Sun Yuan nodded: "If there is no intervention of Tsarist Russia, even if he borrows the guts of Zhebu Zundamba, he will not dare to establish a country and become the emperor!" If he dares to trespass like today, Yuan Xiangcheng can slaughter Kulun by sending one or two brigades of Beiyang elite soldiers to slaughter Kulun and hang him in Beique, where can we do it? It is with the support of Tsarist Russia that he has such arrogance today. If we really want to go to war with Outer Mongolia, the first thing we should consider is the attitude of Tsarist Russia. Although Yuan Xiangcheng has a lot of power, most of the time he can still focus on the overall situation, and he has also endured Kulun for a long time, and he has long been eager to send troops to calm down, but he is not afraid that he will drag his feet; Song Dunchu's strength lies in forming a party to build momentum, but he is clumsy in attacking the city, as long as we guard the door, we are not afraid of what tricks he plays.

"Although we are a little out of arms and equipment in terms of troops, as the governor said, our problem is logistics supply. Whether it is from Shanxi and Shaanxi, or from Gansu and Xinjiang, it is two or three thousand kilometers away from Kulun, during which there are endless grasslands and hills, the Gobi Desert, desolate and uninhabited, there is no place to eat, once the logistics supply is cut off by the Outer Mongolian cavalry, our army will collapse without a fight; If the Outer Mongolian army is reduced to pieces, it will be a big trouble to use the superiority of cavalry to attack and harass our army everywhere, obstruct the advance, and deliberately drag down our army.

"Moreover, we are only a corner of the country, and from the perspective of the domestic and foreign environment and our own development, we are not allowed to use all our strength to fight a decisive battle with Outer Mongolia, nor can we fight a protracted stalemate with them. Therefore, if we really start a war with Outer Mongolia this time, the goal will not be to wipe out the Kulun ** regime in one fell swoop, but to concentrate on the Outer Mongolian army in the vicinity of Jin, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Xin, so that they will not be able to fight back in the short term, and will not dare to fight back in the long term. After a few years, the situation in the country will improve, and then the matter of the Northern Expedition to Kulen will be discussed. ”

Zhang Zeyu's eyes suddenly lit up: "I understand, Mr. wants to use a tank to push the Outer Mongolian bandit army."

Nie Fan couldn't help but correct: "Impossible! First of all, the Chinese Academy of Ordnance Science in Lanzhou, which is now in charge of the development of tanks, should go to Lanzhou instead of coming to us if he really wants to use tanks. Secondly, they only developed less than 10 prototypes in the middle of last year, and now it is estimated that the test data is comparing the advantages and disadvantages, and it is ready for future finalization, which cannot be put into production now; Even if it has been put into production, in terms of the production capacity of the Beiping Iron Plant, it will not be able to meet the flat push standard you mentioned now. ”

Zhang Zeyu pursed his mouth: "Even if it is impossible now, tanks will be a good weapon to solve the rebellion in Outer Mongolia in the future!" ”

Sun Yuan smiled and said: "Zixing is very right! In the flat and boundless grassland Gobi terrain of Outer Mongolia, the tank is the king of the war, and the Mongolian cavalry that swept across the Eurasian continent is a joke in front of it, and it will inevitably be pushed flat, and it will become the most important weapon to solve the Outer Mongolia problem in the future. But Ziyuan is also right. The tank is still in the development stage, and it is expected that it will be officially finalized and put into production in the middle of this year, and it will not be useful yet. Of course, the more important point is that the tank itself does not have too high technological content, as long as its design concept or shape leaks, it itself is very easy to imitate, especially for European and American industrial powers. So we're still going to keep it a lot of secrecy right now. ”

After the outbreak of World War I, the warring sides quickly fell into positional warfare consisting of trenches, barbed wire, and machine-gun fire points. In order to break the deadlock and urgently need a new weapon that combines firepower, mobility, and protection, Lieutenant Colonel Swinton, who was serving in the British Expeditionary Force at this time, first proposed the design concept of the tank in October 1914. However, it was not until February 195 that Winston Churchill, then Lord of the Navy, appreciated the concept and personally led the development of the project. With the mature British automobile, tractor, gun manufacturing and metallurgical technology, the prototype was completed in September 195, and the first test was successful.

From the concept to the completion of the prototype trial, it took less than a year. If you count from the official start of development, it only took six or seven months. Sun Yuanqi has no doubt that if the shape of the tank designed by the China Academy of Ordnance Science is made public, Europe and the United States and other countries will not even be able to build a blue tank in half a year!

Qian Nengxun is very curious about the "tank" in everyone's mouth: a good weapon to solve the rebellion in Outer Mongolia? The king of war? Sweeping the Mongol cavalry? I think it must be a very powerful weapon. However, they also said that "less than ten prototypes of various kinds have been developed", and since the name is "Che", it must have a certain resemblance to ancient chariots. A powerful weapon similar to an ancient chariot, what should it look like?

Zhang Zeyu suddenly said firmly: "That gentleman must want to use our plane!" ”

Nie Fan replied disdainfully: "Do you still need to say this?" ”

Sun Yuanqi said to Zhao Jingxing, Li Fuji, and others: "Jingxing, Zemin, my idea is to use reconnaissance planes to reconnoiter the Outer Mongolian troops within 500 kilometers of Jin, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Xin, and then dispatch bombers to bomb, and then the infantry will follow up to clean up the remnants and make trouble, and quickly retreat after achieving the results of the battle. This move is aimed at eliminating the Outer Mongolian army on the border of the four provinces, and is intended to knock on the mountain and shock the tiger, so that Jebtsundamba and others can clearly understand the situation, and prevent the Kulun authorities from going to the extreme and trying to delay the Outer Mongolian issue until four years after the Republic of China. What do you both think? ”

Zhao Jingxing said: "If the various departments only go 500 kilometers forward and do not go deep into Outer Mongolia, plus there is intelligence from aircraft reconnaissance, there is not much danger. It's just that the Outer Mongolian soldiers are mainly cavalry, and they have not been established for a long time, so they will inevitably scatter and flee after the bombing, and if they use infantry to clean up the encirclement and suppression, I am afraid that it will be difficult to achieve results. It is better to send infantry to cut off the enemy's retreat according to the intelligence, and then send bombers to bomb, so that the Outer Mongolian bandit army will not return! ”

Sun Yuanqi said: "The reason why the infantry of various units was dispatched this time was to build an airstrip in the border area and carry materials such as aircraft fuel, communication equipment, maintenance equipment, and aerial bombs. As for encircling and suppressing the remnants, it is just a convenient move, and it is the icing on the cake, and it cannot and is harmless, so there is no need to be too demanding.

By the way, Zemin, what is the progress of aircraft research now? For example, in terms of load capacity, maximum level flight speed, and range, are there any obvious breakthroughs? ”

Li Fuji, who is not only an aircraft engine expert and a new academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, but also the president of the China Academy of Aviation Technology, replied: "According to Mr. Sun's previous instructions, we have focused on developing different advantages in different models, and now we have made some great progress. For example, the latest bomber, the bomb bay load plus the external bomb load exceeds ', and the flight range reaches kilometers, which means that it can take off from the newly built ancient city airport and easily bomb important cities such as Kobdo or Uriya Sutai in Outer Mongolia; If an airfield is laid at the junction of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Inner and Outer Mongolia for about 500 kilometers, it will even be enough to threaten Kulen! ”

Sun Yuanqi was overjoyed when he heard this: "Great! If Jebtsundamba does not come to his senses and does not withdraw his troops from the Bulgan River this time, then we will include Kobdo or Uriya Sutai as bombing targets! The bombing of Kulen may be a bit reluctant, so we will use the old trick of threatening the Forbidden City back then, print more leaflets, and give those princes and lamas who have forgotten their ancestors a gift before the Spring Festival! ”

And they all rejoiced.

After inspecting various research institutes and aircraft factories, Sun Yuanqi suddenly remembered an important issue and said to Li Fuji, Zhang Yihui, Zhang Zeyu, and others: "I think that since you are called the Aviation Technology Research Institute, you must not only pay attention to the research of aviation technology, but also devote some energy to the development of anti-aviation technology, so that you can better promote the progress of overall technology." Today's planes are flying higher and higher, flying higher and heavier, but are there any other effective countermeasures besides the aircraft itself? If we don't study it, once the enemy planes attack, won't you, the ancestors who studied modern aircraft, be beaten passively? ”

While Li Fuji and the others were laughing, they couldn't help but start thinking about the means to counter the plane.

Sun Yuanqi continued: "Of course, the most effective means of dealing with aircraft is undoubtedly the aircraft itself, but the role of other means should not be underestimated, and sometimes even play a key role. For example, if an enemy aircraft is attacking, if it cannot be detected in time, even if our aircraft is very advanced, we will only fall into a situation of being passively beaten when we are caught off guard. Therefore, it is particularly important to detect enemy planes as soon as possible at a distance of hundreds or thousands of kilometers and at an altitude of tens of thousands of meters.

"Secondly, in addition to the planes, can we use machine guns, artillery shells and other weapons on the ground to shoot down the incoming planes? The answer is yes. The target of the plane is so large, as long as the weapon has a fast rate of fire and fierce firepower, it is completely possible to shoot down the plane. Moreover, now the electronic computer has been relatively mature, and the calculation speed is one million times that of ordinary people's manual calculations, and the position can be accurately predicted according to the flight trajectory of the aircraft, and then the artillery shells are fired to shoot it down. These are all possible means of prevention. ”

Li Fuji quickly grasped the key point of the problem: "Whether it is a plane interception or a shell to shoot down, we must first consider how to find the traces of the opponent's plane, which is the most crucial!" ”

How do you spot an aircraft hundreds of kilometers away and thousands of meters in the air? Everyone used their brains to think:

Without the gifted clairvoyance of the heavenly soldiers, the naked eye is naturally not good;

The astronomical telescope is so-so, but the sky is so big, and the telescope is so small, who can have such good patience to lie there every day and observe carefully!

So what's the trick?

Just when everyone scratched their brains, Sun Yuanqi suddenly asked: "Then do you know how bats accurately catch insects on summer nights?" ”