On the battlefield of Annam, China's Shence Army did not immediately intervene in the war, but set up refugee reserves on the borders of Guangzhou, Laos and Cambodia.

This circumstance is strange for the French side.

However, France did not want to start a war with China, after all, fighting at China's doorstep, surrounded by Chinese vassal states or overseas territories, did not have a geographical advantage for the French army.

Therefore, the French government telegraphed to the French army in Hanoi not to take the initiative to attack the Chinese Shence army, but also to be prepared not to be attacked by the Chinese Shence army.

As a result, there was a strange scene on the battlefield of Annam, where the French army and the Annam guerrillas were fighting hotly, and the Chinese Shence Army was stationed on the border and watched from the wall.

The international media are discussing whether China is afraid of France and does not dare to start a war with France.

You must know that France has experienced a crushing defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, and its military strength is not as good as before, and China's Shence Army is known as the world's first, and it is fighting at home, and it has a huge advantage in terms of troop resources and logistical supplies, and it can completely fight a war.

Unless there's some purpose!

What is the purpose, military experts in Europe and the United States are speculating. For example, I don't want France to completely fall to Britain, I don't want to consume military strength with France, reserve military strength to deal with Britain, and so on.

But none of them guessed the real purpose of the Chinese Shence Army, because they were not Li Weiguo, they were not as shrewd as Li Weiguo, and they did not have the long-term thinking of Li Weiguo.

Annam was rich in rice, and before the advent of hybrid rice, Annam's rice production was very large, not only feeding tens of millions of people, but also exporting large quantities to China.

Annam's population has been growing rapidly, which is not a good situation for China, which has experienced the Taiping Rebellion and the Yapian War. After a decade of peace, China's population has returned to steady growth, but it is only 250 million people. Annan, on the other hand, has a population of 30 million, and in terms of demographic structure alone, it already poses a threat to China.

Such a populous country, if placed in Europe, would soon become a power of Germany's kind. In Southeast Asia, if there are no checks and balances. It will also become a Southeast Asian powerhouse.

History proves that Annan has always been a white-eyed wolf, and the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang dynasties ruled it for nearly a thousand years, and finally rebelled and established itself as a country. After helping Vietnam defeat the U.S. military in modern times, it eventually turned against each other.

With these bloody lessons, Li Weiguo had to be cautious about Annan. He made a long-term plan, and since the Annam Army guerrilla regime at dawn had recognized its willingness to be a vassal state of China, it would take the opportunity to weaken Annam's demographic advantage. Otherwise, in order to manage the huge population of Annam, the Chinese Shence Army will need to send more troops in the future.

Li Weiguo deliberately let the French invade Annam. In addition to preparing to abolish the other side because of the disobedience of the Nguyen regime in Annam, the deeper purpose is to use the French army to provoke a war in Annam, destroy the economy of Annam, and reduce the population of Annam, so that after the war, when China, as the suzerain, begins to provide economic assistance to Annam, it will be grateful to the people of Annam, and it will be easy to be accepted by the local people by installing Han officials and ******** in Annam in the name of investment assistance. Strengthen the rule over Annan.

According to Li Weiguo's strategic layout, China's Shence Army will not directly intervene in the war for the time being. Instead, they provided all kinds of weapons, equipment and ammunition support to the Annam guerrillas, so that the Annam guerrillas could fight the French, and while consuming the strength of the French army, they were also greatly depleting the men of Annan.

On the other hand, Li Weiguo ordered the establishment of a refugee area around Annam to accept Annam refugees. Actual implementation. However, men and women were managed separately, and men were intensively trained to take up arms and return to the battlefield of Annam as cannon fodder. The women were sent to the mainland, where they were given jobs and intermarried with Chinese men. Become a Chinese population.

In any country that has experienced a long war, the population will eventually be out of balance, with more women than men. There were so many Vietnamese brides in later generations, all because of the thirty-year-long war. Now Li Weiguo wants to use France to repeat history again, but this time, Li Weiguo will not let the white-eyed wolf attack his master.

No one knows what Li Weiguo really meant, and perhaps years later, Chinese men will be grateful to Li Weiguo, because millions of Vietnamese brides have brought them endless sexual bliss.

On the battlefield of Annam, Liming commanded the Annam guerrillas to fight fiercely with the French army, fighting a small battle for three days and a major battle for five days, with casualties on both sides. In the beginning, it was the French army that had the advantage, because the French army had advanced weapons and equipment. However, with the arrival of China's covert aid to the Annam Army, the Annam guerrillas soon changed their guns and replaced them with all advanced Chinese weapons and equipment, and could engage in one-on-one frontal positional warfare and frontal artillery battles with the French army.

The major cities of Annam were under the control of the French army, but the rural and mountainous areas were under the control of the Annam guerrillas, and the encirclement of the cities from the countryside became the core tactic of the Annamite guerrillas.

After half a year of war, the French army launched more than a dozen large-scale encirclement and suppression battles into the mountains, and finally won fewer and lost more, suffered a heavy defeat, and was forced to retreat to the city, relying on the city for defense.

After the baptism of blood and fire, the Annam guerrillas, after paying a huge price in casualties, gradually learned to use Chinese-style weapons and equipment, and began a local counteroffensive.

However, at this time, France transferred a large number of troops from Europe and threw 100,000 troops into various parts of Annam, and at the same time, the French navy also arrived in Cam Ranh Bay, and the naval artillery fire bombarded the Annam guerrillas, forcing the Annam guerrillas to abandon the battle for coastal cities and retreat back to the mountains.

So the two sides held each other like this, and kept fighting a war of attrition.

In the Forbidden City, the Ministry of War reported the battle situation in Annan to Li Weiguo, requesting a new holy judgment.

Li Weiguo only said one sentence, any war, will go through a period of attack, a period of stalemate and a period of defeat, and Annan is no exception, now it has passed the offensive period of the French army, the two sides have entered a period of stalemate, and after a period of time, the French army will inevitably abandon Annan and withdraw gloomily because of supply difficulties and labor expeditions.

What the Chinese Shence Army should do is to intervene in the war at the right time and end the war in Annam.

Li Weiguo's decision was still based on the US tactics during the two world wars, and they only intervened in the war at the right time, which weakened the overall strength of Europe and made the outcome of the war conform to the expectations of American military strategists and the core interests of the United States.

Now Li Weiguo's decision is this. It is borrowed from the clever strategy and tactics of the Americans.

However, on the battlefield of Annam, some problems were also exposed, which attracted the attention of the Chinese Shence Army.

The Annam Army and the French Army were evenly matched in armament, with rifles, Gatling machine guns and artillery mounted in the rear, and the two sides were almost evenly defeated in the frontal battlefield. Unless one side miscalculates strategically and fails.

The results showed that the captured French rifles, Gatling machine guns, and artillery had all been improved by the French, and that the performance of other weapons and equipment had surpassed that of Chinese weapons in terms of performance, except that the performance of ammunition was inferior to that of Chinese ammunition.

This discovery put pressure on the Chinese military, and although the French army's advantage in equipment performance was not enough to determine the outcome of the war, it did arouse the Chinese side's vigilance.

To this day, Patriotic rifles, Gatling machine guns, and various types of infantry artillery equipment are exported to Europe. There are already copycats and a large number of improved versions in various European countries. However, China's Shence Army is still using weapons and equipment from more than ten years ago, although it has also been slightly improved during the period, but the overall change is not much.

This is because the Chinese Shence Army no longer has a strong opponent on the land of the Eastern Hemisphere, and the imperial military has concentrated its energy and financial resources on the construction of naval forces, so the upgrading of army equipment has been delayed again and again.

Anyway, there will not be a huge threat to China's Shence Army for a long time to come, so it is not absolutely necessary to update its equipment.

For a long time, Li Weiguo also focused on building up naval forces, thus ignoring the army.

As the advisers and observers of the Chinese Shence Army on the battlefield in Annam reported the information to the Ministry of War, it was quickly sent to Li Weiguo.

For this situation. Li Weiguo is also struggling. According to historical experience, China's Shence Army will not encounter a strong army opponent in the next two decades. In fact, there is no problem in using the army's existing weapons and equipment for forty or fifty years, because as long as the army's weapons do not go out of the modern era, such as submachine guns and tanks, even if Europe and the United States have more improved weapons, they will not be able to control the victory or defeat on the battlefield, and they will still rely on the courage of the soldiers and the brains of the commanders to win on the battlefield.

But the problem is that the officers and men of the Chinese Shence Army are accustomed to overpowering the European and American armies in terms of weapons and equipment. This is just like the US military in later generations, accustomed to being at least one generation ahead of other countries in terms of equipment, and once they are caught up, they will be very uncomfortable.

In the same way, Li Weiguo is good at empathy. From the standpoint of the Army, he can understand this entanglement.

"In that case, let's prepare a gift for the Army!"

Thinking of this, Li Weiguo immediately summoned Huang Tifang, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, and the relevant responsible persons of the Weapons Research Institute of the Imperial Academy of Sciences.

"This is a set of heavy machine gun structural blueprints, you can take it and study it, and make it as soon as possible, this is a gift from me to the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Imperial Army."

Huang Tifang has been studying hard since he took over as the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, and he is also very experienced in weapon manufacturing, and when he saw the design drawings of this set of heavy machine guns and the principle of the notes next to them, he was immediately excited.

The above is a set of design drawings of the famous Makqin heavy machine gun in history, but it has undergone some improvements by Li Weiguo, such as the water cooling system and the ammunition supply system have been improved, and the oil pressure buffer has been added, which can automatically adjust the rate of fire, and the wheeled design is adopted, which is easy to move, and the shield armor is installed to protect the machine gunner.

The most important thing is also the principle of automatic gas conduction, which is completed by using gunpowder gas energy. At the moment when the bullet is fired, the bolt and the barrel are percussed, and the barrel stops after recoiling 20 mm, and the lock is unlocked through the toggle mechanism, and the bolt continues to recoil at the same time, and part of the energy of the barrel is transmitted to the machine gun through the acceleration mechanism, so that it completes the shelling and throwing the shell, so as to drive the ammunition supply mechanism, so that the firing machine is ready to hit, compresses the reentry spring, hits the buffer, and then re-enters under the action of the spring force, and pushes the second bullet into the chamber, locks, and fires again. This is repeated more than 10 times per second, and more than 600 rounds per minute can be fired.

This mechanical movement is complex and abstract to describe, but if you look at it for yourself, you will immediately be amazed by its ingenuity and ingenuity.

Huang Tifang and the others said excitedly: "Your Majesty, this heavy machine gun you designed is definitely going to be shocking again!" ”

Li Weiguo has already practiced cheeky skills, and now he can calmly accept the worship of everyone.

"I just had a whim, as for how to develop it, it depends on the efforts of your Aiqing."

It is rare for Li Weiguo to be modest once. Huang Tifang and others naturally understood that this set of heavy machine guns had actually been 80% completed, and all that was left was to manufacture parts and continue to experiment, which was that His Majesty the Emperor was deliberately giving them the opportunity to make meritorious contributions, and everyone was grateful to Li Weiguo again.

"The ministers will obey Your Majesty's will and will never dare to slack off. Strive to come up with a prototype as soon as possible and live up to His Majesty's expectations! ”

Huang Tifang thought for a while, and then asked Li Weiguo: "Your Majesty, I don't know if you want to name this set of heavy machine guns?" ”

Li Weiguo thought about it, at this time, Makqin was still working as a laborer in the United States, so it was a bit uneasy to call Makqin a heavy machine gun.

Historically, the Chinese named the Makqin heavy machine gun and called it Saidian, or Huaning.

However, Li Weiguo felt that this kind of name was too earthy and not domineering enough. It's better to call the rainstorm pear flower needle more powerful.

"It's called the Bloody Heavy Machine Gun!"

After thinking about it, Li Weiguo felt that once this heavy machine gun came out, it would inevitably cause terrifying violent effects and countless bloody scenes, so he called it violent blood, which was both image and domineering.

As a result, the Maxim heavy machine gun, which was supposed to appear ten years later, appeared ahead of schedule and was renamed the Bloody Heavy Machine Gun. Makqin, who was digging coal in a hole in the United States, suddenly sneezed, as if something belonging to him had suddenly disappeared. I feel inexplicable.

The bloody heavy machine gun was designed by Li Weiguo, and Huang Tifang and other officials of the Ministry of Industry naturally attached great importance to it. Immediately organized a research and development team to tackle key problems, and began relevant research and production work at the Weapons Research Institute of the Imperial Academy of Sciences.

Since the heavy machine gun had not yet been finalized, it was impossible to set up a production line, so various parts and components had to be manufactured by manual grinding. Fortunately, the Imperial Academy of Sciences had skilled workers, and soon made all the parts according to the drawings given by Li Weiguo, and then began to assemble.

Among them. Some parts are not standardized, and there are errors in the design, after all, Li Weiguo only calculated it on the drawings, and there must be many errors in practice. However, they were quickly recalibrated and documented under the supervision of skilled workers and weapons experts.

A week later. In order to quickly verify the function of each component, Huang Tifang and others did not use the 12.7 mm heavy machine gun cartridge designed by Li Weiguo, that is, the point 50 caliber heavy machine gun cartridge, but used the army's standard 9 mm rifle cartridge, so that there was no need to waste a lot of time waiting for the new ammunition to be manufactured.

However, the development and manufacture of the 12.7 mm heavy machine gun bullet is also going on simultaneously, and it will take a month, during which time, if the test is successful, it will take another two weeks to change back to the 12.7 mm structure, which will not delay time at all, and it can be said that the time is used very tightly.

The use of 9 mm rifle bullets is mainly to verify the principle of air conduction of heavy machine guns, automatic loading, shelling and other principles, after testing, Huang Tifang and others were overjoyed, the bullet has indeed achieved automation, the rate of fire is as high as 300 rounds per minute, although it has not yet reached the 600 rounds per minute rate of fire designed by Li Weiguo, but compared with the current Gatling machine gun equipped with the Chinese Shence Army has achieved transcendence.

As a hand-cranked type of Gatling machine gun, the maximum rate of ammunition firing is only about 200 rounds per minute, and when the soldiers on the battlefield are nervous, the crazy shaking often leads to the machine gun clicking and various malfunctions.

Nowadays, there is no such artificial clicking phenomenon in the Bloody Heavy Machine Gun, and unless there is a problem with the parts, there will be no weapon failure due to the tension of soldiers on the battlefield.

Of course, in the course of this experiment, there were still various failures of the Bloody Heavy Machine Gun, but this was all due to errors in the connection of parts, which could be solved by correction.

On the whole, the design principle provided by Li Weiguo is correct, so the development of the Bloody Heavy Machine Gun is very smooth, the first month to achieve the verification of theory to practice, the second month to achieve the firing and supply verification of 12.7 mm heavy machine gun cartridges, the third month began to install anti-shield, water cooling, wheeled systems, and then the production of six Bloody heavy machine gun prototypes, handed over to the military for practical testing in various battlefield environments.

The military was very interested in this automatic burst-fire heavy machine gun and actively cooperated with the test work.

The army's test of heavy machine guns is basically to fire all the time, test the durability of the barrel, shooting accuracy, shooting distance, etc., as well as observe the adaptability of the heavy machine gun in various terrains such as mountains, forests, plains, hills, deserts, coastals, swamps, etc., cloudy, sunny, rainy, snowy and other climatic conditions.

To put it in layman's terms, military testing equipment is just two words -- violent, very violent testing, beating with stones, throwing heavy machine guns into muddy water and then fishing them out, pouring sand and dust into them, and so on, infinitely ravaging until the heavy machine guns are destroyed.

After four and five months of military testing, the results of various tests were fed back to the Institute of Weapons Research of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, and then recorded for continuous improvement, and finally the design was finalized in the sixth month and ready for mass production.

During this time, a production line for 12.7 mm heavy machine gun ammunition was established and mass production began. (To be continued.) )