Chapter 34: Originally it was a sales pitch, but ended up spending money like water

Of course not; this machine is our top-secret. During wartime we could produce dozens of cannons a day. If the outside world found out, they'd surely try every means to destroy our machine. Even in peacetime, this machine cannot be casually toured.

President Liu rubbed his forehead, Qin Miao classmate, have you exaggerated? What if someone applies to the capital and gets approval? These people before us are all artillery experts, extremely enthusiastic about advanced artillery manufacturing technology!

However, we have used this machine to produce a barrel for a 155mm howitzer with a 52-caliber length. If you're interested, I can take you to see it." Qin Miao finished speaking and looked at Professor Yuan: "Professor Yuan, may we?"

No problem!" Professor Yuan knew Qin Miao had boasted too much; now they needed to produce a sample to prove it. Although the barrel was still made the original way, they now had to make good on Qin Miao's claim.

Thus, the group in great numbers came to the metal cutting teaching and research lab workshop.

Upon entering, they could see a barrel over nine meters long lying on the floor!

I didn't expect you to actually be working on a 52-caliber howitzer; the machining precision is really good!" Bu'er Boshi casually pulled out a vernier caliper from his pocket and began measuring—inner diameter, outer diameter, rifling depth…

That's natural; our blanks are good, so we can machine such an advanced barrel." Qin Miao said.

Indeed, the machining equipment is very advanced, all CNC!" A foreign expert accompanying them, looking at the Z80 microcomputer beside the CNC machine, sighed with feeling.

We came here originally just to question why you slandered our GC45 howitzer, but after arriving we realized we were wrong!" Bu'er Boshi walked up to Qin Miao, bowed, and said, "Sorry!"

This guy is really straightforward—he'll scold if he wants to scold, apologize if he ought to.

You're welcome; our techniques were originally top secret as well." Qin Miao said: "But since you've come to the East, you're our friends, and with friends we have no secrets!"

Great! Could we set up this cannon and fire a few shells to see the landing point dispersion accuracy?

Cannot.

Why?

Because one shell costs tens of thousands.

That's not a problem; since we want to see, we'll cover the cost! Fire twenty shells for us—that's 200,000, right?

Bu'er Boshi said, pulling out his checkbook—swish, swish, swish!

Ah, how embarrassing!" Qin Miao sighed, took the check, and handed it over to Director Lu beside him.

Director Lu felt his heart pounding thump-thump; he looked at the numbers: a 2 followed by five zeros—200,000—and before it an S plus a vertical line… that's… dollars!

Two hundred thousand, dollars!

The professors at Ha Gong Da were stunned—this was the first foreign exchange Ha Gong Da had ever earned, and it was all thanks to Qin Miao's persuasion!

Everyone, please wait a moment; it might take a few days...

Why? We want to see it now!

What a joke—we've only made this barrel; the carriage can temporarily be a Type 66, but the shells? They haven't been machined yet!

We need to coordinate with the military for a firing range; the range near Ha Cheng isn't big enough, so we may need to arrange a farther one—this… coordinating with the military takes time, so… everyone, please be patient.

Alright, we can wait. You've solved the machining challenge—truly a great invention—but… such a long barrel means mobility will always be low!

Qin Miao spoke: 'On the modern battlefield, the survivability of towed artillery keeps decreasing; it's easily subjected to enemy artillery blanket bombardment, while self-propelled artillery procurement is too expensive, so we have a revolutionary design idea!'

Please speak! Oh, please instruct us!" At this moment, Bu'er Boshi was very humble.

Towed artillery means dragging it behind a truck; upon reaching the position, the truck drives off, the gun is set up and fired, and entering and exiting the position are both slow.

Self-propelled artillery means mounting it on a tracked chassis; stop, fire, then leave after firing.

Bu'er Boshi's CG45 is a towed artillery piece; its mobility is already poor, and lengthening the barrel makes it worse—this is why they limited the barrel to 45 calibers, not daring to make it longer.

Good, not bad—this student knows how to respect his teacher!

Qin Miao nodded: 'Since you're so eager to learn, I'll briefly explain: actually, it's just mounting our cannon on a truck, turning towed artillery into a truck cannon!'

During WWII, some small-caliber guns were mounted on trucks, but they were soon phased out; the truly modern truck cannon is the 1994 French Caesar truck-mounted howitzer, and 'Caesar' in French means a truck equipped with an artillery system.

The barrel extends forward over the cab, a pillar holding up the sky; the breech is at the truck's rear, so when firing it can brace against the ground to absorb recoil, and at the rear we also install a semi-automatic loading system, greatly increasing the rate of fire!

Qin Miao gave a brief introduction, making Bu'er Boshi and the others nod repeatedly; this plan is truly excellent!

Anyway, towed artillery also needs a truck; we might as well combine the cannon and truck directly! The truck chassis is cheap to procure, mobility isn't too bad, after firing a quick tidy-up lets it go within a minute—definitely not slow!

Qin, you're a real genius!

Cough cough, this is a solution researched by Ha Gong Da, not yet implemented." Qin Miao said: "After all…"

After all what?

We're poor!" Qin Miao said: "You've come to the East and seen it—our nation's economy is backward, research funds limited; we estimate developing this truck cannon will cost at least three million, we…

Money's no problem!" Bu'er Boshi again pulled out his checkbook—swish, swish, swish!

The Ha Gong Da professors held their breath—just twenty thousand was merely an appetizer; now… could the other side actually write a check for three million dollars? This would definitely be a huge sum!

Come, here's four million dollars, enough for your R&D! I have only one demand: after development, I want all the technology!

Four million! This guy was afraid our R&D funds weren't enough, so he gave an extra million—generous and bold!

Thank you! But we can't accept this check.

The Ha Gong Da professors stared at Qin Miao with tense eyes—how can we not take it? Don't worry, if higher-ups investigate, we'll take the blame! With this money, many of Ha Gong Da's projects could get underway!

We haven't even signed a contract yet!" Qin Miao continued.

Ah, that's it! Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

At this moment, Bu'er Boshi and the others still hadn't reacted—they came to the East to sell their CG45 howitzer, not to spend money!