Chapter 103: Buy One Get Two Free: Maxim

The task Gao Da entrusted to Ma Deli was to go to the United States to find Gatling and Maxim, and to invite them to come to Spain to work if possible.

The names of these two men were quite famous; one was the originator of the machine gun, and the other was a genius designer hailed as the father of automatic weapons.

If these two could be lured to Spain, Spain's future progress in machine guns would definitely have the hope of reaching a world-class level.

In fact, Maxim's talent was not limited to machine guns; he also had significant achievements in smokeless powder. Smokeless powder was a powerful aid to machine guns, and it was absolutely one of the main contributors to why machine guns were so powerful.

The task Gao Da gave Ma Deli was to invite both Gatling and Maxim to work in Spain as much as possible, or at the very least, to invite one of them.

Regarding the priority of the two, Gao Da indicated that if only one could be chosen to come to Spain, he should try to invite Maxim rather than Gatling.

The reason was simple. Gatling was already quite famous in the United States, and the hand-cranked Gatling machine gun he developed had already demonstrated quite good utility during the American Civil War.

His research and development of machine guns had never stopped, and Gatling himself had long been valued by the United States government, making it very difficult to lure him to Spain.

Compared to Gatling, the younger Maxim, who had not yet fully demonstrated his capabilities, was clearly the one easier to lure.

Moreover, if one were to consider the impact on Spain alone, Gao Da was more optimistic about Maxim. The Maxim gun played a huge role in the history of both World War I and World War II, and the Maxim gun he developed was successively copied and improved by various countries, which was enough to show his talent in machine guns.

As the father of automatic weapons, Maxim's talent could not only be applied to machine guns but also to artillery.

If the Spanish army could be equipped with machine guns and semi-automatic artillery in the future, combined with advanced military concepts, it would definitely be able to create a powerful, world-class army.

If Gatling was unwilling to come to Spain, it did not matter; in any case, the hand-cranked machine gun developed by Gatling could already be purchased at this time.

If Gatling could not be brought, then a few Gatling machine guns could be brought back to be handed over to the Royal Arsenal for imitation and study, and to manufacture Spain's own machine guns.

The current hand-cranked Gatling machine gun was actually not that stable, and Gao Da looked forward more to Maxim's achievements in machine guns, as well as the true Maxim gun that Maxim would create which could influence wars.

On January 28, 1871, Gao Da finally met the man he had been longing for, Hiram Stevens Maxim, one of the greatest mechanical geniuses in history and the famous father of automatic weapons.

Over these past few days, Gao Da also learned the entire process of how Ma Deli had lured Maxim.

The facts were indeed as such; compared to Gatling, who was already famous for the hand-cranked Gatling machine gun, Maxim had no reputation in the United States at this time.

Maxim was born in February 1840, making him only 31 years old at most.

Come to think of it, Ma Deli was also very confused as to why Gao Da insisted on luring Maxim, because although Maxim was a researcher in mechanics, the patents he had invented did not have such a huge effect.

So far, Maxim only had a pitiful few patents, including his first patent, a curling iron, and a headlight that could be installed on trains.

Just during the few days Ma Deli went to the United States, Maxim was hesitating whether to accept an invitation from an American company to serve as an engineer for this electric light company.

However, after meeting Ma Deli, Maxim immediately had a new choice.

There was no other way; after all, the conditions offered by Gao Da were too attractive, making the 31-year-old Maxim unable to resist.

Upon learning that Maxim was coming to Spain, Gao Da was also very happy. Because recruiting Maxim was not only equivalent to gaining a top talent in weapon design, but it was also a "buy one get two free" deal; his brother, Hudson Maxim, and his two-year-old son, Hiram Percy Maxim, also came to Spain together.

Although Hudson Maxim was not as famous as his brother, he was also an excellent military inventor and had his own achievements in explosives.

And Maxim's son, Hiram Percy Maxim, was also an excellent talent. Like his father, he chose to become a mechanical engineer, not only inventing a firearm silencer but also having made certain improvements to internal combustion engines.

Spain was currently lacking inventors in military weapons, so it was naturally quite welcoming of Maxim's "buy one get two free" behavior.

At the Wang Gong in Madrid, Gao Da received the two Maxim brothers and welcomed them for coming to Spain from the United States.

"Mr. Hudson Maxim, Mr. Hiram Stevens Maxim, welcome to Spain," Gao Da said to the two with a smile.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. It is our honor to receive Your Majesty's invitation, and we also thank Your Majesty for the opportunity given to us," Maxim said to Gao Da very respectfully.

Although born in the United States, a republic, this did not mean that Maxim held a negative attitude toward the monarchies of European countries.

Under the circumstances where Gao Da provided him with such generous treatment, his gratitude toward Gao Da was also sincere.

Maxim came from a poor background and only had a job thanks to his own diligence and love for learning. Since Gao Da was willing to provide him with a higher-paying job that he liked more, Maxim was naturally unwilling to let go of this opportunity, which was also the reason he persuaded his brother to follow him to Spain.

Compared to the United States, Maxim was more willing to leave the United States and go to a new place.

The reason was also simple: the United States had already formed a massive capital force at this time, and the attitude of capital toward inventors like them was not that friendly.

Maxim certainly wanted to earn income through his inventions, but the reality was very cruel. Companies founded by inventors like him would be suppressed by other capitalists, which was the real reason why the historical Maxim eventually left the United States for the United Kingdom.

Now that he had Gao Da's personal invitation, Maxim was naturally willing to leave the United States to seek new development opportunities.

It was true that he was keen on invention and design, but what he was actually more interested in was firearms, such as the design of automatic weapons.

Although the United States also had hand-cranked Gatling machine guns, in Maxim's view, such a design was not true automation, but merely a trick.

The hand-cranked Gatling machine gun also had various problems, which was why such a weapon had already demonstrated its utility in the Civil War but still had not been popularized in Europe.

Maxim had the idea of inventing his own automatic weapon in his heart. And the position Gao Da gave him was exactly that of a weapon design engineer at the Royal Arsenal, which could be said to be a perfect match for Maxim's ideas.

Both Maxim brothers would serve as weapon design engineers at the Royal Arsenal, which happened to match the hobbies of the two brothers.

The property and the 5, 00 pesetas of settlement funds Gao Da promised them could also allow them to quickly have a place to settle in Spain and better adapt to their new life in Spain.

Gao Da still attached great importance to the two Maxim brothers. Although they had not been involved much in weapon R&D before, Gao Da was still willing to offer them an annual salary of 2, 00 pesetas and stated that as long as their designs had certain progress, he could raise their salaries and grant them rewards at any time.

The two were naturally very satisfied with such a salary; after all, they were not famous inventors in the United States, so it was naturally impossible for them to have a high salary of thousands or tens of thousands of pesetas from the beginning.

Following the Maxim brothers to Spain was also the equally famous Gatling, or rather, the hand-cranked Gatling machine gun.

Yes, Gatling eventually chose to stay in the United States and did not accept the invitation from the King of Spain.

But this no longer mattered to Gao Da; with the Maxim brothers, Gatling's role was actually not that important.

Because of Gao Da's order, Ma Deli eventually brought back a few hand-cranked Gatling machine guns to provide to the Royal Arsenal for related research.

The historical Maxim gun was born around 1883 and passed tests and officially applied for a patent in 1884.

And this year was only 1871, which was at least 12 years away from that time. However, considering that Maxim had only spent a few years truly devoted to machine gun research, Gao Da was still optimistic that he would develop the Maxim gun before 1883.

Speaking of the history of Maxim developing the machine gun, one must also mention an equally famous figure, the self-proclaimed great inventor Edison.

Yes, during this period, Edison was everywhere in the United States, which was also the reason why Edison's reputation was getting worse and worse.

Although Edison did have some talent in invention, he was more of a capitalist, and a capitalist who constantly suppressed other inventors.

Maxim was born in the United States, but because of Edison's suppression of him, he had to flee to the United Kingdom, which also benefited the United Kingdom, gaining Maxim, this famous weapon design genius.

If Maxim could start his research on machine guns earlier, combined with the help of Gao Da and the Spanish government, he believed that Maxim could obtain relevant research results earlier.

As long as Spain could possess machine guns and more advanced artillery, Gao Da would not fear any country in land warfare.

Regardless of the combat effectiveness of other countries, in the land warfare of this era, the difference in weapons and the advancement of military doctrine directly influenced the direction of the war.

The reason why the Prussian army could defeat the French army also included the fact that France had a large number of armed line infantry, and Krupp cannons could shoot further and were more stable than French cannons.

If the military concepts and weapon technology of both sides were kept at the same level, Prussia would definitely not be able to beat the French army.

This was also the reason why Gao Da was determined to develop machine guns and semi-automatic artillery. Once Spain took the lead in machine guns and semi-automatic artillery, the Spanish army would also leap to become the top army in Europe.

After possessing a powerful army, the Spanish government could be considered to have the confidence to master its own destiny.

Gao Da's development plan for Spain's military was entirely focused on army development for the next few years.

Of course, the overall scale of the Spanish army would not change much; it was more about improvements in weapon technology.

As for the navy, developing the navy would have to wait until Spain had built enough industry and economy.

It was not that Gao Da was unwilling to develop the navy, but the navy was much more expensive than the army, and it would be more difficult to develop.

Why did only a few great powers participate in the naval arms race before World War I? Because other countries simply could not afford to build a navy.

The cost of current ironclads was often 100, 00 or even hundreds of thousands of pounds, and the cost of future battleships exceeded one million pounds.

As for the later dreadnoughts, the cost of any one of them was as high as over a million pounds, and there were even super-dreadnoughts costing two or three million.

What was even more fatal was that the construction of a navy did not only refer to the surface shipbuilding costs; the maintenance of the fleet was also a huge cost.

There was also the training of naval soldiers, as well as the fuel expenses of warships, etc., which added up to an astronomical figure.

The current Spanish government could not yet handle a navy; even if it could build a navy, it would only be a few small and medium-sized warships.

If the current Spanish government gritted its teeth to build ironclads, that would truly be irrational.

Not to mention whether the financial situation of the Spanish government could support the maintenance of the navy, just the British side could cause quite a bit of trouble.

Spain's geographical location was already very important; if it blindly developed its navy, the British would definitely be uneasy.

If the British were uneasy, would Spain have fewer troubles? The reputation of being a "shit-stirrer" was not blown for nothing; if Spain could formulate a naval development plan today, the British could support the independence of Cuba and the Philippines tomorrow, and completely oppose Spain's colonial expansion in Africa.

This was also the reason why Gao Da formulated the army development plan. Limited by the scale of its population, no matter how powerful the army was, it would not pose such a high threat.

Unless Spain could aspire to be the number one land power in Europe, developing the army would not touch the bottom line of the British, and it could also mean that a period of peace could be ushered in between the United Kingdom and Spain.

There was no way; it was still the glorious Victorian era of the United Kingdom. Not to mention Spain, even the Germans had to admit the glory of the British.

As long as they kept a low profile for now, the British would not take the initiative to provoke Spain.

Because the British also had a big family and a big business, and they had all kinds of conflicts with other countries.

After Prussia defeated France, the conflict between Britain and France was not so intense. Currently, the most intense competition with the British was Russia, and the two sides were engaged in extremely fierce colonial competition in Central Asia.

Compared with the Russians, the Spanish were not taken seriously by the British. As long as Spain could honestly develop in a low-key manner, the British would not look for trouble for themselves.

4, 00-word third update, seeking support!

10, 00 words per day, day 7/7, 10, 00/10, 00 updated, seeking support!

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(End of chapter)