The sun never sets in America

Chapter 93 Domestic Construction

On an empty plain along the Han-Mexican border, a large number of workers wearing cowboy hats to block the sun were digging gravel on the ground.

After the gravel was excavated, a group of workers pulling carriages were responsible for collecting it and then piling the gravel to the designated place. It seemed that the two groups of people cooperated quite well.

"Foreman, there is a huge rock blocking the way." The worker wearing a rattan hat, sweating profusely, ran to the foreman in charge of supervising the work and said.

"Boulder?" The foreman was stunned for a moment, and then said: "Arrange the demolition team to blow it up." The foreman gave the order to blast the workers in front of him without hesitation.

"Yes, I'll arrange someone right away." The worker wearing a rattan hat immediately agreed and then trotted to the back to find the demolition team.

The so-called demolition team actually means that during the construction process, whenever they encounter areas that are difficult to pass, such as the current scene where huge boulders, rocks, and caves block the road, they will use explosives to blast them. And the workers who use explosives in this way will also Known as the Demolition Team.

boom……

With a loud noise, the boulder that blocked the road was instantly exploded and turned into countless smaller pieces of gravel.

Then it was taken away by workers coming from behind, with such a swift movement that only such a veteran engineering team could do it.

shhhhhhhhhh...

The Indian worker, with his bare upper body holding a shovel, shoveled away the dirt and gravel in front of him. There were hundreds of Indian workers like him, active on this [-]-kilometer long road, constantly digging and leveling the road. block, a stone and dirt road that will soon be defined as a war-ready highway.

"It's time to eat, it's time to eat..." The mixed-race cook took several apprentices and carried several large buckets of food to the open space of the construction site.

These Indian workers, who had just been working on the site, quickly dropped their tools and took out the rice bowls they had prepared from their bags.

Because this kind of rice bowl is simply fired, there are many tiny holes in the bowl, which are so densely packed that they look like craters on the moon... And this kind of ceramic rice bowl also has a resounding nickname. , that is the Workers Bowl.

The reason why it is called a worker's bowl is because this bowl is indeed large enough, more than three times the size of an ordinary household bowl. The mouth of the bowl is wide and deep. It does not look like it is for people to eat, but it is for people to eat. , the reason why it is so big is because workers do too much physical work and consume a lot, resulting in generally large appetites.

"You...yours." The mixed-race chef poured a pot of tomato and egg soup into the Indian worker's bowl in stumbling Mandarin. He learned this from a Chinese, and he doesn't know who invented this dish. , it tastes really good. (Liu Peng: What do you think??)
"This is the same." Then he put some fried pumpkin into a small plate. The land in America is still very suitable for growing pumpkins. After all, it is the origin of pumpkins.

"There are steamed buns over there, go and get them yourself, and eat as much as you can." After the mixed-race cook finished cooking, he pointed at the steamed buns in the other largest wooden barrel and instructed the Indian workers in front of him. After all, these workers work every day. How can you do such tiring work under the sun and not eat enough?

"Next one..." the mixed-race chef waited for the man to leave before continuing to shout.

After the meals were all finished, I saw the Indian workers sitting in groups under the trees on the roadside, eating their meals. The sound of clattering kept coming from under the trees.

For these Indian workers, eating is the most important thing. As for dining etiquette, what is that? Can they eat it? ?

"Gong Hu, today's food is okay, but it's not bison meat after all." Zhao Heng, the battalion commander of the Weiwei Battalion who is responsible for the safety of this section of the combat readiness road, is sitting on a chair made of wooden piles, enjoying the shade under the big tree while talking to the responsible person Hu Haoliang, the chief engineer of this section of highway construction, said, "Damn it, I ate so much bison meat some time ago that I haven't digested it yet. Now seeing vegetarian meat is like meeting my own mother." Zhao Heng picked it with chopsticks He picked up the tomatoes in the soup and said to Hu Haoliang with some emotion.

Before the road was built, the garrison had a very hard life. They basically had to grow vegetables by themselves. However, due to the local climate, many vegetables could not be grown, or if they were grown, they would go bad easily, so it was difficult to raise them. A few fat pigs began to get sick again. In the end, there was not a single pig left, and all of them died...

In the end, the pork was not eaten, and precious feed was used. In the end, nothing was obtained.

The best days during this period were when the engineering team came and brought a large amount of fresh ingredients from China, and delivered them here through rail carriages and the now gradually improved road network, relying on refrigerated transportation (so-called refrigerated transportation, It’s actually just ice cubes).

And because of the skills of the cooks in his army, he, a dignified battalion commander, went to the engineering team to eat every day, which was considered a precedent.

"Battle Commander Zhao, do you think there is any problem with this road? Will it work during the war?" Hu Haoliang didn't care about the food-related topics Zhao Heng just said. Instead, he pointed with his chopsticks to the front where work had been stopped but part of it had been leveled. Land, Zhao Heng asked the military's opinion. After all, this road was mainly used by the military. The military said no, they could tear it down and start over.

"It's okay. It should be possible to pass general military supplies." Zhao Heng looked at the gradually smoothing dirt road in front of him and replied to Hu Haoliang, "Does this road need to be paved with cement?" Zhao Heng pointed to the cement bag on the side. , asked Hu Haoliang.

"Yes, according to the plan above, heavy artillery, as well as war horses and draft horses must be arranged to pass. A layer of cement will be laid to make the run faster, so that once it rains, the entire road will not become muddy... ..." Hu Haoliang explained to Zhao Heng the reason for using cement.

In fact, in the final analysis, it still comes down to two words, speed! !
The Han Ministry of War's plan for future wars is to attack quickly and slowly, and to attack at multiple points.

And if you want to achieve speed on this rugged and muddy road, you need to build roads. In the words of a chief of staff under the Ministry of War: "Every road is our lifeline and our main artery. These roads are our lifeline and our main artery." The road determines the success or failure of this war!!"

In addition, a large number of ammunition depots are built on the border and at every road node in the rear. Once the war requires, the ammunition can be stored nearby and in the ammunition depots along the way... nearby support can be provided at any time. On the front line, there will not be a tragedy such as a shortage of ammunition at the front and delays in the delivery of ammunition at the rear...

According to the plan of the War Department, the keys to victory in this war are tactics, the quality of soldiers, and logistics.

In addition to this highway code-named 115, there are also a large number of combat readiness roads with different code names, but they all have one ultimate purpose, which is to help the army pass through as quickly as possible.

Of course, once the Mexicans break through the defense line, they can only destroy these roads. After all, these roads are an important guarantee for Han to attack the enemy, but they are also likely to become the most effective channel for the Mexicans to invade Han...

Therefore, war-ready roads built like this are good and bad and cannot be generalized. If they are in the hands of our own people, they are good; if they are in the hands of the enemy, they are bad.

"When does Battalion Commander Zhao think the war will start??" Hu Haoliang then asked Zhao Heng a very sensitive question at the time. After asking, he looked at Zhao Heng and wanted to know what his views on the war were.

"The war may be tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, but it cannot be today." Zhao Heng said, seemingly saying nothing, but also seeming to say everything, ambiguous nonsense.

"But I believe that we will win this war, just like the previous two wars." Zhao Heng replied to Hu Haoliang with confidence, his expression unusually firm.

"Why?" Hu Haoliang continued to ask Zhao Heng with twinkling eyes.

"Because there are us, you, and them." Zhao Heng pointed to himself, Hu Haoliang, and the Indian workers who were preparing to continue the construction. "Hu workers, we are not a piece of sand, Mexico is!!" Zhao Heng said in his tone. Confidence in Han and contempt for the Republic of Mexico.

"Then I wish the war is victorious and that Battalion Commander Zhao can return victoriously." Hu Haoliang picked up a glass of juice made from nearby mountain tangerines and said to Zhao Hengjing.

"When the war is over, I'm going to see the great country of this big man." Zhao Heng also picked up the juice and said back to Hu Haoliang, with a heroic expression on his face. ………………………………

Boom...boom...

The roar of the steam engine kept coming from the factory. On the somewhat mottled boring machine, gun barrels were lying, ready to be installed on the already prepared wooden structure of the gun body.

Skilled workers quickly splice the barrel and gun body, and then convey the spliced ​​musket to the rear through a sliding belt to workers preparing to test the gun. After the gun is qualified, it will be sent to the last place. The workers there smeared them with gun oil, put them into a cold wooden box with a lot of straw, and finally were prepared by the bookbinder to hammer in the nails.

In this way, a box of muskets marked with the 1840-style flintlock rifle was pushed to the basement on a cart by workers in the arsenal, ready to be delivered to the frontline troops at any time.

"There are a total of twelve boxes, a total of 240 Type [-] rifles." Outside the basement door where the arms are stored, several warehouse managers responsible for registration are writing the registration. The twelve boxes that were delivered have just been installed on them. Flintlock rifle.

"Sign here..." The guard in charge of registration handed the information in his hand to the workers who had just delivered the arms.

One of the leaders dipped his quill pen in ink and signed his name, then handed back the information in his hand.

During the whole process until they left, no one said a single word. This is also the rule of the military factory and other factories. Don't ask what you shouldn't ask, and don't say what you shouldn't say.

Anyway, just one sentence, learning to shut up is more important than anything else.

"I think we should transform the current muskets..." A young white man stood in a research room, discussing the current musket issues with a group of Chinese and mixed-race firearms experts. "We should make the muskets more effective." Far more powerful, instead of letting them continue... God, flintlock guns have been used for how many years, a century, or a year and a half. If they continue to be used, the whole world will not be able to stand it." The white man mentioned Flintlock gun, he gritted his teeth. In his opinion, such an ancient weapon actually dominated the weapons market of Han Dynasty and even the entire world...

It is even still the mainstream of war, which is undoubtedly a shame and a shame to mankind.

"I don't agree with your statement. I think the current range of muskets has reached its limit. It is a gun, not a cannon. It does not need to have such a high range..." A Chinese firearms engineer named Zhou who was present retorted. The other person's view, "Listen Dave, I know you want to build what you call a fast and far musket, but this is war, and muskets are weapons of war..." Whoever is farthest is the winner." Engineer Zhou continued to retort and advise Dave.

In Engineer Zhou's opinion, Dave's idea is completely whimsical. The current range of muskets has been developed for hundreds of years, which is enough to prove that the current technology is the mainstream of musket development...

Since it is the mainstream, then they should continue to follow the path of matchlocks and flintlock guns, and continue to invent muskets that make it easier to load ammunition, as well as have more powerful ammunition and can shoot denser gun arrays... This is what The task of these firearms developers.

"I think so too. I think we should start with ammunition, such as eliminating the damn smoke." Nodek, who is of mixed Indo-European origin, stood up and agreed with what Engineer Zhou just said.

The so-called smoke is actually the white smoke produced by the firing process of the ammunition after the gun is fired.

This kind of smoke is actually very troublesome in volley warfare. Once the number of shots increases, the amount of smoke will also increase.

This will also cause the line of sight to be blocked, which will affect the shooting quality.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, unless the enemy is evenly matched, or continuous shooting is necessary, the shooting will usually end after a few rounds, less than ten rounds at most, and a bayonet charge will be used instead to ensure the smooth progress of the war.

Smokeless powder bullets will not appear until decades later.

At this period, this was still a matter for the flintlock world. Nodek was able to think of solving the smoke problem first, which was actually very forward-looking and constructive...

"You are all right, greater power, more convenient loading methods, and ammunition without smoke..." Dave acknowledged what the two men just said, "But I also believe that the essence of war is Distance." Dave continued to express his opinions to the two of them.

"It's just like humans invented the first bow and arrow, which means humans can hunt prey in the sky and far away... Human beings' ability to survive and damage to other beasts has also been greatly increased." Dave told Zhou The engineer and Nodek mentioned the importance of bows and arrows to human society and human history.

It can be said that the invention of the bow and arrow is an even more important invention than the invention of the musket. The emergence of the bow and arrow allowed mankind to truly increase its threat capabilities to a distance of [-] meters.

This is an incredible achievement. The birth of the first bow and arrow is no less than the explosion of an atomic bomb.

Because these are all zero-to-one technological breakthroughs.

After hearing this, Engineer Zhou and Nodek nodded to Dave and motioned for him to continue.

"I think our understanding of muskets has been wrong from the beginning. Why do we require how powerful it is? No matter how much ammunition is added to the projectile, what you get is still a flintlock gun with a limited range. ...These will never change." Dave continued to tell the two men what he thought was the problem with the muskets.

It caused the two of them to fall into deep thought and reflect on their direction. Was it wrong? ?
"I think that if you want to be more powerful than other countries' armies, the most important thing is muskets." Dave firmly continued to say to the two, "We should not give up the pursuit of musket range, just like our ancestors never really It's like giving up on improving bows and arrows." Dave looked at Engineer Zhou and Nodek with a bright look on his face, with an excited expression on his face.

"Then what do you think if the range of a musket is increased?" Engineer Zhou was silent for a while, and then asked Dave. Looking at Dave, his eyes were full of expectation, hoping that this young white guy could solve the problem that troubled the musket. Range issues for years.

Even Nodek, who was standing aside, looked expectantly at Dave, a white young man who had just arrived at the military factory recently but had already shown extraordinary talent.

"I think the current range problem faced by muskets can be solved from two aspects." Dave replied to Engineer Zhou and Nodek with sharp eyes, "One is the barrel, and the other is the ammunition..." Dave looked serious. He continued to answer the two of them.

"Break, ammunition??" After hearing this, Engineer Zhou showed a thoughtful expression on his face.

And Nordek directly held his chin with his right hand, thinking about the possibility that Dave just said.

"What do you think these two need to improve??" Engineer Zhou frowned and asked Dave. He really couldn't think of any way to improve the two mentioned by Dave. After all, for someone like him, For senior engineers who have been working in the musket factory for seven or eight years, they already have a certain way of thinking.

Some people couldn't react to Dave's way of changing his appearance.

On the other side, Nodek was thinking about it, and suddenly his eyes lit up, as if he had thought of something, and he stared at Dave with burning eyes, as if he was looking at a genius...

"Since the original musket is no longer working, let's simply make a big change." Dave replied to the two, "We might as well try the rifling, modify the current rifling inside the barrel, and combine the gunpowder. It is no longer a projectile and The firing gunpowder is separated, but they are merged into one, just like a whole. As long as we succeed, our shooting speed and distance will at least double!!" Dave continued to answer with excitement. .

When Engineer Zhou and Nodek looked at each other, they could see a hint of shock! !

(End of this chapter)