December 1913
Part 3
There wasn't a problem landing the first shot. The recoil was prohibitive though, Bang's rifle had a similar problem, but wasn't quite as severe even for a smaller man. Alfred at least seemed enthused, rather than discouraged. "That's three inches," Forrest the elder remarked measuring his own group from the hundred meter target. The magazine of the rifle was reloaded and handed off to the Italian naval attaché to give him a go at it, and they stepped back to watch.
The enlarged browning 1900 to accommodate the eight millimeter was an excellent distraction from the prospect of machine guns, especially as Alfred, and his Italian friend had both brought their mauser pistols along. "Its very impressive," Alfred remarked.
"I'll pass that along to Sam." He deferred as the Italian naval officer finished sending the fifth round down range. From a mechanical operation perspective the Browning action had needed little difference to handle military rifle cartridges and their load, such was the strength of the action's design. Sam was right though the recoil was prohibitive in the way the action worked, but it was a trade off with not having to come off to work a bolt.
"Has the boy worked up a price," His father asked.
"Only been told it'd be expensive."
"Any guesses?" Alfred's attention had turned to the discussion. "You surely have some idea as to the amount of work to go into it. I mean you've worked out the problems with the barrel manufacture I know that much."
Allen frowned, blown barrels for the Mausers had been part of the reason JP had insisted on installing pyrometers to make sure heat treatment was even and consistent rather than the eye balling the color of the metal like Springfield still did. "As for cost," There was the machine work obviously. Cuts. There was barrel, the springs... the stock... treating the wood. "Northwards of a hundred dollars."
The elder Forrest straightened at that, "I hope thats for making the hand copies, Jesus." The two Americans turned to the German Admiral.
"I believe exchange is four marks to the dollar." Alfred commented stiffly.
... and the Franc was about five, where as five bucks went to the Pound. "Griswold is doing work to the design, but its a tinkering project in his spare time. Realistically we'll just build Paul Mauser's rifle." The 1907 introduced some other features, ditching the langevisier made sense for cost.
"You are on speaking terms with him, he would be interested in this."
Most likely he would be, "We'd have to get the lawyers involved. This is based off of Browning's patent, and the fellows who wrote up his patent apparently did an iron clad job. Paul would have to pay royalties to FN given they have the rights to sell Europe as I've been told, and well," He chuckled, "And well Old Mauser would not be thrilled by that." and the same was true in the states, just the same with Remington's rights, unless some judge were to rule that the work needed for make the rifle work in the larger caliber was sufficiently different or innovative, which he didn't think it was per se... "We have some of the corporation going to Europe who can tell Mauser about the idea," but the last that Mauser had talked about in the idea had been for some other mechanical system he had hoped to develop.
--
The old man leaned back into his chair. The fire place going, its chimney working in the old palace Allen noted.
"Figured you'd be busy with winter and all?" He certainly had been last year. Coal production without rails was often confined to very nearby locations, but since he was effectively the rails, and the manufacture of engines the cadre had the advantage that they could dig coal all year and stockpile it. Not only did that make it so that they had fuel for the trains in reserve it also made it possible to sell coal to the cities. Horizontal as well as vertical expansion as it was called, "With the trade barriers coming down what are the chances on oil?"
Standard Oil, before the great Kerfuffle in 1911 had been involved in pushing the oil trade, but their main office... now it was Standard Oil of New York... was in Hong Kong, and after the revolution, and now this past year... "Not especially good, Rockefeller still sells kerosene into China, but between their court cases and the shooting everything is at anchor."
"Doesn't that mess you up, oil locomotives are the future and all?"
"They are," And the designs were sound now, "But we produce coal,"
"As I recall McCulloch's boy has found oil here."
"Bill has found oil yes." and even if the Qing had stayed in power they'd have spent years fighting off claim jumps attempts by Russia and Japan, and Mitsubishi would probably be the one to win that fight in the end without the state department really coming through. They had yet to really amass the capital necessary for large scale exploration anyway. Bill was sure there was oil in the country though, "Standard being broken up was another delay I'll admit," But almost as much was the British failure to link north south china in one single continuous rail line... which was hardly John Jordan's fault the man had tried to keep everything going. Still if Standard had still been one great kraken there probably would have been more interest in oil exploration, but that would be capital intensive. Drilling rigs, and all the rest and the searching was just out of the question. "Texas oil is cheaper to import, that's true of gasoline, or kerosene for that matter." There was a much larger demand for the latter.
"The minister," Reinsch, "Is uncomfortable with the situation. The banking conglomerate doesn't sit well with him, and the Brits shaking around makes everyone question the status quo, but China's financial insolvency..." He trailed off, and then reached for his glass. "The fact the Chinese don't have any kind of domestic corporations just throws him. He understands the guild systems at least an oblique way, but he talks to Yuan and doesn't seem to understand half of the mash."
"What was he expecting to find?"
"Japan, of a generation, or two back, but the Japanese had their clans to keep things together. Their last dictator stepped down for gods sakes, and then joined their legislature." Word of the last 'Shogun' Yoshinobu's death had been somewhat buried in among the other news going on, "The Japanese were more bottled up the Qing were, and I'm sure Perry showing up gave them a shock, but it isn't as if Europe was all that industrialized in 1800. You still had feudal princes in Germany for gods sake."
Europe had industrialized late, was still industrializing. Any pretentions to the contrary they had been playing catch up to the England for two on centuries. For countries like Germany that meant not having the false starts, but France was still having to import machine tooling from America and had been doing that since not long after the war between the states had concluded itself. Weber argued that the reason for such was the protestant work ethic, or some lack thereof in Catholic moral upbringing. That a good catholic looked not beyond the station they were born into... which of course must have said the Irish were terrible catholics. "I am all too familiar with the condition of Europe during grandfather's day." He remarked getting up and walking to the decanter and opening it to refill the glass, "And of the challenge of change. Japan's Imperial Army is a very much a different animal than Yuan's Beiyang."
"In spite of their shared love the Prussian lessons." The old man leaned forward, "And Japan's example is what, especially with the breadth of expenditure Yuan engages in, the minister expected to find. He has this riven mess." They were meandering again. The old man had been dragging around weaving some kind of complex net who's only common thread was money, or perhaps resources invested, or influence... the shadow game of power. Apparently he had decided to move beyond searching probes for information and responses, "Reinsch is uncomfortable with the situation of the country. He in particular doesn't like the business of loans necessary to keep the government afloat given the indemnities of previous wars."
He nodded in response. If ever he needed to rebut the notion of European supremacy it would root in the facts touched earlier. The continent of Europe, and her great powers there of had not industrialized but in the last century. England's sprawling colonial empire, in specific her now defunct 'East India Company' had chartered before the Qing dynasty had been founded. Access to coal whether in England, Belgium, or the United States made things easier to industrialize, and there was probably some intangible thing... what the Japanese called seishin that had allowed the explosive growth from farmers and craftsmen to industrial juggernaut. That was however the work of great men, whether singular or by banding together. "I suppose he takes issue with the international committee responsible for tariffs then?"
"He would, and does, if not for Adams constant prattle about corruption."
"Adams?" Allen misliked this turn, and set his glass down without drinking.
"The good doctor has been ferreting out all that he can on railways as run by everyone, and your ties with Yuan are well known. Rockhill had covered where its possible, but the opening of the line out west has achieved its reception." If you hadn't wanted to travel the perilous lengthy terrible roads by wagon, assuming the wagon wasn't enjoinder-ed by mud, or waylaid by bandits, the canals and ships by river were the best way to travel to Xian previously. The same was true of many, and such the term gunboat diplomacy as British steam ships had made their way against the currents and now other banners had joined them, "If you're aiming to do something whether you want to tell me or not, you should give Rockhill notification so he's prepared to defend it."
It wasn't as if they'd ever build a north south rail line, anyway. The British would have taken it as a slap in the face. John Jordan had spent literally years in and out trying to get it done since he had left from his previous post at Seoul... "Well as I have no interest in embroiling myself in the sort of mess that sparked off the Qing being toppled, I will not be building any lines to Canton. Xian has a million people living in that city. They have kerosene lamps and now they have regular access to the telegraph, and the locomotive." Despite having been put in his original position by the revolution of 1911, Zhang had accepted the more formal position of Dujun from Yuan Shikai last summer and much of that had been to keep General Ma from settling any lingering sentiments that might have existed between their respective societies. "I expect in terms of business the factories there will keep me quite busy." It would never be a company town of course, businesses should never get into the habit of minting their own currency. "I should think that I will spend the months after spring begins in the city."
"I will phrase that to the minister such that it is an economic matter."
"It is."
"A city of million men in the deep interior? If any rebel were to take it, I scarce imagine that modern gunboats would be sufficient to dislodge them if they had modern arms of their own." The elder Forrest jerked his head towards the map, not unlike the one in his own office, "Bai Lang has split his armies, Yuan has cut the ones in the south off from reunited, but they were by last word continuing south. Duan Qirui is chasing them through Anhui, but they are moving west. Perhaps Bai Lang means to run all the way back to Baofeng City, to make a stand there he certainly has the popular support."
He thought of Henan, and the coal mines that during these months of the year in particularly would be mined by farmers with no other income... or worse the ones who had to drudge that ten mile track as coolies. Such men were recruits for Bai Lang army, as had been demonstrated a year ago when he'd been stirring trouble before going east, and south. "You don't think he will?"
"I'm not stupid you blinded his uncle, he'll make the attempt to come. Honor lets him do nothing less, and if you move out west hanging out a shingle promising wealth, he'll see that grudge of his with the Wangs." The Wang family was dead now. Bai Lang had swept through last year and burned their family home to the ground, "And right into waiting machine guns I suspect. Or those German howitzers. That is the plan isn't it?"
"He has to come out west to find out." Allen replied and took a drink. "He might not do that, Qirui might catch him yet. That will be fine with me, as I said father, its an economic matter."
--
Commentary: So ends December 1913, not technically. Technically the next 'chapter' will cover Christmas and New Years but its (the chapter) titled 'the New Year'. So to touch on some points before I go on the design of full power semi automatic rifles had a number of pursuing developers. Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, and Germany all were looking at the concept. Kjellerman, Bang, both are ones who come to mind. Kjllermann even did a long recoil gun like Browning's Model 8. The french would go to field the Chauchat and had preceding the war several competitions to try and find a design that worked, including long recoil designs. Mauser played around with toggle locks. In China General Liu who has been mentioned and will appear off and on during the following story designed a rifle to bear his name that operated on a blow forward mechanism (like Bang's rifle, or the later Walther self loaders of world war 2), and it was designed to also be able to switch to a bolt action rifle like the mondragon. Bang's rifle would be in 8mm Mauser (even though he did want to originally do it in a 6.5 apparently.)
The dancing around the economics matter in this chapter as we approach the end of the year is sort of necessary to give the idea the scale of monopoly. Vertical and horizontal business expansion was a common practice of companies during this period. So getting into coal mining, and then steel manufacture, and farming for local consumption all feeds into doing things in house (this isn't uniquely American, actually its originally an English corporate thing (company store might be associated with American corporations, but that was an English invention, but you would go on to see it with among others Japanese Zaibatus, Korean Chaebols, and to a lesser extent with German Concerns or Cartels). This is important because in this period in 1913 Allen and the corporation is a business not an empire.
Internally getting caught up in the 'follies of the east india company' is the exact opposite of his goal. (Mind you the East India company's failure was more a matter of internal corruption than anything else, the Nabobs is kind of an interesting crisis in itself). I attempt to keep things somewhat within the realm of reasonable possibility and yes I could include more detail... and the more I write this the more I'm like to myself... 'yeah I need to cover more' or go back and write the events of 1905 in korea, or 1911 (which would stretch into 1912). Regardless the plan is to try and get through June 1914 by Christmas That way in the new year I can start posting the events of 1916.
