afterglow

Chapter 388 Bulletproof vest and triple chest strap; railway gun

Chris is ordered to return to China by the General Investigation Bureau, and may be assigned to field missions later.

The passenger plane carrying her and several diplomats from the embassy gradually accelerated on runway [-] of Gaoqiao Airport, then left the runway and flew smoothly to the northwest.

Looking at the smaller and smaller things on the ground outside the round window, she raised her head slightly and murmured to herself: "At least we have fought together."

Not long after, the passenger plane disappeared from the horizon, disappearing into the blue and white.

Zhou Changfeng originally wanted to come to the airport to say goodbye, but in the end he gave up.

What's more, he is really busy now. He has to summarize and report the progress of the European war, and there are also a large number of military reports to review and leave judgment.

In addition to these matters within their own responsibilities, modifications to the Oahu landing plan also need to be followed up in a timely manner. Local agents and informants will send back the latest news every now and then.

Since the local overseas Chinese assisted in the offensive and defensive battles of Singapore, they restrained part of the defenders' forces and shared their attention, making it much easier for the Ming army to launch a frontal attack.

Because of this, the emperors and ministers of the Ming Dynasty, who had tasted the sweetness, also had the idea of ​​establishing overseas Chinese in Hawaii.

There are approximately 9 overseas Chinese in Hawaii, and there are more than [-] immigrants from Japan, Korea, and Annan.

Of course, Americans are not stupid. Seeing that the British have suffered a loss in Singapore, they have now begun to control expatriates.

"... That's all the war in Europe as of this morning; then there are the reports from various military departments. Luo Fu and I have reviewed them. I'm going to the Ordnance Bureau in the afternoon. If your Majesty has anything urgent, you can ask Luo Fu first."

"You work all day long, aren't you tired?"

Seeing that Zhou Changfeng was as diligent as a workaholic, Zhu Lingjing couldn't help but feel a little ashamed. After all, she had been too lazy this month.

"Uh..." Zhou Changfeng hesitated for two seconds and said thoughtfully: "To be honest, Your Majesty, I don't feel as tired as before."

"how to say?"

"I used to have to argue with all kinds of people every day, which was a lot of trouble. But now it's different. It takes about three to five days to encounter shirk or perfunctory."

In the past, it was both tiring and tiring, and at the end of the day, it was physically and mentally exhausting; but now things have improved a lot, everyone else can basically carry it out conscientiously, and it feels much easier all of a sudden.

"That's true." Zhu Lingjing muttered and waved her hand: "Go ahead and take it easy. If you fall down from exhaustion, there is really no one to replace you right now."

"My minister retire."

Today, Zhou Changfeng has become accustomed to her way of speaking. From being uncomfortable at first to now he is used to it. Some words need to be translated twice, and some words simply go in one ear and out the other.

It's quite frustrating to have such a boss, but fortunately she rarely interferes in other affairs. This is a great blessing for those who really do practical things.

After hurriedly leaving the Forbidden City, Zhou Changfeng drove to the Jinling Arsenal. Several employees were wiping and repainting the plaque "Yingtian Army Arsenal" at the gate.

After working as a middle-level clerk for eight years, Wang Huanan finally made it through and was transferred to the Jinling Arsenal Technical Consulting Committee at the beginning of the year.

It seems like a flat transfer, but it is actually a promotion, because the members of the technical advisory committee have a large say, have less affairs, and have high remuneration. They will have the opportunity to compete for senior management positions in the future.

"A busy man is so punctual every time he receives orders." Wang Huanan said with a smile and cupped his hands.

"It won't work if you're not on time. It's easy to get messed up that way."

"The first batch here has all passed the inspection, and the defective rate is [-]% per thousand. It's not easy. They are all made with precision."

"Oh? Let's take a look." Zhou Changfeng became interested after hearing this, and the group walked straight to the nearest warehouse without stopping.

Regarding intermediate-power ammunition, there have been several objections from both the Ordnance Agency and the Army. Although this has hindered progress to a certain extent, it has failed to have a substantial impact.

The ammunition finally adopted was still the 7.36×40mm rifle bullet designed by Guangzhou Arsenal. This type of ammunition has excellent ballistic performance when using three-base propellant, which caught Zhou's eyes at the time.

However, in view of the difficulty in manufacturing the special C-[-] three-base propellant and the low yield, the Ordnance Bureau decided to use the traditional Xu's gunpowder - the local B-type smokeless gunpowder used in the Lebel rifle. products.

The bullet is the foundation of the gun. After the Type [-] short rifle bullet was finalized, the design and selection of the short automatic rifle also followed. In the end, the Ordnance Bureau selected the design of Captain Yan Xinyi of the Yi'an Army.

Although he is a logistics officer on the surface, because Yi'anjun's job is so idle, he has enough free time to do "not doing his job".

The requirements given by the Ordnance Administration at that time were:

1. The entire gun weighs no more than eight kilograms.

2. The theoretical rate of fire is about [-] rounds per minute.

3. Use a twenty-round magazine.

4. The barrel has a service life of [-] rounds and the bolt has a service life of [-] rounds.

5. Twenty rounds of semi-automatic fire at a distance of 25 meters, the spread does not exceed 85 mm; at a distance of [-] meters, it does not exceed [-] mm.

The selected design was designed by Yan Xinyi in his spare time. It is an automatic rifle based on the long-stroke piston gas-guided automatic principle, but it uses a rare iron deflection lock.

This locking method is relatively mediocre and has no obvious advantages and disadvantages.

In contrast, the common bolt offset lock has the advantage of a simple structure. The main disadvantage is that the force is asymmetric and will deflect to one side, resulting in reduced shooting accuracy.

In fact, Zhou Changfeng believes that the other unsuccessful designs also have merits and are even better.

However, the Ordnance Bureau finally selected Yan Xinyi's design by a majority vote, probably because of the mentality of pursuing safety rather than perfection during the war.

Now, in front of a group of people are long wooden boxes one after another, and inside are the prototype [-]-type short automatic rifles that have been packed.

The familiar smell of gun oil hit his face. Zhou Changfeng bent down and took out one. He looked at the rifle in his hand repeatedly, then reached out and hooked the bolt of the gun and pulled back.

"Shh!"

It sounds crisp and good, and if it sounds good, it’s a good gun!
He went to the shooting range behind the arsenal to test-fire several magazines, and experienced shooting in standing, kneeling, lying, and even moving positions.

There's a reason the Ordnance Agency stipulated the use of twenty-round magazines when designing the tender.

The Army believed that long magazines would increase the height of the line of fire when aiming from a prone position, and refused to accept thirty-round long magazines. They even wanted to equip each gun with a separate ten-round short magazine.

The Air Force believed that long magazines were inconvenient for paratroopers to use and might increase the possibility of the hooks getting tangled in straps or parachute cords, so they considered a twenty-round magazine to be the most suitable.

But they belong to them. Anyway, someone in the navy basically has the final say, so they still use thirty-round long magazines. "Is the inside of the barrel chrome plated?"

"No." Wang Huan'an shook his head, "It can meet the standard with ordinary gun steel. Of course it is not plated."

Chrome plating the barrel can significantly increase the service life. This is a relatively luxurious process. There are relatively few chrome ores in the Ming Dynasty. Only anti-aircraft machine guns and heavy machine guns will add a chrome plating process.

Russia, which is rich in chromium ore, is different. Historically, even mass-produced Bobosha submachine guns were equipped with chrome plating as standard.

The Type [-] short automatic rifle is still an experimental weapon for the time being. The Army and Air Force have only placed an order for [-] units. Only the Navy has placed an order for [-] units due to Zhou's request.

He had said hello to Yan Chenwu, so he planned to take the bulk of them, which was [-].

Because it is only a small batch production, this order needs to be delivered in four batches within three months, which is relatively slow.

Zhou planned to equip all front-line units of the First Marine Regiment with automatic rifles, while the Second Marine Regiment had to be aggrieved and temporarily only re-equip an infantry team and the regiment's reconnaissance team.

In addition, all brigade reconnaissance and search battalions will be re-equipped, and a small number of remaining rifles will be stored at the brigade headquarters for spare replacement.

Now that automatic rifles firing intermediate-power ammunition are installed, the corresponding carrying equipment naturally needs to be updated. You can't still wear bolt-action rifles or submachine gun carrying equipment, right?
"To tell you the truth, this thing is a bit expensive, almost as much as a gun."

As he spoke, an official opened the wooden box he had brought over, and he could clearly see a large, heavy-looking dark green vest lying quietly inside. There was also a canvas outfit with three small bags stacked next to it.

The former is a bulletproof vest, and the latter is a chest-mounted triple magazine carrying device.

"The craftsmanship is indeed too cumbersome. Hey, it's good, but it's definitely not easy to promote." Zhou Changfeng sighed.

Daming began mass production of nylon 6-6 last year. The trial-produced bulletproof vest is mainly made of nylon 6-6 - eight layers of nylon fiber are laminated densely on the inside, and canvas is wrapped on the outside to increase durability.

There is no suspense about the bulletproof insert plate. You can only choose from various steel plates.

The Army Ordnance Research Institute tested three types of steel plates - rolled homogeneous steel plates, case-hardened steel plates, and low-carbon steel plates.

The research team originally thought that the low-carbon steel plate with good ductility could deform to absorb the impact after being hit by a bullet, but the actual test results were not good, and it required a thickness of 3mm to withstand pistol bullets.

In the end, the surface carburizing hardened steel plate won. Its surface Brinell hardness exceeds 500HB, which works very well when facing relatively small projectiles such as bullets. The bullets can easily fall apart after hitting.

The manufacturer responsible for trial production has temporarily produced two specifications of bulletproof insert plates.

一种为2.5㎜厚度，每块1.4㎏，能够在10m距离上抵挡冲锋枪发射的9㎜帕拉贝鲁姆手枪弹或.45ACP手枪弹。

一种为6.5㎜厚度，每块3.5㎏，能够在50m距离上抵挡步枪发射的7.7㎜恩菲尔德步枪弹或7.62㎜春田步枪弹。

The weight span between the two is very large, and there is no middle option, because only pistol bullets and full-power rifle bullets are popular on the battlefield these days.

Either focus on lightness and flexibility and choose the first option; or focus on solid defense and choose the second option.

This set of bulletproof vests is tentatively named the trial production Type [-] individual protective gear, and the army, navy and air force have ordered a total of [-] sets.

As for the chest sling triple magazine carrying device, it is actually a replica of the original Type 56 chest sling.

The Type 56 chest hanger is made of canvas, simple and practical. This seemingly simple design was actually very advanced at the time.

It is a unique product gradually developed through years of war experience and lessons. Earlier, the Chinese army had been equipped with a chest-mounted six-link carrying device and distributed it to elite flower machine submachine gunners.

[picture]

During the same period, even the American and Soviet infantry continued to use the carrying gear from World War II. This old and backward carrying gear had many shortcomings. It could not be completely tied and fixed to the soldier's body, and it easily swayed during movement, which was very annoying. .

Therefore, there is no reason not to copy such a simple and excellent thing, and Zhou Changfeng copied it with almost no modifications.

The three large bags in the middle each hold a thirty-round magazine; the two small bags on the left and right can be used to store grenades or other sundries.

Our own advantages are accumulated bit by bit in this way. If we really want to make a bold expedition to Hawaii and seize Oahu, it is destined to be a cruel and fierce battle.

The Ming army labored on expeditions and outnumbered the enemy, but the U.S. military had the dual advantages of geographical location and people. If it wanted to defeat the enemy, it must do everything it could to improve itself and weaken its opponent.

Zhou Changfeng plans to have the [-]st Marine Brigade complete the upgrade of weapons and equipment as soon as possible, and also add a batch of radio stations and walkie-talkies to improve command and control efficiency.

While he was concentrating on checking the progress of a series of equipment, the war in Europe was changing dramatically by the minute.

In a small town called Kilker on the German-French border, the German 11th Engineer Regiment and the 26th Engineer Regiment arrived here three months later and two months ago respectively, and began laying railroad tracks.

Now, after two days and nights of hard work, a behemoth made of steel suddenly appeared in front of people's eyes. The war reporters who came to take the scene were shocked.

In order to deal with the strong fortresses on the Maginot Line, the People's Army Army General Staff proposed the need for a large-caliber railway gun in the early 30s. The specific project was established in the spring of 500 and received an allocation of [-] million marks.

The first railway gun was delivered at the end of last year. It has a caliber of 740mm and a caliber of 40 times. It can fire concrete-destroying projectiles that can penetrate 6m thick reinforced concrete, which is enough to destroy any fortress on the Maginot Line of Defense.

No matter how careful it is to lay the railway track and deploy the railway gun, it is difficult to keep it completely secret. The French had been suspicious before, and now they have officially confirmed the existence of this giant railway gun through aerial reconnaissance.

The frightened French army immediately deployed a fast bomber group to the Mondelanger Field Airport. At dawn that day, 21 Breguet Br693 bombers flew across the border and headed straight for Kilkel.

"Enemy plane! Heading 105, altitude 1200."

"Deploy smoke!"

The troops responsible for protecting the railway gun responded immediately, and the chemical unit activated the smoke canisters at multiple points, creating a continuous thick smoke screen to obscure the huge cannon.

The Flak30 88mm anti-aircraft guns and Flak35 37mm anti-aircraft guns that were pointing diagonally into the sky immediately opened fire.

On the anti-aircraft gun position, the gun crew members were in an orderly manner. Some were holding cylindrical optical rangefinders, some were pulling out 88mm high-explosive bombs from wicker boxes, and some were setting the data of the fuze test machine.

"Fire!"

"Boom boom boom!"

Suddenly, dozens of black smoke balls appeared in the blue sky!
The French bombers tried hard to maintain their formation and continued to approach, but soon one of the bombers was shot down by artillery shells.

Dense high-speed fragments tore the fuselage with holes, and the engines emitted gray-white smoke. The entire plane staggered and fell into the distance.

(End of this chapter)