The troops under Lin Ziran were equipped with a certain number of 120 mm light mortars very early, but this thing actually has no sense of existence in the Southern Navy, after all, this is just a smoothbore light mortar gun, and the firing range is only two or three hundred meters, and it is not as long as the range of a rifle, and it is more troublesome to fire, so it is not actually used much on the battlefield, and it is not much equipped.

However, in effective use, some of the characteristics of this weapon have also attracted the attention of military generals.

This characteristic is a curved trajectory at a large angle!

Its special large-angle curved trajectory is useless in ordinary times, and the officers of the front-line troops rarely use the early 120 mm smoothbore light mortar guns, but later with the popularization of rifled weapons, especially after the enemy was hit by their own rifled guns, they began to hide behind trenches, breastworks and other bunkers for defensive operations.

At this time, the officers on the front line found that this kind of light mortar, which was useless in normal times, could effectively hit the enemy troops who were hiding behind cover.

The extremely large angle of the trajectory allows the shell to be fired into the sky, and then fall behind the enemy's trench or even the reverse slope, and then inflict damage on the enemy.

After this situation was gradually fed back, the Ordnance Department paid attention to it and reported it to Lin Ziran.

As soon as Lin Ziran looked at the report, he could see at a glance that the front-line officers were using light mortars as mortars.

The light mortar guns previously equipped by the Southern Navy were originally intended to provide direct fire support to the infantry at medium and close ranges, accompanying the infantry to advance directly.

But now, its main tactical orientation has changed to attacking enemy troops hiding behind cover.

And this tactical positioning is the classic positioning of mortars!

The Ordnance Department was immediately ordered to organize R&D personnel to improve the existing light mortars.

Soon, the Ordnance Department organized technical experts from the Nanzhou Machinery Bureau to make targeted improvements, such as the use of steel barrels, which can make the barrels lighter and can withstand greater bore pressure.

However, the most important thing was to shoot a special shell for the light mortar gun using a shell design borrowed from the 75-mm rear-loading gun.

The shell is a conical shell with a collision fuse at the front, a propellant at the back half of the projectile, and a primer at the bottom, which is fired in a gravitational firing mode.

At the same time, in order to control the stability of the projectile after launching, a tail fin is also installed in the tail section, so that the cannon can fly stably after being ejected, instead of rolling.

Purely technically, these technologies are not difficult for several large arsenals in the Liangluo area, because all the technologies are ready-made.

Steel barrels, crash fuses, primers, and much more are readily available.

With such a combination, the mortar just appeared!

Although the weight is a bit heavy and the range is a bit close, during the test, the researchers found a particularly interesting feature, that is, the speed of fire of this thing is particularly fast.

Because of the use of gravity natural firing, the integrated projectile body, it is very convenient to fire, directly put the shell upside down into the muzzle, after the shell is fired, there will be no residual shells and the like, you can quickly carry out the second launch, if you are not afraid of continuous firing caused by the barrel can not bear and explode, you can fire one after another.

Even taking into account the bearing capacity of the barrel, it is possible to achieve a rate of fire of more than 12 rounds per minute for rapid fire, and if accuracy is not considered, 15 or more shells can be fired in a minute.

This rate of fire is even faster than the current Roan III rifle......

After this data came out, the generals of the military were a little hesitant!

The rate of fire of this thing is too fast, the fast rate of fire means that the consumption of shells will be very large, the current rear-loading rifle and rear-loading artillery, the rate of fire is already so fast, the pressure on logistics is extremely great, and then this kind of light artillery that can shoot more than ten shells a minute, if it is not controlled and let go, the logistics system can collapse directly......

In addition, the effective firing range of this 80-millimeter light mortar is actually very short, and when it is tested, the maximum firing range is only more than 1,000 meters, and if you want to ensure a certain accuracy, 800 meters can not be more.

However, this effective range is still too close.

The Southern Navy was now able to transfer its firepower to other feudal towns, relying on the long range of its rear-loading artillery, and the shelling from a distance of four or five thousand meters at every turn, which was the core factor that made it difficult for the troops of other feudal towns to bear.

If it is a range of several hundred meters, then it will be hit by the enemy's smoothbore guns and even rifle fire.

Not to mention smoothbore guns, they basically have an effective range of thousands of meters, and the effective range of some heavy guns can reach about two kilometers.

As for rifles, the Fuyuan modified rifles equipped by other feudal towns can basically reach a maximum range of hundreds of meters or even thousands of meters.

The maximum firing range of the Luo'an III rifle is thousands of meters, but it is limited by the accuracy of the naked eye, and it is difficult to hit the enemy if it shoots more than 500 meters, so the combat distance of the first-line infantry is generally within 500 meters, and it is more likely to occur within 350 meters, because no matter how far it goes, the rifle can hit but the soldiers can't aim accurately!

However, if accurate shooting is not good, people will play with firepower coverage, and the concentrated soldiers will be able to hit a wave of guns, and they can hit a few hundred meters.

After the military's entanglement came to Lin Ziran's side, Lin Ziran directly made a decision, no matter what, this is better than the previous 120mm light mortar gun.

Since it's easier to use, let's just change the equipment.

Since the range is short, don't be stupid to fire in the open space, it's okay to hide directly behind cover, if you are afraid of the enemy's artillery counterattack, you can completely change places with a shot.

Anyway, the combat weight of this gun is only more than 80 kilograms, and a few people can directly carry it for emergency maneuvers, and if it is in a marching state, it can also be carried separately from the barrel and the turf and the gun carriage, which can be carried by horses or directly carried by soldiers.

The light mortar gun, which is very lightweight, naturally has no maneuverability, and it can completely accompany the infantry to advance, and it can also carry out rapid emergency maneuvers during battle.

At Lin Ziran's request, the troops began to replace this 80mm light mortar gun, this primitive mortar production technology is very simple, and it is very easy for the Nanzhou Machinery Bureau to produce these things, but it was only finalized last month, and the time is relatively short, so there are not many, and there are only dozens of them in total.

Except for some of the ones reserved for testing and training, the rest were equipped in the 1st Division.

At the same time, a batch of special shells for light mortars was also rationed for emergency production.

However, after a mere two-hour battle just now, the First Division urgently reported to Lin Ziran that their light mortar shells had been exhausted, and requested urgent replenishment......

When he first heard this, Lin Ziran couldn't help it: "A group of losers, is this using artillery as a gun?" ”

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