Chapter 1297 Comfort and Threat
The shooting target of this mysterious artillery was the same type of target that the twelve-pounder had failed to penetrate at a distance of 800 meters. After the audience heard this explanation, they all realized that the Haihan people were deliberately trying to improve their shooting results. For comparison, to highlight the performance advantages of the new artillery. But can this strange-looking cannonball really hit a target that far away accurately? Even if it can hit, how much damage it can retain after flying so far is also a point of curiosity for everyone.
Both Zheng Bai and Dong Yanyun raised similar questions to Yan Chujie, but Yan Chujie was full of confidence and just let them watch with peace of mind. In fact, Haihan had done a lot of preparation work before. Not only did he repeatedly test fire and calibrate the shooting position, he also carefully calculated the position and solidity of the target in order to achieve the most ideal shooting during the demonstration. Effect.
After the artillerymen completed their alignment and aiming, the starter next to them raised a small red flag indicating readiness. The audience immediately raised their telescopes and stared at the target in the distance, fearing that they would miss any detail.
Yan Chujie nodded slightly, and the guard next to him immediately raised a small red flag to indicate that shooting could begin. After the sound of the cannon, the audience immediately saw from the field of view of the telescope that the target frame set up at 800 meters trembled slightly. It was obvious that the shot had hit. There was a sound of exclamation in the audience. After all, when the twelve-pounder was firing just now, it took five shells to hit the target, and this was still the operation of the Haihan artillery. If it were our own artillery, maybe ten rounds would not be able to hit the target.
Of course, this may also be due to luck. As long as you aim in that direction and fire, isn't there a chance of hitting it? If you can hit every shot, that would be really powerful.
Most of the audience soon had such an idea in their minds, but it was impossible to think about it. Although the Haihan artillery and artillery were very powerful, how could they achieve perfect accuracy from such a distance. Even if a blind cat encounters a dead mouse, it is unlikely that he will be lucky enough to encounter a string of dead mice in a row.
However, the results of the Haihan Artillery's subsequent shooting shocked all of them. Five consecutive shots all hit the target. This result probably cannot be explained by luck. Either the Haihan Artillery's combat effectiveness is already extraordinary, or the shooting accuracy of this artillery is far superior to all long-range weapons they know. And when you think about Haihan's purpose of displaying this weapon, the conclusion is self-evident.
The audience was looking forward to the continuation of the target shooting demonstration to see how many rounds it would take to miss the target, but unfortunately their wish failed to come true. The gun only fired five times. It was announced that the shooting display was over. While the soldiers were transporting the target back from a distance, Yan Chujie briefly explained the situation about the gun.
"This gun is the latest achievement of Haihan Military Industry. As for the accuracy of shooting, everyone has just seen it. In fact, its effective range is far beyond the distance we showed today, but this involves military secrets, and we do not It is convenient to announce the specific data directly to you." Yan Chujie looked at the complicated expressions on the faces of the audience and continued: "This artillery is still in the technical testing stage, so we will not install it in the army in the short term. , and will not be sold to outsiders, so you don’t have to worry that the emergence of this weapon will affect the existing peaceful situation in the South China Sea.”
Yan Chujie's words were naturally very beautiful, but most people present could hear the underlying meaning in his words. Even someone like Liu Shang, who does not have a thorough understanding of the international situation in the South China Sea, can understand that half of his words are comfort and the other half are threats.
Yan Chujie claimed that this kind of advanced artillery will not be equipped in the Haihan Army in the short term, but he is probably the only one who would believe this. Although what he said is indeed true, based on Haihan's long-term operation methods in the field of armaments, the outside world does not believe that Haihan's military will really shelve such a good thing and not make full use of it. What's more, this thing has already been produced into a finished product that can be used in actual combat, and it is not just a fantasy on paper. If Haihan really wants to mass-produce it with peace of mind, why is he afraid that it will not be produced?
As for Yan Chujie's statement that he would not sell it to outsiders, everyone believed it. After all, Haihan had never sold the active weapons of the Haihan Army. What's more, this was unheard of. Even the Haihan Army had not yet installed it. new artillery.
Yan Chujie claimed that the test firing just now did not bring out the true power of this artillery. Its effective range will also be a mystery to the outside world. The only way to solve this mystery is to act as a naval force on the battlefield. enemies. As for the various artillery currently installed in various countries, it is probably difficult to match this new artillery in terms of accuracy. The only question is how lethal the new shells used by this artillery will be.
The answer was found after the soldiers pulled the target back on a flatbed trailer. There were five clearly visible holes in the target, and the edges were relatively rounded. There were not even obvious cracks. It is conceivable that the artillery shell penetrated The target flew at an extremely fast speed, easily penetrating the three-third-thick iron plate as easily as it could destroy anything. But when I used a twelve-pounder to shoot at a target of the same material thickness at the same distance, the shell only left a dent in the target. The difference in power between the two was immediately apparent.
Since it can easily penetrate an iron target at this distance, it has proven that the effective range claimed by Yan Chujie is not a boast. Even if the target is moved farther away, it should have the same penetration effect. The officers of each family secretly weighed their existing artillery in their hearts. If they want to hit the opponent at this distance, they basically have to take advantage of the situation, let alone have any precise lethality. If you encounter an opponent equipped with this kind of artillery on the battlefield, plus the other two big weapons in Haihan's hands, the telescope and the sniper rifle, then your own artillery positions and senior officers will probably be named one by one.
Even if Liu Shang didn't know much about it, he had sat here and watched it for so long and listened to the discussions of the people next to him, and he could already realize how terrifying this weapon was in actual combat. Haihan's huge advantages in weapons can undoubtedly dispel the hidden ambitions of other countries in the region to a large extent. Anyone who wants to take action against Haihan must first weigh and weigh whether he has enough weight to challenge the powerful The Haihan Army.
The terrifying aspects of the Haihan Army are not limited to what everyone realizes. What's even more terrible is that no one can imagine how many secret weapons that have never been revealed in Haihan's arsenal. Are the weapons displayed today already the entire property of Haihan? I'm afraid no one would think so. Even Liu Shang felt that Haihan must still have some reservations. The real weapon of the country would probably not be given a chance to the outside world to see its true appearance. After showing the artillery target shooting results, Yan Chujie announced that today's military exercise would end here. Later, he would invite the guests to board the ship and go to Weizhou Island nearby to rest for a night before continuing the maritime military exercise tomorrow. Although everyone was slightly disappointed with such an abrupt end to the arrangement, there was a little bit of inexplicable joy in their hearts. This may be because Haihan did not bring out more new weapons for display, and finally kept his mentality. Collapse.
However, the several field artillery pieces displayed just now did attract the attention of most of the guests who were responsible for arms purchase. As soon as Yan Chujie finished speaking, several people had already gathered around him to inquire about the sale of related weapons. These people have been dealing with Haihan for many years, and they all know that this kind of military purchase order takes one step at a time, and it is best to place the order in advance so as to get an early delivery date. Even if Haihan still wants to engage in limited bidding, it must first understand it clearly and then carefully plan how to arrange its own bidding strategy.
This is the first time Liu Shang has seen such a scene. The title of the number one arms dealer in the South China Sea is indeed well-deserved. Haihan artillery is famous for its high price, but so many countries still flock to it, and the Haihan people must have profited from it. Every bowl is full. Although he didn't recognize the people, several of them were obviously dressed as Ming gentry, and they were probably from Guangdong, Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang and other places where Haihan had already set foot. There are also several blond and blue-eyed Westerners among them. It seems that Haihan's arms are not just for sale in the South China Sea.
On such an occasion, Liu Shang had a humble status and naturally couldn't get in. He could only watch from a distance. However, Yu Xiaobao soon asked everyone in the inspection team to gather, leave the training ground and return to the ship. These arms purchase trade negotiations will involve some international affairs and Haihan's external attitude. Yu Xiaobao does not want his helpers to pay attention to such information that has nothing to do with their current work.
Liu Shang really wanted to stay and watch the various military attachés bargaining with Yan Chujie, but he could not disobey Yu Xiaobao's instructions, so he could only follow the team back to the ship. The inspection team's arrangement was the same as everyone else's, first taking a boat to the nearby Weizhou Island to spend the night.
Weizhou Island had already been included in the jurisdiction of the Central Dynasty during the Han Dynasty. During the Wanli Period of the Ming Dynasty, immigrants from Leizhou came to Weizhou Island to colonize the island. It was originally under the jurisdiction of Hepu County, Lianzhou, and this place became It was a place under the dual jurisdiction of Leizhou and Lianzhou. But because of this, and because there are no special products on the island, this island, which is only twenty nautical miles away from the mainland coastline, quickly became an abandoned place that no one wanted to care about.
When Haihan took over here a few years ago, Lianzhou Prefecture and Leizhou Prefecture both pretended not to know about the change of sovereignty of Weizhou Island, and did not even bother to ask Haihan for an explanation. The residents on the island did not have much resistance to the arrival of the Haihan people, because before that, the Haihan merchant ships that intensively traveled between Hainan Island and the coast of Guangxi had already hired most of the island residents, and many of them were employed. Everyone has gone to Danzhou and other places with their own eyes to see with their own eyes the "peaceful and prosperous age" under the rule of the Executive Committee. There are even precedents for people to change their families and become naturalized as Haihan. After dealing with and expelling a few stubborn landowners, Weizhou Island and neighboring Xieyang Island were placed under the jurisdiction of the Danzhou Management Committee and became part of the legal territory of Haihan.
As the largest island near the coast of Guangxi, Weizhou Island actually does not have very good agricultural development value. The traditional industry is fishing and related basic handicrafts such as shipbuilding and net weaving. After Haihan took over the place, he did not try to carry out large-scale renovation and development here, but only used it as the logistics base of Xieyang Island. In addition to various shooting ranges and large and small arms warehouses on Xieyang Island, there are only barracks for troops stationed on the island. Therefore, Yan Chujie can only arrange for the guests visiting the military exercise to stay on Weizhou Island first. Night. Although the accommodation conditions on the island are also very average, it is still better than wandering on the sea for a night.
The living conditions here are far inferior to those at the previous stations visited by the inspection team. Although there is still a lot of seafood on the table, the cooking methods are mainly boiled, which is not as rich as the Haihan cuisine eaten in towns. taste.
The amount of information Liu Shang was exposed to on this day was too great and he couldn't digest it for a while. This also caused him to have little appetite to enjoy seafood. He wanted to discuss the weapons he saw today with Yu Xiaobao and Lu Ting, but the damn Zhang Qianzhi appeared at the dinner table to have dinner with them, so Liu Shang had to give up his original idea. Just keep your mouth shut and eat.
Regarding the contents of the military exercise for the next day, the accompanying officers did not reveal much information to them. Liu Shang was too lazy to guess anymore because he found that Haihan knew much more than he imagined, and what he knew about the military Not much, and guessing is probably in vain. Until tomorrow, everything will be revealed.
The next day, everyone still got up early and had breakfast, and then took the boat out to sea again. Yesterday, all the military's combat fleets docked at Xieyang Island, so it took some time for the ships that the guests were traveling on to rejoin the fleet after going out to sea.
The accompanying officer then disclosed to them the content of today's exercise, which was to simulate attacking enemy ships at sea. Liu Shangxin said, with the density of artillery fire that attacked the port yesterday, how many ships in the world can withstand a round of bombardment from this fleet? If we drag a few wooden target boats out to shoot, I'm afraid they will be sunk in a few times and call it a day.
But it turned out that Liu Shang was overly worried. Haihan had naturally thought of everything he could think of. The Haihan Navy did not set up target ships at sea, but painted several eye-catching targets with paint on the steep coast of Xieyang Island. At first glance, this seems to be no different from yesterday's attack on Haihan Fortress, but today's shooting requirements are different. Each ship must complete its naval gun shooting hits on all targets individually, and the time is limited to the one with the shortest time. For excellence. If there are missed targets during the shooting process, the corresponding time will be added to the final timing result as a penalty.
(End of chapter)