Datang: What's wrong with my fief being a billion points larger?

Chapter 373: Howitzer is born, plane crashes at airport

Li Yuanji looked at the heavy machine gun and semi-automatic rifle on the table and became very interested. Shooting a gun seemed to be quite good.

"Yes, this gun is very well made. I want to try it myself."

Li Yuanji first picked up the semi-automatic rifle. Liu San immediately asked someone to bring the magazine. All the bullets were loaded. Li Yuanji loaded them, turned on the safety, and started aiming directly at the target in front.

Bang bang bang.
Continuous rhythmic gunshots rang out. Li Yuanji did not shoot continuously, but single shots. However, the frequency was still very high, and he soon emptied the magazine.

But after all the bullets were fired, someone had already brought the target over. Seeing this, Li Yuanji immediately laughed.

"It seems that my shooting skills are still pretty good. I hit all the targets."

"Your Majesty's skills are more than good, you are a perfect marksman. You can hit the target at a distance of a full 100 meters, and all of them are above the seventh ring. Your Majesty is still as powerful as ever."

Li Yuanji listened to the praise from the people around him and just smiled. He was very clear about his own level.

At a distance of one hundred meters, although he was using machine aim and his shots were all above seven rings, his accuracy was actually very good, but it was still far from that of a sharpshooter, who could achieve above nine rings at two hundred meters. His accuracy could only be considered above average in the military.

In today's army, after years of training and countless bullets, everyone has very high shooting skills, because there are requirements in the military.

After trying the semi-automatic rifle, Li Yuanji immediately had his men set up the heavy machine gun and start loading it. The magazine of the heavy machine gun held up to fifty rounds of bullets.

Everything was ready, Li Yuanji came to the heavy machine gun and started shooting directly.

As the heavy machine gun began to shake, the bullets were quickly emptied. Li Yuanji estimated that it was less than ten seconds. At least he only felt it was a few breaths. As long as he held the trigger, fifty bullets were gone in the blink of an eye.

As for the recoil, it is not that big because of the bracket, but the shaking is very obvious. The rate of fire is also very fast, and as for the accuracy, it depends on luck. This thing mainly relies on quantity.

"How long does it take for this heavy machine gun to cool down?"

After trying it, Li Yuanji asked Liu San who was standing beside him. Now he didn’t know how durable this heavy machine gun was, but no matter what, it was at least a breakthrough.

After all, he no longer had any investment contribution points in the field of firearms. He mainly proposed ideas and drew some structures that came to his mind, and then handed them over to the Firearms Bureau for research and development and manufacturing.

With this heavy machine gun, the suppression force on the battlefield will be stronger and can provide more powerful firepower support. Especially with this thing, the role of cavalry will be reduced again.

And even if there are no heavy artillery, as long as there is this heavy machine gun, you can have an absolute advantage in fighting. It is a powerful weapon whether in attack or defense.

Liu San responded quickly: "Your Majesty, if this heavy machine gun is fired continuously, it will need to be cooled down every five minutes, and the cooling time takes two minutes. If the battle situation is urgent, it can be used directly after cooling down with water.

However, after cooling down, it needs to be cleaned and maintained after the battle, so that the heavy machine gun can perform at its best. "

Li Yuanji nodded, looked at the heavy machine gun as if he was lost, and spoke immediately.

"Let someone try it now, and keep beating until it needs to cool down."

"Yes, Your Majesty, please move away from me."

Liu San agreed immediately, and then had someone bring several boxes of ammunition, all of which were bullets. He began to load the magazines until all the bullets were loaded. The heavy machine gun operator took his position, and someone next to him was responsible for loading the bullets.

Li Yuanji watched from behind until the barrel of the gun became hot and there was a slight lag in the shooting, and then it began to cool down.

Li Yuanji estimated the time. It was more than the five minutes Liu San said. It was almost six minutes. Moreover, this was the case when the heavy machine gun did not stop at all. If it was not so crowded and had a few minutes of idle time, the duration would probably be longer.

When the water cooled down, Li Yuanji immediately looked at Liu San.

"Don't stop, keep shooting."

Liu San was stunned, and immediately did as he was told and started shooting again. This time he continued shooting for about three minutes, firing thousands of bullets and leaving a pile of bullet shells on the ground.

After watering again, they started shooting again. This time it only lasted for more than a minute, but they still fired hundreds of bullets.

Finally, Li Yuanji asked Liu San to stop and looked at Liu San.

"This heavy machine gun is good, but it can be improved. Its performance can be improved so that it can shoot longer. This is what you need to do.

In addition, for cooling, you can consider putting a bucket of water under the barrel, or develop a coolant. It is up to you to decide the details. You can ask scientific research institutes for help with the coolant.

But for this heavy machine gun, you should first produce a batch and equip the army, and then you can consider improving it."

Although there are flaws, the merits outweigh the flaws. Today, it is completely sufficient. At least now this heavy machine gun can fire at least 3,000 bullets before it misfires. This number is already very impressive.

Moreover, it is basically impossible for such a fierce war to happen nowadays. In the future, the Firearms Bureau will naturally be able to develop better machine guns.

But now this is extremely scarce in the military and must be used as soon as possible.

Liu San responded one after another, and then said: "Your Majesty, I have noted that today, in addition to these two types of firearms, there have also been certain breakthroughs in artillery. The howitzer you mentioned has been developed."

Li Yuanji's eyes lit up. After so many years, the howitzer was finally developed. This was a real killing weapon on the battlefield.

"Come on, take me to see it."

Liu San immediately took Li Yuanji to the outside of the city. The cannon testing site was not inside the city. If it was placed inside the city, the cannon would hit itself when it was fired.

Arriving at the artillery testing ground outside the city, Li Yuanji saw the standing howitzers as soon as he entered, and he couldn't take his eyes off them.

It doesn't look that big, but Li Yuanji is very clear that this thing is very powerful.

Looking at the muzzle, it is about 125 mm, which can be considered a heavy artillery. Moreover, it is 125 mm now, and a larger caliber in the future is not a dream and can be produced.

Li Yuanji looked at Liu San and asked him to start shooting. He really wanted to see the effect.

As Li Yuanji gave the order, the gunner immediately began to operate, aiming at the target, loading the shells, then loading the cotton, and finally the barrel. After the filling was completed, the gunner pulled the wire, a loud bang was heard, and a cloud of dust rose around the cannon.

Li Yuanji could hear the loud noise even though he was far away. It was quite loud, but fortunately it went away quickly as it came.

Li Yuanji looked at the hill in front of him and saw a cloud of dust rising up. Li Yuanji knew that this was the explosion caused by the falling shells. Li Yuanji looked at this scene and was extremely satisfied. The power and appearance of this howitzer were in line with his imagination.

"Good, very good! Liu San, this howitzer must be produced quickly, and another one with a larger caliber must be made!"

Li Yuanji was in a very good mood and his excitement was visibly evident to the naked eye. Compared with the previous cannons, this howitzer was undoubtedly much better. Its power might not be as strong as the previous 150mm heavy artillery, but its range was very good, and it was relatively easier to carry and move than that cannon.

That kind of turret can only be used as a fixed one and is extremely difficult to move. This one is different. It can follow the truck wherever it wants to go. As long as the truck can move, it can go.

Li Yuanji came out of the Firearms Bureau, his face still full of excitement. He liked everything the Firearms Bureau took out this time. It was a pity that the progress was not as fast as before. It would take several years to produce a new one, and it would probably be even more difficult in the future.

In particular, the rocket launcher that he has always dreamed of, namely Katyusha, has not been produced yet. If it can be produced, he will be able to destroy the enemy with artillery fire when the war comes.

Now Li Yuanji is considering whether to use the system to exchange, but unfortunately there are really many places that need contribution points. Now he will save as much as possible on firearms, as other places require contribution points.

If there were no contribution points, how could the technology of the Tang Dynasty have advanced so rapidly today? All of this is thanks to Li Yuanji.

After returning to the palace, Li Yuanji opened the system. He now only had 350,000 contribution points. This amount of contribution points was considered a lot when he was still in Lingnan, but nowadays, it was a drop in the bucket, because the points that needed to be exchanged now would easily require more than a million points.

The more advanced the technology is, the more advanced technology he will need, and the more expensive it will be, which will form a cycle for him. This made Li Yuanji speechless for a moment.

Looking at the tasks again, the current task is to develop the population of Datang to 200 million. After completing the task, you can get 50 million contribution points.

Looking at these contribution points is indeed tempting, but he has been stuck on this task for three years. The good thing is that this task is finally going to be completed. Now the population of Datang is close to 200 million, with only a shortfall of more than 30 million.

Because it only counts if you are registered as a resident, and the Tang Dynasty’s territory is so large, the population base naturally increases, especially the new population, which has been exploding since six years ago.

It’s just that we haven’t counted the population for a year. Previously, there was a shortfall of more than 30 million, and we don’t know how much there is now. Anyway, it has not been completed. If it is reached, this task will be shown as completed.

Just then, Yang Jianhe walked in.

"Your Majesty, someone has come from the Research Institute and asked Your Majesty to go to the Research Institute. They said there has been a major breakthrough."

Li Yuanji immediately stood up and walked out with a smile on his face. Today was really a good day. First, the Firearms Bureau developed a new weapon, and then the Research Institute made a breakthrough.

Li Yuanji quickly came to the research institute, where Liu Mingsheng was already waiting.

"See Your Majesty."

"Get up, is there any breakthrough? Take me to see it."

Li Yuanji is now only concerned about what the research institute has produced. After all, nothing produced by the research institute will be a simple breakthrough.

Liu Mingsheng immediately said: "Your Majesty has mentioned the development of aircraft before, and now we have made some progress. Previously, we were unable to succeed mainly because of problems with the engine and propeller blades.

Now the propeller blades can be manufactured. Our ministers have mastered the machine tool technology and have now handed it over to the Iron Bureau for production, which has finished production very quickly.

In addition, there has been a breakthrough in the engine, mainly in terms of power usage. Previously, the power was not large enough to support it, but after this breakthrough, it should be possible.

Now the plane has been assembled, but it has not taken off yet. At this historic moment, I would like to invite Your Majesty to come and watch."

Li Yuanji was a little surprised when he heard what Liu Mingsheng said. In order to save contribution points, he only talked about what he knew about this plane and drew the blueprint of the first generation of propeller plane, but that was only the external part.

He handed over all the specific details of how to do it to the research institute. Unexpectedly, after nearly four years, the research institute actually developed this aircraft?
When developing aircraft now, Li Yuanji skipped the glider and started directly developing propeller planes. As for jet aircraft, Li Yuanji has not considered it at all because he does not have the technology. Li Yuanji thinks it is good enough to make the propeller plane first.

After hearing this, Li Yuanji couldn't help himself. He also wanted to see the developed aircraft.

"Okay! Take me there quickly!"

Liu Mingsheng then led the way in front, and Li Yuanji once again went out of the city until he came to a wide place. The surrounding woods had been cut down. A large but not too large airport appeared in front of Li Yuanji, with three runways.

He knew about this airport. He was the one who approved it in the first place. It was kept completely secret and only a limited number of people knew about it.

And at the airport, there was an airplane standing. Li Yuanji drove up to the plane. It looked huge, but not that big, and covered with nails. Li Yuanji really didn't like the appearance of the plane, but he had no choice.

He looked around and then went to the driver's seat to check. It was pretty much what he had imagined, so he got out.

Li Yuanji had no intention of testing this plane himself. If an accident happened, he would really die, and he didn't want that.

"Let someone start the experiment!"

Li Yuanji looked at Liu Mingsheng. He just wanted to see whether the plane could fly and whether there were any problems.

Liu Mingsheng then found someone, who was also from the research institute, to participate in the development of the aircraft.

As everything began to be prepared, Li Yuanji retreated to a far position at the rear and began to make room for the plane, also for his own safety.

After a while, all the people around the plane were cleared, and the pilot in the cockpit started to ignite the engine. As the engine started to run, the propeller blades began to rotate, and the plane gradually began to move.

As the pilot operated the plane, its speed became faster and faster, the propeller blades spun rapidly, and it began to run wildly on the runway.

Li Yuanji stared intently, feeling both excited and nervous.

As the speed increased, the plane slowly took off, and Li Yuanji's eyes became brighter and brighter.

Not only Li Yuanji, but everyone who saw it held their breath and watched intently.

However, something strange happened. After rising to some altitude, the plane could no longer rise any higher and rushed straight along the forest ahead.

Li Yuanji's pupils shrank as the plane could not take off. Suddenly, there was a loud bang and the middle and tail part of the plane where the engine was placed suddenly exploded. The plane crashed directly and rolled on the ground for a while until it fell apart.

"Go save people! Go put out the fire! Quick!"

(End of this chapter)