When the father and son of the Zhong family worked tirelessly to run around, entering and exiting the homes of Han officials, generals, gentry and powerful people everywhere in Youyun, the members of the crossing team did not sit back and wait for their success to enjoy leisure, but worked wholeheartedly in their respective jobs, contributing their own liliang to the upcoming war. Among the various functional departments of the crossing team, in addition to the intelligence department, which is fully cooperating with the Zhong family father and son to contact the local Shili and strengthen the anti-Liao allies, the busiest are the departments of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

As the support and core of the team, the "Flying Dragon Army" is undoubtedly the absolute protagonist of the future cloud war. As the "Flying Dragon Army" is an armed force that has been completely firearmed, logistical supply, especially the supply of ammunition, is an important factor in whether or not it can achieve victory. For this reason, the chemical section, weapons section, and materials section under the Ministry of Science and Technology have been working at full speed since the 15th day of the first lunar month, and have been producing guns and ammunition for the "Flying Dragon Army" in full load and even overload through non-stop production equipment and the full load of all craftsmen working in three shifts and even overload. And the mechanical department, as an important jishu of the Ministry of Science and Technology, supported Liliang, and was not idle on the sidelines. All its members also implement the principle of working in three shifts, and while ensuring that maintenance personnel are present 24 hours a day to provide Jishu support for the normal operation of the production equipment of other departments, they also make every effort to produce four-wheeled carriages with simplified design that are more conducive to wartime use, so as to improve the combat support capability of the logistics units of the "Flying Dragon Army."

Facts have proved that the efforts of the members of the Ministry of Science and Technology have not been in vain, and their selfless work has achieved remarkable results. Based on the data of the "Liangyuan" and the new production base, the output of the "55" rifles has increased from 1,000 to 1,500 per month, the ammunition output of the "55" rifles has increased from 200,000 to 300,000 per month, the output of small- and medium-caliber mortars has been expanded from 30 to 40 per month, and the output of mortar shells has been upgraded from 600 to 800 per month. In addition to this, there has been a significant increase in the production of explosive weapons such as grenades and explosive packs. According to Li Junwu's statement at the annual enlarged meeting of the committee entitled "Annual Work Review and Prospects" held in mid-March, if we look at the current production capacity, even if the size of the "Flying Dragon Army" is doubled, the Ministry of Science and Technology will have sufficient capacity to ensure that it launches a large-scale operation.

Of course, what Li Junwu said is only an assumption, an idealized assumption that all departments and production lines of the Ministry of Science and Technology can maintain the current production state. Even Li Junwu, who made "bold statements" at the enlarged meeting of the committee, knew very well that the current state of near-overload of the Ministry of Science and Technology could not be maintained for long. If the craftsmen and production equipment can continue to operate for six months as they are now, it will already be at a higher level, and it will be the limit of its production capacity. After all, whether it is a craftsman or a production equipment, fatigue and failure will occur when working at full load or even overload for a long time, and it must be rested and overhauled at the right time, otherwise there will be problems, big problems, and big problems that can affect the normal operation of the production line.

Therefore, at the enlarged meeting held in mid-March, the deputies, after many discussions, careful studies, and scientific analysis, vetoed the proposal put forward by the Military Department to expand the size of the "Flying Dragon Army" to 30,000 troops, and instead very cautiously set the new expansion quota at a relatively modest 15,000 troops.

According to this decision, by the end of the eighth year, the "Flying Dragon Army" will have about 15,000 combat troops, including four infantry regiments, one artillery regiment, one cavalry regiment, one "ranger" battalion, and one "wolf's tooth" battalion. In addition, a professional baggage unit with a number of about 5,000 people and only a small number of thermal weapons, as well as a civilian contingent of about 10,000 people, will be established to provide logistical support for the 15,000 soldiers.

If we look at the usual ratio of logistics to combat personnel in this era, the number of logistics troops and civilian men is obviously insufficient, and the one-to-one ratio of logistics to combat personnel cannot support the "Flying Dragon Army" to carry out large-scale operations. However, on the one hand, the intention of the crossing team is to fight quickly to avoid serious damage to the Yunyun region after a long battle. On the other hand, the equipment of a large number of four-wheeled carriages has also greatly improved the work efficiency of the logistics troops and civilian workers, so that they have the ability to support the actions of the combat troops. ,

If it is said that with the increasing output of weapons and equipment, the larger and larger scale of the "Flying Dragon Army" has enabled the crossing team to firmly grasp the initiative in the future cloud war, then another news announced by Li Junwu at this enlarged meeting -- through the unremitting efforts of the members of the team's science and technology department, and the full cooperation of brothers from other departments, the newly developed rifled rear-loading artillery has completed all tests and inspections and has the ability to participate in actual combat -- on the one hand, the strength of the "Flying Dragon Army" has been greatly increased. On the other hand, it also made the balance of victory in the Battle of Youyun completely tilt to the side of the crossing team, providing a solid foundation for the "Flying Dragon Army" to become a powerful army that is "invincible and invincible".

On March 18, the eighth lunar calendar year after the end of the enlarged meeting of the committee, the participants, accompanied by all members of the Ministry of Science and Technology, went to an open hilly area at the foot of the Xiayunling Mountain to personally experience an experiment of rear-loading rifled guns and large-caliber mortars for the purpose of testing the range, power, and accuracy of the new artillery.

A total of five guns of four calibers, including two 75-mm field guns, one 105-mm howitzer, one 130-mm siege gun (which should be classified as a cannon, but in order to make it easier for officers and men to understand), and a 120-mm mortar, five guns of four calibers were taken part.

Under the personal command of Li Junwu, the five guns successively fired several rounds at the established target area, and the results were all very good. Among them, the range of the 75-mm field gun is three li (1,500 meters), the range of the 100-5 mm howitzer is 8 li (4,000 meters), the range of the 130-mm siege gun is two and a half li (1,300 meters), and the range of the 120-mm mortar is 5 li (2,500 meters). The bombed houses in the target area that were specially built for experiments, a short wall that was no less thick and sturdy than the city wall of Youzhou City, and hundreds of sheep, pigs, dogs, and other animals that were killed and injured to test the lethality of the artillery fully illustrated the explosive power and firing accuracy of these five guns.

Although they are far from the modern artillery of the previous life, these types of artillery have reached the pinnacle of all weapons of this era in terms of range and lethality, enough to make them worthy of the title of "God of War".

After the experiment, these four types of guns were named "58" by the committee, and the Ministry of Science and Technology was asked to immediately start the production of these types of guns in accordance with the resolution reached at the previous enlarged meeting of the committee. Naturally, the brothers of the Ministry of Science and Technology gladly accepted the task and promised that the production of 72 75-mm field guns, 24 105-mm howitzers, 18 130-mm siege guns, 24 120-mm mortars, and related ammunition would be completed by the end of the year.