I want to be emperor

Chapter 1171 Type Light Machine Gun

In May of the 54th year of Chengshun, at the training ground of the Guards outside Jinling.

This training ground not only undertakes the daily live-ammunition light and medium weapons training tasks of the Guards stationed in Yingtianfu area, but also undertakes the testing and selection tasks of many new light and medium weapons.

Over the past few decades, the Great Chu Empire has held a large number of inspections and tests of candidate new weapons here, including various light weapons, small and medium caliber artillery, motor vehicles, and various miscellaneous military equipment.

It can be said that except for some medium and large caliber, long-range artillery, as well as some special equipment such as ships and aircraft, other light and medium weapons and equipment, including various motor vehicles, must come here if they want to win the bid and become standard equipment of the military.

The selection of light machine guns is also carried out here.

Staff from Huguang Weapons Company, Guangdong-Guangxi Weapons Company, and Shaanxi-Gansu Weapons Company arrived at the test site early with their sample guns, and then carried out various live-fire tests.

In addition to the head of the Army Ordnance Department's Small Arms Division, those involved in the assessment also included corresponding officers from the Navy, Guards, and the newly established Air Force's corresponding light weapons departments.

Of course, they are not subordinate to each other, and their evaluation opinions are separate. The evaluation opinions of different services will not affect the procurement tendencies of other services.

After all, there are many weapons and equipment that the Army may not think are very good, but the Marine Corps may think are very good. It is also possible that both the Army and the Navy may not think they are good, but the Guards may think they are very good.

The most typical one is the divisional artillery, the 100-year-old 75mm light howitzer developed by Jiangnan Weapons Company. This mm howitzer is a short-barreled light howitzer, and is the same concept as the series of mm mountain guns equipped by the Chu Army. It is a division-level infantry indirect fire support artillery.

Although this gun has a caliber of 100 mm, it is actually very light as a light howitzer, weighing only kilograms.

Moreover, the entire gun can be disassembled into multiple parts weighing between 90 kg and 100 kg, and then transported by pack horses. In an emergency, it can also be carried by multiple people. When transporting, only two draft horses are needed to pull the gun itself for maneuvering. Of course, this does not include artillery carts and the like. If it is a full gun group, a lot of horses are needed.

This type of artillery uses hydraulic recoil technology with similar technical features to many of the navy's rapid-fire naval guns. It has few faults and a first-rate rate of fire, reaching an astonishing rate of fifteen rounds per minute.

In terms of range, it uses matching smokeless propellant and forked gun mount, with a relatively large elevation angle, so the range can reach an astonishing 51 meters. This range is already quite exaggerated for the contemporary artillery technology of the Great Chu Empire... You know, the Hebei -year-old mm field gun has a range of only meters.

Other manufacturers have developed 100mm light howitzers weighing 800-900 kilograms, but their range is generally only around 5,000 meters...

There is no special reason why the range is much longer than that of other competitors. It is because the barrel material used is better and the processing technology is better, so the barrel can withstand greater chamber pressure, use more propellant and obtain a longer range!

  To sum it up simply and bluntly: add money!

Because Jiangnan Weapons Company's artillery business is mainly based on naval guns, they cannot help but adopt some design concepts of naval guns when developing ground artillery. As for cost-effectiveness, it does not exist at all.

This also resulted in the price of this 100mm light howitzer of the 50th year being quite expensive, almost twice the price of artillery of the same level.

When the evaluation was conducted a few years ago, the Army was very disgusted with it, and almost criticized it directly, saying that anyone who bought this thing was stupid and IQ taxed...

The Marine Corps wanted it, but eventually gave up. The Navy’s top brass also felt that this thing was too inexpensive to buy.

But the Guards were astounded when they saw it... Such a good thing must be destined for our Guards, a great destiny. As for the money... The Guards are not short of money.

  The Guards’ purchasing tradition has always been: as long as your products are good, price is not an issue!

The Guards have always been the favorite customer of the five major weapons companies, and whenever they come up with something new, they all hope to sell it to the Guards.

At that time, the Guards purchased more than 50 Type 100 and 75 mountain guns in one go to replace the old-fashioned retreating mountain guns in the original artillery units of the Guards.

Therefore, when the era of smokeless powder rapid-fire artillery just began, the division-level artillery regiment of the Guards skipped the 75mm mountain gun and directly used a combination of 75mm field guns and 100mm mountain guns.

Not only does the division's mountain artillery use the 100-mm mountain gun, but the Guards Division's 75-mm field gun also uses the Jiangnan Weapons Company's Type 50 75-mm field gun.

The technical features of this Type 50 75mm field gun are similar to those of the Type 100 mountain gun. Both use more advanced barrel materials and processing technology, and advanced and expensive hydraulic reset technology, with a firing rate of up to fifteen rounds per minute.

  Of course, the most important thing is that the barrel caliber of this thing reaches thirty-one times!

In the end, all of these combined make this thing's range reach an astonishing 8,300 meters... quite exaggerated.

Of course, behind the exaggeration, this 75mm field gun is also heavier than the ordinary 75 field gun, with a full combat weight of one thousand kilograms.

In addition, this type of artillery is also quite expensive, 51% more expensive than the Hebei Weapons Company's Type 75 mm field gun.

Therefore, the army gave up this artillery without hesitation in the past few years.

The Army considers these two types of divisional artillery to have extremely poor cost-effectiveness... their performance looks good on paper, but they are expensive, and their weight exceeds the Army's expectations.

  The Hebei Weapons Company's 51 series 75mm field guns and mountain guns meet the army's requirements: cheap and light!

As for performance such as range and rate of fire, these are enough!

We are just fighting some natives, so we don't need anything advanced. A rapid-fire cannon will be enough.

The key is to be cheap, and secondly to be light, so that it can maneuver in the vast administrative territories, vassal states and other muddy places overseas.

Therefore, the Army has very strict control over the weight of field artillery. For example, the weight of the 75 mountain gun has long been required to be controlled below 75 kilograms; the weight of the mm field gun is controlled at kilograms. These data requirements have been finalized even before the bidding, and various weapons companies can only design within this weight limit.

These weight restrictions involve the carrying capacity of draft horses and pack horses, maneuverability in complex terrain, etc., and they cannot be changed just because you want to.

Otherwise, if you get a 75mm field gun weighing more than one ton and run it to an overseas vassal state... don't expect to be able to move with the infantry. You can only move as slowly as those medium and large artillery pieces in independent artillery units.

There is also the 75mm mountain cannon. This thing is the most commonly used and most relied upon division-level brigade support firepower when the Chu army fights overseas. It is used in large quantities both on plains and in mountainous areas. Any weight exceeding the standard is unacceptable.

But the Guards are different...

Many of the Army's combat scenarios take into account overseas deployment operations, targeting indigenous peoples and, at most, foreign legions, so more considerations are given to mobility and cost-effectiveness.

But the combat objectives of the Guards were clearly stated: the army and navy, especially the army...

The Guards are equipped with 100mm advanced howitzers and advanced 75mm field guns, which are aimed at your army's field artillery... Even if they are more expensive and heavier, they must overwhelm the army's artillery of the same level in terms of range and rate of fire.

In addition, the Guards really have no shortage of money to purchase artillery, and the problem of the slightly heavier weight is not a problem for the Guards.

Because the Guards' planned combat scenarios are not in overseas areas with backward transportation and complex terrain.

The core preset battlefield of the Guards is East Asia, or more precisely, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River surrounding the city of Nanjing.

This region has the most developed and densest railway and road networks in the world.

In this way, the Guards can quickly maneuver and deploy artillery via railways and roads.

This is also the reason why the Guards paid more attention to the use of motor vehicles than the Army and completed the artillery truck transportation earlier than the Army. After adopting truck traction, the one-ton Type 50 75mm field gun and the 50-kilogram Type 100 mountain gun had no problem in mobility.

But the Guards can do this, but the Army cannot... In the overseas vassal states where the Army's battlefield is scheduled, there are not so many roads for you to use. Even if there are roads, there are not so many trucks for you to use. It is also very troublesome to resupply the trucks with fuel.

Therefore, after entering the era of rapid-fire artillery, there were huge differences between the Army and the Guards in the choice of divisional artillery and even lower-level battalion and regiment support artillery.

The army's artillery takes into account cost-effectiveness and weight. Well, not to mention the price, the weight is especially important to the army.

The Guards, on the other hand, take into consideration combat performance such as range and rapid fire, and do not have too many restrictions on weight.

From the choice of artillery, it can be seen that although they are both armies of the Great Chu Empire, there is a huge difference between the Army and the Guards, and there are also huge differences in the procurement and use of their equipment.

Therefore, in some cases, each branch of the military actually uses its own. As long as there is a certain degree of standardization in ammunition, the Military Affairs Council will not make mandatory requirements for using the same weapons and equipment.

The same is true for artillery, and firearms are actually similar, although all branches of the military, under the strong request of the Military Affairs Council, all unified the use of the Type 8 rifle and the standard mm bullet.

But... in fact, the Type 27 rifle used by the Guards is still slightly different from the Type 27 rifle used by the Army and Navy... It's not that there is any difference in design, but there are some differences in workmanship.

Even if it’s the same design, you get what you pay for in terms of workmanship.

It is also a Type 27 rifle, but the Army's is a regular, cost-effective version.

But the Guards' is a well-made version.

Even the material of the buttstock is different. The army version uses walnut, which is produced in large quantities in East Asia and is the main material for the stocks of many guns. This wood has become the buttstock material of the Chu army's standard firearms since the era of smoothbore muskets.

Large production, wide distribution, easy to obtain, low cost... Most of the firearms in the Chu army use this kind of wood as the stock material.

The buttstock of the Guards version is made of European walnut imported from Europe... This kind of wood naturally has various excellent properties. It is hard and corrosion-resistant, can adapt well to various harsh battlefield environments, and has good toughness.

But...it's expensive!

Even in Europe, this thing is considered a precious wood with a long growth cycle and is expensive.

Of course, Europe is now a colony of the Great Chu Empire, so there is no problem of difficulty in obtaining it. It’s just that the price is a little higher.

The difference in procurement between the Guards and the Army can be seen from the choice of these two stock materials.

The same is true for the choice of light machine guns!

When the light machine gun of Huguang Weapons Company underwent various tests and the test results were very good, exceeding the test results of the other two light machine guns, the Guards ignored the representatives of the other two manufacturers and directly found the representatives of Huguang Weapons Company and expressed their intention to purchase on the spot.

After a brief negotiation, the deal was reached. The Guards purchased one thousand of these light machine guns... As for the price, Huguang Weapons Company quoted two hundred and fifty Chu yuan per set. The Guards bargained down to a whole number of two hundred Chu yuan. After some hesitation, Huguang Weapons Company finally agreed.

However, this price is actually still considered very expensive, at least the army and navy said they could not accept it... For the other two light machine guns, the initial quote was only two hundred and two hundred and one. After some bargaining, it is estimated that it can be bought for a hundred or so. If the price is bargained more, it may be around one hundred and fifty or sixty.

  Two hundred Chu Yuan, only the Guards are willing to pay such a high price!

But the price offered by the Guards is high and they have high requirements!

However, the Guards were still not satisfied with some details and needed to ask them to make some improvements. For example, the workmanship should be better and the buttstock should not be made of the common walnut tree but imported European walnut.

Then, instead of the standard 20-round magazine, a unified 30-round curved magazine was required to enhance the sustained firepower capability.

Therefore, the workmanship, configuration, and performance requirements of this batch of light machine guns customized by the Guards are actually higher than those of the prototype guns of the Huguang Weapons Company.

So don’t think that the Guards are stupid and have a lot of money… They have a lot of money and are willing to pay a high price, but they also have high requirements for quality and performance…

This light machine gun customized by the Guards was officially designated as the Type 54 light machine gun by the Guards...

At this time, the Army was still struggling with how to use the three-way competition to lower the price.

Order now? Impossible.

The Guards were small in size, so they wouldn't need many light machine guns. One thousand was already a lot, so the decision was easy to make.

But for the army, there are more than twenty regular army's first-class infantry, cavalry, artillery and other division and brigade units.

There are also dozens of various division and brigade units of Class B organization.

There are more than one million regular troops in active service, and it is not known how the Guards will use these light machine guns, but the Army plans to assign them to the infantry platoon level in the early stage. In actual combat, such as squad patrol operations, they will be strengthened to the infantry squad.

Once it matures, especially when the logistics supply becomes more mature, it will be directly transferred to the infantry squad level, making the light machine gun a squad weapon.

This means that the army will need at least tens of thousands of light machine guns, and the purchase price of the light machine guns alone may reach more than one million Chu Yuan.

Such an exaggerated purchasing amount cannot be decided by middle-level personnel in a day or two.

This matter needs to be discussed by the top brass of the Army, and even sent to the Military Affairs Council for discussion by those big guys before a decision can be made.

What hinders the large-scale use of light machine guns by the army is not actually the high price of light machine guns. No matter how expensive it is, it is only more than 100 Chu Yuan. It will be even cheaper if it is produced and purchased on a large scale, at most 1 million Chu Yuan... This is equivalent to the price of a large armored cruiser of several thousand tons.

No matter how poor the army is, it can afford this.

The problem is that light machine guns consume more bullets than bolt-action rifles.

The empire is not short of these bullets. The key issue is logistical supply... The army is deployed globally, and every bullet used on the front line has to be transported thousands of miles from East Asia.

Due to logistical supply issues, the army has always paid more attention to ammunition consumption, and the light machine gun, just by hearing the name, you know that it will consume a large amount of bullets.

Therefore, there are still some concerns within the army about how and how much to use light machine guns.