Monday, January 24, 1622.

West Point, which has been enriched by several groups of immigrant families, now has a total of more than 350 residents, of which more than one-fifth are European-American residents with formal settlement rights.

The snowless winter makes West Point in the Song Valley look more like a paradise hidden in the shadows of late autumn trees. The town is interlaced with evergreen and deciduous trees, and the small single- or two-storey mixed-wood residential buildings form a small block in a slightly irregular pattern.

Inland, more than 300 acres of newly opened up farm land have just completed a winter deep ploughing and turning operation. At the edge of the farm, vineyards and apple orchards are neatly lined up along the path, and several storage mills are leisurely at work.

In a small industrial area on the outskirts of the town near the docklands, several expanded building materials workshops are in full swing. The national infrastructure construction in the new year has brought the demand for all kinds of masonry tiles to a new height, and the orders for snowflake-like infrastructure masonry and building materials have continuously flown to West Point Town, so that the old and young masters will be busy after the New Year's Day.

The military fort in the north-west, near the river plains, has expanded into a sizable military base, where two companies, old and new, are deployed not only to deal with the Mohok threat in the northwest, but also to monitor the Pecot Indian villages that have become dependent on the U.S. government after the heavy losses.

This Pecot village at the forefront of the northwest has been continuously gathering scattered tribesmen from all directions, and the population has now reached more than 2,000 people, and the Pecot villages scattered further east of the Song River are scattered. Already under the warning and coordination of the US government, a rapprochement has been reached with the Mohican and other small clans.

Today, the middle reaches of the Song River, especially the vast area on the east bank of the Song River, are all within the sphere of influence of the state. Every day, Indians of different tribes came to West Point to trade, and the abundance of fur trade led Congress to consider building another colonization town on the plain woodland adjacent to the mountains, two kilometers northeast of West Point.

It is said that the name of the new town has been thought of. It's called Silver Valley Town. Because of the exploration of the geological and mineral exploration team led by the Minister of Land and Resources, An Shaoqing, the valley of the Alabachian Mountains to the north is not only rich in animal and plant products and stones, but also found small-scale lead-zinc ore and tin ore.

As you can imagine. With West Point Town, a stronghold in the middle reaches of the Song River, the future Silver Valley Town will definitely develop very smoothly.

Before the promulgation of the "Local Administration Law", the immigration colonization town of West Point still follows the previous administrative management measures. William the One-Legged will continue to be appointed acting mayor by the residents who have the right to settle in the new year. The administrative establishment of the West Point Sheriff Guan Ruzhong and the tax collector Mao Jian was formally incorporated into the formal state administration.

Early October last year. An official letter from the capital asks West Point to nominate a man with formal residency and a basic Mandarin test to the capital, Manchester, where he will undergo intensive training from the Ministry of Justice for three months before serving as a temporary magistrate in West Point.

For this candidate, Mayor William, Pastor Brest and other European-American residents were quite solemn, under the construction of Guan Ruzhong and Mao Jian, one of the oldest West Point residents, the current small shopkeeper of West Point, Robert, a 53-year-old Scottish man, was chosen.

Today is the day of the return of Robert Interim Judge at West Point. Many of the old townspeople put down their work and stood guard by the docks, all smiling as they watched the little steamer getting closer and closer.

Although it is still a temporary prefix. But West Point will have its own first judge starting today. …,

The monarchs and nobles of Europe no longer extend their arbitrary hands and feet into their homes, and the Chinese American government, which was once strange and fearful, seems to be tolerant in some respects. Although the various taxes are not necessarily less than those collected by the European lords, the quality of life here is simply not comparable to that of Europe.

This, coupled with the overwhelming superiority of the "powerful" army over the Mohoek Indians in the northwest, allowed the inhabitants of West Point to live a comfortable and stable life for most of the year, and now they will receive a judge. The hearts of the residents were filled with inexplicable emotion, and at the same time, there was more apprehension.

In the dock area, which had been enlarged several times, a small steamer laden with masonry was hobbling out of the river harbour heading south, while two small steamers docked on the other side, a group of Mohican Indian hired men, were hauling iron ore and coal upwards. On the river to the south. Another small steamer is slowly approaching.

While West Point residents catch up with their new judge at the docks, an unusual weapons test is taking place at a military base on the edge of the River Plains northwest of West Point.

The military base, which covers an area of several hundred acres, is planned as a peripheral fortification area, a training area for recruits, a dormitory area for officers and soldiers, a main defense area for the fortress, and a logistics support area. Since October last year, the military defense deployment in the middle reaches of the Song River has been gradually increased, so that the number of new recruits here has increased at the rate of one platoon per month.

The country's military center of gravity has shifted northward, so that the Ministry of National Defense has directly set up a mid-term training base for future recruits here, and the training ground in the outer islands of Manchester City is only used as an initial training camp for new recruits. Now, in addition to one infantry company stationed in Manchuria's Long Island New Area, there are more than two companies of new and old officers and soldiers at the West Point military base in the United States of America who are stepping up their training.

Guided by the beat of drums, on a certain playground on the edge of the military base, the soldiers of a mixed European and Indian company lined up in three rows and walked neatly following the officer's command. Many of the Indian hired men who had come from nearby Pecot villages or West Point to deliver supplies watched from awe from afar.

Deep in the military base, in an enclosed shooting range, a group of officers and a few men in civilian clothes gathered together.

Each of the 10 veterans was armed with a rifle with a slightly different appearance from the 21B1 flintlock rifle. In the eyes of others, these real Yàn 12mm caliber 22A rear-loading rifles that have just completed preliminary tests from the workshop of General Industries are closer to the appearance of modern rifles.

Took a rifled barrel. The breech loading part is a loading silo with a flange at the top when pulled apart.

The bullet is a paper shell containing mercury inside, and the loading is very easy, only need to be stuffed into the loading silo, then push the bolt to reset to complete the locking chamber, and finally pull the internal firing pin device to complete the preparation before firing. The top flange of the internal magazine fits just the inner wall of the chamber, which can ensure a very good sealing effect, and there will be no air leakage when firing. It's a very clever design.

Sergeant Scott, who was transferred from the Army Barracks in Mancton's Long Island New Area to work on the new rifle, quickly understood the power of the new rifle. Later, the soldiers could reload even when the bayonet was loaded. And the loading position has also changed from having to stand to being able to squat or even lie down.

More convenient than the 21B1 flintlock rifle, the cartridge is guaranteed to reload smoothly even in the heat of intense combat, and the combat rate of fire can reach more than eight rounds per minute in the hands of a veteran. The conical lead bullet used is more accurate than the ball lead bullet of the previous smoothbore gun. Even the effective range reached an astonishing 500 yards!

The only thing that feels a little bad is that although the effective range and accuracy of the rifle in front of him have reached a terrifying Cheng dù, and the power has reached the incomparable Cheng dù of the 21B1 flintlock pistol, the recoil is really greater, and even the strong Scott feels a pain in his shoulder after a few shots. …,

"Mr. Jiang, Mr. Lin, although it is a breech-loaded rifle with a breech-loading mini, the weight of the whole gun is on the heavy side, and the recoil is also very large."

Brigadier General Chen Liwen, the commander of the army, received a real yàn rifle that had just been fired a few times from the soldiers on one side. I pulled the breech bolt open, touched it with my hand, found no residue, and finally smiled, but still said that some small shortcomings were unacceptable.

Take a look at the side and be invited by Chen Liwen at the same time. Lin Youde, chief engineer of the North Industries Corporation, who served as the technical adviser of the army's equipment, Jiang Zhaolong's tone was a little unhappy: "Brother Chen, this is already a lot of technological progress, the performance has reached or even exceeded the level of the American Civil War in history, and the range, accuracy and power of this rifle are obvious to all, and Mr. Lin and I have spent a lot of energy!" ”

"But the requirements for the soldiers are also a little higher. In essence, it was the breech-loading of the Mini rifled gun, and the rainy day operation was still not fully guaranteed. The phenomenon of hanging lead still exists, and after many shots, it is still necessary to clear the chamber. Major He Yu, who was standing behind Chen Liwen, muttered as if no one was around.

"Since September last year, the Ministry of National Defense has invested nearly 100,000 yuan in research and development, and we just hope to use the best things." Chen Liwen grinned and threw the rifle to the officer next to him.

"Lao Jiang, Mr. Lin, both of you are senior engineers, our army has limited strength, and the weapons and equipment must have an overwhelming technical advantage. Now we are printing the natives, they have no guns and no guns, but later the Europeans will be difficult to say. Chen Liwen sighed, putting his hands behind his back, "Time waits for no one, God knows if the Mohok people on the other side will come to make trouble again." ”

"By March, I'll fix the little problems you said! Mr. Lin, we may need to optimize the process details together! As for the price, Lao Chen, you should know the current situation of our current production personnel and machine tools, the scrap rate is high, and the bullets are almost all manual, which is very time-consuming! ”

Jiang Zhaolong seemed to hear the sound outside the strings, and hurriedly played the package ticket. After the privatization of today's enterprises, Jiang Zhaolong and Lin Youde have changed from colleagues to two companies, which made him once germinate the idea of eating alone, but at present, it is impossible to change the military-industrial joint production of North Industries Company with Lin Youde in the short term.

"Well, no problem, the official model can be put into production in March, at least for the time being, there is no shortage of raw materials, as long as Mr. Jiang ensures that the manufacturing of machine tools and equipment is completed on time, and I can be responsible for the processing technology and say that there is no big problem! However, in order to reduce recoil and chamber wear, the amount of ammunition fired may be slightly reduced, and the effective range will also be reduced to 400 yards. To hang the lead problem, we can use the warhead to apply paraffin wax to reduce it to a certain extent. ”

Lin Youde looked at Jiang Zhaolong with a smile, expressing satisfaction with this old colleague for giving him a piece of the pie.

"I don't have a big problem, as long as Mr. Lin can ensure that the steam unit can be connected to the machine tool smoothly, I can ensure the progress and quality." Jiang Zhaolong hurriedly replied.

After the officers of the army quietly exchanged views with each other, Chen Liwen officially nodded, and agreed to the development and finalization of the Type 22A rifle.

NORINCO apparently recently solved the tool steel material of the barrel extrusion process, the 12mm breech single-loading rifled rifle, the use of a full-loading paper shell Mini warhead, the top concave rim loading barrel lock chamber and the firing pin device, which is the plan that Lin Youde and Jiang Zhaolong have been working on for several months. It clearly borrowed some of the design ideas of the magazine of the famous Westworth hexagonal rifle

In the previous half a year of military production, Chinese or European technicians who had accumulated experience using Wisworth's hexagonal chambering technology were already able to barely handle the processing of rifled barrels with higher precision. In this process, in order to solve the problem of vernier calipers and other problems, Jiang Zhaolong and Lin Youde and others have spent countless energy and financial resources, after the catastrophe that extremely precious several vernier calipers, has been difficult to copy, the accuracy of complete restoration is impossible, but the current level, has been able to ensure a series of mechanical tool processing in the future. …,

Sharing R&D funds, sharing weapons orders, and even sharing their core advantageous technologies is the tacit understanding reached by Lin Youde and Jiang Zhaolong after the privatization and separation of the enterprise. Jiang Zhaolong is better at manufacturing mechanical tools, and Lin Youde is better at metal material smelting and processing, and the combination of competition and cooperation between the two can more effectively promote the technological progress of the entire new country.

More than a dozen real Yàn rifles were produced and put into equipment adaptation training on the spot, and veterans such as Sergeant Scott will continue to familiarize themselves with this weapon over the course of a week and submit their own experience reports. Beginning in February, the Army will undergo a comprehensive overhaul of military training subjects, and all existing operational and tactical regulations will be abolished.

With the sound of gunfire on the recruit training ground echoing in his ears, Chen Liwen finally showed a bright smile after so long after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

When Lin Youde told him that the manufacturing of the officially produced Type 22A rifle was very difficult, and the "manufacturing cost" of a full set of production equipment could exceed 50,000 US dollars, and if an order was less than 1,000 pieces, the price of a single one would rise to 90 US dollars, Chen Liwen was speechless.

But that was clearly out of the cost's radar, and even for $100, he had to get the soldiers to get rid of the classical antics of having to carry the whole strip and poke the barrel all day long. (Your support is my biggest motivation.) )