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Chapter 1156 Secret Weapon
"Take care, brothers! If you can't charge forward, don't fight blindly. If you need to retreat, retreat immediately. This is the will of His Majesty. As long as you have the green mountains, you will never worry about the lack of firewood. At most, let the navy transport ships make a few more trips. They won't die if they are a little tired."

Before leaving, Ding Shun saluted Zhao En and repeated the emperor's intention.

"...Long live the emperor! Long live the Ming Dynasty!" Zhao En was stunned when he heard this. It took him several seconds to react. He saluted in the direction of the emperor's tent and shouted slogans.

The name "brother" was too unfamiliar to him. After thinking carefully, it seemed that no one had ever called him that in his life. But for some reason, it sounded quite exciting and made him feel warm all over.

Just as a scorching sun rose above the horizon and cast its rays upon the earth, rumbling thunder suddenly sounded in the lower reaches of the Shatt al-Arab River, scaring the herds of wild camels that came to the river to drink water and causing them to turn around and run away at a speed comparable to that of a Ferghana horse.

Even faster than them were the blazing artillery shells. Eight warships and six armed cargo ships formed a long snake formation in the river, firing at full blast from their broadsides. They didn't aim at all, only cared about firing speed, and sprayed flames desperately.

At the same time, in front of the first trench, the heavy oil in dozens of earthen kangs was ignited, and the thick black smoke, with the help of the southeast wind blowing from the sea, quickly drifted towards the port of Fao.

"...Let's go!" Zhao En stood in the trench and looked down at his pocket watch. When the minute hand stopped at the number 6, he waved to the officers beside him and rushed out first.

A total of 2000 people, divided into three groups, 200 meters apart, holding spears, crouching, and rushing towards the Ottoman defenders' defense line at the fastest speed.

Their mission was to capture the trenches closest to the river, and then use them as a base to attack in depth along the dense trench network, clearing out all Ottoman soldiers they encountered and opening a gap for follow-up troops.

It sounds like this mission is nothing special and can be undertaken by the Army. Why must the Warrior Battalion, which has higher training costs, be sent to take the lead?
Two words: weapons!

The Warrior Battalion and the Fourth Guard Battalion replaced their equipment more than half a year ago. The Type 24 breech-loading needle rifle was replaced by the Type 35 double-barreled rifle; the Type 24 revolver percussion cap pistol was retained, and two unprecedented new weapons were added, hand grenades and rifle grenades.

The Type 35 double-barreled rifle is a new type of rifle that was finalized and mass-produced by Handan Industrial Group in the th year of its establishment. It has been controversial from its development to its manufacture, with mixed reviews.

In particular, the Haihe Machinery Factory, the research and development unit of the Type 24 rifle, directly stated at an internal product seminar that the Type 35 rifle is the illegitimate child of the Type 24 rifle, with the same father but different mothers.

In fact, this statement is quite appropriate. If you say it is a new creation, half of the body of the Type 35 rifle is the same as the Type 24 rifle, and 24% of the parts are common; but if you say it is an improvement, the appearance and performance of the whole gun are too different from the Type rifle.

Double-barreled rifle, as the name implies, the 35-type rifle has two barrels, arranged up and down, similar to the double-barreled shotgun of later generations. But it is not just two barrels, the upper barrel has a caliber of 18 mm, has no rifling, uses the 35-type copper shell shotgun, and is a standard shotgun.

After the 8 small steel balls are fired, they form a sheet. There is basically no need to aim, and a few of them will hit the target. Within a distance of 50 meters, this bullet is extremely powerful.

The rifled barrel of the Type 24 rifle is still used below, and it still fires needle-primed paper shell fixed bullets. However, the barrel is 5 cm shorter, the caliber is reduced from 13 mm to 10 mm, and the effective range is shortened to 300 meters.

This change is not a technical innovation, but is entirely for the purpose of reducing weight. Without a bayonet, the Type 35 weighs nearly 10 pounds, only one pound heavier than the Type 24. Why is it designed this way, and where did the idea come from? In the final analysis, it was Hong Tao's idea. He has a serious fear of insufficient firepower and always wants to greatly increase the power of existing firearms.

Unfortunately, their ambitions were high, but their brains were not. Smokeless gunpowder was never developed, copper shell bullets could not be widely used due to cost issues, and automatic rifles and machine guns remained only in the sketches and could not be realized.

But he had a good quality, he could make do with what he had. Since he couldn't handle too high technology, he thought about whether he could make a stitched monster. So he drew a few sketches, noted the expected requirements, and handed them over to the military industry department of Handan Industrial Group.

A few years later, he had forgotten about it, but Handan Industrial Group sent the sample gun to the palace. It must be said that the authority of the ancient emperor was really great, and no one who worked for the emperor dared to fool around, and they had to do their best to make it, and do it well.

This prototype gun is simply a 3D printed version of the sketch. Not only does it faithfully restore the emperor's conception in appearance, but its performance also basically meets the requirements. The only thing that makes Hong Tao grin is that it is too heavy. The whole gun weighs more than 13 pounds without the bayonet.

But this is not a fatal flaw. After some test shooting, Hong Dachu thought it could still be saved. For example, the caliber is smaller, the barrel is shorter, and the range and power are completely sufficient. In fact, the Type 24 rifle is a bit excessive in these aspects. If it has a scope, it can be used as a sniper rifle.

After half a year, Handan Industrial Group sent the improved sample gun to the palace. The caliber was smaller, the barrel was shorter, the weight was lighter, and after the test firing, the power was sufficient.

But at this time Hong Tao had a new idea. Since he could produce shotgun bullets, why not let his imagination soar a little and use blank bullets to launch rifle grenades?

The army was equipped with field artillery that could be carried by mules and horses during marches, but it was still too heavy and could not meet combat needs when encountering special terrain or forced marches.

If soldiers can use rifle grenades, even if they can only fire them a hundred meters away, it will be a powerful supplement. In this era, except for a few large cities, the defense forces cannot withstand bombs, even if they are small bombs.

The research and development time was relatively long this time, and it took a full year and a half to develop the rifle grenade. But it was not a waste at all. While developing the rifle grenade, the engineers of Handan Industrial Group found that it was not necessary to fire it with a gun barrel. Throwing it with your hands could also throw the warhead dozens of meters away and cause similar damage.

At first they didn't think of hand grenades, they just wanted to use these small hand-held bombs for defense, for example, when defending against enemy attacks on the city wall, they could throw them down without showing their heads.

When they sent this idea and the sample to the palace with trepidation, they immediately reached the pinnacle of their lives: medals and bonuses awarded by the emperor himself, as well as promotions and shares in the plantation on Xiaoliuqiu Island.

Hong Tao still felt that the amount was too little, it was simply buy one get one free. His original intention was just to make a rifle grenade to increase the firepower output of the light infantry, but he didn't expect to make a hand grenade as well.

Its power is certainly not as great as that of later generations, but it can still cause damage if thrown around. The cost is quite low, and it can be distributed in large quantities to the army and navy for use, which can greatly improve combat effectiveness in a short period of time.

(End of this chapter)