Chapter 982: Arrival

"Your Highness, the first batch of Machine Guns has been delivered to the Army."

The Prince's study.

While Zhao Xu was reviewing a Memorial, Wang Ying came to report.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xu put down his brush and said to Wang Ying, "Continue the production of the next batch of Machine Guns and deliver them to the Azure Dragon Army and the Vermilion Bird Army. Once the war in the North Territory is settled, it will be time to deal with Jiaozhi, Piaoman, and the Westerners' troops entrenched in the Southern Region."

"Yes, Your Highness," Wang Ying replied with a bow.

Nodding, Zhao Xu thought of something and added, "By the way, now that the matter of the Machine Guns is settled, you and Wang Chong should also visit Jinghai often, and strive to build the first Ironclad Warship as soon as possible."

Regarding the current war, the Army now has hand-cranked Machine Guns, which can temporarily meet the needs for firepower on the battlefield.

As for the next generation of Automatic Machine Gun powered by gas, its structure is much more complex and sophisticated than the hand-cranked Machine Gun.

This requires the Research Institute under the Armament Department to continuously produce and test until it is qualified.

Moreover, because this Machine Gun can reach a rate of fire of six hundred Metal Bullets per minute, the requirements for the quality of the gun barrel are naturally very high.

The Research Institute must also overcome the challenge of producing higher-quality special steel.

Therefore, taking advantage of this window of time, they can devote more energy to the construction of the Ironclad Warship.

After all, compared to the replacement speed of the Army's muskets and Artillery, the renewal of Navy equipment is relatively much slower.

At the same time, the problems currently faced by the Navy are much greater than those of the Army.

Zhou Yi reported to him that the Westerners have already learned to use Explosive Shells on their Warships just like them.

It is just that because the opponent's Explosive Shells are technically inferior to the Great Song Navy's Warships and their range is too short, they have not posed any threat to the Great Song Navy.

However, to Zhao Xu, this is an ominous signal.

Clearly, after suffering losses, the Westerners are using their Steam Industry to bridge the gap in muskets and Artillery between them.

In terms of muskets, the Westerners have successfully imitated the Front-loading Rifled Musket.

He believes that in terms of Artillery, the opponent's Round Hollow Shell will also soon transition to the Conical Hollow Shell.

Once the Conical Cannonball is in place, the opponent's Warship capabilities will be improved.

By then, even if the range of the opponent's Naval Cannon is still inferior to theirs due to steel quality issues, the gap will inevitably narrow.

Relying on the number of Sailing Warships they have accumulated over hundreds of years, the pressure on the Great Song Navy will rise sharply.

The only way to solve this problem and allow the Great Song Navy to dominate the global maritime order in a short time is the Steam Ironclad Warship.

"In this regard, I have been cooperating with Chief Official Chen. After overcoming the bearing problem, the rotating turret also has some progress. As soon as the main body of the Warship is completed, it can be installed," Wang Ying replied, and then introduced the structure of the rotating turret.

Zhao Xu nodded with satisfaction; the most important part of this rotating turret is the bearing that fixes the Fort.

Speaking of bearings, their structure is simply steel balls packed between two steel rings.

In this way, the inner and outer steel rings can rotate freely.

This is something the level of the Steam Industry can manufacture.

But the bearings used for Artillery are naturally different from those for ordinary machinery.

Due to the problem of recoil, there are higher requirements for their quality, and they must be of larger specifications.

As for the Cannonball, there will be a hand-cranked conveyor belt between the turret and the lower deck, used to transport the Cannonballs in the ship's hold into the turret for the soldiers to use.

In this way, when encountering enemy Warships at sea, the Ironclad Warship will no longer need to use maneuvering to adjust the muzzle to bombard the opponent's Warship.

One only needs to rotate the turret to attack enemies in any direction.

After discussing this matter, Zhao Xu let Wang Ying return.

After Wang Ying's figure disappeared, Zhao Xu looked at the blueprints on the wall and cast his gaze toward Yongzhou.

This time, thirty Machine Guns were sent to the front line of the Yongzhou battlefield, which will greatly increase the firepower density of the Great Song Army.

The Beidi people are in for it.

Just as he was thinking, Yang Susu suddenly arrived at the door of the study, her expression ambiguous, "Your Highness, the Empress has ordered someone to send another bowl of red date porridge."

Hearing this, Zhao Xu could not help but smile bitterly.

It seems that when people get older, they develop an addiction to holding grandchildren.

Since he returned,

Mi Huanghou has not only said it in words but also implemented it in action.

Every few days, she sends someone to the Prince's residence, either to deliver a plate of peanuts or a bowl of red date porridge.

The implication is for him to have children sooner.

At first, Mi Huanghou only called Yang Susu to Wuji Palace and stared at Yang Susu while nagging, but now she often calls Feng'er and Luan'er over too.

The meaning is that it does not matter who comes first or last.

"Let's go, back to the bedchamber to make babies," Zhao Xu rolled his eyes, left the study, and walked toward the bedchamber with his arm around Yang Susu's slender waist.

At the same time.

The Steam Locomotive heading to Yongzhou has already departed.

Inside the carriage, thirty Machine Guns stood quietly, and along with the Machine Guns, the special Metal Bullets for the Machine Guns also set off.

After traveling for a day and a half on the road, the train arrived at the east bank of the Jin River.

After the Machine Guns were unloaded, they were immediately sent to Yongcheng.

Here, the thirty Machine Guns caused a stir.

To the generals, this thing is a treasure.

"Thirty in total, that's great." In the Government Office of Yongcheng, Chang Wei's eyes shone as he gently stroked the Machine Gun.

He had been waiting for the arrival of the Machine Guns, and now his anticipation had not been in vain; the Armament Department had delivered the Machine Guns on time.

"Immediately send the Machine Guns to Lingwu County; it is time to finish off that dog thief Mule Hongzhen," Chang Wei's expression suddenly turned serious after his joy.

He receives war reports from all directions every day.

It was naturally understood that Mule Hongzhen was now simply insane, actually having soldiers charge while carrying Gunpowder Barrels.

Because the enemy kept launching charges with large-scale infantry, their firepower suddenly seemed a bit insufficient.

Now that the Machine Guns had arrived, this problem was solved.

Upon receiving his order, the general responsible for transport immediately called over soldiers to carefully move the Machine Guns.

In a day and a half, the Machine Guns arrived at the Lingwu County battlefield.

Seeing the thirty Machine Guns and crates upon crates of Metal Bullets, Bai Shang, Huo An, and the other generals were nearly driven mad with joy.

During this time, they had constantly had soldiers learning how to use the Machine Guns from the people at the Weaponry Bureau.

This batch of Machine Guns could be put into use immediately.

"Damn it, the Northern Di have had it easy these past few days; now it's our turn to have it easy," Bai Shang said with bloodshot eyes.

Facing the Northern Di's insane-style charges, he dared not be careless.

For the past few days, he and Huo An had been taking turns watching the battlefield, fearing that some oversight might occur.

However, although the Northern Di had used Cavalry to cause them some trouble, they had never broken through the Trench defense line and had suffered heavy casualties.

"Direct counterattack!" Huo An shouted; he had had enough of passive defense.

Furthermore, now that the enemy's soldiers had been depleted by a certain amount, combined with the arrival of the Machine Guns, he believed they could fully launch a counterattack.

Bai Shang nodded; that was his intention as well.

Each Machine Gun sent this time was fixed onto a separate two-wheeled cart, and there was a thick iron plate in front of the cart, with only a palm-wide slit through which one could look forward.

This meant the Machine Guns could be pushed while moving, and the iron plate could also protect the machine gunner, which was very suitable for them to fight a counterattack.