Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 492: Yiprahin's Letter
"As the emperor said, our soldiers are indeed in urgent need of a firearm that can fire a large number of bullets in a short period of time. Well, submachine gun, your Majesty has chosen a good name. If the soldiers have this weapon, wouldn't it be more conducive to charging?"
"Yes, according to the Emperor's introduction, it seems that the Spanish, at least the Spanish in Luzon, do not have such weapons. Otherwise, they would not have sent a small number of troops to lure our army out of the trenches and then set up an ambush to annihilate them."
"Therefore, our research and development must be accelerated. As long as we come up with such weapons before the Westerners , our soldiers will be able to attack when advancing and defend when retreating."
In the firearms laboratory of Fangshan School, Zhu Youdong, Zhao Shizhen, Sun Yuanhua and a group of scholars and craftsmen who developed firearms, cannons and gunpowder gathered together. After listening to Zhu Youdong's explanation, everyone felt that it was indeed as the emperor said, that the weapons of the Ming Dynasty could not keep up with the innovation of the opponent's tactics.
"Everyone, I am not good at firearms, but here are a few suggestions for your reference."
"Your Majesty, please give your instructions."
"First, there is no need to rush the research and development of this new submachine gun. Although Manila is difficult to attack, it is an isolated city after all. I think it will take at most a year to take it down. This time, the submachine gun will not be able to catch up. So, everyone does not need to rush, but I hope to see the finished product within three years.
Second, cost control. I hope to control the cost of a single submachine gun to less than 20 silver dollars. As you can imagine, once this gun is released, our army's ammunition consumption will increase sharply. If the gun itself is too expensive, I can't afford it. "
When talking about this, Zhu Youdong really felt helpless: In the historical plane, why was the Thompson submachine gun not popular when it first came out? Isn't it too expensive? A Thompson costs as much as $200. What is the concept in 1918? You can buy a Ford Model T for $220-260! With such an expensive price, how could the US military be willing to purchase in large quantities when the battlefield situation is already determined? Even if they are willing, the Congress will not allow it!
When Henghaiwei was first established, the annual expenditure was about 150,000 to 200,000 taels of silver. Later, Henghaiwei expanded, the number of people doubled, and the flintlock rifles were fully replaced. Even so, it was only . After the troops were equipped with machine guns, breech-loading cannons, and breech-loading rifles, the regular annual expenditure of a division of the Ming Dynasty New Army is now 600,000. If submachine guns are added? Tsk! How much does a division cost a year? 800,000? 1 million? This is still the regular salary, training ammunition, and daily maintenance. If a war really breaks out, do we have to count the hundreds of millions or billions of bullets fired? Do we have to pay for the casualties of soldiers? Do we have to pay for the resettlement expenses of newly recruited soldiers? In this way, a division fully equipped with submachine guns may cost 1.5 million a year in a war. If there are 20 divisions, that would be 30 million: this is just the army. If the navy is fully equipped with ironclad ships, it will be a gold-eating monster!
The current annual fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty is only about 80 million. Although it will continue to grow steadily in the foreseeable future, the Ming Dynasty will not need 20 divisions to fight a full-scale war in the future. If it really wants to expedition to Europe, it is estimated that 200 divisions will not be enough!
Therefore, the cost of weapons must be properly controlled.
"I understand what the emperor means." Zhao Shizhen, who is nearly 70 years old, stood up and said, "Now our Ming Dynasty's rear-firing rifles have entered stable mass production, and the factory price of one rifle can be controlled below three yuan. The cost of this submachine gun will definitely be higher than that of the rifle, but the emperor has given seven times the redundancy, and I am confident in this."
"Okay, thanks in advance. Let me talk about the third point. The ammunition capacity must be large. This submachine gun can use a magazine or a drum magazine, but it must be able to hold at least 30 rounds of bullets. Here, I want a weapon that can fire a large number of bullets in a short period of time, and I don't have too high requirements for range and accuracy. Therefore, you masters can consider using pistol bullets for this submachine gun. In this way, not only is it easier to meet the magazine capacity requirements, but the requirements for the barrel and bolt are also much lower."
"Thank you for your understanding, Your Majesty. The Thunder Gun I developed in my early years can already fire 40 rounds of projectiles continuously. Although black powder was used at that time, we have already mastered the basic principles. Therefore, I can guarantee that the magazine capacity of 30 rounds can be achieved."
"Very good, then I will talk about the fourth point, reliability and durability! Generally speaking, the products produced by our Fangshan have achieved this point, and I hope this submachine gun is no exception. After all, if the soldiers are fighting for their lives on the battlefield and the gun suddenly jams, it will really be fatal."
"In the early years, your Majesty has repeatedly told us the story of a broken horseshoe leading to the destruction of a country, and we have hung this as a warning quote on the wall of the laboratory. Your Majesty, please rest assured about this."
"Okay, then, I have nothing more to say. I'll leave the rest of the work to you masters."
"Your Majesty, I have a request."
"Mr. Zhao, please speak."
"Your Majesty, please give us a research and development code name for this submachine gun."
"Uh..." Touching his forehead, Zhu Youdong suddenly remembered: in the future, there will be more and more weapons in the Ming Dynasty. It would be a real problem if the naming rules of the weapons were not unified.
"...I have thought about it, and in the future, the light weapons used by the infantry will be named after our Ming Dynasty. Well, I will give a name to the development of this submachine gun, let's call it Jiguang."
"I understand. We respectfully send His Majesty off."
Well, that's it. Although submachine guns are destined to have short range and poor accuracy because they use pistol bullets. For example, the famous PPSh was quickly replaced by automatic rifles such as AK47 shortly after it reached its peak, but that was in the 20th century when all disciplines had developed to a high level. At the current level of the deformed technology tree, it is already amazing to be able to develop a submachine gun.
Tsinghua University and the Forbidden City are only a dozen kilometers apart. Zhu Youdong returned to the meeting place in the palace quickly in a four-wheeled carriage. He walked into the room and asked, "Hey, Mr. Xu, when did you come back?"
"I landed at Tianjin Port at six this morning. I had a handwritten letter from the Grand Vizier of Ottoman Empire to the Emperor, so I rushed back first. The group behind Yuan Gelao is expected to arrive in the afternoon."
"Oh, where is the letter? Bring it to me."
…
"Dear Chinese time traveler, I sincerely admire your feat of successfully eliminating two other colleagues in East Asia. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for responding to my request and sending an official delegation to visit my country...
In the friendly and fruitful talks with your ministers, I have learned that the country you lead has successfully independently developed smokeless gunpowder and has the Maxim heavy machine gun. Well, although the heavy machine gun family, in addition to the earliest Gatling rotary type, is mainly the Maxim water-cooled type and the Hotchkiss air-cooled type. However, the water-cooled type has much lower requirements on the quality of the gun barrel than the air-cooled type. For a country like your country that lacks nickel and chromium, choosing a water-cooled heavy machine gun is a correct choice.
But there is no doubt that choosing a water-cooled heavy machine gun will inevitably lead to the machine gun being too heavy for a single soldier to carry in battle. So the reality is that you also need a light machine gun or submachine gun, otherwise your soldiers will pay an extremely high price in the future when facing enemies who use trench warfare.
As for submachine guns, I have just started research and development, and have not yet achieved effective results. However, I have a light machine gun that is now basically complete. Although the light machine guns of later generations started with Lewis and the Taisho 11-style is also famous, the former is too simple and the latter is almost entirely infamous. So I solemnly recommend the Czech ZB26 light machine gun to you. Speaking of which, in the 1930s and 1940s of the historical plane, the soldiers of your country fought against the Japanese Taisho 11-style with ZB26. In this way, can it be regarded as a reverse inheritance of the traditions of the ancestors?
Oh, please don't get me wrong, I'm not a time traveler with a military background. In fact, I'm just studying materials science. However, before I traveled through time, under the guidance of my teacher, I carefully studied the barrel material ratios of various types of machine guns in history in order to prove the heat resistance and durability of various alloys, so I'm more familiar with machine guns. And because I didn't start researching submachine guns, I can only explore and develop submachine guns on my own now...
In addition to the light machine gun, I also offer you the method of making celluloid... We are not friends, but at least for now, we can temporarily form an alliance for the common enemy. So, I look forward to your quick and strong response! "
Although he had traveled through time for more than 20 years, he had always used English to hand over his shifts in the mornings because he was intimidated by the director's power. Therefore, Zhu Youdong's English level was much better than that of Tokugawa Yoshinao. He read the letter, which was more than ten pages long, fluently without any hindrance, and a heavy weight in his heart fell down immediately.
"My lords, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long, but it looks like today's State Council meeting will have to be postponed. Let's tentatively schedule it for tomorrow. If there are any temporary changes, I'll have the Ministry of Public Administration notify you again. The meeting is adjourned now. Mr. Xu, please take the trouble to go to Fangshan with me again!"
