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Author: Linjiangjun

After Pan Aqiang opened fire with the machine gun, he was stunned on the spot.

I have never seen a weapon like a machine gun. If I were on the battlefield, I would not be able to imagine the speed at which a machine gun can harvest enemies.

Especially enemies with dense weapon formations, such as large-scale charging cavalry. If they encounter machine guns, they will be moving targets.

When Zhu Kezang saw the performance of the machine gun, he excitedly applauded: "Cannon is not the god of war, but machine gun is the king of war. With machine guns, Ming Dynasty will be invincible."

Su Laocheng said: "Your Majesty is so talented that he can actually invent such a miraculous weapon!"

But when he came from the east, Su Laocheng said something rather mysterious.

"Bidong, please don't get too excited. The most sought-after secret weapon has not been revealed yet!"

"oh?"

Zhu Kezang raised his eyebrows. The effect of the leg-swinging machine gun was already explosive. Is there really a weapon that is more shocking than it?

Krupp Su Laocheng wiped the sweat from his forehead and asked the technical workers on the side.

"What's going on? Have their tanks started?"

"Uncle, when the chariot just started, there seems to be a small problem with the boiler. It is being re-inspected..."

A technical worker on the side reminded him quietly.

"Damn it, tell them to speed up, Bidong is waiting to see..."

Hearing this, Su Laocheng gritted his teeth and urged.

What was originally a good opportunity for him to fill the cup turned out to be a mess!

Just like that, they kept waiting for more than an hour. Finally, when Zhu Kezang, who was a little bored waiting, yawned, a rumble sounded from one side, but he saw, at some point, in the distance.

There is an empty space in.

A huge and ferocious steel behemoth appeared.

"he goes!"

Zhu Kezang was so shocked for the first time since he traveled through the Ming Dynasty.

Because he saw a tank coming slowly!

The bottom is densely packed with track structures made of steel.

The strong soldiers inside waved shovels and added the coal in the compartment at the rear of the car body to the coal-fired boiler, letting the steam engine generate power to drive the crawler tracks forward slowly!

That's a steam tank!

The outside is a thick steel shell full of rivets, which looks extremely strong. On the inside are two nine-pound breech-loading rifled cannons.

At the same time, there are holes on the front, back, left and right.

If Zhu Kezang read it correctly, he is pretending to be a leg-cranking machine gun!

The entire chariot is about twenty meters long and an astonishing seven or eight meters wide!

It's quite shocking to see it.

If we talk about its principle, it relies on the power of a steam engine to install a steering device that has no hydraulic assistance and requires several people to use all their strength to turn the steering wheel at the same time to make the steering, and then uses hardwood to make it as light as possible.

Made a frame!

Why use wood? Because the steam power is insufficient, the all-steel structure cannot be opened!

Su Laocheng used a sandwiched wooden shell with cotton sandwiched between the wood, and then used rivets to cover the wooden shell with a thin layer of armor.

The thickness of the armor is not thick, but it is more than enough to defend against the fire of a three-pounder gun and a six-pounder gun.

The planks of a wooden sail battleship can also withstand the shells of those small cannons, let alone if it is covered with iron armor.

But such a steel behemoth has a dozen people crammed inside, including cannon legs, machine gun legs, coal diggers, and rudder legs.

Many of the soldiers inside didn't even have room to move or turn.

And it's quite sultry. There are two high-frequency running steam engines and a burning blast furnace. Isn't it hot?

The first steam tank of the Ming Dynasty was also very slow, probably not even reaching a speed of ten kilometers per hour.

The speed is slow and the speed is scary.

No one would be shocked if they saw such a thing on the battlefield.

In addition, if you risk the boiler being scrapped, you may be able to run at top speed for a short period of time.

But such extreme speed will not last long before the boiler will stop running due to overheating.

Thanks to the Krupp breech-loading cannon, please excuse me for blocking the cannon. The tank is really in no shape.

Because every time a cannon is fired, the cannon legs have to be loaded outside, so why not take off your pants and fart!

But the breech-loading cannon is different. The cannon legs can be safely hidden inside and loaded, which is not only high-power, but also very safe.

Based on the knowledge of later generations, Zhu Kezang did not think that steam chariots had any future. Steam-powered mechanical vehicles had already appeared in previous lives.

But if steam-powered tanks have never appeared on the battlefield, there is certainly a reason.

It’s not that people haven’t tried it, but it’s that it’s never been successful!

Because the thermal efficiency of the steam engine is too small, its power is limited within a certain weight and volume. It can barely drive the steam engine mechanism and the basic structure of the car body, and it is impossible to install thick armor and heavy artillery.

At the same time, the battery life of the steam tank is poor because the steam engine has a relatively large demand for coal and water. If the battery life cannot be guaranteed, it must bring a large amount of coal and fresh water to increase the load.

I am already lacking in power and it is really uncomfortable to install so many things.

Therefore, even if the power of steam engines could be very high during World War I, and even if they could be miniaturized, no one would still build a steam tank.

During World War I, the Americans also thought about designing and manufacturing tanks powered by steam engines, but they still failed.

If it were really designed and manufactured, the steam tank would still have very poor survivability and attack capabilities on the battlefield, as it would be huge in size, move slowly, have almost zero armor, and have weak firepower.

It’s simply a moving target!

Not to mention World War I, even if it were the Franco-Prussian War before World War I, the firepower was very fierce. Various rifled guns and high-explosive bombs appeared one after another, and there was no room for steam tanks to survive.

Of course, there might have been a market for steam tanks in the seventeenth century.

But Zhu Kezang didn't want to waste Ming Dynasty's industrial production on steam tanks.

"Bidong, that kind of chariot is simply unromantic for men!"

Pan Aqiang, the army general, took one look at it and was completely obsessed with the steam tank.

At this time, looking at the ferocious steel behemoth, it was obvious that any soldier would be conquered by the majesty it displayed.

"Bidong, with such an invincible chariot, our Ming army can crush any enemy like Buli!"

Pan Aqiang said confidently.

"Hadron, they can crush other enemies without chariots."

Zhu Kezang looked at the enthusiastic Pan Aqiang and couldn't help but remind him.

The steam tank designer next to him, Su Laocheng, also reminded: "Well, General Pan, that tank will need to be a little longer before it can be used in actual combat."

He wiped the sweat from his forehead. That thing is very impractical now, otherwise something will happen.

Su Laocheng quickly changed the subject and introduced: "Look, Bidong, their General Administration of Manufacturing calls it a self-propelled artillery tanker!"
Chapter completed!