The wind and sand outside the pass blocked the Ming Dynasty's army. When the Chagatai Khanate heard the news, the Great Khan was so excited that he jumped up.
"God help me, the Ming Dynasty's army is nothing more than this. God help me too, the Timur Empire's eastern border has been completely defeated. Given time, we can take over the Timur Empire. By then, the Ming Dynasty, huh, will also be our subordinate.
Minister."
"The Great Khan is mighty, and the Great Khan is helped by heaven. Genghis Khan is still alive, and the Great Khan is mighty."
"The Khan is mighty!"
"Second order, all the eastern troops will go to Verumu. We must defend Verumu no matter what. The enemy has been punished by God and is definitely no match for our army."
"Yes, Khan."
When the wind and sand came out, the Ming army was in panic, but the people in Chagatai were joyful. Although they were unhappy, they still endured it in the face of Tianwei.
…
As the days passed, Zhu Zhanzhen was busy with official duties and basically had an in-depth meeting with Zara every two days.
A few months passed without realizing it. In June, the temperature increased dramatically, and the sun here was extremely hot and scorching.
On this day, Zhu Gaoxu came to Suzhou from Jiayuguan, and followed Zhu Zhanchen to the factory with a serious face.
Zhu Zhanzhen did not block it or make any excuses. He directly placed an iron lump in front of him, the latest armored fighting vehicle.
Looking at the chariot in front of him, Zhu Gaoxu said with a look of dissatisfaction: "Zhan Zhan, you are not as powerful as your big brother, and the wheels don't even move at all?"
You came all the way to show me this thing?
Zhu Zhanzhen's armored vehicle was also an improvement on the locomotive, but unlike Zhu Zhanji who completely used the locomotive as power, they redesigned a smaller steam engine and placed it internally as power, and also made reductions in the model.
Heavy, used with more power.
There is also only one gun barrel on the entire body, and the gun barrel does not look thick enough. This is also to reduce weight.
A certain amount of firepower was sacrificed in exchange for mobility.
"Second uncle, you have read the battle report of the arrival of the Vulcan armored vehicle on the battlefield, right?"
"Looked at it."
"On the real battlefield, the big brother's Vulcan armored vehicle was too big and heavy, and the wheels couldn't bear it. Two of them just lay down, and one drove up. It can indeed be like a steel fortress in the cavalry team, but when fighting
After a while, I fell asleep. If the mobility cannot be guaranteed, it will have the same effect as carrying an iron plate to the battlefield to build an iron fort."
Zhu Gaoxu still felt that this thing was too petty: "But yours is too small, and it doesn't have enough firepower."
Although it is smaller than Zhu Zhanji's Vulcan armored vehicle, the actual size is already very large, and in order to reduce the weight, Zhu Zhanyi also reduced the thickness of the armored iron plates, because armored vehicles of this era do not need to withstand bullets and artillery fire, they only need to block swords.
Just like the bow and arrow, if the thickness is reduced, the overall vehicle weight will be reduced a lot.
"Second uncle, let's do this. How about you bring a 20-man cavalry team and we can check this armored vehicle?"
"Okay." Zhu Gaoxu agreed immediately. This armored vehicle, which did not look very powerful, was not as intimidating as Zhu Zhanji's Vulcan armored vehicle.
Outside Suzhou City, he found a deserted place. Zhu Gaoxu and his twenty guards were ready to go. Each of them rode a tall horse and was well-equipped with swords and bows. Because it was an experimental operation, there was no need for Aka 47 and 47.
Weapons like grenades, shotguns, and tanks don't really fire, so there's no need to fight to the death.
With the ignition of the steam engine, it took a while for the armored vehicle to start. After starting, three soldiers got into the armored vehicle. One operated the vehicle, one operated the gun barrel, one was responsible for reporting the point, and the other pretended to hold an Aka 47
Responsible for clearing approaching enemies.
"How can you still run without wheels?" Zhu Gaoxu smiled disdainfully.
But as the steam rose, the steel monster in front of me really started to move. With the rotation of the crawler tracks, it officially started moving.
"It's really moving. What kind of wheel is that? Why does it look like an iron chain? Can it move like this?"
"Drive, move for me." Zhu Gaoxu waved his whip to make the horses run.
Horses were still faster than armored vehicles, but Zhu Gaoxu looked at the moving armored vehicles and saw that the speed was now faster than that of infantry. This was enough to surprise him, and Zhu Zhanzhen had people demonstrate that the armored vehicles' mobility was indeed excellent.
The crawler travel system has been continuously researched and improved over the past few months until it looks like this now. The lower body of the armored vehicle is purely for traveling with a tracked body and steam engine. The upper half is a place for people to sit and a cannon, which can move 180 degrees.
It rotates, but the speed is relatively slow. There is no way to solve it well now. Basically, it can only hit the range directly ahead.
"Surround up, young men." Zhu Gaoxu became interested and asked the soldiers to ride on their horses and surround the chariot.
At this time, a small piece of iron sheet was opened, and an Aka 47 stretched out, aiming at the cavalry. The cavalry hurriedly slapped their horses and got out of the way, but this would not actually shoot, it just tells you that we have ways to protect ourselves when we get close.
Zhu Gaoxu thought about the power of the mobile armored fortress that could be attacked and defended on the battlefield. When the enemy did not have heavy firepower like ours, there was nothing we could do against it.
Although it looks small and not powerful enough, it is highly practical.
After the acting stopped, Zhu Gaoxu got off his horse and cut off the track with a knife. Because most of it was made of iron, he cut it off and left a mark.
"This is really armed to the core. It's okay, boy. As expected of you."
"Second uncle, how's it going? Is this guy okay?"
"It can be very good and very fast. It's like a mobile turret. Build it. Build it quickly."
Zhu Zhanzhen would not get offended by such a compliment: "The heat dissipation of the steam engine is a big problem. If it runs at high speed, the people inside cannot stay for a quarter of an hour, and the weather itself is very hot now."
As long as the steam engine is used, this problem cannot be solved.
"We'll talk about this later. Let's build a few units first and drive them to the battlefield. It's been so long and we haven't taken down a single city. Although your elder brother, although the Vulcan armored vehicles have not been put to much use, they have already been used since the beginning of the year.
We have killed many people and broken up many tribes. If this continues, we will have no place to interact with each other."
"Second Uncle, in addition to this vehicle, there are five more tanks being built in this batch. The time is about the same. They will be built in two days. Then the first batch of six tanks will be used by Second Uncle."
"Tank, why is it called a tank?"
"Smooth as flat ground, defeat the enemy and win."
"The literate name given to me at such a young age is not as domineering as your elder brother's Vulcan armored vehicle. Calling him the King of Destruction also seems more powerful."
Zhu Zhanzhen was speechless. Why did Tank become a literary name in his second uncle's mouth?
Although tank is a transliteration, it is convenient to call it, so Zhu Zhanzhen still planned to call it tank. The battlefield command center has a short name, which is convenient to command.
"And Second Uncle, we have developed a combat method based on the characteristics of tanks."
"What kind of tactics? You don't know how to fight, so don't study blindly."
"But I know new weapons, Yu Qian, where is Yu Qian." Zhu Zhanzhen said, calling Yu Qian's name.
Yu Qian was sleeping in the shade just now. When he heard the call, he ran over.
"Yu Qian, please explain to my second uncle what Butan collaboration is."