Daming Military Empire

Chapter 578 Chariots and Tanks

In the golden autumn of September, the sun is shining brightly, the ears of rice in the south of the Yangtze River are yellow, the wheat in the east of Liaodong is ripe, the land of the Central Plains is full of joy, and the dry areas in the northwest have also entered the harvest season. Just as the autumn harvest is approaching, Daming’s technology research and development has also yielded fruit. Fruitful.

First, the large-scale experimental field established by Song Yingxing was put into operation, and a breakthrough was made in oil refining. Then, Bi Maokang and Sun Yuanhua came together to announce the good news to Zhu Cijiong that the samples of the armored chariot had been made!
Armored combat vehicles, or primitive tanks, will be the key to the Siberia War in the coming year. In order to speed up the progress, Zhu Cijiong even stopped other projects for a while and asked everyone to help Sun Yuanhua. Now that the samples are finally made, he naturally wants to Go for a visit and see what the world's first tank looks like.

Although the person in charge of the research and development of armored combat vehicles is Sun Yuanhua, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, armored combat vehicles were not produced in the Wanggong Factory or Dongdaying Cannon Factory directly under the imperial court, because these places did not have the conditions to manufacture armored combat vehicles. At this stage, only the Daming Royal Machinery Industry Group, which produces Dilong, has the ability to manufacture this new type of equipment.

The development of the Daming Royal Machinery Industry Group in the past few years has been quite astonishing. Although its main products, trains and rails, were previously provided to the Ministry of Industry for free, they have made amazing profits in other aspects, such as steel and cement. In the past, the materials were all free, as long as some labor costs were paid, the profits were as high as one can imagine.

With the support of huge profits, the rapid development of Daming Royal Machinery Industry Group has simply exceeded Zhu Cijiong's imagination. When he entered the factory of Daming Royal Machinery Industry Group in the Xicheng District of the capital, he really had the illusion of returning to later generations.

There are neat dormitories, huge workshops, smooth concrete roads, rows of green trees, flower fences, staff members in formal uniforms, and street lamps. And the iron railings, it doesn't look like it was in the Ming Dynasty, it is clearly in an arsenal that is common in later generations!

This time Zhu Cijiong went on tour in microservices, but there were a lot of accompanying people. In addition to Bi Maokang, Minister of Industry, Sun Yuanhua, Minister of Military Affairs, and Sun Zhihang, the head of the Daming Royal Machinery Group, and his brothers, the group was so mighty. Entering a huge workshop, Jin Yiwei and Dongchang masters also filled the entire workshop inside and outside.

The area of ​​this workshop, calculated according to the standards of later generations, is about [-] square meters. Of course, there are more than one armored combat vehicle parked in it. However, Zhu Cijiong saw the goal of this trip at a glance, and the long barrel told him that this should be It was the world's first tank.

How should I put it, the structure of this tank is a bit like the tanks of later generations. It also has a wide tracked chassis and a gun barrel protruding from the front, but the main frame is a bit exaggerated. It is like a square iron house. Similarly, the size is even more exaggerated, almost three or four times the size of later tanks!

Looking at this behemoth in front of him, Zhu Cijiong couldn't help but feel a little proud, because this is the world's first tank, and at the same time a little embarrassed, because the appearance is really ugly, for him who is used to the advanced tanks of later generations , This really made him blush a little.

No matter what, this is Daming's most powerful land combat equipment at any rate, so he naturally wants to take a good look at it.

At this time, the staff in the workshop had already been emptied, except for the accompanying personnel who were the masters of Jin Yiwei and Dongchang, who were almost all his cronies. Zhu Cijiong did not have to worry about losing his majesty as the emperor in front of outsiders. Go up the small steps next to the tank and climb directly into the tank.

The accompanying staff were instantly dumbfounded, the emperor's move was so unexpected that no one had time to dissuade them.

What now?Naturally, no one dares to follow the emperor. From the appearance of the tank, it can be seen that the space inside must be very small. If another person is squeezed in, the emperor will definitely be blocked inside. Who dares to block the emperor? Standing respectfully on both sides of the stairs, waiting for the emperor to come down.

When Zhu Cijiong climbed in, he was a little confused in an instant. Judging from the position, he should first enter the cab of the tank. He also climbed into the cab of the tank of later generations. The difference is too big, it doesn't look like the same thing.

Except for the same driver's seat and something similar to a steering wheel, this tank cab has nothing similar to the tank cabs of later generations. There is no touch screen, no display screen, no buttons, no knobs. , There is no display instrument, and the entire cab is full of handwheels for adjusting valves!

These are nothing. The steam engine at this stage is originally controlled by valves. However, after searching for a long time, he couldn't find anything to observe the outside. There is no observation mirror or external camera, and there is not even a hole. How can we look outside? What about the situation?
This is a big problem, if you walk with your eyes blindfolded, you may get hit by a bruised nose and a swollen face. What is the concept of driving a tank with your eyes blindfolded? You can't even grasp the direction. Don't get it wrong and crush your own people to death!

Sun Yuanhua is not a novice, he has also designed a lot of things, would he make such a low-level mistake?
Zhu Cijiong didn't believe it. After searching carefully for a long time, he finally found that there seemed to be a seam in front of the cab, but he didn't notice it because he was stooping.

He simply sat down on the driver's seat, and now, he finally saw clearly, there was a finger-wide slit in front of him, and he could clearly see the scene within 180 degrees outside!
Well, this idea is really good. The musket bullets at this stage seem to be larger than this slit, and they can’t get in at all. The shells have no splash effect, and it seems that opening a slit will not bring any danger to the driver. , and simple and practical.

Zhu Cijiong silently praised Sun Yuanhua, then got up, stooped and moved to the back. He couldn't understand the front control handwheel at all, so he could only look at the situation behind.

The structure at the back is rather simple, just a wider space, separated by a movable iron plate in the middle, one side is a steam room, for adding coal and water, and the other is an ammunition room, for loading shells and gunpowder, used for tank artillery Naturally, it is similar to the rear-loading type with a flintlock device on a battleship, and it is not very troublesome to load.

Zhu Cijiong walked around inside and felt that there was no big problem with the structure, but he didn't know how the actual combat effect would be.

With doubts, he climbed out of the tank and looked around. It seems that this workshop is not very suitable for testing the performance of the tank. There are machine tools everywhere. The space for the tank to move is very small, and there are walls all around. Here, The tank can't fire at all. If it is forced to fire, a big hole will definitely be blasted out of the wall!

(End of this chapter)