Zhao Bei hesitated in the bow of the ship, thinking about the military academy, but a whistle sounded, interrupting his train of thought.

The "Republic," which served as a transport boat, sent Ji Yulin and others ashore, and left the Hanyang Pier with a whistle and headed for the "Haichen," indicating that another guest was coming to visit the commander-in-chief.

The "Republic" relied on the help, and several passengers climbed up the gangway to the "Haichen", but it was Liu Qingen, the supervisor of the Hanyang Arsenal, and several assistants.

The guards guarding the gangway stopped several people, and an argument broke out.

Zhao Bei walked over and motioned for the guards to let a few people get on the ship.

"Minister, how come you have the leisure to wander around my headquarters?" Zhao Bei asked with a smile.

Liu Qingen pointed to the assistants behind him, and then pointed to the guards, and said: "The commander-in-chief has been urging the grenade, no, it was just made today, and it was brought to the commander-in-chief to see, but he was stopped by these guards and was not allowed to get on the ship." ”

"Give us a call before you come. This is a military stronghold, and the guards are understandably cautious, and they will definitely not let people on board without an appointment. ”

Zhao Bei already understood the other party's intention, glanced at the bamboo basket that Liu Qingen was holding in his hand, and said, "It's snowing outside, let's go, let's go to the chart room to talk." Minister, you came at the right time, I plan to design a new pistol, but I am confused about the structure, you are an expert, let's discuss it. ”

After entering the chart room, Liu Qingen took off the hat, put the bamboo basket in front of the table, took out a few fist-sized iron lumps from it, and put them on the drawing table.

"The grenade shell is cast, this time there is no mud mold, the trachoma is gone, the groove is more neat, a few pieces have been tried to be exploded, each fragment has more than fifty pieces, and the lethality is very good. In addition, samples of blasting canisters have been prepared, but they have not yet been test-fried. ”

Zhao Bei picked up the thunder shell and flipped it, and praised: "Yes, I have to thank you." ”

This kind of grenade is designed at the same time as the mortar, named "1908 type offensive grenade", the shell is cast iron, with prefabricated grooves engraved on it to increase the number of fragments, and can also be used as anti-slip ribs, considering the convenience of production, the use of pull fuse, the delay time is six to seven seconds, due to the lack of fierce zha medicine, the cartridge case is filled with nitrocotton fire, the power is limited, but now the weapon gap is larger, and it is not so particular.

Since the arsenal had been rushing to produce mortars and there were no plans for the production of grenades, the grenades were not combat-tested. As for the "blasting canister" mentioned by Liu Qingen, it was also designed by Zhao Bei, and this blasting tool can effectively deal with pillboxes, barbed wire, and minefields.

Liu Qingen pointed to the grenade and said: "Commander-in-chief, our sulfur and saltpeter are running out, and the concession does not sell them to us, relying on that bit of smuggled goods, it is a drop in the bucket, and those profiteers are more willing to sell old guns than raw materials for military industry." We have to think of a way, otherwise, we won't even be able to make nitrocellulose. ”

"I have sent people to the east on foreign ships to see if I can go out and buy these raw materials. But you don't just count on me, you have to think more about it, foreign nitrate can't be bought, just boil soil nitrate, the purity is not high, you can slowly purify, as for sulfuric acid, you can find a way to recover those waste acids, the living can not be called urine to strangle, speaking of fire yao, or we Chinese invented it. ”

Zhao Bei put the grenade on the table, raised his hand and pointed at the person behind Liu Qingen, and asked, "This person is carrying a rifle?" When did you hire a horse to get started? ”

This is not that Zhao Bei is nervous, since Li Yuanhong was specially approved two "Hanyang-made" to arm his own horses, some civil affairs officials have also followed the same example, and asked the military government for rifles to guard the home and nursing home, considering that the current situation is more chaotic, military and political figures do need protection, so Zhao Bei basically met the request of these officials, each of them was issued two rifles, and they hired bodyguards by themselves, but this is only a temporary measure, a professional guard force is currently being formed, and future government officials will be protected by them.

Liu Qingen's assistant was wrapped in an oilcloth around the rifle behind his shoulder, and it was impossible to tell what model it was, but judging from the shorter barrel, it was not "made in Hanyang".

"He's not my horse, and it's not an ordinary rifle."

Liu Qingen motioned for the man to take off the rifle behind his shoulder, handed it to Zhao Bei flatly, and said solemnly: "The commander-in-chief is well-informed, and the contemptible people want to see if the commander-in-chief can see the peculiarities of this rifle?" ”

Zhao Bei took the rifle, put it on the table, removed the tarpaulin, and picked it up to look at it carefully.

To say that he has not read weapons magazines for so many years in vain, after only two glances, he affirmed his judgment.

With a long detachable magazine, a wide receiver, a strange bolt, and an exposed gas link on the front, he blurted out, "This is...... Automatic rifles? Or a semi-automatic rifle? ”

raised his head, but saw Liu Qingen picking up his thumb at him.

"The commander-in-chief really has good eyesight, this is exactly the pole automatic gun, pull the trigger and shoot a bullet, twenty-five bullets in one breath, no need to pull the bolt during the period, if you adjust the connecting rod, you can also fire continuously, the firepower is so strong, you are about to catch up with the machine gun."

"Which country?"

Zhao Bei glanced at the receiver, which was written in foreign language, but not in English, but the numbers "1900" were still recognized, and he couldn't help but be more surprised, he didn't know that automatic rifles appeared so early, he always thought that automatic rifles were on the stage of war before and after World War II, and this rifle seems to be able to convert between "semi-automatic" and "fully automatic", and the design concept can be said to be quite advanced.

"This automatic gun is Italian, and the scientific name is 'Serrigotti Automatic Gun'. After the First Sino-Japanese War, the puppet Qing court wanted to train a new army, and the Italian businessman recommended this automatic gun to the Qing court, saying that it could replace Makqin, but unfortunately the Qing court did not know the goods, and the gun had just been invented at that time, and there were some problems with the performance, so our Chinese army missed this automatic gun. When the British and the Boers went to war in South Africa, this gun was on the battlefield, and the Boer militia was equipped, and the British ** team suffered a lot, but the number of equipment for this gun was not much, and the name was not too loud. ”

"Italian?" Zhao Bei was even more surprised. "Where did you get that?"

"I took it from an American sailor, but it was only this one, and it didn't come in handy, so I took it down and didn't use it for the troops."

Zhao Bei suddenly realized that in the past few days he was making propaganda to those foreign speculators in the Hankou Concession, claiming that the Republican Army would buy new and old guns at preferential prices.

However, the automatic rifle in front of him is obviously not in tatters, which has more or less improved the image of the Italian in Zhao Bei's mind.

"You don't want to copy it, do you?" Zhao Bei speculated about Liu Qingen's intentions.

Liu Qingen nodded and said: "In my opinion, if this gun replaces the 'Hanyang-made', the infantry firepower will be increased several times, and the machine guns can be saved, and one soldier is worth ten enemy soldiers." ”

"No." Zhao Bei put down his rifle and shook his head. "It's good, but we can't afford it right now. And the conversion of firepower cannot be calculated in this way. ”

"How?" Liu Qingen asked.

"There aren't enough bullets." Zhao Bei sighed.

"You haven't been on the battlefield, you haven't experienced the tension and fear of the battlefield. If it is equipped with 'Hanyang-made', the soldier pulls the bolt when he shoots, the shooting speed is slow, and the bullet is naturally used slowly, but if it is equipped with this automatic gun, the soldier will often pull the trigger because of the fear on the battlefield, so that the enemy can not raise his head, but after a few hits, there will be no bullets, and this battle will not have to be fought, and the demand for bullets alone is enough to crush us. So, this automatic gun is for rich countries, and poor countries can't afford it. ”

"I didn't think about it. In this way, the Qing court did not choose this gun back then, perhaps because of this consideration. ”

Liu Qingen nodded thoughtfully and said, "Then, I won't imitate it, and I won't accept this gun." ”

"That's not necessary, if someone sells it, you can still buy some in small quantities. In fact, if this gun is slightly modified and two gun mounts are added, it is a light machine gun. Zhao Bei had an idea.

"Light machine gun?"

Liu Qingen was stunned, but quickly understood what Zhao Bei meant, slapped his thigh, and said: "It's not enough to add a gun carriage, this bullet will hit fast, the barrel will overheat, and you have to add a heat sink to the barrel, just like the French Hatch Chase machine gun." ”

Zhao Bei nodded approvingly and said, "He is worthy of being an ordnance expert!" That's why this gun has to be cooled. Moreover, compared with the French Hatch Chase machine gun, this weight can be greatly advantaged, a soldier can carry it around, and there is no need to worry about finding cooling water, which is lighter than the Maxim machine gun. ”

Zhao Bei said over there, here Liu Qingen couldn't wait to pick up the pencil and draw on the paper, and it was completed after a while, although it was a little weird, but it could already see a little bit of the prototype of the light machine gun.

Zhao Bei took the pencil, changed the sketch again, and said: "The butt of this gun can be straightened, and a small grip can be added behind the trigger, so that the shooter is more comfortable and more accurate when shooting against the shoulder." ”

If the mortar "designed" by Zhao Bei is a reference to the ancient mortar gun, then the light machine gun with a small grip in front of him can be called a stroke of genius, because whether it is Hatch Kaith or Makqin, so far, there is no machine gun that can be operated by a single person, and the idea of this light machine gun is simply unprecedented.

"Wonderful! Wonderful! If this light machine gun is manufactured, it can be directly mounted in a platoon, or even a squad! In this way, a platoon of the Republican Army can fight against a squad of the Beiyang Army! Liu Qingen took the drawings and praised them again and again, and he already had a bit of a taste of dancing eyebrows, which was completely different from the stereotype he usually had.

"Don't be too happy, this is just on paper, after all, this is a rifle, can the structure and strength meet the requirements of continuous shooting? We don't know now. In my opinion, instead of imitating this Italian automatic gun, it is better to refer to its structure and redesign a light machine gun ourselves, for example, move this air deflector from the side of the barrel to above or below the barrel, so that the appearance is more beautiful and it is more convenient to arrange the gun carriage. ”

Zhao Bei poured cold water on Liu Qingen, picked up a pencil, and revised the sketch, and the "light machine gun" soon became unrecognizable.

Liu Qingen stood aside, just admiring repeatedly, until now he understood that Zhao Bei would not only design cannons, but also "design" firearms, if he devoted himself to this way, he was afraid that he could also stand shoulder to shoulder with the old gentlemen such as Gatling and Makqin in the past.

Of course, he didn't know that Zhao Bei had just plagiarized the design concept of the famous guns of later generations, and although the concepts of "small grip" and "straight butt" were ordinary in later generations, they were undoubtedly ahead of the times in the early 20th century.

Of course, advanced theories still need the support of equally advanced industry, and Zhao Bei did not expect this light machine gun to come out soon, after all, China is still a backward agricultural country, and industry is just an embellishment on this ancient loess.

Zhao Bei drew several different sketches of the machine gun, only the outline, not the structure, because he couldn't draw it, so he had to leave this specific design work to real experts.

Handing over the sketch to Liu Qingen, Zhao Bei said: "The design of this light machine gun is a military secret, and the fewer people who know about it, the better." ”

Liu Qingen nodded, put away the sketch, and asked, "So, can we still buy this Serrigotti automatic gun?" Italian arms dealers are just as talkative as American businessmen. ”

Zhao Bei said: "If the performance is good, buy some in small quantities." The caliber of this gun is smaller than that of 'Hanyang-made', and the bullets used are also lighter, so soldiers can carry more bullets, although it is not possible to equip them generally, but it is still possible to equip them with a small amount of equipment for elite troops. However, in this case, it is also a logistical problem to equip two calibers of bullets at the same time, and it would be nice if the caliber could be changed. ”

Liu Qingen said: "This gun is six or five caliber, Hanyang made seven or nine caliber, the difference is too far, considering the continuous shooting, the caliber of the original gun cannot be changed, can only be made again." ”

"Forget it, let's use the original gun. Now that the Republican Army is being reorganized, the Revolutionary Guards are also expanding, and rifles are in high demand, the 'Made in Hanyang' is very good. Automatic guns are too expensive for us to equip now. ”

As a traverser, Zhao Bei certainly knew the development route of the army's weapons, but he also knew that it was not advisable to be ambitious.

"This ...... Commander-in-Chief, didn't you just say that you were going to design a pistol? Liu Qingen remembered what Zhao Bei had said just now.

"I only drew an outline, not the internal structure." Zhao Bei flipped through the table and handed over a sketch of a pistol.

"It's ...... Self-acquired pistol? Liu Qingen took the sketch and studied it carefully.

The sketch was a pistol with a new layout, different from either a revolver or a Mauser, with bullets in the grip. This pistol has been developed in Europe, but it is not widely spread, and only a small number has reached China. Compared with those European pistols, the pistol designed by Zhao Bei is beautiful and generous, especially the grip, intuitively, Liu Qingen also feels that it is very comfortable to hold.

"The model is tentatively set as 'Type 1909 semi-automatic pistol'." Zhao Bei nodded.

In fact, this pistol was designed by him with reference to the shape of the world's famous gun "M1911", and the volume was appropriately reduced according to the hand shape of the Chinese, the caliber was initially set at 9 mm, and the magazine capacity was eight bullets, and considering the convenience of processing, the grip insurance was canceled and only one manual safety was retained.

There are not many pistols in the army now, and they are of different models, mostly revolvers, and a small number of Mauser semi-automatic. The revolver was too slow in firing and reloading, and the Mauser pistol, although it did not have these drawbacks, was too large in size, complex in structure, too expensive and not suitable for equipment.

Like many Chinese fans, Zhao Bei also has a strong "Mauser plot", but reason tells him that this kind of pistol really belongs to the chicken rib weapon, the range is not as good as the submachine gun, the light is not as light as the revolver, the shoulder is heavy and cumbersome, the trigger guard is small, it cannot be operated with gloves, and can only be placed in the museum as an ornament.

As a pseudo-military fan, although Zhao Bei has some understanding of the structure of semi-automatic pistols, it is difficult for some strong people to ask him to restore those structures, so this sketch was drawn for a few days, and only an outline was drawn, and the internal structure was completely absent.

"What kind of bullet is this pistol used for?" Liu Qingen asked.

"It depends on how you design it, even if the bullets of the revolver are forgotten, most of them have a bottom edge, which is not very convenient for semi-automatic and automatic weapons."

"I design?" Liu Qingen was stunned for a moment.

"You're an ordnance expert in our Republican Army, if you don't design it, can't I design it?"

Zhao Bei didn't plan to take back the sketch again, he still knew that there was no all-rounder in this world, as a leader, one of the basic qualities was to be able to make the best use of their talents and give them the opportunity to realize their self-worth.

"This ...... Then I'll try. Liu Qingen nodded, Zhao Bei's light machine gun opened his eyes, and now he has a little idea of competing, but there are still difficulties.

"It's the little things that are designed that are the machine. Now the machine in the factory may not be suitable, there is no problem in making rifles, but if used to make pistols, it seems that some donkey lips are not on the horse's mouth, if they are made by hand, but they are thankless, and cannot be manufactured in large quantities. This one...... Commander-in-Chief, if nothing else, I'll go back to the arsenal. ”

Liu Qingen explained very professionally, and he was a little eager to try, although he was still standing here, his heart had flown back to the arsenal signing room.

"Then do what you want, you're an expert. By the way, before leaving, take a few shells back and see if you can imitate them. When the 'Haichen' ran aground in Tianxinzhou, some shells were removed from the ship, and now there are not many large-caliber shells, so you can find a way to imitate them, even if you can't make blasting bullets, you can also try solid bullets, and if you can't make steel bullets, you can make iron bullets. A few days ago, you said that the artillery factory could resume work, and I remembered it, and I am afraid that I will trouble you to stay up all night again. ”

Liu Qingen put away the rifle and took the two shells with his assistant, and also took the sketch of the pistol. Zhao Bei sent him onto the deck, and before he got close to the gangway, he saw a person coming towards him, it was Tian Jinfu, the captain of the guard, and a middle-aged man was followed behind him, judging from the dress, he was a flag man.

Tian Jinfu said hello to Liu Qingen, walked up to Zhao Bei, and whispered: "Commander-in-chief, all the people you want have been found." ”

The middle-aged man dressed as a flag man untied his coat, gave Zhao Bei a thousand calls, and said, "My lord, the little one is saying goodbye to the adult." The 500 banner women asked by the adults have been brought to Hanyang City to settle down, all of them are young and strong and willing to endure hardships, and their family backgrounds are innocent, how to deal with them, the adults ordered. ”

Zhao Bei took the two of them to the stern of the ship, gathered and muttered quietly, looking sneaky.

Liu Qingen and his assistants looked at each other, looked at each other, and said in their hearts: "This commander-in-chief is a little too careful, and he found five hundred banner women at once, do you want them to be maids or concubines?" Or is it a reward for subordinates? "If this is the case, it is also a way out, after all, now that the flag salary has stopped, many flag people have no food, and there are many flag people in Willow Lane, then there are many flag people in Willow Lane, and business is booming.

At the moment, everyone is curious and wants to know, is this part of the revolutionary policy of "grabbing money, grabbing land, and robbing girls" that Zhao Bei preached to the soldiers?

(Keep canvassing, keep canvassing.) ）