Chapter 7: Rapid Fire! Part 1!

The Winchester was the best rapid-fire rifle of its time, but it was also the most expensive rifle in the world—nothing could compare. A Winchester Model 1873 rifle cost $100, while Li Hongzhang considered the Martini rifle, hailed as the best rifle of its era, to be worth less than one-fifth of that amount.

Thus, with just one sentence, Liu Yu knocked Deng Cunyu unconscious. He had never imagined there would be such high-end customers in Vietnam: “No! No!”

Liu Yu had deep feelings for this rifle: “What a shame! Truly a pity!” Though he spoke of regret, his gaze couldn’t be moved away from it.

In this era, most rifles, including the Remington Model 1866 he had just praised highly, were single-shot rifles that required reloading after each shot. But the Winchester was different—it was a rapid-fire rifle, a true aristocratic weapon.

Winchester never targeted the low-end market. Its rifles were the best rapid-fire rifles of the era, with magazines that could hold 15 bullets, allowing an ordinary soldier to fire all of them easily.

The best rifles! Excellent guns!

A shotgun had a firing rate of about one shot per minute. The Minié rifle in Sima Tai’s hands had a firing rate of two to three shots per minute. Even an ordinary breechloader like Xiang Shinaide could easily fire six shots per minute.

But with any Winchester rifle, Liu Yu could easily fire over thirty rifle bullets in a minute! Thirty shots!

He tried to convince himself, “Sima, don’t be fooled by its decent firing rate. It uses standard pistol bullets instead of high-powered rifle bullets, so its power and range are limited.”

To achieve such a high firing rate, some sacrifices were necessary. That’s why the Winchester rapid-fire rifle, like submachine guns in later times, used pistol bullets rather than high-powered rifle bullets.

So compared to ordinary rifles with a maximum range of around 3,000 meters, the effective range of a Winchester was quite limited. What was more important was the skill required to use it.

In Liu Yu’s memory, during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895, Li Hongzhang’s Huai Army was equipped with many Winchesters and other rapid-fire rifles. But as soon as these Qing troops saw the enemy, they fired wildly from a distance of one or two kilometers, showering bullets at them. The Japanese soldiers remained unharmed, and by the time the Japanese closed in, the Huai Army had run out of ammunition and collapsed.

“The key is accuracy and power—that’s what truly makes a rifle effective!”

Even Boss Deng was listening with great interest. Having been in the arms trade for so many years, this was the first time he had learned so much about it.

Amazing! Truly amazing!

It was said that Li Hefei could become a prime minister just by knowing a few hundred types of Western firearms. Yet this young Liu Yu was so proficient in Western firearms—his future was boundless.

“Boss Deng, what a shame! You don’t have a Winchester Model 1873 here. That’s the real good rifle! If you did, no matter how expensive it is, I would definitely buy one!”

But only Liu Yu knew how much he cared for this kind of rifle—at least, he cared deeply for it.

Last year, in 1877, this Winchester 1866 rifle had just created a miracle. After the 1866 model was put into production, Winchester wisely sent a few specially crafted luxury versions to Turkish officials, resulting in Turkey placing an order for a small batch of M1866s in 1869. However, in subsequent tests, officers found that their foolish and incompetent soldiers could quickly learn how to load and fire the Winchester, leading to a flood of orders. In 1870 and 1871, Turkey purchased a total of 5,000 carbine versions and 45,000 bayonet-equipped rifle versions of the M1866, along with millions of rounds of ammunition. Turkey’s orders reaped rich rewards during last year’s Russo-Turkish War. At the Battle of Plevna, the Russians launched three charges in dense formations against Turkish positions, only to be repelled by the Turks’ rapid-fire rifles, which made these high-rate-of-fire weapons famous. The first battle took place on July 20; 7,500 Russian infantrymen rashly entered the town and were heavily struck by Turkish forces in ambush. The Winchester rifles proved highly advantageous in this close-quarters combat. Within less than 20 minutes, the Russians suffered 2,845 casualties (including one brigade commander and two regiment commanders), while the Turks lost 30 men and 12 were killed. Early on July 30, Turkish soldiers began firing single-shot rifles from 2,000 meters away, mercilessly killing the Russians. At a range of 200 meters, they switched to their rapid-fire rifles, unleashing an even denser hail of bullets at the Russians. The Russians were trapped with no way out and even abandoned all their wounded. By the end of the battle, the Russians lost 169 officers and 7,136 soldiers, accounting for 28% of their total forces, while the Turks lost only 2,000 men. After the battle, the Russians sent more troops. On September 11, 84,000 soldiers launched another frontal charge, only to hit another wall of fire from the rapid-fire rifles. By noon the next day, the battle was over. The Russians lost 300 officers and 12,500 soldiers, while the Romans lost 56 officers and 2,500 soldiers. The Turks lost only 4,000 men. When the news spread, Russian stocks collapsed across European exchanges, the ruble lost over a third of its value, and banks refused to buy more Russian war bonds. Turkey’s military headquarters’ first reaction to this good news was to place an order for 140,000 rifles from Winchester. To be fair, the Russian army’s equipment wasn’t particularly weak at the time; their rifles were roughly of the same generation as those used by the French. Yet they were utterly destroyed by the high-rate-of-fire rifles. From that day on, rapid-fire rifles completely replaced single-shot rifles. Why was it so expensive! He really wanted to buy one or two 1866 models, but he knew that one such rapid-fire rifle could probably buy half a dozen breech-loading single-shot guns. The most important thing for him to do now was to upgrade his current weapon as quickly as possible to be on par with the French! He didn’t even ask about the price.

He could only comfort himself: “The Winchester 1873—that’s the real good gun! You know? What do Americans call it? The gun that conquered the West! It not only has better performance but also uses medium-round bullets.”
Under Liu Yu’s explanation, Boss Deng finally understood one thing: the Winchester 1873 rifle was the best repeating rifle in the world and absolutely deserved its exorbitant price. As for the other repeating rifles, they were merely average—this included his own Winchester 1866 rifle. He began to worry about his inventory. And now, Liu Yu suddenly perked up. Pointing at a rifle casually placed there, he asked, “Did they also get this rifle?”