New Ming Empire mixed in America

"Heavy machine guns are different from anti-aircraft machine guns. Anti-aircraft machine guns are very huge..."

Upon hearing Li Mingqi's inquiry, Zhang Yu first talked about the difficulty of the design.

Li Mingqi, who was already very familiar with his routine, interrupted with a smile:

"I know all this. Just tell me if you have any clues about the heavy machine gun."

The Xin Ming Empire version of the anti-aircraft machine gun did not have the rate of fire of later generations.

Today's anti-aircraft machine guns are enlarged versions of continuous-fire sniper rifles. Because of the huge recoil and the length and weight of the barrel.

Therefore, like the coastal defense gun, a huge base was designed, which together with the searchlight formed an air defense position.

To be precise, it is a building similar to a battleship turret consisting of an electric motor, a searchlight unit, and a twin anti-aircraft machine gun.

"The heavy machine gun has two directions. One is a smokeless powder version of the rotary machine gun developed based on the rotary machine gun. The other is a water-cooled heavy machine gun researched based on the firearms book you provided."

Zhang Yu paused obviously when talking about firearms books.

There are many similar firearms books, such as those about machine tools that have never appeared in the world.

And these artifacts were brought out by Li Mingqi, so the few senior officials of the Royal Academy who knew about them regarded Li Mingqi as a god.

The outside world may be in awe of the various black technologies emerging in the Royal Academy, but only the researchers in the Royal Academy understand that those black technologies are all produced by a few special researchers in the academy.

And these special researchers only know that the design drawings and even models of these black technologies are produced by the senior leaders of the research institute.

However, this was also a smoke bomb deliberately created by Li Mingqi, otherwise everyone would know that Li Mingqi had this ability.

It is estimated that other countries will immediately go crazy. Not to mention, if the news reaches someone Lin's ears, it is estimated that the fighting between the north and the south will stop on the spot and turn their attention to the Xinming Empire.

Even if it is a god, at the national level, the first thought that comes to mind is probably not to worship him, but more to see if he can capture him and help him.

Only when they find that they cannot defeat them will they turn to cooperation. If the gods have the ability to easily wipe out their country's strength, then the leaders of these countries will start to choose to worship them.

This is also the origin of the allusion of "being sliced".

Li Mingqi no longer had such worries. Except for Liu Erhe and his son, no one else had seen Li Mingqi's magic with their own eyes. At most, they only had some guesses.

But it was this kind of speculation that made them admire Li Mingqi infinitely.

And these people are also the absolute backbone of the Xinming Empire, such as Sun Laifu. Even under him, there are many talents with more commanding talents than him.

But when the National Defense Force is in the hands of Sun Laifu, Li Mingqi will feel at ease. No one else can replace Sun Laifu's position in Li Mingqi's heart.

Because he knew that when he was on the Flying Bird merchant ship, those people had already developed awe, worship and other thoughts towards him.

Not only that, Li Mingqi was also their savior and led them to establish the Xinming Empire.

To say that these people have second thoughts, Li Mingqi is the first one not to believe it.

"Water-cooled machine gun?" Li Mingqi frowned. The difference between water-cooled heavy machine gun and air-cooled heavy machine gun is heat dissipation.

Don't underestimate the difference between the two, take the Maxim heavy machine gun as an example.

The weight of the Maxim is as high as 27 kilograms. Before firing, 4 kilograms of water need to be added to the cylinder wrapped around the outside of the barrel. However, soldiers can carry bullets but cannot carry water wells with them.

Air-cooled heavy machine guns don't need to be so troublesome. You only need to add a radiator to the outside of the barrel.

This is also what Li Mingqi is confused about. Since there is a better air-cooling type, why should we use water cooling?

After he expressed this doubt, Zhang Yu explained:

"If it is air-cooled, adding a heat sink will also increase the weight of the firearm itself, and the slotting method will increase the processing time of the barrel..."

"Because His Majesty urged us urgently, we could only use a relatively simple water-cooled heavy machine gun first."

After hearing Zhang Yu's words, Li Mingqi nodded clearly.

The heat dissipation of heavy machine guns is indeed difficult to solve. Although air-cooled heavy machine guns are more convenient than water-cooled ones, the processing of the barrel is difficult, and the barrel needs to be replaced frequently during combat.

The water-cooled type is much simpler. Just add water to the water pipe sleeve outside the barrel.

The air-cooled machine gun needs to replace the barrel after firing about 300 rounds of bullets.

The same goes for the famous Lewis light machine gun. If you fire more than 20 rounds, you need to pause to prevent the barrel from overheating.

"But air-cooled machine guns will be the mainstream in the future. You still need to conduct more research in this area..."

Looking at the imitation Maxim heavy machine gun in front of him, Li Mingqi was a little dissatisfied.

Although the air-cooling type has various difficulties, it will be impossible for soldiers to have water available for use anytime and anywhere on the battlefield in the future.

As for the smokeless powder version of the rotary machine gun, Li Mingqi ignored it after taking a few glances.

Without him, the Xinming Empire cannot afford it.

Because of the switch to smokeless gunpowder, the rate of fire increased a lot, which made Li Mingqi feel distressed when he tried firing.

And if the rate of fire is reduced, what is the difference between it and the black powder version of the rotary machine gun? Moreover, the bullet cost is much cheaper.

So after studying for a while, Li Mingqi still did not use imitation Maxim machine guns to equip his troops.

At this stage, it is enough to have a black powder version of the rotating barrel machine gun. In the future, when the Royal Research Institute has sufficient technical reserves, it will be enough to directly produce light machine guns.

Just when Li Mingqi inspected all the weapons factories of the Xinming Empire, three airships finally flew to the territory of the Northern Federation.

"Oh Shet, is that a Southern redneck observation balloon?"

A patrol cavalry on the border saw the airship in the sky and immediately shouted to his companions.

Suddenly, a commotion broke out in the cavalry team of more than a hundred people.

Because the appearance of reconnaissance balloons often means that large enemy forces are nearby.

So these cavalry teams patrolling the border began to search nearby under the command of officers.

Situations similar to this cavalry team will occur from time to time in the next few days.

This also caused a lot of rumors about rednecks coming in the places the airship passed along the way.

At the same time, the local Northern Federal troops also received various "battlefield intelligence", allowing them to mobilize troops in vain to prevent the sudden appearance of the southern red-necked regiment.

Even though the three airships tried their best to move forward in sparsely populated areas, they still caused a huge commotion when they approached Washington.

A Northern Federal force near Washington even sent a cavalry regiment to advance underneath the airship, which made the pilots on the airship very depressed.

"Should we drop a few bombs to keep those cavalry away?"

One of the bombardiers put down his telescope and spat downwards.

"Don't worry, the pilot team will probably let the airship pass through the nearby mountains later. These cavalry won't be able to keep up."

Another bombardier also spat below, then patted his comrade on the shoulder and said:

"Don't be so nervous. Waiting until after Washington will be our battlefield."

The bombardier was right, but he underestimated the difficulty of finding Washington without navigation.

They wandered 2 kilometers outside the city of Washington for two days before finally discovering the city with the iconic White House.

When they saw the White House, the airship pilots were sure they were in the right place.