The desert is lonely, and the wind blows the sand.

Located in the vast Gobi Desert in the northwest of the Ming Dynasty, hundreds of vehicles of all kinds are carrying out rigorous tests and environmental tests under the invasion of wind and sand.

A few months ago, in the fierce battle with the Boers in South Africa, the Ming armored forces were born to the world. However, in Zhang Cheng's heart, the biggest gain of the armored forces is not the illustrious reputation that has brought him endless benefits. Rather, it allowed the armored forces to gain valuable combat experience, which is something that cannot be obtained by any kind of training.

Through the test of actual combat, whether it is a problem that has not been found in daily training, or a variety of sudden problems of vehicles that were originally considered very reliable on the battlefield, have been exposed.

Problems in training, revise the training syllabus, and strengthen training. The problem of various vehicles needs to be improved practically. After several months of redesign, a new batch of vehicles of all kinds was produced and sent to various locations for field testing. Extreme environments, such as deserts, are a part of the test.

"It comes down to the engine." Seeing that a tank in the distance that was undergoing off-road testing finally stopped in the strange roar of the engine, Zhang Cheng, who was tightly wrapped all over his body, shook his head helplessly.

"General." The engineer on the side looked at Zhang Cheng in surprise, "The actual detection performance has exceeded the design expectations, and their performance is already very good." ”

The level of technology in this era is simply not comparable to that of modern time and space. In Zhang Cheng's eyes, the problematic product is already an outstanding technology in the eyes of people in this era.

Zhang Cheng also knew that there was no way to do it. Although he can provide advanced drawings and materials, he cannot improve the subsystem of the entire basic industry, and that kind of work is simply not something that can be done by one person. Zhang Cheng can only do the best he can.

"Keep testing and keep all the detailed data down." Zhang Cheng glanced at the maintenance personnel who hurriedly ran to the extinguished tank, squinted his eyes, turned around and got into the jeep behind him, "Go to the firearms test site." ”

The Ming Dynasty is a world empire, from match screws to battleships and aircraft carriers, it can build everything by itself. This pride underneath the pride. It is impossible for the Ming armorers to use the Thompson submachine gun all the time. Not only submachine guns, Zhang Cheng, who was not very satisfied with all the old guns, chose to tender for large-scale replacement.

After several months of research and development, at the special request of Zhang Cheng, several large firearms factories in Daming came up with a variety of models of new firearms to participate in the army's bidding competition.

As for the question of why Zhang Cheng didn't open his own firearms production factory and produce all the classic firearms himself. In fact, it is very simple, Zhang Cheng can't make all the money. Nor can we offend everyone. Even if the second global war was won back then, wouldn't His Majesty the Emperor, who was in the middle of the day, be miserably seized power because he offended everyone? Unite all the forces that can be united, this is Zhang Cheng's philosophy.

The arsenals that produce firearms in the Ming Dynasty are all old factories with a history of up to 100 years, and the forces behind them are unfathomable. There was no need for Zhang Cheng to offend those people. It was enough for him to give some drawings and materials to get the weapon he wanted, and he also left a friendship. At least these arsenals have given Zhang Cheng the name of a designer. Hello, I'm hello, everyone, eating alone is such a thing, at least Zhang Cheng can't do it now.

"General." Seeing Zhang Cheng coming, a large group of professional managers and designers immediately got up and flocked to Zhang Cheng with a flattering smile on their faces. It's all about making a living. It's not easy for anyone.

Zhang Cheng smiled and coped with the greetings, but he was a little helpless in his heart. In fact, the specific bids for the new guns were determined before coming to the proving ground, and most of the companies here were only here to be foils. Even the travel expenses have to be paid by themselves. Zhang Cheng, who couldn't bear it, looked at the smiling faces, and secretly decided to wait for the matter to be over and let the army reimburse everyone's round-trip expenses. You can't hurt the enthusiasm of others.

The reason why Zhang Cheng appeared here and was able to organize this bidding was because Zhang Cheng was promoted again. Although his rank was not promoted, he took over the post of head of the Army's armament department from Lieutenant General Shi Qin. It's definitely a fat, oily errand.

And Marshal Yang Zhuo and Lord Shoufu are willing to hand over this position to Zhang Cheng, in addition to Zhang Cheng's own ability is enough and he has made great achievements on the battlefield in South Africa. Another important reason is that Zhang Cheng is very rich. He has no motive to make money in this position. Throwing his reputation for that little money, Zhang Cheng is not the kind of person who has no vision.

This is a large-scale replacement of equipment for the army. In addition to improving the combat effectiveness of the army to cope with the increasingly severe external situation. Shousuke also has the intention of stimulating the economic recovery by investing in heavy industry and military industry.

After successfully acquiring South Africa's gold mines, the results of exploration instantly destroyed the fragile relationship between business alliances. In the external environment of the Great Depression, under the temptation of tens of thousands of tons of gold reserves, no one could resist the olive branch extended by Lord Shousuke.

Shousuke-sama, who has sufficient confidence, quickly knocked out the domestic consortiums. Win over a group and suppress a group. The seasoned Shousuke-sama easily achieved his goal. With sufficient gold reserves and production as a foundation, Daming soon had a large amount of wealth. At the same time, major consortia have also defected to provide funds to Shousuke-sama. Shousuke-sama's hands suddenly became rich. His New Economic Policy was also implemented. Lord Shousuke immediately took out a large sum of money for the army to change clothes.

Under the law of the jungle, a strong army is the root of everything.

As the largest firearms arsenal in the country, the Jinling Arsenal in Jinling, Jiangnan, designed two excellent submachine guns based on the drawings given to them by Zhang Cheng. The prototypes of these two submachine guns are actually Suomy, who is not well-known but is actually evaluated by many as the best submachine gun of World War II in modern time and space, and Bobosha, who is famous and almost everyone knows.

The Finns designed this Suomi submachine gun had a lot of advantages. The material is excellent, reliable and durable. Never get stuck. Manufactured using sniper rifle craftsmanship standards with unmatched reliability and accuracy. The high-quality Suomi submachine gun has an effective firing range of up to 300 meters and a rate of fire of up to 900 rounds. This technical indicator is completely epoch-making. However, its disadvantages are also obvious, the cost is too high, and the process is too complicated. It is not suitable for mass production. Even with the financial and material resources of the Ming Dynasty, it is absolutely impossible to fully popularize this high-performance submachine gun.

Zhang Cheng's response was very simple, and the high-cost Suomi imitation was named the ZC33M1 submachine gun, and a small amount of production was produced to equip elite troops. And the mass-produced submachine gun designed on the prototype of the famous Bobosha was designated ZC33M2 submachine gun, and was mass-produced for equipping troops.

The Bobosha submachine gun is reliable, durable, and easy to mass-produce. Most of the parts are stamped and formed from steel plates, and welding and riveting techniques are widely used. With fewer parts, less man-hours are consumed. Ideal for mass production equipment.

These two submachine guns will be heavily equipped with the Ming Army. Not only armored forces, but also infantry will be massively equipped.

As the largest firearms factory in China, Jinling Arsenal will naturally not be satisfied with just winning the order of submachine guns. Of course, they would definitely not know how much Zhang Cheng needed submachine guns at this moment. This time, the biggest goal of the Jinling Arsenal was to compete for new rifles.

The Lee Twenty-Eight rifle has been in use for too long. This vintage rifle, which is equipped with the largest number of vehicles, is indeed the time to retire. The source of confidence in Jinling Arsenal is a semi-automatic rifle designed by Zhang Cheng with information and drawings.

It's not that Zhang Cheng doesn't want to get started with AK directly, it's just that the current era is not suitable. Not to mention the technical aspects. Just if so many people in the Ming army are equipped with AK, how much does the cost of firearms have to be? KA is not a simple Bobosa. Especially when the technology is not yet mature, the cost will inevitably soar. In fact, in this day and age, Suomi and Bobosha are good enough to use AK at all.

The prototype of this semi-automatic rifle is quite classic. Like the previous two submachine guns, the M1 Garand of 7.62 mm caliber was used.

The M1 Garand rifle has high reliability, high shooting accuracy, easy disassembly and cleaning. is a reliable, durable and effective rifle. In the history of modern time and space, it has performed well in the Pacific islands, the jungles of Southeast Asia, the deserts of Africa, and the battlefields of Europe, and is recognized as the best rifle of World War II. At the same time, it was the main infantry weapon of the American army in World War II and the Korean War.

This semi-automatic rifle, also designed by Zhang Cheng, was named the M1 Zhang Cheng rifle, or M1 rifle for short. (In fact, these models were not named until they were officially selected by the army, and the novel was simplified and omitted.) ）

The M1 rifle is more characteristic in terms of the steel slotted magazine for a double row of 8 rounds, which is pressed into the magazine from above the receiver. When the last bullet is fired, the gun hangs up. The magazine will be automatically ejected from the magazine by the unclipper, and it will make a sound. Soldiers are reminded to reload. (Actually, it's impossible to hear it on a large battlefield, but it can become noticeable in places where there are close-quarters engagements, such as street fights and jungles.) )

The Jinling Arsenal, which had won the new rifles and submachine guns, was very satisfied, but the faces of several other arsenals were not very good. The biggest cake has been eaten, who can have a good face? I didn't report the tickets I came!

Since Zhang Cheng has arrived in this position. That's naturally how to divide the cake. After all, it is still peacetime, and Zhang Cheng has to do the same.

There is nothing special about the new pistol and sniper rifle, and Zhang Cheng did not give any drawing information. There is no problem for a powerful arsenal to do this. When the other two arsenals won the list of pistols and sniper rifles, a weapon that Zhang Cheng valued very much was finally about to appear.

The favorite of countless military fans, known as the strongest Hitler chainsaw in World War II. MG42！ (To be continued......)

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