Chapter 985

The night was silent, with only the firelight flickering.

Pang Duo watched the stars in the grassland sky with a worried expression. He said to the two of them, “Look at this beautiful grassland starry sky. How regrettable would it be if we lost them?”

Bahe, the banner head of the Tumu tribe, and Wotai, the banner head of the Tiemu tribe, both followed Pang Duo’s gaze. They looked at each other with firm expressions. Bahe said, “Precisely because of this, we cannot lose these pastures. We must protect the land that belongs to us, even if we have to fight to the last man.”

“That’s right. The Great Yu Empire has already taken our Guandong, and now they want to take our pastures. Where can we retreat to? This war is a life-or-death battle between our Golden Tent Khanate and the Great Yu Empire. Every man on the grassland should defend it with their blood.”

Pang Duo nodded in appreciation. He raised his wine glass and said, “The war is about to start. I only hope that the two of you can work together. When the Great Khan’s troops arrive, we can join forces to annihilate the Great Yu Empire’s army.”

“Good. Banner head Pang Duo has always been resourceful. This time, we will listen to you,” Bahe and Wotai said in unison.

…

Qingzhou.

Xiao Ming was observing the new weapon manufactured by Song Changping on the military factory’s training ground.

After the official announcement of the name “Chinese Empire,” Song Changping found him and said that this was a gift for the Chinese Empire.

“According to the structural drawings provided by Your Majesty, and after many tests, I can guarantee that this machine gun can be officially put into use,” Song Changping said, pointing to the firearm in front of him.

Unlike a traditional rifle, the firearm that Song Changping was talking about had a very unique structure. Simply put, this firearm had a wheeled base similar to a field gun, and the barrel was covered with a layer of iron, which made the barrel look very thick.

“Then how many bullets can this gun fire per minute? And what is the caliber?” Xiao Ming’s eyes were shining. He had been worried about the northern expedition these past two days, and he did not expect Song Changping to give him such a great gift.

After the metal bullets were officially put into production, he had Song Changping start developing a machine gun, the nemesis of cavalry. The firearm drawings he gave to Song Changping were based on the Maxim machine gun.

This was because the heavy machine gun, which was invented in 1883, could be completely produced with the current industrial capabilities of Qingzhou. After all, he had already solved the problem of metal bullets, which meant that ammunition was not an issue. At the same time, in the process of fighting in the north and south over the years, Qingzhou’s steel industry had been making progress. The gun barrel material, chromium alloy, had been researched, and with the specific ratio he provided, although the current gun barrel material was not as good as modern ones, it was good enough for the Maxim machine gun, which was born in the nineteenth century.

“Your Majesty, this machine gun can fire about six hundred bullets per minute. The caliber is the same as the rifle bullets we are using now, which is 7.92mm. I did this to avoid adding another bullet production line,” Song Changping said.

Xiao Ming nodded. The original caliber of the Maxim machine gun was 11.43mm, but this was not the only caliber standard for a machine gun. Now that Song Changping had changed the caliber of the machine gun to 7.92mm, it could only be said that this machine gun could not be called a heavy machine gun but a general-purpose machine gun. The caliber of this machine gun belonged to the medium caliber.

Xiao Ming was very satisfied with Song Changping’s choice, which showed that Song Changping had his own thinking and did not blindly follow the drawings.

“You have done a good job. In this way, this machine gun can use regular rifle bullets for combat,” Xiao Ming said with a smile.

Then he walked to the side of the machine gun and examined it carefully.

Similar to the structure of the Maxim machine gun in his memory, the cooling method for the barrel of this machine gun that Song Changping used was water cooling. Therefore, the barrel of the machine gun was covered with a layer of something similar to a barrel, and inside it was actually water.

And for this machine gun, the biggest problem that Song Changping solved was the automation problem of the machine gun, which was to use the bullet gas as kinetic energy to make the gun unlock, eject the shell, feed a new bullet, and re-lock.

“Your Majesty, the structure of this machine gun is much more complex than the Han-style rifle. The base of this machine gun can be said to be a small machine. It requires parts such as cranks, rollers, and acceleration cams. The principle is somewhat similar to that of a steam engine, but the steam engine uses steam, while the automatic loading of this machine gun relies on the gas from the bullets.”

While speaking, Song Changping pointed to the button behind the gun bolt of the machine gun and said, “Your Majesty, as long as you press this button to release the trigger, the hammer will strike the firing pin to ignite the primer and fire the bullet. Once the bullet flies out of the barrel, the lock begins to unlock. With the thrust of the gunpowder gas, the gun bolt is pushed backward to reset the hammer. At the same time, the feed wheel rotates, and the extractor pulls out a new bullet, while the ejector throws out the previous shell casing. At this time, the gun bolt has completed its backward movement. Under the thrust of the return spring, the gun bolt moves forward to feed the new bullet into the chamber and complete the lock. If you let go of the button at this time, the trigger will remain engaged with the hammer and will not fire. If you keep pressing it, the trigger will be released after the lock is completed, and the hammer will fire again, repeating the process. This is the complete principle of the machine gun.”

Hearing this, Xiao Ming nodded in satisfaction. From this, it was clear that Song Changping had a thorough understanding of the principle of the Maxim machine gun.

However, although this machine gun was manufactured based on the Maxim, it was also different from the Maxim. So he said to Song Changping, “It seems that you have indeed thoroughly understood the principle of firearms. To commend you, this machine gun will be named the Changping-style machine gun.”

Song Changping was stunned for a moment, and then his face flushed with excitement. For a person who spent all day buried in the study of firearms, there was nothing more honorable than this.

“Your Majesty, is that true? I am not worthy of having this machine gun named after me,” Song Changping’s heart was filled with emotion.

“This machine gun came from your hands, so it is only right to name it after you. Moreover, the appearance of this machine gun signifies a major breakthrough in weaponry for our Chinese family. I am counting on more firearms to come from your hands in the future.” Xiao Ming said with a smile.

“Chinese family?” Song Changping was stunned again.

Xiao Ming’s mouth curled into a faint smile. He said, “Country, family, there is a country to have a family, and there is a family to have a country. The Chinese Empire, the Chinese family, it means the same thing.”

Song Changping smiled knowingly. He bowed and said, “Your Majesty is absolutely right. Now, Your Majesty is the head of this family, and we are all members of this family.”

After a few jests, Xiao Ming brought the topic back to the Changping-style machine gun. He said, “By the way, I still haven’t seen the power of this machine gun.”

Song Changping came to his senses. He immediately called two workers from the military factory and said, “Now, give a demonstration to His Majesty.”

As soon as he finished speaking, two strong workers quickly went to the machine gun. One worker held the gun bolt with both hands, and the other worker fed the bullets connected by a canvas belt into the chamber.