I want to be emperor

Changan.

Chen Youzhong, the supervisor of the Chang'an Arsenal, a subsidiary of the Shaanxi-Gansu Arms Company, looked at the factory not far from the office building with a sad look on his face.

Just yesterday, the purchasing representative of the Ordnance Department officially notified Chang'an Arsenal to once again reduce the purchase scale of Shaanxi-[-] cavalry pistols. The purchase quantity for the next year will only be a pitiful [-] pieces.

This means that the only self-developed military firearm in our factory is not far away from being completely abandoned by the army.

Once the Shaanxi Type [-] Cavalry Pistol is completely abandoned by the Army, the Chang'an Arsenal, as the largest firearms arsenal in the northwest, and the core firearms R&D and production factories under the Shaanxi-Gan Weapons Company will be completely cut off from military firearms. In the end, they can only engage in police and civilian use. , export firearms,
But... Chang'an Arsenal is a serious military arsenal. It has existed to produce military firearms from the day it was born.

If it is impossible to develop and produce military firearms in the future, then does it still have any meaning in existence?

Supervisor Chen Youzhong couldn't help but sigh when he thought of this future situation...

The Chang'an Arsenal was an important part of the defense industry layout of the Dachu Empire. The factory was built to provide firearms, bullets, and artillery shells to the northwest and western regions.

Subsequently, in order to unify the planning and arrangement of defense production and weapons and ammunition supply in each region, the empire's senior officials restructured the defense industry and established five weapons companies through the merger and reorganization of various arsenals.

That is, Huguang Arms Company, Jiangnan Arms Company, Hebei Arms Company, Guangdong and Guangxi Arms Company and the finally established Shaanxi-Gansu Arms Company.

The purpose of setting up five weapons companies in the first place was because of the difficulty of long-distance transportation. It was impossible for the military to purchase conventional weapons and ammunition in Hantianli, in the hinterland of the Yangtze River, and then transport them all the way to the north or south and other places.

Therefore, the initial goal set by the five major arms companies is still to solve the problem of weapons and ammunition supply in various regions nearby.

But later, with the internal competitive demands of the five major arms companies, and also because of the development of transportation, especially the successful development of high-pressure steam engines, and the development of trains and steamships, the problem of long-distance transportation of weapons and ammunition was greatly solved. ease.

Therefore, the competition among the five major arms companies has become increasingly fierce.

In the process of fierce competition, the five major arms companies have also experienced varying degrees of changes relying on the technical capabilities and production capabilities of their arsenals and research institutes.

The Shaanxi-Gansu Arms Company is no exception. The company's current independent business is the production of various types of ammunition, Shaanxi-type cavalry pistols, and a small amount of river warship business... However, the main gun and arsenal factories are engaged in OEM business in military business. work... They OEM various types of army equipment for several other domestic weapons companies, such as the Type 25 rifle cavalry model, the artillery model of the Tianwu revolver, and the Huguang Weapon Company's 75mm mountain gun cold-resistant version series.

It can be said that he is not doing well.

It can even be said that after so many years, there is still no independent flagship product that can be used and can provide huge profits for the company. The only Shaanxi-[-] cavalry pistol that was independently developed and purchased by the military on a large scale is also highly praised. Typically, the Army has scaled back procurement early on.

Because many cavalrymen would rather purchase the large-caliber long-barreled version of the Tianwu-type pistol at their own expense, that is, the Tianwu-type cavalry model, rather than use the Shaanxi-type cavalry pistol. After the military leaders noticed this situation, they naturally reduced their purchases. scale, and let Chang'an Arsenal carry out technical upgrades, otherwise the last order will be gone.

In fact, the Chang'an Arsenal has not fallen behind in the past ten years. It has been working hard on research and development, but it has never been successful. After all, the Chang'an Arsenal itself was the latest to be established. In the early years, the Guanzhong area was poor and turbulent. Later, it became a political, economic, and cultural center. , the economic development is not good.

As a result, there are also some problems in recruiting high-tech talents, and there is little funding, so it has never been possible.

In terms of firearms, the Shaanxi-Gansu Arms Company and the Guangdong and Guangxi Arms are inseparable brothers... basically no products are purchased by the military, and they can only do OEM work. They make money from police firearms, the private market, and the export market.

Among the five major arms companies, Hebei Arms Company is the best in firearms. It has successively launched the Type 25 front-loading rifled rifle, the Type [-] breech-loading rifled paper case rifle, the Type [-] breech-loading rifled metal rifle and now the latest Type [-] repeating rifle.

There is also a series of Tianwu-type pistols that have sold more than 500 million units.

Relying on the two major products of rifles and pistols, it is easy to make money. This is because, under the coordination of the Ministry of Industry, other weapons companies have OEM production of a series of products to maintain the standard rifle production capabilities of the other four weapons companies. Under the circumstances, otherwise they can achieve greater production capacity and earn more.

In terms of firearms, Huguang Arms Company is pretty good. It has produced the Type 25 rifle before, which is very popular with the Navy. Although the purchase of this rifle has been stopped, it is still the main rifle of the Navy. In the past two years, the Navy was in order to enter the continuous fire In the rifle era, a batch of Type 42 repeating rifles were also purchased to equip the Marine Corps. However, after Huguang Weapons Company's Type 24 small-caliber repeating rifles began mass production in 24, the Navy did not hesitate to turn around and invest in Huguang Weapons Company's In one fell swoop, an order for [-] Type [-] small-caliber repeating rifles was placed. Another major supporting user, the armed tax police who invested a lot of research and development funds, also immediately ordered [-] units.

The Guards are also seriously considering purchasing the Type 24 rifle, and even the Army is interested.

This has posed a great threat to Hebei Arms Company. It has been conducting urgent research and development and is preparing to launch a small-caliber improved version of the Type 25 rifle to compete.

If nothing else, the competition for standard rifles in the Dachu Empire for many years to come will be between Huguang Arms Company and Hebei Arms Company, not the other three companies.

Even Jiangnan Arms Company, which owns the famous firearms brand Qiming Rifle, is no exception.

The Qiming shotgun developed and produced by Songjiang Firearms Factory, a subsidiary of Jiangnan Arms Company, is very famous. It was widely equipped by patrol police all over the country as soon as it was launched, and its sales in the private market have been very good.

Later, Jiangnan Arms Company also developed the Qiming lever-type repeating rifle based on this basis, innovatively using in-tube magazine technology.

This rifle is the first repeating rifle in the Chu Empire.

But it is also a pity. Because of its inherent limitations and high failure rate, although a group of armed tax policemen were equipped in the early days, they have never been able to enter the army, navy, or Guards market. Now this rifle is in the armed tax police market. Here, the purchase has also been stopped early and will be replaced soon.

Unsurprisingly, it will be replaced by the Huguang Arms Company's Type 24, a small-caliber repeating rifle. The armed tax police and the Marine Corps are looking forward to this small-caliber rifle... In fact, these two companies have been producing Money is an important investor that allows Huguang Weapons Company to continue researching small-caliber rifles. Without sufficient R&D capital market, Huguang Weapons Company cannot continue to solve the problem and finally come up with the Type 24 rifle.

The technical content of this thing is quite high for the contemporary Dachu Empire, especially the eight-millimeter black powder bullets used together... When the kinetic energy of the black powder itself is relatively small, you still want to make small-caliber black powder Gunpowder bullets also have sufficient kinetic energy, which is not easy. There are a lot of technical problems that need to be solved.

Now that the Type 24 rifle has been developed, the Navy and armed tax police have confirmed that they will use this rifle as the next generation standard rifle. Although the Guards and the Army are hesitant, the objects of their hesitation are the Type 24 rifle and the small version of the Type 25 rifle. The caliber version... still has nothing to do with the other three weapons companies.

As a result, in the future, Jiangnan Weapons Company will only have the military version of the Qiming shotgun, that is, the Type 21 shotgun, which is still being purchased and put into service by the military.

Independent research and development of military firearms business is full of difficulties. In order to maintain the production line of military firearms and ensure that the layout of the empire's entire defense industry is not corrupted, they cannot directly shut down the military rifle factory... The empire has clearly stipulated that, Any one of the five major arms companies must maintain its R&D and production capabilities for standard rifles.

The military does not like their own guns, but they also need to maintain mass production capabilities so that they can mass-produce standard rifles at any time in emergencies to deal with any war that may arise... In addition to choosing to give modern factories to Hebei and Huguang companies, There is no other choice.

And this is actually the strategic requirement of the empire's top brass in the defense industry...

In fact, at present, no matter which company's rifle is selected as the standard rifle, the actual production is still produced by the arsenals affiliated to the five major weapons companies.

It's just that the weapons company that won the bid took most of the money, and the other companies could only earn some hard money through the OEM model.

The Zhenjiang Arsenal, a subsidiary of Jiangnan Arms Company, is currently producing Type 25 rifles for Hebei Arms Company.

The domestic military rifle market is basically divided between Hebei Arms Company and Huguang Arms Company, and the other three companies can only be OEMs.

However, military rifles are out of business, but it does not mean that their firearms business is not good... After all, in addition to the military firearms market, the firearms business also includes the police market, the private market, and the export market. The export market is relatively limited, and it is basically the five major weapons. The company divides it equally, there is nothing to say.

But the police market and the overseas private market combined are actually larger than the military market... Let's put it this way, the exact number of tens of millions of overseas immigrants in the Chu Empire is not even easy for the government to calculate. , anyway, in North America alone, hundreds of thousands of private firearms are sold every year.

Chu's overseas immigrants have a very large number of firearms. In most of the small immigrant settlements outside the urban areas of the overseas territories, every household has a gun. These guns are distributed free of charge by the government... because almost every household has men joining the militia. , the official will provide free guns to the militiamen.

Compared with the huge overseas civilian market, to be honest, the military market is not enough... It is just that the civilian market is affected by personal preferences and other factors. A total of dozens of arsenals producing firearms under the five major arms companies will seize the civilian market, so the civilian market is relatively confusion……

Although the Tianwu revolvers and Qiming shotguns, which are currently the most produced and sold, also have military versions, they actually contribute mainly to the police market and the private market.

Jiangnan Arms Company is no exception. Most of the profits from its firearms business come from the police market and the private market. Their Qiming series shotguns are very popular and are the first choice for overseas immigrants to settle down, whether they are used to prevent attacks on indigenous people. , it is also very useful for dealing with large animals in the wilderness, or against bandits, etc...

If you encounter someone who is attacking someone, no matter if it is a tiger, a lion, a native, or a gangster who is breaking into a house, you have to lie down...and you don't need any shooting skills. After all, this thing is a shotgun, and it has a large area. The projectiles are sprayed out and spread widely, and the woman holding the gun can shoot in the general direction of the enemy!
If you fail to hit these, you can still shoot a second time. The Qiming shotgun has a double-shot version.

In the overseas civilian market, this thing is more popular than the military Type 25 repeating rifle that flows out of the black market... Although the Type 25 rifle is very accurate and can shoot far, the prerequisite is that you can aim and hit, and the recoil is strong. It is relatively large and can be easily injured without professional training.

Unlike the Qiming shotgun, the elderly, weak, women and children can hold it up and spray the enemy in the general direction at medium and short range.

A revolver and a Qiming shotgun, this is basically the best configuration for Chu people to immigrate overseas. Nothing is more useful than the combination of these two.

The weapons market in the Dachu Empire is still relatively complicated. In terms of making money to survive, it can actually survive. After all, the police and civilian markets alone are very large.

However, as enterprises directly under the Ministry of Industry, the five major arms companies are also the only five defense companies. Their natural mission is to provide the military with various weapons and ammunition.

If you are unable to excel in the field of military weapons, no matter how good you are in the police and civilian markets as well as the export market, you will not be very good in the eyes of the officials in charge. Since this is not very good, then these national defense It is naturally difficult for corporate supervisors to get promoted.

After all, the five major arms companies are all enterprises directly under the Ministry of Industry. The supervisors and other main persons in charge of the arsenals under the five major arms companies are basically corporate officials affiliated with the Ministry of Industry. Whether you can be promoted does not depend on how much money you make, but on your ability. Unable to complete the political tasks assigned by superiors.

Chen Youzhong, the supervisor of the Chang'an Arsenal, has a headache now, as the military firearms business has been delayed.

A few years ago, he presided over and spent a lot of money to build a single-shot rifle with a straight-action bolt, which was the Type 22 rifle.

As a result, the performance was stretched and the failure rate was high. After the actual equipment test, more than 1000 test rifles out of more than 100 were broken within a few months. In addition, the performance was not very good, so the test failed.

Later, he continued to organize technicians to improve and test this rifle. After the era of repeating rifles came, he also tried to improve the repeating rifles and even made a small-caliber version. However, the military's impression of the straight-pull bolt action It was so bad that even the opportunity for small-scale equipment testing was no longer given.

The military has made its opinion clear in the first half of the year. The next generation of new small-caliber rifles will still choose to rotate the rear-pull bolt, and play with the straight-pull bolt... So in the next generation of standard rifles, Changan Arsenal has no chance at all. .

But Chen Youzhong didn't give up. Since he couldn't produce rifles and couldn't compete with pistols, he set his sights on the machine gun design tender proposed by the military.

To this end, he directly mobilized the staff, asked the technical research and development personnel in the factory to come up with the best design plan, and provided great incentives.

At this time, Ma Qin, a young engineer in the factory who had just graduated, submitted a machine gun design plan.

When Chen Youzhong saw this extremely innovative and bold design, he couldn't help but get excited... This is what he wanted!