Chapter 262: Hell Missile
“No rush, let me measure it first.”
Li Muzhi did not rush it, but immediately took measuring tools and measured each of these parts one by one.
These two parts were the most difficult.
The past few days had all been repeated failures, and Li Muzhi had debugged the machine multiple times.
After the measurements were done, Li Muzhi nodded in satisfaction and said to the several skilled workers nearby, “Yes, all qualified. Look carefully, this is how I assemble it.”
It was impossible for the assembly of this new type rocket to be done entirely by Li Muzhi alone.
These skilled workers would be the assembly operators from now on.
Li Muzhi picked up one of the parts, explaining while assembling it.
The several skilled workers all noted it down carefully, watching Li Muzhi’s operations intently.
In just one minute, Li Muzhi had assembled these two parts.
With the opening at the rear of the projectile body sealed, this meant that the Border Region Arsenal’s first new type rocket was born.
Old Zhang comrade nearby immediately laughed: “Haha, this new type rocket that doesn’t need a cannon barrel to fire is made just like that. I can’t wait to see its effect on the battlefield right away.”
The other skilled workers also had excited expressions one by one.
At this moment, looking at the completed projectile, their excited emotions overflowed.
Artillery firing history had several hundred years, and cannonballs had always been pushed out from the cannon barrel relying on huge chamber pressure.
From this moment on, our factory director rewrote several hundred years of artillery firing methods, making cannonballs able to fly on their own.
“You all saw clearly how I assembled these last two parts, right?” Li Muzhi looked at these excited workers.
“Factory director, we all saw it clearly and understood.” The several skilled workers all nodded.
“Alright then, you few start assembling the remaining parts, I’ll watch from the side.” Li Muzhi said, “At the beginning, no need to go fast, mainly steady, understand?”
“Yes, factory director.” The several skilled workers all nodded one after another, immediately looking serious as they assembled.
Li Muzhi watched carefully from the side, while Lao He pulled Zhang Wanhe to one side and whispered, “Minister Zhang, this new type rocket should have a name, can’t just call it new type rocket, right?”
“You haven’t come up with a name yet?” Zhang Wanhe was stunned. Since this new type rocket could be made today, he thought Li Muzhi had already named it.
Now with Lao He asking like this, it was clear Li Muzhi hadn’t named it yet.
“The factory director hasn’t told me.” Lao He replied.
“Then what name should we give it?” Zhang Wanhe rubbed his chin, “We call the shoulder-mounted cannon rocket launcher, and if this cannonball that can fly out on its own to bomb the enemy is called rocket, it would duplicate the rocket launcher’s projectile. What name should we give it?”
Lao He thought for a moment and said, “How about we call it King of Hell Cannon, as majestic as Hell Cannon. Hell Cannon sends Japanese invaders and traitors to hell, this King of Hell Cannon sends Japanese invaders and traitors to meet the King of Hell!”
“Going to hell and meeting the King of Hell are two different concepts.” Zhang Wanhe shook his head and said, “Going to hell means dead and still going down to suffer, to the eighteenth layer of hell. Meeting the King of Hell is just dying, not necessarily going to hell, maybe even reincarnating.”
“Then according to you, Minister Zhang, what should we call it?” Lao He thought it made sense.
These Japanese invader beasts had no humanity, traitors had no bone, just letting them meet the King of Hell would still be too lenient.
“How about we call it Eighteenth Layer Hell Cannon.” Zhang Wanhe really was bad at naming, “Directly send Japanese invaders and traitors to the eighteenth layer of hell.”
Lao He curled his lip: “Minister Zhang, by your logic, Soul Scattered Cannon would work too.”
“Forget it, forget it.” Zhang Wanhe dropped it, pointing at Li Muzhi who was still instructing the skilled workers, and said, “Let’s wait until Xiao Li finishes guiding the workers, let him name it.”
“Yes, let our factory director name it. Back then he came up with the Hell Cannon name, which was pretty good.” Lao He nodded, and the two walked back.
The two stood to the side, just watching with their eyes, not speaking, not disturbing Li Muzhi’s work here.
These were all skilled workers, plus Li Muzhi personally guiding from the side, so the remaining nineteen new type rockets were all assembled in no time.
Li Muzhi said to the workers: “You all go back to the workshop now, teach the assembly of these two parts to the other workers.”
“Yes, factory director.” These several skilled workers all hurried back to the workshop.
All parts for the new type rocket were in production, explosives and propellant were all ready, now they had to hurry with assembly production.
Zhang Wanhe looked at these twenty new type rockets fully assembled, but still asked once more: “Xiao Li, are you sure they’re all assembled properly?”
“Yes, Minister Zhang, all assembled, can be directly taken to the battlefield for testing.” Li Muzhi nodded and said to Zhang Wanhe, “Minister Zhang, aren’t you going to send some to Regiment Commander Liu?”
After speaking, Li Muzhi also took out a notebook and placed it together with these twenty new type rockets.
This notebook recorded the firing method of the new type rocket and other precautions.
For example, although the new type rocket didn’t need a cannon barrel to fire, when firing, there was still smoke trajectory, which exposed the firing position.
In other words, after firing, they had to immediately change position, not stay in place.
Also, without a stand, when firing from a dirt pit, the soil in the dirt pit still needed to be tamped solid, not loose and soft, otherwise it would affect firing accuracy and such.
“Lao He, pack these twenty new type rockets into boxes right away, I’ll have someone take them.” Zhang Wanhe immediately said to Lao He.
These cannonballs couldn’t be transported naked like this, they still needed to be put in ammunition boxes, with moisture-proofing, sealing, and shock-absorbing measures.
“Good.” Lao He nodded and immediately had people bring ammunition boxes, starting to pack them quickly.
Zhang Wanhe smiled at Li Muzhi: “Xiao Li, this new type rocket won’t just be called new type rocket, right? Have you named it?”
“Minister Zhang, do you have any good suggestions?” Li Muzhi asked Zhang Wanhe in return.
Actually, for the name of this new type rocket, Li Muzhi had considered it in his spare time.
It was different from Hell Cannon; Hell Cannon was originally crude, almost industrial, so the name could be directly used.
Although this new type rocket imitated the later 107 rocket, which had the nickname “guerrilla divine weapon.”
But it definitely couldn’t be called 107 rocket here, and calling it “guerrilla divine cannon” felt a bit tacky.
This new type rocket didn’t need a cannon barrel, which meant freedom.
Plus our troops were now promoting freedom and equality, Li Muzhi wanted to call it “Cannon of Freedom.”
It still felt a bit off.
So up to now, he still hadn’t decided.
“Xiao Li, I just discussed with Lao He, how about Eighteenth Layer Hell Cannon or Soul Scattered Cannon…” Zhang Wanhe didn’t finish.
Li Muzhi burst out laughing: “Minister Zhang, your names are too tacky. In my view, just find any fortune teller, have them name it based on I Ching and Eight Trigrams, it’d be better than yours.”
“Eh, that does make sense.” Zhang Wanhe immediately went “eh” and said, “If you can’t think of a name either, how about finding a fortune teller to name it.”
“Here’s an idea.” Li Muzhi ended the topic, saying: “As long as this thing works well on the battlefield, if we can’t think of a better name for now, let’s temporarily call it ‘missile’.”
Missile in later times referred to a bomb equipped with automatic flight device, able to guide itself to the target.
In more common terms, that was guided missile.
The principle of this new type rocket was the same as missile, just different structure, so it could be considered a type of missile.
So Li Muzhi simply called it missile first.
“Missile?” Zhang Wanhe paused upon hearing it, then said, “Xiao Li, your name is a bit too casual. I’m not satisfied if it doesn’t send little Japanese invaders to hell.”
This cannonball could fly on its own, calling it missile was fitting, but too ordinary.
Li Muzhi went along with Zhang Wanhe’s meaning: “How about adding ‘hell’ in front of these two words ‘missile’?”
“Hell Missile?” Zhang Wanhe heard it, slapped his forehead, and was immediately satisfied: “Haha, Hell Missile is a good name, I think we should use this name.”
The workers nearby who were packing the projectiles heard it and all chimed in:
“Factory director, we think Hell Missile is good, domineering enough, not inferior to Hell Cannon.”
“Hell Missile fits the concept of the projectile flying on its own, and sends Japanese invaders to hell, good name.”
“Factory director, no changes, just call it Hell Missile.”
……
Li Muzhi nodded: “Alright, then it’s Hell Missile.”
The twenty Hell Missiles were quickly packed, and Zhang Wanhe immediately had people move all the boxes away, of course also taking the manual Li Muzhi left.
Before leaving, Zhang Wanhe still asked: “Xiao Li, how many Hell Missiles can you make in a day, more than rocket launchers?”
“About twenty something per day.” Li Muzhi answered.
Rocket launchers and rockets had more processes, especially rocket launchers; although not high requirements for the cannon barrel, still some requirements, which took time.
This Hell Missile didn’t need a cannon barrel, saving time.
“Haha, not bad, very good.” Zhang Wanhe was very happy, extremely satisfied.
If producing it for a month, that would be seven or eight hundred.
No need for cannon barrel to fire, guerrilla team carrying projectiles on the battlefield for quick transfer, to a suitable position, dig a dirt pit to aim, light the fuse and immediately slip away.
Emphasizing sneak attack, emphasizing surprise, this was better than carrying rocket launcher on horseback… oh, no!
On horseback, they could also carry Hell Missiles for sneak attacks on Japanese invaders and traitors.
Horses transfer faster, so the strike efficiency would definitely be top-notch.
“Xiao Li, hurry and produce it, I’ll have people send the Hell Missiles to Liu Weidong, and report to headquarters along the way.” Zhang Wanhe quickly strode away, even stumbling a bit when leaving, nearly falling.
With Hell Missile coming out, Old Zhang comrade was so excited that when walking, he forgot which leg to step with.
“Minister Zhang, remember to bring back the test data for the Hell Missile.” Li Muzhi added.
“Got it.”
