At 10 a.m., the exhibition was scheduled to start, but it was discovered that the time on the pocket watch and watch was pointing to 10:01, and there was no movement on the proving ground.

At this time, people can't help but turn their attention to the Kaiser's exclusive VIP seats. During Kaiser Wilhelm's time, seats were mostly empty, because he preferred to hold his own military parades, invite high-ranking generals, celebrities and dignitaries to his own banquets rather than watch new weapons tests, and more often than not, he preferred to stay in the palace and play cards.

Now the William III approach is very different from his predecessor, and it can even be said that it is often unpredictable. He has a wide range of activities, but there are not many rules to follow in terms of timing. This weapon test site was a place he frequented, but he did not come to every weapon test and display, and it is said that he only came to see the weapons tests that he thought necessary; He basically goes to the headquarters of the army, navy and air force once a week, but not necessarily any day of the week, maybe Monday morning, maybe Friday afternoon; He also often went to the army level, perhaps somewhere in the barracks of the Janissaries in Berlin, or in the naval quarters in Hamburg; He would visit the Royal Dockyards and the Königsberg Shipyard once in a while, but not necessarily when a new ship was launched; He often attends important meetings of the Cabinet and the National Assembly, and usually not just to observe, and although he does not forcibly interfere in internal affairs, he often makes surprising and not vexatious proposals; In addition, it is also something he often does to understand the people's feelings.

In short, in the eyes of government officials and army generals, the Kaiser was frighteningly energetic, but he was not a man of all kinds, and he either made decisions about government decrees and military strategy alone, or he completely left it to the subordinates, and he would never change his orders as Wilhelm II did. They will not interfere with the established strategies of the government and the army halfway, let alone do some absurd things according to personal preferences.

Since the Kaiser had appeared at the test site more than a quarter of an hour earlier, one could not help but wonder what had delayed the start of the test show and kept the noble monarch waiting. Those who are closer to the VIP seats will notice that after chatting with the boss of Krupp, the seat on the Kaiser's right hand has been vacant. As a result, speculation began to arise about which important person had delayed the trial.

By 10:25, the man finally appeared. Accompanied by several German officials. An old man in his mid-60s, dressed in an off-white suit, came to the Kaiser, took off his hat and saluted, and then sat down in the empty space on the Kaiser's right-hand hand side in fear.

Then the officers on the side of the Kaiser made a gesture, and within two minutes the weapons test was announced.

First of all, the War Department's alternative medium-caliber infantry support artillery was tested, and four arms companies were on display: Krupp Munitions, Gigi Munitions, Eihardt Munitions, and Friedrich Krup Munitions.

Needless to say, Krupp and Gigi Arms are both Germany's largest military industrial enterprises, and they both use field guns with a water-pressure gas long-stroke retreat system. Among them, the design rate of fire of the K16 FK16 type 75-mm 40-bore gun reached 25 rounds. The shell weighs 6.5 kg, has a maximum range of 10 km when firing at high angles, and has an armor-piercing thickness of 40 mm at a distance of 1,000 m using solid armor-piercing shells, while the 75-mm 46-diameter gun of the Gigi Munitions model has a design rate of 15 rounds for the FG16 gun. The shell weighs 6 mm and has a maximum range of 11 km, and in addition to ordinary grenades, it is also equipped with two specialized anti-tank shells - solid armor-piercing shells and high-explosive anti-tank grenades, of which solid armor-piercing shells have an armor-piercing thickness of 45 mm at 1000 meters and high-explosive grenades reach 60 mm.

The biggest feature of these two guns is that the function of anti-tank guns has been added to the usual 75 mm rapid-fire guns, which has to be said to be a design of the two companies in terms of German infantry guns - the German army does not have decent armored forces at this time, but the absence of this time does not mean that there will be no in the future.

As for the Erhardt arms (the predecessor of Rheinmetall), although the current reputation and strength in Germany are not as good as those of Krupp, Mauser and Gigi arms, they monopolize 90 percent of the German anti-aircraft artillery market. The company's 1906 50-mm "balloon gun" was the world's first specialized anti-aircraft gun, and then in 1908 and 1914, Erha introduced 65-mm 35-diameter and 77-mm 40-diameter special anti-aircraft guns, only because of the overwhelming superiority of the German air forces in the war, these anti-aircraft guns did not play much role in the war.

This time, Ichhardt Arms not only intends to compete for the army's new generation of ground anti-aircraft artillery, but also devotes a considerable part of its energy to the more in-demand infantry support artillery, and their new product is the old FA16 field gun with a design rate of 20 rounds. The shell weighed 6.8 kilograms, had a range of 10 kilometers, and fired only ordinary grenades, although the shooting performance was very average, but when their guns were driven to the test site by a six-wheeled Mercedes-Benz truck, people's eyes suddenly lit up!

At this time, the boss of the Achat Arms Company, Lord Echhard, had a smug smile on his face, and he knew that in terms of technical strength, his company's ground artillery could hardly surpass the Krupp and Gigi Arms, so he found such a unique way. In fact, Ichhardt Arms had the idea of loading its own anti-aircraft guns onto trucks as early as the war, but before this design could be put into practice, the war was already over. Later, when designing a new infantry gun, they remembered this unique design, and in addition to the necessary re-entry device and light shield, they cut all the parts that could be cut, so that the weight of this field gun was reduced to, four kilograms, which could be fully loaded on medium and even light trucks, and they even ordered a heavy truck from Mercedes-Benz, which could load two FLAK16s and design them in one direction at the same time.

In Chentian's view, this is obviously the prototype of self-propelled artillery, although the artillery on this loading truck is basically defenseless, but the mobility is greatly enhanced, and this kind of artillery of the Eihalt company can be used as a high-level dual-purpose gun after removing the shield and installing an anti-aircraft sight.

This work 1 6k exclusive text version debuted,May not be reproduced without consent,Excerpts,More of the latest and fastest chapters,! Finally, Friedrich Krup Munitions, which is historically famous for its manufacture of the "Paris Cannon" and the "Dora" cannon, showed their product - the FF16 77 mm 40 times diameter gun, designed to fire 15 rounds, and the weight of the shells was 7.5 kg. With a maximum range of 9 kilometers and an ordinary grenade, it does not seem to have any special advantages over the products of the previous three companies, except for the power of the shells.

After half an hour of shooting and maneuvering demonstrations, the first round of weapons test demonstrations ended with applause from the audience. Of course, the identities of the audience here are not simple, they have arms suppliers, and there are high-ranking generals of the army. There are specialized technical experts in the army, and a small group of budget supervisors from the financial department, but absolutely not a single idle person, etc.

After the first round of demonstrations, the staff below were busy cleaning up the test site, and the spectators in the stands had a lively discussion. Ten minutes later, the attendant of Tatsu Tiandi came up to him and told him that most of the technical experts and generals were optimistic about the high-velocity fire of the Krupp FK16, and only a few people thought that the FG16 of Gigi Arms should win, and surprisingly, both groups of people who had the power to decide decided that the vehicle-mounted artillery of Ichat Arms was not suitable for supporting the infantry. The reason is simple. It is not at all necessary for the artillery to be faster than the infantry. Of course, the featureless artillery of Friedrich Krup's arms deserved to be given the cold shoulder.

"Oh my God, what's going on in the heads of these guys?" Chen Tian was a little helpless. In his own opinion, the Krupp artillery could no longer keep up with the times, because their high rate of fire was of little effect on the enemy hiding in trenches and fortresses, in contrast to the Gigi Gunland FG16, which could be used against high-explosive grenades against tanks against the enemy in those bunkers, and although such shells cost three times as much as ordinary shells, they would prove their worth on the battlefield; He was amazed and delighted by the car guns of Ichhardmunitions, and he was surprised that he had been thinking about armored self-propelled guns all along, but he had neglected car guns that were cheaper, faster, easier to operate and maintain, and thought about the recoilless guns that would be loaded in jeeps in the future. Their role in close fire support on the ground is irreplaceable by armored self-propelled howitzers.

"After today's test demonstration, the main technical personnel and several generals of the Army Logistics Equipment Department are summoned for a meeting!" Chen Tian vaguely instructed that if Krupp's was to become the new standard artillery of the German Army, he would really have to fight for the other two excellent guns.

The attendant officer was ordered to leave, and Chen Tian remembered that he had been focusing on the several types of artillery that had been being tested just now, but he was a little cold to the special guest beside him.

He was special because he was neither a German nor a German arms dealer, nor did he have any close ties to the German government. His name is well-known in Europe, but he is a native of America. He ran a firearms factory and was also the chief firearms designer at the Hosta National Arsenal in Belgium, where his M1911 pistol was purchased by Colt and improved to become the standard pistol of the U.S. Army. Before the German invasion of Belgium, he returned to the United States to escape the war and opened his own small arms company, specializing in the production of light firearms.

"John Moses, Mr. Browning, what do you think of the weapons you just showed?" Chen Tian asked the white-haired but energetic old man next to him in fluent English, the founder and chief designer of the American Browning Arms Company.

Browning smiled, "Your Majesty, these weapons are very good, but unfortunately artillery is not my specialty!" ”

Chen Tian brought this genius gunsmith from the United States from thousands of miles away, apparently not just to let him watch the artillery show.

"It's okay, I invite you to come today, mainly to talk to you about a business!"

"Your Majesty, your attendant has already told me! It's just that I'm surprised that you, as the monarch of the German Empire, actually found me and were ready to work with my small company, and it was all like a dream for me! Speaking of which, Browning couldn't help but think of the unexpected beginning of the incident: one day a month earlier, he was approached by a merchant who claimed to want to buy pistols in bulk. Since the merchant had an extraordinary temperament at first sight, Browning did not think that this would be a small deal, so he received him very politely, and when asked about the number of guns, the merchant in his thirties held out two fingers. Browning thought it was 2,000, but it wasn't, and then he guessed 20,000, but it wasn't, and then Browning began to feel that there was something mysterious about it. When the other party said "200,000", he suddenly understood that there are only two countries in the world besides the United States whose armies can consume such a number of pistols, one is Russia and the other is Germany.

After this, Browning followed the merchant to Berlin, where he later learned that the so-called "merchant" was the Kaiser's chamberlain.

On the first day of his arrival in Berlin, Browning was invited to participate in this demonstration of weapons tests and was seated on the Kaiser's right hand. When he learned that the Kaiser had postponed the exhibition for him for 20 minutes, for the first time in his life, this American ** fire dealer who took guns as his life and interests as his soul was moved by the respect and importance of the other party.

"As soon as your company moves to Germany, my army will immediately order 200,000 semi-automatic pistols from your company!" Before the next round of weapons trial demonstrations began, Chen Tian bluntly made a bid to the American god of firearms.

Browning hesitated, "You have to move to Germany?" My technical experts and workers are all Americans, and the factory has a lot of machine tools and equipment. ”

"Yes, you can pick the best land in Germany, and our German government will give priority to providing you with raw materials and labor, and give you preferential policies of 10 years of tax exemption and 20 years and a half years of tax! In addition, your firearms specialist and his family will receive a settling-in allowance of 160,000 marks, or more than $50,000, for them and their families to obtain German citizenship and enjoy the treatment of German nobility! Chen Tian said in a calm but sure tone: "200,000 pistols is just the first order, as long as you can design better weapons, we will not hesitate to place more orders." Pistols, rifles, machine guns, we want them all! ”

"You...... You are so confident in my rifle and machine gun too? Browning's accident came from the "fear of heights" of the Mauser rifle, you must know that the Mauser series of rifles has reached unparalleled heights in Germany and the whole world, and his Browning semi-automatic rifle is still only an experiment, and the machine gun only exists in the conception!

Unbeknownst to Browning, his semi-automatic/automatic machine gun would be available in a year or two, and that his heavy machine gun would be as classic as the Browning pistol within five years. The Kaiser knows all this better than him.

After thinking for a while, Browning made a nervous request: "Your Majesty, please forgive me for being disrespectful, can you make a paper agreement on what you said, so that I can also explain it to my designers?" ”

"Absolutely!" Chen Tian smiled, in the face of such preferential conditions and huge benefits, Browning couldn't help but be moved. In fact, the significance of this collaboration is not only about money, but also about making Browning's fame rise to a level that rivals or even surpasses that of Mauser, which is what any firearms designer can only dream of.

After thinking about it for a while, Browning stretched out his right hand, "Well, may we have a good time together!" ”

Before Browning realized that the handshake was not quite in line with royal etiquette, Chen Tian stretched out his right hand and held Browning's hand tightly, and before the genius firearms designer found out that the weapons he designed would be used against his homeland, he would make an immeasurable contribution to the German team.