Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 131 Getting to the bottom of things
Everyone present was a seasoned veteran, and upon hearing the gunshot, they immediately understood the difference between this gun and a regular bolt-action rifle.

Li Zongren turned to Su Yaoyang and said, "Mingxi, can I take a look at this gun?"

"of course can."

Su Yaoyang turned around and asked the second lieutenant in charge to bring a rifle and two rows of bullets, which he then handed to Li Zongren.

Li Zongren took the rifle, casually weighed it in his hand, and said with some surprise, "This rifle is a bit heavy?"

The Garand rifle weighed 4.5 kilograms unloaded, which was about one kilogram heavier than the Type 38, Type 24, and Mauser rifles of the same period.

This weight may seem insignificant at first glance, but it would be a burden for soldiers to carry for a long time. As a veteran soldier, Li Zongren was well aware of this.

He glanced at the rifle again, skillfully loaded the bullets, and pulled the trigger at the target in front of him.

"Bang bang bang... Ding..."

After a series of muffled and rapid gunshots, there was a crisp sound of a magazine popping out of the magazine.

Li Zongren didn't say anything. He picked up several more magazines and fired dozens of bullets in succession. For a moment, the only sound on the shooting range was the sound of his gun firing.

"What a gun!"

Li Zongren let out a long sigh before returning the gun to the lieutenant, and said with emotion, "Now I understand why your security regiment was able to make the Japanese run away in panic at Taierzhuang. It turns out you issued a machine gun to every soldier."

"Yes," Bai Chongxi, who was standing next to him, asked curiously, "Is this gun an American product? What is its rate of fire?"

"Sir, this is an American-made M1 Garand rifle with an eight-round magazine. It is 7.62 caliber, has an effective range of 400 meters, and a theoretical maximum rate of fire of 40 to 50 rounds per minute."

"What about the actual rate of fire?" Bai Chongxi continued to ask.

"The actual rate of fire is around thirty rounds," Su Yaoyang replied.

A low gasp of surprise rose from the surrounding crowd.

Everyone here is used to leading troops, so of course they know that bolt-action rifles like the Type 38 and Mauser have a rate of fire of at most five to eight rounds per minute. Compared to the Garand rifle, that rate of fire is worlds apart.

Why did you decide to equip your unit with this rifle?

"Because it has a high rate of fire and is sturdy and reliable," Su Yaoyang explained. "As you know, our security regiment is small in number and lacks generals, and the individual skills of our soldiers are far inferior to those of the Japanese army."

Just like Japanese soldiers, armed with Type 38 rifles, they could basically hit their targets at around 400 meters. If the distance was changed to 200 meters, they could basically hit the target every time.

Of course, I'm referring to stationary targets.

If we want to fight against the Japanese army, we have to be ingenious, play to our strengths and avoid our weaknesses, and use our speed advantage to counter the Japanese army's precision shooting.

And as it turns out, this approach has proven quite effective.

Bai Chongxi sighed softly: "This rifle is good, but its rate of fire is too high."

This is certainly an advantage, but it is also a disadvantage.

Our soldiers each carry an average of only thirty rounds of ammunition. If we were to switch to these rifles, we'd run out of bullets in a minute, and then we'd have to fight the Japanese with bayonets.

The generals nodded repeatedly. Who but a nouveau riche would dare equip their soldiers with such wasteful rifles? Li Zongren suddenly smiled and looked at Su Yaoyang: "Mingxi, you still haven't delivered the cannons you promised me last time."

Su Yaoyang laughed, "Sir, please forgive me. I've been too busy these days, so I haven't been able to deliver it to you."

"But don't worry, I wouldn't dare renege on my debt to anyone else. Your twenty-four cannons have already been prepared and are over at the artillery camp. Would you like to go and take a look?"

"Hahaha..." All the generals burst into laughter.

Li Zongren waved his hand, "Since that's the case, then this old man won't stand on ceremony... Let's go... let's go take a look. Mingxi, you lead the way quickly."

After saying that, he took the lead and walked ahead.

Su Yaoyang chuckled helplessly and quickly walked up to him to lead the way.

More than ten minutes later, the group arrived at the artillery camp behind.

Unlike the bustling infantry battalion, the artillery battalion's camp, though not small, was noticeably less crowded, making the vast camp quite quiet.

When Li Zongren and his entourage arrived at the artillery camp, they saw hundreds of artillerymen gathered around several cannons in the open space of the camp, listening to two officers explaining the data of the M2A1 cannon to the soldiers.

The midday sun shone on the open ground of the camp, casting very short shadows of hundreds of artillerymen.

Li Zongren squinted and saw two officers standing beside the artillery, holding data manuals and explaining in loud voices. The soldiers were arranged in several circles, some squatting, some standing, listening attentively, with some occasionally jotting down notes in their notebooks.

The cannon's metallic surface reflected an orange-red light, and its barrel pointed straight to the sky, exuding a cold and majestic aura.

The air was filled with a faint smell of machine oil and gunpowder, mixed with the sweat of the soldiers.

“我们这款火炮的全称叫做M2A1型榴弹炮，口径105毫米，全重2.2吨。看见这个液压缓冲器没有？后坐行程足足1.2米！
Its range is also among the world's best, with a maximum range of 11 kilometers and a muzzle velocity of 472 meters per second.

The officer suddenly grabbed a training round; the brass casing gleamed dangerously in the sunlight. "Remember this designation: M1,"

He rubbed the primer groove with his thumb. "The explosive charge is 2.18 kilograms, enough to turn a concrete fortification within 300 meters into a sieve."

At this point, he turned and glanced at the artillerymen around him. "Now, who will repeat the firing table data?"

Only heavy breathing could be heard on the training ground, and the shadows cast by the cannon barrels resembled a dividing line carved into the ground.

"What... no one's answering?" The officer was about to get angry when he saw Su Yaoyang standing not far away, smiling at them, along with a group of big shots beside him.

Upon seeing a large group of high-ranking officers wearing general's stars standing behind him, the officer immediately shuddered, stopped his explanation, and shouted, "Attention, everyone!"

"crash"

After saying that, he jogged up to Su Yaoyang, saluted him and Li Zongren, and said loudly, "Reporting to officers, Zhang Zhihao, the battalion commander of the artillery battalion of the Nanjing Security Regiment, is explaining the artillery data to the gunners. Please give instructions!"

"You speak well!" Li Zongren nodded with a smile, looked Zhang Zhihao up and down, "I know you. Your name is Zhang Zhihao. You graduated from the Artillery Department of the Central Military Academy and served as an artillery company commander in the 48th Division."

“The officer is absolutely right.” Zhang Zhihao couldn’t help but be a little surprised.

Su Yaoyang, standing to the side, felt a chill run down his spine. Li Zongren knew so much about his own artillery battalion commander that it seemed his troops had been thoroughly investigated long ago.

(End of this chapter)