afterglow

Chapter 665: Poor Zhanzhan; Gliding Bomb

War is so abominable that we cannot buy daily consumer goods as we wish. It is so heartbreaking to hear about it and makes us cry to see it.

Zhou Changfeng felt mixed emotions after hearing his wife's words, and he remained silent for a long time.

I'm afraid I can only use one sentence to describe the benefits that the Ming Dynasty gained from this war for hegemony - the fruits of victory came too easily, too easily, and too simply.

Having so easily seized ample strategic space, large amounts of oil, and endless minerals, will people really cherish them in the future?
Historically, Britain, which had almost lost all its colonial assets, suffered a total of about 160 million military casualties, accounting for 4700% of the native population of about 3.4 million; in addition, 14.7 civilians were killed or injured in air strikes.

A total of approximately 107 million military casualties occurred in the United States, accounting for 1.4% of the population of approximately 0.76 million, of which 31.8 died, including both combat and non-combat deaths.

Britain and the United States suffered the least losses on their home soil during the war. The former was only hit by air strikes and was not involved in the war, while the latter was almost safe and sound.

However, in comparison, the impact of military casualties caused by the war on the Ming Dynasty was pitifully small.

Since the outbreak of the war at the beginning of the 39th year of Zhichang, by the end of the 2nd year of Jinghe, the losses of the Ming army, navy and air force were as follows:

136. The total number of casualties was 33 million, including deaths (including combat and non-combat).

19.1. people were killed in battle (including missing and those who died of injuries).

1.8. people died in accidents (including flight, vehicle, loading and unloading accidents, etc.)
Fourth, 11.4 people died of diseases (the total number of hospitalizations for the disease was 335 million).

A total of approximately 136 million soldiers were killed or wounded, accounting for only 7.2% of the population of approximately 0.019 million.

This proportion is so low that people often do not realize the damage caused by war. If ordinary people learn that there is a funeral in the surrounding area, nine out of ten times it is because someone has died of illness.

Zhou Changfeng couldn't help but think of what Zhu Lingjing had said casually during a casual chat before: "After four years of fighting, the total number of deaths is not as many as the number of deaths from tuberculosis in the north and south of the Yangtze River in the past two years."

Last year, the first year of Jinghe, there were millions of deaths in the Ming Dynasty. For example, 10.8 people died in traffic accidents, 9.3 people drowned, 4.5 people died from criminal crimes, and tuberculosis alone killed 16 people among countless diseases.

The large population significantly amplifies various natural and unnatural causes of death, and correspondingly dilutes war casualties.

In other words, this kind of war that does not affect the local area is nothing at all for a country with a huge population. Even if the intensity is multiplied several times, it will not make much difference.

Even the people don’t care, let alone the powerful and wealthy with vested interests.

Seeing that Zhou Changfeng remained silent for the rest of the conversation, Xia Xiaoshi held his hand and asked in confusion, "Sir, are you unhappy?"

"No, it's just... well... I feel like this kind of foreign war is really a win-win situation."

He said this, and then added in a serious tone: "That's good. It's great that the people can live through the world war in peace and quiet. As a soldier, this is actually something to be proud of."

Xia Xiaoshi was even more puzzled by what he said. She stared at him in confusion, blinked and asked, "What else can I do?"

"Not so good!" Zhou Changfeng wanted to end the topic. He stretched out his hand and pinched her waist. Then he looked out the window and said, "We'll be arriving at Jianye University soon. This is your alma mater."

For security reasons, Zhou's public speech was kept confidential, and the two universities were completely unaware of it.

It was not until the convoy drove out of Sanshan Gate that the Ministry of War called to notify them.

This operation is very basic, just like famous artists often temporarily change the route and venue when they are on tour, so as to prevent the assassin from accurately grasping the situation and making adequate preparations in advance.

Zhou's sudden arrival made the students extremely excited - regardless of whether they were interested in military affairs or not, at least they could skip two classes today.

Jianye University and Imperial University of Science and Technology are adjacent to each other. This time the lecture venue was placed directly between the two universities. The patrol police also blocked the avenue outside Sanshan Gate.

The outline of the speech was drawn up by several cabinet ministers in their spare time, and then handed over to two secretaries to summarize and expand it into a draft.

Zhou Changfeng felt that the wording of this draft was too pretentious, too long-winded and not concise enough, so he simply rewrote it based on those outlines.

When I actually went on stage to give my speech, looking at the huge crowd of students, most of the draft I had prepared was not used.

He knew that his wife was one of the countless listeners, but he couldn't find her anywhere.

Xia Xiaoshi's mentor back then was an elegant middle-aged woman. After so many years, she has become quite old.

Xia Xiaoshi was not the most outstanding among the batches of students back then, but the tutor was quite impressed by her. Firstly, her father was a Censor in the Criminal Department, and secondly, her cheerful and lively personality was also very eye-catching.

If he said he was not happy that his student one day returned to his alma mater as a general's wife, he would be lying.

Zhou Changfeng's speech mentioned for the first time words like "Since the beginning of this year, the enemy has attempted to counterattack and launched attacks on multiple fronts, but none of them have been successful. Our Hawaiian Corps is at the forefront, and the Maui troops have poor logistics. Under extremely difficult circumstances, we have repeatedly defeated the enemy's attacks. The day of victory is not far away."

People who are sensitive to government affairs can easily smell something different from this - this is obviously different from the war situation described in newspapers and on the radio. It turns out that our side is also struggling to hold on in the direction of Hawaii.

So what does this mean?

Zhou Changfeng's speech that day was like an introduction. From then on, the official news agency, which had always only reported on its own small, medium and large wins, changed its style and gradually added reports on its own losses.

Major newspapers also hurried to follow suit, and a series of expert analyses and guru comments emerged like mushrooms after rain.

Under wartime news media control, free and unfettered discussion was rare - although the sounds produced by large and small loudspeakers were different, the main theme was exactly the same.

The last few days of late November passed by in the blink of an eye, and the calendar turned to December.

In Laizhou, Shandong, as the north wind began to show signs of chill, most people coming and going on the streets put on thick winter clothes.

The special train coming from Nanjing blew its whistle and stopped steadily at Platform 1 of the special railway station at the Laizhou Test Field.

A group of officials had been waiting here a quarter of an hour in advance. They stood in two rows beside the platform. When Zhou Changfeng and his party walked out of the carriage, they all bowed and greeted them.

"Mr. Zhou's presence brings honor to our humble place."

"You mean like I've become the sun?"

Everyone present laughed at the same time.

After recovering from his injury, Zhou Changfeng was busy all day, dealing with the numerous military affairs while arranging his inspection schedule non-stop.

Both the remote-controlled guided glide bomb and the new carrier-based bomber had completed preliminary testing and were ready for inspection, so Zhou Changfeng took a special train from Yingtianfu, the capital, to take a look. In fact, he always pursued efficiency and did not like slow trains, but Zhu Lingjing believed that people of his level were only allowed to take planes when they were in a hurry, so he issued an oral order to limit his eligibility to travel by plane.

It was noon at this time. After a simple lunch, the group came to the storage area of ​​the Laizhou test site. The dozen or so warehouses here stored various weapons and equipment ranging from rifles to tanks.

As we approached the section of one of the warehouses, we saw a thick bomb with wings, shaped like a small airplane.

"The bomb is based on the standard 2,000-jin heavy bomb of the Air Force, with short wings and a control tail added on both sides, and a rocket thruster suspended underneath. It can have a range of up to 20 miles."

Zhou Changfeng approached and looked at the guided bomb carefully, and asked, "Is this booster a liquid rocket or a solid powder rocket?"

"Uh... Reporting to Mr. Zhou, it is like this. We have both liquid and solid rockets. However, as you know, liquid rockets are unreliable and troublesome to use, so the development focus is still on solid rockets."

"Yeah, right."

Liquid rocket engines have high specific impulse, long working time, and adjustable thrust, but their structure is quite complex and they need to be temporarily refueled before use, which is quite inconvenient.

Glide bombs do not need to have a very long range, and ease of use is the top priority, so a simple solid rocket engine becomes the best choice.

The Type 2 remote-controlled glide bomb was developed by Shuntian Ascending Aircraft Company. The first sample was produced at the beginning of this year, and various problems were repeatedly modified, solved and improved throughout the year.

This type of glide bomb is essentially a combination of an aerial bomb, a control device, and a booster.

The main body is a 1000kg armor-piercing explosive bomb (SAP) loaded with 320kg of D-type explosives.

The control devices include wireless guidance and wired guidance. Both are equipped with electric gyroscopes. The small propeller at the head of the bomb drives the generator to provide 9V power to the gyroscope; two large 12V carbon batteries provide power for the operation of the tail rudder.

The solid rocket propellant of the booster has a special cross shape, with an initial peak thrust of 320 kg, followed by a steady decrease in thrust. The total burning time is 5 seconds, and after burning out it will not fall off to avoid affecting the flight attitude.

After being dropped at an altitude of 2.5 km, this type of glide bomb can reach a terminal velocity of 780 km/h, can penetrate steel plates approximately 125 mm thick, and can fly up to 10 km.

To facilitate the bombardier's observation and identification, there are four red and yellow light tubes forming a square at the tail of the glide bomb, which are also powered by the two large carbon batteries.

The next day, the Laizhou Test Site organized a live-fire demonstration. For safety reasons, training rounds were used, and sand was used instead of explosives in the warhead.

Through the gun telescope, one could see two Yuan-type medium bombers slowly approaching at an altitude of more than two thousand meters, dropping the glide bombs mounted under their bellies one after another.

【Picture】

Then everyone saw spots of light and long gray smoke coming out of the sky, which was the tail flame spewed out by the ignition of the rocket engine.

The glide bomb dived down rapidly and swooped towards the target on the ground.

With a dull thud, dust flew up near the target.

Not long after, the second glide bomb also fell to the ground at a high speed and hit the target accurately.

"it is good!"

“It’s so accurate?”

"It's very difficult to hit the target with a horizontal bomb, but this time it's a good opportunity."

“This is a good thing and should be made more.”

Despite having a preliminary understanding of the technical characteristics of the guided glide bomb, military officers remained skeptical about the claimed accuracy.

Now that they have witnessed the amazing result of two hits in two shots, everyone's doubts have disappeared and they all cheered and praised.

With this weapon, you can kill the British and American monsters!
Got it wrong!
With this magical weapon, why should we fear the British and American barbarians?
Zhou Changfeng did not make a fuss and was particularly calm.

After everyone's excitement had passed, he commented: "This thing has staged significance, but it also has great limitations. First, it is too heavy and can only be carried by shore-based bombers. Second, the aircraft cannot move randomly during control and guidance, otherwise it will lose control."

A naval colonel added: "And this is a fixed target. If it is used to bomb a warship, the warship will not move away. I don't think this thing is as effective as it is said to be."

After this topic was opened, everyone listed many potential defects one after another. For example, the most critical one is that this type of glide bomb requires visual guidance. If the target releases a smoke screen to cover itself, it will be blind.
The German army has now been equipped with Hs293 glide bombs and SD-1400X guided bombs on a small scale. At least two bomber squadrons have used these two weapons to attack the Allied fleet many times. The hit rate is indeed higher than that of ordinary aerial bombs, but the results are mediocre. So far, only one heavy cruiser, two destroyers, and seven merchant ships have been sunk, and more than a dozen ships have been damaged.

Moreover, the Allies also learned from their experience and lessons and summarized a set of effective countermeasures to counter the German guided bombs, such as prioritizing fire to prevent bomb carriers from flying level, turning on electronic jammers, and destroyers releasing smoke cover.

In Zhou Changfeng's view, the Type 2 trial-produced guided glide bomb, which already has practical combat value, is just a new and novel means of attack. However, there is no need to deify it, as this thing alone cannot change the overall situation.

What really made him satisfied was the technological breakthrough in aviation engines - the double-row eighteen-cylinder radial engine and the liquid-cooled twelve-cylinder engine had both begun small-scale mass production, major problems had been properly resolved, and minor flaws would not affect their use.

Aircraft manufacturers have used powerful engines to create several new aircraft, one of which is the Titmouse, of which hundreds have been produced.

The twin-tail-strut, twin-engine carrier-based bomber designed by Changyang Company has amazing performance, but it has inherent defects such as the engine being prone to overheating and difficult maintenance.

Therefore, the Ming Navy refused to allow this valuable item on board, but was reluctant to give it up, so it decided to use it as a shore-based bomber.

In addition, upgrading and iteration of attack methods is also crucial.

Since their attack method naturally has the advantage of a high penetration rate, dive bombers have been performing well since the outbreak of the war, but the good times cannot last long.

Zhou Changfeng was worried that as the US military was equipped with radio proximity fuses, the advantage of his dive bombers would be weakened.

His concerns came from the known history that the US military was widely equipped with radio proximity fuses at the end of the war.

Then, we must find a means of attack that can make up for it, and the glide bomb is just one of them.

Although torpedo planes exposed the problem of poor survivability in aircraft carrier confrontations, no one is willing to give up the torpedo weapon easily - it is extremely powerful and can be delivered at a long distance.

For this reason, the military industry has been working hard to improve aerial torpedoes so that they can be successfully dropped at higher altitudes and faster speeds to avoid being damaged by the huge impact when falling into the water.

If this shortcoming can be properly resolved, aerial torpedoes will once again play an important role in sea and air battles.

(End of this chapter)