Chapter 402 Cheap Version

Charles looked at Matthew in surprise: "How do you know I want to change it?"

"Please, Charles." Matthew laughed: "What do you think I've been doing during this time?"

Charles asked doubtfully: "Isn't it improving the engine?"

That was the task Charles gave to Matthew. He was responsible for the research and development of tank engines.

Matthew nodded: "Indeed, but I'm also studying tanks, Charles. At the same time, tanks are used on the battlefield. If I want to develop an excellent tank, I must know something about the battlefield. I learned a lot from Colonel Estiny."

Charles understood that Matthew was "infiltrating" into military theory.

"Do you know what I found?" Matthew asked.

"What?" Charles asked.

Matthew gave Charles a thumbs up: "You are amazing."

Charles laughed. He thought Matthew was joking. This guy has this character. He always looks cynical.

But Matthew didn't laugh. He added with a serious face: "I'm serious, Charles. The more I know, the more I think you're amazing. They say your tactics are 'untraceable' and 'flexible', and I agree. Sometimes I even feel that you seem to know what will happen in the future, which is incredible."

Charles was shocked. Was he found out?

"Don't talk about that." Charles hurriedly changed the subject: "You haven't answered me yet, how did you know I was going to change it?"

Matthew stood up with the help of a chair, limped to the front of "Saint Samon", looked at its protruding gun barrel, and said: "You bought "Saint Samon" and sent it to the police base, and sent a few more to the tractor factory. At that time, I knew you were going to change it."

Charles suddenly realized.

He sent "Saint Samon" to the police base for training and to the tractor factory for improvement, so that both training and improvement could be achieved.

Matthew made his judgment based on this.

Charles was about to say something, but Matthew got ahead of him: "I guess you will cancel all the machine guns and add a rotating turret to it, right?"

Matthew thought that Charles's change was aimed at the German new tank "Upper Silesia", and the 75MM artillery could penetrate the "Upper Silesia" at a longer distance.

He made a bet with Colonel Estiny on the phone: "The improvement direction of 'Charler A1' is to thicken the armor, so we need a tank with a larger caliber of artillery, so that we can completely suppress the German'Upper Silesia' at a long distance. I think it is 'Saint Samon'."

Estiny felt that Matthew's analysis made sense, but still felt that it was unlikely: "If so, we can design a new tank without buying 'Saint Samon', because it has no property rights issue with 'Saint Samon'."

Matthew replied: "We'll see, Colonel, bet two packs of 'Gypsies'."

...

Matthew looked at Charles confidently at this time: "I guessed right, right?"

Charles smiled and shook his head Shaking his head: "I guessed half right. The machine guns do need to be cancelled, but there is no need to rotate the turret."

Matthew's smile froze: "How is that possible? How can it deal with the 'Upper Silesia'..."

"It's just a gun, Matthew." Charles replied: "The more complicated the equipment is, the better it is. Sometimes, we should consider simplicity, reliability, cheapness and quantity."

Matthew frowned: "But the 'Saint Samon' is not cheap..."

Charles did not answer. He stepped forward and pointed at the front and rear ends of the "Saint Samon" and said: "After canceling the four machine guns, it has a lot of space left, so the front and rear can be shortened to improve cross-country performance."

Matthew said "hmm", "The biggest drawback of the "Saint Samon" is this. The protruding front and rear ends make it easy to get stuck on the battlefield.

"Move the center of gravity of the artillery to the middle." Charles said again: "This can avoid being top-heavy."

Matthew nodded in agreement. The front armor of the "Saint Samon" could not be thickened because of the problem of being top-heavy.

"Finally." Charles patted the front: "Isolate the cockpit from the rear cabin."

Matthew stared at Charles with wide eyes: "No, we can't do this."

Matthew knew why Charles did this.

The 75 gun will produce a lot of smoke when firing, and the front and rear isolation can prevent the smoke from affecting the driver and artillery observer in front.

However...

"This is meaningless, Charles." Matthew said: "Have you ever considered that there is noise from the engine and artillery in the tank cabin, and communication between the crew is already very difficult. If the front and rear are isolated, they can't even hear each other's shouts."

"Saint Samon" will be artificially divided into two parts and fight separately.

"They can communicate." Charles replied calmly: "We just need to install telephones in the front and rear cabins respectively."

Matthew was stunned on the spot, and then suddenly laughed: "You bastard, how did you come up with this idea? Telephone, actually install a telephone in the tank!"

So far, the last headache of "Saint Samon" has been solved:

The driver and artillery observer in the front cabin will not be affected by the smoke in the rear cabin. The rear cabin can solve the smoke problem with gas masks, and the front and rear cabins communicate by phone.

Charles even thought of a special gas mask that can be used for a long time.

(The above picture shows a box-type gas mask invented in 1916, which is characterized by long use time and convenient replacement of filter boxes)

After listening to Charles' description, Matthew had a picture in his mind. He nodded confidently: "Although these changes seem to be very big changes on the surface, they are actually just adjustments to the appearance and position. The chassis, engine, transmission and other complex components are intact, so it is not difficult and can be changed in a short time."

"One month." Charles gave a deadline: "Can you change all the "Saint Samon" within one month?"

Matthew hesitated, then gritted his teeth and nodded heavily: "Yes."

"But this is just an improvement." Matthew knocked on the steel plate of "Saint Samon" and said: "I still can't see that it is cheap. If it is mass-produced as you said, it will take several months for just more than a hundred engines."

"There is another cheap version." Charles said.

"What?" Matthew couldn't believe it. There was nothing left to reduce. It was already a chassis plus a gun. Could the chassis be removed?

Charles took out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Matthew. This was what he had drawn last night.

Matthew took it and unfolded it, and was instantly petrified. It took him a long time to sigh: "It is indeed a cheap version!"

It was a truck gun, a simple gun installed on the back of a truck, almost a combination of a truck and a 75 gun.

(The picture above is the Soviet SU-12-1 76MM self-propelled howitzer, which played a big role in the Battle of Nomonhan)