Chapter 811: Named Qin-series

Latest website: "Your Highness, I have received intelligence that the British, the Northern Di, and the Ross are colluding, attempting to gather the scattered power-clans back together to deal with us." In the study, Xu Ke handed a document to Zhao Xu.

Their Four Courts have informants in the Wu, and naturally, they also have informants in Southern Liang and Nanping.

The British envoy is heading to Southern Liang; the blond-haired, blue-eyed British are naturally very conspicuous and cannot be hidden at all.

Afterwards, they used bribed Southern Liang officials to inquire for news and finally confirmed this matter.

Pausing, he continued: "At present, the British envoy is heading to the Wu under the escort of Northern Di and Southern Liang troops, and it is estimated that they will arrive in Changcheng soon."

Zhao Xu frowned.

Since the Battle of Qizhou, Southern Liang has parted ways with other power-clans, while Nanping has always been content to remain in its corner.

If the three parties unite, this is equivalent to the Anti-Yan Alliance being revived.

The only difference is that the original Anti-Yan Alliance was orchestrated by Dongying.

Now, it has become dominated by the British and the Ross.

He can imagine that next, the power-clans and Northern Di troops will confront him in Jiangnan under the unified command of the British and the Ross.

However, before heading south, he had already predicted the most severe situation with his generals.

That is this current situation.

So he said: "No matter, let them be wild as they please, the breeze brushes the mountain ridge; the union of hostile forces is only a matter of time, but it was bound to happen."

Xu Ke was stunned; to him, this situation was very unfavorable.

This is equivalent to Jiangbei being in a C-shaped Encirclement.

Except for the East, everywhere he looks is an enemy.

Even the East is not completely safe.

Dongying has not yet been completely pacified, and the Sam Country's fleet may also arrive in the East sea area before long to compete with them for control of Dongying.

Therefore, seeing Yan Wang's attitude so relaxed, he was quite surprised and couldn't help but say, "Your Highness is not worried at all?"

"Why should I be worried? If I were afraid,

if I compromised, it would mean falling for the British's scheme." Zhao Xu stood up and walked to the map, waving for Xu Ke to come over.

Pondering for a moment, he said: "Three short men stacking themselves up, do they become a giant? On the contrary, they are afraid and can only disguise themselves as giants to intimidate us."

Drawing a C on the map, he said: "Before they united, weren't they our enemies? Haven't they always been in conflict with us? Yet, aren't they still helpless against us, only able to live in fear day by day, worrying about our attacks?"

Xu Ke nodded slowly.

Before heading south, the Wu and the Northern Di, under the instigation of the British, were already coordinating from north and south.

One attacked the coast of Jiujiang, the other constantly harassed the north.

But apart from leaving behind some corpses, they achieved no objectives.

Now, it is just that Southern Liang and Nanping have been added.

And for the Prince's Personal Army, these two are basically dispensable.

Zhao Xu continued: "This union is essentially just a move made by the British and the Ross because they are afraid of this Prince rising in Dongtu. This matter should be a cause for joy, because they believe that only by uniting can they possibly fight this Prince."

"So that is how it is. Their union, while it may look imposing, is actually just a weak display of huddling together for warmth; the advantage is with me."

"Correct." Zhao Xu laughed, "However, there is a little bit of trouble after all. Yesterday we caught ten pigs, in the future we will have to catch one hundred pigs. But it doesn't matter, our soldiers will soon be equipped with new-style firearms to catch the pigs."

Xu Ke immediately thought of the firearms just developed by the Armory Bureau.

He knew of this matter, but he did not know the details of these firearms.

After speaking of this, Zhao Xu ordered Xu Ke to return, while continuing to keep an eye on the movements of all parties to provide intelligence for the Prince's Personal Army to fight.

After Xu Ke left, Zhao Xu returned to the bedchamber.

He originally wanted to go to the Armory Bureau, but he did not want to neglect his Beauty.

A night of warmth behind the red silk curtains.

The next day, Zhao Xu still couldn't wait to go to the Armory Bureau and saw the Needle-fire Rear-loading Musket developed by Wang Ying and the craftsmen.

"Your Highness, I have been waiting for Your Highness to give this firearm a name." Upon Zhao Xu's arrival, Wang Ying immediately presented a firearm.

Unlike the Front-loading Rifle, this firearm no longer requires a Ramrod for loading and cleaning, but instead has a metal Breech Bolt structure at the back of the firearm.

When using it, one only needs to pull open the Breech Bolt and insert a Bullet, which is much more convenient than loading a Front-loading Rifle.

For example, the Rifled Musket currently used by the Prince's Personal Army, even when using a Conical Bullet, can only fire about five Bullets per minute.

And this Rear-loading Rifle is twice that, ten rounds per minute.

"Let's call it the Qin-style Rifle." Zhao Xu said.

When he came back, he had thought about this naming issue.

This was also the first time he had named a firearm for the Armory Bureau.

The reason is also as Wang Ying said in the letter.

The firearms currently used by the Prince's Personal Army soldiers were just modified again and again on the basis of the initial Flintlock.

So they had never been named.

But this rifle is different; it is a truly new-style firearm.

The barrel material is smelted by a Converter, and the Breech Bolt parts are manufactured by a Lathe.

At the same time, it is also a revolution for firearms from Front-loading Rifle to Rear-loading Rifle.

"Qin-style Rifle? Is it taken from the meaning of Qinzhou?" Wang Ying scratched his head.

Zhao Xu shook his head.

This Qin is not the Qin of Qinzhou, but the Qin of the contemporary Great Qin.

Qin unified the six states, and only then was there great harmony under heaven.

Next, he will have the Armory Bureau produce the Qin-style Rifle at full capacity and deliver them to the Prince's Personal Army.

Let the division of Great Song end under the majestic power of the Qin-style Rifle.

"When there is an opportunity, this King will explain the meaning of this 'Qin' character to you; for now, you only need to name it accordingly," Zhao Xu said.

Wang Ying nodded; since Yan Wang would not say, he naturally knew better than to ask again.

Suddenly grinning, he said, "Your Highness, would you like to try the Qin-series Rifle?"

"Of course." Zhao Xu felt a surge of excitement.

The group arrived at the shooting range, and Wang Ying brought over a paper-cased Bullet.

"Your Highness, the base of this paper-cased bullet is fitted with a Percussion Cap; when you pull the Trigger, as long as the firing pin strikes, the bullet will ignite and push the Conical Bullet out of the muzzle," Wang Ying explained as he handed the bullet to Zhao Xu.

Zhao Xu nodded.

Rear-loading needle-fire rifles initially all used paper-cased bullets.

Precisely because of this, early Rear-loading Rifles suffered from gas leakage due to gaps between parts, resulting in an effective range inferior to Front-loading Rifled Muskets after the appearance of the Conical Bullet.

It was not until the appearance of the Metal Bullet that the problem of gas leakage was solved, and it completely outperformed the Front-loading Rifle in terms of range.

Therefore, the development history of the Rear-loading Rifle since its inception has been a process of resolving gas leakage.

However, although Zhao Xu was aware of this flaw in the Rear-loading Rifle, he could only continue to use paper-cased bullets.

This was because the current industrial capacity of Yanzhou could not establish a production line for Metal Bullets.

To perfectly insert a Conical Bullet into a Dankou, the Dankou and the bullet head need to fit together very precisely.

Thus, maintaining a fairly high level of precision is required when producing the Dankou and the bullet head.

Paper-cased bullets are different, as they do not concern themselves with the issue of gas leakage.

Paper-cased bullets can be a bit thicker or a bit thinner.

They are very convenient to produce.

Furthermore, in this era, paper-cased bullets are sufficient.