Chapter 1162: Wild Ambitions

"In other words, from now on, the Cannonball will explode upon impact, unlike the Wooden Wedge Fuse which requires waiting for the fuse to burn out?"

Wang Ying's introduction of the Impact Fuse left the generals stunned for quite a while before they regained their senses.

Chang Wei asked in disbelief.

Wang Ying gave everyone a look of affirmation, "That's right. From now on, the Artilleryman only needs to calibrate the firing distance; there is no need to adjust the Wooden Wedge Fuse anymore."

"Clap, clap, clap..."

As Wang Ying finished speaking, enthusiastic and powerful applause erupted on the Drill Ground.

This was the applause from the generals for Wang Ying and the officials of the Research Institute.

Yang Feng's face flushed with excitement. He said to Wang Ying, "This is simply amazing! Not only does this reduce the time for loading shells, but it also avoids the waste of Cannonballs. This batch of firearms and Artillery will save countless soldiers on the battlefield. This old man thanks you on behalf of the soldiers." He bowed deeply to Wang Ying.

In the past, because the Wooden Wedge Fuse was not precise enough, the shells would sometimes land in the enemy's formation and take a while to explode, or they would explode prematurely.

The former gave the enemy time to escape, while the latter wasted the Cannonball.

But from now on, the Artilleryman will be able to strike the enemy by surprise.

The Artillery, known as the god of war, will become even more lethal on the battlefield.

Wang Ying dared not accept the gesture; he hurriedly stepped aside, helped Yang Feng up, and looked ashamed, "It is all for the service of Great Song; it is merely my duty."

He broke into a cold sweat inwardly, thinking that the true credit belonged to the Emperor, and he could not accept it.

Zhao Xu smiled at this moment, "Wang Ying is right. There is no need to thank each other; just perform your respective duties. Besides, since we have the Han-series firearms and Artillery, your army must also bring back beautiful battle achievements for me."

Then he looked at the fourth weapon covered in black cloth and asked, "If I am not mistaken, this should be the Machine Gun manufactured using the gas-operated principle. This model can fire about six hundred Bullets per minute, right?"

Since the Semi-Automatic Rifle had already been produced, the Maxim-style Gas-Operated Machine Gun was naturally no longer a problem.

"Hehe, the Emperor is wise. This is indeed the Gas-Operated Machine Gun, and its rate of fire is three times that of the Hand-cranked Machine Gun..." Wang Ying turned to the generals, looking surprisingly smug.

This time, the Research Institute displayed only four items to the army.

He specifically left the Machine Gun for last.

This was not because he thought the Machine Gun was more significant than the fuse, but because under the current circumstances, the Machine Gun was more practical for the army.

After ending the wars within the country and in Dongtu, the Great Song army would mainly face operations in overseas territories.

Because of the superiority of firearms and Artillery, the army might no longer adopt the large-scale corps combat method.

Instead, like the Westerners of the past, they would control strategic points with units of two or three thousand men, or seize the colonies of the Westerners.

After all, the cost of deploying large-scale armies was too high and would affect Great Song's fiscal expenditure.

Furthermore, after the Han-series Weapon was equipped, using large corps was a bit like using a butcher's knife to slaughter a chicken.

But small-unit operations were different.

First, the superiority of the weapons allowed a small unit of even two or three thousand men to exert the firepower that previously required tens of thousands.

Second, it was very easy to supply two or three thousand men, and it was easy to obtain supplies within the enemy's sphere of influence without needing to transport them from the country.

In this way, Great Song could obtain the greatest benefits with the minimum investment.

While Wang Ying was introducing these things, Chang Wei and the other generals were dumbfounded.

They did not understand the principles of things like gas-operated mechanisms or Impact Fuses.

But they understood one thing: the Han-series firearms and Artillery were simply another revolution in weaponry.

The Great Song army equipped with the Han-series would be invincible.

Now, they hoped that the Han-series would be equipped to the army immediately so they could fiercely settle scores with the Westerners who had once bullied them.

Those hateful Westerners had run rampant at their doorstep for one or two hundred years and even directly participated in the civil war of Great Song, causing many Song People to die in vain.

This hatred had never been forgotten; only by burning the flames of war to the countries of these Westerners could they find relief.

"Mass-produce them as soon as possible, equip them, and then proceed with the research and development of other weapons." Seeing the light of hungry wolves seeing a feast in the eyes of the generals, Zhao Xu spoke up.

He was actually speaking on behalf of the generals; otherwise, these guys would probably have pounced on Wang Ying to force him to provide a delivery schedule for the Han-series Weapon.

Next, Zhao Xu and the generals observed the test firing of the new Cannonballs and the Machine Gun.

The power displayed by these two weapons made him and the generals increasingly satisfied.

At noon, he ate with the generals and the officials of the Research Institute in the canteen of the Research Institute, and only in the afternoon, amidst the enthusiastic discussions of the generals, did he take the Steam Locomotive back.

On the way, he instructed Chang Wei and Yang Feng to immediately carry out the demobilization.

To reduce the five hundred thousand troops of Great Song to about three hundred thousand.

And the remaining three hundred thousand standing troops would adopt a policy of elite troops, with each military unit equipped with stronger firepower to compensate for the number of soldiers.

Simply put, it was to spend money on equipment rather than using human lives to fill the battlefield.

"These four weapons are only the weapons that the Research Institute has currently tested and are ready for mass production. There is one more weapon under verification that will be delivered in a year or so, and by then, the army's firepower will be even stronger." As the Steam Locomotive was about to enter Yancheng, Zhao Xu said to Chang Wei.

Among these was the further simplified Mortar, which was a small, man-portable Portable Mortar.

The appearance of the Impact Fuze provided all the technical conditions for this weapon.

And the next batch of equipment he had Wang Ying develop would make the Westerners even more desperate.

These pieces of equipment were Artillery and Fixed-Wing Aircraft.

However, this would still take time.

Moreover, Wang Ying could not do this alone this time and needed to cooperate with his son.

Of course, there was good news, which was that the Research Institute had made some breakthroughs in the Internal Combustion Engine, and it should not be a problem to produce a mature Internal Combustion Engine within two or three years.

By then, Great Song's equipment would enter a true period of explosion.

"These heaven-shaking and earth-shattering weapons were things this general dared not even imagine before. I never expected that today, one after another, they would appear before my eyes." Chang Wei was full of emotion after hearing Zhao Xu's explanation.

He also understood Zhao Xu's intention, so he said, "The Emperor can rest assured. This general will wholeheartedly carry out the demobilization. The generals now understand that this demobilization is not about putting away the horses, but about putting on armor and going to battle."

"Exactly." Yang Feng stroked his beard.

Zhao Xu nodded. In fact, if he wanted to demobilize, the generals could only demobilize.

Nowadays, no one in Great Song could challenge his authority, but he still hoped that the generals would be willing.

Since the generals had figured it out, he no longer had a single doubt.

Then, he looked toward the Western Lands, a cold sneer appearing at the corners of his mouth.

He had anticipated that the Westerners would eventually copy the Breech-Loading Rifle, but the limit of their ability to copy had already been reached.

The Han Series was not only a breakthrough in various principles, but another reason was that after entering the Electric Power Industry, the steel mills provided higher-quality steel.

Therefore, even if they obtained the Han-style, they would absolutely have no ability to copy it.

And the Great Song army, equipped with the Han Series, would immediately give them their first slap in the face.

That was to drive the Westerners from North America back to their own homeland.