Yang Zhen stood by the river for a long time. It wasn't until the ferry carrying the central delegation had already reached Jiangbei that Xiaohuzi turned around and got on the bus to return under the urging of Xiaohuzi. On the return trip, Yang Zhen did not drive by himself, but handed the car back to the driver, and he sat in the back seat with his eyes closed, not knowing what he was thinking.

Seeing Yang Zhen's tired face, Xiaohuzi whispered to the driver: "Lao Wang, you drive steadily, let the commander rest for a while." , the commander has been busy for the past two days and has not had a good rest. I don't know how long you're going to be busy when you go back. ”

This veteran who rushed out of the Japanese army's bacteriological warfare base with Yang Zhen was a veteran of the National Army's automobile soldiers before he was captured, nodded when he heard this, retracted the accelerator, and the speed of the car quickly slowed down. It's just that the speed of the car hasn't dropped down for five minutes, and Yang Zhen, who was still recuperating with his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes and said, "Lao Wang, go to the arsenal, please drive faster." ”

Hearing Yang Zhen's order, Lao Wang smiled helplessly at Xiaohuzi. Not daring to disobey the order, he stepped on the accelerator he had just put away. The Nissan 70 sedan, which had increased its throttle, rushed out like an arrow. Li Mingrui, who was in the car behind, saw it and didn't dare to slack off, so he hurriedly led the team to increase the accelerator and follow.

Under the urging of Yang Zhen, who was in a hurry to rush to the arsenal, he ran for nearly four hours when he came, and arrived in less than three hours when he returned. The car drove along the narrow road that had just been repaired for the transfer of power generation equipment, which could only accommodate one car to pass through Guò, and drove all the way to the mountain pass, which was less than five miles away from the arsenal. As we walked forward, the vehicle could no longer pass.

After getting out of the car, Yang Zhen took the reins handed over by Dong Ping, who had arrived in advance, turned to Lao Wang, the driver who got out of the car and was waiting for him, and said, "Lao Wang, you lead the team to drive back to Xingshan directly." From now on, you will follow the commander-in-chief and work as a chauffeur for him. I have almost no use of the car, and there is nothing for you to use with me. And among our drivers, you are the most skilled, and I don't worry about others. ”

After that, Yang Zhen turned over and got on his horse, waved his hand at Lao Wang, who was slightly stunned after listening to his order, turned around and hurried to the arsenal. Li Mingrui and Xiaohuzi, who were also on the horse behind him, as well as Yang Zhen's personal guard squad, did not dare to hesitate, and hurriedly followed with the reins.

Looking at the back of Yang Zhen galloping away, Lao Wang, the driver he transferred to the commander-in-chief, sighed slightly, and wanted to say something, but he still didn't say it. He turned around and waved his hand at the convoy that was still pulling the second reconnaissance company on the car, and led the team back to the headquarters of the Xingshan Fortress.

Yang Zhen rushed to the arsenal in a hurry to receive a report from Zhang Zhenhua that according to the drawings designed by Yang Zhen, samples of several new weapons specially produced for use in the reconnaissance battalion had been produced, and the improvement of the Deshka anti-aircraft machine gun transported from Jiangbei had been completed. Ask him to come and have a look.

Those weapons specially produced for the reconnaissance battalion are not in a hurry, but the improvement of the Soviet-made Deshka anti-aircraft machine gun involves whether or not the air defense capability of the troops can be effectively improved. Yang Zhen was anxious to see if the improvements of these high-level dual-purpose machine guns, which were bulky, had a mass of up to 128 kilograms, had a complex ammunition feeding mechanism, and loved jamming, had met his own requirements.

When Yang Zhen arrived at the arsenal, Zhang Zhenhua, factory director Liu Yandong, and political commissar Li Weijie were already waiting for them at the arsenal shooting range. After Yang Zhen shook hands with a few people hastily, he walked over to the neatly arranged weapons and looked at them carefully.

Seeing that Yang Zhen looked very carefully, Liu Yandong, the factory director next to him, picked up a rifle that was somewhat similar to the handover to Jiangbei and said, "Commander, this is a new type of rifle produced according to your requirements." The rifle was a hand-modified version of the 7.62 mm Soviet-made cartridge. ”

"It's made exactly as you designed it. It adopts the automatic mode of gas conduction, the rotary locking bolt, and the notched door. A 30-round magazine was used to feed ammunition, and a burst fire method and an empty magazine hang-up function were added. When the bullets in the magazine are empty, the bolt stops behind itself, so that the shooter can change the magazine in time. ”

"It uses an air conduction system with an adjustment function, which shoots with small air holes in normal conditions, and even if the retreat is not in place, it does not affect the action of the mechanism within 30 meters. When shooting under harsh environmental conditions, the large air hole is used to give enough energy to overcome the excessive resistance caused by sandstorm, severe cold and dirt to ensure the reliable operation of the automata. ”

"The body and barrel are all made of imported nickel-chromium alloy steel, the grip is made of catalpa, and the folding stock is stamped from captured rail steel. The casing body is stamped by a steel plate with a thickness of 1.5 mm, box-shaped section, simple shape, protruding ribs on both sides to increase the rigidity, the front part is riveted with the section sleeve, the middle part is supported by the middle lining iron, and the rear part is fixed with a tailstock, and the rigidity and strength of the casing are guaranteed. ”

"This firearm, while it looks very similar to the one you handed over to us in the drawings you handed us last time, has a much higher firing accuracy than that one. But the methods and processes of production are not as complicated as those of weapons. ”

Listening to Liu Yandong's introduction, looking at the later generations of Bayi rifles in front of him, almost identical, except for the butt of the 561 automatic rifle that was changed to the butt of the 561 type automatic rifle due to the problem of production technology and raw materials, there was no difference in the rifle, Yang Zhen sighed, as if he had returned to the new barracks that had just become a soldier in later generations. At that time, I used the eighty-one bar.

Whether it is in the new barracks, after the company, or even in the special brigade, every soldier is extremely fond of this rifle developed for soldiers. On the contrary, he was not very interested in the Type 97 5.8mm automatic rifle that he was equipped with later.

Yang Zhen, who has used this rifle for many years in later generations, skillfully picked up the rifle, pressed the magazine that had already been filled with bullets, and shot three shooting methods: standing, lying and squatting. After firing a full two magazines, he put down the gun in his hand and closed his eyes to feel the difference between a counterfeit and an original.

Seeing Yang Zhen personally implement this new weapon, both the producer Liu Yandong and the manager Zhang Zhenhua were hanging. In addition to admiring Yang Zhen's superb shooting skills and almost no bullets, he admired his one-handed magazine changing technique that he didn't know how to figure out.

Yang Zhen didn't know the thoughts of the two people around him, he closed his eyes and felt it for a long time before he opened his eyes and said to the two people around him: "You guys are doing well, it's very good." The resulting gun was extremely accurate and not slightly worse than the prototype. And the lethality has not diminished. ”

Yang Zhen was not wrong, the rifle in his hand, which was manufactured by his own arsenal according to the drawings he designed, did not reduce the performance of similar weapons used by himself in later generations. Even because of the steel, the weight and shooting accuracy of the gun are slightly better than similar products used by later generations.

After praising Liu Yandong, Yang Zhen threw the gun in his hand to Li Mingrui and Dong Ping, who looked at the new rifle in his hand with greed after watching his wonderful shooting performance: "You also try it, this kind of gun is specially designed and produced for you." ”

After throwing the gun to Li Mingrui and Dong Ping to feel it, Yang Zhen, who had just turned around, was pulled by Liu Yandong in front of a machine gun with a strange appearance, which was a light machine gun but used a chain for ammunition only used by heavy machine guns, and said: "This machine gun is also produced according to your design drawings. ”

"It uses the 7.62mm fully charged rifle cartridge used in the Soviet-made water bead rifle, and uses a combination of bipod and tripod to shoot. When using a tripod, the bipod, which is attached to the air duct, can be easily folded back. ”

"This method of firing is very ingenious, and a light machine gun can take on the functions of two machine guns, light and heavy, with different shooting legs. It was possible to take on even the tasks of part of the anti-aircraft machine guns. The scope of its application is very broad. The shooting accuracy is also quite good. ”

"The most important thing is that this machine gun is a little complicated except for the flame suppressor, and the rest of the parts are also simple to produce. The receiver is like that of a rifle, stamped into a U-shape from a 1.5 mm sheet of steel, and assembled with riveting and spot welding. The top cover of the receiver is also stamped and formed with steel plate, fixed with a hinge in front of the receiver and fixed with a spring lock behind the receiver. ”

"As long as there is a sufficient amount of steel, we can produce this machine gun in large quantities, replacing the crooked handle machine gun and the bulky Type 92 heavy machine gun, which are extremely unpopular with the current troops. Commander, if you do not approve the production of such a rifle that requires special bullets and you do not approve the equipment of the troops in large quantities, then this weapon that can use Soviet-style rifle cartridges with complete convenience, I ask you to approve the production. ”

In response to the factory director's request, Yang Zhen glanced at the extremely high-performance Soviet-made PK general-purpose machine gun from his cottage, and smiled: "Aren't you going to take my game?" You said that I would not approve your production, for fear that you would be sad. Approve your production, we have a limited amount of steel on hand, and the weapons produced can only be used by key troops first. ”

"Well, I think about it. In this way, if you can improve him to use Japanese 7.7mm heavy machine gun cartridges, I will approve your mass production, and give priority to equipping the main force. We don't have much ammunition of Soviet-made caliber, and even fewer weapons, so we can't afford to open a special production line for them. ”

"The most used by the troops now is still Japanese-style caliber, and we are fighting against the Japanese army, and the captured ammunition is mainly Japanese-caliber. So if we can't improve to use Japanese-style 7.7mm machine gun cartridges, we won't be able to equip them in large quantities at all. But let's just say it first, you can't always get stuck after switching to Japanese-style ammunition like the kind of weapon for Big Brother. ”

Regarding Yang Zhen's answer, Liu Yandong said with some excitement: "Commander, don't worry." As early as the beginning of the production of this weapon, I thought about the issue of being too common to Japanese weapons and ammunition. And some improvements have been come up. You can rest assured, I guarantee to come up with qualified products within five days a week. ”

Liu Yandong's return made Yang Zhen smile bitterly and said to Zhang Zhenhua: "After a long time, it turns out that you are waiting for me here." Well, since you've put in the painstaking effort, I can't Lang Fei either, can I? According to your ideas, as long as you can come up with qualified products, I will approve your mass production. ”

"However, your production focus is not yet on this gun. First, it is necessary to make use of the technology of this machine gun and seize the time to improve the ammunition supply mechanism of the French machine gun equipped with the troops. Second, it is necessary to devote most of our energy to the reloading of Japanese-style bullets. There is about to be a large demand for ammunition in the troops. ”

"Third, we must seize the time to appraise the new rifle and produce it in the quantity required by the headquarters. In addition, let me tell you that in the future, the production of light weapons cannot be improved to the use of Japanese-style ammunition, except for a small amount of equipment for reconnaissance battalions. ”

"We have limited capabilities now, and we can't fully reequip the troops. The production line of ammunition is still mainly Japanese-style, and the troops mainly still use Japanese-style weapons, and we can't afford to spend so much Japanese-style ammunition in stock. Therefore, except for the necessary weapons with a small amount of equipment, the rest of the weapons production must revolve around Japanese-style ammunition. ”

Yang Zhen's words made Zhang Zhenhua and Liu Yandong slightly stunned. Both of them were veterans, and after hearing that Yang Zhen's troops were about to have a large demand for ammunition, they hurriedly asked, "Why Commander, is there going to be a big battle?" ”

Regarding the questions of the two people, Yang Zhen nodded slightly and said: "The Japanese army in the south of Songhua Jiangnan is now moving frequently, constantly increasing the firepower and the allocation of troops. I don't think it will be long before they get their hands dirty. So we need to prepare in advance. That's why I'm in a hurry to come and see how far you've improved your anti-aircraft machine guns. ”

Hearing Yang Zhen mention the improvement of the anti-aircraft machine gun, Liu Yandong hurriedly pulled him in front of a Deshka anti-aircraft machine gun that had been improved and said, "Commander, we have made certain improvements to these machine guns according to your requirements. ”

"Due to the limitation of technical capabilities, we can only make partial improvements to its ammunition feeding mechanism, from the original drum to the use of chain ammunition feeding method. In addition, a grip is installed on the barrel to facilitate the replacement of the barrel and the removal of the shield. The original weight was reduced from 128 kg to 78 kg. After dismantling, the three fighters can be easily carried. ”

"As for your proposal to remove the heat sink from the original barrel and improve the muzzle of the flame suppressor, we have not been able to proceed yet. However, if it is to be re-produced, according to our existing equipment, as long as there are complete drawings to manufacture. It is better to make new production than to improve it in kind what has already been produced. Commander, this anti-aircraft machine gun, we can completely copy it after reverse mapping, and we now have this ability. ”

While listening to Liu Yandong's report, Yang Zhen, who skillfully fiddled with the large-caliber machine gun in front of him, muttered for a long time: "We don't have the strength to import too much alloy steel at once. These few hundred tons on hand are already the limit, at least for a short time. ”

"So you have to produce according to the existing raw materials, and you can't all count on imported raw materials. Imported nickel-chromium alloy steel can only be placed on the most critical parts, such as the barrel and firing pin, and other parts such as the gun carriage should be made of track steel with more sources as much as possible. ”

"We should not only use our brains in the use of raw materials, but also try to improve the efficiency of the use of raw materials as much as possible without affecting the performance of weapons. It is also necessary to dig deeper into the potential of existing weapons and make improvements that suit us. For example, can French machine guns that use plates feed be changed to chain or magazine feed? If you can, try to make improvements. ”

"As you said, we are not landlords yet, we don't have so much surplus food, and we can't spend lavishly. We have the limited funds we have to import the necessary grain, cloth, cotton and even salt. It is impossible to devote all of it to the construction of the military industry. These tens of thousands of troops have food and clothing, and the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of residents has to be taken into account. When we can't even eat enough to eat, we can't do more. ”