Chapter 41 Arsenal 2

Zhao Dongyun is actually not very confident about whether he can persuade Yuan Shikai to set up a factory. There are two reasons. The first is that officials have too much political influence on doing business. Now it is clearly forbidden for officials to do business. Of course, it doesn't count to run an official enterprise like Zhou Xuexi. That's not called doing business, that's called being an official.

For example, Zhao Dongyun, on the surface, did not do business in person, and the Fuyuan yarn factory is under his mother's name. This practice of hanging the industry on relatives and servants is also a common practice for officials to get involved in business.

But if this situation is small, no one will say it, but if you get a large enterprise with hundreds of thousands or even millions of taels of silver, and this enterprise is still an arms enterprise that produces national weapons, then this problem will be magnified.

The second is because of the nature of this arsenal. Because it produces arms, and private enterprises produce arms is unprecedented. Although it is known as the new policy reform at the end of the Qing Dynasty, it has not even opened up the formal industry and commerce, let alone the arms industry.

However, although there are many problems, the advantages are also very obvious, that is, as long as Yuan Shikai agrees, Zhao Dongyun can set up an arsenal for him. At that time, Beiyang will be able to produce his own rifles, bullets, etc. Don't worry about not importing or the southern factory bureau will refuse to give them.

And this ** power is very huge for Yuan Shikai. Otherwise, Yuan Shikai would not have planned to spend a lot of money to repair the remaining machinery and equipment of the Beiyang Machinery Manufacturing Bureau, or even intend to spend hundreds of thousands of silver to purchase equipment for the reconstruction of the Beiyang Machinery Manufacturing Bureau. However, even so, these heavy The post-built Beiyang Machinery Manufacturing Bureau is unable to produce guns and can only produce bullets, shells, smokeless gunpowder, shell casings, sulfuric acid and other military semi-finished products.

Now Zhao Dongyun has taken out a rifle production line that can be as productive as Hubei Gun Factory, and he is not afraid that Yuan Shikai will not be moved.

Standing in front of the governor's mansion, Zhao Dongyun took a deep breath before walking in. This time, he saw that Yuan Shikai did not wait too long, and he was soon received by Yuan Shikai.

As soon as he entered, Yuan Shikai asked, "You mean you want to run a gun factory?"

When Zhao Dongyun heard this, he also knew why Yuan Shikai put aside the people waiting to meet him and immediately met him. It seemed that he was still very interested in his arsenal.

Immediately, he did not hide it and said directly: "When I contacted Yanghang to buy machine guns, I heard that Li and Yanghang had a set of depreciated Type 88 rifle production equipment, and the price was not high. He also thought that my Beiyang lacked ordnance in China, and the cost spent on the import of ordnance every year was moving. It's more than a million, so I'm thinking about whether I can buy this batch of equipment and build an arsenal to meet my needs in Beiyang and reduce the cost of military spending!"

Yuan Shikai said, "I don't know if the old machine can still be used? What's the price?

As soon as Zhao Dongyun heard it, he knew that Yuan Shikai must be interested in it, but he didn't know what he was thinking in his heart, so he could only say it first: "The equipment was originally used by German artificial 88 rifles, so the machine is slightly old but still useless. If manpower and raw materials cooperate It is right to produce 50 guns and 25,000 matching bullets per day. Such an output is enough to be comparable to that of Hubei Gun Factory. In order to achieve this output, Hubei Gun Factory spent at least millions before and after, and this batch only costs 360,000 taels of silver!"

Although Yuan Shikai is not an industrialist like Zhou Xuexi, as the boss of the Beiyang system, he is naturally very ** for all kinds of figures. As soon as he hears 360,000 silver, he knows that the price is absolutely cheap. You know, in order to rebuild the Beiyang Machinery Manufacturing Bureau, Send people to ask several foreign banks about the price required to purchase equipment. The equipment for manufacturing bullets and smokeless gunpowder alone is often hundreds of thousands. If the production line for rifles and bullets is only 360,000, it is really not too expensive.

Yuan Shikai even thought that he would simply pay for it by himself. If he bought this set of equipment, he would also be able to rebuild the Beiyang Machinery Manufacturing Bureau by spending another 20 to 300,000 yuan on the equipment. However, the funds for the standing army right town that he had planned for a long time have not yet been available, and it will take at least millions to build this arsenal, but now Yuan Shikai can't move so much money.

At this time, Zhao Dongyun said, "I have talked with foreigners. As long as we purchase equipment, they can also send personnel to install and debug the equipment and teach the production method. If everything goes well, it can be trial production within a year, and mass production within two years!"

If Yuan Shikai, the first 360,000 taels of silver, is not very surprised, then when Zhao Dongyun said the words of two years of mass production, Yuan Shikai was extremely shocked!

Two years of mass production? How is this possible? Do you know how many years it took Hubei Gun Factory to produce the Type 88 rifle? It began trial production before the first Chinese New Year, and did not reach the design output until this year, that is, the production of 50 rifles per day. Although the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau is faster, it also began trial production in 1897. Last year, it began to convert production. Now the daily output is actually only 20 or 30, which also took five years.

And these two factories and bureaus can be said to represent the highest level of military industry in China at the moment. Even they have taken many years to get to this point. Zhao Dongyun now actually said that it only takes two years to produce a rifle factory with an output that is not inferior to that of Hubei Gun Factory. How can Yuan Shikai not be surprised?

"Is this true?" Yuan Shikai no longer pays attention to the 360,000 taels of silver just now. He pays more attention to the two years Zhao Dongyun said.

If mass production can really be achieved in two years, then the benefits for his Beiyang army expansion are great and can be said to be strategic, because the pace of Beiyang army expansion is too fast now, the demand for new rifles is very large, and it is not a matter to rely on imports all the time, and the two factories in the south Yuan Shikai believes that they are unreliable. If there is an arsenal in his territory that can mass-produce rifles, it is of strategic significance for the expansion of the Beiyang army.

However, he still doesn't believe Zhao Dongyun's words, so he has to make sure that what Zhao Dongyun said is true and effective.

In fact, Zhao Dongyun was also a little surprised by Yuan Shikai's reaction. Isn't two years enough? You should know that Germans have shipped large and small equipment, including screws, to you. They also help debug, trial production, train workers, and almost teach you how to do it.

And to be honest, it's just an old-fashioned rifle, not an artillery to produce aircraft. How difficult it can it be! Zhao Dongyun thought that it would take some time to build the factory, and there was nothing else to worry about.

In fact, so far, this arsenal is actually a big workshop in Zhao Dongyun's eyes.

However, whether it is Yuan Shikai or Zhao Dongyun, in fact, they all think a little deviation. First of all, these two years is not what Zhao Dongyun himself said, nor is it said by any Chinese industrialist in China. This schedule is said by foreign engineers of Lihe Yangxing, and the reason why those foreign engineers say that it only takes two years, It is based on the premise of purely commercial operation, the use of the administrative management system of large German enterprises, and the employment of German engineers.

To put it bluntly, these are those who make timetables according to the progress of building their own factories, so two years are not long.

However, the timetable in Yuan Shikai's mind is based on the premise of establishing a factory in China. These domestic arsenals are actually a government office. Naturally, it is inevitable that there are various disadvantages of the government office when doing things. It's good to build it. Don't expect how fast their progress is.

Persuading Yuan Shikai's work is much smoother than Zhao Dongyun imagined. In Zhao Dongyun's original idea, it would be very difficult for privately to do such things as arsenals, but he did not expect that Yuan Shikai did not care about the so-called official or commercial business.

After asking many things, Yuan Shikai asked again, "Where is your factory going to be built?"

Zhao Dongyun said, "Because everything is undecided, but if it can be done, it should be Zhili looking for a convenient place with convenient transportation and coal and iron!"

Yuan Shikai showed a look of approval after hearing the word Zhili. As long as it is built on Zhili, he doesn't care whether you are private or official. At that time, the guns and ammunition produced are all for Beiyang military use. As for whether it is reasonable or not, Yuan Shikai doesn't take it seriously.

As the host of the New Deal at the end of the Qing Dynasty, he was ambitious and had decisive and cruel means. If he didn't do something extraordinary, how could the Beiyang New Army in his hand be established?

So he didn't care so much first and said directly, "If the arsenal can be run, it's naturally good!"

Yuan Shikai's words mean that he has agreed to this matter in principle, but whether it can be done depends on the follow-up situation.

But after saying that, he said, "But although you have some family background, it may be difficult to take out hundreds of thousands of taels!"

Zhao Dongyun said, "It's a little difficult. If this can be done, the Ministry of Professional Affairs intends to raise funds to jointly run it!"

Yuan Shikai thought for a moment and then said, "This is purely commercial, and according to what you said, if you want to reduce the cost of guns and improve the quality, this official will not work!"

As the ruler of Beiyang, although Yuan Shikai did not object to Zhao Dongyun running this arsenal, he did not say that he did not let it go. Zhao Dongyun just said that if you want the guns and ammunition produced by the arsenal to be reliable and low-cost, and at the same time, you have to let shareholders make money without losing money. The first thing to ensure is that you can't take the official The bad rules and habits of the government are brought in, so Zhao Dongyun intends to adopt a pure Western-style management system to eliminate any official supervision and official name.

The official can't come forward to manage it, which doesn't mean that Yuan Shikai can't manage it, so he said, "In this case, I will also invest 10,000 taels!"

Although Yuan Shikai is not in the mood to occupy shares or something, as an official, private property does not mean much to him. He said that if he wants to occupy shares in the arsenal, he mainly wants to use his private identity to supervise, so that the arsenal will be established. What's the problem now?

However, Zhao Dongyun was surprised when he heard his words. Once Yuan Shikai also invested money, no matter how much money he had, Yuan Shikai alone was enough to scare those who blocked this matter, and the opportunity to do business with Yuan Shikai was absolutely impossible for countless people day and night.

As long as this wind comes out, it is estimated that countless officials and businessmen will come crying and shouting to participate in the stock!

After persuading Yuan Shikai and even obtaining Yuan Shikai's small support, Zhao Dongyun immediately sent a report to Zhao Chenbin in Tianjin: Prepare for the construction of the factory immediately!