In February 1858, the ice and snow on the North American continent had not completely melted, and winter was still ruling this area, but on the Apennine Peninsula, it was already a piece of spring. The warm Mediterranean wind gently blows the white sails of the sailboat. The sails were illuminated by the sun like transparent white wings. After more than three weeks of sailing, the clipper ship called "Swordfish" arrived at Genoa, the most important part of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

This small clipper ship was carrying 500 MacDonald 1857 rifles and more than a dozen passengers, as well as some other cargo. She docked gracefully at a berth belonging to the Navy of the Kingdom of Sardinia. Then, the passengers who had been at sea for more than 20 days disembarked one after another.

"Captain," Carol said to Robson as he stamped his feet on the ground vigorously, "I have finally landed on land. I never thought that I would use my feet again Going to the ground will make me so comfortable. It’s been almost a month, and all I see besides the sea is the sea..."

"It's much faster now. I heard that when there were no clipper ships and we were still using Galen ships, um, ships like the Mayflower, it would take two full months to cross the Atlantic. , and then enter the Mediterranean Sea to get here, I’m afraid it will take another month. Mr. Carroll, you should feel lucky that we live in an era of high-speed clipper ships.” Robson replied. During more than three weeks at sea, he and Carol gradually became acquainted. He knew that Carol was the eldest brother of the boss, Scrooge, and one of Scrooge's most trusted people. Perhaps, in the future, many of the company's business in Europe will be handed over to him. Many people suddenly get such a status, tend to get a little carried away and become arrogant and unapproachable. But Carol is not like this. Carol has always been a gentle person, and he is easy to deal with without putting on air at all. Moreover, compared to the somewhat unpredictable Scrooge, the simple Carol is more cordial.

For Carroll, the well-informed Robson is also an admirable figure. People like myself who are completely inexperienced need to learn from him. Only in this way can I succeed in Europe, like my brother said, and create a big scene with him.

At this time, a young officer came forward with a group of soldiers. He introduced himself to Carol and others and said that he was a major in the Army of the Kingdom of Sardinia, called Neville.

"Hello, I'm Carroll, a representative of the McDonnell Infantry Arms Company, and this is Robson, our tactical and technical advisor." Carroll introduced himself and his companions to Major Neville in this way.

"You are welcome." Major Neville said, he looked up and down at Carol and Robson, and then at the other people who came down one after another.

"Mr. Robson worked in the army? Well, you are from the cavalry, right?" Neville asked suddenly, "Your subordinates seem to come from various sources, but they all seem to have been on the battlefield."

"In the U.S. Army," Robson replied. "As for my men, if fighting savage Indians count as a battlefield, they did."

"Our soldiers are waiting in the barracks to welcome you, please get on the carriage," Neville said. Then he turned around and told the soldiers who followed: "Unload the cargo on the ship, load it into the cart, and transport it back."

Carroll and Robson got into a carriage together, and as soon as they were finished, Carroll asked, "Captain, how did that Major Neville tell at a glance that you had been a cavalryman?" Ask if you don't understand, this is A big plus for Carol.

"Ah, it's nothing special. For those who have been cavalry for a long time, the shape of their legs and walking posture will be a little different from normal people, and because cavalry often has sword training, the tiger's mouth on the right hand There will also be special calluses on the battlefield. Combining these, I can also tell who has been a cavalry at a glance." Robson explained, "As for being able to tell whether the opponent has not been on the battlefield, this is not easy to explain. It's like a brown bear who has never seen a tiger before, but after meeting a tiger suddenly, he can immediately understand that this guy is a carnivore."

"I can understand the former reason, but I don't understand the latter reason," Carol said truthfully.

"It's a good thing you didn't get it," Robson said.

"I can understand this sentence."

...

After the welcoming ceremony, the first batch of McDonnell 1857 rifles was issued to the soldiers of the Kingdom of Sardinia. At the same time, as a consultant sent by the McDonnell Infantry Arms Company, Robson began to explain to the soldiers how to use the new rifle in their hands.

"The MacDonald 1857 rifle in your hands is the best in the world. Compared with the rags you used before, it is completely a fire stick! You are lucky, now this gun is in your hands, Not in the hands of those hapless Austrians. I know what you're laughing at, you must think I'm a braggart, an American savage. Ah... Mason, let's show these niggas a few shots!"

"Okay!" Mason jumped up and walked up to the soldiers with his rifle in hand. At a distance of more than 200 meters to more than 400 meters from him, several earthen jars to simulate the heads of the enemy soldiers have been placed according to different distances. Mason quickly aimed at the nearest crock and fired.

"Bang!" With a gunshot, an earthen jar exploded immediately, and the water in the earthen jar splashed everywhere.

"Good marksmanship!" Before the soldiers could finish admiring, Mason quickly opened the chamber, ejected the case, and loaded a new bullet. Then there was another "bang" shot, and there was an earthen jar It shattered at the sound. Mason fired a few shots in succession, smashing all the earthen jars, whether they were two hundred meters away or four hundred meters away. And the glasses of the Italian soldiers were broken like this crocks-if they had glasses.

"Just now Mr. Mason fired ten shots and hit ten targets. I would like to ask, how many shots do you think you can fire and how many targets can you hit during this period with your original firestick?" Robson took advantage of Taking this opportunity, he once again showed off his gun. "I dare say that most people can only complete two shots in this period. If they are lucky, they can hit one target. Does anyone still think that I, an American savage, am boasting?"

He looked at the stunned Italians triumphantly and then continued: "Of course, such a good gun cannot be ruined by idiots, so in the next period, I and other instructors will tell you how to maintain it. , using one of Zhiyang's rifles."

...

Compared with front-loading rifles, breech-loading rifles with more moving parts are more complicated to maintain. Of course, compared to those automatic rifles of later generations, the maintenance of MacDonald 1857 is outrageously simple: the entire rifle is There are not many parts, and when designing, Scrooge also paid special attention to the requirements for easy disassembly and assembly, so for a guy with a little training, with a pointed bullet of 1857, he can shoot in five minutes. The entire rifle can be disassembled within three minutes, and a well-trained Blackwater security guard can even complete the disassembly of the entire rifle in three minutes while blindfolded.

However, when this rifle got into the hands of those romantic and even casual Italians, things changed. When Robson was explaining to them how to disassemble the rifle with a bullet, some Italians were whispering that the American rifle was not beautiful enough in shape.

"It's a thing made by wild men in North America. Look at this gun stock. Although it is made of authentic high-quality walnut wood, there are no beautiful patterns carved on it. Moreover, look at the color and brightness of the paint. What a waste of good wood, if we Italians did it..."

"Also, have you seen the scabbard of the matching bayonet? It's just rolled out of a piece of cowhide..."

"You guys, what are you talking about?" Robson roared.

"Report to the instructor, we are discussing what you are teaching." An Italian soldier stood up and replied.

"What's your name?" Robson asked.

"Putney."

"Very well, since you have studied so hard, I will ask you to disassemble a Macdonald 1857 and then assemble it as I did just now." Robson said, "If it cannot be completed, according to Major Neville gave me the authority to punish you by running 20 laps around the playground."

The Italians around laughed together. Putney walked slowly to the operating table, where there was a rifle that Robson had just assembled.

"Okay, soldier, you can start," Robson said coldly.

Putney stared at the rifle in front of him in a daze for a long time, then asked weakly, "Instructor, where are the screwdrivers and pliers?"

...

"Uncle, I'm sorry, I can't find a way to reproduce the gunpowder you gave me. Not even a feasible idea." Ramot Dupont said to his uncle Henry Dupont.

"Is there nothing to do?" For chemistry, Henry DuPont, the helm of DuPont, actually didn't know much. In this regard, he almost completely trusted his nephew Ramot.

"Difficult, even impossible." Ramot? DuPont said. In terms of chemistry, under the conditions at that time, it was not an easy task to carry out reverse engineering.

"Then, can we improve our existing gunpowder so that its performance can be approached or reached a level comparable to it?" Henry asked again.

"Impossible, among other things, the fact that there is no smoke and no residue after burning is not what our gunpowder can do." Ramot Dubamp was quite frustrated.

"It seems that I can only let Gordon go to Cleveland first," Henry said.