The sun never sets in America

Chapter 96 Preparation before the war

"At present, we have expanded at least four factories specifically used to produce cans to ensure that we can ensure supply ahead during the war." Zhao Wei continued to introduce the current status of military cans.

"After the war, I don't think there is any need for these canneries to reduce production and reduce production lines. I think it is better to let them try the civilian market." Liu Peng suddenly suggested to Zhao Ensiege at this time, "Let the canneries increase their focus on canned products." Research on canned fruits, canned seafood, and canned vegetables should all be included in the scope of the research... In my opinion, there is still a place for it in the civilian market in the future." Liu Peng then ordered again.

In Liu Peng's view, Han's canned industry should become the backbone of the civilian food industry in the future, because in this era when the industrial revolution has just emerged and is still rapidly gaining popularity.

The popularity of industry and industry also means a rapid increase in the number of workers. As far as Liu Peng knows, the number of workers in Europe is growing at a geometric rate every year.

This can be seen from the population growth rate in Europe. The population trend has slowly transitioned from the growth of the rural population in the past to the growth of the urban population. These increases include natural growth within the city and also include the rural population. City gathering.

Urbanization is a trend and a general trend that no one can change.

But at the same time, rapid urbanization has also brought about a problem, that is, what will such a huge urban population eat? ?

You must know that in this era without cold chain insurance and without pesticides, most vegetables and meat are actually not fresh.

Especially for low-wage workers in Europe, especially in the UK, fresh food, especially fast food, is essentially a luxury.

This is also an opportunity for Han, especially the canning industry. With the vast fishery resources of the Pacific and the advantage of being relatively close to Europe, it is completely possible to develop a canning industry with long storage time. Once this industry develops, for Many upstream and downstream industries have a great promotion effect.

Especially packaging, storage, and the largest cans. You must know that cans are made of iron sheets. This is also a big promotion for the steel industry.

That's why Liu Peng deliberately transferred the canning factory used by the military back to civilian use after the war. This was also because he remembered the factors that later Westerners liked to eat canned food. Of course, it was also influenced by the large number of instant canned food in the refrigerators of later generations of Americans.

"Yes, Your Highness the Crown Prince..." Although he didn't understand why Liu Peng did this, Zhao Wei finally agreed.

"General Li, let's talk about the specific battle plan first." Liu Peng then turned to Li Zhaowu, who had just given a brief report, and ordered.

"Yes, Your Highness the Crown Prince..." Li Zhaowu responded, and then stood on top of the two arrows he had just drawn.

"Our specific combat plan will be completed by two combat groups." Li Zhaowu pointed to the two arrows he just said, "The first army will set out from Beimen City to attack the Mexican Republic's army in Arizona and Nevada. City..." Li Zhaowu pointed to the top, which is the northern half of the Mexican map.

"The second part will gather in Hongshan City and attack the hinterland of the Republic of Mexico..." Li Zhaowu then pointed to the hinterland of the Republic of Mexico closest to the Baja California Peninsula. "There are two ways to fight. One is to directly Fight across the sea and go straight to Huanglong. However, considering the current strength of our navy and lack of experience in cross-sea operations, the cross-sea operation plan was rejected..." Li Zhaowu looked at the map, which is far away from the interior of the Republic of Mexico. The nearest Baja California peninsula, especially the southernmost city of South Gate, is somewhat regrettable.

In his opinion, if the navy is useful, they can directly eliminate the Mexican navy, use the army to attack Huanglong in one fell swoop, and finalize the battle directly...

Instead of having to cross such a long distance to fight a land battle with the Mexicans like now, in his opinion, it is a very uneconomical idea, but there is no way, this is the reality.

Before the naval power grew up, land warfare and the army were the only way they could think of and be able to do it, no one! !
"The First Army is mainly composed of the First Military Guard Brigade, the 101st Mixed Regiment, and even ten mighty battalions responsible for rear clearance..." Li Zhaowu introduced to everyone the components of the First Army, " Among them, the commander of the First Army is concurrently served as the commander of the Armed Guard Brigade and General Xu Zhi..." Li Zhaowu set his sights on Xu Zhi.

After hearing this, Xu Zhi nodded to Li Zhaowu.

"The Second Army is currently the most powerful and elite army formed by the Han Dynasty." Li Zhaowu then continued to talk about the Second Army, "The Second Army consists of the 1nd Iron Guard Brigade, and the [-]nd Iron Guard Brigade. The third Yingyang Brigade, the Fourth Dragon Cavalry Brigade, and even the [-]st Mixed Regiment..." Li Zhaowu introduced the components of the Second Army in detail.

It can be seen from this that the combat strength and personnel composition of the Second Army are more than twice that of the First Army. The most important reason is the distribution of the Mexican Republic's army before the original Han Dynasty was established and California was not lost.

Most of Mexico's troops are concentrated in the north. The main reason is to resist possible invasion by the United States.

However, after the loss of California and the establishment of the Han Dynasty, the security of the Mexican Republic has shifted from the vast north to the south, especially the core areas of Mexico.

After all, when the Americans attack, they have to attack Nevada, Arizona, and Texas step by step. However, the Han Dynasty is different. From the California area all the way to the right, the Republic of Mexico will bear the brunt, and it is also the softest in the Republic of Mexico. abdomen.

Therefore, the Republic of Mexico will inevitably concentrate its troops near the Baja California Peninsula and southern Han Dynasty.

In the north, they basically rely on local militias to govern themselves. After all, places like Texas, which has a strong folk custom and is on the verge of becoming independent at every turn, or is already semi-independent, the Republic of Mexico cannot control it even if it wants to! !
It is also very difficult to station a large number of troops in semi-arid areas like Nevada and Arizona, especially with the current poor finances of the Republic of Mexico! !

Therefore, placing large forces in the area close to the California Peninsula became an inevitable choice, not only to resist the opponent's attack, but also to deal a fatal blow when Han attacked north toward Nevada.

This kind of strategy can be seen by the Mexicans, and the Han people can also see it.

Therefore, in terms of the distribution of military strength, the First Army is more like the flank of the Second Army, more like a wingman.

It is only responsible for containing the enemy. The real heavy hammer is still in the south, not in the north.

"In our plan for the entire war, the war will be started by the First Army, not the strongest Second Army first." Li Zhaowu pointed at the arrow of the First Army and said to everyone present.

"Why not the second army? Shouldn't we use all our strength in the first battle?" Lan Yun asked Li Zhaowu with some doubts. In his opinion, the first battle is the decisive battle, and we must fight to the capital of the Republic of Mexico as quickly as possible.

As long as the capital is captured, this costly war will be over.

Others present also looked at Li Zhaowu with puzzled expressions. After all, according to their thinking, the war should happen on the battlefield at its most intense, and the location of the First Army was just for containment.

"Because if we launch an attack from the north, then the idiot-like bureaucrats of the Republic of Mexico will definitely think that we are greedy for the huge territory in the north. What will they do at this time?" Li Zhaowu asked everyone present, "They will deploy troops calmly. Due to the problems of these bureaucrats, they have spent so much money and still have a week to complete all war preparations. This is a manifestation of internal contradictions..." Li Zhaowu told Mexico People's inefficient action capabilities are full of ridicule. In his opinion, these Mexicans still don't understand what war is.

Soldiers are the place of life and death, and the path to survival must be observed! !

This is something that their ancestors have told them a long time ago, but these Mexicans are like thinking that the Han country is cattle and sheep waiting to be slaughtered, waiting for them to take the butcher's knife and be fully prepared before starting a fight.

How is it possible? The funniest thing in the world is that the war will break out tomorrow, but the war happens to be today! !

"When our First Army comes over, they will do nothing. They will make so-called resistance remarks, and then encourage the local militia to fight with us..." Li Zhaowu said sarcastically, "Then they will get more time to form more troops to attack our weakest place from the south, but they forgot that we also thought so..." There was more sarcasm on Li Zhaowu's face.

The Han people have a better understanding of the character of the Mexicans than the Mexicans themselves. This has to be said to be a tragedy.

"Gentlemen, I will personally serve as the commander-in-chief of the Second Army..." Just after Li Zhaowu finished speaking, Liu Peng suddenly stood up and said to all the generals present with a very serious expression.

Let the generals present stand in awe.

"The first two wars were initiated by white Mexicans." Liu Peng said about his experience in the first two wars, "I thought this time would be the same as last time. After all, they took out so many loans. And sold California." The corners of Liu Peng's mouth were full of ridicule and disdain.

In his opinion, these Mexicans are simply seeking death, wasting time and wasting their lives.

"This time I want to tell the Mexicans and other countries in the Americas that times have changed..." Liu Peng said to all the generals with a solemn expression, "Just like what Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty said 2000 years ago... Kou Keqiang, I You can go too!!" Liu Peng's eyes flashed with a fiery light.

"This time we want to fundamentally solve the threats around us, and make Mexicans feel afraid when they mention our country of Han and us Chinese..." Liu Peng turned around and looked at the huge map of Mexico, with a firm look in his eyes. said everyone present.

boom……

"The war starts here and ends here." Liu Peng slammed his fist in the direction of Mexico City, the capital of the Republic of Mexico.

………………………………… “Coming, coming…” Dave looked at Lant walking to the shooting range, with an excited smile on his face.

"Are you sure you can succeed this time?" Nodek, who was beside Dave, asked him with some worry. In his opinion, the lessons from the previous failures were so great that even after many improvements, he Still have no confidence in this musket named Lightning by Dave.

It was because the lessons he had learned a few times before were so great that he felt intimidated when he mentioned this new gun.

Dave on the side acted as if he hadn't heard anything and just replied: "We will succeed. We will definitely succeed this time!!"

Dave had a confident smile on his face, as if he had seen success.

But in Nodek's view, this is just a lie to himself, just to numb himself.

"Forget it, we have reached this point, what can we do if we continue to accompany him crazy??" Looking at the new gun on the shooting stand that looks no different from an ordinary flintlock gun, but has some changes in shape, Nuo Dirk muttered, his voice low enough that Dave didn't hear him.

But the worry hidden in his eyes when he looked at the new gun clearly showed how afraid he was of this new gun that had exploded several times.

"Lant, you're finally here." Dave saw Lant walking over and hugged him enthusiastically, "If you don't come, I'm going to go to Supervisor Wang to find trouble. After all, you are the only one who knows the best about this gun. Familiar." Dave joked enthusiastically after letting go of Lante, but Lante just smiled awkwardly after hearing Dave's words.

I have scolded Dave countless times in my heart.

"Why is it still the same as last time?" Looking at the musket that was exactly the same as last time, Lant asked Dave with an ugly face, "You won't let me try it with the same gun as last time, right?? "Lant's eyes looked at Dave, and they became more and more evil. In his opinion, wasn't this just teasing him?
He knows how terrifying this gun is. It has exploded several times in his hands, not counting the ones that misfired midway.

It can be said that he has tried so many guns at the shooting range, but he has never seen anything so strange.

"No, no..." Dave immediately shook his head after hearing Lante's question.

"I made the biggest modification to this musket and redesigned the rifling." Dave picked up the musket and pointed at the barrel inside and explained to Lanter, "And I changed the firing ammunition. You see... "Dave took out a cone-shaped, gray projectile from a small box, which is essentially different from the common round-headed projectiles in the world today.

"Is this??" Lan Te picked up the cone-shaped projectile, which even had several layers of threads, and his eyes widened. "Is this the new bullet you made??" Lan Te said incredulously. Husband asked, looking at Dave as if he were an alien.

"Can this thing be fired??" Lant held the strange projectile in his hand and thought about it. He didn't understand how this kind of thing could be fired. Aren't the projectiles round? ?
"Okay, after my calculations, his ballistic proportions..." Dave took out a black notebook that he carried with him from his pocket. There was a bookmark on it. When he opened it, there were dense mathematical formulas and various... According to the data he measured, "If the warhead is of such a shape, and my redesigned rifling is added...this gun, both in terms of power and range, will be much higher than the original flintlock gun." Dave pointed to the various formulas above, as well as the diagrams he drew.

With an excited face, he introduced Lante eloquently, as if this gun was some kind of magical weapon.

"Okay, okay... I don't want to hear you tell me how this gun was made." Lant interrupted Dave's endless words and those profound academic theories, "I want to ask you, what is this?" ??" Lante pointed to the original flintlock gun, where the spring for igniting the gunpowder was placed. At this time, the spring was transformed into something similar to a hammer, and there was a hole in the front, just like there was no wine cork. The mouth is the same.

And according to Lante's observation, it is very different from the original way of pouring gunpowder.

He didn't know what the specific difference was, but it just felt weird.

"This is also the firing method I have recently improved." When Dave mentioned this thing that looked like a cork hole in a wine bottle, a trace of pride appeared on his face. "It turns out that the method of pouring gunpowder into both ends was too clumsy. I will It has been modified so that it only needs to be filled once before it can be fired. As for the original firing point, this can be used instead." Dave took out a plug from the box that could be inserted into the hole just now, and then inserted the plug into the hole , and then pulled it out again.

"I call this a flash cap. Use a flash cap to replace the original method of charging gunpowder with gunpowder." Dave proudly continued to say to Lant and Nodek. In addition to Lant's surprise, it could still be fired like this. Nodek was just a little worried.

Because this so-called flash cap was not always smooth sailing during the design and experimentation process, and there were many accidents.

It is said that one worker's finger was blown off. If Engineer Zhou hadn't suppressed it, this matter would have spread long ago.

At this moment, watching Dave talk confidently about how good and convenient the flash hat is, Nodek is really worried about how it will end if an accident occurs.

"As for the barrel, it's still the same as before. Pour in the gunpowder and put in the projectiles. You also need to press it a few times with the pressure rod. This is almost the same as before..." Dave picked up the musket, pointed at the pressure rod below, and said to Lanter Said, "But this cone-shaped projectile is easier to press than the original round projectile. After all, it is designed according to the rifling." Dave continued to tell Lant the benefits of this new musket.

Then Dave gave another eloquent introduction, as if the musket in his hand was not an ordinary musket, but a weapon of some god.

Can call for wind and rain, split mountains and drive seas! !

"Okay, okay." Lant looked at Dave, who kept stopping as soon as he raised the gun, frowned, and then interrupted, "I don't want to hear your bullshit principles. I don't want any of this." I know, I want to know now, can this so-called magic gun in your mouth be shot, and will it explode like last time??" The more Lan Te asked, the uglier his face became. When he mentioned the explosion, he I thought back to the bad memories from the past few times.

"Exploding the chamber..." Hearing Lant mention this, Dave lowered his head in embarrassment. After all, if there is anything wrong with the design of this gun, it is that it is easy to explode the chamber. There is nothing that can be done about it. Any new thing, especially when a new weapon is born...

Everything he experienced must have been tortuous and cruel, nothing like those outside imagined. A genius had a flash of inspiration, and then a new technology and a new weapon came out.

The birth of a new technology and a new weapon is destined to be tortuous and complicated. From the initial design, to constant modifications in the middle, and then to the test on the proving ground, the continuous collection of test data, These all require continuous research and accumulation, and finally, they have to be put on the market and tested. A technological product that has not been tested by the market, no matter how well it is done, is of no use. It is like an aerial fortress, which looks very beautiful. , but in fact, it cannot come down at all.

In the same way, the same goes for weapons. The birth of a new weapon is definitely a new attempt and a new integration, and many of them are integrated from the old system.

Just like the differences between later generations of fighter jets and tanks, one generation, two generations and three generations.

The battlefield is the real place to test whether a weapon is qualified.

"I promise, it won't explode this time." Dave was a little embarrassed, but confidently assured Lant.

"I hope so..." Lanter glanced at Dave for a few times, and then said this slowly.

That being said, Lante still put on the thickest armor and thicker leather gloves. On the outer layer of the gloves, he also added an arm guard as a shield.

"First like this, and then like this." Dave taught Lant how to use this new gun.

Lant first poured the gunpowder in the paper bag into the barrel of the gun, and then stuffed the very strange conical threaded projectile into it in the same steps as the flintlock gun. Then he took out the pressure rod under the muzzle and pushed it hard. push down.

Then according to Dave's instructions, the flash cap was inserted into the hole, and finally the upper hammer was closed.

The gun is pointed at the target ahead...

boom……

A burst of white smoke came out of the gun's muzzle, and a hole appeared in the target opposite.

In Lant's surprised eyes, he tried it a few more times, constantly changing the distance.

Finally, it was discovered that the effective distance of this new gun was more than twice that of the original flintlock gun, reaching an astonishing number of 500 meters.

Although in a real war, it is impossible to have such a range. After all, even if it is a flintlock gun, the true hit rate is only a hundred or dozens of meters, or even about 50 meters. But even if it is 300 meters, it is only more effective than a flintlock gun. The firing range is 100 meters longer. He knows Lante very well about firearms and can imagine how terrifying this musket is on the battlefield.

Finally, amid Dave's excitement and Nodek's and Lante's shock, news about the new rifle code-named Lightning and the successful experiment was placed on Liu Peng's desk.

(End of this chapter)