The statements in this article are based on reliable sources and are repeated at the end of this article
Many people don't know much about the one we are talking about, the outstanding American inventor Maxim, whose masterpiece, the Maxim heavy machine gun, "rewritten" the history of the war. This machine gun, powered by gunpowder gas, enables automatic continuous fire, ushering in a new era of modern automatic weapons. Maxim gained a reputation in Europe, especially in England and Belgium, and established his own arms companies.
At the same time, China was in the late Qing Dynasty, and the entire Qing government could be said to be facing internal and external troubles, and was in urgent need of modern weapons to strengthen national defense. At that time, the outstanding statesmen of the Qing Dynasty were well aware of the urgency of military modernization, and during their inspection in Europe, they had an in-depth understanding of various advanced weapons, including the Maxim heavy machine gun.
Due to the lack of understanding of modern weapons such as machine guns in China at that time, they were often confused with artillery, so the Makqin heavy machine gun was also called "cannon" in China. After learning about this state-of-the-art weapon at the time, Li Hongzhang showed great interest in the Makqin heavy machine gun, and he not only learned in detail about its manufacturing process and technical characteristics, but also witnessed its shocking shooting demonstration.
Part of "The History of Firearms in China".
In fact, there are a lot of magical descriptions of this history, for example, a foreign book about the development of automated firearms has recorded a small story, that is, after Li Hongzhang watched Makqin's demonstration, he immediately cared about how much ammunition was shot, and finally said that he couldn't use it, and the later "History of Chinese Firearms" also relayed this story, but behind this history, is this really the case?
1
Li Hongzhang's "Trip to Europe"
First of all, we need to know the background, which should have happened in 1896 AD, when Li Hongzhang visited Europe as a special envoy of the Qing Dynasty in order to learn from Western technology and management experience, and at the same time to seek the support of the great powers against China to counter the growing Japanese threat.
During his travels to Europe, he visited a number of countries, including Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Italy, and the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. In each country, he was received with a high level of reception and held talks with the leaders of many countries. During his stay in France, Li Hongzhang even participated in the celebration of the French National Day.
The President of France received Li Hongzhang
This showed the willingness of China and France at that time to strengthen their relations. Li Hongzhang's activities in France received widespread attention from the Western media, which often emphasized his image as a reformist official in China, as well as his interest in and respect for Western civilization, and the significance of Li Hongzhang's visit to international relations at the time.
Although he failed to achieve significant diplomatic results in the short term, his visit was seen as an important step in the late Qing Dynasty's attempt to engage with the Western powers on an equal footing. The trip was not only a diplomatic mission for Li Hongzhang, but also an opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of Western military equipment and defense technology.
Correspondingly, European countries at that time believed that this was a signal that the Qing government wanted to further increase the import of various military products, and Li Hongzhang, as the presiding officer of the mission, was regarded as the key decision-maker of the Qing Dynasty's arms purchases. Money is still something that no one doesn't like, so it has been warmly welcomed and carefully arranged by Western countries. They scramble to present their military products and technologies, hoping to win large orders from the East.
Of course, his interest in these things is not just for official purposes. Since he began to take charge of the reform of foreign affairs and the establishment of a modern army belonging to the Qing government, he has had a strong interest in military equipment and defense technology. He knew very well that in order to improve the military strength of the Qing Dynasty, it was necessary to keep up with the pace of military development in the world. Even after stepping down as the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang, he still maintained his concern and enthusiasm for the armament of various countries.
Although it was very difficult for Li Hongzhang, who was already very old at that time, just walking on his own ground, he did not give up his exploration of military affairs because of this. Finally, with the help of wheelchairs and other aids, he insisted on visiting every weapon and equipment factory and military display activities. His figure appeared in the military camps and exhibition halls of various countries, and became a unique landscape of that era.
He first visited the historic Volkeng shipyard, which many people may not know about today, but I am sure that you are no stranger to the two ironclad ships "Zhenyuan" and "Dingyuan" designed and built by this shipyard for China, which became the key core of the Beiyang Fleet. Although it objectively dealt a blow to the Qing Dynasty's own shipbuilding industry and shipbuilding capacity, it also strengthened the national defense of the Qing government at that time to a large extent.
2
The great inventor who was sidelined
So now I have to mention another important person in this story, that person is none other than the great inventor Makqin, in fact, the earliest field of his invention is not the military field of firearms that we are familiar with, in fact, most of his earliest inventions are in the field of electrical appliances. Yes, there were two other "peers" who were also very famous during the same period, they were Edison and Tesla, and his company was forcibly acquired by Edison's competition.
Having lost his company and his own invention venture, he didn't know what to do at first, until a friend invited him to Europe to look for an opportunity to see if he could get any inspiration. During a target shoot after arriving in Europe, he was violently pushed backwards by the heavy recoil of the rifle, and it was this action that gave him a great inspiration. Since gunpowder brings a backward force.
After several experiments, he finally made the first sample machine, a "small water pipe" placed on top of a rudimentary tripod, through an ingenious fully automated "reloading" mechanism, which was driven by the "recoil" force when firing the bullet to achieve continuous reloading.
But this initial version has a huge problem, and it is a serious problem that has never appeared in the past, that is, the problem of the barrel, because the guns of the past did not strictly have the ability to fire continuously at high speed, so it is natural not to find that firing too much ammunition in a short period of time will cause serious heating of the barrel, and even cause damage to the barrel.
Of course, this problem was naturally difficult for the great inventor, and he quickly solved this problem from two aspects. First of all, in terms of material, since the original barrel cannot be supported, a metal formula is specially designed to enhance the structure and strength of the barrel. And in addition to this aspect, the other is cooling, after some transformation, the original water-cooled machine gun appeared, this terrifying weapon of mass destruction was exempted from the test, and the "cavalry" was completely eliminated as an ancient type of troops.
From left, Luo Yi, Li Hongzhang, Gong Zhaoyi, and Makqin
And relying on this technology, he also established his own arms company in the United Kingdom, at this time we put the "world line" in check, when Li Hongzhang visited Europe and arrived in the United Kingdom, in order to be able to sell more orders, Makqin even went to meet Li Hongzhang, for example, we look at this picture standing next to Li Hongzhang and Gong Zhaoyu in the right hand The man with a top hat is Makqin himself, and they watched the shooting together.
3
The "pastemaker" could not turn the tide
Li Hung Chang’s Scrap-book
To say something very funny, and many people shouldn't know it, that is, you may not know that these two characters who can't fight together when they look at the eight poles are actually communicating in private, and even Makqin wrote a book to describe his communication with Li Hongzhang, although Li Hongzhang himself may not have seen or even heard of this book.
The reason for the personal relationship between the two is actually very interesting, it is very likely to originate from a misunderstanding between cultures, or it may be that Li Zhongtang is indeed an eight-sided person, anyway, according to Makqin himself in this book, the two can be said to be "familiar at first sight", and they "talked very happily" in all aspects of religion, science, and the international situation, which is really unimaginable. There is such a friendship between a "paster" of the last dynasty and an inventor.
Portrait of Li Hongzhang in the book
Not even just verbal friendship, Maxim himself even protested against the "violent mission" of Britain, France and the United States in the Qing Dynasty at that time, and even the book he wrote specifically argued this issue, it can be said that he was definitely not "talking about playing" but really upholding the exchange between friends.
To be honest, this question is difficult to say, first of all, there is a huge misunderstanding in the small story, that is, "Li Hongzhang watched the machine gun break the tree" This picture is not Li Hongzhang, compared with the previous picture, we can find that standing in front of the tree is clearly the "ambassador to France" Gong Zhaoyu, there is no shadow of Li Hongzhang at all.
And the other obvious question is this so-called "unaffordable" statement, you must know that before coming to England, he first went to Germany to see the two warships under construction, each of which was purchased for a million pounds (at that time a pound could be converted into about three taels of silver), and what was the selling price of a water-cooled machine gun at that time?
In fact, the biggest reason why the purchase was not reached in the end, I think is still a matter of verification, knowing that the First World War, which really made this machine gun shine and famous all over the world, will not come until more than a decade later. And the dying Qing Dynasty did not wait for this time in the end, when the Makqin machine gun shocked the world in the world war, Li Hongzhang had already died, and the Qing Dynasty had also perished.
Resources:
The Paper - Zhang Xiaochuan - Li Hongzhang and Makqin