days. In principle, there is no problem for me to go there personally." Keze looked at his daughter's excited little face and gave a positive answer. Little Laura immediately cheered and jumped to hold her father's neck.

"Oh! Cake, beware."

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Chen Congyun was about to go crazy. In the past year, the silver that Chen Congyun had given out was almost all that Chen Congyun could get. Now Shen Congyun has actually gone bankrupt. The silver in the bank was only more than one million taels, which was exchanged for Chen Congyun with the gold snatched from the former Vietnamese king. Fortunately, good news came from the silver mine. Under the instruction of Shen Congyun, he joined hands with local overseas Chinese to mine not only overturned the output, but also found two new mineral veins, one gold and one silver. After hearing the news, Chen Congyun immediately called Hu Yu to "fly the waters and fish", and his meaning was very clear. He was finished and he did not intend to leave anything for the Vietnamese people.

The coal mine was successfully put into production. The first coal mine was transported to Shanghai by Li Hongzhang's ship company. Finally, there was a little input. There was no need to simply pay money. Shen Congyun had low requirements, and the coal mine could be self-sufficient. The iron mine had also officially started production, but Japan had not yet expressed a large-scale purchase, which disappointed Chen Congyun. Just such a buyer was not so active. Could it be that Ziyu wasted himself in vain?

Thinking of Zi Yu, Chen Congyun couldn't help but think of the tricks that afternoon, whip, candle, and binding, these AVs seemed to be really cool! Very beastly!

After Zheng Guanying returned from the United States, he stayed in Shanghai. He was busy with everything there. Although Chen Congyun was also busy, all Chen Congyun needed to do was to issue orders and supervise the progress. After the Spring Festival in 1888, Chen Congyun still had time to come to Guilin.

Although Chen Congyun was known as the governor of Guangxi, he could not control any government affairs in Guangxi. Even so, when Chen Congyun appeared in Guilin, the governor Shen Bingcheng was still very polite and went out of the city to greet him. Chen Congyun had a nickname of a madman. Shen Bingcheng did not want Chen Congyun, the original family, to be without the name of a governor, to cause trouble to him. Chen Congyun had a 50,000 tiger and wolf army in his hands, and he could not afford to offend him.

Chen Congyun had met Shen Bingcheng and explained his purpose, Shen Bingcheng felt relieved. Chen Congyun was not here to seize power, but to establish Western learning. This was very much for Shen Bingcheng's appetite. The two of them had some hit it off and reached an agreement. Chen Congyun gave people, and Shen Bingcheng paid for the place to build a Western-style school. The biggest feature of the new school is that the tuition fee is not required, and Chen Congyun also promised that as long as he graduated smoothly, he could get a good salary job. This is very attractive to many down-and-out scholars.

Chen Congyun left after lingering in Guilin for half a month, so Shen Bingcheng naturally had a warm "farewell".

In 1888, the railway from Hanoi to Saigon officially started construction. Due to the sufficient preparations before, the progress was very fast, and it is expected to be completed and opened to traffic in one and a half years.

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The length is 1255mm, the diameter is 7.92, the scale range is 2000m, the 5 rounds of fixed ammunition compartment, the net weight is 3.72kg. When the first m1888 rifle came down from the assembly line, Chen Congyun rushed forward excitedly and snatched it. He was carefully fiddling with the rifle like holding a newborn baby.

Although Chen Congyun is a military amateur, he still has some understanding of the history of rifles. At the beginning of the year, he telegraphed Stephen, emphasizing that Germany must provide the latest rifle samples. Considering the long-term interests, Germany sent the samples of Mauser's latest rifle. Under the strict supervision of German technicians, the m1888 rifle was produced, which was later made by the Hanyang, a Hanyang factory, which was later imitated by the Hubei Guns and Cannon Factory. Of course, Chen Congyun knew the k98, but unfortunately, even the Germans could not make this thing now. Chen Congyun, a white-collar worker, could he know how to get the k98? It would be great to keep up with the times and let the brothers use Hanyang. It should be known that Hanyang was built until the War of Resistance Against Japan, it was still a weapon equipped by the Chinese army.

Unfortunately, the steel plant has not yet been put into production. All the ones used are imported directly from Germany just now, which has increased the cost of the m1888 type a lot, but it can finally be made into a rifle that is synchronized with the world. K98 will be made sooner or later.

To be honest, Chen Congyun regretted it a little. He had some time to play games online, or went to a bar or travel, and didn’t know how to spend some time studying weapons knowledge. Otherwise, he could create ak47 in this era like the protagonists of other yy novels. Humph! In fact, Chen Congyun is just yy, and the firing rate of ak47 is thirty rounds, and he didn’t let go of the trigger. Thirty rounds of bullets can go out all thirty rounds. Soldiers are equipped with ak, and photobullet consumption can make Chen Congyun go bankrupt immediately. It’s really not a good thing to be a copper. Isn’t it because of the lack of copper, and can stare at the 38th hood and not put it? Who doesn’t know that the submachine gun is powerful? Japan’s technological level during World War II was not impossible to create. After the founding of the People’s Liberation Army used the Type 56 semi-automatic weapon as the standard, isn’t it because it needs to save?

What Chen Congyun regrets most is that he has no idea about mortars. This thing is a good thing. It is lightweight to carry and is definitely the most suitable artillery for infantry suppression.

After Chen Congyun put down his rifle, he invited German chief technician Freeman and said to him with a smile: "Mr. Freeman, have you ever seen a light gun that carries lightweight and does not have dead ends?"

"No! No! No! No! This kind of weapon cannot exist." Freeman shook his head like a peddler.

Of course, Chen Congyun refused to give up. He didn't know the principle of the mortar and the general shape. Chen Congyun had already prepared to find the drawings drawn in advance from his arms, and handed them to Freeman with a smile: "Please see, this is a kind of artillery that I accidentally thought of. If you take a closer look, is it possible to design it?"

Freeman took the drawings disdainfully and glanced casually. When he was about to return them to Chen Congyun, the 45-year-old engineer suddenly paused and his eyes lit up.

The so-called layman watching the excitement, while the expert watching the trick. As a professional engineer, Freeman's eyes were quite poisonous. Chen Chongyun drawing a mortar and a shell pattern. Although it was just a general meaning and there was no relevant technical information, Freeman still felt that this was probably an amazing idea. It was very likely to become a design in his future arms design career that could be recorded in history.

"God, this is a genius idea." Freeman looked at it for half an hour, thought about the possible technical problems, and finally gave a conclusion.

Chen Congyun was filled with joy. Once the mortar can be really built, the problem of infantry close-range fire suppression will be solved. For a newly born army, having such a secret weapon will cause the enemy to suffer a lot on the battlefield in the future.

"Can it be made?" Chen Congyun asked quickly. Freeman said in a little uncertainty: "It should be possible, but there is still a little technical difficulty, and I have to go back and study it."

Chen Congyun was relieved. The Germans never talked nonsense, and it was OK.

"It's great. Just keep a safe research and just talk about how much money you need. Of course, once this invention is successful, the patent rights belong to you and me." Chen Congyun is not thinking about selling patents, but about keeping it confidential. How come before 1894, Chen Congyun absolutely did not allow mortars to be exposed to the world.

Freeman nodded repeatedly and said, "Do the patent issue as you said, after all, this invention comes from your genius imagination." Freeman said, turning around with the drawings and leaving, Chen Congyun quickly grabbed it and said, "Wait a minute!"

"What else? Do you have any other surprises for me? To be honest, your genius imagination has already given me too many surprises." Freeman was in a good mood and rarely joked.

Chen Congyun smiled, took out another piece of paper from his arms, and smiled and handed it to Freeman: "Grenade! This is relatively simple, and the design difficulty is probably only a problem of delaying the printing of the message by 3 to 5 seconds."

Freeman took the drawings and looked at them, and was immediately stunned. This was undoubtedly another amazing idea. Almost after reading some of the instructions below the grenade drawings, Freeman immediately replied: "This thing is not technically difficult. If possible, give me a week, I can make samples."

Chen Congyun looked at Freeman with a smile, thinking that this was natural. If even the Grenades that can be manufactured on a large scale by the Tujiao Route Army can't handle it, you, a senior German engineer, can also go home to hold your child.

"Patent question?" Chen Congyun asked with a smile. Freeman replied simply: "This patent should only belong to you. Even if you find a technician and show him the drawings, you can find a solution."

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Stephen was back. When the ship was mooring at Saigon, Chen Congyun had been waiting in Saigon for a full week. When he watched fifty-five German soldiers follow Stephen off the ship one after another, Chen Congyun felt excited deep in his heart, and finally took the most solid step towards the real modern military construction.

After a long hug, Stephen let go of Chen Congyun and turned toward Keze who was leading his daughter and said, "Mr. Keze, this one is Governor Chen Congyun."

Keze walked up and said to Chen Congyun with a blank expression: "Governor General, it is a privilege to know you. I think you also know that I can accept the prerequisites for the position of Chief of Staff, right?"

Chen Congyun also had a steep face on his face, and nodded seriously and said, "Mr. Keze, what you see is a military that is about 50,000 people, equipped with a leading rifle in the world, and will be equipped with artillery purchased from Germany in the future, as well as an army that will be valued for every word you say."

Keze still had no smile on his face and said lightly: "Very good, I hope so. If you can't do what you said, then I will immediately take my colleagues back to Germany. Of course, according to the contract, the settlement fee you paid us is considered as the expense of inviting us to travel to Vietnam."

"No problem!" Chen Congyun answered more simply.

"Okay, let's take me to see now, what you said is "army"!" When Keze mentioned the word "army", he emphasized a little tone.

Chen Congyun said nothing and gave Ouyang Quan a wink. Ouyang Quan immediately brought people to help carry the luggage, and a communications soldier rode a horse and flashed the person first. Then Chen Congyun personally led 55 German retired officers including Keze to the garrison of the newly formed First Town First Association. The First Association was the earliest team that Chen Congyun established, with the best training level, and was equipped with the same m1888 rifle purchased from Germany, as well as a 75mm mountain cannon company. The unified position of the association was temporarily represented by Chief of Staff François.

When Kze saw François, his face was also surprised. It was not surprising to see foreign officers in a Chinese army, but it was rare to see more than a dozen foreign officers. François, who had been prepared, led a group of officers at all levels to line up outside the barracks to greet them according to Chen Congyun's instructions.

After a brief introduction, I learned that François and others were originally from French mercenaries, and there was a hint of curiosity on Keze's face. You should know that the French and Chinese fought to the death in Vietnam. A large number of French mercenaries appeared in Chen Congyun's team, which shows that Chen Congyun is a very inclusive leader. This alone has already given Keze a good impression of Chen Congyun.

As for Kerze's estimate of the military capabilities of the French mercenaries, it is completely different.

"Gun on your shoulders! Walk in step!" Three thousand soldiers, in the company, walked neatly in front of the rostrum that had been built long ago. The French mercenaries had no other skills, so there was no problem in catching training. During the time when François was acting as a proxy, the training strictness of the army was done completely according to the French mercenaries.

Swish swish swish! The neat queue stirred up dust in the sky. Keze stood on the rostrum, looking at the team walking in front of him without blinking. Suddenly, Keze quickly walked off the rostrum and ran forward along the route of the team's advance. The German officers following Keze also got off the rostrum and ran forward one after another.

It turned out that there was a manually dug pond on the way forward of the team. At this time, the first row of soldiers had already walked to the pond, but the commander did not give the order to stop moving forward. The soldiers kept walking into the pond without hesitation.

The deepest part of the pond can flood the necks of these short oriental soldiers. The military orders are like mountains. Without orders to stop, the soldiers line up to walk deeper. Even when the water reaches the neck, the queue is not loose at all. Keze silently watched the soldiers wading through the pond, and the queue is not messy.

Keze, who had always had a serious expression, finally relaxed a little. When he turned around to meet Shen Congyun's somewhat proud gaze, Keze spoke coldly: "Governor General, you must admit that your army has certain qualities. Of course, this is inseparable from the training of French instructors. However, what I want to remind you is that a true army is not just about everything you see in front of you. It includes important factors such as intelligence, logistics, firepower design, combat planning, etc.."

Shen Congyun smiled and nodded and said, "To be honest, I am an amateur to military affairs, so you are here. You have the final say on the issue of military construction."

Keze didn't expect Shen Congyun to answer so readily, and couldn't help but be stunned. He stretched out his hand to Shen Congyun and said, "I hope we can have a happy cooperation!"

Shen Congyun smiled and held Keze's hand and said, "Happy cooperation!"

Following Shen Congyun back to Hanoi, on the first day of Kerze taking office, he began to build a new army's staff in accordance with the German General Staff model. As he said before, Shen Congyun never said any of his requirements for Kerze. Even if there were serious shortcomings in some technical personnel, Shen Congyun also said that in the next three to five years, a group of officers would be selected to study in Germany.

Keze was almost a fanatical follower of the old Maoqi military theory and demanded absolute control of the army. On this issue, Shen Congyun gave great tolerance. Except for the right to launch wars to the outside world, the other rights must be delegated to Keze and his General Staff.

Shen Congyun trusted Keze so much, and all the old ministers had complaints. For this reason, Shen Congyun specially invited the old ministers to talk about it, repeatedly stated that no matter how powerful Keze and the others have, they are also foreigners and come to work. Are they the chief officers of the towns, associations, bidding, and battalions who truly control the army, aren’t they military officials?

What Keze was most dissatisfied with was the issue of the army's organization. Shortly after taking office, he immediately took out a detailed rule on the German army and handed it to Shen Congyun's desk. Shen Congyun looked at the document in front of Keze, but he picked up the pen and signed the line "Agree, do as you wish, Shen Congyun".

The high trust made Keze and a group of retired German officers burst out with high enthusiasm for work. Keze worked all night almost every day and even had no time to spend with his daughter.

As an employer, Chen Congyun responded immediately. He first spent a lot of money to hire a French female tutor to take charge of Laura's education issues, and then arranged a house in Hanoi with an area of ​​more than 2,000 square meters, equipped with four Vietnamese maids to take care of Laura and Kerze's lives. Other German officers received quite good treatment. In short, Chen Congyun basically took care of the lives of these German soldiers in every possible way.

The activity of transforming the army completely according to the German model began. Especially in terms of technical branches, Keze's requirements were simply harsh for the officers under Chen Congyun. There was no way. Few of the officers around Chen Congyun were graduates from serious military universities, let alone mastering measurement, statistics, and terrain mapping.

After Keze had an in-depth understanding of the personnel quality structure of this army, he immediately suggested to Chen Congyun that while selecting a large number of educated officers to study in Germany, he carefully selected ten German officers as instructors to enrich Chen Congyun's military training class.

In short, after Keze took office, Chen Congyun's newly formed first army was approaching the model of a modern army.

One day in the third month of Kze's office, Freeman rushed into Chen Congyun's office almost madly, completely losing the stability and reserve of the Germans. Freeman hugged Chen Congyun and chewed him wildly, making Chen Congyun saliva on his face.

"Oh! I'm so excited!" Freeman shouted incoherently.

Chen Congyun took the boss's efforts to push Freeman away and smiled and said, "Mr. Freeman, what good news did you bring to me."

Without saying a word, Freeman pulled Chen Congyun and ran outward, coming to the shooting range.

"Governor General, have you seen a series of targets in front?" Freeman was very excited and handed Chen Congyun a pair of telescopes. Chen Congyun took the telescope and observed it. He found that starting from five hundred meters in front, about every 100 meters, there was a earthblock with a red flag on it and sprinkled with eye-catching lime.

After Chen Congyun put down his telescope, Freeman then patted his hands gently. The three workers came to the front with a mortar and a box of shells.

Grandma's, it was really made for him. Chen Congyun felt ecstatic inside, and his dissatisfaction with saliva just now was all gone.

Freeman adjusted the various elements by himself. After some preparation, Freeman said that he could shoot. A worker picked up the shell and put it into the barrel. With a thud, a shell was fired.

"Boom!" The shell landed on the edge of the first target. Freeman quickly adjusted and loaded the shell himself. The second shell hit the target. The white lime splashed on the earthen bun, causing a white mist.

"Long live!" Freeman was so happy that he was jumping and jumping there. Chen Congyun suppressed his inner excitement and turned around to explain to the guard beside him. The guard immediately turned around and left.

Freeman rushed to Chen Congyun and shouted excitedly: "Governor General, have you seen it? 500 meters, 500 meters, you can really do without any blind spots. Wait, I will hit the second target for you."

Freeman said as he wanted to fiddle with him again. Chen Congyun smiled and pulled him, "Wait a minute, I hope more people can share your joy, no, our joy."

In less than half an hour, Keze, Wan Shusheng, and a group of German officers appeared at the scene. When Keze saw the strange cannon with a unique shape, a caliber of 81 mm and a firing angle of 45 to 65 degrees, he maintained his usual calmness, just staring at Chen Congyun silently and said, "Governor General, are you asking us to see this strange thing?"

Chen Congyun smiled and said, "Yes, you will soon see the power and practicality of this cannon."

Chen Congyun turned around and smiled at Freeman, raising his hand to signal that he could start. Freeman personally took the trick, and one shell after another flew out, and no ten targets ahead were shot and were hit one after another.

"Mr. Freeman, let's introduce your masterpiece." Chen Congyun showed his brightest smile, and Freeman began to introduce: "This is a light cannon designed by the Governor, who was personally developed. It has a caliber of 81mm, a mass of 42kg, a maximum range of 3000m, and has no shooting blind spots. Advantages, simple operation, light carrying, and the most important point is that this cannon is simple in structure and low in cost."

After Freeman's introduction, everyone looked at Chen Congyun and Keze, and Chen Congyun stared at Keze with a smile on his face.

"If possible, I hope every company can equip this kind of artillery." Keze said slowly with a rare smile on his face.

Chen Congyun paused slightly, took Keze's words with a smile and said, "No, every platoon should be equipped with one."

At this time, Freeman proudly announced: "Everyone, I have another good news to tell you that according to General Kerze's request, our military factory has already copied the first Maxim machine gun."

When Chen Congyun heard this, he wanted to slap himself in the mouth. Why did he forget Maxim? This is the King of Hell who is intensively charged by infantry soldiers! Fortunately, Keze remembered it. In fact, this matter was also a bit strange to Chen Congyun himself. Keze asked the military factory to imitate Maxim's report, but Chen Congyun signed it, but Chen Congyun habitually looked at it without even reading it.

The new army after Keze's transformation also inherited the German army, division, brigade, regiment, battalion, company, platoon, squad, and three-three systems. Keze's requirement was that each regiment must be equipped with a heavy machine gun company. According to Keze's intention, each division must also be equipped with a heavy artillery regiment. Unfortunately, Chen Congyun's silver was limited. When Keze asked Chen Congyun to discuss, he reluctantly agreed to the construction of a heavy artillery company, but he still agreed to it at all. Of course, if Chen Congyun promised that he would have money in the future, he still had to follow Keze's set.

As soon as Freeman finished speaking, there was a cheer on the scene. Even Keze, who was always serious, had a satisfied smile on his lips at this time, not to mention Chen Congyun, and his mouth never closed.
Chapter completed!