Beiyang Dream

Chapter 12 The First of the Three Great Mountains!

What was the date in August of 1889? I can't remember exactly, but we were still adrift at sea.

The first-class coffee shop on the Oriental cruise ship, at 2 p.m.

Chang Desheng sat by the window, opposite von Schneider. The coffee on the table had gone cold, and next to him was a napkin—it was quite absorbent, but difficult to use for drawing.

Chang Desheng picked up the pencil sharpener from the table and gestured with it on a napkin.

"Look here," he said in German, the tip of his knife pointing to the center of the paper, "a seamless steel pipe, five to seven millimeters thick, depending on the caliber. As for the caliber... 80 millimeters is enough, any larger and it will be too heavy."

He drew a vertical line on the paper to represent the cannon barrel. He also drew a base underneath, like an upside-down bowl.

"The base needs to be heavy, cast iron will do, so it can sit in the ground. And this thing on top," he drew a simple support, "has two legs and can be adjusted. This thing's structure is incredibly simple—steel pipe, base, support, sights, that's it."

Von Schneider stared at the napkin without saying a word.

Chang Desheng continued, "The shell is simple. Round nose, streamlined shape, cast iron, filled with explosives. The key is the tail..." He drew a few tail fins on the back of the shell, "We need to add tail fins to make it stable in flight. It's a smoothbore barrel, and accuracy depends on that."

He put down the knife, picked up his cold coffee, and took a sip.

"This is called a mortar," he said. "It fires inclines, so the trajectory is high, and it can hit from one side of the mountain to the other. The total weight should ideally not exceed fifty kilograms, and it can be disassembled into three main parts—two people can carry it on their backs. If it's carried by horses, one horse can carry two."

Schneider finally spoke: "Range?"

"It depends on the explosive charge. Three to five hundred meters to one or two thousand meters is enough."

"Accuracy?"

"Sufficient for building fixed fortifications, and even more sufficient for attacking large groups of people."

"cost?"

Chang Desheng's mind raced, calculating every detail.

Seamless steel pipe... cast iron base... steel bracket... sight...

"One cannon, including labor and materials," he quoted a price, "fifty taels of silver at most."

Schneider raised an eyebrow: "So cheap?"

"It's simple in structure," Chang Desheng said. "It doesn't need rifling or complicated locking mechanisms; it's just a piece of iron pipe. Your old masters at the Krupp factory could build it with their eyes closed."

Schneider leaned back.

"Mr. Chang," he said, "your design... is very interesting. But there are a few problems."

"Please speak."

"First, where is the market? The armies of European countries are all pursuing range and power. Your cannon has a short range and a small caliber, so it can't penetrate fortifications."

"It wasn't originally designed to penetrate fortifications," Chang Desheng said. "It's for shooting at people—people hiding in trenches, people hiding behind reverse slopes, people hiding in crevices between rocks. Could your long-barreled field guns hit them? No. But this thing can!"

Schneider didn't refute, and continued: "Second, accuracy. Smoothbore, fin-stabilized—it sounds unreliable. If it can't hit its target on the battlefield, it's just scrap metal."

"So we have to test it," Chang Desheng said. "Build a few prototypes, fire a few hundred rounds, adjust the tail fin angle and the amount of explosive, and we'll eventually get it right. Besides," he smiled, "this thing is area-effect, so it just needs to land in a crowd; we don't need to aim for pinpoint accuracy."

Schneider was silent for a few seconds.

"Third," he said, "and most importantly—who will pay for it?"

Chang Desheng had been waiting for this sentence.

"Let's go for it," he said. "I'll provide the technology—the blueprints, the principles, and the testing methods. You provide the manufacturing—the factory, the workers, and the materials. For the sample stage, we'll split the investment 50/50. If it succeeds, we'll split the profits 50/50. If it fails, I'll cover the losses—I'll use subsequent orders to cover them."

Schneider laughed: "Mr. Chang, where did you learn this skill of doing business without spending a single penny?"

"I'm self-taught," Chang Desheng laughed. "Besides, it's not like I came empty-handed. I have a letter of recommendation from Mr. Hannagan, which will allow me to apply to the Prussian War College. That's the Prussian War College! When I return home after my studies, I'll be the Qing Dynasty's top military expert. Even Li Hongzhang will have to listen to me. You'll have no worries about not getting orders then!"

He paused, then added, "This is called 'investing your connections'."

This time, Schneider didn't laugh.

He stared at Chang Desheng for a long time, then slowly said, "Mr. Chang, do you know how many of these 'creative' ideas Krupp takes on every year? Nine out of ten are just wild ideas, and the remaining one is barely passable, but it doesn't make any money."

“I know,” Chang Desheng said. “That’s why I came to you. Mr. Reiner told me that you are an engineer by training, you understand technology, and you understand business. You should understand at a glance—this thing is not complicated, but it is very useful. It’s useful in the mountains, it’s useful in the jungle, and it’s even more useful in the snow in winter.”

He leaned forward, lowering his voice: "Think about it, the Russians are building railways in Siberia, the Qing Dynasty is stationing troops in Northeast China, and the Japanese are making moves in Korea... In the next few years, East Asia will inevitably see mountain warfare, snow warfare, and jungle warfare. Can you even drag all your heavy artillery in there?"

Schneider picked up his coffee cup, found it was empty, and put it down.

"Samples," he finally spoke, "I can arrange to make a few to try... If it works, we'll split the profits 30/70."

Chang Desheng shook his head: "Fifty-fifty. That's my bottom line."

"Four six."

"Fifty-five." Chang Desheng remained unmoved. "Mr. Schneider, the potential of this product lies not in Europe, but in Asia. And I can open that door to Asia. Someone else wouldn't even be able to find the door."

Schneider stared at him for a full half minute.

Then he sighed.

"You have to get into the Prussian War College first," he said. "If you don't get in, nothing else matters."

"Deal." Chang Desheng held out his hand.

The two shook hands.

......

Just then, a commotion broke out on the deck.

First came a few scattered cheers, then more voices, and finally a cacophony of noise. English, German, and French were all mixed together, making it impossible to understand what was being shouted.

Chang Desheng and Schneider both turned their heads to look out the window.

Then they were all stunned.

Outside the window, where the sea meets the sky, a black line appeared out of nowhere.

No, not one.

It is a piece.

A moving, black-smoking mountain range made of steel and steam.

The cruise ship was sailing through the Solent Strait near the English Channel. On the other side of the strait, towards the Portsmouth naval base, a large fleet was slowly sailing out.

"That's the Royal Navy," Schneider murmured, "the power that rules the world!"

It turns out this was a rehearsal for the Royal Navy's fleet review—a review intended for Emperor William, who is currently visiting Britain!

Chang Desheng stood up and walked to the window.

He finally saw it clearly.

Dozens, no, hundreds, of warships, lined up in neat columns, came in a mighty procession. Their black hulls, towering masts and funnels, and thick cannon barrels protruding from their turrets were intimidating. The largest were the battleships, like mobile castles, with a displacement of probably tens of thousands of tons. Smaller cruisers escorted them on either side, like bodyguards with swords.

The roar of the steam engine came through the glass, and plumes of black smoke billowed from the chimney, almost obscuring the sky.

The entire fleet, consisting of more than 100 steamships, plowed across the sea in this way.

Wherever it passed, the waves parted and seabirds took flight in fright.

Without a doubt, this is the most proactive force in the world today, on the high seas!

Everyone in the coffee shop stood up.

The Englishmen stood by the window, heads held high, their faces bearing the pride only the people of a world superpower possess. A gentleman with an Oxford accent raised his glass and shouted, "God bless the Queen!" followed by a chorus of agreement.

The American watched from the sidelines with a complex expression—envy mixed with a hint of resentment.

The Germans—including Schneider—didn't look too pleased. They stared at the warships, as if to say: The British Empire is too powerful; we can't catch up, we simply can't!

Chang Desheng's gaze swept across the entire room, finally settling on a corner.

Hideaki Tojo and the other Japanese officers also stood up. They didn't cheer, but they stood ramrod straight, their eyes fixed on the fleet outside the window, and the corners of their mouths slightly upturned.

Then Chang Desheng saw that Tojo's lips moved.

I don't know what was said?

Shogo Iguchi, Keizo Yamaguchi, and Shigeta Fujii, who were standing nearby, nodded in unison. A kind of morbid excitement, almost like a nuclear-powered maniac, appeared on their faces.

It was as if what I saw was not the British fleet, but Japan's... accomplices!

Chang Desheng's hands slowly clenched at his sides.

He stood there, looking out at the steel mountains, listening to the cheers of the British, the sighs of the Germans, and the furtive chatter of the Japanese.

Suddenly, something clicked in his mind, as if it had been cleared up, and his one-track mind suddenly became clear in both directions!

.......

Chang Desheng suddenly understood, or rather, remembered something—in the online world of later generations, the First Sino-Japanese War was also a hot topic, analyzed thoroughly and repeatedly. Chang Desheng, in his previous life, was a modern history enthusiast, and he had watched countless articles and videos analyzing the war. Some of the content matched what was happening before his eyes!

The British Empire's dominance over the seas in this era was probably absolute!

Without Britain's permission or even support, Japan's desire to change the status quo in East and Northeast Asia is nothing but a pipe dream—if they could just pick a few battleships and cruisers from their current fleet and send them to the Far East, wouldn't they be able to dictate terms?

It doesn't even need to be that complicated. Great Britain currently has a firm grip on the world's finances! Without the British helping with financing, where would the Japanese raise war funds? Without the British's help in maintaining the yen's exchange rate, it's a big question mark!

If he remembered correctly, Japan had a large trade deficit every year after the Meiji Restoration! Unlike China, which had a thousand-year-old history of trade surpluses and billions of taels of silver reserves, Japan had long since issued paper money based on the gold standard... How much gold could they possibly have?

And Britain is the number one client in the world.

It holds the strongest military force, the most capital, and the largest market. It sets the rules, it allocates orders, and it decides who comes to power and who goes out of power—at least at sea, the rules and "market share" cannot be changed without Britain's consent!

For the UK, the client, there are no permanent friends, only permanent interests—namely, "return on investment" and "market share"!

Japan, on the other hand, was the "project manager" chosen by the client in the Far East.

Young, hardworking, obedient, and low-priced – a true East Asian king of curling!

The client would invest some money, provide some technology, endorse the company, help maintain the exchange rate, and give it a share of the Qing Dynasty's market share. In return, Japan would need to guarantee the return on British investment in the Far East while preventing Russia, Britain's global competitor, from encroaching on the Far East and even the entire Western Pacific "market."

What about the Qing Dynasty?

Daqing is seen as a "zombie company" by the client.

The company had enormous assets, but even greater liabilities. Management was incompetent, the system was rigid, and cash flow was on the verge of collapse. The client had assessed the situation and determined that fully reviving it would be too costly. It was better to turn it into an empty shell, stripping away its valuable assets (market, resources, labor), with the majority going to first-rate powers like Britain and France, and a small portion to Japan, the "project manager," for a share. The truly worthless parts were then given to the Qing Dynasty, or someone else to barely keep it afloat.

Therefore, the First Sino-Japanese War was not a "battle for national destiny" at all—the Qing Dynasty had long since lost its national destiny!

This is the last "bankruptcy reorganization hearing" for the zombie company, Daqing.

The Japanese project manager had to prove to the client at the hearing: I have the ability to safeguard the British Empire's assets in the Far East, and I have the ability to defend Britain against Russia, this insatiable northern bear!

What the Qing Dynasty needed to do was to prove at this hearing that it still had value for saving.

How can you prove it?

It can't be proven!

Because the Qing Dynasty was simply beyond saving!

but......

Chang Desheng's mind was racing, the abacus beads clicking away.

What are clients most afraid of?

The worst thing is an investment failure. The worst thing is a project manager messing things up, making the project a loss, and then having to clean up the mess yourself.

What are we even more afraid of? We are even more afraid of attracting bigger competitors to compete for the market—like that polar bear to the north.

Therefore, the only way to break the deadlock was not at sea, not on the ironclad warships of the Beiyang Fleet, not even on the Liaodong Peninsula or the Shandong Peninsula, and certainly not on the Zhili Plain—because Britain never intended to hand over the entire project (the Qing Dynasty) to Japan, much less allow Japan to smash the Qing Dynasty to pieces.

Moreover, Britain possessed sufficient coercive power to control the pace of the First Sino-Japanese War at any time... The more than one hundred steam-powered warships on the sea represented this coercive power. If Britain called for a halt, Japan had no choice but to stop!

The key to getting Japan to stop is North Korea!

In the mountains of North Korea, on the snowy plains in winter, using the cheapest soldiers, the most cost-effective tactics, and the most exhausting war of attrition, they dragged the project manager of "Little Life" into a quagmire.

It dragged on until the budget was overrun, the project was delayed, and the return on investment plummeted.

The project drags on until the client starts to doubt: Is this kid any good? Is this investment going to go down the drain?

Then, let the client see another possibility...

The big bear to the north could be lured into North Korea, seize ice-free ports, and open up a passage to the south.

At that point, the client will have to think twice.

Should we continue investing in this potentially unprofitable project manager, or... perhaps try a different approach and collaborate with some capable managers within this zombie company, such as those from the Beiyang clique, to help them fend off the polar bear?

This is how the value of united front work is demonstrated.

.......

Chang Desheng let out a long sigh.

He loosened his fist, revealing four deep fingernail marks on his palm.

He turned around, walked back to his seat, and slowly sat down.

Schneider was still looking out the window, his expression still not very good.

"Mr. Schneider," Chang Desheng said calmly.

Schneider snapped out of his daze and looked at him.

"You just said that this is the power that dominates the world," Chang Desheng said. "I agree."

He paused, then added, "But strength has no size; as long as it is used in the right place, it has its value."

Schneider frowned: "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is," Chang Desheng smiled, pointing to the napkin on the table with a mortar drawn on it, "that in knee-deep snow, this thing... might be more useful than ten ironclad warships."

Schneider stared at him for a while, then suddenly asked, "Mr. Chang, what were you thinking about just now?"

"How do you want to live?" Chang Desheng said. "How do you want to... not be swept away like trash?"

Schneider didn't speak, but just stared at Chang Desheng. After a while, he said, "The Prussian War Academy's exam is in early September. You have a month left."

"That's enough," Chang Desheng said. "We'll talk more about it after I pass the exam."

Schneider nodded.

The two said nothing more.

In the coffee shop, the pianist began playing again. The piece was still the same slow, melodious one, but it sounded a little off-key.

Chang Desheng leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

What he just saw was the largest of the "three great mountains" mentioned in history textbooks, and it was at its peak...