At the beginning of 1916, Germany decided to turn its offensive focus again to the Western Front in an attempt to defeat France. The German High Command chose the French fortress of Verdun as the target for the attack. Verdun was the salient of the Entente[***] defense line, a great threat to the German army deep into France and Belgium, and it was a strong stronghold to Paris and a hub for the French front. On February 21, 1916, the Germans concentrated all the artillery on the front line to bombard the narrow triangle near Verdun for more than 10 hours, leveling the forests, hills, and trenches in this small area, and then advanced with six divisions. The commander-in-chief of the French army, Xia Fei, sent reinforcements and appointed Petain as the commander of the Verdun area, the old marshal who led the surrender of France in World War II was still in the iron backbone at this time, the battle was very tenacious, and the French army was organized to resist desperately.

The two sides dispatched planes to conduct air battles and bomb each other's airfields and supply lines, the battle became more and more intense, the German army in order to win, but also used phosgene asphyxia bombs for the first time, killing and injuring a large number of French troops and causing panic, but at this time the French army was not a waste after 20 years, still very tenaciously withstood the German offensive, but also lost a large number of troops, and then the German army concentrated on the high ground northwest of Verdun to launch an attack. The French army also concentrated a large number of artillery for counterattack. The number of casualties on both sides of the war is mounting, reaching 160,000.

In this battle, there is a weapon that shines, this is a new type of light machine gun designed in Sichuan, which is named Type 16, this light machine gun is also called a turntable machine gun because of a huge cartridge disc, this weapon is simple, durable, and cheap, powerful, it is really an ideal weapon for France now.

France's financial resources and military resources were close to exhaustion during the war, and the newly recruited soldiers were sent to the battlefield after only simple training, and they were even about to enter the trenches as soon as they could shoot, and they fought hard with the Germans, many of them did not even have time to shoot, and the military rations of the battlefield were blown to pieces, so the simpler the weapon, the better, and the cheaper and better the price.

In fact, this weapon is not original to Sichuan, in fact, it can be seen from the style of this weapon that this is a typical product of Soviet thinking, which is the Soviet Union in 1926 by Engineer Lieutenant General Vasily Deggalev designed a structure of light machine gun, finalized in 1927 and began to manufacture, in 1928 officially equipped with the Soviet Red Army, is the famous DP light machine gun in World War II.

This light machine gun has a simple structure, the whole gun has only 65 parts, the manufacturing process is not demanding, even an apprentice can build it, it is suitable for mass production, and the mechanism of the gun is reliable. The gun has a total length of 1280 mm, a barrel length of 605 mm, 4 right-handed rifling wires in the barrel, a high line of fire of 276 mm, and a mass of 9.1 kg for the whole gun. The gun is the working principle of the air conduction type of the front impact launch mode, and the locking mechanism is the middle part type locking iron propping type, and the left and right two pieces of clamping iron are propped open by the re-entry of the bolt frame when locking, and the bolt is locked.

The drum is used to feed the bullet, the drum is composed of the upper and lower two discs, the upper plate rotates by the spring, and continuously sends the bullet to the inlet, the drum can hold 47 rounds, and is placed flat on the top of the gun body. The firing mechanism is capable of firing single-shot, burst-shot, and has a manual safety that often has the surname. The barrel and receiver are connected in a fixed way and cannot be replaced at any time. There is a guard barrel on the outside of the barrel and a piston barrel below, and a piston and reentry spring are installed inside.

A bipod was mounted on the lower front of the gun body. The gun sighting device consisted of a cylindrical crosshair and a curved ruler with a V-shaped notched shutter. The front sight can be adjusted up, down, left and right, and there are wings on both sides. The ruler also has a wing, which doubles as a handle for the drum jam. The surface of the gun is wide and smooth, and no matter how dirty it is, it will not have much effect on the shooting ability.

The DP machine gun is an extremely simple and reliable machine gun, which fires M1908R 7.62 mm bullets with a bottom edge, with a muzzle velocity of 840 m / s, a maximum firing range of 3000 m, a gauge range of 1500 m, an effective firing range of 800 m, a theoretical rate of fire of 600 rounds / min, and a combat rate of fire of 80 ~ 90 rounds / min.

I have to say that the Soviet Union still has a set of weapons design, the surname price ratio is very high, and now the industrial level of Sichuan is still very backward, and the production of this machine gun is the best choice, but the large cartridge Sichuan can not be mass-produced, but this is not a problem, after the Sichuan Arsenal showed the sample to France, the French immediately agreed with this weapon, and the French side produced the large cartridge, and Sichuan produced other components, and then shipped to France for assembly.

Soon this light machine gun was equipped with the hands of the French soldiers, and the Soviet weapons were relatively rough, but after all, this machine gun was ten years ahead of the current world, so this gun was still very important, and in Verdun, the famous meat grinder, the way to take advantage was quite simple, that is, at the same time, in the same place, to pour more elixir on the opponent's position, make more explosions, and harvest more lives.

The Type 16 light machine gun shined in Verdun, and its outstanding surname and ferocious power made the French soldiers completely love this weapon, and tens of thousands of German soldiers were swept by this machine gun during the charge, which can be described as a great achievement.

However, due to Qiao Yu's participation, the Entente and the Allied countries have made a lot of innovations in weapons and equipment, and the tactical level has also improved a lot, and the corresponding war has become more cruel, and 320,000 people have died in France in two months of fighting.

Counting because of Qiao Yu's participation, at least more than 200,000 people have died in France, which is not a simple number, but another 200,000 families in France have been shattered, and the strongest young people of this generation in France have disappeared, even if France wins the war, it will be completely eliminated in the future competition, and they are no longer competitive!

At this point, the French must get help from the outside world, but the United States said that the two countries have no real intention of participating, they both want to participate in the funeral of old Europe, sit back and watch both lose, although Britain and France have exhausted all their strength, but the effect is still limited, the United States has no intention of entering the war.

In desperation, the Entente had no choice but to set their sights on China, of course, they also knew the conditions proposed by Qiao Yu, although the tariff matter made their hearts bleed, but now is the time to let it out, otherwise the blood will be drained.

Fushan and Alder came to Qiao Yu's mansion again, but the current mansion has been renovated, after all, from the riverside patrol envoy to the southwest patrol envoy, the sphere of influence has doubled at once. It's like an emperor, so you should make the mansion more decent.

"Qiao, first of all, congratulations on becoming a southwest patrol envoy, in China, you are already a pivotal figure, in my eyes, Chengdu and Yanjing are the same!"

"Old friend, you don't have to inject me with [***] medicine, just say anything directly!"

Fu Shan shrugged his shoulders and said with a smile: "Qiao, now that the war in Europe is becoming more and more urgent, China needs to enter the war as soon as possible, provide us with enough soldiers and more laborers, and it is best to lift the restrictions on laborers and allow them to go to the front line to assist soldiers in building trenches!" ”

"Old friend, you are trying to use the Chinese as cannon fodder!" Qiao Yu looked at the two of them playfully, "Let's talk about it, what conditions are you going to come up with in exchange, as long as it can make my heart move, I can send troops to Europe!" ”

"Tariffs, Gengzi indemnity, and various industrial and mining enterprises, as long as they are in the southwest, all of them will be handed over to you, and we can also take back the various advisers originally sent in Sichuan, in short, as long as you can agree to send troops, Sichuan will be able to become a real force from this moment on!"

No matter how proud a person is, he will still bow his head in the face of the cruel reality, this is the case with Britain and France now, they have chosen to compromise and return these powers to the southwest, which is equivalent to giving up most of the colonial interests, and there is nothing left outside the concession, Qiao Yu is also very happy in his heart, he never thought that Britain and France would compromise so quickly, maybe the European war was too cruel.

"Both, since you are so sincere, I have agreed to send troops to Europe, but I require the Chinese soldiers to have the command of the reading force, we are not those colonial troops, we need British and French officers to lead, we can fully compete with our own strength."

Alder showed a trace of embarrassment on his face, "Joe, the European battlefield is very cruel, and the most experienced commanders are needed, I am worried that the [***] officer will not be able to do it, and I don't want to joke with the lives of soldiers!" ”

Although these white-skinned pigs have reached this point, they still do not look at the Chinese in their eyes: "Mr. Consul General, you also questioned the Chinese labor at the beginning, and it has been proved that they are excellent, and the Chinese [***] team can also prove their excellence, there is no doubt about this!" Qiao Yu paused slightly: "I know the cruelty of the European war very well, so the Chinese must control their own destiny and cannot be dominated by the Entente at will, but I can guarantee that the Chinese [***] team will fight resolutely to the end!" ”

Fushan and Alder glanced at each other, and both nodded: "Qiao, I can agree to your request, but the Chinese [***] team must be trained by us, and Yanjing must also participate in it, declare war on Germany in the name of China, and send troops to fight!" ”

Everything is justified, which is also the proper meaning. "Well, it's totally possible, but now that Yuan Shikai has just stepped down, and the Beiyang political axe is still in the run-in period, I'm afraid it will be difficult to send troops quickly!"

"That's right, that's why I hope that Sichuan can send an army as soon as possible, no matter what name it is, in short, it must be sent as soon as possible, Europe is bleeding every day, and we need strength to stop the brutal Germany!"

The Entente really can't bear it, and they urgently need blood transfusion from the outside world to maintain it!