Cannon Fire Arc

Chapter 317: Chapter 6 Rocossov Makes a Scene at the Ordnance Department

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After hanging up the receiver, Wang Zhong glanced at Professor Valery: "I'll leave the task of calling and writing to the former principal to you. Once you've handled it, give me the letter and I will have the Judge invite him to my committee."

Valery nodded in agreement.

Wang Zhong pondered for a moment, recalling what he had thought of during his visit, and then asked, "Is the conflict between the students of noble birth and those of common birth in the school very severe?"

"Extremely severe. When you and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince were at the school, you could somewhat ease the tension. But now..."

The two of us, one a great noble and the other the Crown Prince, were actually able to ease the conflict with the commoners?

Are these two really profligates?

No, that's not important. They're both gone now.

Wang Zhong: "Has this tense situation persisted for a long time?"

Professor Valery nodded: "Yes, it started after the civil war. The rules set by the Church state that at least half of the students at the academy each year must be of common birth.

"At first, the nobility purposely recommended unintelligent commoners to enter the school. After the Church discovered this, they began making the recommendations for enrollment.

"Since then, the conflict has never stopped and has even extended into the army. By the way, in recent years, the higher the technical requirements of a branch of the military, the higher the proportion of commoners. You see, there are quite a few commoner officers in the Armored Troops."

Wang Zhong was shocked: "Why?"

Professor Valery's expression could be summarized in one sentence: "How do you not know?"

Wang Zhong guessed: "Is it because the nobility spend too much time on pastimes like balls and horse races?"

Professor Valery nodded: "Exactly. Incidentally, the cavalry has the highest proportion of nobles among its officers."

Wang Zhong: "After all, they spent a lot of time on horse racing, it's understandable."

Having said this, Wang Zhong thought for a moment and realized that after asking about this matter, there really weren't other things for him to do at the school, so he swiftly decided to head to the Ordnance Department!

At that moment, Valery asked: "Do you intend to undertake military reforms for the Ante Army?"

Wang Zhong: "I suppose so. I don't have a complete concept yet, but my current thought is to start with specific tactics and armaments, and then to establish some elite divisions modeled after the structure of the guards' mechanized infantry."

Valery deliberated for a moment before speaking up: "Then you should start writing a new tactical manual while you work on specific tasks. After all, you can only teach those who come to the school here, but a manual distributed throughout the army would enable many more to learn."

Wang Zhong had also thought about writing one before; in fact, when he had arrived at Ye Fort in August, he had written a booklet. The impression he had at the time was that the manual was almost written off in haste, but thankfully Ludmila had helped.

Seeing that Wang Zhong was seriously considering this, Valery quickly said: "You should hire a typist to complete these manuals through dictation, and if possible, pair them with an editor who understands the military to assist with illustrations."

Wang Zhong: "Are you suggesting I find someone?"

"Yes, while you're still in the rear."

Wang Zhong: "Hmm, this is good advice, I'll think about it."

After saying this, he checked the time and said, "I'm off to the Ordnance Department now, we can talk about this later."

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When Wang Zhong entered the Ordnance Department, he attracted the attention of all those entering and leaving.

Suddenly, a man dressed like a worker but wearing glasses thick as the bottom of a wine bottle charged at Wang Zhong.

The Judges immediately sprang into action, two of them stepping forward to intercept the man while another took up a shooting position.

"I'm a designer! I've come today to participate in the Ordnance Department's tender! In my hands are the design plans for a reduced-charge bullet rifle that can fire continuously, with decent accuracy even at 700 meters!"

Wang Zhong: "Then how much does your rifle weigh?"

"The rifle weighs six kilograms when unloaded, much lighter than a machine gun!"

Wang Zhong: "Reduce the effective range to 400 meters, and as long as it can hit a half-body target at 400 meters with semi-automatic fire, it will be deemed acceptable. Then, bring the combat weight of the gun with a 30-round magazine down to 4.5 kilograms.

Also, the failure rate must be low, even if it hasn't been oiled, or if it's been buried in sand and left in the sun for a day, it should fire immediately after being dug out."

Actually, the reliability of an AK was not as exaggerated as implied; it still required careful maintenance, cleaning, and oiling. However, making excessive demands while setting requirements was fine.

After all, as Lu Xun said, to open a window, one might first suggest lifting the roof.

At that moment, many designers sitting on the benches in the hall lowered their heads to their own designs—it seemed they were all there to respond to the call for a new model of rifle.

It must have been Olga who conveyed Wang Zhong's last request to the Ordnance Department, and then she essentially took on the role of Tsar, prompting the Ordnance Department to hurry and initiate a project and start the tendering process.

Wang Zhong heard a designer mutter, "These requirements are pure fantasy, impossible to achieve."

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The designer muttered to himself, "Sacrificing long-range performance in pursuit of firepower, and with this weight, it's intended for individual soldiers to carry. So the whole approach of treating this project like a light machine gun is fundamentally flawed. We need a complete redesign."

Wang Zhong paid no attention to these firearms designers and headed straight for the innermost elevator. His target was Sergey, the General Director of the Ordnance Department.

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The office of the Director of the Ordnance Department, like those of other Ante department heads, was spacious—Wang Zhong's own office as principal was also large, with a desk big enough to play pool on.

As Wang Zhong entered the room, besides General Sergey with the five stars on his epaulettes, there was another guy whose hair and the thickness of his glasses made him look very much like an engineer.

Upon seeing Wang Zhong, the first thing General Sergey asked was, "I wasn't informed that anyone was coming for an inspection today?"

Wang Zhong replied, "That's because the Equipment Review Committee hasn't been set up yet. No one notified you."

Sergey put down the photo he was holding and said, "Then, Your Excellency the Chairman, what brings you here?"

Wang Zhong answered, "Mainly to say hello. After all, I'm sure I will cause a lot of trouble for the Ordnance Department in the future. Please believe this is to avoid more Ante soldiers dying in vain because of poor weaponry."

Before Sergey could respond, the engineer-looking fellow interjected, "What a thing to say! I admit that there are problems with the BT series and the T26, causing a lot of casualties, but isn't the T34 a masterpiece?"

Wang Zhong retorted, "Are you talking about the masterpiece that can't hit an enemy beyond 1000 meters?"

The engineer argued, "That's because the sights were designed for engaging the enemy at distances between 600 and 800 meters. If you're shooting at 1000 meters, you clearly don't understand the weapon."

Wang Zhong furrowed his brows in frustration. It was the first time he heard that the T34's sights were primarily for combat within 800 meters.

He wondered whether this was a characteristic common to both worlds or a problem specific to Ante's supply.

800 meters?

The ace tank operators of Prosen can hit a bell tower window from 2000 meters away, and here you're telling me the design engagement range is only 800 meters?

Wang Zhong could not help but curse out loud, "What kind of idiot designed this?"

The engineer stood tall and proud: "I designed it. I studied Castilian tank warfare and found that most tank firing distances are within 800 meters, so the sights are sufficient for that range."

Wang Zhong strode over and slapped him across the face, knocking the man to the ground, then drew his pistol, "You damned Prosen spy, you've caused the death of our best-trained tank operators!"

General Sergey said, "Major General, if you wish to improve the T34 tanks, there's no better designer than Valentin. If the actual combat range is further than he anticipated, you could just say so."

Wang Zhong replied, "It's true that our forces rarely destroy enemy tanks beyond 800 meters in actual combat."

The engineer, lying on the ground despite facing the pistol, let out a self-satisfied laugh.

Wang Zhong continued, "But the enemy often takes out our tanks at distances of 1000 meters. We've captured their tanks, intact, and you should see how excellent the enemy's sights are!

"In Orachi, when I ambushed the enemy, we only achieved a one-third hit rate, and the main reasons were these terrible sights and the poor calibration of the main gun!

"This man claims to have studied Castilian tank tactics, so why did the Prosen designers come to a different conclusion? He's either a spy with an agenda or an idiot. Either way, he should no longer be the designer of the T34; he should be dismissed!"

General Sergey's face turned ashen. He said to Wang Zhong, "You have the right to make such a demand. But I must remind you, we need tanks now, and it would take a long time for the factories to switch to a different product line, with a significant drop in efficiency at the start."

The General glanced at the charts on the desk, "When Raoul's factories resume production, we could reallocate more resources to produce your T34Ws, provided we get enough radios. Currently, our radio production capacity is almost entirely taken by the Air Force."

Wang Zhong replied, "The T34W isn't enough! The enemy has suffered in armor-piercing round resistance and will want to change that."

The General continued, "Yes, but that will take time. I estimate it will be three years before the enemy's tanks designed against the T34 enter the battlefield. By then, the enemy will have already lost. Oh, sorry, I forgot you're of the opinion that Prosen won't be quickly defeated."

Wang Zhong said, "We need a new weapon, one that when entrusted to experienced crew, can detect the enemy and fire at 1500 meters, achieving a first-shot hit rate of 33% or higher—the higher, the better!"

Wang Zhong had actually seen how big the Mark III and IV were at a distance of 1500 meters, so he didn't set the hit rate too high.

Hitting one out of three would actually be quite good.

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Perfect accuracy was the hallmark of battle-hardened elites; training alone probably wouldn't achieve that.

General Sergey shook his head, "I understand your desire for better sights, but... our best optical glass factory was lost in the first week of the war, and engineers and workers had no time to evacuate.

"Now we can only produce the kind of sights currently installed on the T34, even though the glass for these sights has many flaws, even bubbles, I mean, right in the middle of the glass."

Wang Zhong's mouth formed an 'O' shape.

General Sergey added, "So, we can discuss the problems we're encountering with military production. Could you let go of my son-in-law first?"