Chapter 284: Disappointing Manufacturing Administration
After getting the money, Yan Xu immediately placed a large order with Mao Li Jingyuan to purchase 5,000 rifles and 300,000 rounds of ammunition to arm his army.

As for why they bought it from the East Empire instead of Germany, it was mainly due to the size.

Although the Magic City is prosperous, not everyone can eat enough. Even if they can eat enough, there is a big difference in height and weight between them and Westerners. This can be seen from the caliber and length of Eastern and Western firearms. Therefore, Western bullets are actually not suitable for Orientals, especially malnourished and poorly trained soldiers.

The Type 30 rifle currently equipped by Japan uses 6.5mm rifle bullets, which have high accuracy and low recoil. After rigorous training, even new recruits who have been in the army for less than a year can hit targets 200 to 300 meters away, not to mention the veterans.

The disadvantage is that the penetrating power is too strong, often one shot can hit two eyes. As long as the medical care can keep up, there is basically no death.

But in Yan Xu's opinion, this is not a shortcoming at all, because with the morality of the Qing Dynasty, these wounded soldiers are a complete burden. It is wishful thinking to expect them to treat the wounded well, because no one knows what kind of trouble will arise in the end.

There is another benefit. Although Yan Xu has not put dog tags on the three people, Mao Li Jingyuan is already half of his own. His previous behavior of fooling the domestic people made him very satisfied, so this time he specially gave him some sweet treats to give the other two some hope.

Even the most shocking memories will eventually fade, so it is necessary to use hope and benefits to deepen the other person's impression from time to time, so that they can become deeply involved and unable to extricate themselves, and even find reasons to brainwash themselves.

Moreover, with this order, as long as Mao Li Jingyuan is not stupid and lets the domestic family make some arrangements, it may not be realistic for him to be promoted to a higher level, but it is enough to leave an impression of being smart, capable and strong to the upper echelons of the empire, and his position in the Magic City will become more stable.

Of course, the main reason is that Yan Xu’s gains from the Magic City Machinery Manufacturing Bureau were not as great as he had imagined, and this was what was giving him a headache.

Yan Xu was very familiar with the Magic City Machinery Manufacturing General Administration. It was the Qing Dynasty's largest industrial zone with the largest investment, the largest scale, the most staff, and the most complete. It could produce everything from bullets and kettles to heavy artillery and steamships. Otherwise, why would it be called the General Administration?

Unfortunately, due to the corruption of the Qing Dynasty and the power struggle among the management, the technical equipment of the Manufacturing General Administration has become completely outdated. Not only is the defective rate high, but the output is also shockingly low.

The annual output is 2,000 rifles and one million rounds of ammunition, while the output of machine guns and cannons barely reaches double digits, and the production cost is nearly times higher than that of foreign countries.

Looking at the huge factory, the large number of machines and the numerous workers, Yan Xu was confused. How did they do it with the cheap labor costs in the Qing Dynasty?
Despite the low production volume and poor quality, jamming, bursting and misfiring were commonplace. Using these weapons was no different from gambling with one's life. This also cultivated the habit of Qing soldiers to fire from a distance to avoid being hit in the face. As for the hit rate, who cared? They just made the fire. Winning or losing was a problem that the gentlemen needed to consider.

Despite so many shortcomings, there were very few places in the entire Qing Dynasty that could produce guns and ammunition, resulting in these products of varying quality being shipped away as soon as they were produced. Even if Yan Xu wanted to make do with them, he had no choice but to do so, which led to this order.

There was no way. He hadn't even taken care of the people's livelihood in Shanghai, let alone reorganizing the huge and complicated General Administration of Manufacturing.

In fact, in the modern world, Yan Xu, who owns a machinery factory, sees this very clearly. Unless people with advanced technology are re-hired, workers are re-trained, and the entire set of equipment and processes from raw material production to manufacturing are replaced, and most importantly, all the corrupt management is removed, otherwise the huge General Administration of Machinery Manufacturing will only continue to rot.

If it weren't for the large number of skilled workers, this would be little different from reconstruction.

But Yan Xu doesn't have the time now. All he can do is maintain the status quo first, and then when he asks his lawyer to check the accounts and count the assets, he hints to those people that they can solve the problem by spending money, because only in this way can he reassure those people and prevent them from causing trouble for him at this critical time.

Now Yan Xu also understood why Heshen, who was known to the world as a corrupt official, never fell.

Yan Xu was worried to the point of losing his hair, but the East Ocean Empire was pleasantly surprised to find that a large order had been delivered to their doorstep.

At this time, the Oriental Empire was preparing for war, but due to the scarcity of resources, many raw materials had to be imported, which put a lot of pressure on it.

At this time, they unexpectedly received a large order, which made them very excited. You know, silver is hard currency, and white people's eyes will not move when they see it, so they are very happy.

At the same time, he was very satisfied with Mao Li Jingyuan's ability to do things. Not only did he win over the warlord in Shanghai so quickly, but he also brought in such a large order. That was great.

Although they were preparing for war, the profits from completing this order were enough to produce more arms. How could the imperial high-ranking officials not agree?

What's more, it can also be used to increase the influence on the warlord in Magic City, so the reserve arms are immediately mobilized and shipped.

In addition to rifles, machine guns and mountain cannons are also Yan Xu's purchase targets.

The machine gun chosen was naturally the classic Maxim water-cooled machine gun, and the artillery was a batch of 75mm mountain cannons purchased through Smith's family connections.

At this time, there was no more detailed division of artillery of the same caliber, but the prototype had already existed.

For example, the 75mm artillery selected by Yan Xu has a shorter barrel and lighter weight than other artillery of the same caliber. Although it cannot be quickly disassembled and carried, it is enough to move quickly when the road is bad and there is a lack of mules and horses.

The order has been placed, but it will take some time to wait. During this time, Yan Xu did not let the recruits idle, but instead conducted rigorous physical training.

Physical training is the most troublesome thing for all generals, mainly because they eat too much.

There were only a few rich kids who came to serve in the army. Not only were they malnourished, they also had big bellies and ate as much as they wanted, with at least one or two kilograms of food in one meal.

This is still a leisurely approach, not the upper limit.

If you want to undergo rigorous physical training, you have to combine it with fine grains, vegetables, meat and eggs, otherwise your body will break down before you even go to the battlefield.

This is nearly 10,000 people. Even if Yan Xu had super powers, it would be impossible for him to produce supplies to satisfy the long-term food and drink needs of tens of thousands of people out of thin air, not to mention the need for military uniforms, shoes and socks, helmets, water bottles, ammunition boxes and so on.

Moreover, once a war breaks out, casualties are inevitable, and medicines, bandages, and surgeons are indispensable.

Seeing this, Yan Xu’s head almost exploded.

Although there were wars in the Japanese world, he was the only one who bullied others. Not to mention that he only treated the wounded with minor injuries and sent away the seriously injured. It was impossible for him to bring this here.

After a rough calculation, Yan Xu found that it would cost at least one million silver dollars to fully arm 10,000 soldiers and improve the logistics system.

With this money, he can buy out the government of Shanghai, so what's the point of fighting?

(End of this chapter)