Chapter 978 Heavy Firepower

Yongcheng.

Chang Wei is always paying attention to the changes in the battlefield situation.

It is obvious that after the initial test, the next war will fall into a long stage of confrontation and consumption.

That is, the two sides will rely on trenches to fight each other and consume each other's troops.

This is exactly what he hopes for.

He wants to consume a large amount of Beidi's manpower, and then order the Yongzhou army to launch a counterattack and finally win this northern war.

Moreover, due to the railway, they no longer have to face heavy logistical pressure like before.

Food and ammunition can be replenished at the first time.

Thinking of this, he sent a telegram to the palace as soon as possible to introduce the situation on the battlefield.

...

Palace.

Zhao Xu received Chang Wei's battle report, learned about the situation on the battlefield, and replied again with the three words "know".

These three words are simple, but they mean that he is very satisfied with the current battlefield situation.

Yongzhou's Dasong army can certainly launch an active attack on the Beidi army.

But in this way, the Beidi people may collapse quickly and choose to retreat.

This would not achieve his goal of destroying their manpower.

Taking a defensive stance would be like boiling a frog in warm water. The other side would try to break through again and again, and naturally more troops would be consumed on the battlefield.

At the same time, there is another point.

The longer the two sides confront each other, the greater the role Chen Hu's lancers can play on the battlefield.

He also believed that Chen Hu would definitely not disappoint his expectations.

After letting Feng'er reply to Chang Wei's telegram, Zhao Xu went to the Armory.

In the parade ground of the Armory, he saw Wang Ying who was testing a hand-cranked machine gun.

Seeing Zhao Xu, Wang Ying immediately came over and led Zhao Xu to the parade ground.

"How is the test of this hand-cranked machine gun? Can't it be delivered to the army for use?" Zhao Xu asked.

Now, the Northern Di army is confronting each other in Yongzhou, and he hopes to have a batch of machine guns on the battlefield.

In this way, he can dig a big pit for the Northern Di people and make them fall and bleed.

"Your Highness, it's almost done. Today is the last live-fire test, and we can start small-scale production." Wang Ying said.

It has been half a month since the King of Yan came back.

Last time, he needed a month in the meeting hall, which was for safety reasons, in order to prevent being scolded for not having enough time.

But in fact, the test is almost done.

In the past half month, after he adjusted the position of the machine gun's sight, this hand-cranked machine gun has no flaws.

"That's great." Zhao Xu couldn't help laughing.

Then, he cast his eyes on the machine gun in front of him.

At this moment, the machine gun was equipped with a cylindrical magazine, like a needle and thread tube.

From the gap in the magazine, you can see the golden bullet inside.

"In this case, let this king shoot personally and give you a perfect ending to this test." Zhao Xu said.

"This is naturally an honor for us." Wang Ying laughed, and the officials of the Arms and Arms Department also laughed.

For a man, muskets and artillery are equivalent to the swords of ancient swordsmen, which belong to the romance of men.

Zhao Xu naturally couldn't refuse.

After the Qin-style rifle was put into service, he kept one in his study.

When he had nothing to do on weekdays, he would go out hunting with Xu Lie on horseback.

Facing this hand-cranked machine gun, he naturally had no resistance.

Without Wang Ying's guidance, Zhao Xu knelt on one knee, aimed the muzzle at a one-meter-thick tree stump a hundred meters away, and calibrated the muzzle.

Then, he gave the auxiliary soldier who was loading the ammunition a look, indicating that he should turn the crank.

Different from the chain magazine of the Maxim machine gun.

The magazine of the keyed machine gun is a cylinder magazine, and the bullets are loaded in the cylinder.

Turn the crank, the cylinder will rotate, and the bullets will be loaded into the gun chamber.

"Start!"

"Da Da Da..."

Zhao Xu gave the order and pulled the plate armor at the same time, and the machine gun immediately spit out flames.

The bullet flew out, and the tree stump a hundred meters away suddenly flew with wood chips.

When Zhao Xu was shooting, the machine gun assistant had a calm expression and shook the handwheel at a constant speed.

When the bullets in one magazine were used up, he immediately stopped and loaded another one.

In this way, the machine gun's shooting was basically continuous except for the pause when changing magazines.

"Da da da..."

Five minutes later, the tree stump a hundred meters away suddenly broke in the middle.

That position was basically hollowed out by bullets.

"Hahaha, perfect." The tree stump broke, Zhao Xu stood up and looked at Wang Ying, "How long will it take you to make one?"

"When making the prototype gun, the craftsmen understood the size and structure of the machine gun accessories, but because only a few craftsmen participated and the parts had to be made using electric lathes, production was limited. A maximum of three could be assembled a day." Wang Ying said.

"Three is enough. We will provide 30 machine guns to the front-line troops in Yongzhou within ten days." Zhao Xu said.

In war, the number of machine guns has never been a problem.

The problem is bullets.

Therefore, the number of machine guns equipped to the army in modern times is limited, and it only needs to be enough.

It is cool to have a machine gun for everyone, but it is not realistic. There are not so many bullets to waste.

Moreover, machine gunners are naturally not as flexible as infantrymen, and can only be used as heavy firepower.

"Yes, Your Highness." Wang Ying said, "Tomorrow I will send soldiers with sample guns to Yongzhou to train a group of machine gunners."

Zhao Xu nodded, Wang Ying thought very carefully.

In this way, once the machine guns arrive, they can be put into use on the battlefield.