Lin Shenhe raised his binoculars and looked at the fluttering boat in the distance. When the angle of fire was raised to 10 degrees, the point of the shell splashing was not far from the farthest five-kilometer rangefinder ship. This is still black powder, and if nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin mixed propellant can be used, I am afraid the distance will be even greater.

"It's a pity that the level of fire control is too poor." Li Yunxing sighed regretfully. Kao's visual aiming and gun gauge calculations that if you hit a moving sea point target, you can have a 5% hit rate at this distance, which is considered a good RP. The biggest contradiction encountered by the Weapons Research Institute in terms of artillery is that the range of artillery that can be built greatly exceeds the level of fire control.

"Add a scope to the cannon." Bai Yu said jokingly.

"I would like to, but there is no suitable mirror, and it would be good for the industrial sector to produce optical glass and make direct-sight mirrors."

"It's always been impossible in the past few years, it's still kao calculations, and it's always useful to do a good job of the shooting number table and solve the equations, so that the gunner can memorize it."

"But this cannon is really exciting!" Wang Ruixiang caressed the polished blue and shiny cast steel cannon with emotion, "Thick enough!" ”

"The Planning Commission only allows us to cast two of them. of 150 cannons. Lin Shenhe was somewhat regretful, "To protect the entire Bopu, 2 doors are really not enough." I had to cast more smoothbore guns. ”

"I think it's good to cast a few fewer doors, it's miscellaneous. The cannon is cast too much and wasted. You can't just meet this elementary level. Bai Yu said. He had formally studied weapon-making and lacked enthusiasm for these old-fashioned artillery.

"That's right, but unfortunately there are still too few cannons. Wide. The shop is fortified, and Kao these cannons are not enough. Ying Yue shook his head, as an artillery commander, he belongs to the cross-arms, the gunners of both the navy and the army are trained in his artillery company, and he is responsible for the artillery firepower arrangement of the Bopu fortress project, "With these two, there are only six cannons that can be used in the fortress area, what is this enough?" ”

"It's not hard to forge new guns, but we should standardize them. Get up, it's too casual now, and the standards are a bit messy: there are standard caliber and heavy standard bullets. It's too hard to stock up on ammunition. Li Yunxing proposed.

"Of course, all staff should be equipped with rifled guns." The more you should look at the smoothbore gun. "The army can use imitations of the Japanese 92 infantry gun plus mortars." The Navy uses 70mm or 100mm breech-loading rifled guns. ”

Lin Shenhe found a clean stone and sat down: "According to our present. In the industrial capacity, let's take it step by step. For the time being, the army will still be a smoothbore gun for the new army -- the army needs a large number of artillery pieces and uses them frequently, our existing materials are a little poor, and our ammunition manufacturing capacity is weak. Smoothbore guns are not very demanding for these things, and they are simple to manufacture. It doesn't hurt if you lose it. The division is based on the traditional bullet weight. I look at the 6-pounder, 12-pounder cannon and the 12-pounder mountain howitzer, the 24-pounder howitzer. ”

"Mortars don't need it?"

"The 24-pounder howitzer is not allowed. That's what it means. Lin Shenhe said, "As for the cannons to be used during the siege of the city, they belong to special varieties and are not included in the conventional equipment." ”

Wang Ruixiang remembered the infantry weapon: "When it comes to mortars, I think of using mortars." ”

Lin Shenhe said: "Jishu is not difficult, the problem is mainly on the ammunition - the fuse, the fuse." Don't play this without a fuse that can be kao. ”

Lin Shenhe continued, "As for the navy, rear-loading rifled guns, at least rifled guns are a trend -- the number of warships that the industrial sector can provide is small, and it is not easy to train qualified sailors, and ships and men are expensive, so try to use rifled guns with long range and large damage, at least to protect themselves when encountering a strong enemy." ”

"I agree with this, the equipment still depends on our industrial capacity and the level of the enemy, there is no need to advance too much, too much, the more resources will be occupied, and it will have an impact on industrial upgrading." Li Yunxing said.

"Let's go back to Command."

Everyone got down from the gun emplacement and returned to the fortress headquarters, where the newly completed fortress headquarters was located at the top of the Pujiao beacon tower, in the same place as the heavy artillery position. This artificial hill with a height of more than 25 meters and a slope of 45 degrees has been transformed into the main support point of the entire thin paved fortress area, and in addition to the original lookout posts and searchlights, many buildings such as the fortress headquarters, soldiers' quarters, ammunition depot and many other buildings have been added.

In order to transport a large number of building materials and heavy cannons to the beacon tower, the construction company dug a winch taxiway on the hillside, and used an electric winch to pull the cargo hopper to the top of the beacon tower, which completely solved the transportation problem. The winch lane in Zuihou was expanded into a covered and concealed tunnel, and in addition to transporting people and supplies, telephone and power lines that were previously vulnerable to damage in Lou were also relocated to the inside of the tunnel.

Barbed wire fences were erected around the top platform and trenches were dug. The Navy stationed a marine platoon here. Including one gunner squad and two infantry squads.

The Bopu camp at the foot of the beacon tower has been strengthened accordingly, including upgrading the original rudimentary wooden observation deck to a masonry turret. The mechanical department cast batches of 12-pounder howitzers for these turrets, which were mounted on old naval gun mounts with pulley blocks to cushion recoil. The shells fired were mainly shotguns, mainly used as machine guns.

Next to the pier leading to the Fengcheng Wheel, a four-story fort of masonry and concrete was added, on which a 32-pounder cannon and a 12-pounder mountain howitzer were installed. A platoon is stationed on the battery in peacetime.

zuihou is the Toyojo wheel itself. Its tall body also acts as a beacon in the harbor, and the ship itself has multiple sets of searchlights. It is very suitable as a turret. Moreover, the Fengcheng ship itself is extremely valuable, and installing artillery on it is a matter of killing two birds with one stone. Another 150mm cannon was installed on the foredeck of the Fengcheng - they all used Lin Shenhe's newly developed anti-recoil device, and the cannon could maneuver.

In order to strengthen the protection of the Fengcheng ship itself, the executive committee issued a special "Fengcheng ship management order", all unused cabins must be locked, and all portholes must be closed and locked except for those that need to be opened regularly for ventilation. All movable tools, furniture, accessories and other items on board shall be registered and shall not be used at will. The gangway for getting on and off the boat must be stowed away before dark every day.

In addition to these support points, a fort and beacon lights were built on the high corner, which was built during the Qing Dynasty's Westernization Movement.

"You can also create a batch of mines to block all the dead spots for shooting. Basically, the port area is impregnable. Li Yunxing said: "For safety reasons, it is best to visualize electric mines. ”

"Wires, wires." Lin Shenhe said, "Wires are first-class materials, you have to use them to build mines, and the governor has to eat you alive." ”

"No, isn't it a trial production of wires?" Li Yunxing was at Lingao Telecom, and he had already seen the news from the internal communication sent by the Industrial Energy Commission.

"Enameled wire soaked in seawater, you can rest assured?"

"Enameled wire?" Li Yunxing was disappointed. But when you think about it, the insulation materials of modern telecommunications are either plastic or rubber, and these two things are not available here and now, and people cannot make them out of thin air.

Lin Shenhe said: "It should be possible to build a fixed anchor mine. ”

The anchor mine itself does not have much jishu content, and at the level of passing through industry: the mine body is made by casting method, and it is loaded with black powder - the explosive power of 30KG of black powder is enough to destroy any ship in this time and space. Leave a certain gap in the thunder body as a buoyancy reserve, and the anchor chain used to mooring the thunder body can be made of iron, but it is not possible to use a strong cable and an iron anchor to fix it on the bottom of the sea.

A little more difficult is the fuse. In order to ensure the effectiveness of the impact, multiple fuses need to be set up on the anchor mine, which should be cheap and easy to obtain, and the fire should be reliable. The people of the weapons team decided to start the manufacture of anchor mines after the artillery manufacturing work was completed.

"To be honest, if the situation is not critical, it is better not to set it up, and there will be endless troubles in the future." Chen Haiyang, who was looking at the defense map with them in the command center, said, "This thing will disappear if it is distributed, and if it is missing, there will be nowhere to find it, and it will be troublesome and difficult to remove, and the effect is not good." ”

He sighed: "However, this mine is still in special use, and it can be blown up when a mine ship collides fifty or sixty years ago, and the channel at the mouth of the Yangtze River is still being cleared -- the remnants of the mines laid during the GMD War of Resistance are still there." ”

"I guarantee that the mines we make will definitely not last for fifty or sixty years, and will definitely fail in a few years at most." Lin Shenhe said jokingly.

While discussing the fortification plan, I only heard the sentry report that Li Haiping came.

Chen Haiyang looked at the application sent by Li Haiping, and his brows were full of wrinkling. Although it was almost a sure thing for the executive committee to meet Li Huamei, the wishes of the following grassroots officers made him really unable to reply.

"Guns, absolutely not give." Chen Haiyang said, "Don't say that I don't have the power, the executive committee has to discuss the issue of firearms for the natives, and your wish is beyond the scope." ”

Li Haiping hurriedly said: "People train sailors for us, and we have to give benefits." ”

"The benefits are varied, why do you have to make up your mind about guns." Chen Haiyang said, "I can't be the master of this matter, I will help you report it when you have a meeting, and it depends on the executive committee how to decide." ”

"This is too bureaucratic, isn't it? We're in desperate need of friends right now! It's always okay to visit Fengcheng Wheel, right? Don't go into the cabin, just go around the deck. ”

"Whether a friend is a friend or not is not a matter for our navy, and besides, if you apply to take her to visit Fengcheng, this matter must also be approved by the executive committee."

"Kao, what's going on—"

At this time, the phone rang, Chen Haiyang picked up the phone, said a few "yes" words, and then said Li Haiping's application again:

"yes, that Li Huamei's attitude seems to have changed, so- huh? Yes, yes, haode. I understand! As he spoke, he hung up the phone and said to Li Haiping:

"Count yourself lucky, the executive committee agreed that you should take her on the ship for a visit, and she will not be allowed to enter the cabin! The Executive Committee has a task that she needs to work on. ”