After deducing a few questions in his mind, Hu Chuyuan picked out a more interesting question and asked Luo Guorui: "If it is going to be put into production now, which model do you think is the most stable and most suitable for mass use on the battlefield." ”

Luo Guorui replied without thinking: "The V-B model, that is, the cannon armored car in the middle, has a net weight of 9.45 tons, and the frontal and flank protective armor are 5.3 cm thick, using No. 74 special military steel, and the outer layer is cold-pressed and hardened, which can resist the impact of the 20mm machine gun, and the rest of the parts are mainly made of aluminum alloy and 52 steel, which can fully resist 11mm caliber machine gun fire." Under normal conditions, the V-B armored vehicle can cross a trench 2.2 meters long, climb a gradient of up to 40 degrees, the maximum crossing height is 0.53 meters, the maximum speed on flat ground is 31 kilometers per hour, and the mountain cross-country speed will not be less than 10 kilometers per hour. In actual use, the supercharged engine can be relied on to temporarily increase the power. ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly, looking very satisfied.

This standard basically meets his current requirements for infantry fighting vehicles, and the V-B model is equipped with a 25mm caliber six-barreled machine gun and a 7.62mm Browning light machine gun side by side on the roof.

Due to the good weight compression of the body, it also has a very good surname when equipped with a Q-3WL-185P gasoline internal combustion engine.

Of course, there is also a problem, that is, the price is much higher than expected, and the cost of a single vehicle cannot be less than 11,500 yuan, which is equivalent to the price of six tractors.

If you make a lot of it, you might be able to make it cheaper.

Hu Chuyuan didn't say anything, but asked Luo Guorui to arrange that he would personally take a V-B armored car for an experimental examination.

Luo Guorui was also prepared, and immediately arranged three drivers and commanders, and drove the three test models into the test site at the same time.

The armored vehicle drove out of the rear tunnel and entered a relatively open mountain basin, which was about two kilometers in circumference, and the terrain conditions were more complicated, with flat land and undulating hills, as well as deliberately set up obstacles, trenches, and individual pits, which were used to test the driving of armored vehicles.

The V-B armored car that Hu Chuyuan rode in belonged to a special cannon armored car, and the whole vehicle was relatively light, and the surname Neng showed was indeed very good. In contrast, the V-A model is obviously somewhat lacking in horsepower due to its heavy body, while the V-C is a self-propelled gun, which has removed all the armor to enhance the cross-country and driving ability of the self-propelled gun, as well as its own weight carrying capacity.

After more than an hour-long drill in a closed field, Hu Chuyuan could already confirm that the V-B and V-C models were qualified, and the V-A model, which he really had high hopes for, was a bit troublesome, and he still had to continue to lose weight.

Due to the lack of horsepower of the engine, the dead weight is as high as 12.2 tons, and the V-A model can not reach 12km/h on the flat, and the off-road speed and off-road ability are even worse.

Back at the R&D base, he gathered Luo Guorui and other key technical personnel to discuss specific production deployment issues.

The preparation of the 9701 project in China is relatively sufficient, Laiwu Fuguo, Fuzhou Hyundai, Shanghai Baosong and Jiangnan Mustang four tractor factories can be produced, using their respective surrounding supporting factories and production capacity, V-B models can produce 600 vehicles per year, V-A and V-C can also reach about 200 vehicles.

Since the infrastructure of the four major industrial bases is complete, it is too late to expand production capacity, but it is necessary to reduce the production capacity of civilian goods.

Hu Chuyuan thought about it for a moment, and Luo Guorui continued to ask: "Can the 230-horsepower gasoline engine come out at the end of the year?" ”

Luo Guorui thought for a moment and said: "I just went to the Shanghai gasoline engine factory last month to see the site, and I personally feel that it is more dangerous. If you want to increase the horsepower of the gasoline engine, there are only four ways, one is to increase the stroke and the number of cylinders, which is also from the current four-cylinder design to six cylinders; the second is to increase the strength and pressure of the cylinder wall, either to increase the thickness of the cylinder wall, or to improve the cylinder wall material; the third is to further purify the purity of gasoline, especially to reduce the sulfur content, to avoid the problem of detonation under high pressure; The fourth is to increase the closed surname of the cylinder, improve the process, increase the air pressure and thermal efficiency, which requires better and higher precision processing machine tools; Overall, the Q-5WL-230P is also a very complex system engineering. Zibo Chemical Plant and Shanghai Chemical Plant are trying to find a way to remove sulfur, Shanghai also proposed a six-cylinder design, the thickness of the cylinder wall increased by 0.3 mm, the problem is that this series of improvements depend on the last link, then the cylinder is closed and machining accuracy, our key problem now is the machining accuracy of the machine tool. Even if it is tinkered with in the laboratory, there will still be many problems in the process of mass production. ”

Hu Chuyuan thought for a while and asked, "What about imports from Germany?" ”

Luo Guorui said: "My lord, it's not the twentieth year of Guangxu, and we are not much worse than Germany in high-precision processing." Besides, the maximum horsepower gasoline engine made by the German Benz Machinery Factory is 150ps, and we are ahead of them in design and layout, and the materials are better. ”

Speaking of this, he paused for a moment and said: "The process accuracy of Fuzhou is the best in China, and the gap is very small compared with Germany. After all, they are the cradle of China's modern industry, and I proposed in Shanghai that Fuzhou Diesel Engine Factory be responsible for production, and Shanghai seems to disagree, and they also want to seize this opportunity to make the gasoline engine project the best level in China...... Speaking of which, everyone needs to have a process of development, as long as they survive this hurdle, Jiangnan Heavy Industry's diesel engine and gasoline engine manufacturing industry will go to a big step. ”

Hu Chuyuan snorted, not in a hurry to express his position for the time being, and continued to ask: "How about Shandong Weifang Diesel Engine Factory?" ”

Luo Guorui said: "They can't do it, the drawings and machine tools are the same, but the quality made in Shandong, Shanghai and Fuzhou must be different, especially in the large-scale production of industrialization, in the final analysis, it is a matter of heritage." Fuzhou started out in the military industry, and today, it has developed for more than 30 years, has a profound heritage, and first-class skilled workers have grasped a large number of them. Shandong Weifang Diesel Engine Factory has only been established for seven years...... There's still a long way to go! ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "In this way, let Shanghai and Fuzhou work together to carry out the research and production of Q-5WL-230P, and if necessary, produce it in Fuzhou first...... If you draw up a telegram to the Shanghai side, you will say that I said that we should first consider the interests of the country, and if we suffer a loss now, I will definitely compensate them in the future. ”

Luo Guorui said: "That's okay." ”

Hu Chuyuan said again: "Tell them, try to speed it up as much as possible, and wait for it to be used in a hurry." In addition, you first produce V-B and V-C models according to the power of the Q-3WL-185P and the current design specifications, and the official production numbers are TZB-2 and TZP-3, that is, infantry cannon type steel armored vehicles and self-propelled artillery type steel armored vehicles, try to build 20 units each, transport them to Xi'an for drills, and train the first batch of drivers and crew members in Xi'an. ”

Luo Guorui said: "It's not a big problem, the 75mm caliber howitzer body has a large reserve, as long as the body is good, the barrel can be shipped to Xi'an as soon as it is installed." ”

Hu Chuyuan bowed slightly, and continued: "Considering the problem of long-distance supply, 150-horsepower trucks and 110-horsepower off-road vehicles should be accelerated in Shanghai and Shandong. ”

Luo Guorui said: "Then we have to stop the tractor production line outside, or let Shanghai speed up the production of trucks, Ma'anshan speed up the production of off-road vehicles, and Fuzhou will provide diesel engines and other accessories separately." ”

Hu Chuyuan estimated in his heart that at this time, the issue of confidentiality is no longer the key, the key is production capacity.

As long as the production capacity of the four major domestic industrial bases, Guangzhou-Haiphong, Tangjin, Dalian-Anshan, Wuchang, Daye, and other places, is fully developed, and efforts are made to manufacture military products, the total production capacity will be at least several times that of the country and Russia.

Of course, there was no need to make much movement at the moment, so he discussed with Luo Guorui and first accelerated the production of trucks and off-road vehicles in Jiangnan Heavy Industry in Shanghai-Ma'anshan.

When it comes to production capacity, the Jiangnan region is indeed still the first, followed by Fuzhou and Shandong.

Hu Chuyuan stayed in the staff apartment of Factory 307 that night, and he was thinking about two questions all night.

Li Kaiye, who was originally in charge of the northeast operation, has already been transferred to the northwest front, and considering that the northwest front is more conducive to the operation of the mechanized corps, there is no doubt that the northwest front will inevitably become the real main battlefield.

Here comes the question, then...... Who should be in charge of the Northeast Front?

Lu Guangquan is a suitable candidate, but he should stay in Yanjing to dispatch the overall situation...... What's more, Hu Chuyuan didn't worry that he would lead the army out alone.

Duan Qirui?

Hu Chuyuan did not doubt Duan Qirui's ability, but Duan Qirui had participated in too few wars and had not commanded such a large-scale battle, so it was inevitable that there would be problems.

After a long period of thought, Hu Chuyuan thought of a person who might be the most suitable person...... Yang Zongli, a person with the same name as Li Kaiye, has always been in Hu Chuyuan's field of vision, whether it is the Philippine Reading Power Campaign, or the Sulawesi Campaign, or the later Dutch East Indies Reading Power War, his performance is indisputable.

However, at this time, Yang Zongli was already the commander-in-chief of the Republic of Sumatra, controlling the strength of the naval and land armies.

Now let him give up everything in the South Seas and return to the country to command the Northeast Campaign...... Will he come back?

Temporarily let him be transferred from the South Seas to the Northeast, can he adapt?

Hu Chuyuan decided to give it a try.

The most important point is that Hu Chuyuan hopes to slowly transform Yang Zongli into a person of his own faction, at least a military commander between him and Lu Guangquan, like Li Kaiye.

Another thing is the operational theory of the mechanized corps, which is a very novel thing on a global scale, and there is no precedent for reference at all...... Without specific theoretical guidance, how can commanders and fighters at all levels command and prepare for war?

Mechanized large-scale assault operations, encirclement warfare, and large-span supply must first give answers and guiding ideologies in theory.

Regarding this matter, Hu Chuyuan thought of a suitable candidate - Huang Jianxun.

In the process of secretly developing mechanized equipment in China, Huang Jianxun has been continuously involved, responsible for formulating research and development standards and new logistics research.

After thinking about these two points clearly, Hu Chuyuan sent telegrams to Huang Jianxun and Yang Zongli respectively, telling them to secretly meet at Laiwu 307 Factory first to discuss the whole matter together.

In addition, he sent a telegram to Li Kaiye, asking Li Kaiye to organize a large-scale counterattack as soon as possible at all costs, and even make a counteroffensive to Central Asia, focusing the attention of the Tsarist Empire on Central Asia.

When Tsarist Russia puts a large number of troops in Central Asia, China will fight a counterattack in Central Asia in the northwest.

Hu Chuyuan may not be good at actually commanding operations, but he has his own uniqueness in the whole large-scale consideration.

His plan was to use the Western Front to share the pressure on the Eastern Front, form a long-term confrontation on both lines, and then use a large-scale mechanized corps to suddenly break the balance and directly cut off the Tsarist Eurasian Railway in Central Asia.

At that time, no matter how many troops Tsarist Russia deploys in the northeast, they will become fish on the board and be slaughtered.

In the North Vietnam battlefield on the southern front, he wanted to use the Nanyang Chinese armed and colonial troops in Zhang Lingpu's hands to quickly defeat the French colonial army, and then attack the mainland of Yuben through the Ryukyu Islands and naval superiority.

Even if he fought on three fronts at the same time, he was sure enough to eat the Entente.

The reason is very simple, China's vast territory, large resources, deep production capacity, abundant population, absolutely able to hold on, as long as one of the three member states of the Entente shows defeat, the other two will gradually lose the upper hand, and the last one will be even worse.

At this time, Hu Chuyuan had already gone into the wilderness, but his influence in China was still unparalleled, and as long as he was not dead, China would continue to revolve around him.

He continued to give orders in Laiwu, mobilized the domestic heavy industry machinery industry for new integration, began to expand the scale, recruited new workers on a large scale for training, and prepared for the subsequent wartime expansion of production capacity.

The reserve divisions and regiments of the regiments in various localities in the source areas of their troops have also continued to recruit new recruits, and the training intensity and number of reserve recruits have been expanded, so as to prepare for a major war.

A few days later, Huang Jianxun arrived at the Laiwu 307 factory by train, where he and Hu Chuyuan discussed the theory of the new mechanized corps in the 307 factory.

On June 17, 1900, Hu Chuyuan finally got another good news, Yang Zongli resigned from the post of commander-in-chief of the coalition forces of the Republic of Sumatra, returned to China under the pseudonym Liu Weiguo, and arrived in Laiwu, Shandong on June 24.

Out of a special importance, Hu Chuyuan went to the train station early in the morning to greet him personally.

After the train from Qingdao slowly entered the station, the shouting crowd squeezed out of the train, and after the crowd dispersed, two young and middle-aged officers came out of the front carriage, and there were more than a dozen guards around them to guard.

The overseer Zhang Shiying of the Liangguang Corps was ahead of him, who was a little fatter than ten years ago, with a round face and a small stature, and was once laughed at as a bantam.

This time, he specially accompanied Yang Zongli to Shandong to meet Hu Chuyuan.

There is no doubt that behind him is the ...... in the old American military uniform The officer whose skin has been tanned is Yang Zongli.

Compared with the bantam tiger Zhang Shiying, Yang Zongli is not much taller, but he is very capable, and his eyes are flashing with a cold light, like a black poisonous snake, hiding a sinister temperament.

He didn't speak, looking around warily.

Even if you don't know who he is and don't know him at all, when you see him, you can't help but be afraid, because there is a certain indifference to human life like an ant hidden under every pore.

You can call such a temperament murderous.

At this time, Hu Chuyuan was sitting in another train in the station, watching them from the window.

Huang Jianxun, who accompanied Hu Chuyuan, was about to get out of the car to pick them up, and Hu Chuyuan himself stood up and prepared to pick them up in person.

Yang Zongli!!

This is the person he has high hopes for.

(To be continued)