Song Biao's initial design was a 60mm calibre, but soon, Russian engineers discovered that it was possible to produce such mortars on the spot using the remaining shells, and the change in caliber made them experiment with more efforts.

Because he learned the news that Song Biao was coming in advance, just waiting for Song Biao and his party to arrive at the factory, Major Kornilov ran out of his office with a smile. As soon as he saw Song Biao, he saluted, and couldn't wait to smile and said: "You came just in time, Colonel Song, we now have a very good production capacity, and for this purpose, we have shipped six lathes from China, you can take a look!" ”

Song Biao was very happy, he knew that Kornilov's words were specifically referring to the kind of mortar he provided the design drawings, which must be good news.

It was the time of the roar of the machines in the arsenal, and because of the lack of sufficient skilled workers, the Far Eastern Army had to select a group of workers to undertake the production work, including some sappers.

The production of gun carriages, gun bodies, shells, and primers is divided into four workshops, and the busiest workshop is the shell workshop, where the lathes transported from China are mainly milling machines.

Major Kornilov first found a finished mortar for Song Biao to see, the gun body is a very bright brass color, made of three shell shells, in order to prevent the gun body from breaking during firing, on the one hand, the propellant is reduced, and on the other hand, a number of hoops are added.

Song Biao carefully checked the curved firing ruler, the minimum adjustment scale was in units of 10 meters, and the maximum limit design distance was set at 1250 meters, which made him a little suspicious, so he looked up and asked Major Kornilov: "Have you done a detailed shooting test?" ”

Major Kornilov smiled with a funny smile: "Of course we did, we are very serious about the processing, and we hope that this new weapon will completely turn the situation around." Think about it, Your Excellency Colonel, when these shells continue to be fired into the trenches of the Yue army within a range of a thousand meters, it will be a hellish end for the Yue army. With such a small and light cannon body, as long as the quantity produced is large enough, we can even arrange two or three in each company, which will really make the army suffer. ”

Song Biao nodded slightly, since others had already done detailed shooting tests, he had nothing to doubt, after all, the caliber was increased to 75mm, even if less propellant was taken, a shooting distance of one thousand meters could still be done.

He thought for a moment and asked, "How far can you go?" ”

Major Kornilov said: "Because of the problem of the propellant and the muzzle velocity of the shell, the maximum distance can only reach 1,200 meters, but in our experiments there has been a phenomenon of hoop breakage, this is not a problem of materials, but a problem of processing technology, I even doubt the value of this hoop." Prior to this, we tried to produce a thicker gun body directly from bronze, and increased the muzzle velocity with more propellants, and the result was a magical distance of 2,500 meters, but I think such a distance is no longer necessary, and what we need now is a weapon that can effectively hit the enemy inside the trenches. ”

Song Biao looked into the distance noncommittally, and replied nonchalantly: "Maybe." ”

After a little thought, he asked: "How much have you produced now, how many shells are there, and how many can you provide in half a month?" ”

Major Kornilov said: "During this time, with the proficiency of the workers, the speed of production was very fast, and it was possible to produce about one hundred and fifty doors per week. We now have two hundred and seventy guns, and according to the plan of the General Staff, fifty of them will be distributed to you on a priority basis, each of which can be equipped with thirty shells. The problem is that the number of shells produced is far from sufficient. ”

Song Biao said: "This number is far from enough, I want to install one in each platoon, so I need at least two hundred." ”

Major Kornilov said: "If the time comes, it will only take another two weeks to provide your plan, but I suggest that you take one hundred and five doors for the time being, because the first few batches are very rough at the production level." In fact, even if there are cannons, it is useless, because the production of shells is going badly, and I can do something here to find a way to send you more shells. ”

Song Biao smiled: "Then thank you." ”

Major Kornilov said, "It's also for myself." My mission here has been completed, the design of the Kornilov mortar has been finalized, and two days ago, I just talked to Senior Colonel Madenidov, and I will report to your division headquarters at the end of next week, and I will continue to be responsible for leading the work of the 1st Far Eastern Corps, and I may be promoted to lieutenant colonel, which is something that His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief personally promised me, and given my qualifications, and my performance in the Battle of Heigoutai, this is also a very normal thing. Even if it's a late promotion, I'm still happy, don't I? ”

Song Biao slapped his arm with a smile and said, "That's really a good celebration." ”

He is now more and more sure that this Kornilov is the supreme commander of the Russian army who made the February Revolution, people, it is really a strange world, he always feels that the fate of people is too amazing, no matter how he looks at it, he does not think that such a person can be the supreme commander of the Russian army.

Perhaps it can only be said that the world has never been fair, just as a mediocre man like Grussi could become a French marshal and lead to the debacle of Waterloo, Kornilov was not a man of no talent, but he seized military power at the wrong time, and was easily defeated by the attack of the Russian guards, showing no talent at all for a military commander.

Of course, for China, it is a good thing that such a person can become the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, and if a smart person like Lieutenant Colonel Martos becomes the commander-in-chief, it will be a real trouble.

In terms of Lieutenant Colonel Martos's talents, even if Song Biao had many special advantages, he did not feel that he was sure that he could defeat Maltos in a battle on the scale of an army group.

There are always geniuses in this world, especially military geniuses, but some geniuses are born in the right country, and some are born in the most bad country.

Fortunately, Martos is a Pole, and it is impossible to be promoted in the Russian army, which is simply too lucky.

Although they only got along for a few days, Song Biao had already made up his mind at this time that this Lieutenant Colonel Maltos was the talent he really wanted to poach from the Russian army, and others such as Denikin, Kornilov, Samsolov, Madenidov, and Seyenisky...... It's really general, and even a little unworthy of being promoted to this level, and Brusilov is purely a tall man out of a short one.

Just one debate, Song Biao could see that Alexei was being advocated by the Russians. Alexievich. The actual level of General Brusilov is no more than that, this is still the principal of the Russian [***] official school, first of all, theoretically he does not have a level higher than other generals, and the overall quality of generals at all levels of the Russian army can be seen.

Talking about soldiers alone, the vast majority of Russian soldiers are also illiterate, have not received complete military training, and their only specialty is roughness and bravery, simple-mindedness, and easy obedience to commands.

Like the second lieutenant Tonokov that Song Biao first came into contact with, the person who would rather stay as an instructor in the Balichuan Patrol than return to the Russian army to serve, is actually really a minority, and the most dramatic surname is that this second lieutenant also belongs to the aristocracy, but belongs to the kind of small aristocratic class that is slightly declining, has received a complete education, and graduated from the Kazan Infantry Non-commissioned Officer School.

Relying on the peasants to fight, the non-commissioned officers were greedy for life and afraid of death, and the level of generals was low, this was the army of the Tsarist Empire.

The more he understands the Russian army, the less Song Biao feels that the Russian army has anything to fear, and it is a shame that such a country can expand to such a vast extent, which is so fucking inexplicable.

Why?

Song Biao really doesn't understand, if he really wants to give a conclusion, that is, this country is extremely good at bullying the weak and afraid of the hard, and if he catches someone weaker than him, he will blackmail him to death.

Song Biao was very interested in this temporary arsenal of the Russian army, and he vaguely felt that he might be able to get it down after the war, so he was more and more interested in visiting it here, and even made a milling machine himself.

As he expected, the lathe is an authentic French product, and the design is very exquisite, quite unique, but it is quite troublesome to make.

The machine tools of the steam engine era were actually more annoying and clumsy than the electric motor era, because the power system itself had a huge vibration surname, and how to eliminate this vibration was the most headache for engineers in this era, until the advent of rubber conveyor belts.

I don't know if the French people don't have a sense of strength, the overall work is relatively lightweight, but it is very cumbersome, and there are too many steps and procedures.

He personally feels that there is no need for these things at all, including the fixture and the turning tool screw can be re-improved, how to improve it, sorry...... That's really the category of the academic tyrant of this century, and it's not something that he, a second-rate son, can play at all.

Song Biao estimates that even if he becomes the ruler of China now, it will basically be ten years before he catches up with the development of the lathe industry, and it will have to be the result of ten years of slowly groping for the foundation, and it will take at least thirty years to catch up completely.

The temporary arsenal also has two small metallurgical furnaces, mainly to re-smelt and forge old scrap iron and copper, which do not belong to the real steel factory, but these two small metallurgical furnaces are very attractive to Song Biao.

The more he looked at it, the more he liked it, and he made up his mind to keep this small factory.

After visiting the Changling Arsenal, Song Biao followed Major Kornilov's suggestion and first received 125 mortars according to the distribution plan of the General Staff of the Far Eastern Army, transported them back to Zhujiatun, and assigned a separate squad to each infantry company as a separate support squad and equipped with two mortars.

Although the number of mortars is still insufficient, it is necessary to first organize them according to this scale, and select some high-quality Russian soldiers for professional training.

(To be continued)