Chapter Seventy-Eight: Fuzhou Arsenal (2)

The Fuzhou Arsenal originated from the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau, and later separated from the Shipbuilding Bureau to become a factory, which was once able to manufacture guns, but a fire burned down the equipment plant of the Machinery Bureau. After the Fuzhou uprising, it was accepted by the military and political axes, and then a large amount of economic expenses were allocated to expand production.

In the past few months, the output of bullets and shells in the Fuzhou Arsenal has been rising steadily, and at the same time, although the machinery and equipment have not yet been put in place, Tang Huikang and others have already led a group of technical backbones to start preparations for the manufacture of guns.

When the equipment arrived, they immediately began to try to build guns. The gun produced is the 88 type, that is, the domestic version of the German 1888 Committee rifle, because this rifle is the largest in Hanyang factory, so it is commonly known as Hanyang-made. On the other hand, it is also because of the current existing equipment of the Nationalist Army, which is almost entirely made in China and imported from Hanyang, and it is unlikely to be equipped with another kind of gun for the sake of logistical simplification.

So at present, Hanyang is the best choice.

"Governor, look!" Tang Huikang picked up a brand-new Type 88 on the table and said to Chen Jingyun: "We have made some improvements with reference to the German Type 1898 rifle, mainly focusing on the magazine and ammunition supply, which is better than the gun in the Hanyang factory, and it has become easier to load and unload!" ”

Tang Huikang knew that this governor didn't care much about specific details, and it wouldn't be interesting to really tell him about the rate of fire and the like, so he had to make a real comparison. So today, he also specially prepared several other guns, including the original 1888 type, Hanyang-made, the 30-year-old type, the 38-year-old type, and the Russian water beads, and prepared Chen Jingyun and others to personally test shoot and experience the surname Neng.

This is better than empty words.

At this time, Lin Chengkun walked up: "I'll try it~!" ”

After Chen Jingyun nodded, Lin Chengkun picked up the rifle, then loaded, raised the gun, aimed and shot almost in one go, snap, snap several gunshots rang out, Lin Chengkun almost finished the magazine of the five-law bullet, and quickly picked up another row of magazines to load, and continued to shoot!

After the two rows of magazines were fired, Lin Chengkun put down the gun and smiled on his face: "This gun is no worse than the German goods we use now!" ”

After Lin Chengkun's words, the remaining generals were also aroused, and then they all took guns one by one to test fire, and in addition to the newly made 88 type, they also fought Hanyang, the original German 1888 committee rifle, Mauser 1898 type, the 30-year style, and the 38-year style.

For a while, there was constant gunfire in the shooting range!

Chen Jingyun himself also shot a magazine for each gun, and his shoulders were a little swollen and painful after dozens of bullets. He didn't understand the technical details, but he had a general feeling after using the gun.

Although the 88 type made by the Fuzhou Arsenal is better than the Hanyang or even the original 1888, there is still a big gap compared with the 1898 type and the 38-year-old rifle, which can be easily experienced from the accuracy of the gun and the convenience of use, such as loading and supplying.

Chen Jingyun can come out with understanding, the generals present are all veterans of military qualifications, and the good guns and bad guns are naturally psychological. Chen Jingyun said: "Okay! Tang Huikang, your ability is stronger than I thought at the beginning, I can rest assured that this arsenal is in your hands! ”

With the current weak technical ability of the Fuzhou Arsenal, it is already very difficult to make the Type 88 rifle look like this, and Chen Jingyun has no ambition to make the Fuzhou Arsenal even better guns than 1898, or even better than these, the road has to be walked step by step, and the food must be eaten bite by bite.

Tang Huikang also said with a happy face: "There, this is the result of the joint efforts of the technicians in the factory, I am just taking the lead!" ”

Chen Jingyun said: "They all have merit, I see it in my eyes!" Saying that, he turned to Chen Jingsheng and said: "Director Chen, a technician in the arsenal can't be rewarded for his merits, and it's not easy for me to do it, but do you give them bonuses and salaries!" ”

In public, Chen Jingsheng didn't dare to rely on his cousin's face, but said respectfully: "Respectfully declare that I will give bonuses and salary increases to meritorious personnel when I go back!" ”

Hearing Chen Jingsheng's promise of bonuses and salary increases on the spot, the technicians of the arsenal were all happy, and even the two foreigner technicians in the arsenal were equally happy.

After Chen Jingsheng finished speaking, Chen Jingyun also spoke: "I will set up a scientific research fund privately, and anyone who has made significant contributions to science and technology in the future can receive a bonus from the scientific research fund!" ”

This kind of thing is more symbolic than practical, and it plays an incentive role, and there will not be too many people who really get the bonus. But it was this kind of superficial kung fu that made Chen Jingyun quickly climb several steps in the hearts of this group of scientific and technological personnel, especially when Chen Jingyun shook hands with these scientific and technological workers one after another to encourage them to continue to work hard, it made their faces red. No, since the beginning of the Westernization Movement, the domestic elite has great enthusiasm and pursuit of technology, but it is all superficial work, relying on the introduction, and there is basically no actual support for the innovation of their own technical personnel.

And today Chen Jingyun has given them enough face!

After finishing these, Tang Huikang on the side had to continue to explain to Chen Jingyun the surname energy parameters of this imitation rifle, everyone used it directly just now, and did not ask Tang Huikang for some specific data.

At this time, Tang Huikang said: "The basic structure of our rifle is made in accordance with Hanyang, but after changing the chamber and the magazine feeding system in order to use seventy-nine pointed bullets, the specific surname can be comparable to that of Hanyang Factory, the specific data is a caliber of 7.92 mm, a total length of 955 mm, a total weight of 3.2 kg without a bayonet, a ruler range of 1,800 meters, the ammunition supply system refers to the bridge clamp ammunition supply system of the Mauser 98 rifle, which can fire seventy-nine pointed bullets and is compatible with seventy-nine round bullets, and the ammunition loading surname can be more, You don't have to finish a row of magazines to reload like the old guns used to. ”

I have to say that Tang Huikang and these people are still capable, and when designing the new gun, they did not blindly copy the Hanyang Manufacturing, nor did they directly imitate the Mauser 98 for the new, but adopted a compromise plan, and the general structure of the gun was still made in Hanyang, but the ammunition supply system was changed. At the same time, it can fire seven or nine pointed bullets, and the ammunition supply is faster and simpler, so that this gun can no longer be regarded as a Type 88 rifle.

Speaking of which, I have to say that a large number of Hanyang made and imported 1888 of the current equipment of the National Army, Hanyang and 1888 are different, the Hanyang made in the National Army is basically a product of recent years, it is the version after the improvement of the Hanyang factory in 1904, and the previous version is a direct imitation of the 1888 type, because of the barrel material problem, so the sleeve is added, also called the old sleeve.

And these old 1888 rifles imported are the original version of the old sleeve, to a certain extent, this batch of 1888 rifles is even more backward than Hanyang, but Hanyang has removed the old sleeve after improvement, but the second-hand 1888 rifles bought by the National Army are all old models, and they also have a big sleeve, and these guns, including the Hanyang made currently equipped by the National Army, cannot use seven or nine pointed bullets, and it is easy to explode if you insist on using them.

At present, the national army is equipped with a large number of light and heavy machine guns, but these guns use sharp bullets, so that the current logistics supply system of the national army has two production lines of bullets, one is 79 round bullets, and the other is 79 pointed bullets. This time, Tang Huikang also took this problem into account when designing the new gun, so after improving the barrel rifling, etc., the 79 pointed bullet was used as the main bullet, but it could also fire 79 round bullets, which was the same as the formal rifle of later generations.

"Guns are good guns! Such a big change is not appropriate for Hanyang to make, and the 88 style is not good! In the national army, the imported 1888 type is called the 88 type rifle, Chen Jingyun said: "I think so, based on this year's year, call it the 12 type rifle, to show the difference!" ”

Hearing that Chen Jingyun personally decided the model name of the gun, Tang Huikang was also full of joy, because it meant that Chen Jingyun had already agreed with this gun in his heart, so the next step should be production.

Sure enough, before Tang Huikang could ask, Chen Jingyun asked himself: "When will the gun be produced?" ”

Tang Huikang estimated in his heart that after the meeting, he said: "Now the machinery and equipment have not yet arrived, and now there can only be a small amount of trial manufacturing, and when the machinery and equipment arrive, it is estimated that it can reach 1,000 per month, and it can be increased by 50% if it starts day and night!" ”

When Chen Jingyun heard this, his heart was overjoyed, during these times, he also knew a little about the Hanyang Factory, and knew that it had been working overnight since the Wuchang Uprising, but it was about 2,000 guns in a month, and if this Fuzhou Arsenal could do 1,000 guns a month, and then work overtime to make 1,500 guns a month, it would not be a problem, so that a brigade could be armed in three months. What's more, now Chen Jingyun will not be short of guns for a while and a half, and there are more than 5,000 imported 1888 rifles in the warehouse for backup, so there is no hurry!

"You still have to continue to test and improve, and when the machine and equipment arrive, we will strive for a monthly output of 1,500 expenditures!" Chen Jingyun gave Tang Huikang a task with a single mouth, and at the same time he turned to Ouyang Tiandao, the chief of the equipment department: "Chief Ouyang, you have written it down, when this gun is mass-produced, you will directly place an order for 10,000 guns!" ”

Ouyang Tian naturally nodded yes, as the head of the equipment department, he also participated in the research and development of this Type 12 rifle, such as the magazine supply system, which he strongly advocated improving.

The rifle is the highlight of the trip, after reading the rifle, the other generals are not interested, and then Tang Huikang introduced the pistol that the Fuzhou Arsenal uses the Luger pistol as the prototype to prevent the pistol, and everyone is not enthusiastic.

PS: Regarding the Type 12 rifles, the rainy day reference is the 1888 rifle that Germany supplied to Turkey in large quantities during the First World War, and Germany refurbished and modified the ammunition supply system before the delivery of this batch of guns, and replaced the ammunition supply system with the Mauser 98 ammunition supply system and modified the chamber.