Southern Mexico, bordered by the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, has a pleasant climate throughout the year, especially in March, when spring just arrives.

In such a sunny sleeping day, a young lieutenant woke up from a long slumber. When he found himself lying in a bed in a field hospital, he didn't seem to be able to react to what was happening. He tried to sit up, but a sharp pain forced him to remain in his current flat position, with a grin on his face.

"Why am I here?"

"George, Lieutenant Patton, congratulations!"

The young man followed the prestige, and the figure who came from the door was a very familiar figure, and the voice was so familiar and rough.

"General Pershing?" The lieutenant lifted his head and body slightly, ready to salute the comer.

"No, no, no, you lie down quickly! The doctor said that the body has been removed from your body, but your body is still very weak, and your first task is to recuperate! Pershing said and had already come to his bedside, "Congratulations, the troops under your command have successfully attacked Zapata's headquarters, and although Zapata himself escaped by chance, I believe it is a huge blow to the enemy's morale!" I have already asked the War Department for credit for you, and I believe that the medal will come down soon! ”

"My troops? Please credit? Oh ......" Patton was a little confused just after listening to Pershing's big call, and slowly, he remembered that he was taking over from Major James and leading them on a rapid march to the enemy camp when he was shot by a cold gun, no wonder his neck hurt so badly now, and he was wrapped in a thick circle of gauze. However, Barton was relieved to think that his temporary troops had arrived at the camp and successfully attacked, and then he grabbed Pershing's hand tightly, "Then have we caught any important people?" Like Zapata's assistant, or a high-ranking officer in the peasant army? ”

Pershing shook his head.

"Did you find and destroy the bandits' ammunition depot?"

Pershing still shook his head.

"It's ......," Barton bewildered. Are we victorious? ”

"Yes!" Pershing nodded firmly, "At least we made Zapata understand that there is no place in this world where our American ** team can't find a place!" ”

Patton was silent, he had a bad feeling, if this can also be called a victory, then the American ** team in Mexico may have nothing to gain.

At this time, on the other side of the ocean, Europe, the cold winter is speeding up the pace of departure.

Germany. Berlin, weapons test site in the western suburbs.

After crushing the Austro-Hungarian Empire with a lightning-fast punch, Kaiser Wilhelm III's position among the German people and the army was at its peak, and everyone from civilian to military was proud to see him, but any protagonist would be overshadowed by his presence in public.

Today's protagonists were originally a batch of new army weapons, but when the Kaiser and his entourage appeared, everyone present stood up and saluted, and the voices of "Long live Your Majesty" came and went. This is very busy. He held a cane in his left hand, and kept waving to the crowd with his right hand. I finally got seated, and the trial demonstration has not yet begun. Gustav Krupp, the big boss of the Krupp Arms Company, came to him under the guidance of the emperor's chamberlain.

Gustav respectfully took off his hat and saluted, "Your Majesty, I would like to salute you in the name of the Krupp family, and we are willing to sacrifice everything for you free of charge!" ”

Chen Tian nodded slightly, which was considered a return of the courtesy.

"Your Excellency is so polite, please take a seat!"

Gustav Krupp, who had already met Chentian more than once, sat calmly on Chentian's right hand, a former imperial diplomat who was later arranged by Wilhelm II to marry Bertha, the granddaughter of Alfred Krupp, the founder of the Krupp family. As Wilhelm II had hoped, after the death of Krupp the Elder, Gustav became the owner of this illustrious family. However, Wilhelm II died an early death.

In fact, as early as 1903, the Königsberg Arms Company, which was invested by Chentian, cooperated with Krupp on some projects, and at that time, he had a relationship with Gustav. Later, the two sides cooperated happily on artillery re-entry devices and mortars, and when Chentian ascended the throne, the Krupp family was one of the first major arms dealers to swear allegiance to the new monarch. Obviously. They stood in the right position this time, during the war, the weapons and ammunition produced by the Krupp company provided a guarantee of victory for the German team, and also brought a steady stream of profits to themselves, after the end of the war, a large number of orders from the German army and allied countries still made the Krupp company's operating rate reach 60 percent, which was already a very high level in non-war times.

In this invasion of Austria-Hungary, the War Department's order for 1 million rounds of artillery shells made Krupp a small profit. Now, as soon as the plan for the invasion of France was made, the well-informed Krupp family was once again in the mood.

Speaking of which, I have to mention Krupp's largest partner - Gigi Group, that is, Chentian's largest private industry, this group merged the original Königsberg Shipyard, Königsberg Arms Company, Gigi Aviation Group and Griggy Petroleum Company, and has now surpassed Krupp to become Germany's largest industrial group, with industries including aviation, shipbuilding, railways, machinery, petroleum and minerals, metallurgy and military industry, especially aviation shipbuilding, petroleum and military industry as the four pillar industries.

The aviation group has the largest proportion of the German aviation industry, its Thomas Post Office owns two-thirds of Germany's civil aircraft, and the aviation manufacturing company has an annual aircraft production capacity of more than 1,000 aircraft, 70 percent of the aircraft of the German army, navy and air force are manufactured by this company, and has the world's largest aircraft research center.

The shipbuilding group has a large shipbuilding center and four medium-sized shipyards, with a total annual shipbuilding capacity of 800,000 tons, accounting for only one-tenth of the country, but it has extremely strong financial and technical strength, and the technology of aircraft carriers and submarines ranks first in the world.

The oil group is the largest and most profitable industry in the whole Jiji Group, with 11 large-scale oil fields and 32 medium-sized oil fields in Iran, Iraq and the Gulf region, and has established 26 large-scale oil refineries. In the Kingdom of Romania, it has the right to exploit 1 large oil field (Proyesti) and has established 1 large oil refinery; The group extracts 750,000 barrels of oil per day, and can refine 6 million tons of gasoline and 13 million tons of diesel per year. More than 450 oil storage centers have been established in Germany, and the oil storage capacity has soared from 5 million tons before the war to 22 million tons at present. The group will be able to generate more than 500 million marks per month from the sale of oil to the German army, navy and factories alone, while the German government also plans to buy 5 million tons of crude oil per year as a strategic stockpile, and the British Isles and northern France governments will also buy more than 100,000 tons of gasoline and the same amount of diesel from Germany every month at double prices.

Hence the calculation. The oil conglomerate can increase Chentian's family by at least 5 billion marks a year, and by the way, increase the tax revenue of the German government by 2 billion marks, no wonder people say that this Wilhelm III owned two empires, one is the German Empire, and the other is his personal industrial empire.

The last pillar industry of the Gigi Group is the arms industry, which works closely with Krupp Arms. Like Krupp, the arms company of the Gigi Group is also widely involved in the light and heavy weapons of the army and navy, therefore. It is inevitable that the two sides will compete on some projects, but there are obvious differences in the main focus of the two arms companies - Krupp is "heavy" and Gigi is "light", the Krupp ground cannon has a history of 100 years, and the German Army's heavy howitzers, giant siege guns and the German Navy's large-caliber naval guns and fortress guns basically use Krupp products; The advantage of Gigi arms lies in the new weapons, namely tanks, armored vehicles, anti-aircraft guns, light infantry guns, machine guns, machine guns and other "light weapons". At present, half of the anti-aircraft weapons of the German army and navy are purchased from this arms company, and the "Firebird" and improved machine guns are even more famous in the world, and the 20-mm "Storm" machine gun also makes the infantry of various countries fearful.

However, in order to prevent the War Department from favoring Jiji arms in its own arms procurement, Chen Tian formulated an informal regulation for the logistics and equipment departments of the three services: except for products that are recognized as secret weapons. The army procures weapons, especially before purchasing weapons from Gigi arms. An internal arms exhibition must be held, and no less than two companies must participate in a competitive bidding for weapons, and high-ranking military generals must be invited. According to this regulation. In addition to purchasing the DDD tank, the Firebird machine gun and the JD fighter, the German team also held an internal weapon performance exhibition, that is, a weapons bidding meeting.

The purpose of this exhibition was to replace a batch of old equipment of the German Army, including the 77-mm field cannon finalized and equipped with the troops in 1896, the German-made Maxim heavy machine gun equipped with the troops in 1898, the 150-mm heavy howitzer put into mass production in 1902, and the M04 infantry grenade ordered in 1904. In addition, the famous Mauser 1898 rifle of the Mauser company and the "Firebird" series of machine guns of Gigi Arms were also required to introduce improved models.

After taking his seat, Gustav asked respectfully, "How is Your Majesty feeling lately?" ”

"Well, thanks to everyone. Recovered a lot lately! Chen Tian said and looked at his left foot, according to Dr. Cather's reasoning, it was only a matter of time before this leg recovered.

"Oh, that's good, the people will be very happy to know the news! Now, they care about your legs even more than their own body, and you may not know it, but when they learn that you can walk without a wheelchair, our workers there also have a little celebration. It's called Miracle Night, and it's even happier than a festival! Gustav said enviously.

Chen Tian immediately smiled, and he also knew that this kind of activity must be indispensable to the active initiative and support of the factory management, which can be regarded as a little heart of the Krupp family.

"Then thank you workers for me! Oh, by the way, listen to my attendant, you have brought some good new things out to participate in the test today, then I wish your products can win the favor of the military department, and also contribute more to the great cause of the Germanic nation! ”

That said, in fact, Chen Tian has already seen the weapon drawings and introductions sent by the Krupp company, one is based on the French Army's 75 mm rapid-fire gun improved 75 mm field gun, due to the addition of a re-entry firing device, this kind of artillery can integrate firing speed, accuracy, firepower and mobility in one, in Chen Tian's opinion is a very good battlefield gun, once formed, he also hopes to use armored vehicles or tank chassis and this artillery to test new self-propelled guns; Another fist product launched by Krupp this time is the new 105mm howitzer, which is Krupp's specialty technology; There is also a 240 mm siege gun, the 420 mm giant siege gun previously manufactured by Krupp was put into use in the war, the power is not to say, but it is too cumbersome to move, so this time they launched a new type of heavy artillery that is easy to transport; Fourth. It is also the one that Chen Tian pays the most attention to,It is tentatively named MG1916Individual light machine gun,Although it is a light machine gun,But MP1916 uses 9mm pistol bullets,The magazine is located above the machine gun,Ammunition capacity24 rounds,There is a foot bracket in front,Only a single soldier is required。

Coincidentally. Bergman Arsenal and Gigi Arms also launched their own "individual light machine gun" this time, in which Bergman's machine gun also uses 9mm pistol cartridges, the gun is inspired by the 1915 Italian Villapelosa double-barreled light machine gun, based on this machine gun captured from the Italian battlefield, German gunsmith Hugo Schmeiser designed his own MP1916, the gun has three ways to feed ammunition, namely 20 and 32 rounds of straight magazines and 32 rounds of snail-shaped drums, The magazine and drum were located to the left of the machine gun.

After reading the design drawings of these two machine guns, Chen Tian was confident that the "Charger" would definitely be able to win this time.

In front of Chentian. Gustav knew he had nothing to keep. So, he told Chentian very frankly: "Your Majesty, although we have taken out four new weapons this time. But only the new 75-mm field gun, 105-mm howitzer, 240-mm siege gun are more certain, and our M1916 is novel, but I think the technology is not very mature! Therefore, it is an honor for our first three artillery pieces to be used by Your Majesty's army! ”

Chen Tian smiled again, it can't be said that Gustav was greedy, but if there are three kinds of artillery selected by the German Army, it will also be a very lucrative deal, now there are more than 200 large and small arms companies and arsenals in Germany, plus the Bohemian Skoda Arsenal that has been used by Germany, the competition in the military industry is still quite fierce. There is a product that is selected by the military is already a dream of many small and medium-sized arsenals, let alone being selected three at once!

"That depends on the vision of the generals of the War Department! I've heard that at least thirty munitions factories want their medium-caliber cannons to be favored by the War Office, and it seems that you have quite a few competitors, and even the Mauser Company has launched their 50mm tank guns. However, the Imperial Army's future demand for DDD tanks is limited! ”

"Yes, yes!" Gustav hurriedly responded, in fact, he was already savoring the meaning of the Kaiser's last sentence, whether it was a limitation of the army's strategy, or the need for new upgraded products. This makes a big difference for savvy businessmen.

"By the way, I heard that you have cooperated with Siemens on a project, a new type of wheeled armored car, right?" Chentian's words are full of "heard" and "supposed", but this does not mean that he likes hearsay, in fact, the spies used to spy on officials and generals in the era of Wilhelm II were not idle, and many of them turned to spy on major domestic consortia and enterprises, which can not only allow Chentian to better grasp the movements of domestic chaebols, but more importantly, prevent them from colluding with foreign forces. Because of this, at the time of the Friedrich rebellion, few big conglomerates dared to finance the putschists.

Gustav knew a little about these situations, and he knew very well that as long as he honestly cooperated with the German government and military and did not trade with foreign forces without authorization, profits and security could be guaranteed. So, he replied truthfully:

"Your Majesty, we did work together on a project with Siemens! I will send you the project proposal later, and I hope you can give you some valuable feedback! ”

Chen Tian waved his hand, "Don't be nervous, I just want to tell you that there are already several arms companies developing wheeled armored vehicles." Siemens' gasoline-engined cars are of good quality, your artillery technology is excellent, but simple wheeled armored vehicles do not reflect the characteristics of you and Siemens! ”

Gustav was a little surprised, but he soon realized what was hidden behind the Kaiser's words, so he said very sincerely: "Your Majesty, please give me advice!" ”

"Siemens has a lot of advantages in electrical aspects, especially in communication and lighting, and you can work on this!" With that, Tatsuten shifted his gaze from Gustav to the proving ground in front of him, as he felt that he didn't need to go into too much detail. Moreover, today the trials and demonstration of new weapons are about to begin. In addition to Krupp and Gigi Arms, there are also many arms companies such as the Mauser Arms Company and the Bergman Arsenal exhibiting today.