"How does it feel to come out?"
"Needless to say, I must feel comfortable."
At dusk the next day, Zhou Changfeng walked out of the prison together with a civilian major wearing navy uniform.
The latter's name is Luo Fu. As a civilian, his specific official position is to assist in the management of the mobile equipment department of the Navy Department in the capital. In short, he helps manage the various vehicles of the Navy in the capital.
It was he and Qin Zizhen who were ordered to go to Toulouse to find Zhou Changfeng last time. As acquaintances from the same faction, there was no barrier between them.
"Commander Zhou, please don't talk to yourself anymore," Luo Fu reminded sincerely: "The temper of a big man is hard to predict. Being generous once does not mean there will be a next time. It will happen again and again. That’s connivance.”
Generous?
I find it funny when you say that woman Zhu Lingjing is generous!
Zhou Changfeng smiled bitterly and nodded without saying anything.
Parked on the roadside at the gate of Qixia Prison was an ordinary Thunder XVI off-road vehicle, but it had an indigo license plate, indicating that it was a government vehicle.
The magenta license plates are for the military, the turquoise license plates are for nobles, and the black license plates are for the police. The font color is white, while ordinary civilian license plates have black characters on a white background.
I don’t know if it’s because he’s seen it too much, but Zhou Changfeng has always felt that the original civilian license plates with blue background and white characters were not very good-looking. Now that the Ming Dynasty government has used this unsightly blue background with white characters, the civilian license plates have become white with black characters. Quite pleasing to the eye.
The two drove all the way to the pier, took a ferry across the river, and then arrived at Jiangbei Railway Station.
Since I'm not in a hurry, there's no need to fly. In other words, you don’t dare to fly on the grounds of “official business”, otherwise you will be easily impeached.
This is like using six hundred miles to rush at will in ancient times. In the Ming Dynasty, usually important official documents or military information were delivered through the "Express Delivery Shop". Through the manpower of the soldiers, it could be delivered one by one, and it could be delivered three hundred miles in a day and night. , but occasionally there are people who change people without changing horses, and they will be delivered immediately. If you use this without permission, you will definitely be impeached by the officials.
It's a waste of national resources. If you don't do it, who will do it? I'm worried that this year's targets haven't been met yet. Isn't this a sign of achievement?
When boarding the car, he saw Luo Fu following him. Zhou Changfeng was surprised and said, "Huh? Are you going too?"
The former looked like "What are you thinking about?" He pointed around and said, "Brother, you are a prisoner now. How is it possible that you are running out alone?"
"No, I mean...can't it be replaced by someone else? Don't you still have your own job?"
"Don't look down on people," Luo Fu said sternly: "I specialize in motor vehicles. You must know that in addition to evaluating combat vehicles, the Laizhou proving ground also has new heavy-duty trucks."
There are three types of trucks currently widely equipped by the Ming Army. One is Ford's G917 truck. The other two are Type 29 six-wheel light trucks and Type 35 six-wheel medium trucks.
Although the latter two have six wheels, the former has two axles and a standard load of one and a half tons; the latter has a larger and stronger chassis, three axles and a standard load of two and a half tons. And this is only the load under field conditions. In fact, if the road conditions are good, such as driving on a concrete road, it can even be loaded twice as much.
In addition, there are also some special-purpose heavy-duty trucks, which are mainly used to transport tanks or load some particularly bulky things. The Ming Army currently uses the GPE-2 heavy-duty truck of the French company Bellier, with a load of up to nine tons. So far, more than 700 trucks have been imported.
Obviously, this is far from meeting Ming's own needs. Even if it is true that Ming's automobile industry is weak, the Ming army cannot accept the current situation that the country does not produce its own heavy-duty trucks.
Therefore, several automobile manufacturers are trying their best to conduct self-research, and this is the time to test the results.
They got off the train in Jinan and then took a bus to Laizhou Prefecture. After more than two days of travel, the two finally arrived at the largest army weapons experimental center in Ming Dynasty on the evening of the 18th.
The Laizhou Proving Ground is basically the same as the Aberdeen Proving Ground in the United States, but there is no task of training ordnance maintainers here.
"Twenty-two miles from north to south and twenty miles from east to west. However, in some places the boundaries are divided according to mountains and rivers, so we can only say that it is approximately a square shape."
It was getting late, and several officials led Zhou Changfeng and Luo Fu to the place where they were staying, and introduced them by the way.
Luo Fu has been to this place several times and is used to it, but Zhou Changfeng is still a little confused.
He looked at Luo Fu who was making tea and asked: "It's only twenty or thirty miles long at most. It can't be tested for long-range artillery."
The latter started to pick up the teacup without even making the tea steep, and took a big sip directly, "You don't know this? The experiments of long-range artillery are basically done in the northwest, Yunnei County."
Yunnei County is also known as Tuoketuo County in later generations. It was abolished during the Jiajing period and restored after a hundred years in the Ming Dynasty.
Taking into account the convenience of transportation, the Ming army set up the comprehensive test site in Laizhou, but some special equipment tests will also be conducted elsewhere.
The firing range of some large-caliber cannons is often 20-30km. It is naturally difficult to find suitable vast land for experiments in the areas east of the Hu Huanyong Line.
In addition, there are also some shady chemical and biological things, which must be placed in the more remote places, the better.
Luo Fu seemed to be a very particular person. He complained about the environment of the place where he stayed for a long time. He was sloppy here and old there.
Compared with him, Zhou Changfeng is not so picky - it takes one night to spread a waterproof canvas on the ground and wrap himself in a military blanket, and it takes one night to set up a tent and lie on a camp bed. Electric fans, electric lights, and running water are all here. What more do you want?
He adjusted the electric fan, turned off the light, and then carefully got into bed in a normal lying position. "This is already pretty good. During the war, you often have to camp on the spot."
"With the sky as the quilt and the earth as the seat, it is indeed difficult to fight." Luo Fu on the other bed seemed to feel the same way, but then he made a 180-degree turn, "It's a pity that I am a clerk and have never experienced this." Waiting for hardship.”
Zhou Changfeng found the tea cup on the bedside table in the dark and almost spat out the drink after he had just taken a sip. He coughed and said: "Ahem...what you said...when the Marine Corps expands in the future, come over and experience it." The ground is a seat'."
"There will definitely be war in the future, and we will have to travel all the way to Nanyang. It will be more comfortable for me to stay in the capital, so why bother?"
"That's not up to you. I'll apply directly when the time comes." Zhou Changfeng said with a smile.
"Show me your noble hand, Commander Zhou..." Luo Fu said with a grimace, "I have thin arms and legs, and a weak body. If I contract malaria in Nanyang, I'm afraid I will leave behind a pair of orphans and widows."
"What are you afraid of? That's Nanyang. There are as many golden roosters as you want."
"No."
In the darkness, Zhou Changfeng rolled his eyes and said quietly: "Special approval allows you to keep some extra loot."
Hiss, this seems to be very tempting indeed. Luo Fu thought of his wife who spent money like water, and suddenly became a little shaken.
He hesitated: "Then...we'll see what happens then..."
Done!
Zhou Changfeng's intention to attract people was not a whim. He had such thoughts during the past two days.
Luo Fu's professionalism in automobiles and armored vehicle action mechanisms is very good. Considering that various vehicles will inevitably be captured in the future in the process of conquering the Nanyang region, it is naturally excellent to be able to make proper use of them.
Trucks transporting them from the mainland also take up valuable transportation capacity; captured armored vehicles can also be modified to continue to function, such as installing anti-tank guns and anti-aircraft guns on their chassis to turn them into self-propelled artillery.
Historically, after the Germans captured Tobruk, faced with the mountains of British army supplies they captured, they made good use of these trophies. The African Legion became rich overnight.
Tactically, let go and fight with all your strength, but strategically, you might as well make careful calculations. This is what Zhou Changfeng has always insisted on.
In the next few days, officers or technicians came from all over the country to participate in the evaluation, and several tank and truck samples for testing also arrived.
In the early morning, the military column came to a slow stop. On a series of flatbed vehicles mounted on it, the large tank was tightly wrapped in canvas, with several escorting guards standing in front and behind.
In fact, there was no need for the evaluators to come and watch the things being unloaded, but everyone felt bored and came over early in the morning to watch the excitement.
Suddenly, I saw a big sign hanging on the outside of the canvas package, with "Special Class Over Limit" written in big red letters from right to left.
Immediately, voices of inquiry came from among the people watching.
"So how wide is this thing? How should it be transported?"
"Look, the tracks are protruding from both sides of the cart. This six-axle cart is 304 centimeters wide. It is estimated that the chariot is 320 centimeters wide facing upwards."
"So much over the limit? It's troublesome."
The so-called "over-limit" refers to a word for train freight, which means that the width, height, and weight of the goods carried exceed the conventional limits. In later generations, there were three levels: first-class, second-class, and super.
Armored vehicles are naturally much larger than ordinary things, so special transportation rules need to be adopted when transporting a series of special vehicles such as tanks, armored vehicles, and self-propelled artillery.
An hour later.
Several trial-production attack vehicles were finally successfully unloaded. Two Type 1 vehicles from Yangyue Company and two Type 2 vehicles from Yanjing No. 1 Heavy Machinery are now being inspected and refueled before testing.
They are all painted with earthy yellow paint, indicating that they are test items.
A series of canvas sheds were set up next to this testing site, and the evaluators gathered here received forms with technical details about their respective works from the two manufacturers.
As a result, everyone started talking about it all of a sudden.
"The fuel consumption per hundred miles is 200 liters? Is it wrong?"
"That's the fuel consumption on the highway. If it's off-road, it's about 250 liters per 100 miles."
"Grass?"
"You guys must drink a lot of oil. It has ten cylinders and 300 horsepower. It's not a toy."
In terms of appearance, the designs of the two prototypes are quite different.
The first type of vehicle has a riveted turret and body, equipped with an 80mm short-barreled gun, a parallel machine gun, a turret top machine gun, and a vehicle body heading machine gun, a total of three 7.36mm machine guns; the suspension is leaf spring, independent, that is, five large-diameter load-bearing wheels; powered by a 300-horsepower ten-cylinder air-cooled gasoline engine; empty weight 26 tons.
The Type II vehicle has a cast turret and a riveted body. It is more rounded in appearance. It is equipped with a 48mm long barrel gun and also has three machine guns. The suspension is a leaf spring and balanced type. It looks like a set of two road wheels, a total of three group; the power is also a 300-horsepower gasoline engine; the empty weight is 29 tons.
As for the thickness of the armor, the requirement given by the Ordnance Bureau is that it can defend against armor-piercing shells from a 37mm anti-tank gun or delayed high-explosive shells from a 75mm field gun at a distance of 500m.
This is actually the easiest to achieve, but it is also the most difficult to weigh. It may seem like just stacking steel plates desperately, but the subsequent dramatic increase in weight and increased manufacturing difficulty will cause many problems.
The designs of both were unsatisfactory in Zhou Changfeng's opinion. He was not an expert in this field. He didn't know whether the industrial level in the 1930s was only this high or whether the Ming Dynasty manufacturers made design errors.
"Where did this two-and-a-half-inch gun come from? Can the shells be universal?" A short, fat middle-aged colonel asked a key question as soon as he came up.
The technician from Yangyue Company raised his hand and replied: "Type 33 mountain cannon, caliber 22, same ammunition."
Even if the caliber is the same, the ammunition may not be universal. This is a point that is easily overlooked.
For example, during the war, the Germans produced more than ten types of artillery shells of the same caliber but could only be produced individually. The Pak40 anti-tank gun used 75×714mm ammunition, the Kwk40 tank gun of the Panzer IV used 75×495mm ammunition, and the Panther tank used 75×714mm ammunition. The Kwk42 tank gun uses 75×640㎜ ammunition and so on.
Regardless of the military logistics, more importantly, due to adjustments and new production lines, this has affected the production capacity of the rear factories to some extent.
"Why do you want to use this cannon?"
"Sir, because it does meet the needs. The rear seat travel is also short, and the interior of the turret can be much more spacious. Although the barrel is short and the muzzle velocity is low, it can penetrate 25 kilometers at 500 meters if it penetrates armor. A steel plate of 1.5mm is enough to deal with light tanks; and a gun of this caliber is more effective against bunkers and bunkers. We think there should be more demand for bombarding enemy firepower points in actual combat."
This idea seems quite interesting to Zhou Changfeng. The 80mm anti-explosive bomb uses 740g of TNT, and its effect on civil engineering works is indeed much better than the 48mm anti-explosive bomb which can only hold 150g of TNT.
Everything is based on actual combat. The British and Dutch in the Nanyang region do not have serious armored forces, just some tin cans. In actual combat, the task of demolishing bunkers must account for a large part.
Besides, it’s not that the tank guns cannot be replaced. At most, one south and one north will be used. The southern vehicle will use an 80mm gun and the northern vehicle will use a 48mm gun, because the latter needs to deal with its northern neighbor.
So he talked with Yan Chenwu, and the latter agreed, so the two of them affirmed the design on behalf of the navy.
As for the 48mm long barrel gun, it is actually the tank gun version of the 48mm anti-tank gun currently under trial production. The barrel diameter has been shortened from 38 times to 32 times. It can penetrate 42mm vertical nickel-manganese armor at 500m. steel.
At this time, several prototype vehicles that have been completed can finally be started.
The crew members responsible for the test picked up the Z-shaped rocker handle and shook it laboriously at the rear of the tank, faster and faster. Finally, with the sound of "crack", several steel behemoths came to life.
The Laizhou Proving Ground has a several-kilometer long combat vehicle passability test area, covering all rugged terrain, wading, sand, swamps, slopes, etc.
Dozens of technicians and officers present also picked up their own telescopes to carefully observe and compare the advantages and disadvantages of the two prototype vehicles.
(End of chapter)
