Anti-Japanese War, weapons designer at Fengtian Arsenal

The Japanese wouldn't let them see the tanks, and Li Qinwu had no interest in the political duel that followed during the meal. He didn't even say goodbye to the others, and dragged Hu Xiaoming to the factory. He couldn't wait to produce some anti-tank weapons.

After returning to the Fengtian Arsenal, Li Qinwu gave the task of handling the Molotov cocktails to Hu Xiaoming, and he gave him some technical guidance.

You can use discarded wine bottles as carriers and add gasoline, liquor, sugar, and rubber powder into them. Gasoline and liquor can make the fuel explode, while sugar and rubber can increase the intensity of combustion and adhesion.

In addition, Hu Xiaoming also needs to find a way to produce devices to protect Molotov cocktails. The lowest quality Molotov cocktails are just a mixture of alcohol and gasoline. They have no protection on the battlefield and are easily broken by various bumps and collisions. The gasoline can easily splash onto the soldiers using them, causing tragedy.

Now that we can prepare in advance, we need to come up with something to protect the Molotov cocktails.

Another point is that the way to ignite the Molotov cocktail bottles that Li Qinwu had seen in movies and TV shows before was to stuff a piece of cloth into the mouth of the bottle, which is actually incorrect.

If the fire cloth is inserted directly into the bottle mouth, the gasoline is likely to explode at the moment of ignition, or the fire cloth may drip the sucked burning material onto the user's hands, which is very dangerous.

The correct way to use it is to plug the bottle mouth with a wooden cork, then wrap a circle of ignition cloth around the outside of the bottle mouth. Light the cloth when using it. The bottle will be smashed and the flame can come into contact with the gasoline. This is much safer and also convenient for recycling for next use.

Let Hu Xiaoming go and do his work. Li Qinwu came to the Liao-made Maxim production workshop to inquire about the manufacturing of anti-tank guns. The main thing about anti-tank guns is that the barrel should be very long so that the bullet can stay in the chamber long enough to provide stronger penetration and accuracy.

Li Qinwu told the master his requirements yesterday. Now the master took out a gun barrel wrapped in oil paper from a wooden box and handed it to him. The length was 1.5 meters.

Li Qinwu weighed the barrel and found it was not heavy, which met his requirements. Since the barrel of the anti-tank gun does not have to bear the chamber pressure of continuously firing large-caliber bullets, the weight can be reduced as much as possible within safety limits.

After getting the barrel, Li Qinwu went to find Lao Huotou to help process the remaining parts, mainly the huge muzzle brake and bolt structure.

Anti-tank guns require soldiers to use their bodies to fire large-caliber ammunition, so the recoil is very large. If the designers don't find a way to reduce the recoil, then the joke "one shot to the left shoulder, one shot to the right shoulder, a cross medal, and go home to recuperate" will come true.

Historically, the ptrd anti-tank gun has mainly adopted three strategies to reduce recoil. First, the huge muzzle brake on the muzzle can effectively reduce a large amount of recoil.

Secondly, after firing a shot, part of the recoil will push the bolt back, opening the loading port, making it easier for the shooter to reload, and the recoiled bolt can further absorb the recoil.

Third, tie a thick layer of cotton around the butt of the gun to blunt the recoil, so that at least it won’t hurt too much when the butt hits someone.

In order to produce at least 918 anti-tank guns before the start of 100 and give the armed forces of Fengtian City basic anti-tank capabilities, Li Qinwu made use of local materials.

The barrel firing pin uses the Liao-made Maxim accessories, the gun frame uses a Czech-style bipod, the grip and trigger use the Mauser C96, and the buttstock is two steel plates welded together at 90 degrees vertically. Only parts that have no other options, such as the muzzle brake, will be cut by the old spark plug.

With the help of senior technician Lao Huotou and a large number of spare parts made from local materials, this gadget, which is even more crude and inferior than the original Soviet ptrd anti-tank gun, was born before the afternoon shift ended.

The old man added some tobacco to his pipe, but it still didn't light up. He looked at the big, black thing lying on the tool table and asked uncertainly, "Young man, are you sure this thing will work?"

To be honest, Li Qinwu was not quite sure. This gun was made up of at least three types of gun parts, as well as a bunch of handmade DIY stuff. The gun was covered with welds and reinforced rivets, making people suspect that it would explode if a shot was fired.

"Anyway... let's give it a try."

After all, this weapon was developed based on Soviet weapons, and it inherited the characteristics of being big, black, rough and durable. Just fire a few shots at it, and it's fine as long as it makes a sound but doesn't explode!

Li Qinwu immediately picked up the gun and went to the weapons testing site with Lao Huotou. Fortunately, this gun still has advantages over the original one. It is lighter, weighing only 14 kilograms, and a soldier can carry it. The gun body is 195 centimeters long, which is considered a small ptrd anti-tank gun.

Arriving at the shooting range, Lao Huotou Li Xing disassembled the gun into parts, applied some gun oil, and calmed the machine spirit a little.

Li Qinwu ran 200 meters away and tied a 20 mm thick steel plate tightly to a wooden stake.

The front armor of the Japanese tank is only 17mm. If the anti-tank gun can penetrate this steel plate, then the Japanese tank will have no survival space in front of it!

The old fireman assembled the gun, placed it on the fixed table, loaded the bullets and connected the trigger rope, and the two men retreated behind the bunker.

Just as Li Qinwu was about to pull the trigger to fire the first shot, they heard a lot of footsteps behind them. The two looked back and saw Deputy Director Zhang and a group of senior executives of the arsenal, surrounding two people in military uniforms and walking towards them.

Li Qinwu's eyes met the two officers. He was stunned for a moment. These two people were the two important military representatives received by the Japanese in the morning. How did they get here?

"Hey, Director Li! Why did you leave without saying goodbye this morning? Brigade Commander Wang and Director Huang have been looking for you for a long time, and now you've even come to our factory!"

Deputy Director Zhang had a reproachful expression on his face, but there was a hint of boasting in his words. Obviously, he felt it was an honor for Li Qinwu, a small director of a firearms design department, to attract the attention of a military official and the chief of the Fengtian City Police Department.

When visiting the Japanese camp, Li Qinwu was not interested in who these high-ranking officials were. But now when he heard that one of them was surnamed Wang and the other was surnamed Huang, and that one was a brigade commander and the other was a director, he immediately knew their identities: Wang Yizhe and Huang Xiansheng.

Looking at the handsome Huang Xiansheng, Li Qinwu's eyes lit up. This man's performance in 918 was truly MVP. Not only did he know in advance that the Japanese were going to launch a sneak attack and notified other troops in advance, he also organized the police to fight the Japanese in the city. He did not choose to withdraw from Fengtian City until the entire army lost its combat effectiveness.

Li Qinwu's anti-tank gun was largely built for his police force.

Li Qinwu immediately went up and shook hands with Huang Xiansheng.

"It is an honor for me to have your superior come to inspect in person!"

Huang Xiansheng smiled at Li Qinwu, looked at the anti-tank gun that had been fixed, and asked, "Director Li, during the previous exercise, I saw that you looked down on Japanese tanks. You seemed to have a good anti-tank plan. Could this gun be it?"