I want to be emperor

Chapter 1136 Dawn of Tanks

When developing armored vehicles with armor protection, the Army, under the instructions of Luo Zhixue, was also developing armored vehicles that could carry artillery, which is what later generations would conventionally call tanks.

Of course, limited by the basic industrial level of the contemporary Great Chu Empire, even if a so-called tank is built, it will be very different from the tanks of later generations... There is a high probability that it will be a super-shrunken tank.

There is nothing that can be done about it. The level of technology these days is here. For example, the power of the engine is too small, the material technology is very average, so the armor protection capability is also average, and then the running mechanism, the car body and even the artillery are all greatly improved. difference.

Especially in terms of power, there is a huge technical gap... The tanks that are conventionally recognized by later generations are not even modern ones. Let’s talk about the tanks of World War II. Their power is often several hundred horsepower, driving tanks of about 20 to 30 tons. Equipped with its eighty-millimeter class cannon.

But what about the engine technology in the contemporary Dachu Empire? Tangshan Automobile Company, which has the most powerful technology, currently has the most advanced gasoline engine on hand, which is just a V-shaped six-cylinder engine used for 320 series armored vehicles, engineering vehicles and other large motor vehicles. This engine has fifty horsepower...

This is not to say that Tangshan Automobile Company does not have engines with bigger horses.

Rather, a larger horsepower engine will increase significantly in size and weight, and it can no longer be installed on this kind of car body, or it can be installed, but it has reached a marginal diminishing effect...

A larger and heavier engine requires a larger vehicle body to carry it, and a larger vehicle body requires more armor to protect it. And then a larger vehicle body, a heavier vehicle weight, and a more complex walking structure. Being heavier will eventually lead to greater power requirements... thus creating a situation where the greater the engine power, the worse the maneuverability.

Therefore... the engines of armored vehicles are not meant to be randomly stacked. They need to achieve a certain balance between volume, weight and power. The pursuit of engines is not simply large power, but a greater power ratio.

In fact, Tangshan Automobile Company also has hundreds or even hundreds of gasoline engines, but they are basically not used. They are used in some very large engineering equipment, or simply used in the industrial field.

In addition, there are some high-horsepower gasoline engines used for boat power.

The shipbuilding industry of the Dachu Empire had already tried to use gasoline engines as power for ships many years ago. However, due to cost, some limitations of the characteristics of gasoline engines themselves, gasoline engines are not widely used in ships, and are only used in a few small and micro vehicles. Try using it on ships, such as speedboats, yachts, etc. It is basically not used on medium and large ships.

Because the gasoline engine has low speed and low torque, if you want to use it, you need to match it with a corresponding reduction gear mechanism. This will cause the power structure to become very complicated and costly. Moreover, contemporary gasoline engine technology is still a bit inferior and the power is too high. Small and difficult to propel medium and large vessels;

In addition, gasoline itself is easily volatile, flammable and explosive.

But the most important thing is... the steam engine technology of the contemporary Da Chu Empire is very mature. The three-expansion and four-cylinder steam engines have long been mature, and after many years of large-scale mass production, the cost is relatively low.

A large number of reciprocating steam engines, which are cheap, reliable, and have lower operating costs, have become the first choice for powering contemporary ships...let alone gasoline engines, their status cannot be replaced even by contemporary steam turbines that are said to be more advanced.

The current steam turbine technology in the Dachu Empire is actually relatively mature to a certain extent... but it still cannot replace the reciprocating steam engine.

Although the Navy has currently built a number of small and medium-sized ships to test steam turbine technology, the Navy still has not used steam turbines on its new generation of main battleships.

In the civilian market, there are only a few luxury passenger ships. In order to pursue the so-called average speed and strive for the title of being the fastest to and from Europe and America, they have invested heavily in the introduction of steam turbines...

However, it is worth noting that the small ships used for naval trials are fine. Because they are small ships and do not require much power, the industry can barely match them with reduction gears... However, a few large luxury passenger ships are still under construction. , because the tonnage is too large, the power of the steam turbine loaded is also large. To match such a large steam turbine to exert a powerful power unit calculated in units of 10,000 horsepower, a large and reliable reduction gear machine is required.

And the technical difficulty of this thing is even more difficult than that of a steam turbine... At least currently, the empire's industry has not been able to solve the technical problems of large reduction gears used in large ships.

Therefore, the power mode adopted by these large luxury cruise ships under construction is actually very special. That is, they are not powered by traditional mechanical power, but by electric propulsion... Yes, it is the so-called so-called power mode in the 21st century. A very fashionable electric pusher used in advanced battleships!

Its power mode is actually very simple. Since a large reduction gear machine cannot be produced, the shipbuilding engineers of Chu State simply do not use mechanical transmission. Instead, they use the high-speed running steam turbine to directly generate electricity... to drive a large electric motor, and finally let the electric motor drive the propeller to rotate.

The entire power model is actually exactly the same as the electric-propulsion battleships built by the United States in the early 20th century... At that time, the Americans could only develop electric propulsion because they could not produce large-scale reduction gear machines.

When the Dachu Empire Navy was developing a new generation of battleships, it actually considered this power system solution, but in the end it was abandoned because it was too expensive and the technical risks were too great... Shipping companies can do anything in pursuit of speed and reputation. , that’s because it’s a civilian ship. Even if it breaks down on the way, it won’t be too much of a problem. At most, we can just wait for rescue.

But battleships can't do that... This war is going on, and if you say that the power system is broken and the battleship can't move, it's just a joke.

Therefore, in the end, the Navy gave up the plan of adding electric propulsion to the steam turbine and continued to adopt the mature and reliable reciprocating steam engine.

It can also be seen from this that in terms of shipboard power, there is currently no power that can replace the reciprocating steam engine. Steam turbines are not good, let alone gasoline engines.

As for diesel engines... There are currently not many domestic manufacturers developing diesel engines. Only Guangzhou Machinery Company has invested heavily, but the progress is not great... After all, Guangzhou Machinery Company itself is engaged in steam engines. It is very troublesome to develop internal combustion engines across industries. At the same time, internal combustion engines Many of its technology patents have been blocked by several automobile companies!

Although several automobile companies themselves did not develop diesel engines, diesel engines are also internal combustion engines. When the three major automobile companies in the early days developed internal combustion engines, they established a series of technical barriers based on the entire internal combustion engine field.

Because although many technology patents were originally used on gasoline engines, they can also be used on diesel engines... Therefore, when Guangzhou Machinery Company was developing diesel engines, it found that it inexplicably needed to use several automobile companies. technology patents, and these car companies take their own technology very seriously and do not license it to others at all.

Therefore, Guangzhou Machinery Company is also very embarrassed to develop diesel engines... so far that it has not yet produced a commercially available diesel engine... It's not that it cannot be produced. In fact, it has already produced a diesel engine that can be commercialized, but because of the patent The problem is temporary and mass production is not possible... In this case, we have to wait for the patent to expire, or negotiate with several major automobile companies for technology licensing.

However, several automobile companies did not pay attention to Guangzhou Machinery Company at all... Due to an oversight, the patent authorization was obtained by Li's Power Company. Then a huge competitor appeared. The three major automobile companies of Tangshan, Liaodong and Songhe Now be highly vigilant against any opponent trying to enter the field of internal combustion engines!

Well, Lee's Power Company was no exception after sneaking into the car. After sneaking into the car, he wanted to weld the door shut to block the road of other people's houses... Even if someone else was using a diesel engine, they would do everything possible to stop it.

As for North American Automobile Company... they currently have no relevant technology patents themselves. In order to obtain a few core patent authorizations, they launched their own mass-produced engines two or three years in advance, paying a huge price and using their own multiple technologies. Technology patents, especially pickup and off-road technologies, are being exchanged with the three major automobile companies.

Finally, in December of the 52nd year of Chengshun, they obtained a variety of missing core patent authorizations... They are preparing to launch many self-developed and produced gasoline engines to the market this spring and install them on various models of their own. In cars, on planes.

The reason why the front foot has just been patented and the back foot can be launched on the market is because they have solved the design and production process problems before, and even the production line has been prepared in advance... The patent authorization can be quickly set up as soon as it is obtained. production line and put it into commercial use.

Even North American automobile companies have to pay a huge price to obtain only a few core patents. However, for Guangzhou Machinery Company to obtain multiple core patents for internal combustion engines, it can be said to be extremely difficult... or even impossible.

Because North American Automobile Company still has a lot of automobile patents in its hands, especially some exclusive technology patents on gasoline engines that the other three automobile companies need.

But Guangzhou Machinery Company...the three major automobile companies do not need their reciprocating steam engine technology, nor do they need the so-called diesel engine patented technology they have developed by themselves.

When the mutual authorization of patents fails, it is almost impossible for Guangzhou Machinery Company to obtain their patent authorization...

Because the three major automobile companies lack nothing... If you don’t have the technology patents they need, you can’t impress them in other aspects, let alone impress the three major automobile companies with money.

One of these three major automobile companies is an owner who is not short of money... The contemporary automobile industry can be said to be the richest industry and the super darling of the capital market. Every time one of the five major automobile companies starts a strategic investment At that time, it was a capital feast, with all kinds of large capitals crying and shouting to invest money.

After multiple rounds of strategic investments, the cash flow in the hands of the five major automobile companies is really huge...

Even the North American Automobile Company, which is the smallest among the five major automobile companies and has the smallest market share, has a cash flow of more than 10 million yuan at any time, while the other four automobile companies have even more!

The market value of Guangzhou Machinery Company is actually only tens of millions of dollars.

Most of the contemporary Chu enterprises, well, I’m talking about medium and large listed companies, their market value is less than the cash flow of the five major automobile companies. Under such circumstances, it is almost impossible for Guangzhou Machinery Company to obtain authorization for multiple core patents of internal combustion engines. They can only wait for the patents to expire or develop other technologies to bypass their patents.

Therefore, Guangzhou Machinery Company has been engaged in diesel engines for some years. Even ten years ago, it was able to produce so-called practical diesel engines. However, until now, apart from testing, diesel engines have not been used for commercial purposes at all... Can't be used.

In this way, diesel engines cannot be used on ships.

In the field of internal combustion engines, the development of gasoline engines is unparalleled, dominating the sky and the ground... Diesel engines only see thunder but no raindrops. As for gas internal combustion engines, this thing has always been there, but it has always been limited to the industrial field. , but the application scale is not large.

However, even if it is a gasoline engine with the fastest development speed, rapid technological advancement, and larger application scale every year, its technical level is just like that from the perspective of future generations.

The V-shaped six-cylinder fifty-horsepower engine used in the 320 armored vehicle has basically reached the ceiling of the contemporary Dachu Empire's industrial technology. To go up, what is needed is further breakthroughs in materials and processing industry technology.

And these all take time!

This means that even if the Da Chu Empire wanted to build artillery-mounted tanks under Luo Zhixue's instructions, the so-called tanks they built would not be much better than the 320 armored vehicles.

In response to the so-called "armored motor vehicle equipped with artillery" plan proposed above, the Hebei Special Vehicle Company, a subsidiary of the Hebei Weapons Company, simply made changes to the chassis of the 320 armored vehicle. By reducing the maneuverability, the 11mm weight on the upper The machine gun was replaced by a mm short-barreled howitzer.

As for artillery with a smaller caliber... Well, the Chu people's technology is still relatively limited at present. In fact, they can't come up with artillery with a smaller caliber that can be used to launch explosive grenades.

Why do modern rapid-fire cannons use 37 mm caliber? The superficial reason is because treaties such as the St. Petersburg Declaration restrict the use of small explosives. However, this is not the point. It can only be regarded as embellishment... The core reason is that modern technology is limited. , it is impossible to reduce the caliber of the grenade to a smaller size and ensure the power... In the era when black powder was still used as grenade charge, grenade with a caliber that was too small was basically useless. It was easier to shoot directly with a heavy machine gun, which was cheaper and easier.

Why were small-caliber rapid-fire cannons, such as twenty-millimeter cannons, used again in the later stages of World War I? Because technology has improved... With the use of modern high-potency charges, even small-caliber grenades have sufficient explosive power, so it is natural The caliber has been reduced.

The reason for the miniaturization of grenades is not that people's morals have declined and they feel that it has become more humane to hit people with this thing, but because of the advancement of technology...

The same situation actually applies to DUM bullets. In the beginning, countries were having fun using DUM bullets. Later, they came up with more advanced pointed bullets, and the advanced bullets did not need to use the DUM warhead mode after firing. When they can roll over and cause a greater cavity effect than dum bombs, they start pretending to sign an international agreement banning dum bombs...

The reason for banning the use of poison gas in later generations is the same...not because poison gas is inhumane, but because the battles after World War I, especially during World War II, were mainly mechanized mobile warfare. The combat efficiency of poison gas bombs was already too low, so all countries were very concerned about it. The tacit agreement is no longer used.

If you really want to be humane, you asked all countries to directly ban machine guns and artillery... These two things have killed the vast majority of humans in the history of human wars, and they are definitely not humane. Those who were hit by large-caliber artillery were killed. Man, you can't even find a complete corpse... But I haven't seen any country come out and say that they have banned artillery in order to make the war more humane.

There are various reasons for making humans abandon a weapon, but there is definitely no reason like 'humanity'.

This series of processes is actually the same as the development process of the Chu Empire's own weapons and equipment, especially small-caliber artillery.

The Da Chu Empire itself also developed and used 30mm and 35mm caliber naval small-caliber rapid-fire cannons in the early years... Later, it was discovered that this thing was really unreliable... The power of small-caliber shells was too small, and because The shells are too small and complex to manufacture, and the cost is high.

In the end, the Navy took the initiative to increase the caliber of the battleship's small-caliber self-defense rapid-fire cannon to 40 mm, thus achieving a relatively good balance between power and caliber...

The Army also invited bids and tested a 40mm caliber short-barreled rapid-fire gun, trying to use it as direct firepower at the battalion level. However, it was later found that the 70mm infantry gun was more reliable, so there was no further progress after the test.

After all, although the 40mm rapid-fire cannon seems to have a small caliber and rapid fire, it is actually heavier than the 70mm infantry gun and the rapid-fire is slower.

At the same time, because the ballistic trajectory is flat, it cannot be deflected.

After some tests and comparisons, the Army forgot about this thing... The Army still feels that the 70mm infantry cannon is fragrant... It is light in weight, easy to maneuver, and can shoot both flat and curved. Because it is a rifled gun, the accuracy is pretty good and the range is good. Two thousand meters is fine.

With this thing, when the Chu army of hundreds of people takes action, it does not even need the fire support of the division's field artillery, and can launch a single-shot operation.

It would be even more beautiful if there were some 60mm mortar support.

Therefore, in the contemporary Dachu Empire, currently only the navy is equipped with 40mm rapid-fire guns, which are mainly used as self-defense firepower for medium and large warships to destroy small enemy ships at close range. They are also used as the main weapons for small warships, transport ships and other auxiliary ships.

The offshore patrol ships that the natives most often see, the small-tonnage inland river gunboats, use a large number of new and old 40mm rapid-fire cannons... Therefore, in overseas areas, you can often see the small warships of the Chu army using 40mm rapid-fire cannons for shelling. Enemy wooden ships, people on shore, simple fortifications and other targets.

But... the so-called tanks that the Army is planning to build will naturally not be able to use the Navy's long-barreled 320mm rapid-fire cannons. Instead, they are planning to build a short-barreled mm artillery to reduce the weight of the artillery as much as possible. , reduce the recoil...otherwise, the chassis of the armored vehicle will really not be able to withstand it!

Hebei Weapon Company is preparing to build a tank based on the 320 armored vehicle... Luo Zhixue took a look and realized that this thing was not the tank he wanted to see at all, but a wheeled artillery armored vehicle that he had not expected before.

The new artillery-type armored vehicle launched by Jiangnan Weapons Company later was more interesting. At least it had tracks, but it was a half-track... However, due to the high technical difficulty, it only existed on paper for the time being.

Luo Zhixue was speechless... It's not like there are no crawler motor vehicles. Nowadays, there are also a small number of crawler tractors used in agriculture and engineering;

Weapons and equipment designers obviously also know the mobility advantages of tracked vehicles, otherwise they would not have built half-tracked artillery armored vehicles...

But why don't you just do it in one step and just get the full-tracked tank out?

Strictly speaking, this thing is technically simpler than the half-track armored vehicle produced by Jiangnan Weapons Company.

To put it bluntly, the principle of a tank is quite simple. Just build a turret on the basis of a crawler tractor, and then hang armor steel plates around it, and you can build a tank.

It's a pity that no technician has thought of this... At this time, Luo Zhixue couldn't help but end up: Don't bother with other messy things, just find a crawler tractor, then install a turret, and get a 40-gun mm short-barreled howitzer, just add some thin armor plates to the hull and turret.

Luo Zhixue's personal exit also allowed the technicians below to quickly find the direction... Although some technicians still believed that the direction of the full-track artillery tank was not reliable.

However, the three major automobile companies among the five major automobile companies, namely Tangshan, Liaodong, and Songhe, still quickly launched related project research and development...

Why is the tank thing related to these three car companies again... That's because only these three car companies have the technology and related patents for tracked vehicles in the contemporary era.

These three automobile companies in the Dachu Empire were formerly agricultural machinery companies. They began to play with steam engine wheeled tractors in the 1920s.

After the 1940s, they also successively developed crawler tractors powered by gasoline engines. However, due to factors such as high failure rates and high costs, the early crawler tractors had low market acceptance and poor sales.

After entering the 1950s, technology continued to advance, and the sales of crawler tractors have gradually increased in the past two years, but they are still far from being comparable to wheeled tractors.

Now that the military wants to develop tracked artillery and armored vehicles, also known as tanks, it naturally cannot bypass the three major automobile companies that hold a large number of tracked technologies and patents.

Therefore, although the main body of the design bidding for the tank project is still the defense companies of the special vehicles, in fact, it is the agricultural machinery companies affiliated to the three major automobile companies that are responsible for chassis research and development, and the three major agricultural companies also cooperate with the national defense companies in the design of the entire vehicle. .

The tank project, like the military armored vehicle project and the transport vehicle project, is a product of cooperation between defense companies and the automobile industry.