Chapter 172 The launch of domestic machine guns

June 25, 1895, it was originally a normal day, but the next day was the day when the National Defense and Military University started. The attendant Yang Du and others had even written their speeches, so they could read Ye Zhikui's script tomorrow.

However, this day turned into a good day because of something. As soon as the sky was dawn, someone hurried to ask for a meeting outside the Forbidden City.

Several Yulin Guards walked up to interrogate.

I saw that the other party was a head in his sixties, with a gray goat beard and wearing a thick long gown. The clothes were covered with a lot of oil. His face was a bit haggard, but his expression was very excited.

"Old man, which movie do you have?" Yu Linwei asked politely. Although this person was still wearing the clothes of the previous dynasty, the outer city was released, so he must be his own.

The old man shook his beard, his eyes flashed with a dazzling light, and he said excitedly: "It's really troublesome. I just got checked in the outer palace. Now I'm here to ask again, is it so troublesome to see the Grand Marshal? I am Hua Hengfang, the general manager of the High-Tech Academy. If you have important matters, please contact the Grand Marshal."

The Yulinwei said respectfully: "It turned out to be Mr. Hua, but... it's not here yet. You haven't been asleep all night, right?"

As a Yulin Guard, how could he not know that there are only two types of people in China who can be summoned at the fastest speed, one is the engineers of the High-Tech Academy, and the other is the personnel with urgent military situations.

Like Zhan Tianyou, a senior engineer who is registered in the High-Tech Academy, can still receive a lot of state allowances even if he doesn't do anything for a month. Of course, since the military government gives priority to the development of military-industrial enterprises, the research of the High-Tech Academy will inevitably tend to be more inclined to this aspect.

Hua Hengfang said impatiently: "You don't have to worry about anything else. Now I will inform the Grand Marshal and say I have something to ask for a meeting."

Yu Linwei looked helpless and had to lead the old man to the side hall first, while he hurriedly informed him at the next level.

Ye Zhikui was busy with government affairs and telegrams were frequently transmitted on the front line, but due to the delay of the radio, many messages could not be sorted out until very late, so he did not fall asleep until 1:00 a.m. today.

When he was woken up by Wang Xiaosheng, he saw that it was not bright outside the window and thought that something big happened on the front line. He couldn't help but ask, "What? Is there a new war report from North Korea?"

After the National Defense Forces, more than 10,000 people entered North Korea one after another. Nie Shi became the president and waited for the Beiyang Navy to find a good landing place on the Vladivostok line, and then launched a sudden attack from behind.

Wang Xiaosheng replied with a smile: "Master Marshal, North Korea has nothing to do for the time being. Mr. Hua, the general manager of the High-Tech Academy, is looking for you."

Ye Zhikui didn't know whether he was happy or sad. Since the establishment of the High-Tech Academy, he has swallowed up many silver coins. Those chemists, mathematicians and the like either didn't have time to pay attention to him or ask for money from him.

So Hua Hengfang was so anxious to find herself. In addition to the results, she might also be short of money.

No matter which way, Ye Zhikui could only put on his coat and quickly welcome him out.

After smearing his face casually, Ye Zhikui asked Yulinwei to invite Mr. Hua to Wenhua Palace.

After Hua Hengfang entered the door, the excited expression on his face became even more obvious. He hurried to Ye Zhikui and said excitedly: "Master Marshal, this is a great news."

Ye Zhikui thought to himself, as long as you either come and ask me for money, it would be good news. Hua Hengfang also said the same thing last time, and then after the great news, he took away 100,000 taels of silver. Finally, he said that it was almost done, and he could get something out.

He still pretended to be curious and asked, "Old Hua, where does the joy come from?"

"Master Marshal, the American Carter you introduced is a great talent. Not long after joining our High-Tech Academy, I and Xu Zhonghu imitated the American Maxim heavy machine gun and tried the smokeless medicine. In this way, we can produce smaller caliber smokeless gun gun bullets, so that the heavy machine gun bullets don't have to worry about it, this way..."

Xu Zhonghu is Xu Jianyin, a modern ordnant engineer. Later generations died in the trial production of smokeless medicine. When Ye Zhikui established the High-Tech Academy, he took many preventive measures to prevent such incidents from happening again, just because he was afraid of losing this powerful scientist.

Now that he heard that all gunpowder has been tried, Xu Jianyin is fine, and he is very happy, but when he heard Hua Hengfang's endless words, Ye Zhikui's head started to hurt again.

He couldn't help but interrupt and said, "Old Hua, do you mean that China is now fully capable of producing heavy machine guns?"

Hua Hengfang didn't think so, so she nodded excitedly and agreed: "Yes, as long as we set up a slightly modified production line, we can officially produce in batches."

"Is that true? Mr. Hua, please sit down and talk in detail first. Have you tried this heavy machine gun?"

"The staff of the High-Tech Academy made the final adjustment last night and conducted a test firing in the early morning of this morning. The Grand Marshal can rest assured that the effect is not much better than that of the Maxim heavy machine gun. However, we are using domestic steel. After a drum bullet is fired, the muzzle turns red and starts to smoke."

"Can't Hanyang Iron Factory produce qualified steel?" Ye Zhikui asked in confusion.

Ye Zhikui of Hanyang Iron Factory also has shares. After Li Weige returned from an overseas inspection a few months ago, he finally found out the problem. After a slight improvement, he could produce qualified steel. Now, whether it is railway tracks or guns and cannons, the military government has begun to slowly use the steel of Hanyang Iron Factory.

"The steel in Hanyang Iron Factory is good, but the output is limited, so it will be difficult to supply other arsenals."

It seems that the iron plant needs to be expanded.

"But, since you can produce it, what are you waiting for? Modify the production line quickly." Ye Zhikui widened his eyes and said impatiently.

Hua Hengfang sighed and replied with some melancholy: "Master Marshal, the front line is fighting now. Tianjin Machinery Bureau and Jiangnan Machinery Bureau are working overtime to produce. There are no free lines for us to test and modify. The Beijing Machinery Bureau still has only one factory and no machines. I guess we will be able to assemble the production line until next year when the Beijing Machinery Bureau is completed."

Ye Zhikui pondered for a moment. The war might end next year. The domestic machine guns produced at that time have not undergone actual combat experiments and cannot be equipped on a large scale in the future. It is best to produce them before the end of the war, and then go to the battlefield in small batches and fight them in practice.

Nowadays, Isn't there any Hanyang Arsenal and Jinling Arsenal? There is no need to think about the Jinling Arsenal. Now that he is in control of Liu Kun, he can go to the front line to support guns and ammunition, even if he is worthy of the government, once his machine gun line is placed there, isn't it a sheep entering the tiger's mouth, and he will go without going back?

Only the Hanyang Arsenal was left. Construction started in 1992 and completed in 1994. However, after completion, a fire broke out. It was not until this year that Zhangzhidong was reorganized and started construction again not long ago.

Not long ago, the military government urged Zhang Zhidong to quickly complete the production matters. The front line was still waiting for guns. Zhang Zhidong calmly reported that as long as he waited for another month, the arsenal would be able to produce guns and shells.

The famous "Hanyang Made" in later generations was produced in this arsenal. With Zhang Zhidong leaving office and heading north, this factory inevitably fell into the hands of the military government. Since that is the case, let's make it more famous.

Thinking of this, Ye Zhikui said excitedly: "Old Hua, don't worry about this. The Hanyang Arsenal has not yet been produced. There is a close to Hanyang Iron Factory there, which is very convenient. I just have to bother Mr. Hua and others to go south for a while."

Hua Hengfang's eyes lit up and she smiled and said, "Nothing is a problem. Why didn't I think that it was our wish that machine guns could be produced as soon as possible."

Since heavy machine guns have been developed, light machine guns cannot be spared. But there is a reference for heavy machine guns, which is much easier. I haven't heard of that country in use of light machine guns, but Ye Zhikui believes that Hua Hengfang, who can develop hydrogen balloons, cannot make these things.

Therefore, Ye Zhikui began to slowly dispel his theory, "Although the heavy machine gun is good, it is not suitable for positional warfare and defensive warfare because it is bulky and only applies to positional warfare and defense warfare. It is inconvenient to use during mobile operations and offenses. I wonder if the High-Tech Academy can develop a light machine gun that can follow the infantry to implement firepower support during marching?"

Hua Hengfang is a scientist, not a politician, so she speaks very straightforwardly, frowned and replied: "Master Marshal, your idea is very good, but it is difficult to realize it. However, when I go back, I will gather backbones to develop it as soon as possible to see if it can be developed."

Looking at Hua Hengfang's eyes red, Ye Zhikui had to persuade: "Old Hua, thank you so much for your hard work. You are so old. We juniors still want you to study new weapons day and night. You are always a national treasure figure, so you should pay more attention to your health, otherwise it will be the loss of the military government."

Hua Hengfang smiled faintly and said, "It is rare to have such a good opportunity, and with the strong support of the Grand Marshal, without any worries, the staff in the courtyard did not devote themselves to the research with 120,000 enthusiasm, but must let foreigners know that we Chinese are not much worse than them."

"By the way, Mr. Hua, have your machine guns named?"

Hua Hengfang said proudly: "We have already thought about it because it was developed in Beijing and completed at midnight on June 25, so it is called the Beijing Type 250 machine gun."

Ye Zhikui's face began to turn green. Oh my god. Although you know that you scientists have no time to think about it, you should at least want a cool name.

The name of the inventor has long been thought of, and Ye Zhikui didn't have much to say, so he could only persuade: "Old Hua, after the light machine gun is successfully developed next time, I hope you can give a name with a bit of momentum."

Hua Hengfang didn't understand why, so he nodded to show that he understood.

Seeing the serious matter, Hua Hengfang took off her breath, her eyes rolled, and asked, "Master Marshal, is this Wenhua Palace?"

“That’s right!”

Hua Hengfang asked again: "Is there Wenyuan Pavilion behind?"

Ye Zhikui understood a little and said generously: "There are many books in Wenyuan Pavilion. If Mr. Hua has any needs, he can choose it yourself."

Hua Hengfang was not polite either. After thanking him, he walked to Wenyuan Pavilion, the palace behind him.

Ye Zhikui sat down for a while and rubbed his eyes. Today, he suddenly realized that the management of several arsenals was too loose, which was not conducive to the military government's overall arrangements. It seemed that it was necessary to find a truly suitable manager to be responsible for the matter. After the planning, the structure of the four arsenals should be made more reasonable and no longer do their own things.

After calling a personal guard and asking him to obey Hua Hengfang's instructions, Ye Zhikui started another busy day.
Chapter completed!