The next actual test is step by step. In addition to reliability, firepower, and protection, the most important thing for the officers is passing performance.
The traffic conditions in various regions vary, some are good and some are bad. A tank that can travel freely in the old industrial countries of Western Europe such as Germany and France may struggle in the mud of Eastern Europe.
At this point, the Ming Dynasty is still at a disadvantage. The imaginary pre-set combat areas are all bad lands - the northwest is deserts and hills, and the Southeast Asia is jungles and islands.
In particular, the Dutch don't seem to care much about their colonies, and the level of infrastructure is hard to describe.
Java Island is slightly better, after all, the colonial capital Batavia is here, while many places in Sumatra and Kalimantan are primitive.
But even in Java, many bridges on rivers are still stretched. Some beam bridges and rigid frame bridges are slightly better, with a traffic weight of dozens of tons, but the rest of the old traditional arch bridges may only have a few tons.
A truck loaded with cargo must be driven with caution, let alone a tank.
This makes armored units very depressed. When encountering a river, they have to check the water depth to see if they can wade through. If not, they can only wait for the engineers to come and set up a pontoon bridge.
Based on the above, everyone present had different opinions and opinions, and they were all talking about it.
Several officers also argued over differences of opinion. One of them took out a special map directly from his bag and continued to argue based on it.
Zhou Changfeng looked thoughtfully at the deep track marks and said to himself: "I think there is no need to worry too much about heavy tanks. The attack on Nanyang is left to light tanks and infantry units. That’s it. Occasionally you can ask the air force to help when you encounter strong fortifications.”
Everyone present cast their gazes over one after another, and someone crossed his arms and said slowly: "This involves a choice..."
"No," Zhou Changfeng interrupted, "It should be said that if you are too demanding in this regard, you are putting the cart before the horse."
The lieutenant colonel was a little embarrassed, but he still nodded with dignity and said: "Then you might as well listen to the navy's speech."
"Heavy combat vehicles themselves cannot be regarded as a conventional weapon. Their production cost and deployment difficulty are far higher than that of ordinary combat vehicles. What this brings is their unparalleled breakthrough capabilities. Such units deserve some attention in other aspects. concession."
"Many people have just complained about its transportation troubles, high fuel consumption, and poor environmental adaptability. Do you think this is reasonable? These characteristics are the inevitable result of the current technical conditions. With strong armor and powerful guns, those shortcomings naturally come."
After Zhou Changfeng finished speaking, some officers who loved the steel behemoth immediately agreed.
"Well said! Clear and logical."
"Indeed, there are gains and losses. You have to be powerful but also easy to serve... How can there be such a beautiful thing?"
"But there is a limit to 'concession'." A thin old man wearing round glasses slowly added.
The "II-" shaped symbol, purple frame, and blue background indicate that this is a major general with heavy equipment.
Zhou Changfeng nodded and said, "Senior is right."
He thought for a while and then added: "I heard that the Ordnance Bureau has received design drafts and ideas for so-called super-heavy tanks and land cruisers in the past two years. This is a typical violation of the basic design principles of weapons. Even if the design of a weapon is not based on quantity, but on excellence, it should not be so extreme."
The pudgy middle-aged colonel from before mused: "Well, at least I think our army should give priority to 'quality' when it comes to weapons such as tanks. Wherever we may fight in the future...the transportation capacity is limited."
"I agree." Zhou Changfeng nodded.
"I agree too." Yan Chenwu next to him said lightly.
Under the same transportation capacity conditions, the stronger the combat power of a single vehicle, the better - for example, if a maximum of one hundred armored vehicles can be delivered to a certain place, then every effort must be made to strengthen the combat power of these tanks to increase the tactical advantage.
The combat area of the Ming army also determined that each tank should not be too heavy, only thirty tons at most.
So this means that the Ming army needs an armor that weighs 22-30 tons, is equipped with a 57-75mm gun, and can withstand the current worse situation.
The mainstream anti-tank guns before the middle of the war were basically 37mm level, with occasional 47mm level, and the armor penetration depth of 500m did not exceed 50mm. According to this standard, it is enough, and it is impossible to expect a medium tank to be able to withstand rare weapons. Heavy firepower.
Therefore, if you want a spacious interior, you can use vertical armor, but the weight will increase. If you switch to sloped armor, you can achieve the same protection capability with a thinner thickness, but the space inside the vehicle will also become smaller.
How to weigh the specifics depends on the ability of Ming Dynasty's tank designers.
In addition, vehicle-mounted radios, the most exquisite optical sights, the highest grade armor steel, etc. are all installed, because the pursuit is to maximize the combat power of the bicycle, and the cost is secondary.
You can also think about it the other way around. When it can fight one against two, as long as the cost is not more than twice that of the opponent, it will be profitable.
Zhou Changfeng's imagination was very beautiful, but he also knew that it was against the laws of development of things.
Having foresight can indeed avoid detours, but it does not mean that you can move forward in leaps and bounds. You still have to walk the way you should, but in a straight line.
The development of technical equipment comes slowly step by step. He knows that the most critical thing is to leave more redundancy for the tank chassis to facilitate gradual upgrades in the future.
Historically, the Germans suffered a loss in this regard - the initial Type A and B tanks of the dedicated Panzer IV only weighed 16-18 tons and had 15-20mm of armor; later Types D, E, and F continued to have thicker armor. , the long-barreled tank gun was replaced, and the weight increased to 22 tons; by the time the peak H-type was reached, the weight had reached 25 tons.
Because it was never expected to develop like this when it was originally designed, the chassis of the Panzer IV had been tapped to the limit by the Germans, was overwhelmed, and could no longer bear the heavier and heavier improvements.
Obviously, if the chassis weight redundancy can be designed to be larger initially, leaving sufficient margin for future improvements, then the costly replacement of the production line will be avoided.
This is also the minimum goal that Zhou Changfeng has set for himself - if the Ming designers did not anticipate the protracted war and the acceleration of the development of tanks due to the war, and did not have the foresight to leave enough redundant designs, he would have to do everything possible to change it. .
Americans with deep pockets might not care. It would be trivial for them to open more than a dozen production lines at the same time, but for Ming Dynasty, which has a limited scale of automobile industry, any waste is unacceptable.
The sun sets over the western mountains, and the day is about to leave.
The first day of testing has come to an end. Next, there will be a series of detailed tests such as long-distance continuous driving projects to test reliability, live ammunition shooting of tank guns, whether the crew members in the vehicle have good visibility, and the time to replace the road wheels or road wheels. .
On a small slope in the southeast of the test site, two bored sentries were chatting away.
"...The steel factory is also very dangerous. My cousin wrote a letter and said that there was another fatality in their factory a few days ago. The iron ladle was not hooked securely, and it turned over when brushed, and the people below were poured to death. The two people were burned to ashes on the spot."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, it's a disaster... I won't say anything anymore, I'll go and make it easier."
A big sentry walked up to the policeman with a gun on his back, unbuttoned his pants and let out some water.
A moment later, just as he was about to return, he caught a glimpse of something moving near the bushes not far away.
He thought he had seen it and was too lazy to care, but he hesitated and stopped and took a closer look.
It seems like a person?
"Hey, Hu! There seems to be some movement here."
The two sentries immediately picked up their guns and walked over slowly.
The vegetation here is lush, and the grass in the fields is about as high as the calf. If you hide next to the bushes and lie down on the ground, it is really difficult to notice.
Before the two of them could get close, a figure stood up shakily, standing up and saying continuously: "You two... you two, don't shoot."
Wow? Is he really a human being?
The big sentry who was startled shouted sternly: "Come out! What are you doing?!"
I saw this man dressed smartly, dressed as a hunter, and holding a gun in his hand.
"Xiaomin is a hunter on the side. He went out of the mountain and took the wrong path."
"You don't want your life? Are you here to get shot? Get out of here!"
"Orion? Where's the thing you're hunting?" Another sentry observed more carefully and already felt something was wrong.
The big man said: "Do you know how to hunt? You can't hit prey with a gun like this. It's better to use a blunderbuss."
Southeast of Laizhou is Daze Mountain, so there are rolling mountains and hills next to the testing site. Naturally, there are some hunters in the rural areas.
But... this guy's clothes look like typical rural people, but the shotgun in his hand is different. It is clearly a Baocheng brand shotgun - this is a civilian shotgun launched by a gun factory in the Ming Dynasty. It is very popular. It fires .22LR bullets and is used for hunting small and medium-sized animals, or for recreational shooting games.
But generally only people in cities and towns will buy this thing. In order to save money, hunters in rural areas often ask local blacksmiths to make their own shotguns. Some are inherited from ancient times, and are original Jiajing and Wanli bird guns; It keeps pace with the times and is in line with the times. It builds a simple single-shot musket that fires military rifle bullets, but it can only fire one bullet and then load another.
Moreover, this person's face and hands are quite smooth and white. Most of the soldiers were from rural areas, so this abnormal situation immediately attracted the attention of the two sentries.
"Throw away the gun. Come and search."
Although the sentry ordered this, the hunter was reluctant and seemed to be struggling with something.
"Hurry up, what are you doing?!"
As he spoke, the big sentry stepped forward and tried to subdue him, while the other man stood guard with a gun.
However, at this moment, when the hunter took off the gun from his back, Leng Buling raised his gun and shot.
"Bang! Bang!"
The two gunshots were very close to each other. The big man was shot in the abdomen and fell to the ground, while "Orion" was shot in the left arm.
The sentry immediately rushed forward, knocked him down with the butt of his backhand, then pulled the bolt to change the bullet, pointed the black muzzle at his face, and kicked the shotgun that fell on the ground away from him.
"What are you doing?!" The sentry turned to look at his companion lying on the ground, and asked anxiously: "Is something wrong?!"
The latter held his stomach, dark red blood seeping out from between his fingers, "It's... not bad."
Since it was dusk, it was almost time to change the guard, so the other two sentries who were walking over quickly hurried over after hearing the gunfire.
Shots were fired, people were injured, and the matter was quickly reported.
The big sentry who was shot was fine. The power of the .22LR bullet was limited. It only penetrated a section of the intestines. Cut off a small section and sew it up and everything would be fine.
After being taken away, "Orion" faced the interrogation. At first, he insisted that he was just an Orion. The previous shooting was not intentional and it was just an accidental discharge.
The next day, after dawn, soldiers who carefully searched around the incident site found a canvas bag hastily hidden in the bushes, which contained cameras, films, notebooks and other items.
With the evidence in hand, there was no need to waste any more effort. The dejected "Orion" had no choice but to tell the truth.
At noon, where the evaluators were staying, everyone was leaving the courtyard in twos and threes, preparing to eat.
"As expected, there are spies."
"Oh, I will be beheaded if I catch you."
"That's it. Stop the test and investigate for three days."
According to the interrogation, this "Orion" was actually a native of Laizhou Prefecture. He was bought into a gang by Tsarist Russian agents and learned a series of espionage skills. This time he learned that there was a big move at the Laizhou Proving Ground, so he was ordered to infiltrate and film secretly.
In this vast place of hundreds of square kilometers, he found a place with loose control and slipped in. However, when he returned, he couldn't find the way he came from, so he had to choose another way, and was discovered.
At the same time, according to his confession, although there was only a single line of communication, there must be other people doing the same thing, so the test site chose to suspend the test and wait for a team sent by the foreign police factory to investigate.
Therefore, the next few days were uneasy. You could often see agents from outside factories of Damascus Golden Knife running around, or taking a group of people away for questioning one by one.
Zhou Changfeng also received special care and was taken away for questioning several times. However, since his father died in the border war with Tsarist Russia and he now has a good relationship with Shen Yu, the agents did not give him any trouble.
After three days of incoherence, six or seven suspects were taken away by the agents, and subsequent testing could continue.
In addition to the two types of heavy tanks, a trial-produced three-axle ten-wheel heavy truck produced by Yanjing Swift Automobile Company also underwent complete testing.
This kind of heavy-duty truck with a single-wheel front axle and two-wheel rear axles can be regarded as the work of painstaking efforts. To be honest, for Daming, which has a weak automobile industry and little accumulation, it is not easy to develop a heavy-duty truck by itself, but it is a rigid need. Now, in the end, we can only do it with reluctance.
"How much is the load? Ten tons?" Zhou Changfeng thought of the Busin NAG900 heavy truck equipped by the Red Eagle Legion that he saw in Spain. It can carry a nine-ton Panzer II tank.
"Slightly smaller, nine tons, ten tons is the limit." The man from the manufacturer replied.
Luo Fu, who was very interested, took a quick canvas and spread it on the ground. After squatting down, he looked at the drive axle of the car. He asked, "Can the engine output be maintained?"
"We came to the conclusion after testing that it is better to limit the number to 100 horses. If you run at 110 horses for a long time, your life will be shortened."
"Rear two-axle drive?"
"That's natural."
(End of chapter)
