War of Resistance: Glory of the Beasts

Chapter 142: Departure! (Thanks to 'G梦行' for the 500 reward!)
This gun has a very special name, called 'Liu's Rifle', also known as 'General Liu's Rifle'. It was developed by General Liu of the Hanyang Arsenal who saw the defects of the bolt-action rifle amid numerous difficulties. In order to enhance the firepower of individual soldiers, he led his subordinates to independently develop the first semi-automatic rifle in my country!

However, not only was this gun not mass-produced, General Liu, who was researching this rifle, was also harassed at every turn!

In order to improve the combat effectiveness of individual soldiers, General Liu, then general manager of the Hanyang Arsenal, led his men to finalize the design drawings of this rifle from 1911 to 1914 despite financial difficulties. If his life had been smooth, this gun would have been quickly promoted throughout the country, and the Liu rifle would have instantly reversed the problem of slow firing rate of domestic rifles. There would also be more scientists who would solve the problem of low ammunition capacity of the Liu rifle... This gun would shine on the battlefield!

Sadly, none of this happened.

The Hanyang Arsenal only produced two of these rifles at the time and began sending them to the capital for testing. What was the result?
No one cared about the performance advantages of this gun, and even brought up the problem of the gun's spring being unqualified!

It was as if the spring was a non-replaceable part of the gun, which negated the entire gun. General Liu was forced to bite the bullet and raise money to find a large company to re-customize the spring despite insufficient funds!
Did you hear anything?
Doesn't it seem like you didn't even start the fight, and the other party just found an excuse to attack you back?
Yes, for rifles, especially semi-automatic rifles, gun springs are very important, but the problem is that there were not even semi-automatic rifles in the country at that time. Xu Chaoyang didn’t believe that the officials who saw this gun didn’t have any idea in their minds!

In any case, under such circumstances, the gun was destroyed and disappeared.

It was not until General Liu brought the gun to Da Piaoliang and their engineers were amazed at the gun and surprised that China had the ability to independently develop semi-automatic rifles that General Liu was motivated to bring the gun back and let it change the entire country's individual combat capability!
He refitted the firearm abroad with customized springs, participated in other countries' tests, and passed the test on the spot. It is easy to imagine how confident General Liu was at that time.

He immediately had the ten General Liu rifles that had passed the test brought back to China, preparing to participate in domestic tests again; he also purchased a large amount of equipment and asked his son to escort it back to China on another ship...

The ship full of equipment actually sank.

This was really a case of falling behind at every step. The death of his son and the lack of attention paid to firearms research and development made General Liu disheartened. Coupled with the exclusion of the warlords, General Liu suffered a sudden cerebral congestion and died in Songhu in 1929.

Correct.

The ten guns in Xu Chaoyang's hand were brought back by General Liu for testing. But after General Liu suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, who would worry about these things for him? Since then, they have been lying in the warehouse in Beijing.

Year after year, the warlords fought each other, but when these damn warlords were roaring on the battlefield with their bolt-action rifles, it was estimated that General Liu was sitting in a wheelchair with half of his body paralyzed and sneering at the window.

It was not until the Fengtian Army entered the pass and the Japanese invaded the Northeast, causing Xiao Liuzi to lose the Fengtian Arsenal, that the weapons in the warehouses in the capital were put to use again.

Thus, this batch of weapons became the military supplies that Xiao Liuzi sent to Inner Mongolia, and by coincidence, it entered the quartermaster department of the 9th Brigade, where it was noticed by Yang Jingyu, who took it back.

When Xu Chaoyang held the gun, he seemed to feel the old man who had left this world, using the last bit of connection with this world to convey his unyielding will. It was as if General Liu used his soul to create all kinds of coincidences, which finally made the gun appear in his hand.

This is not superstition. At this moment Xu Chaoyang would rather be superstitious and hope that this is the spark left by Grandpa Liu in the dark.

In Xu Chaoyang's view, this Liu rifle is not just a gun, but evidence of countless people working hard for this country. At least at this moment when this country is caught in a century-long crisis, young people and those in power have no choice but to lie down!

"See this?" Xu Chaoyang pointed at the muzzle and said, "This is the key point of this gun. This position is called the 'gas collection ring'. The gas 'collected' here is the fire that bursts out from the muzzle when the bolt-action rifle is fired."

"This 'gas collection ring' can collect the unburned gunpowder gas in the chamber and use it as kinetic energy to squeeze the 'barrel' and 'gas collection cup', squeeze the barrel back, and complete the 'unlocking' and ejection of the gun."

What Xu Chaoyang didn't say was that the M1 Garand, which has not yet been produced, adopted this concept, but this Liu rifle has existed for more than ten years.

Of course, this gun is not without flaws. The "gas collecting ring" at the muzzle is extremely easy to be damaged, or in fierce combat, mud and sand may enter the muzzle, which can easily cause the "automatic ejection and loading" to fail.

However, General Liu did not solve this problem, but added a 'rate selector' to the gun, which can be manually adjusted to restore the gun to bolt-action mode. In other words, even if the 'gas ring' is broken, the gun can still be used as a bolt-action rifle.

"Old Yang, stop studying this gun. This gun is not worth studying." Xu Chaoyang stroked the gun body with heartache. This was the result of many years of hard work by the old man.

"Well, have someone find a gun box and put all these guns away first. Remember, each gun must be covered with a dust sheet."

"Then, when the troops are training tomorrow, find ten people to carry Liu's rifles for assault training. They must master the use and maintenance of firearms. This thing will be very useful when the Japanese rush to the position, and it can catch them off guard in an instant!"

"Hey, where's Tong Meng?"

When Yang Jingyu heard this, he immediately took it seriously, put his gun on the bed, and shouted to the other soldiers in the room: "Come on, pull the sheets off the mattress, quickly!"

After he finished speaking, he pointed to the door and said, "Over there."

Xu Chaoyang walked out of the house.

Ten meters in front of the door, Tong Meng was sitting in the courtyard with a small stool, pouring gunpowder into a pottery jar through a semi-arc bamboo board. Anyone who passed by had to go around him, after all, this was gunpowder. But when Tong Meng saw someone deliberately going around him, he got angry, as if he was abandoned, and deliberately flirted with people he didn't even know, saying hello: "Hey, what are you doing? Come on, come on, let's chat for a while, it's boring for me to make mines alone!"

"Hey, don't run. I haven't even plugged in the fuse. It can't explode..."

This made Xu Chaoyang angry. He used to think that Tong Meng was just a weak scholar. How come he had become such an annoying person after working under him for more than half a year?
What's the difference between this and the 'grandson' who uses matches to light a dog's tail every time he goes back to his grandmother's house?
After Xu Chaoyang came closer, he slapped Tong Meng on the back of the neck. This slap was meant for Tong Meng, who pushed his knees forward and fell to his knees with a thump.

Xu Chaoyang stood behind him and started to curse: "Are you sick?"

"what!"

"I was asked to be a mine, so why are you teasing me?"

If Xu Chaoyang didn't watch over these guys all day long, they could really make a hole in the sky, especially a young boy like Tong Meng, who would let Qu Yong and his group of bad guys, all of whom are good at causing trouble.

"Hey, Captain."

Tong Meng got up from the ground, grinning and laughing embarrassedly. Seeing that Xu Chaoyang's cold expression didn't relax at all, he quickly shrank his neck and said, "I'm alone and lonely. There's no one to talk to."

When Xu Chaoyang heard this, he suddenly remembered the first time he tested the conscienceless cannon...

He slowly squatted beside Tong Meng, looking at the bottles and jars filled with gunpowder, and asked reluctantly, "How is it going?"

Tong Meng said ostentatiously: "Captain, I not only stuffed the bottle full of gunpowder, but also mixed a lot of small gravel into the gunpowder. If this thing explodes, it will be like a celestial being scattering flowers."

Stone?

Xu Chaoyang seemed to remember that when our army's county brigade and district squad were fighting a mine war with the Japanese, they had studied "stone mines" and even had a set of rhymes, such as "drill a hole, put in four taels of medicine, insert a thought, and everything will be destroyed." He just didn't expect that this thing would appear in his hands so early.

But it’s better to go early, because the days ahead will be difficult!
"Tong Meng, can you change these mines into pull-type mines? The kind that can go off when you pull a rope tied to it. Without the rope, they won't go off at all?"

As they were still talking, a column of horsemen rushed in from the gate of the compound, bringing with them a cloud of dust. "9th Brigade, listen up. This is an order from the commander-in-chief of the Fifth Military Region, Dao Wenbin..."

Thump, thump, thump, thump!

After this shout was uttered, the entire 9th Brigade headquarters fell into chaos, and all the officers who were resting under the influence of alcohol rushed out of the house.

"The 9th Brigade is here!" Wang Feng from the brigade headquarters shouted with a red face, and the brigade commander beside him was staring at this side all the time.

The messenger on the horse dismounted and walked towards the brigade with a letter: "The Fifth Military Region Commander Dao Wenbin issued a handwritten order, ordering the 9th Brigade to rush to Xiaojieji outside Tongliao at noon tomorrow and launch an attack before o'clock in the evening. Before dawn, Xiaojieji must be captured to ensure the smooth passage of the main force."

"If we fail to capture Xiaojieji and miss the opportunity to fight, all officers in the brigade will be punished by military law and severely punished!"

"Yes!"

It goes without saying how aggrieved the 9th Brigade commander was when he shouted, "We can take Xiaojieji in one night, and if we can't take it, we will punish him severely according to military law..."

Hearing this, Xu Chaoyang quickly patted Tong Meng on the shoulder and said, "Don't sleep tonight. You must fill all the bottles and jars with gunpowder overnight. I will allow you to make up for the sleep when you arrive at the front line tomorrow." After saying that, Xu Chaoyang immediately stood up, turned around and walked into the house, shouting as he walked, "Lao Yang? Lao Yang!"

Yang Jingyu heard Xu Chaoyang's call and ran out of the barracks quickly. Xu Chaoyang stepped forward, grabbed his arm and asked, "Where's the carriage? Is it ready?"

Yang Jingyu pointed to the edge of the barracks, where five carriages were neatly parked, but they were not harnessed to the horses. After seeing this scene, Xu Chaoyang breathed a sigh of relief.

"What's going on?"

Xu Chaoyang pointed at the entrance of the brigade and said, "At noon tomorrow, the entire army will march to... Xiaojieji!"

　Thanks to 'G梦行' for the 500 yuan reward. We are old friends and I am very grateful. Thank you very much!
　　That's almost it. You've rewarded me many times. Just subscribe and read the book. Thank you. I love you.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)