Go back to the past and be a schoolboy

Chapter 222 Who Is Stronger Than France?
Before coming to Krupp, Cheng Nuo had tried his best to think about this military enterprise, but the opportunity to visit it was an eye-opener for him.

Especially when visiting the famous "Paris Cannon", looking up under the giant, I felt the fragility of life for the first time. Under the cover of this level of artillery fire, it is hard to imagine any creature that can escape the hunt of death. kill.

Gustav, who accompanied the tour, quietly observed Cheng Nuo's performance: in the early stage, because Cheng Nuo was a time traveler, he didn't seem very interested in this standard weapon of World War I, and had a faint sense of arrogance.

This made Gustav very upset. It seemed that no matter how advanced the weapon was, it seemed insignificant in front of this young man from the Far East.

As long as a person lives, the Buddha fights for a stick of incense.

Gustav gritted his teeth and led Cheng Nuo directly into the "Paris Cannon" production workshop, with an attitude that Cheng Nuo was unconvinced and the trip would not stop.

Finally caught a trace of shock in Cheng Nuo's eyes, Gustav secretly breathed a sigh of relief: "This cannon is named 'William Cannon' in memory of our respected Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany. It achieved miraculous effects in the bombing of Paris, and was also called the 'Paris Cannon' by the Parisians."

Cheng Nuo stepped forward to pat the cannon barrel. Although he knew the allusion, he still pretended to be ignorant: "Really, it seems that the effect of this cannon is extraordinary. I believe that if dozens of cannons can be displayed on the battlefield A cannon will definitely deal a heavy blow to the enemy."

Gustav said proudly: "That's natural, how can only a nickname be worthy of this cannon, in the near future, the people of London will definitely give it another nickname of 'London' cannon, let these John Bull They also learned a lot.”

Cheng Nuo couldn't help but glanced back at Gustav, and said to himself, you really dare to think, let alone London, you haven't killed many troops in Paris, that is, if you were lucky enough to blow up a church, if you bombed in In other places, the results may be disastrous, and the tactical value is far less than its strategic value.

Gustav thought Cheng Nuo was shocked again, and continued to introduce enthusiastically: "Don't look at the length of the barrel of our cannon, which is obviously very heavy. In fact, the propellant charge of the cannonball is twice the weight of the projectile. The muzzle velocity of the projectile is extremely high, do you know how fast the projectile is at most, the fastest is 1700 m/s!"

Cheng Nuo was immediately shocked. You must know that 100 years later, the muzzle velocity of top-level high-speed tank guns is only 1-600 meters per second. Super Velocity Cannon.

But think about it carefully, if there is no such a fast muzzle velocity, the ultra-long range of 130 kilometers cannot be achieved.

In order to cooperate with Gustav and get more words out of this guy's mouth, Cheng Nuo deliberately put a high hat on him: "The speed is so fast, so the performance of this cannon is quite good?"

Gustav's face showed complacency: "It's not very good either. The muzzle velocity of most of the current artillery is fast enough, and we are just a little bit faster than them."

Cheng Nuo was very kind and asked, "How much faster is that?"

Gustav laughed and said: "Not many are fast. The muzzle velocity of the artillery is only 300-400 m/s. The Paris Cannon is four or five times faster than them."

When Cheng Nuo heard this, the corners of his mouth couldn't help twitching, thinking that you old guy is really an old sow wearing a bra - a set of bras.

But since the other party said it, it must be to get good comments from Cheng Nuo, so as to gain some sense of superiority.

Cheng Nuo was very knowledgeable, and cheered, "Your factory's artillery technology is truly unique in the world. No wonder it can achieve such great results on the battlefield. It must be a lot of such advanced technology in this cannon."

Gustav was proud: "That's natural. In order to weld this gun barrel that is tens of meters long, we specially forged several sections of the barrel, and then welded them in sections, and then used a small machine tool to move around the super long barrel. Processing, to complete the operation of reaming and processing internal rifling.

Of course, this is just one of the processes, after the gun barrel is machined, we still need to conduct heat treatment..."

Halfway through the conversation, Gustav suddenly realized that the manufacturing process was about to be leaked, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead instantly, and he quickly stopped the topic: "Anyway, don't think that our Paris cannons are refitted from naval guns, but in fact no matter what It is the processing of the gun barrel, the processing of the base, and even the assembly and transportation, all of which have technical thresholds."

Looking at this 12-story-high gun barrel with a caliber of 210 mm, only one sentence echoed in Cheng Nuo's mind at this moment: Range is truth, caliber is justice.

Touching the cannon, Cheng Nuo's saliva almost flowed down.

"If we provide enough food or agricultural by-products, can Krupp transfer the manufacturing technology of this Paris cannon?" Cheng Nuo couldn't help asking.

Without even thinking about it, Gustav directly refused: "Of course not. The technology of the Paris cannon is the core secret of the empire. Now that you, a foreign friend from a hostile country, can come in, it is already touching the bottom line. thing."

Cheng Nuo didn't give up, and then thought about the howitzer that almost died under the gunfire, and asked again: "I remember that the Krupp company also has a howitzer called 'Big Berta', and the barrel is not one-fifth of the Paris cannon. One, presumably the above technology is not so confidential, can it be transferred?"

"You actually know about the 'Great Bell Tower'? That's the battering ram of our imperial army." Gustav was taken aback, expressing surprise that Cheng Nuo knew about the Great Bell Tower, but then explained: "I'm sorry, this It is also our secret and will not be leaked.”

Now it's Cheng Nuo's turn to be a little upset. This posture is really not good. No matter what you say later, the other party has the same attitude, that is, it's okay to visit, or even touch it, but when it comes to technology transfer or purchase, No matter what, there is absolutely no room for negotiation.

After a few times of soft and hard soaking, they all ended in failure, and Cheng Nuo was a little speechless in the end.

If soft is not enough, then hard.

Cheng Nuo put away his smile, changed from the envy just now, instead, there was a bit of distaste on his face: "Since you don't want to sell the technology, it's fine. I also visited the technical workshops of your artillery manufacturers. It seems that it is the same thing, there is no technology. It's difficult, but at worst, I can talk to those Frenchmen."

The speed of the turnaround was so fast that Gustav on the side didn't expect it. He heard that his cannon technology was not as good as that of France, and he was furious: "If you want to say that the French are better at making perfume, I have no problem. But when it comes to military artillery technology, they are out of reach, and it is not something on the same level at all."

Cheng Nuo picked up a wrench casually and weighed it in his hand: "Yes, you are proud of the field of artillery, let alone France in terms of heavy artillery, even if all the technologies of your enemy countries are combined, they will not be able to catch up."

Gustav's expression softened slightly, as if what Cheng Nuo said was very reasonable.

However, this was just Cheng Nuo's intention to say half and half, and then he continued: "But when it comes to field guns, French-produced guns have a longer range, a faster rate of fire, and heavier shrapnel. You can't do it in this regard, right? I know that it is not these giant cannons that are really playing a leading role on the battlefield right now."

Gustav's face turned black instantly. Although he didn't want to admit it, but judging from the feedback from the soldiers on the battlefield, Cheng Nuo was very right.

Although France was dwarfed by the leadership of the United States and Germany in emerging industrial sectors in the late 19th century, the French industrial system was relatively complete, and its industrial technology also had a certain degree of leadership in certain fields.

Cheng Nuo blustered and continued to add: "As far as the current situation is concerned, Germany is inferior to your hostile forces in terms of sea power and air power. Take aero engines as an example. You have not yet solved the performance problem of aero engines. If It's okay if you just face the UK.

After all, they haven't solved this problem. Everyone has the same strength, but the terrible thing is that France has solved this problem, which further compresses your air power. "

Seeing Gustav's face getting worse and worse, Cheng Nuo put down the wrench and gave him a final blow: "Oh, my memory is really bad. It seems that your Paris cannon or the Big Bell tower cannon just a few months ago. It was blown up by the French Air Force, is there such a thing?"

Seeing the arrogance of the other party, Gustav squeezed out a few words with difficulty: "Yes, there is such a thing."

Cheng Nuo suddenly laughed when he heard this, and his expression relaxed: "Don't be so nervous, my dear friend Gustav, what if I want to exchange the most advanced aero-engine technology for your artillery production technology?" ?”

Instinctively, Gustav just wanted to refuse, but the five big words "aero-engine" instantly made his ears quiver: "Is this true? Do you really have the technology of aero-engine?"

Cheng Nuo imitated Gustav's self-satisfied look just now, and said with a smile, "Of course, we not only have, but also one of the most advanced aero-engine technologies in the world today."

Gustav said suspiciously: "It's not that I don't believe your words, but isn't your Japanese aircraft just getting started? You still imitate our outdated aircraft technology in Europe. It is advanced in your Far East, but we are lagging behind here. The lives of the soldiers of the empire There is no room for carelessness.”

Cheng Nuo's face was suffocated, and he almost forgot about this. Not to mention that the current Japanese aircraft technology is not good, even in the late World War II, they were still being beaten. Even the "famous" Xinshen after a hundred years, the gimmick is bigger than the reality. How dare you boast about the superiority of your own aircraft.

But now that the words have been said, and he really wants to introduce Krupp's artillery production technology, Cheng Nuo thought about it, and continued to bite the bullet and lie: "It can only be said that your German intelligence system is outdated, and now we are big Japan The level of aircraft development in the empire is far from what it was.

In particular, the aero-engine I introduced is smaller in size and higher in horsepower. It can be used as power for large transport aircraft and bombers, and its performance is quite reliable. "

It's a pity that no matter what Cheng Nuo said, even if he was about to say something, Gustav was always skeptical and his attitude was ambiguous.

Forced into desperation, Cheng Nuo had no choice but to draw the blueprint of the aero-engine by virtue of his photographic memory, and then handed it over to the Krupp factory to make samples first.

Of course, although Cheng Nuo was able to draw it, it didn't mean that he designed the aero-engine himself.

In fact, this is an engine developed by Tesla, but this is only the first version. Later, after improvements by Bayuzao and others, it has been upgraded to the third generation, with better overall performance.

It's just that although the aero-engine can be designed, most of its parts are ordered from foreign countries, such as the main shaft, gears and casing system, and the finished products are purchased directly from Boeing through the contacts of Bayuzao and others.

If you want to blame, you can only blame the domestic industrial development technology is too weak.

Now that Cheng Nuo took out the first-generation blueprints, he not only wanted to exchange some real benefits for the Academy of Sciences, but also wanted to see if there were any other unknown improvement directions for this engine through the hands of Krupp.

After getting the blueprint of the aero-engine, although Gustav was not an expert, he could see the value behind the engine at a glance with the vicious vision he had been immersed in the manufacturing industry for many years, and immediately said that apart from this Except for the two cannons, all other artillery technologies can be traded.

As for the specific transaction value, it will be estimated after the cost is produced.

Originally, according to Cheng Nuo's idea, it would take at least a few months to complete the demonstration work. It would take a lot of effort just to successfully manufacture the prototype of the aero-engine. By then, the First World War would be over and Germany would be defeated. , Krupp is under military control and can no longer pry benefits.

But Cheng Nuo forgot that he was currently staying at one of the largest military enterprises in the world. Apart from artillery, Krupp had a close relationship with the German Admiralty and helped it produce various ships.

And as early as the early 90s, when the German Navy paid little attention to the development of submarines, Krupp's German shipyard had already begun to develop submarines and achieved substantial technological progress.

Although only a few fleets in Germany were equipped with turbine technology until the eve of World War I, Krupp still retained the corresponding engine production equipment and raw materials because the German Navy Ministry allowed companies to research turbines.

However, because most of the engines finally purchased by the Admiralty were provided by Parsons in the United Kingdom, these engine production workshops are now useless and are temporarily diverted to produce other military supplies.

After receiving the aero-engine technology provided by Cheng Nuo, Gustav instructed his staff to adjust the production line as quickly as possible, and completed the production of the aero-engine prototype in just a few days.

After receiving the news of the successful production, Cheng Nuo rushed over immediately.

(End of this chapter)