Chapter 224: The Spanish Arms Race

“An expanding driving band doesn’t have to be copper,” Lin Shenhe spoke, his voice tinged with fatigue, his eyes bloodshot. The task of surveying and identifying the weapon parts and ammunition fragments brought back from Manila by the Haiqi was not easy, and the Intelligence Bureau wanted his appraisal report urgently, forcing him to work even during his rest time. “Lead will do. It’s much cheaper and easier to process.”

“Shells and driving bands are minor issues,” Wang Ruixiang said, lighting a limited edition South Sea gold cigar, taking a puff, and continuing with relish, “The key is what kind of cannon he can build. Let’s not even talk about rifling an old Spanish cannon and parading it around. Is a large-caliber rifled cannon that easy to make? Does that Japanese devil have the ability to replicate a Krupp company or an Iwashima arsenal with his bare hands? Does he have a drilling machine or a boring machine? A steam hammer? The Eighth Route Army’s Huangyaguan arsenal at least had two steam engines. If he alone, with those white-skinned people who only know how to handle the Bible and matchlocks, and those clueless Filipino natives, can climb the entire artillery technology tree, then our entire industrial sector in Lin’gao should just go and hang themselves from the streetlights.”

“I have a long telegram here from the Manila station. The confidential office just finished translating it and sent it over before the meeting,” Jiang Shan took over the conversation. “It reports the latest situation. It’s been discovered that the Spanish authorities are building a metal smelting workshop west of Manila, at the confluence of the Pasig and San Juan rivers. It’s quite large. The authorities have conscripted Chinese masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, and coppersmiths from Manila and Cavite to work there. Four to five hundred people have already been sent. About 15 kilometers upstream from the river mouth, they are building a dam on the San Juan River to store water. Chinese craftsmen are using hardwood felled from upstream to build some kind of waterwheel device…”

“What’s the use of that?” Wang Ruixiang said dismissively, blowing a smoke ring. “Water-powered machine tools, hehe, their efficiency is frighteningly low. Are they expecting to forge cannon blanks with a water-powered hammer? At best, he can’t make anything bigger than a 12-pounder Napoleon.”

“That’s not the key. The key is that he thinks he can make it, and the Spanish also believe he can,” Lin Shenhe said. “Besides, he can use the simplest method of rifling a smoothbore cannon to make large artillery pieces. It doesn’t matter that the Spanish aren’t good at making cast iron cannons; they can use those bronze cannons. After all, the Spanish have mature experience in casting bronze cannons. We shouldn’t underestimate his ability to maximize his potential in a primitive environment. Let’s look at his work.” He took out an item from the sample box—the remains of the rocket that Xue Ziliang had seen before.

“Crude enough, right? Even compared to our He Er rockets, it’s far inferior, let alone any modern rocket we are familiar with. Since this Japanese man smuggles modern weapons, he must have seen everything from aerial rockets and Stalin organs to the Type 63 107mm rocket launcher. Why did he choose the Congreve rocket? Because it’s simple enough: a body plus a balancing rod. The body is rolled from sheet iron, not even requiring seamless steel tubing.”

Lin Shenhe took a sip of water to catch his breath and continued, “Some of the remains show that this Paul guy further simplified the process, using papier-mâché to press the warhead casing directly in a mold. That’s right. Even if this guy improved the design, the accuracy of these rockets is still very poor. Many of them would probably exhibit Brownian motion when fired. But they are good enough to bomb cities, burn ships in the harbor, and demolish native villages. Most importantly, they are not difficult to make.”

“You mean,” Wang Ding tried to summarize, “he is proficient in ordnance technology, but he is not a simple technophile. Instead, he focuses on manufacturing weapons with the best possible performance under the conditions permitted by this time and space.”

“Cheap and plentiful,” Lin Shenhe replied. “This is the principle of those who deal in underground arms for irregular forces. If that Paul guy has done this kind of work before.”

“This person is very dangerous. He used a false name and identity on Rando’s ship. What secrets does he have to hide from his accomplices in illegal activities?” Jiang Shan offered his opinion.

“Perhaps he was a weapons expert before he transmigrated, or at least a technician in a related industry. He might even be a terrorist. And after transmigrating, he very cleverly used his knowledge and skills as a stepping stone. We don’t know if he chose to serve the Spanish colonial authorities passively or actively, but the Spanish would certainly welcome an inventor who brings them new weapons.”

“Why? Just because we attacked the galleons and scared the Spanish devils in Manila? They spent so much money and trusted a yellow-skinned man of unknown origin just to quell their imaginary fears?”

Just expanding the fortress alone had, in the history of the old world, put the governor in a tight spot, forcing him to repeatedly appeal to the king for an increase in subsidies. And now, the scale of rearmament in the Manila colony far exceeded that of the old world.

“First of all, historically, His Excellency the current Governor of Manila has been immersed in the fear of an impending Dutch invasion for years. If you are interested in reading the historical data compilation provided by the Grand Library, you will know to what extent the Spanish feared this threat. The letters from the Spanish Governor to the Council of the East Indies, the Privy Council, and the King are filled with a kind of siege paranoia. And historically, he did indeed invest a large amount of money in the defense of the Philippines and Manila,” Wang Ding said eloquently. “After we seized two Manila galleons and signed a commercial contract with the Dutch, the fear of the Spanish in Manila was further amplified. In addition to the Dutch and the English, we have now been added to their list of imaginary enemies,” Wang Ding said. “In the grand scheme of things, this is the Thirty Years’ War. France under Richelieu is about to ally with Sweden against the Catholic camp, and Spain’s situation in Europe will become difficult. War is the greatest driver of military technology. Now there is a weapons genius who is good at utilizing existing technological resources and also happens to be a devout Catholic. In the eyes of the Spanish, this is simply a blessing from God. Moreover, the military pressure faced by the Spanish is global.”

“Global?”

“The Spanish, or rather the Habsburgs, were the first global empire in the world. Unfortunately, this empire was born in an era without radio and motorboats. In the Mediterranean, they had to face the Turks; on the European continent, it was the Protestant German princes and the treacherous French. Then there were the Dutch and the English. In Asia and the Americas, the Dutch and the English relentlessly attacked Spanish ships and colonies. As if to add more burden to this empire, the King of Spain now also became the King of Portugal. The already stretched Spanish naval squadrons had to take on the task of defending Portuguese territories. So, the decline of Spain was not accidental, it was inevitable.”

Every governor of a Spanish or Portuguese colony knew very well that in the event of an enemy attack, unless there happened to be a local squadron stationed in the port, they would not receive any support. The defense of the colonies could only rely on themselves, and they had to be prepared for battle in peacetime.

Wang Ruixiang snorted. “What’s the big deal? Let the Spanish burn Paris with rockets, and then the French can learn to make rockets and burn Madrid. Isn’t that great? As for the colonies, they can burn each other. The more white devils kill each other, the better. It saves us the trouble of doing it ourselves when we conquer Europe later.”

“You’re thinking too far ahead. Let’s see what realistic threats this transmigrator’s works will bring us,” Xu Ke, who had come from Kaohsiung to attend the meeting, spoke up. “Regardless of what cannons will be installed on the Manila fortress, the mysterious ship under construction in the shipyard discovered by Mr. Rando probably deserves more of our attention.”

As he spoke, the projector showed a heavily covered shipyard.

“From the size of the outer perimeter of the shipyard and the area of the temporary bamboo shed, the tonnage of this ship is not large, even very small. If it is a single ship, the displacement will not exceed one hundred tons.”

The problem was, a ship of no more than one hundred tons was by no means worthy of being covered by a bamboo shed.

“…Obviously, there must be some secret weapon under this bamboo shed.”

“According to the usual character of the Japanese, it must be something like a final decisive weapon.”

“Very likely. Could it be a Gundam?”

Xu Ke coughed. “The naval intelligence department believes that the possibility of a submarine or a spar torpedo boat being built under this bamboo shed is fifty-fifty. Considering that He Er shows no signs of mastering steam engine technology, the possibility of a human-powered submarine is very high. If we don’t pay enough attention, one day our fleet enters Manila Bay, and the tragedy of the USS Housatonic will be staged two hundred years ahead of schedule.”

“You’re kidding. If that’s the case, we’ll have to build an Archon-class. Besides, even if it’s true, the fishery sonar on our 8154 cruiser is already itching for a fight.”

“Submarines have a long history. It’s not surprising that they can be built. They just don’t have much value. This so-called submarine, as long as there is a qualified lookout on the ship, it’s impossible not to be discovered, and it cannot attack a moving target.”

“A submarine is not a big deal. If this transmigrator builds simple naval mines and the Spanish take them to Keelung to lay them, it will pose a threat to our fleet sailing in the waters of Taiwan.”

“Naval mines? He can design them, but can the Spanish build them?”

“Simple moored mines are no problem. Floating mines are even easier to make, much more convenient than cannons,” Lin Shenhe said. “The trigger mechanism can be a chemical fuze. Since he can make mercury fulminate, this is not difficult. If the Spanish plan to abandon their stronghold in Keelung and want to cause us trouble, naval mines are a very good choice.”