Chapter 905

“Your Majesty, should I dispatch secret guards to Europe to continue assassinating them?”

In the imperial study, Li San’s expression showed some guilt. After the war in the south ended, he returned to Qingzhou Province.

“No need. The appearance of Great Yu Empire people and British people differs too much. They would be like Westerners in the Great Yu Empire; they would surely be watched.”

This matter was indeed unpleasant for Xiao Ming, but the loss of talent was unavoidable. For money and status, some people were always willing to cast aside their conscience and commit acts of betrayal. This was true in both contemporary and ancient times.

Rather than wasting energy on this, it was better to focus on development, creating a comfortable environment for domestic talents, and even attracting Western technical talents.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Li San let out a slight breath of relief. He had done his best this time. Both the French and British had exerted great effort to protect those individuals, and their own power was limited. After all, the army had not yet reached Guangzhou at that time.

Lying in his chair, looking out the window, Xiao Ming sometimes had to admit a fact: the secret guards’ capabilities were also limited. They couldn’t watch everyone, nor could they succeed in every mission.

The true solution to problems still required formidable comprehensive national strength. Moreover, facing a Europe where scientific awareness and national consciousness had already risen, technological imitation would continuously occur in the future. What he needed to do was always maintain a leading advantage and set the rules for the Great Yu Empire.

Setting that matter aside, Xiao Ming said to Li San, “Oh, by the way, now that Jiangnan is stable, you should recall the idle personnel and have them go to Japan and the Western colonies to gather intelligence. These troublemakers have been causing such a ruckus in the Great Yu Empire. It’s time they paid the price.”

Li San nodded excitedly. With internal strife pacified, the Great Yu Empire was now unleashing unprecedented potential. A united front against external forces was the strategy they would pursue next.

Having said this, Xiao Ming dismissed Li San. Then he summoned Song Changping, Su Liangcai, and Lin Wentao, who had been waiting outside for a long time.

“Your humble servants greet Your Majesty.”

The three said in unison.

Nodding slightly, and excusing the three from formalities, Xiao Ming looked at Song Changping and said, “You’ve come to see me. Is it perhaps because you’ve made new progress with the rifle?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I, your humble servant, have come this time to cease the manufacturing of the Falcon Rifle and produce a new type of rifle that I have just successfully experimented with.”

“Oh?” Xiao Ming showed an interested expression. He said, “What kind of rifle is this?”

“A bolt-action rifle. When this rifle’s trigger is pulled, the firing pin punctures the paper cartridge, striking the primer to detonate the bullet. Compared to the Falcon Rifle, its stability is much higher, and the airtightness during gunpowder explosion will also be greatly improved. I, your humble servant, believe this rifle is even more convenient than using percussion caps.”

Song Changping said word by word.

Xiao Ming smiled faintly. In fact, the Falcon Rifle was merely an upgrade that Xiao Ming undertook to avoid wasting Conqueror Muskets. However, this bolt-action rifle was the future direction of firearm development.

From Song Changping’s description, he basically confirmed that the rifle he developed this time was similar to the Dreyse needle gun. The key features of this firearm were its rotating bolt and its ability to load from the breech. The hollow part of the bolt contained a spring and a firing pin. By pulling the bolt back to compress the spring and then pulling the trigger to release the spring’s pressure, the firing pin would pierce the ammunition. The principle was not difficult.

The difficulty lay in the strength of the firing pin. The weakness of contemporary Dreyse rifles was their fragile firing pins.

However, the Great Yu Empire now possessed high-strength alloys capable of manufacturing sufficiently hard tools, so the firing pin would naturally not be a problem for them.

Besides the firing pin, another issue was the airtightness of the breech-loading gun. Compared to muzzle-loading guns, breech-loading guns were inferior in airtightness. This was why breech-loading guns appeared in the 15th century but were never widely adopted.

Because of poor airtightness, the range and power of breech-loading guns would be reduced. However, their relatively flexible combat method compensated for this shortcoming.

As for the breech-loading gun truly solving the airtightness problem, that came with the advent of metallic cartridges. However, unfortunately, he currently did not have the capability to build a metallic cartridge production line.

Thinking of this, he looked at Su Liangcai. Now, over a year had passed, and Qingzhou Province’s thermal power plant was under intense construction. To fully support him, the Grand Secretariat had unconditionally provided funds and personnel.

Everyone was waiting for Qingzhou to enter the age of electricity, and among these people, Xiao Ming yearned for it the most, because, coming from the age of electricity, he naturally understood the benefits of electricity.

And these days, while searching the technology crystal’s content, he also discovered the technology for nuclear fusion power plants. He deeply felt the significance of this technology, which was still painstakingly pursued in contemporary times.

Because once this technology was realized, it would mean the advent of an era of unlimited electricity.

However, although this was very tempting, he could only imagine it now, as his current level was still far from it. He had a long and arduous journey ahead.

“This rifle indeed has unique characteristics. If that’s the case, subsequent rifles will adopt this model. However, the airtightness of the breech-loading rifle still needs to be solved by metallic cartridges. You need to consider this problem.”

As he spoke, Xiao Ming looked at Su Liangcai. “Su Liangcai, although this problem belongs to Song Changping, it cannot be done without your electricity. Producing metallic cartridges requires stable energy and mechanical power.”

Su Liangcai’s purpose in coming this time was precisely for the matter of the thermal power plant. He said, “Your Majesty, the thermal power plant will basically be completed in the second half of the year. The only problem currently is the production of power transmission lines. One is copper, and the other is the insulation for the electric wires. This is a big problem.”

At this, Xiao Ming’s head started to ache. For the Great Yu Empire, which had scarce copper resources, copper was money. And with the rise of industry, more and more places required copper. Both electric wires and electric motors needed a lot of copper.

But even so, they could still scrape by with the available copper. The most important thing was the insulation. In the field of wires and cables, insulation was generally divided into plastics and rubber.

Plastics were currently impossible. Rubber was available, but not much, and even if the Dutch sold him rubber, it would be at an exorbitant price.

If the price of rubber could not be lowered, the future development of industry would clearly be limited.

“Just use rubber to produce insulated wires. Roll copper wire in hot rubber. After it cools, it will be an electric wire. If you don’t understand, go find Lu Tong. He will help you solve this problem. In any case, the matter of electricity cannot be delayed,” Xiao Ming resolved.

For him, Qingzhou Province’s industry was currently facing a bottleneck. Some things could not be produced without electricity, such as aluminum.

In addition, there were electroplating and electrolytic production of chemical gases.