Chapter 830: Feast of Arms Dealers (Fourth update, please subscribe)
Finally, the Zhenyang Fleet set off!
This huge fleet set off, including two Nanhua-class battleships, four Linhai-class armored cruisers, and four light cruisers.
When the fleet set off, the port was full of people seeing them off, including not only the families of the naval soldiers, but also many of the soldiers' friends, many of whom were soldiers themselves.
When Lin Yuehu was about to board the ship, on the pier, Shen Yaozu looked at him, and after a moment of silence, he said.
"Captain, we'll see you after our triumphant return!"
"See you after your triumph!"
At this moment, there is no need to say goodbye. Soldiers have their own way of saying goodbye. A handshake and a "take care" are enough.
The Ming Dynasty, a country that was founded only five years ago and entered the New World only sixteen years ago, is about to usher in the baptism of blood and fire in a new era...
…
What is war?
In Serbia, there is a proverb that goes like this: In war, politicians provide ammunition, the rich provide food, and the poor provide children... When the war is over, the politicians take back the remaining ammunition, the rich grow more food, and the poor look for the children's graves.
This may not be entirely true, but what is one thing that is certain?
War is definitely a carnival for arms dealers.
Who is the largest arms dealer in the Ming Dynasty?
Of course it is the Nanhua Company, which was formerly the America Company, the royal property of Emperor Zhu!
The famous Nanhua Arsenal, Kulu Artillery Factory, Nanyuan Ammunition Company, Nanhua Shipyard, Linhai Shipyard, Lianshan Comprehensive Factory and almost all the arsenals that could be named in the Ming Dynasty were subsidiaries of Nanhua Company.
Which is the largest arsenal in the Ming Dynasty?
Of course it was the Nanhua Arsenal, which had more than 30,000 machines and 70,000 workers. It was the largest military-industrial complex in the world. Unlike other specialized factories, this factory had dozens of branches, including gun factories, bullet factories, cannon factories, shell factories, pyrotechnic factories (producing fuses and pyrotechnics), gunpowder factories, foundries, and steel mills.
It can be said that this factory is the mother of Ming Dynasty’s industry, because the first domestically-produced machine tool, domestically-produced steam engine and other equipment in Ming Dynasty were all produced in this factory. Similarly, this factory is also the mother of Ming Dynasty’s ordnance industry.
After April, the Nanhua Arsenal became extremely busy. The original two shifts of 10 hours each day were changed to two shifts of 11.5 hours each day. Why did they have to leave one hour? Because the machines needed maintenance. Otherwise, 24-hour continuous production would not be impossible.
Machines roared in the brightly lit workshop, and workers cut metal into parts in front of machine tools. Those parts were then inspected and heat treated, and finally sent to the assembly workshop. The workers assemble the parts into a whole and put them on the conveyor belt in the middle of the workbench. One by one, the parts were sent to the next workbench through the conveyor belt, and then assembled together to finally form a complete rifle.
This working mode may seem simple, but it is an "assembly line production" that is half a century ahead of its time. In the past few years, Daming's production experts have been studying the innovation of this production technology, trying to promote the industrial revolution in production through this innovation of production technology.
The arsenal was the first place to apply this production technology.
After each rifle is assembled and produced, it will be packed into boxes for test firing. When the truckloads of rifles are transported to the test firing range via a small track on a cart, the test firing range is still filled with the same loud gunfire as usual.
In addition to the shooter on the rifle shooting platform who was shooting non-stop, on a shooting platform next to it, a shooter was sitting behind a tripod, operating some strange-looking gadget on the tripod.
The reason why it is a bit strange is that there is a metal bullet belt inserted in the square receiver, and there is a round iron cylinder in front of the receiver, and the iron cylinder seems to be dripping water.
The moment he pulled the trigger.
"clatter……"
Crisp and rapid gunshots rang out at the shooting range. There were no Gatling gun barrels and no electric motors needed. All one had to do was pull the bolt and fire continuously.
When the gunshots rang out, Liu Qingen stared at the machine gun and ignored the broken target board. What is the most important thing now?
How long can it fire continuously?
However, in just a few dozen breaths, the 300-round bullet chain was emptied. At the moment it was empty, Liu Qingen said.
"Reload and keep shooting!"
The test shooter immediately picked up the belt, inserted the belt guide into the receiver, and then pulled the bolt again.
"Clang!" He pulled the trigger again while loading the gun.
Gunshots rang out again!
Rapid, endless gunfire echoed in the shooting range. Along with the firing of the machine gun, the water in the cooling water cylinder boiled and a little steam came out. With the continuous shooting, the steam increased and the water in the cooling water cylinder decreased. Bullet casings piled up on the right side of the machine gun.
At this time, everyone in the shooting range was attracted.
People standing nearby looked at it in surprise. This seemingly inconspicuous guy actually fired so many bullets!
"How many bullets have been fired?"
"More than 50 ammunition chains!"
"So that means there are 15,000 rounds?"
"I estimate that there are at least 17,000..."
People were discussing it one after another. Perhaps to the outside world, this machine gun was still a secret, but to the people in the Nanhua Arsenal, it was not a secret. After all, this new type of machine gun had been improved and tested in the past few days, and its performance was constantly improving on this shooting range.
From initially only being able to fire one or two thousand rounds of bullets continuously, it is now able to fire tens of thousands of rounds of bullets continuously. Even the cooling water cylinder used to cool the barrel together with the barrel jacket has been increased from 2.5 liters to 3.3 liters to extend the shooting time.
Through continuous improvement, it has become increasingly perfect.
"Twenty thousand have been sent..."
After firing the 67th bullet chain, a smile appeared on Liu Qingen's face.
20,000 rounds, this is the army’s requirement for machine guns - the machine gun must be able to fire 20,000 rounds continuously!
"Connect the ammunition belts together and test fire with the 133 gun!"
At Liu Qingen's request, another trial machine gun used an extended ammunition chain, with a total of 67 chains connected together. In the next 48 minutes and 12 seconds, the machine gun kept firing continuously. The continuous firing shocked everyone, even the engineers who produced Gatling machine guns in the same gun factory. When they looked at the machine gun spewing flames, they had only one thought in their minds - the Gatling machine gun was eliminated!
At least in the infantry regiments they were eliminated!
This machine gun, which does not require batteries or electric motors and is much lighter, will surely change warfare...
(End of this chapter)
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