The sun never sets in America

Chapter 403 US Military Industry
Chicago…

A city famous for its industry, it is currently one of the top five industrial cities in the United States and even a populous city.

Except for a certain sunken "Chicago", the real Chicago can be said to be full of high-rise buildings and factories as numerous as meteors.

Chicago is located in the center of the Great Lakes. From a geographical point of view, it is an almost perfect industrial city.

After all, if the entire Great Lakes were compared to a huge factory, then Chicago would be the factory's production office.

The central point for almost all railroads throughout the Great Lakes was Chicago.

In this place, Chicago is dominated by steel and heavy industry.

Chicago's steel production value once accounted for a quarter of the entire United States. Later, due to safety reasons, it shrank to one-sixth of its current level.

But whether it is one-quarter or one-sixth, it only shows one thing, and that is the importance of this city to the United States.

According to official statistics from the United States, Chicago as a whole has a total population of 2.7 million. If the floating population is included, the number is well over 3 million.

"And the yield rate of our grenades has also been greatly improved compared to before, and we can basically guarantee at least 95% safety."

Even now, due to the war, certain mergers and acquisitions have been carried out, and the entire United States still has more than 20 large-scale military enterprises and 400 supporting companies.

Due to the needs of the war, the entire Chicago military industry was actually somewhat undermined.

From procurement to construction, and even personnel, the preferential conditions provided are extremely rare in the entire history of the United States, and can even be said to be "crazy."

Doug, who was opposite him, continued: "Mr. Colt, our company has completed production task No. 37, and the vacant production capacity is ready to be transferred to new weapons..."

It can be said that the current United States is a huge arsenal, and the Great Lakes and even the old industrial areas in the east are two huge production factories.

But after production, they discovered that the cannon was actually not that difficult to make, and the cannonball was a very simple "gadget."

"Click, click." Listening to the constant sound of machines running in his ears, Colt, as a White House commissioner, kept scanning the weapons on the assembly line with his ignorant eyes.

"Mr. Colt, we are an international enterprise. Everything we do follows assembly line assembly production. What you see are all part of the assembly accessories..."

If you include the delivery room, the number could reach tens of thousands.

"Our soldiers have had enough of the damned massacre by the Han people!!"

If there is any Han weapon that the US military currently hates the most, then machine guns are definitely "far ahead".

But the White House's instructions are very firm, so many companies have to bite the bullet and produce things they are unfamiliar with.

Colt said this with a sense of resentment.

"Huhu", a strong wind blew by, revealing a signboard that read:

The entire Chicago is a city made up of factories. In this city, you can even see trains passing through. The reason why they are trains is because in this city, a large amount of heavy goods need to be transported.

And Chicago is the most important component in this factory, except for the east.

If you include companies in the entire industry chain, this number is basically around 3,000.

After all, compared with other weapons, machine guns are overwhelming in terms of lethality and impact on the morale of our own soldiers. It can even be said that the surrender of many early US military units was inseparable from machine guns.

"Mr. Doug, why are all your weapons incomplete??"

Colt asked Nicholas Doug, the boss of Doug Heavy Industries, a rather unprofessional question.

"Our current output of grenades has reached the level of 5,000 grenades per day, and we can produce 150,000 new grenades a month..."

In the whole of Chicago, the largest number are steel companies, as well as the machine tool and locomotive industry that has developed in recent years, and even the military industry that has been supported.

If the steel industry is inevitable for Chicago, and machine tools and locomotives are all supporting industries of the steel industry, then the military industry is the naked favoritism of the White House.

"Compared to the Han army's grenades, our grenades have basically reached a level. We even have to surpass them in terms of fragmentation lethality. After all, our grenades are a new era product, and they were still produced a few years ago. …”

As an American soldier said on the battlefield in Montana:

"As for the actual assembly, it's still in a factory next door."

After all, grenades alone can bring him hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit every month. This money can be used to build several more large factories or even buy a relatively good building in Chicago.

"Doug Heavy Industry!!"

A population of three million may not be too much among the current population of 47 million in the United States, but among those industrial cities, it is a real giant.

Doug kept talking about their "Doug's Grenade" with a proud expression on his face.

Colt, who was writing with a pen across from him, finally asked a thoughtful question this time:
"Mr. Doug, I would like to ask, to what extent have you reached the level of replicating machine guns?"

Even when some companies that manufacture machine tools and steel were asked to produce cannons or even gun barrels, they were surprised. After all, they had never done it before.

…………

If you add the identity of Chicago as a "production office", then dispersing to all directions is inevitable.

Chicago's internal railroad is connected to the entire Great Lakes Railway.

Doug did not show any slightness, but explained the working process of their factory very carefully.

Yes, whether before the war or now, the United States spares no effort to support the military industry.

What really made them determined to vigorously develop the military industry was profits.

Opposite him, Colt had an expression of "I didn't understand, but I was shocked."

When the arms race was at its craziest two years ago, there were more than 700 large and small military-industrial companies in the entire United States.

"Whenever the sound of a series of bullets sounds, we will even lie down as a reflex. No one dares to look up, because those who dare to look up are already gone!!"

In such an extreme situation, the desire for machine guns in the United States has reached its peak.

In order to solve the research and development and production problems of machine guns, the Army even engaged in the so-called "apportionment".

Allocate the research and development and production of machine guns to more than a dozen companies with large-scale military production experience, and use their mature talents and production capabilities to produce machine guns in the shortest possible time.

As the "star" of Chicago's military industry, Doug Heavy Industries is one of them.

Hearing the word machine gun, Doug frowned and replied: "We have already copied similar types of machine guns from the Han army captured on the front line, but copying them does not mean that we can mass-produce them..."

"It's easy to make one machine gun, but it's hard to make a thousand, because imitation itself is customization. Since it is customization, it is difficult to assemble it. In today's era, products that cannot be assembled are destined to die! !”

"And if you want to streamline machine guns, you need the entire industry of designing firearms to allocate all the parts for manufacturing, and finally get the maximum production efficiency..."

Listening to what Doug said about "assembly line", "industry" and "parts", as a civil servant with a lawyer background, Colt actually couldn't understand it, but this did not prevent him from following: "Do you have a sample? I think Want to take a look??”

Doug pondered for a while, then waved to his secretary and ordered:
"Let Siqikang come over..."

The Schickon whom Doug refers to is the designer of the machine gun and the soul of the entire imitation project. ………………………………

On a small school ground, there is a rectangular wooden table with three types of machine guns placed on it.

One of the machine guns is exactly the same as the water-cooled heavy machine gun currently used by Han Dynasty.

"Boss, Mr. Colt, these are the three types of machine guns we currently manufacture."

"The one in the middle is the machine gun currently used by the Han people. This kind of gun is also called a water-cooled heavy machine gun over there."

Schiccon pointed to the huge machine gun with wheels in the middle and introduced it to the two of them. In fact, it was mainly to introduce Colt.

"Heavy machine gun, that means there are lighter machine guns??"

Although Colt didn't understand anything, it didn't stop him from discovering the secret in the name of the machine gun.

"Yes, in addition to heavy machine guns, according to our intelligence, a new type of machine gun has appeared in Little Rock in the south. It is much lighter and smaller than this Type 20 heavy machine gun. A soldier It can be lifted..."

"Of course, this kind of machine gun is not without its shortcomings. The smaller the size, the smaller the ammunition and even the power."

"But this does not hinder its advantages on the battlefield. In fact, judging from the current situation on the Little Rock battlefield, the tactical offensive capabilities of this new light machine gun are far greater than those of the more powerful and larger heavy machine guns. of."

"One of our recent failures outside Little Rock was related to this light machine gun."

Schickon continued to describe the threat that light machine guns might pose to the U.S. military, and even believed that they were greater than heavy machine guns.

Colt, who was on the opposite side, expressed worry: "One heavy machine gun has failed us for so long. If they have more light machine guns, doesn't it mean that it will be more difficult for us to win, or even Victory can never be achieved!!”

"God, why are you so partial to a pagan country and allow them to have such weapons that can mass murder your people? God, why is this??"

Looking at the White House commissioner who was still "performing" in front of him, the corners of Doug's mouth twitched involuntarily, and finally he spoke:
"Mr. Colt, it's not that we can't produce machine guns at the moment. Once our machine guns are produced, we won't have to worry about those Han Chinese guys!!"

"As for light machine guns, as long as we can produce heavy machine guns, are light machine guns still far away??"

Doug's words seemed to have given Colt an opportunity to use the topic and say directly in an exaggerated tone:
"Very good, as long as everyone works hard, we will definitely be able to defeat the evil Han people!!"

Doug followed up and said:
"I believe that under your command, under the command of President Lincoln, victory will not come too far away..."

After hearing this, Colt looked at Doug with satisfaction, then turned to Schikan, who was still checking the machine gun, and said:
"Mr. Schikan, I would like to know the difference between these three guns??"

After Siqikang reacted, he put away the towel for wiping the gun, and then introduced the first machine gun. This machine gun is somewhat similar to the Han Dynasty Type 20, but it is obviously much smaller in size, which is a reduction. Version:

"Our internal code name for this gun is 005. This gun is the first-generation product based on the Type of the Han Dynasty. From the data point of view, it is not as good as the Type , but it is worse than the Type . The good thing is that the weight is % lighter, and this reduction can make it easier for our soldiers to carry it."

When Siqikang introduced this gun, he still had a hint of regret. After all, this was the first-generation product that he spent a lot of time and made a lot of drawings under very difficult circumstances.

Although it is said to be a first-generation product, it is actually still a good repeating weapon.

But it's a pity that as soon as it was built, it was rejected by his boss Doug. The reason for the rejection was very simple, that is, the Army would not accept such reduced allocation garbage.

Yes, Doug used the term "junk claw" at that time, which shows what the atmosphere of the entire weapons procurement was like at that time.

Basically, it cannot be lower than Chinese-style weapons. This was the most important standard at the time.

After all, America also wants to save face! !

Siqikang calmed down his complicated emotions, and then introduced the machine gun that most resembled the Type 20:
"This machine gun is completely developed based on the Type 20. The basic data is no different from the Type 20. It can be said that this is a Type 20 water-cooled heavy machine gun!!"

When Siqikang said it, he obviously avoided the somewhat self-esteem-shattering word "imitation" and instead used "development" to express their efforts.

Although the basic work of the entire engineering team is mapping and modification, this does not prevent Siqikang from naming this matter R&D.

After all, it’s like a joke for later generations:
"A certain superpower discovered an alien spacecraft, then cracked part of the technology inside, and finally applied it to reality, euphemistically calling it independent innovation!!"

And what Siqikang and the others actually do is this kind of thing. The machine gun is ready-made, they just need to pinch it out one by one.

“This gun is great!!”

Colt, who had little weapons experience, suddenly regarded the most similar machine gun as the "hope for the future." After all, with a weapon like the Han Guoguo, he couldn't be defeated, right? ?
“How long will it take for this gun to be mass-produced??”

Surprised, Colt didn't even care about the last gun, but directly asked about the production progress.

"We are currently integrating firearms companies throughout Chicago and even the Great Lakes, and we will be able to produce them by the end of this month at the latest."

"And no less than a thousand jellyfish per month!!"

When he said this, Doug couldn't help but show "satisfaction" on his lips.

After all, in Chicago, there are not many military industrial companies like Doug Heavy Industries that have industrial integration capabilities and can increase production capacity on a large scale in a short period of time.

"Great, as long as it can be produced before the end of the month, our plan will be more certain!!"

Colt's expression couldn't hide his excitement, while Doug across from him was still thinking about the "plan" he had just accidentally revealed.

"Mr. Colt, I want to introduce you to the last machine gun..."

Schiccon, who had been waiting, saw Colt who was not very interested in the remaining machine guns. He immediately realized that something was wrong and quickly introduced his new product:

"Mr. Colt, our new gun is completely different from the Chinese machine gun."

"Our team abandoned the Han Guoluo's water-cooling design and switched to air-cooling. This kind of gun is more efficient and does not require the preparation of cooling buckets in advance..."

"Even the shooting efficiency is very high!!"

"We named it Hornet. This is an epoch-making product that surpasses the Han Type 20 heavy machine gun..."

Siqiang talked endlessly about the "air-cooled machine gun" they developed.

Colt on the opposite side said without any interest:
"Mr. Schikan, I think your work now should be on how to produce this machine gun, rather than on the so-called transcendence!!"

"Besides, Han Guoguo's machine gun has been proven on the battlefield, and your Hornet is just a repeater who did not get a degree. There is no possibility of comparison between the two!!"

Colt looked at the strange-looking "Wasp" in front of him and directly rejected this so-called transcendence plan.

In his opinion, transcendence is so easy to surpass. Now the front line is waiting to use machine guns to fight the Han nationalists. At this time, spending money and time to develop a so-called new gun is simply nonsense and a kind of ignorance. Performance.

Opposite him, Siqikang continued to explain in a stumbling tone:
"Mr. Colt, no, Mr. Commissioner, we can't always follow the Chinese guys to pick up their dropped cigarette butts. We, the United States, are also a big industrial country. We can't keep living by imitation like this. We also have Dignified and capable!!”

"Yes, Mr. Schikan, your so-called ability is just a waste of time here. I tell you, the front line can no longer be delayed. We must have our own machine guns in advance."

"As for what you call air-cooling, I think there's no rush to discuss it after the war is over!!"

After saying that, Colt left directly.

When Doug came back from sending off the "willful" Commissioner Colt, he saw the lost Schickon with a complicated expression and said:
"It doesn't matter, I will fund your continued research and development. Let's tell the Han people what Americans are!!"

Siqikang’s eyes lit up instantly! !
The wasp on the table looked like a larva that had not yet broken out of its shell. Although it had almost grown, it still made no movement of flying into the sky.

(End of this chapter)