On the Beiyuan Weapons Test Ground, in the dust and the roar of machines, a tracked vehicle with a shape similar to a modern tank but very strange slowly drove by.

"This is the M07?" Wang Chenhao, the emperor of the Chinese Empire in the stands, pointed to the "monster" below and asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty, this is the combat vehicle that the War Department has just developed." Wang Shizhen explained from the side, and ordered someone to bring the design drawings and parameters of the M07 tank to Wang Chenhao for Wang Chenhao.

Wang Chenhao looked at the design parameters of the M07 tank, shook his head and said with a wry smile: "It's too far from the tank I imagined!" ”

At the beginning, Wang Chenhao's design drawings and standards for combat vehicles given to officials of the War Department were completely in accordance with the styles and standards of the main battle tanks of the 21 st century, and according to his requirements, the combat vehicles were composed of weapon systems, propulsion systems, protection systems, communications equipment, electrical equipment, and other special equipment and devices.

However, what Wang Chenhao did not expect was that tanks in the 21 st century could not be built at the beginning of the 20 th century.

The War Department wasted a lot of energy and mobilized more than 100 experts in various fields to finally design the Type 07 combat vehicle, except for the prototype of a modern tank on the surface, other aspects are far from meeting the indicators proposed by Wang Chenhao.

The M07 tank is divided into three types of ABC, and the difference between the three models of ABC is the weapon system it carries.

The warhead of the M07A is a rotating turret with a 37mm smoothbore gun that is fully cast and rotatable. A gunner, a driver and a maintenance corps are needed. Reserve 40 rounds.

The warhead of the M07B is a fixed bunker-type firing bunker, equipped with one 12.7 mm Browning M2 air-cooled heavy machine gun and three 7.92 mm Browning air-cooled heavy machine guns, which are located in four shooting holes in the east, west, south and north directions. It carries 4 machine gunners, 1 driver, 1 maintenance man. Each machine gun has 500 rounds of ammunition.

The warhead of the M07C is also a bunker-type firing bunker, equipped with a 7.92 mm Browning heavy machine gun, located on the front, and carries 1 machine gunner, 1 driver, 1 maintenance officer and 2 signal soldiers. The machine gun has 500 rounds in reserve.

The three models as a whole look like a huge "convex" iron box, with a warhead in the upper part and a rectangular body in the lower part, which is directly applied to the chassis of a Holt tractor and covered with steel plates.

The total length of the vehicle is 6 meters, the width is 2.4 meters, the total height is 3 meters, the full armor protection, the average coverage is 16 mm armor, and the total combat weight is 16 tons, which can be described as a behemoth.

To be able to propel this behemoth, the propulsion system is powered by a Ford Type 05 upright liquid-cooled 4-cylinder 2-stroke gasoline engine that produces 39 hp and a thrust-to-weight ratio of 6.5 hp/tonne. Originally, it was planned to use Diesel engines, but the oil extractors did have a number of flaws, the biggest of which was the weight. Because the cylinder pressure of the diesel engine is much higher than that of the gasoline engine, the cylinder block of the diesel engine is much thicker than that of the gasoline engine, and the mass of the air compressor used by the diesel engine for compressed air in the same period is also very huge, which makes the diesel engine as a whole very bulky and extremely unsuitable for the skeleton is still very "petite" tank.

However, Diesel is also working on a pump injector that can reduce the weight of the diesel engine, and once it is successfully developed, it can greatly reduce the weight of the diesel engine, and the advantage of the diesel engine will be more than that of the gasoline engine. Because the diesel engine has the incomparable torque advantage of the gasoline engine, and the diesel engine has a great fuel economy advantage while the power is the same, which makes Diesel firmly believe that the future chariot engine will definitely use his diesel engine.

Due to the excessive weight of the tank, the fuel load of the Type 07 can only support its maximum range of 45 km (flat) / 12 km (mountain), and the maximum speed is also much lower than that of a car, which is 5 km/h on flat ground, which is equivalent to the speed of infantry cross-country running, and 2 km/h in mountainous areas, which is only equivalent to the speed of infantry walking.

The main reason for this slowness is not the engine, which can propel the vehicle to more than 10 km/h, but after the engineers tested it on the first prototype, once the speed of the vehicle exceeds 5 km/h, the vehicle's tracks will not be able to support it and will soon be damaged. Moreover, the combat vehicle does not have a suspension and shock absorption system, the crew of the vehicle is seriously bumpy, the engine is prone to failure due to severe bumps, and the ammunition compartment is not safe under such violent bumps. So, the engineers started at a speed of 5 km/h, using a fixed-axle mechanical gearbox, located at the rear of the vehicle, in three gears forward and three backwards. The first gear is 2 km, the second gear is 4 km, and the third gear is 5 km.

In terms of the transmission of the combat vehicle, the front drive of the driving wheels was used, but the engine and transmission were in the rear of the combat vehicle.

Engineers have been debating for a long time about whether the driving wheels are front or rear. The engine is located at the rear of the body, and the engine's power is transmitted to the gearbox at the front of the body through a long propeller shaft, and then to the driving wheels. The advantage of this general arrangement is that the longitudinal balance of the whole vehicle is good, the car length can be shortened, and the distance of the longitudinal rod is also shorter, and the troubleshooting is relatively easy. The outstanding disadvantage is that the propeller shaft passes through the fighting compartment, which increases the height of the vehicle, increases the appearance of the vehicle, and increases the weight of the vehicle.

Both have their own advantages and disadvantages, in Wang Chenhao's view, the later generations of chariots are driven by the rear of the wheel, connected with the engine and gearbox, but the problem is that at this time the Chinese Empire in the chariot of various parts and equipment is still in the primitive stage, can not meet the technical requirements of the rear driving wheel. Moreover, the wheels of combat vehicles are generally divided into driving wheels, induction wheels, load-bearing wheels and carrier wheels. The Type 07 tank has only two large driving wheels and driven wheels, and there are no induction wheels, load-bearing wheels and towing wheels.

"Several load-bearing wheels are placed on the lowest tracks of the vehicle to carry the weight of the vehicle itself. The role of the driving wheels is to move the tracks, not to bear the weight of the vehicle itself. The drive wheel is placed at the back at the end for cost savings and maintenance. The front and rear of the drive wheel is generally determined by the engine position, and its position is as close to the engine as possible, which can reduce the energy loss caused by intermediate transmission. Relative to the position of the driving wheel, add some inducing wheels above the back or front of the load-bearing wheel, which can balance the pressure of the track and prolong the life of the track. In addition, the problem of the suspension of the combat vehicle must be solved, vertical shock absorbing springs can be taken, otherwise the soldiers inside will be stunned before they reach the battlefield, what kind of battle will they fight? ”

Wang Chenhao finally said: "One of the most critical aspects of the chariot is the life of the track, you can try to add a layer of rubber and lubricating oil to the bearing of the track connection part to reduce vibration and friction, so that the technicians of the Imperial Iron and Steel Plant can specially develop a high-strength bearing steel, which can greatly improve the life of the track." ”

Wang Chenhao taught dozens of engineers his understanding of the chariot, although his words are not professional enough in modern times, but in the current era, his words are like navigation lights at night, and suddenly pointed out the direction to a group of engineers.

For the emperor's erudition, Wang Shizhen and other War Department officials and engineers admired him.

Although the M07 tank was too simple in Wang Chenhao's eyes, in the eyes of Wang Shizhen and other army officials, this armored tank would become the most powerful attack weapon for the infantry of the Imperial Army in the future, and everyone had high expectations for the tank.

Wang Shizhen said excitedly: "Your Majesty, with this kind of chariot weapon, in the future, the enemy's trenches, ravines, barbed wire obstacles, etc. will be all out of the question, and our army will be able to break through directly." ”

Wang Chenhao nodded, thinking that the role of the chariot during World War I was nothing more than to break through obstacles, because of industrial technology limitations, the artillery system of the chariot was not brought into play.

"Our vehicle weapons must be kept strictly secret, and research funding should be strongly supported."

Wang Shizhen replied: "Wechen has allocated 3 million yuan from the defense fund for the research of the combat vehicle project!" ”

Wang Chenhao nodded, and then said, "I finally came once, are there any other advanced weapon projects?" ”

Wang Shizhen thought for a while and said: "There are not too many secret research projects in the army, Rosenberg is leading people to tackle a railway cannon, based on the development of a 280 mm rail fortress gun, extended to 65 times the extension, which can hit a one-ton shell to a height of 35 meters and a range of 120 kilometers. ”

Paris cannons?

Wang Chenhao thought of this for the first time, and Rosenberg was one of the designers of the Paris cannon, but now he was designing a super cannon for the Chinese Imperial Army, which made Wang Chenhao feel both excited and surprised. I am excited that the Chinese Empire also has this kind of super deterrent weapon, and I am surprised that Rosenberg is worthy of being an expert in gunnery, and now he has developed a super giant cannon.

Accompanied by Wang Shizhen, Wang Chenhao visited Rosenberg's giant cannon.

When he saw the super cannon, Wang Chenhao couldn't help but marvel. The barrel of the cannon is as long as 18 meters, the huge barrel is like a hill, and a person can squat in the barrel.

Wang Chenhao asked: "Has this cannon been finalized?" ”

Rosenberg replied, "Your Majesty, this cannon is still being tested and is expected to be finalized in three years. ”

Wang Chenhao nodded, and when he visited the shells used by the giant cannon, he saw that the caliber of each shell was different, so he asked curiously: "What?" Can this giant cannon fire shells of multiple calibers? ”

Rosenberg smiled and said, "Your Majesty, this giant cannon cannot fire shells of multiple calibers. The shells you see, their caliber ranges from 280 mm to 305 mm, this is because our barrel strength is not strong enough, when firing a ton of shells, its huge bore pressure makes the shells scrape off a large piece of bore wall steel every time they are discharged, so that our shells will increase the caliber of the cannonballs in turn in order to ensure the bore pressure and airtightness, and after it is the turn to fire 305 mm shells, the barrel of this giant cannon has to be replaced. ”

Wang Chenhao suddenly realized, it turned out to be like this.

Then he asked suspiciously: "Isn't our China Special Steel also able to reduce wear?" ”

Rosenberg nodded and said, "Yes!" China Special Steel is the best steel I have seen, far better than Krupp steel, but the bore of the cannon is so compact that even the barrel made of diamond will wear out. Unless we reduce the range, then we lose the strategic deterrence of long-range strikes. ”

Wang Chenhao thought about it, and quietly asked Wang Shizhen: "How much did this thing cost?" ”

Wang Shizhen whispered: "The cost of this thing is as high as 1.7 million. ”

"It's too expensive!" Wang Chenhao said: "We can accumulate technology, but mass production is not recommended, and we don't need this thing for the time being." ”

"Wechen understands!" Wang Shizhen hurriedly received the order.

Subsequently, Wang Shizhen accompanied Wang Chenhao to visit other departments of the Army Weapons Research Institute, and in addition to watching a test launch at the giant artillery test site and feeling very shocked, the white phosphorus bomb test explosion scene seen at the artillery test site left a deep impression.

The Army Weapons Research Institute was inspired by the results of the airships during the Sino-Russian War, which were limited in their targets, and some of the sturdy reinforced concrete fortifications and steel defensive targets were indestructible to petrol bombs and the explosion was insufficient. Therefore, the Ammunition Research Office of the Army Weapons Research Institute has developed a new type of ammunition that is cheaper but has more destructive power, which is the white phosphorus bomb.

The basic structure of the white phosphorus bomb is to fill the body with phosphorus medicine, and it will start spontaneously igniting when it encounters air until it is consumed. A complete white phosphorus bomb consists of a base, a bottom plug of the shell, a gasket, an initiating charge, an initiating charge chamber, a yellow phosphorus smoke canister, an aluminum separator, a projectile body, a delayed detonator, a projectile charge and a mechanical time instantaneous fuse.

White phosphorus bomb is very easy to manufacture for the emperor's industrial sector, and the price is low, the lethality is huge, and it is a weapon of mass destruction with a very high surname and price ratio.

This is mainly due to the fact that white phosphorus has a very low ignition point, and once it comes into contact with oxygen, it burns, emitting a yellow flame and emitting a strong smoke. It can be used to burn substances that are difficult to burn with ordinary combustion materials, and it is characterized by being able to fully burn in a small space or with little air density, and the temperature of general combustion can reach more than 1000 degrees, which is enough to destroy all living organisms within an effective range. The damage of the white phosphorus bomb is very large, it burns continuously after touching the object, and even the steel will be burned through and melted.

The white phosphorus incendiary bomb is a very powerful incendiary bomb, which is difficult to remove in time if it gets on the skin, and the combustion temperature is high, which can burn all the way to the bones, and the smoke produced at the same time is extremely irritating to the eyes and nose.

As a complement to the petrol bombs, the Reich War Office approved the production program for white phosphorus bombs.

"Your Majesty!" Wang Shizhen explained: "We used to drive a large number of animals into abandoned fortifications and test them with white phosphorus bombs. The explosion of white phosphorus instantly forms clouds, and no creature within a radius of 150 meters is spared, and the burning white phosphorus will burn away the flesh and skin of the animal until the bones are scorched. At present, we already have small white phosphorus bombs fired by lightning cannons, and we are planning to develop an air-dropped version of white phosphorus bombs, which can be carried by airships and dropped over enemy cities to deter the enemy. There are also shells fired from naval guns, which are used to melt the steel armor of enemy battleships. ”

Wang Chenhao nodded and said, "Very good!" Be careful with secrecy, though! Once this weapon is put into use, it will soon attract the attention of international public opinion, and the international community will soon reach a treaty banning the use of white phosphorus bombs, so we must be cautious to keep this weapon and use it at a critical moment. ”

Wang Shizhen nodded and said, "Weichen understands!" ”

The Army Research Institute also has some new infantry weapons, such as the large-caliber 12.7 mm M2 Browning heavy machine gun, which the army units are very fond of, because the 12.7 mm bullet is enough to sweep the battlefield, even the armor of the M07 tank. However, the disadvantage is that the M2 heavy machine gun is too bulky, and the War Department has only purchased 20 for experimentation for the time being, and Browning is still upgrading it.

The decision on the future battlefield lies in the sky, so after leaving the Army Research Institute, Wang Chenhao went to the Air Force Research Institute to inspect.

For the Air Force Research Institute, Wang Chenhao is naturally most concerned about the Air Force's aircraft project.

Since the Sino-Russian War, the aircraft of the Chinese Empire have been concerned by the European and American powers, and as European and American countries have successively imported export-oriented Jian-1 reconnaissance aircraft from the Chinese Empire, and have successively carried out relevant imitation work.

The British HP1 and HP2, the French FB1, the German Fokker type, and the American Wright aircraft have all appeared one after another. Since they referred to the Jian-1 reconnaissance plane of the Chinese Empire, the starting point was much higher than in history, and the aircraft were much more advanced.

In order to maintain air superiority, in addition to building the world's only Royal Aviation School and the Royal Aviation Club, which were used to attract aircraft enthusiasts from all over the world and improve the popularity of the Chinese Empire, the Chinese Imperial Air Force itself was also aware of the pressure and competition, so it vigorously developed new aircraft.

The export type of the J-1 lowered the standard, which opened a certain gap between the Chinese Imperial Air Force and the army aviation of European and American countries.

After the J-1 aircraft, the Chinese Empire completed the test of the J-2 aircraft in 1905, which also included reconnaissance aircraft, fighters, and training aircraft.

The surname of the J-2 aircraft has been greatly improved compared with the J-1 aircraft, which is reflected in the maximum take-off weight of 500 kg. Using the BT11 rotary cylinder air-cooled radial gasoline engine invented by the French Seguin of Beiyang Science and Technology Engine Laboratory, the power of the newly developed BT11 star-shaped gasoline engine reaches 57 horsepower. The speed of the J-2 aircraft reached 100 kilometers per hour, the maximum ceiling was 1200 meters, the range was 140 kilometers, and the range of the auxiliary fuel tank could reach 200 kilometers.

Because the threat posed by the neighboring countries to the air force of the Chinese Empire was too small, the Russian Army Aviation and the Japanese Army Aviation introduced a smaller version of the earlier Jian-1, which was too far behind in speed and range, and the Wright 2 aircraft equipped by the US Army Aviation was also too far behind, which was not enough to pose an air threat to the Chinese Empire.

Therefore, the Imperial Air Force of China only purchased 20 J-II fighters for training and training, but ordered the Air Force Research Institute to step up the development of a more advanced and stable J-3.

At the beginning of 1906, the first wind tunnel test base of the Chinese Empire was built in Nanyuan, and after the wind tunnel test base, the Air Force Research Institute could test the prototype in the wind tunnel for various data tests, obtain more aerodynamic layout technology and fluid mechanics related parameters, and develop aircraft structures that are more in line with aerodynamic layout and fluid mechanics.

(To be continued)