Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 292, Section 291: Farewell to General Yang; Large-caliber infantry guns converted into tank guns; New tank alloy armor.
In April, the Japanese Navy frequently appeared in the waters around Shanghai, and the Japanese Marine Corps in the concession area also conducted joint exercises.

To the outside world, they claimed it was just routine training.

Meanwhile, Japan plans to expand port facilities in Tanggu, Tianjin.

They also reiterated their demands to build the Tianjin-Shijiazhuang Railway and mine the Longyan Iron Mine. Song Zheyuan, the Nationalist government official in charge of this matter, responded by saying, "To discuss Sino-Japanese economic cooperation in North China, we must first dismantle the puppet regime in eastern Hebei. The construction of the Tianjin-Shijiazhuang Railway and the mining of the Longyan Iron Mine can only proceed after the puppet regime in eastern Hebei is dismantled."

This is of course impossible, but Japan has chosen to further erode its interests in North China through other means.

Late April.

The Japanese army continued to expand its military facilities between Beijing and Tianjin and along the Beining Railway. The local governments of Hebei and Chahar took decisive measures to stop this after discovering it.

But the matter did not end there. The Japanese invaders attempted to seize more than 6000 mu of land in Dajing Village between Fengtai and Lugou Bridge to build barracks and an airfield.

This location is southwest of Beiping. If implemented, it would be tantamount to allowing the Japanese army to station troops outside Beiping.

At the request of Song Zheyuan, Chairman of the Hebei-Chahar Political Affairs Committee and Commander of the 29th Army, the Magistrate of Wanping County proposed: "Anything that infringes upon the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country will not be accepted, but in order to avoid conflict, it will not be rejected either."

We used this principle to deal with the Japanese invaders.

The Japanese garrison in Tianjin and their agents in Beiping made several attempts to negotiate, but to no avail.

Unable to do anything else, the Japanese invaders used high profits to lure the landlords, traitors, and local ruffians of Dajing Village into selling their land under the guise of public opinion. A few farmers were deceived, and their land was seized by the Japanese.

The county government immediately sent people to Dajing Village, where they arrested the ringleader and exposed the Japanese invaders' conspiracy.

In order to strengthen land management, the Hebei-Chahar authorities issued an order today: "Anyone who steals or sells land shall be executed."

Subsequently, the Japanese North China Garrison Army began conducting armed exercises in the suburbs of Beijing and Tianjin.

Afterwards, the conflict within the Northeast Army came to a conclusion. Under the relentless pressure from the Central Army, General Yang was dismissed from his post and prepared to go to the United States.

This time, because of Fang Wen, he took Taishan Airlines' Asia-Europe flight, first to Europe, and then by ship to the United States.

Upon learning of this, Fang Wen temporarily halted tank development, returned to China, and met with General Yang.

Jinan Airport.

General Yang and his entourage arrived by car and were preparing to board a plane to Shanghai to take a Eurasia flight.

The airport staff member who greeted them said, "General Yang, you have one hour before boarding. You can wait in the departure lounge. Also, our company's general manager would like to speak with you; he is waiting for you in the VIP lounge."

General Yang was surprised but said nothing and led his team directly into the VIP waiting room.

The VIP lounge is designed by Fang Wen in a futuristic style and is specially provided for frequent flyers and members of the Taishan Aviation Club.

There, the conditions are comfortable, and there are meals and service staff.

At that moment, Fang Wen was also waiting inside.

He welcomed General Yang and his entourage and offered to speak with them privately.

General Yang agreed to this.

The two went to a quiet place and sat down.

Fang Wen poured him tea.

"General Yang, thank you for your contributions to domestic peace. Although I am just a businessman, I admire you very much."

General Yang laughed and said, "You're more than just a businessman. There's probably no one in the country who can fly a plane better than you. In the future, you'll have to do a lot more to intercept Japanese planes in the Chinese sky."

"Do you think the Japanese army is about to start a war?" Fang Wen asked.

General Yang sneered, "Anyone who leads troops in battle can see that the Japanese army is conducting exercises in multiple locations across land, sea, and air, and is pressing hard on North China. Do they have nothing better to do than fight?"

"Unfortunately, the Nationalist government is still fantasizing; they won't make a decision until that moment arrives," Fang Wen said helplessly.

"It's a pity that I have no military power now, so if we really have to fight a war, there's not much I can do," General Yang sighed.

Fang Wen thought it would be better if he didn't come back after going abroad, because if he returned without the protection of military power, he would inevitably be arrested.

Therefore, Fang Wen revealed the purpose of his visit.

"General Yang, have a good time in America. Travel around and see different parts of the country. It would be best if you didn't come back for the next few years."

"Why? Are you afraid that I will encounter misfortune if I come back? It's alright. I, Yang, have a clear conscience and do nothing wrong. I don't want to be a coward who avoids war. If the Japanese army really starts the war, I will definitely come back."

General Yang's reply was resolute, and Fang Wen saw that he couldn't change his mind, so he had no choice but to comply.

Afterwards, he had a long chat with General Yang before seeing him off at the airport.

After seeing General Yang off, Fang Wen returned to Yangon.

Time is getting tighter.

Whether the tank can be successfully manufactured depends on this period of time.

He led a development team composed of engineers from Taishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant to conduct a detailed study of the T-26 light tank.

(Internal structure diagram of T-26)
Its interior includes a driver's cab, fighting compartment, power compartment, and suspension system.

The driver's cab is located at the front of the tank and is the main area where the driver operates the tank.

The cab is equipped with a driver's seat, instrument panel, control levers, and other components.

The driver controls the tank's direction and speed using a joystick, while the instrument panel displays various performance indicators such as engine speed, vehicle speed, and fuel level.

The fighting compartment, located in the middle of the tank, is the area where the gunner (commander) and loader fire and give commands.

The fighting compartment is equipped with a main gun, secondary weapons (machine gun), ammunition racks, observation and aiming equipment, etc.

The engine compartment is located at the rear of the tank and is where the tank's power system is located.

The power compartment is equipped with components such as the engine, transmission, and cooling system.

The T-26 tank uses a balanced suspension system, with eight small-diameter road wheels on each side arranged in pairs. Each pair is connected to the chassis and body via springs.

This suspension system offers excellent ride stability and battlefield mobility.

In addition, the external armor of the T-26 tank ranged from 15 to 50 millimeters in thickness, which could effectively resist the attacks of artillery shells and machine gun bullets at the time.

The hull and turret are equipped with sloped armor, which further enhances protection.

This is the overall structure of the T26.

Meanwhile, a T26 tank and related spare parts were transported from the Black Sea straits off Istanbul, Turkey, by a cargo ship from Taishan International.

This greatly reduced the development difficulty for Fang Wen and his team.

First, Fang Wen personally drove the T26 tank to gain a comprehensive understanding of it using his mechanical senses.

This understanding is far more thorough than that of design drawings.

After gaining a comprehensive understanding of the T26, Fang Wen attempted to design Taishan's own tank.

What he wanted to design was a tank that would be equipped with the Hornet R1340 engine.

The main advantages of using aircraft engines in tanks lie in their greater power output and superior reliability. Furthermore, the structure of aircraft engines allows them to largely employ pure gear transmissions, eliminating vulnerable components such as belts or chains. This makes tanks less prone to breakdowns on the battlefield and easier to maintain.

However, using aircraft engines in tanks also presents some challenges. For example, aircraft engines have relatively high fuel consumption and high initial costs. In addition, due to their relatively large size and weight, aircraft engines require significantly more internal space.

Therefore, the tank's size was changed from light to medium to accommodate the Hornet R1340 engine and its matching power transmission system.

Based on his understanding of future tanks, he designed a completely new medium tank.

This medium tank, named 'Taishan Pine' in the name of the pine tree's stability, is much larger than the T-26 tank. The current problem is how to actually build it.

The manufacture of the Taishan Pine Tank was extremely difficult.

Compared to airplanes, tanks integrate a large number of devices in a confined space and must have strong external defense capabilities.

This requires piecing it together little by little, like building with blocks.

First, there's the tank chassis and suspension system.

The castings shipped from the Soviet Union are usable; their pressure-bearing capacity is perfectly fine.

Then, based on this, the installation is carried out.

The engine compartment at the rear of the tank was the first to be modified. Engineers from Taishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant, with their knowledge of the Hornet R1340 engine, skillfully made modifications to the power transmission system.

Next came the installation of the power control equipment and instruments in the front cabin.

Once the equipment in these two locations is in place, a tracked vehicle without external armor is complete.

Under the engineers' guidance, the bare car traveled at 80 kilometers per hour on the test track, indicating that the power system and driving control system were working properly.

Next was the weapons room.

According to Fang Wen's design, the turret can be rotated by a hand crank, allowing for all-around aiming.

The turret has two levels: the upper level is for cannons and the lower level is for machine gun firing ports, which can fire at a 90-degree angle.

As for the weapons, the machine guns chosen were those that used 7.92mm bullets, to standardize the caliber of the weapons' bullets.

However, problems arose with the artillery.

What kind of artillery should we choose?

The 37mm cannon is still a bit weak.

Fang Wen then shifted his focus to the 75mm infantry gun.

The German le. IG 18 75mm infantry gun has good range and firepower.

The loading system is also very sophisticated; if it were installed in a turret as the main gun, its power would be immense.

To this end, Fang Wen and the engineers held discussions.

They agreed that the main technical challenge was how to install a large-caliber gun in the cramped tank turret while ensuring that the recoil of the gun would not have an excessive impact on the tank.

The solution to this problem is to use a better hydraulic reverse recoil and return mechanism.

In other words, the hydraulic recoil mechanism of the original German le. IG 18 75mm infantry gun needs to be further improved before it can be used in tanks.

In response, Fang Wen and his engineers began to tackle the problem. They modified the hydraulic equipment to improve its efficiency, and then welded a tripod to the chassis to connect the entire hydraulic reciprocating device.

In this way, when the artillery fires, some of the recoil will be transmitted to the chassis and then dispersed through the suspension system, while some of the recoil will be relieved by the hydraulic recoil mechanism.

After this design was completed, the project team prepared to test the cannon.

Without external armor to secure it, they welded together a makeshift gun mount and then began loading and firing.

With a cannon shot, the unarmored tank base jerked back a little.

This shot also means that the approach was correct.

Thus, the internal structure and base design and manufacturing of the entire 'Taishan Pine' tank have been completed, and the next step is the external armor.

Currently, the tank armor material used by various countries is silicon-manganese steel armor. This type of armor has little problem resisting bullets, but its defense against artillery shells is much worse.

To protect against artillery shells, armor thickness must be continuously increased; therefore, heavily armored main battle tanks have become a nightmare on the battlefield.

However, this armor also has a problem: if a spot is attacked multiple times, it will break down.

Even after being attacked by howitzers, the overall armor may crack.

This means that silicon-manganese steel armor is too inferior and is not the armor material that Fang Wen envisioned.

Besides silicon-manganese steel armor, there are actually other alloy steel armors.

For example, chromium-nickel-molybdenum alloy steel armor.

It requires nickel, an element that is scarce in many countries, so it can only be used in the manufacture of more sophisticated instruments and large-caliber gun barrels for the navy.

This alloy material has a designation of 4130 and is mainly used to manufacture warship armor, submarine pressure hulls, and high-pressure gun barrels; it is rarely used in tanks.

It's difficult to obtain it.

In response, Fang Wen thought of the United States, wondering if there were any other alternative tank armor alloys there.

Therefore, he sent a telegram to the United States requesting that they conduct a search.

The headquarters building of Taishan International, a listed company in New York, USA.

Chairman Lin Shuiwang received a coded telegram from the telegraph office.

He immediately began translating.

The domestic situation is deteriorating, and a full-scale war is expected to break out soon.

The Taishan Volunteer Army is currently making preparations, but they lack a certain alloy for manufacturing tank armor. It's difficult to purchase from Europe, so you'll need to find it in the United States.

Lin Shuiwang looked at the telegram and was immediately filled with anxiety. War was about to break out in China, and he wanted to do something about it.

Finding an alloy that can replace the one used to make tank armor is what he can do now.

Therefore, Lin Shuiwang immediately took action.

He contacted Zhao Jiu in Las Vegas and explained the situation.

Both sides launched their own investigations, and at the same time, they contacted the Bureau of Investigation in Indiana for assistance.

Through the efforts of many parties and by searching through various channels, they actually found it.

The American Steel Institute has registered a new alloy.

The number is 4150.

This is a new type of nickel-free alloy steel.

Because it is a newly developed product, it has not yet reached mass production, and the defect rate is also very high.

Furthermore, since the market value of this alloy is not yet recognized, no one has yet shown a willingness to purchase it.

After Lin Shuiwang and Zhao Jiu reported this situation back to Asia, they received a test instruction.

They then obtained samples and sent them to the army via Indiana channels for artillery testing.

The result is that it has excellent resistance and its strength is similar to that of 4130.

This result led Fang Wen to consider purchasing at a high price.

Subsequently, Lin Shuiwang and Zhao Jiu found the steel mill that developed the 4150 and, under the guise of collaborative testing, made a large-scale purchase.

Steel mills that are researching 4150 alloy production technology are certainly willing to accept sudden buyers, as this can help them reduce a lot of research and development costs.

After the two sides reached an agreement, the first transaction was completed, and all of the steel mill's 4150 alloy inventory was purchased and transported to Asia via Taishan International's cargo ships.

(End of this chapter)