Zhao Dongyun couldn't believe that what he saw was a mortar, because this thing didn't look like a mortar no matter how it looked, the thick barrel and the caliber of almost more than 200 millimeters, this is a mortar, this is simply a mortar commonly equipped by all countries.

Kurt on the side said to Zhao Dongyun with a proud expression: "In order to design this mortar, we have referred to a variety of mortars in service in various countries, and when paying the same gun weight, our mortar can get a larger range and a higher rate of fire, and we expect that if the gun weight limit is relaxed, ......"

However, before he could finish speaking, Zhao Dongyun interrupted him: "Mr. Schmidt, I have no doubt about your design ability in artillery, this mortar in front of me, no, the mortar does look good, but this high-powered mortar is not suitable for the current needs of our army!" ”

Kurt said: "Then what does Mr. Zhao mean?" ”

Zhao Dongyun said: "In our army, long-range strikes of more than 3,000 meters will be handled by 57 mm or 75 mm artillery, and infantry fire support within 500 meters will be handled by machine guns, but now what we lack is a support artillery fire that can be between 500 meters and 3,000 meters."

In addition to the range requirements, we also required the new artillery to have a high-angle trajectory so that our shells could hit the enemy directly behind bunkers and fortifications.

After satisfying the firing range and wide angle curvature ability, it is also very important that we require the artillery to have the ability to accompany the infantry in combat. On the march it can be carried or towed by horses, but in wartime it must have the ability to maneuver quickly, which means that its weight must be controlled within a certain range, so that soldiers can lead the gun to quickly move and build positions with their bare hands!

Of course, I know that the requirement of rapid maneuverability can be difficult for a single gun, but my advice is that if the weight of a heavy gun cannot be controlled, then it can be designed as several parts that can be maneuvered independently, and then quickly assembled in battle. ”

Zhao Dongyun's words were extended from some basic concepts of mortars in his previous life.

Kurt had already put the little dissatisfaction he had just now behind at this time, and he didn't know where to take out a notebook and a pen to record quickly, and after Zhao Dongyun finished speaking, Kurt had already integrated Zhao Dongyun's detailed performance requirements.

"It's not a big problem to have a range of 3,000 meters and to have the ability to shoot at a wide angle. It is only required that after the disassembly, it can be carried by manpower and horses, so that the weight of each new artillery piece must be controlled within 30 kilograms, and the weight of the whole gun should not exceed 100 kilograms. That's a big problem! ”

Zhao Dongyun was still a little worried about Kurt and the others, lest they once again use mortars as mortars, so Zhao Dongyun once again emphasized: "What we want is not heavy artillery to conquer enemy fortresses, but a lightweight, rapid and mobile infantry support artillery!" ”

Then he took out Kurt's notebook and pen, and then drew a sketch of the mortar according to his memory, in order to avoid Kurt and others could not understand, this time he specially drew the gun barrel, gun carriage, and gun mount separately, and marked the general length, width and height of the number jù.

In Kurt's opinion, the design drawings that Zhao Dongyun drew now are full of mistakes, and even those numbers are plausible, but he also knows very well that Zhao Dongyun is not trying to give him a complete design drawing, but to give him a completely new artillery design plan.

In order to make the mortar a simple artillery quickly come out and strengthen the artillery support capability of his army, Zhao Dongyun took the trouble to explain to Kurt and several other engineers around him this time, and even in order to take care of Kurt's language understanding ability as a German, he did not use Chinese, but used German to explain.

"Gentlemen, in order to obtain a faster rate of fire, the gun uses a front-loading full ammunition, and if there is not much difference, it is no problem to fire ten shells in a minute. In addition, in order to prevent reloading, I proposed to design a small design to prevent refilling, and I think this little problem will not be difficult for you gentlemen! Zhao Dongyun said, and the pen in his hand continued to write.

He drew a line out of the barrel and wrote a device to prevent duplicate reloading, with a small question mark on the back.

"In order to further reduce the difficulty of artillery production, we do not need to produce our own barrel, because the barrel of the gun is shorter, and the chamber pressure is very low compared to traditional artillery, so it is completely possible to use the civilian grade seamless steel pipe as a barrel after a slight modification, which can also effectively reduce the cost of the barrel of the gun.

In addition, in the design of the shells, we do not need to use expensive steel shells, but cast iron shells, which can reduce the price of shells by a part! ”

Among the few people present, Zhao Chenbin was a pure businessman, he only came to accept Zhao Dongyun's instructions on business, and he couldn't interject at all about Zhao Dongyun, Kurt and others' technical discussions on mortars, so he could only stay aside.

And the same is true of Lin Yongquan on the other end, he is a pure soldier, and he is also an infantry officer, and he doesn't know much about artillery, let alone let him discuss mortars.

Look at me, look at you, look at you, you look bored!

However, at this time, the discussion of Zhao Dongyun and others seemed to have entered a climax, and Kurt also took over the drawings drawn by Zhao Dongyun at this time, but the pen in his hand said while drawing: "According to the tactical needs you said, the weight of this kind of artillery is the most important, if you want to control the weight within 100 kilograms, then the length of the barrel must be controlled below 1.5 meters, and the caliber must be below 80 millimeters." If an ordinary seamless steel pipe is used, the weight of a cannon barrel is expected to be controlled at about 30 kilograms.

After controlling the weight of the barrel, the gun carriage supporting the barrel is made of iron, and the weight is estimated to be about 25 kilograms. And then this gun mount, to offset the recoil of about eighty mm shells, then the overall weight should also be about thirty kilograms! ”

With the words of these people, I quickly integrated the general design points of this mortar, that is, the three-in-one assembly method of tripod, barrel and gun mount, and the caliber was scheduled to be between 80 mm and 85 mm, and the overall weight was controlled within 100 kilograms.

At this time, this mortar, which had not even been designed in detail, already had its initial tactical positioning, that is, battalion-level support artillery.

"If this artillery is used for artillery support of an infantry battalion, then only six guns are needed to cover the entire battalion's front!"

At this time, a young voice sounded: "If the caliber of this mortar is reduced to between fifty and sixty millimeters, the weight is expected to be reduced to less than forty kilograms, and even further to thirty kilograms is not impossible!" In this case, can it meet the requirements of infantry platoon and company mobility? ”

When Zhao Dongyun heard this, he secretly said in his heart, this person's mind is lively, I haven't even revealed the tone of small-caliber mortars, he himself thought of it first.

So I couldn't help but take a closer look at this young man, this person was not a foreigner, but the only Chinese among the five engineers present today, not very old, and he looked like he was only in his twenties at most, and he was not wearing an ordinary Chinese horse's coat and robe, but wearing a black suit, but the braid on the back of his head silently announced his identity to the world

At this time, seeing that Zhao Dongyun was paying attention to the young man he had brought over, Zhao Chenbin immediately leaned over to Zhao Dongyun's ear and said, "This is Xu Lihua, who has worked in Tianjin Machinery Manufacturing Bureau before, and is good at machines!" ”

Although I don't know what Xu Lihua's real ability is, but since he can be brought to Baoding by Kurt as an assistant today, it is obvious that he still has some technical ability. Considering that there are too few skilled Chinese people in these years, Zhao Dongyun can't help but love talents, thinking that if this person is really capable, he might as well give him a chance.

So he said, "Oh, Mr. Xu's idea is very interesting, you can tell me!" ”

Xu Li said with an excited look when he heard this: "Although the weight of a mortar of about eighty millimeters is already relatively light, if the mantra continues to be reduced to between fifty and sixty millimeters, the weight can be further reduced, and it may even be reduced to a lower weight than a heavy machine gun, so as to truly accompany the rifle mobile attack!" ”

Zhao Dongyun nodded after hearing this: "This is true, so you will also add the design of small-caliber mortars to the plan!" ”

Although Xu Lihua didn't know what the tactical role of the 60mm mortar was, he was very happy to hear that Zhao Dongyun agreed with him.

But then again, in fact, even Zhao Dongyun himself did not understand the tactical positioning of the 60mm mortar for a while, or he didn't know if this 60mm mortar could meet today's tactical needs.

The equipment of any weapon must be subordinated to the overall tactical arrangement, for example, Zhao Dongyun wants machine guns, grenades and even eighty mm mortars, these weapons can easily find their own tactical positioning in today's Beiyang Army, such as heavy machine guns, this thing is completely configured to resist the enemy's intensive charge, and for example, grenades, its tactical positioning is also very easy to find, that is, it is used for fire strikes before hand-to-hand combat in close combat, whether it is a wave of grenades against the charging enemy, Or when the charge is about the same, throw grenades into the enemy trenches, the purpose is the same.

The 80-millimeter mortar is also quite tactically positioned in today's Beiyang Army, that is, it acts as a medium-distance fire support for battalion-level troops, which strictly belongs to the positioning of artillery.

However, the 60mm mortar, Zhao Dongyun did not think carefully before, if according to the tactical positioning of later generations, this weapon is an infantry support weapon at the company and platoon level, mainly used to hit the enemy's forward fire points and fortifications.

In addition, in World War II, when machine guns were rampant, the main tactical role of mortars and grenadiers between 50 mm and 60 mm was to clear the enemy's machine gun fire points and suppress the enemy's infantry fire. However, the above tactics are all based on modern skirmish tactics, and whether this tactic can play a role in the dense charge tactics that are rampant in various countries today is another matter.

Of course, something is better than nothing, and it can only be said that the effect is not as obvious as it was during World War II.

In addition, if he can really figure it out, I'm afraid Zhao Dongyun will have to waste a lot of brain cells to write a tactical instruction essay for how to use this weapon.