African Nationhood

Xinhu Town, a suburb of Jianye (now Harare, Zimbabwe).

The signboard of "Jianye Metal Processing Factory" has become a little dim.

But the scene inside this factory is full of excitement, clanking, and everyone is busy.

Liang Baoyou, the former first-class gunsmith of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, once again returned to his acquaintances. The difference was that because he came early, he was ahead of his former workers in rank and became the foreman of the gun casting workshop here.

Although there are many people who despise this person, but his rank is there, it is not easy to scorn him.

In addition, after Liang Baoyou arrived in Nanhua, he became more pragmatic and willing to work.

The family even has three wives and concubines, all of whom are foreign women. In his words, they are very good-looking foreign women.

Now that he has a large group of children, it doesn't matter if he refuses to do it. He cannot let his children suffer poverty in the future.

Therefore, although he has a higher rank, he never bosses around his former co-workers.

First, the "equality for all" here in Nanhua means that people should respect and love each other.

Second, if he wants to get more bonuses, he needs everyone's cooperation. Only by doing a good job can he get more bonuses.

These craftsmen all came from the Qing Dynasty. Isn’t the craftsman who is willing to come here a human spirit?

They all know that "it's hard to do a good job, but it's easy to do a bad job."

And when they come here, they all rush to be "masters".

They have indeed become "superiors" when they come here, because they are all skilled craftsmen and can take care of their apprentices when they come here.

If you have a disciple, you can enjoy the service and respect of the disciple, but you can't do it if you want to dominate.

Because the rules here are: apprentices respect and serve their masters out of ancient etiquette, and teachers must also have teacher ethics.

If anyone does not know what is good or bad and is not a human being, he will be punished by his own laws.

Once punished by the official, not only will he lose his face, but he will also lose the qualification to lead a disciple.

If a craftsman is not qualified to take on apprentices, he will be no different from an ordinary worker. If he cannot take on apprentices, he will not receive additional subsidies. In this way, the difference in monthly income will be very obvious.

……

After Liang Baoyou came here to become a foreman, he could also see how everyone felt about him from everyone's eyes.

In order to prevent everyone from focusing on him, he immediately began to implement the "group attack piece system" he learned in the 621 Factory in the artillery workshop.

Teams work on key projects, which means that each time a project is completed, there will be different bonuses.

Teams are formed by themselves, and when calculating bonuses, they are distributed according to their contribution. Those with strong individual skills will receive more bonuses.

Many craftsmen take their apprentices to form research teams, so that the master's income increases even more, while the apprentices can learn the craft and earn extra income.

After the apprentice has mastered the craft, he can apply to the master to leave and form a new group.

Under normal circumstances, the master will not prevent the apprentice from leaving, because if the master wants to pursue more bonuses, he cannot keep the apprentice in the group, otherwise it will easily cause a conflict of interest.

With the implementation of the group research system, everyone is very motivated and has no time to be selfish. After all, money is more important.

The current project in the artillery workshop is to cast a multifunctional mountain gun.

This kind of mountain gun should be lightweight, easy to transport, and can be broken down to facilitate rapid passage in places with poor marching environments.

At the same time, it must be able to use the latest hydraulic retraction device, and it must also be able to shoot in both curved and direct directions. After all, it is multi-functional.

Such a mountain gun is a combination of a mortar and a mountain gun, which places high demands on the steel of the barrel.

After all, mountain guns require accuracy and must have rifling. With rifling, the bore pressure will be very high.

Most mortars are smoothbore, and the requirements for steel do not need to be too high. However, the shooting angle required by mortars is very high, and it cannot be too low, otherwise it will not meet the design requirements.

After the artillery workshop received the research request, they discussed grouping.

The design drawings of this kind of artillery are easy to get, but the steel for casting the artillery is not easy to come up with.

After all, the chamber pressure of high-explosive grenades is very high, and if the steel is not up to standard, it will be a disaster for the artillery. Fortunately, Nanhua reached an agreement with Germany and obtained relevant military secrets on the warship.

The craftsmen of Jianye Metal got inspiration from the smelting formula of high-permeability steel on German warship armor and began research on new high-strength steel.

Soon the craftsmen here obtained the ideal high-manganese steel. The barrel cast from this steel is strong and durable, and the rifling can also last for a long time, so that the barrel does not need to be replaced frequently.

In the past, most of the steel smelted from the manganese ore mined in Nanhua was used in rails and bridges. However, after the Germans' high-permeability carbon steel armor became available, Jianye Metal thought of using high manganese steel to cast gun barrels.

However, the smelting of high manganese steel is not accomplished overnight. It requires a lot of experiments to determine the final content ratio.

(Original time and space: In 1882, the British were the first to discover the secret that adding manganese to the smelting of molten steel could make the steel more wear-resistant. They used the alloy steel with manganese added in the smelting of rails. No one thought of using this alloy steel. To forge artillery.

In 1905, an engineer at the Krupp factory in Germany accidentally learned the secret of the wear resistance of rails, so he thought of using this high-manganese steel in gun barrel casting.

So the engineer persuaded the Krupp factory to buy the British patent, and after some experiments, the material ratio of high manganese steel was finally determined.

Then, the quality of high-carburized armor and artillery produced by Krupp was greatly improved. Only by studying Krupp's products did countries around the world discover the secret of high-manganese steel. )
After more than half a year of casting, Jianye Metal finally cast a multi-functional mountain cannon that meets the design requirements.

The weight of this steel cannon is 0.45 tons (weight with shield)
Caliber: 75mm
Total gun length: 3.25 meters

Total gun height: 0.85 meters (with shield)
High and low shooting angle: -10 degrees to +75 degrees

Range of shooting: 4~5 degrees left and right

Type of ammunition: 75mm high-explosive bomb/shrapnel/smoke bomb

Bomb weight: 4.5 kg (high explosive bomb)

Shell muzzle velocity: 218 meters/second

Maximum range: 3288 meters

Minimum range: 100 meters

……

Facing such an artillery piece, everyone was very satisfied. After all, this artillery piece was lightweight enough and could be decomposed.

However, it must be transported by animal power or mechanical vehicles, not human power.

After receiving the report from Jianye Metal, the Military Ministry immediately sent an acceptance team to inspect the metal.

After the acceptance inspection, the acceptance team was generally satisfied.

But they put forward higher requirements for this multi-functional mountain cannon, requiring the weight to be reduced by half so that it could be carried by manpower.

After listening to the opinions of the acceptance team, Liang Baoyou was almost so angry that he shut himself down, but he couldn't lose his composure.

After all, everyone is watching. If his leader collapses, then he will not be able to do the next work.

"According to the requirements of the acceptance team, we can only reduce the weight as much as possible by reducing the caliber, wheel height and barrel of the artillery."

The speech of a craftsman was recognized by everyone.

Liang Baoyou nodded in agreement, "I told your opinions to the people in the acceptance team, and they said the same thing, so what we have to do next is to reduce the weight of the artillery until it meets the requirements.

At the same time, I also want to tell you that the military bonus for this project has been set, which is 20 yuan. Everyone, listen up. 20 yuan, how many acres of land can this buy? Come on! "

The craftsmen in the artillery workshop became excited when they heard the 20 yuan, and they all shouted, "Get on with it, these 20 yuan belong to my group!"

Someone next to me was dissatisfied, "Fart, it's my group."

……

Liang Baoyou couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he looked at the workers in full swing, and sighed that money is such a good thing!
A month later, the brand new multifunctional mountain gun was successfully cast. This time the weight of the gun was reduced by a full 200 kilograms.

The barrel diameter was reduced to 70 mm, and the gun height was also reduced to 0.62 meters. Various reductions resulted in the artillery's attack distance being reduced by several hundred meters.

The acceptance team compared the data given above and immediately declared this multi-functional mountain gun qualified, and took advantage of the situation to name the artillery SP-09. (End of chapter)