Greece’s Roman Road

After several passing ceremonies of the train, Constantine came to the steel factory in the industrial area of ​​Piraeus without stopping to participate in the technical weapons meeting of the Greek Army.

In view of the fact that the artillery in active service of the Greek Army is seriously backward, Constantine decided to let the Military Technical Office and the Machinery Factory cooperate together to carry out the preliminary research and development of advanced artillery.

In the face of the Ottoman Turkish army, which quickly formed combat power with the help of the Germans, the pressure of the Greek army is increasing. The backward and cumbersome front-bore artillery has seriously affected the combat effectiveness of the Greek army.

Artillery is known as the "God of War" and has always played an important role in the army. Therefore, Constantine attached great importance to the preliminary research and development of this new artillery.

The experience of the French army in the Franco-Prussian War vividly tells the world what kind of doom the army with backward artillery will encounter.

I hurried to the meeting room of the machinery factory and saw that all the relevant personnel had arrived. Nobel, who was invited by Constantine, Tesla, who was also skilled in machinery, Scalloy, the current manager of the machinery factory, and There are six researchers at the Metallurgical and Mechanical Laboratory of the University of Athens, and Chamies, the director of the Military Technology Office.

It can be said that in order to develop a new type of artillery, this office has gathered the most elite relevant personnel that Greece can find at present.

"Everyone, you must have heard of the reason why you are calling here, that is to discuss the research and development of new-style artillery, and discuss the feasibility of the research and development of rapid-fire guns." Seeing that Constantine was already in place, Chai Miyi As the person in charge of the technical department of the army, Sri Lanka was the first to speak.

"If you can install a hydraulic retraction mechanism on the artillery, and the artillery can automatically return to its position after each artillery fire, then there is no doubt that the rate of fire of the artillery can be improved by leaps and bounds," Noble said.

As soon as these words came out, there was a buzzing discussion in the originally quiet conference room.

There is no doubt that Nobel's remarks are quite enlightening, and everyone feels it.

Whether it is the famous Krupp cannon at this time, or the cannon used by the Ottoman Turks to bomb the city walls of Constantinople in the 15th century, whether it is a front-bore cannon, a breech cannon, a rifled cannon and a smooth-bore cannon, there are These guns, without exception, have a common disadvantage - recoil.

The recoil when the gun is fired will push the gun body back away from the gun position. Not only does the soldier have to work hard to push the gun back to its original position, which limits the selectable range of the gun position, but also makes the gun's original aiming lost. , the ballistic elements need to be recalculated, which is time-consuming and cumbersome.

Just like people can often think of the scene when the cannon is fired: the cannon roars, the smoke is billowing, the wheels of the gun body and the gun carriage are driven back by the recoil, and the artillery crew works together to push the gun back to its original position and re-aiming. Then cycle back and forth.

In this cycle, pushing the gun back to its original position and re-aiming is the most time-wasting step.

And now what Nobel is talking about is the retreating and returning mechanism, which is to allow the artillery to save this step. If it is successful, then it is obvious that the rate of fire of the artillery will usher in a dramatic increase.

This improvement from the original rigid mount to an elastic mount will be a revolutionary step in the history of artillery development.

"If Mr. Nobel's idea can become a reality, then there is no doubt that the rate of fire of the artillery will be greatly increased. However, the key to the problem is precisely how to design this hydraulic retreat and return mechanism." Hear Nuo After Bell's suggestion, after careful consideration, Chaimiis said excitedly.

"Speaking of rapid-fire guns, I thought of a person," Scarloy said.

"It was an unappreciated German engineer I met at a previous job named Conrad, who I heard was looking for a buyer for his patent for a long-recoil hydraulic-pneumatic anti-recoil device," Scalloy said. said the crowd.

"If there is no problem with his design, then it can be said that the biggest difficulty of the rapid-fire gun has been captured. In this case, why did the German artillery factories, such as Krupp, not adopt it?" Constantine asked curiously. road.

Like this revolutionary technology, anyone with some military experience can understand its importance, but Conrad, as Scalloy said, is actually promoting his own patented technology, in a traditional army like Germany. A big country, ignoring the advancement of artillery technology, is a problem no matter how you think about it.

"I heard that the reason why Krupp was rejected was because the hydraulic device leaked oil, and it was because of this defect that Conrad's patent went unnoticed," Scalloy explained.

Everyone was relieved. There was indeed a problem. Otherwise, there was no reason why the Germans would give up this technology.

Although this technology is flawed, if the professionals who are seated can see Conrad's technology in real objects, it will also serve as a reference.

After all, there is still a big difference between starting on someone else's shoulder and starting from scratch to study the artillery's hydraulic retreat and return mechanism.

At this point in the meeting~www.wuxiax.com~ Everyone turned their attention to Constantine, and this decision could only be made by Constantine.

Frowning, Constantine thought carefully. If he started from scratch, he didn't know when and when the rapid-fire artillery technology would be able to make a breakthrough, and the threat of the Ottoman Turkish army did not allow the Greek army to slow down.

"Mr. Scalloy, since you mentioned Conrad, then you should go to Germany in person. Be sure to bring Conrad to Greece and join us. At worst, you have to get permission from his technical patent." , the backward situation of the artillery of the Greek army is extremely urgent, and it can only be bought with money.

Seeing that Constantine had already made the decision to invite Callard, the discussion about rapid-fire guns today can only end here.

Seeing Chaimiis' quiet look, Constantine reminded: " Chaimiis, have you forgotten something?"

After Constantine's reminder, Chaimiis suddenly realized, patted his forehead, and continued: "Oh, by the way, there is one submitted by His Excellency the duke, um" said here, Chaimiis hesitated, I don't know how to describe this weird blueprint.

"Mortar," Constantine reminded.

"Uh, yes, mortar, this is a design plan submitted by Duke Constantine, let's discuss it together." After that, Chaimiis distributed the stack of drawings in his hand to everyone present.

Everyone will see on the drawing, a strange fire shape, the gun barrel is pointed obliquely, and there is a pair of tripods under the gun barrel for support, other than that, there is nothing else.

To be honest, this is very different from any kind of artillery now, and it looks weird. Everyone doesn't understand what role Constantine's artillery design can do.

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