บท 208: Chapter 209: [Napoleon III]
"I have to remind you that I'm not a weapons expert. I can try to give you some suggestions for improving your weapons, but you'd better not hold your hopes too high." Ma Shao thought for a while.
General Fitzroy laughed and said, "No problem. Actually, I am not an expert in weapons, but I believe you will have a good chat with the craftsmen."
Ma Shao came to Fitzroy's troops and communicated with the soldiers and weapon craftsmen for a while. According to the views of later generations, he put forward some suggestions for improvement on the weapons currently used by the British army.
The opinions he put forward were conservative and pragmatic. He did not want the weapons that were beyond his control to evolve too quickly, nor did he want to talk big and not give any benefits to the British army, otherwise he would lose business.
Relying only on light weapons, the Apache's military strength is far from enough.
Mexico was unable to take care of itself and could only provide the Apache with a few artillery pieces, which obviously could not satisfy Ma Shao's appetite.
He needed more, bigger.
In fact, artillery is no longer a problem. Now Ma Shao just needs to pay for it. The artillery produced by the British makes him satisfied in both quantity and quality.
The problem now is the boat.
More precisely, warships.
Ma Shao wanted to buy some second-hand warships. The advantage of second-hand warships is that they are cheap, arrive quickly, and it doesn't matter if the ship is a little old, it is enough for Apache. Of course, it would be best to bring some professional naval and technical personnel back with him.
He hopes that after several years of hard work, Apache can build a navy on the west coast of America that can withstand pressure from the United States and establish more stable ties with East Asia.
If this step goes smoothly, what Apache needs to do next is to continue to develop while fanning the flames between the North and the South, making the Civil War more brutal than in history, the destruction more pure, and completely tearing up the American flag.
At the appropriate time, Ma Shao asked General Fitzroy for relevant information.
"You want to buy a second-hand warship?" General Fitzroy was a little surprised. He looked at Ma Shao with a sincere face and said, "But I remember you said that you lived in the interior of America."
Ma Shao said: "It is mainly inland, but not completely inland. I am very aware of the richness of the ocean and that it is essential to explore the ocean."
"That's really ambitious." General Fitzroy smiled. "Well, what kind of warships do you want to buy? I can sell you some ships that are about to be retired, but the price won't be cheap."
Ma Shao: "How much is the cheapest one?"
"The cheapest one... is a light frigate, a level VI warship, equipped with 20 guns, for 3,000 pounds." Fitzroy recalled, "There is another similar one, for around 4,000 pounds."
"Better than these two is a forty-four-gun frigate, which will cost you perhaps ten thousand pounds."
"As for the larger boat, frankly, I don't recommend you buy it," Fitzroy said finally.
Ma Shao pondered for a moment and said, "Take me to see these three ships."
"Can."
As it turned out, Ma Shao had indeed gained valuable friendship by helping the British army improve their weapons. In the end, he bought the three frigates, which were not too old, for only 15,000 pounds.
In addition to the warships, he also received a group of military advisers. In a way, these military advisers were more important than the ships.
Ma Shao also bought several second-hand merchant ships.
The ships were there, but they were empty, so he immediately began to fill these empty warships and merchant ships.
He purchased many important materials that were not easy to buy in the United States, and then recruited a group of high-level craftsmen.
These craftsmen were really not cheap. In order to make them willing to go to America with him, Ma Shao offered them a salary that was significantly higher than the British level and also promised to give them a considerable settling-in allowance.
So he certainly can't recruit too many people. He should aim for quality rather than quantity, and mainly bring some important skills and experience to Apache.
After recruiting these craftsmen, Ma Shao purchased some grain and went to Ireland in the name of charity to provide relief to the victims.
Of course, he was not really doing it for charity. In fact, the food on the ship could not provide relief to a few victims, and the price of food in the UK was not cheap right now.
He just wanted to recruit some people.
In disaster-stricken areas, people are the least valuable, so this is a good time to import them.
Of course, Ma Shao would not accept refugees like some countries in later generations did, accepting everyone and ending up shooting itself in the foot.
The refugees he received were mainly children, and they were normally developed, at least with no brain problems, and the average age was around eight years old - if they were too old, the education cost would be high, so he didn't accept them; if they were too young, the raising cost would be high, so he didn't accept them either.
These children can bring their relatives on board, but not all relatives are allowed. Specifically, only women of childbearing age are allowed.
If you want to bring relatives such as father, brothers, uncles, grandparents, etc., that is definitely not possible.
It is easy to deal with this situation. Just give some food to the relatives. Many parents are willing to do so. After all, they are not making their children slaves. As long as everyone can survive, everyone is happy.
Ma Shao enrolled about a thousand school-age children, plus several hundred women of childbearing age, thus implementing the principle of giving priority to women and children.
As for adult males, they were not completely confiscated, but their number was extremely small - only a few dozen.
After all, given Ireland's current situation, most of the capable young and middle-aged male civilians have already left, so who would still be starving here? Therefore, most of those who remain are not suitable for acceptance.
The dozens of adult men recruited either had special abilities, special identities, or had a child who was smart enough to negotiate with Ma Shao.
Two of these men left a very deep impression on Ma Shao, and he probably will never forget them for the rest of his life.
"Mr. Kennedy?" Ma Shao stared at the shy young man in front of him, "What would you do?"
Kennedy seemed a little flustered: "I... I can make barrels."
Ma Shao nodded: "Nothing, go and have a rest."
A cooper was obviously not qualified to be accepted by him, but Ma Shao was very happy to receive this guy.
Because he was 90% sure that this Irish youth named Patrick Kennedy was Melody's ancestor. Not only did they share the same surname, but they also looked somewhat similar.
happy.
In addition to Kennedy, there was another "acquaintance" on Ma Shao's ship - Biden.
However, compared with the almost certain Kennedy, Ma Shao was not sure whether this Biden was the ancestor of Xizong.
But he remembered that Xi Zong was also of Irish descent, and seemed to have left Ireland during this era, so the probability should be quite high.
In fact, it doesn't matter whether it is true or not. The timeline has been obviously distorted, and the life trajectories of these two people are bound to be very different from the original history.
For Ma Shao, this is just entertainment.
After leaving Ireland, several ships carrying supplies and people headed directly west. They would round Cape Horn and then head north to California.
Ma Shao went to Liverpool and took the tribesmen who remained there to Lincoln - the Boole School had been almost repaired.
However, when the train they were on passed through Manchester, a large group of workers who were rallying caused the train to stop.
"Universal suffrage!" the workers shouted.
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