Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 196: Minigun (Add 2)

In just one year, the production capacity of Datang's Foshan Arsenal doubled and tripled, which is a very impressive expansion speed.

Although it still could not meet the Tang army's needs for military expansion.

However, in Li Yi's opinion, if the arsenal can continue to expand at this rate, it is estimated that the Tang army's weapons gap will be filled soon.

After reporting on the progress of the arsenal's expansion of production capacity, Zhao Ke began to report on the research and development and imitation of new weapons.

"Your Majesty, in addition to this, our military arsenal has also made great progress in the research and development and imitation of new weapons."

"First of all, in terms of firearms, the arsenal was the first to develop several new types of firearms."

"These include cavalry rifles, rear-loading shotguns, and hand-cranked rotary machine guns. All of these have already been produced and have begun small-scale trial production."

"In addition, the research and development of breech-loading rifled artillery has also made good progress."

"In addition to the previously developed 5 cm caliber Type 50 field gun, our military arsenal has also successfully developed a longer range, more powerful Type 75 field gun, and matching artillery shells..."

"..."

Listening to Zhao Ke's report, Li Yi nodded with approval.

The weapons research and development progress of the arsenal is not slow, so it is worth it for him to exchange the blueprints and real objects from the mall for them to use as reference.

After reporting on the development of the arsenal, Zhao Ke went on to talk about the development progress of the machinery factory.

Nowadays, Datang's machinery factory has successfully developed and mass-produced steam engines, spinning machines, looms, compressors, grain shelling machines, coin minting machines and other machines.

In addition, a steam locomotive was successfully replicated, a temporary railway was laid, and a simple test run was carried out.

Even the shipping steam engine has been successfully developed, and we are meeting with the shipyard to discuss the details of the installation test.

In addition, the telegraph has also been successfully copied.

It is worth mentioning that the telegraph line connecting Foshan and Guangzhou has also been completed, and several telephone calls have been tested.

The effect is quite good, and Li Yi has begun preparations for large-scale laying.

Listening to Zhao Ke's report, the smile on Li Yi's face never stopped.

The next day, Li Yi got up early at dawn, had breakfast, and immediately set out for the arsenal for inspection.

Along the way, he inspected various production workshops, as well as workers' dormitories, canteens and other places.

After inspecting these, Li Yi set off for the arsenal's new weapons test site.

On the testing ground, several new types of weapons were displayed, and craftsmen stood next to the new weapons, introducing them to Li Yi.

Li Yi walked up to a new type of cannon, and the craftsman standing nearby hurriedly stepped forward to introduce it.

"Your Majesty, this is a Type 75 field gun."

"The gun has an inner diameter of 75 mm, has rifling inside the barrel, and is fired by breech-loading."

"The overall gun weighs 2000 kilograms, has an effective range of 75 meters, fires 3-caliber explosive shells, has an effective killing radius of meters, and a rate of fire of rounds per minute."

"Can fire continuously to suppress the enemy."

Li Yi came forward and touched the gun body, then said.

"It's just talk, let's try it out with two shots."

Upon hearing this, the craftsman in charge of the research and development of breech-loading rifled artillery immediately responded and began to prepare for the artillery test.

Several gunners were skillfully loading this new type of cannon.

The black hole was pointed at the target range in the test field.

"Calibrate the bombardment parameters!"

"The target's direction is eleven o'clock, the distance is 1400, adjust the artillery elevation..."

"Calibration completed!"

"put!"

As the fuse was pulled, the next moment, a deafening sound of artillery fire echoed throughout the test site.

A shell whizzed towards the predetermined target on the test site.

With a bang, the shell hit the ground and exploded, and a cloud of yellow smoke spread out.

Immediately, the grass targets around the point where the shells landed were swept by a shock wave and fell down in an instant.

Li Yi put down the telescope in his hand and spoke.

"Send someone to test the effectiveness of the bombardment."

After receiving the order, several guards rode away immediately.

Soon, they returned and brought accurate killing effects to Li Yi.

"Report!"

"Your Majesty, according to our investigation, within five meters of the point where the shell landed, all the human-shaped straw targets were torn to pieces, and there were obvious signs of gunpowder burns."

"Within a ten-meter radius, almost all of the straw targets were overturned. The shock wave generated by the shell explosion roughly destroyed the shape of the straw targets."

"Within a range of 20 meters, nearly half of the straw targets had holes left by fragments..."

Li Yi thought for a while and nodded.

"very good!"

With such a killing effect, if the shell had really landed in the crowd, the result can be imagined.

Such a cannon would definitely be a powerful weapon on the battlefield of this era.

After he finished speaking, he turned to the craftsmen beside him and said.

"I am very satisfied with the killing effect of this artillery. Thank you all for your hard work."

"All members of the R&D team will be promoted one level. In addition, they will receive an additional half-year salary as a bonus."

The reason why he only promoted them by one level and gave them an extra half year's monthly salary was not because Li Yi was stingy.

This is because what these craftsmen are doing now is not research and development, but imitation, and they are imitating according to the drawings given by Li Yi.

It’s really not difficult!
So, Li Yi is actually not stingy!

It is worth mentioning that the current Tang Dynasty has classified craftsmen into several levels, from apprentices, laborers, craftsmen, engineers, and masters, and each level can enjoy different levels of treatment.

Among them, the engineers and masters with the best skills even held official ranks.

Not only does he receive an official salary on a daily basis, he also enjoys the treatment of an official of corresponding rank and has a very high social status.

It was also because of this that Li Yi was able to gather a large number of top craftsmen to work for the Tang Dynasty in a short period of time, thus promoting the industrial development of the Tang Dynasty.

Upon hearing this, the craftsmen all spoke with joy on their faces.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness!"

Li Yi nodded slightly and then said.

"Everyone, work hard. As long as you can produce results, Datang will never treat you unfairly."

After comforting the craftsmen, Li Yi moved on to watching the tests of other projects.

First of all, the lance!

Compared to a rifle, a lance has a shorter barrel, making it easier to load and use.

Other than that, the difference from a rifle isn't that big.

Li Yi fired a few shots himself and his shooting accuracy was pretty good.

The shotgun, on the other hand, is a typical double-barreled shotgun that can clear a large area with one shot.

The only drawback is that the range is limited to only twenty or thirty meters.

But whether it is cavalry or infantry equipment, it is an absolute weapon for fighting.

Finally, Li Yi watched the test of the hand-cranked rotary machine gun.

The craftsmen came forward and introduced themselves.

"Your Majesty, this rotary machine gun has six barrels in total, and its rate of fire reaches 300 rounds per minute. It is fired by hand crank."

"The ammunition used is 7.62mm caliber metal fixed bullets, the ammunition is fed by a belt, and the effective range is meters."

"When firing, the hand-cranked handle drives the barrels to rotate around a common axis. Each barrel has an independent firing device, which can form continuous shooting and suppress the enemy with firepower."

"In addition, the total weight of this rotary machine gun and the gun carriage is only 150 kilograms. It has excellent mobility and can move with the infantry, providing sufficient firepower support for our infantry on the battlefield."

The reason why it is so heavy is mainly because this rotary machine gun is not just a gun. It also has a base similar to a gun carriage, which can be used to stabilize the gun body and ensure shooting accuracy.

This thing is seriously heavy!

Li Yi nodded slightly, then walked forward and touched the gun body, carefully looking at the barrel and base of the machine gun.

After a moment, he spoke.

“Let’s start the experiment!”

Upon hearing this, several craftsmen began to work, and a human-shaped straw target was moved to the designated position.

After the straw targets were set up, the experiment began.

As the tester turned the crank, the sound of shooting was heard, and the crisp sound of bullet casings falling to the ground was even louder.

In an instant, the thick smoke enveloped the entire area where the gun was located.

The grass target in the distance was constantly hit by bullets and then torn into pieces, and wood chips and grass chips began to fly.

Dada! Dada!

At this moment, the only sound left in the entire testing ground was the roaring sound of a devil.

Soon, all the straw targets were cleared away, leaving only a pile of broken wood and grass debris.

As the gunshots continued, everyone felt as if their throats were choked and they had difficulty breathing.

Some of them couldn't imagine what the scene would be like if the target in front of the machine gun was not a straw target but a person.

Finally, as the last bullet was fired, silence returned to the surroundings.

Li Yi showed a happy expression and started to applaud.

The next moment, the people around reacted and started applauding.

Applause resounded throughout the entire testing ground!
"Good! Good! Good!"

“It’s really good!”

"I am very satisfied with the results of this experiment."

"Everyone has worked hard, I will definitely reward you generously."

Li Yi rarely said three good words in a row, and the expression on his face showed that he was really happy.

The person in charge of the machine gun project team said embarrassedly when he heard this.

"We are just copying the drawings given by the king. It can't be considered hard work."

"Don't be arrogant!"

He was not being polite; he was speaking from the heart.

Now most of the Tang Dynasty’s military equipment and even industrial equipment are copied according to the drawings provided by Li Yi.

These craftsmen were completely unable to imagine how Li Yi's brain looked like and how it could contain so many things?!

As for Li Yi's talent, they really have nothing to say except to marvel at Li Yi's "god-given talent" and say he is blessed by God.

Li Yi said with a smile.

"Blueprints alone are useless, because they cannot be used to kill enemies on the battlefield."

"How can it not be considered meritorious if we can replicate something that only exists on blueprints?"

"Tell me what reward you want?"

Li Yi is really happy now, because he knows that from today on, the rules of the battlefield will be completely rewritten...

……

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(End of this chapter)