Weapons that are practical on the battlefield are good weapons. Weapons are meant to serve combat, so naturally the needs of combat should be the first priority.
A good weapons designer cannot design weapons based on his own preferences, but should design weapons from the perspective of soldiers and officers.
Many weapons in history were designed by soldiers or officers. For example, Kalashnikov, the famous inventor of the AK47, was a grassroots officer.
Why can soldiers and officers invent weapons? On the one hand, they have used and maintained weapons for a long time and have a good understanding of the structure of weapons. On the other hand, these soldiers and officers know what kind of weapons they want, and they are eager to have more reliable and effective weapons.
Therefore, Dong Shuheng has always asked the designers of the arsenal to go to the military camps regularly to experience the lives of soldiers. To eat, live and train with the soldiers, to understand the soldiers' ideas and needs. Integrate this information collected from the soldiers into
in your own design.
In fact, the main bottleneck in the arsenal now is the problem of propellant. The biggest problem with black powder is not that it lacks thrust, but that the residue it produces after burning has a great impact on guns.
Why have rifles remained muzzle-loading rifles for hundreds of years without much progress?
The problem is that the barrel needs to be cleaned after the black powder is fired, and it is easier to clean the barrel with a front-loading gun. Of course, the locking structure of the rear-loading gun is also difficult to make.
Dong Shuheng actually knows some of the principles of artifacts like Gatling and Maxim. But he has never mentioned it to the designers. The reason is that there is no better propellant, and black powder fixed-load ammunition is used. These rapid-fire machine guns only
It will take a while for the malfunction to occur.
The residue produced by black powder will seriously affect the parts on the machine gun. The structure of the machine gun is very complex, and there are many more accessories on it than on an ordinary rifle.
Facing reality, Dong Shuheng could only create a Type 53 bolt-action rifle first. This single-shot rifle had a slow rate of fire and a simple structure. The soldiers were able to complete the cleaning work on time.
Even so, when the Type 53 rifle uses black powder copper-cased fixed-loading ammunition, the failure rate is still higher than that of a muzzleloader.
Historically, it was the invention of smokeless gunpowder that brought gunpowder weapons into a revolutionary development period. Various new types of guns and artillery emerged in endlessly after the invention of smokeless gunpowder.
After leaving the artillery workshop, Dong Shuheng was about to leave when Geng Jia came over again with an iron guy in his hand.
"President, didn't you ask us to try to design a practical steel helmet before? We tried several models and found that this one has the best effect in preventing stray bullets and arrows. Why don't you take a look?"
Dong Shuheng reached out and took the helmet handed over by Geng Jia. The top of this helmet is a hemisphere, with a brim four to five centimeters wide around it. Visual inspection shows that it is shorter in the front and longer in the back.
The more Dong Shuheng looked at it, the more familiar it became. This looked a bit like the Mk1 "Farmer's Helmet" of the British Army in World War I.
However, Dong Shuheng can be sure that this is definitely not plagiarized by Geng Jia and others, because the British do not yet have steel helmets themselves. Steel helmets were only developed under the baptism of artillery in World War I.
"Geng Jia, why did you design the helmet in this shape?" Dong Shuheng asked.
"President, we initially produced several models, but after conducting experiments with our artillery, we found that this shape has the strongest protection against shell fragments."
"You see, the middle of this helmet is actually very shallow. It is to reduce the curvature of the dome and increase the inclination. This will greatly increase the probability of stray bullets sliding away."
"President, this style also has its origin. One of our designers saw a helmet used by the Shenji Battalion of the Ming Army in a Ming Dynasty equipment map, which was similar to this style. So he tried to make one.
, I didn’t expect the effect to be very good.”
"Ming Dynasty? It seems that the wisdom of the ancients can never be underestimated." Dong Shuheng sighed.
"Old Geng, please make two thousand of these helmets first and send them to the troops to see if there are any modifications that need to be made. Do not mass-produce them for the time being." Dong Shuheng explained.
Helmets are mainly used to prevent damage from artillery fragments. Now Dong Shuheng's enemies are basically equipped with solid-shell smoothbore cannons.
For solid bullets, no matter how powerful the helmet is, it is useless. Therefore, Dong Shuheng's need for helmets is not urgent.
However, weapons and equipment require a long period of inspection before problems can be discovered and improvements can be made.
If it is developed earlier, it will mature earlier. If you take one step ahead, you will be ahead step by step.
It was based on this concept that Dong Shuheng asked the arsenal to start the development of helmets.
After talking about the helmet, Dong Shuheng took a group of people to have lunch in the canteen of the arsenal. In the afternoon, they had to rush to the newly built exercise training ground.
This training ground is close to the sea and covers an area of hundreds of square kilometers. However, most of it is saline-alkali land that is difficult to transform, so it is not a waste to build a training ground.
Various terrains are simulated in the training ground to facilitate soldiers to understand the essentials of combat under various terrain conditions.
There is an artificial mound in the center of the training ground, and in the middle of the mound is a fortress-like tower more than 20 meters high.
Following the stairs, Dong Shuheng and his party went up to the command center at the top of the tower under the guidance of Ma Zongwu, the director of the training department.
This command center is mainly used to facilitate observation of the situation at the exercise site. The tower communicates with the exercise troops on the battlefield through semaphores.
Because the distance is too far, the flag bearers observe the flag through telescopes.
"Minister Ma, let's start!" Dong Shuheng ordered.
"Yes, President." Ma Zongwu accepted the order, and then shouted to the flag bearer on the side, "The exercise begins!"
The flag bearer immediately conveyed the order in semaphore.
"Boom, boom, boom!" This was a simulated shelling. In fact, the artillery fire was all empty bombs, and the explosions around the soldiers were pre-prepared explosion points.
With the construction of telegraph, Huaihai Navy now also uses electricity in many places.
For example, these explosive points are now detonated by electricity.
When Xu Shou was on the ship to Europe, he developed the telephone and built a prototype.
This prototype and experimental data were brought back by the fleet, and are now placed in the college's power laboratory for further improvements.
Dong Shuheng believes that before long, he will be able to control various departments under his command remotely using a telephone.
Just like this kind of exercise, if there are telephones to communicate directly with the frontline commanders, the efficiency will undoubtedly be improved a lot.
Dong Shuheng couldn't help but think of the scene in the movie and TV series when the communications soldier carried a roll of wire and rushed to the battlefield to lay temporary telephone lines.
The first round of artillery drills allows soldiers to experience the scene of being bombarded on the battlefield, so as to prevent new recruits from getting frightened and weak when they hear the sound of artillery on the battlefield.
The second round of drills is infantry charge. Huaihai Navy’s current recruits are basically selected from the militia. These people have all learned shooting when they were militiamen, but the militiamen use muzzle-loading guns.
The militiamen use line infantry formations when training, and the training method is different from that of field troops.
Now the field troops of the Huaihai Navy have basically been equipped with breech-loading guns, so the charging method they use is a skirmish line charge.
When facing line infantry or enemy-held city walls or positions, this tactic can minimize your own casualties.
Now the recruits on the battlefield below are practicing a skirmish charge. They spread out in squad units to form a triangular formation that covers each other, and move forward quickly with their bodies hunched.
From time to time, a soldier would stop, kneel on one knee, aim and shoot at the enemy in front, and cover his comrades running beside him.
The exercise plan was formulated by the generals of each army in consultation with the staff and training departments.
Dong Shuheng also looked at it carefully, and it was indeed very detailed. It was just not as realistic as the actual combat exercises with live ammunition in later generations.
Normal exercises basically allow soldiers to experience battlefield scenes, without real enemies.
Dong Shuheng understood that under such circumstances, the soldiers would not be able to create a real sense of battlefield tension.
But there's nothing we can do about it. Technology can't keep up. Not to mention the laser sensor device that emitted smoke when hit on the battlefield in the previous life, even the rubber bullets that can be used in actual combat exercises cannot be produced now.
Dong Shuheng is still a little greedy. As for their kind of drill, few armies in the world can do it now.
For example, the "Autumn Exercise" of the Qing army was said to be a drill, but in fact it was to gather the troops and put them into formation to open the eyes of the emperor, princes and ministers. It was really a trick.
It cannot be denied that this kind of drill conducted by the Huaihai Navy can bring great help to soldiers, both tactically and psychologically.
Dong Shuheng, who has seen big scenes, did not feel thrilling at all watching such exercises. In his opinion, those explosive points were almost like setting off fireworks.
However, King Shang Tai and Du Ji enjoyed watching it very much. Especially when the soldiers charged forward amidst the continuous explosions, it was thrilling for them to watch, and their hearts were in their throats.
Especially King Shang Tai, who almost screamed out in surprise, but he held it back when he saw so many people present.
"Teacher, what if there are casualties during this exercise?" King Shang Tai said in a voice that only two people could hear.
Seeing so many explosive points exploding around the soldiers, King Shangtai was sweating in his heart.
"Shang Tai, you have to remember that you usually bleed and sweat more, so that you can save your life to the maximum extent until you actually go to the battlefield. This is true in everything you do, your efforts and dedication must come first."
"Actually, these explosions are all explosive points planted in advance. Generally, they will not kill anyone, but will only injure people at most. If the soldiers follow the instructions, there will be no problem. If he disobeys the order and runs away in a panic, then
You can’t blame others." Dong Shuheng explained to him.
"Oh, I understand, teacher." Shang Tai, who originally wanted to wear a military uniform, began to give up. Training alone is so dangerous. It seems that this soldier is not that easy to be a soldier.
At the end of the exercise, the group left the base and returned to Dafeng City.
When we returned to Dafeng, it was time for the factory to get off work. People were rushing home in a hurry. On the way, the town began to become lively.
Dong Shuheng sat on the carriage and looked at the hurried flow of people on the roadside. He suddenly thought of the hurried office workers in the passage of the subway station in later generations.
Now these workers are enjoying it. They hope that this kind of life with work and food should remain unchanged. They feel that this is very fulfilling.
Especially those workers who were refugees. They were very free when they were refugees, but the feeling of hunger is really unbearable.
People who are hungry think that having a full stomach is the greatest happiness, and lonely people think that having a family is the greatest happiness.
Dong Shuheng, who returned to history, believed that rewriting history was his greatest happiness.
Human happiness is obtained from this contrast.
People of later generations think that such a day-to-day life is too boring and boring, and they are sorry for their own lives. Many people want to escape from this kind of life.
But those who escaped soon found themselves entering a new boring life. When they looked back, they discovered that the original ordinary life was the real happiness.