Wang Chenhao is confident that the artillery engineering of Beiyang Ordnance Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. can catch up with the most advanced artillery systems of various powers in a short time, and the main reason is that Wang Chenhao has been joined by the German artillery expert Kalem V. Rosenberg and the artillery expert Thomas Gregson, a Jew.

As one of several key engineers of the German Paris cannon during World War I, this artillery specialist Rosenberg is the only clue left by the mysterious Paris cannon for posterity.

For military experts of Wang Chenhao's era, a super cannon with a range of more than 100 kilometers is no longer news. But a hundred years ago, this kind of super cannon was a mythical existence.

On March 23, 1918, at 7:15 a.m., the citizens of Paris were shocked by an explosion. The explosion was so violent that it could be heard throughout Paris, but no German planes were found. There was widespread astonishment: the German Army was 120 kilometers away, and the Germans, who had not yet invented missiles, could only reach 15 kilometers away with army artillery and 30 kilometers from naval artillery.

However, 120 kilometers from Paris, the German emperor, soldiers, and specialists were standing next to a huge Krupp cannon in celebration. With a barrel length of more than 30 meters, a diameter of 1 meter, a wall thickness of 400 mm at the tail of the gun, a caliber of 210 mm, and a mass of 200 tons - it was it that fired an unprecedented shell with a range of 120 kilometers, and this artillery came to be known as the "Paris Cannon".

At that time, the German army underestimated the power of this super cannon, and only allowed the conversion of 3 surplus capital naval guns into "Paris guns". The total number of shells fired into Paris was only 351, resulting in a total of 256 deaths and 620 injuries. One of the most powerful shells hit the church of St. Joluez, where the service was taking place, collapsing the arched roof of the church, killing 88 people and injuring 68.

If the German army had produced and deployed more "Paris guns" and fired more shells, perhaps the whole of France would have been under tremendous psychological pressure, and the French army might have surrendered due to a military breakdown, as it did in 1940, or fled like the Iraqi army in 2003.

"Many people may not have heard of the Paris cannons, because the German authorities, who were defeated and surrendered in World War I, disassembled, cut and re-melted the cannons into billets before the arrival of the British and French allies, and destroyed almost all plans, reports, photographs and related materials. This led to the fact that the "Paris Cannon" remained mysterious in military history for a long time, and there were even many people who doubted that it really existed.

This myth continued until February 1990, when the British monthly magazine "Defense" also published an article entitled "Building a Space Cannon for Iraq?" The article claims that the world's most outstanding artillery designer today is Girard? Boer is working on a super-cannon for Iraq. It can shoot satellites or artillery shells into low-level Earth orbit. This report, like a bomb, immediately caused an uproar in the Western public opinion circles. Boer and its super-giant cannon immediately became the most interesting target of Western military circles and intelligence agencies. And with the great attention of the international community, through human flesh search and other exposure methods, the mysterious Paris cannon was able to be rediscovered.

In 1964, at the age of 36, Boole was already the director of the university's Institute of Cosmological Research. During his time at the Institute of Cosmos, he designed a "super-efficient harp system" with a tube 40 meters long and a caliber of 1,000 millimeters, capable of delivering a 2,000-kilogram warhead into low-Earth orbit. This achievement made him famous. In 1965, a middle-aged German woman quietly came to Montreal to look for Professor Bour. The woman's grandfather was one of several chief design engineers who participated in the "Paris Cannon Project" during the First World War. She came with the original design manuscript of her grandfather Rosenberg's "Paris Cannon". Rosenberg described the technical details of this cannon in the manuscript. Boole was an experienced ballistics expert, and he used this information to reproduce a complete artillery piece on a drawing board.

With her help, Boer was able to unravel the "technological labyrinth" that had been hidden for almost half a century and came up with ways to improve the "Paris Cannon". Since then, he has formed an indissoluble bond with the super cannon. On the basis of the experience of his predecessors, and after years of painstaking research, Boole realized that modern artillery design was facing a revolution. He was eager to show what he could do. Perhaps it was his popularity that helped him, and the U.S. Army Research and Development Department and the Canadian Department of Defense approached him one after another and proposed cooperation projects. With the strong support of the U.S. and Canadian militaries, Boole established a proving ground on the Caribbean island of Barbados and began a secret mission codenamed the High Altitude Research Program (HARP).

In addition, with the help of the American and Canadian political axes, Boer even set up his own research laboratory in the hard-to-reach region of Quebec. The proximity of the Quebec region to the borders of Canada and the United States makes it easy for Boer to travel with the United States. According to Boole, according to the principle of action and reaction, if the projectile of a giant cannon is a rocket with thrust, its range will be greatly extended. So, in a relatively short period of time, he welded two cannons of the US Navy together to create a huge cannon with a length of 36 meters and a caliber of 424 mm.

In the subsequent test firing, the cannon successfully threw a 90-kilogram shell into space at an altitude of 180 kilometers. This cannon is also known as the "Barbados" cannon because of where it was tested. The gun is also said to be able to fire 100-kilogram shells up to 4,000 kilometers away. Launch a 214-kilogram rocket extended-range warhead to a distance of 2,570 km. A slightly lighter carrier can be sent to a vertical altitude of more than 250 km. Among the existing practical cannons in the world, the record held by this "Barbados" cannon has not been broken to this day.

For Wang Chenhao, he only knew that Rosenberg was one of the chief engineers of the Paris cannon, and the names of the other engineers were unknown because they were strictly destroyed by Germany that year.

At this time, Rosenberg was a 40-year-old engineer of the Krupp Artillery Factory, because Wang Chenhao signed a cooperation agreement with the Krupp Factory and Krupp Artillery Technology Transfer and other agreements, Rosenburg came to Beiyang Ordnance Heavy Industry as a technical guidance expert of the Krupp Factory at the beginning, and under Wang Chenhao's struggle, Krupp agreed to transfer Rosenberg to Beiyang Ordnance Heavy Industry, and then Wang Chenhao sent someone to bring all seven members of Rosenburg's family to Tianjin. Under the promise given to Rosenberg as the chief artillery designer of Beiyang Ordnance Heavy Industry, Rosenberg agreed to work in Beiyang Ordnance Heavy Industry.

With Rosenberg, an artillery expert, and the Krupp artillery production technology transferred by the Krupp factory, Wang Chenhao firmly believes that China will soon be able to realize the localization of large-caliber shipborne artillery and break the technological blockade of the great powers.

At this time, Rosenberg is leading a group of engineers and technicians of the Beiyang Ordnance Heavy Industry Artillery R&D technical team to develop two shipborne main guns of 280 mm and 305 mm with a diameter of 35 times, although it is not the development of a 40 times diameter main gun as required by Wang Chenhao, but this is also to lay the foundation for the development of 280 and 305 mm main guns under 40 times the extension, Wang Chenhao can understand their distress, after all, you can't eat a fat man in one bite, and you should do it step by step.

The progress of the development of large-caliber main guns is still relatively slow, but another task that Wang Chenhao gave to Rosenberg has been completed very smoothly, that is, the task that Wang Chenhao asked to develop a lightning cannon.

Thunder artillery, as the name suggests, is actually a mortar. It's just that it was invented by foreigners back then, calling it a mortar. Now Wang Chenhao took the lead in the study of mortars, in line with his personal self-esteem, he named it lightning artillery, and similar artillery in various countries in the future will also be influenced by China, according to China's naming method to continue to call mine artillery.

Throughout the history of the development of lightning artillery, it can be traced back to 1342 AD. At that time, the Spanish army was besieging the city of Alihquiras, which was occupied by the Arabs, and the Arabs erected short horn cylinders on the battlements, and the mouth of the cylinder was raised high towards the outside of the city. A packet of black powder was placed through the mouth of the barrel, and then an iron ball was put in, which ignited the twist and shot at the Spanish soldiers outside the city. This primitive artillery, known as the "Modfa", can be said to be the prototype of the modern mine artillery. But the world's first real lightning cannon was born in 1904 during the Russo-Japanese War, and the inventor was Russian artillery captain Nikolayevich. At that time, the Russian army occupied the fortress of Lushunkou, and it was said that the trenches were dug and approached to a place only a few tens of meters away from the Russian position, and it was difficult for the Russian army to kill and injure the Russian army with ordinary artillery and machine guns. So Nikolayevich tried to convert an old 47mm naval mortar gun on a gun carriage with wheels and fire a long-tail shell at a large elevation angle, which turned out to be effective in killing and wounding the Japanese army in the trench and repelling many attacks by the Japanese army.

Wang Chenhao is well aware of the advantages of the lightning striker, one is that its trajectory is curved, which is suitable for overtaking shooting at targets behind concealed objects (such as hills and anticlines), and can also be used for direct shooting at targets at close range; Second, it is easy to load, high rate of fire (20~30 rounds/min), fierce firepower, and good killing effect; Third, it is light in weight, small in size, strong in mobility, and medium and small-caliber mine guns can be carried on horsebacks, run when hit, and can quickly transfer positions; Fourth, the structure is simple, easy to operate, easy to mass production, and the cost is low.

It can be said that as a single soldier to supplement firepower, the role of the lightning cannon is huge. Since Wang Chenhao knows the huge role of lightning artillery, he naturally will not leave it alone, not to mention that it will not be long before a war breaks out with Russia, he is not sure that the Russians will not invent lightning artillery, and it is better to strike first than let others invent lightning cannons to attack him first.

For Rosenberg and other artillery experts, after Wang Chenhao told them about the principle of lightning guns, they understood it at a glance, and at this time they had successively designed three lightning guns of different calibers and extensions.

At the test artillery site, Rosenberg personally commanded, and more than a dozen test artillery technicians set up three mine guns one after another. They are 51 mm, 82 mm and 107 mm mine guns. This is in accordance with Wang Chenhao's requirements, the lightning cannon is divided into three different models: light, medium and heavy.

They have the same structure, but they are just different in caliber. It is composed of four parts: gun body, gun carriage, seat plate and sight. The gun body can be selected according to the distance of the firing range, and the length of the gun body of the three calibers is between 750 mm ~ 1524 mm; The gun carriage is a bipod, which can be adjusted according to the height and direction of the target position, and can be folded when carrying; The seat plate is the main component that bears the recoil, and at the same time, together with the bipod, it plays the role of supporting the lightning gun body; The sight is an optical sight engraved with direction and high and low divisions.

The three lightning guns were completely designed in accordance with Wang Chenhao's conception and basically met Wang Chenhao's requirements. It's just that the fly in the ointment is that the current optical sight structure is bloated and complex, and Rosenberg has to make a minimum simplification in order to reduce the weight and size of the sight. Despite this, the optical sights mounted on the three lightning blasters were still large and unsightly, and the construction was crude, requiring soldiers to undergo rigorous training to use them.

"Your Excellency, please give the order for a test firing!"

When Rosenberg was ready, he asked Wang Chenhao for instructions.

Wang Chenhao nodded and said, "Let's start!" With that, he picked up the binoculars and looked at the target in the distance.

The target is three red flags, which are located on the anticline of the small dirt slope at 100 meters, 300 meters, and 500 meters, and the purpose of making such a test-firing arrangement is to test the greatest advantages of the lightning artillery, which has almost no shooting dead angles and makes up for the blind spots of the infantry artillery.

"Fire!"

With an order, the gunners of the three lightning guns released the lightning shells in their hands at the same time, and fired sideways with their heads and ears.

"Tom tom!"

With the unique firing sound of the three lightning cannons, the three lightning shells flew out of the barrel, drawing three curved arcs in the air, and roaring towards the target in the distance.

"Boom!"

The shells exploded near the target, sending debris and dust flying and a cloud of black smoke and fire.

The first round of shells had just been fired, and the gunners quickly threw in the second shells, only a few seconds apart. This is to test the rapid firing ability of the lightning artillery, compared with the infantry artillery can fire 20~30 shells per minute, the fire is coherent and ferocious, and the ability to suppress the enemy can be seen.

The test firing lasted for a minute, and the entire target area was filled with gunsmoke and flames, two red flags were blown off, and the remaining red flag was on fire.

"It's a pity that we couldn't blow it up!"

Rosenberg sighed, and everyone sighed too.

Wang Chenhao said with a smile: "It's already very good!" The role of the lightning cannon is mainly to suppress the enemy's firepower and kill a large number of living forces behind the enemy's fortifications. The task of destroying strong fortifications still requires infantry artillery. The only difference between the two is that. ”

"Your Excellency is wise!"

When everyone heard this, they immediately understood the true purpose of the lightning artillery, and they were overjoyed.

Wang Shizhen exclaimed: "My lord, this lightning cannon weapon can actually attack the anticline on the back of the hillside, which is definitely a favorable supplement to the infantry artillery, with the lightning artillery, the enemy will have nothing to hide." ”

Wang Chenhao said happily: "This kind of weapon will change the current combat mode of artillery in all countries of the world, and it will also put forward revolutionary requirements for all kinds of artillery that exist. ”

Wang Shizhen asked, "What do you mean?" ”

Wang Chenhao saw that Rosenberg was also full of curiosity, so he planned to show his faction in front of them, so that they felt that it was right to follow Wang Chenhao.

"At present, the mainstream artillery of various countries basically shoots at a small angle, and most of the artillery is fighting in a near-direct way. With the advent of the curved ballistic attack method of lightning artillery, the artillery of various countries will inevitably be reformed in the future, and the elevation angle will be increased, the firing range will be raised, and the curved projectile shells will be fired to achieve an attack method similar to that of lightning artillery. ”

Rosenberg deliberately wanted to test Wang Chenhao, and said: "What your lord said is very reasonable, so may I ask if for naval operations, almost all of its naval guns are below the firing range of five degrees, what do you think?" ”

Wang Chenhao likes these people to raise objections, so that Wang Chenhao can shock their minds by answering their doubts, so that they can work for Wang Chenhao even more desperately in the future.

"The naval shipborne artillery of various countries should also change the way of shelling, changing direct fire to curved fire."

Wang Chenhao paused, and then said: "First of all, in order to protect the direct fire of naval guns, the armor of the warships of various navies only focuses on the frontal armor protection on the side of the gunwale, and the horizontal deck is thinner. If you change to a curved shot and increase the elevation angle, you can attack its horizontal deck and inflict heavy damage on enemy ships. Secondly, direct fire from naval guns could not increase the firing distance, but instead of curved firing, it was possible to widen the engagement distance and shoot at a long distance. ”

Rosenberg asked rhetorically: "However, at present, the observation and sighting system is not yet able to direct the ship's guns to accurately hit the enemy ship at a long distance. ”

"That's my third point!" Wang Chenhao smiled slightly, and continued: "The third advantage of curved firing is to attack the enemy ship in a long-distance parabola, and the impact point of the shells is no longer concentrated on the engaged side, but will form a straddle shot, evenly distributed on the left and right sides of the enemy ship and the bow and stern. ”

As an artillery expert, Rosenberg immediately understood the feasible surname of the theory Wang Chenhao said, and couldn't help but be pleasantly surprised, and immediately said with admiration: "My lord is very knowledgeable, and he deserves to be a famous military strategist and tactician!" ”

Wang Chenhao was stunned for a moment, and asked with a smile: "What?" Am I famous? What do you call me that? ”

Rosenberg smiled and said, "Maybe you don't know it yourself, but in the eyes of us foreigners, you are a well-deserved famous military strategist. ”

"Is there such a thing? It's so uplifting! ”

Wang Chenhao immediately laughed, but it was undeniable that he was very happy in his heart.

Xu Jianyin stepped forward to congratulate him, and then asked, "My lord, have these three lightning guns started mass production?" ”

Wang Chenhao thought for a while and said: "It can be mass-produced, but it will not be equipped with troops for the time being, and it must be kept secret from the outside world, and it will be sealed immediately after it is produced." ”

Xu Jianyin asked, "What do you mean?" ”

Wang Chenhao replied: "As long as this kind of lightning cannon appears, it will definitely attract the attention of all [***] experts." Anyone with a modicum of military common sense will understand his enormous role. Therefore, in order to maintain our superiority, this weapon must be kept strictly secret. ”

Wang Shizhen stepped forward at this time and said, "My lord, strict secrecy is naturally a good thing. However, the observation and sighting system of this kind of lightning artillery is very complicated, and the army's artillery cannot be mastered in a short period of time, and once a war breaks out, I am afraid that it will be too late to learn it, which will affect the combat effectiveness. ”

Wang Chenhao nodded, this is indeed a difficult problem.

Ruan Zhongshu thought of a way, so he said: "My lord, this kind of lightning cannon has a low cost, simple production, mass production will definitely need a large number of artillery testers, it is better to increase the number of artillery testers, in peacetime they stay in the Beiyang Ordnance Heavy Industry to assist the arsenal to test the produced lightning guns, during the war, they are directly transferred to the artillery unit to serve, or serve as lightning artillery instructors, so as to ensure that our artillery can learn to use lightning guns in a short time." ”

"Great idea! Let's do it! ”

Wang Chenhao nodded immediately and ordered Xu Jianyin and Ruan Zhongshu to negotiate a settlement.

(To be continued)