"How does it feel to come out?"

"Needless to say, you must be at ease."

At dusk the next day, Zhou Changfeng walked out of the prison with a civilian major dressed in a navy uniform.

The latter's name is Luo Fu, and as a civilian officer, his specific official position is to assist in the management of the mobile equipment of the Beijing Division Navy Department, and in simple terms, he helps manage all kinds of cars in the Beijing Navy Department.

The last time he was ordered to go to Toulouse to find Zhou Changfeng, it was him and Qin Zizhen, as acquaintances under the same faction, there was no gap between the two.

"That week, sir, you can't talk to yourself in the future," Luo Fu reminded heartily: "The temper of the big man is elusive, tolerance once is generosity, it doesn't mean that there will be a next time, and again and again is connivance." ”

Generous?

I think it's funny that you say that Zhu Lingjing is a generous woman!

Zhou Changfeng nodded with a wry smile and did not speak.

There is an ordinary Thunderbolt 16 off-road vehicle parked on the side of the road at the gate of Qixia Prison, but it has an indigo license plate, indicating that this is a government car.

The crimson plate is for the military, the turquoise plate is for the honorable, the jet black plate is for the police, and the font color is white, while the ordinary civilian license plate is black on a white background.

I don't know if it's because I've seen too much, Zhou Changfeng has always felt that the civilian white license plate on a blue background on the original plane is not very good-looking, and now the Ming government has used this not very good-looking white on a blue background, and the civilian license plate has become a black letter on a white background, which is quite pleasing to the eye.

The two drove all the way to the wharf, crossed the river by ferry, and then came to Jiangbei Railway Station.

Because I am not in a hurry, there is no need to fly. In other words, do not dare to take a plane on the grounds of "official business", otherwise it is easy to be impeached.

This is just like the ancient times to use 600 miles to expedit, in the Ming Dynasty, usually important official documents or military information were transmitted through the "express shop", through the spread of soldiers and manpower, a day and night can be transmitted 300 miles, but occasionally there are people who do not change horses immediately fly, unauthorized use of this is bound to be impeached by the science and technology officials.

Waste national resources, who will you do if you don't do it? I'm worried that this year's targets haven't been completed, isn't this a political achievement?

When he boarded the car, he saw that Luo Fu also followed, and Zhou Changfeng was surprised: "Huh? Do you go with you? ”

The former had a look of "what are you thinking", he pointed around, "Big brother, you are a prisoner now, why are you running out alone?" ”

"No, I mean... Can't you change to someone else? Don't you still have a job? ”

"Don't look down on people," Luo Fu Zhengse said: "In the lower specialized motor vehicles, you must know that in addition to evaluating combat vehicles, there are also new heavy trucks at the Laizhou test site." ”

There are three kinds of trucks that the Ming army is now widely equipped with, one of which is the Ford G917 truck, and the other is the 29 type six-wheeled light truck and the 35 type six-wheeled medium truck.

Although the latter two are six wheels, the former is two axles with a standard load of one and a half tons; The latter chassis is larger and stronger, three-axle, and has a standard load of two and a half tons. And this is only the load in field conditions, in fact, if the road condition is good, such as driving on a concrete road, it can even be doubled.

There are also special-purpose heavy trucks, which are mainly used to transport tanks or to load particularly bulky things. At present, the Ming army is using the GPE-2 heavy truck of the French company Bellier, with a load of up to nine tons, and more than 700 vehicles have been imported so far.

Obviously, this is far from meeting the needs of the Ming Dynasty itself, even if it is a fact that the Ming automobile industry is a short board, but the Ming army cannot accept the status quo that the country does not produce its own heavy trucks.

Therefore, several automobile manufacturers are trying their best to develop their own products, and this is the time to test the results.

After getting off the train in Jinan and then transferring to the Laizhou Mansion, the two finally arrived at the largest army weapons experimental center in Daming on the evening of the 18th.

The Laizhou Proving Ground is essentially the same as the Aberdeen Proving Ground in the United States, but there is no task to train ordnance maintainers.

"Twenty-two miles from north to south and twenty miles from east to west, but some places divide the boundaries according to mountains and rivers, so it can only be said to be roughly square."

It was getting late, and several officials led Zhou Changfeng and Luo Fu to the place where they were staying, and introduced them by the way.

Luo Fu had been to this place several times and was used to it, but Zhou Changfeng was still a little confused.

He looked at Luo Fu, who was making water and making tea, and asked, "At most, it's only twenty or thirty miles long, and it can't be tested for long-range artillery." ”

The latter picked up the teacup regardless of the tea, and took a big sip directly, "You don't know this?" The tests of long-range shelling were basically carried out in the northwest, Yunnei County. ”

Yunnei County, that is, the later Tuoketuo County. Jiajing was abolished, and after a hundred years, the Ming Dynasty was restored.

In consideration of the convenience of transportation, the Ming army set up a comprehensive test site in Laizhou, but some special equipment tests will also be selected elsewhere.

Some large-caliber cannons often have a range of 20-30 km, and it is naturally difficult to find suitable vast land for testing in the area east of the Hu Huanyong line.

In addition, there are some inhuman incarnation and biomorphic things, and it must be placed in the more remote places the better.

Luo Fu seems to be a very particular person, and the environment where he stays has been complained about by him for a while, sloppy here and old there.

Compared with him, Zhou Changfeng is not so picky - it is a night to spread a waterproof canvas on the ground and wrap a military blanket, and it is also a night to set up a tent and lie on a marching bed, and there are electric fans, electric lights, and running water are all available here.

He adjusted the electric fan, turned off the light, and then carefully went to bed in a normal lying position, "This is already very good, many times during the war, you can only camp on the spot." ”

"With the sky as the quilt and the earth as the seat, the battle is indeed difficult." Luo Fu on the other bed seemed to empathize, but then he made a 180-degree turn, "It's a pity that I'm a clerk and have never tasted such hardship." ”

Finding the teacup on the bedside table in the dark, Zhou Changfeng, who had just taken a sip, almost squirted out when he heard the words, he coughed and said, "Ahem... What you say... When the Marine Corps is expanded in the future, you can come and experience 'the sky is the quilt and the earth is the seat'. ”

"There will be a war in the future, and then we will have to travel thousands of miles to the South Seas, and how comfortable it is to stay in the capital, why bother?"

"That's not up to you, I'll apply directly when the time comes." Zhou Changfeng said with a smile.

"Raise your noble hand, Chief Zhou......" Luo Fu, who had a bitter face, said depressedly: "I, with thin arms and thin legs, have weak bones, and if I get infected with malaria in Nanyang, I am afraid that I will leave a pair of orphans and widows." ”

"What are you afraid of, it's Nanyang, how much cinchona frost you want."

"No."

In the dark, Zhou Changfeng's eyes rolled, and he said faintly: "Special approval, you can keep some extra loot." ”

Hey, this seems to be really tempting, Luo Fu thought of his wife who spent money like water, and suddenly shook a little.

He hesitated, "That... We'll see how it goes......"

Get!

The intention of pulling people is not a whim of Zhou Changfeng, he has such a mind on the way to the past two days.

Luo Fu's professionalism in the field of automobiles and armored vehicles is very good, and considering that it is inevitable to capture all kinds of vehicles in the course of future strategic operations in the South Seas, it is naturally excellent to be able to make proper use of them.

Trucks arriving from home also take up valuable capacity; Captured armored vehicles can also be modified to continue to function, such as installing anti-tank guns and anti-aircraft guns on their chassis and converting them into self-propelled guns.

Historically, after the Germans conquered Tobruk, they made good use of these trophies in the face of the mountains of captured British supplies, and the Afrika Korps became rich overnight.

In terms of tactics, let go of your hands and feet, fight with all your strength, and strategically make a careful calculation, which is also what Zhou Changfeng has always insisted on.

Over the next few days, officers and technicians from all over the country arrived to participate in the assessment, as did several samples of tanks and trucks for testing.

In the early morning, the military column slowly came to a halt, and on a series of flatbed trucks on which it was mounted, the wide tanks were tightly wrapped in canvas, and several escorted guards stood in front and behind.

Actually, there was no need for the evaluators to come and see the unloading of things, but everyone was bored, so they rushed over early in the morning to see the excitement.

I saw a big sign hanging on the outside of the canvas package, with four big red characters written from right to left: "Special Overrun".

Immediately the voices of inquiry were heard among the onlookers.

"So how wide is this thing, what's the luck?"

"Look, this track is protruding from both sides of the cart, this six-axle cart is 304 cm wide, and it is estimated that the chariot is 320 cm wide and facing upwards."

"So much overrun? Troublesome. ”

The so-called "overrun" refers to a term for train freight, which refers to the width, height, and weight of the goods carried beyond the conventional limit, and there are three levels in later generations: first, second, and super.

Armored vehicles are naturally much larger than ordinary things, so a series of special vehicles such as tanks, armored vehicles, self-propelled guns, etc., need to be transported according to special transportation rules.

An hour later.

Several trial-made attack vehicles were finally successfully unloaded, and two Type 1 vehicles of Yangyue Company and two Type 2 vehicles of Yanjing No. 1 Heavy Machinery are now doing pre-test inspection work and refueling.

They are all painted with an earthy yellow lacquer, indicating that this is a test object.

A series of canvas sheds were erected on the edge of the test site, and the evaluators who gathered here received technical specifications from the two manufacturers for their respective works.

So, everyone started talking about it all of a sudden.

"200 liters of fuel consumption in 100 miles? Is it a mistake? ”

"That's road fuel consumption, off-road, about 250 liters per 100 miles."

"Grass?"

"The big guy must drink a lot of oil, ten cylinders with 300 horsepower, and it's not a toy."

In terms of appearance, the design of the two prototypes is still very different.

The first type of vehicle is a riveted turret and body, equipped with an 80mm short-barreled gun, a parallel machine gun, a machine gun on the top of the turret, and a total of three 7.36mm machine guns on the course of the hull. It is powered by a 300 hp 10-cylinder air-cooled gasoline engine; Empty weight 26 tons.

The second type of car is a cast turret and riveted body, which is more rounded in appearance, equipped with a 48mm long-barreled gun, and also has three machine guns; The suspension is a leaf spring, balanced type, and the appearance is a group of two load-bearing wheels, a total of three groups; The power is also a 300 hp gasoline engine; Empty weight 29 tons.

As for the thickness of the armor, the requirements given by the Ordnance Bureau are to be able to defend against the armor-piercing shells of 37mm anti-tank guns or the time-delayed high-explosive shells of 75mm field guns at a distance of 500m.

This is actually easy to achieve, but it is also the most difficult to trade-off, it seems that the deadly stacking of steel plates will do, but the ensuing weight increase, manufacturing difficulty will cause a lot of problems.

The design of both is unsatisfactory in Zhou Changfeng's opinion, he is not an expert in this area, I don't know whether the industrial level in the thirties is only so high, or the Ming manufacturers have made mistakes in design.

"Where did this two-and-a-half-inch cannon come from? Can artillery shells be universally used? "A stocky middle-aged colonel came up and asked a crucial question.

The technician of Yangyue Company replied: "Type 33 mountain cannon, 22 times diameter, and the ammunition is the same. ”

Even if the caliber is the same, the ammunition may not be universal, which is an easy point to overlook.

For example, during the Great War, the Germans developed more than 10 types of artillery shells of the same caliber that could only be produced separately, such as 75×714mm ammunition for the Pak40 anti-tank gun, 75×495mm ammunition for the Kwk40 tank gun of the No. 4 tank, 75×640mm ammunition for the Kwk42 tank gun of the Leopard tank, and so on.

Regardless of the army's logistics, it is more important that due to the adjustment and construction of new production lines, this has affected the production capacity of the rear factories to some extent.

"Why do you want to use this cannon?"

"Back to sir, because it does meet the needs, the backseat travel is short, and the turret interior can be arranged much more spacious. Although the body tube is short and the muzzle velocity is low, if the armor-piercing bullet is shot, it can also penetrate a 25-millimeter steel plate at 500 meters, which is enough to deal with light chariots; Moreover, the effectiveness of artillery of this caliber against bunkers is better, and we think that the need to bombard enemy fire points in real combat should be even greater. ”

This idea is quite interesting in Zhou Changfeng's opinion, the charge of the 80mm anti-explosive bomb is 740g TNT, and the effect on civil engineering is indeed much better than the 48mm anti-explosive bomb that can only hold 150g TNT.

Everything is based on actual combat, and the British and Dutch in the South Seas region have no serious armored forces, just some tin cans, and the task of dismantling bunkers in actual combat must occupy the lion's share.

Besides, the tank gun is not irreplaceable, it is a big deal to use 80mm guns for the south car and 48mm guns for the north car, because the latter needs to deal with the northern neighbor.

So he talked to Yan Chenwu, who also agreed, so they affirmed the design on behalf of the navy.

As for the 48mm long-barreled gun, it is actually a tank gun version of the 48mm anti-tank gun being trial-produced, with the barrel diameter truncated from 38 times to 32 times, and 500m can penetrate 42mm vertical nickel-manganese armor steel.

At this time, several prototypes that had been rebuilt were finally ready to start.

The crew members in charge of the test picked up the Z-shaped crank and shook it vigorously at the rear of the tank, getting faster and faster, and finally in the sound of "swishing", several steel behemoths woke up.

The Laizhou test site is set up with a thousand-meter-long vehicle passing test area, which is rugged and bumpy, wading, sandy, muddy, dirt slopes and so on.

Dozens of technicians and officers present also held their binoculars and carefully observed and compared the advantages and disadvantages of the two prototypes.

(End of chapter)