World War: Battleship Arms Dealers

"Overall, today was good," he said. "The machine gun squad performed especially well. Zhou Afu, you suppressed seven firing positions, reloaded five times, and didn't jam even once. What does that show? It shows that the guns we made ourselves are reliable."

He walked over to Zhou Afu and picked up the Lewis machine gun.

"The design of this gun was based on the requirements personally set by the President: it had to be lightweight, accurate, reliable, and easy to maintain. Our engineers at the arsenal revised it seventeen times before finalizing it. The steel used is from our special steel plant, and the tolerances of the parts are controlled within 0.05 millimeters. That's why it doesn't jam and is accurate."

He returned the gun to Zhou Afu:

"Having good equipment is a blessing, but it's also a responsibility. If you have such a good gun in your hands and can't shoot accurately or suppress the enemy, then it's a waste, it's a crime."

"Understood!" Zhou Afu answered loudly.

"Alright, dismissed! Extra meat for dinner tonight, two extra ounces each!"

The soldiers cheered. Zhou Afu carried the machine gun back, the barrel still hot, but his heart was warm.

He recalled that three months ago, when he was carrying bags at the Chaozhou dock, he never dreamed that he would be able to touch a gun, let alone that he had made the gun himself.

Now, he not only got his hands on it, but he also used it to "win" a battle.

During dinner that evening, Li Wen sat down with his bowl and said mysteriously, "Afu, guess what news I heard this afternoon?"

"What?"

"Next month, we're going to hold a full-scale military exercise and invite foreign military attachés to watch," Li Wen said in a low voice. "Germans, French, British, and also from Chile, Argentina, and Brazil, all of them will come."

"What are you looking at?"

"Look at our equipment, look at our training." Li Wen's eyes lit up. "The instructor said this is to demonstrate our strength and let the countries that buy our ships know that our army is not bad either."

Zhou Afu chewed on his steamed bun and thought for a moment: "Then we have to train even harder. We can't lose face in front of outsiders."

"Yes!" Li Wen nodded vigorously. "Then we'll show those foreigners that we Chinese aren't just good at building warships, we can also build guns and cannons, and we can fight wars!"

The two touched bowls together, like clinking glasses.

Outside the window, the searchlights of the training base were on, illuminating the night sky as if it were daytime. In the distance, sporadic gunfire could be heard from the firing range again—someone was practicing extra.

In this desert, a brand new army is taking shape.

Using guns made by ourselves, bullets produced by ourselves, and tactical ideas of our own.

Zhou Afu didn't know what the future held, but he knew that the machine gun in his hand could protect everything he wanted to protect.

This is enough.

At 5:00 AM on May 26, 1910, the viewing platform at the training base.

It wasn't fully light yet, but the reviewing stand was already packed with people. To the left were military attachés and observers from various countries, to the right were Lanfang military and political officials, and in the center on the platform sat Chen Feng, Wang Wenwu, Liu Yongfu, and others.

Zhou Afu stood in the preparation area below the viewing platform, his palms sweating profusely. His machine gun squad had been selected to participate in today's "firepower demonstration," where they would be firing at targets in front of hundreds of foreigners.

"Are you nervous?" asked Squad Leader Wang Tiezhu.

"A little," Zhou Afu honestly admitted.

"It's normal to be nervous." The squad leader checked his equipment. "But remember, you're not fighting for yourself today, you're fighting for Lanfang. Those foreigners are watching, to see if our homemade guns are any good, to see if our soldiers know how to use them."

"clear."

"Have you memorized the structure of the machine gun?"

"I've memorized them. I can disassemble and reassemble them even with my eyes closed. There are thirty-four main parts."

"Okay." The squad leader patted him on the shoulder. "Then go up and let them see."

At six o'clock in the morning, Chen Feng walked to the microphone. He was wearing a dark gray Zhongshan suit today, without any military rank insignia, but his back was ramrod straight.

"Distinguished guests, welcome to the Lanfang 1st Army Division Training Base." His voice resounded throughout the venue through the loudspeaker. "All the equipment on display today—from rifles to artillery, from radios to bicycles—is entirely developed and manufactured independently by Lanfang. We believe that a modern army must be built on the foundation of an independent defense industry."

German, French, English, and Spanish interpreters provided almost simultaneous translation. Military attachés from various countries listened attentively, some taking notes, others observing the troops on the field through binoculars.

"Now, the firepower demonstration begins."

The first project: Squad and platoon level light weapons shooting.

Zhou Afu's machine gun squad, along with five other squads, moved into the firing position. Three hundred meters away, twenty human-shaped targets were simultaneously erected.

"Ready—" came the company commander's order.

Zhou Afu took a deep breath, braced his shoulder against the butt of the gun, and lightly touched the trigger with his right index finger.

"shooting!"

"Da da da da da—"

Six machine guns opened fire simultaneously, their gunfire merging into a storm-like roar. Shell casings cascaded down like a golden waterfall, and smoke quickly billowed out.

Twenty seconds later, the gunfire abruptly stopped. In the distance, the target marker waved a flag: all twenty targets had been torn to shreds by bullets.

A low murmur arose from the reviewing stand. The German military attaché and his colleague conversed rapidly, the French military attaché jotted down notes in his notebook, and the British military attaché raised his binoculars to examine the targets closely.

"High rate of fire, small dispersion," the British military attaché said to his colleague beside him.

"Check the reload time," the German military attaché said.

On the field, Zhou Afu and his comrades had already begun changing their drum magazines. According to regulations, they had to complete three reloadings within one minute and continue firing.

"Reload!"

Zhou Afu pressed the stopcock, the empty drum magazine dropped, the new drum magazine was loaded, he pulled the bolt, aimed, and fired. The whole process took five seconds.

"Second reload!"

Four seconds.

"Third reload!"

three seconds.

All three machine guns resumed firing simultaneously, providing almost uninterrupted firepower.

"My God..." a Chilean military attaché murmured, "That reload speed..."

"Their drum magazine catch design is ingenious." The Argentine military attaché is a firearms expert. "It can be operated with one hand, unlike our machine guns which require two hands."

The second project: Company-level heavy firepower support.

Twelve heavy machine guns were brought into the field. Each machine gun weighs 25 kilograms, uses a 250-round belt, has a rate of fire of 450 rounds per minute, and an effective range of 1500 meters. Its most distinctive design feature is its water-cooled sleeve, which can be quickly replaced, preventing the water from boiling over after prolonged firing.

"Target: Bunker model 800 meters away, fire!"

Twelve tongues of fire erupted, and bullets swept across the target like a storm of metal. The wooden bunker model was riddled with holes in seconds before collapsing with a crash.

"Continuous shooting test!"

The heavy machine guns began firing continuously, each expending three ammunition belts, for a total of 750 rounds. During the firing process, not a single machine gun experienced jamming or overheating.

"The water cooling system is very efficient," the French military attaché said to General Dubois beside him. "Our Hotchkiss machine guns need their water changed after firing 500 rounds, while theirs can fire more than 700." (According to Baidu, the French had this as early as 1909, but it's unclear if this is accurate.)

Dubois nodded: "And it's ten kilograms lighter. That means better maneuverability."

The third item: Artillery firepower demonstration.

Twenty-four 75mm infantry guns were pulled into the arena by horses. Each gun weighed 600 kilograms and could be pulled by six horses or disassembled into six parts for soldiers to carry. It had a maximum range of eight kilometers and a rate of fire of fifteen rounds per minute. (Miss France)

"Rapid firing, thirty seconds!"

The gunners moved in perfect unison: loading, locking, and firing. The whistling of shells leaving the breech blended together, and plumes of smoke rose from the target area three kilometers away.

Thirty seconds later, the twenty-four cannons fired a total of one hundred and twenty shells.

"Accuracy Test!"

Artillery observers used the "Guanshan-2" artillery telescope to observe the impact points and then reported the corrected parameters to the command post. The gunners quickly adjusted the firing angles, and in the second round of firing, the dispersion radius of the impact points was reduced by forty percent.

"Their fire control calculations are very fast," the German military attaché frowned. "From observation to correction, it takes less than twenty seconds. We need at least a minute."

"Look at that artillery scope," the British military attaché said. "It has at least twenty times magnification and a built-in rangefinder reticle. The optical glass is probably made by them, and it's no worse than our Zeiss."

The fourth project: Communication and Collaboration Exercises.

An infantry company was suppressed by "enemy" artillery fire during an attack. Signalman Li Wen quickly set up his "Tingfeng-1" radio and requested artillery support from the rear.

"Red 3 calling for Thunder, coordinates: 25°12′N, 55°18′E, requesting fire support!"

Thirty seconds later, the roar of artillery fire came from afar. Six 105mm shells landed precisely on the "enemy" artillery position, sending up plumes of dust twenty meters high.

"Target destroyed, infantry advance!"

Throughout the entire process, radio communication was clear and interference-free, and the artillery's reaction time from the call to the shell landing was less than two minutes.

"Their radios..." the American military attaché said, removing his headset, "are only half the size of ours, but have a much longer communication range. And they use shortwave, which makes them more resistant to interference."

"How long does the battery last?" someone next to me asked.

"The instruction manual says it can be used continuously for eight hours. The spare battery can be fast charged, fully charging in two hours."