Chapter 221: Returning home
For such bullets, China only had anti-aircraft machine guns, which did not have many variations with the Type 56 Quad AA gun being the first.
The Type 56 Quad AA gun was an imitation of the Soviet Union’s ZPU-4 AA Gun, manufactured in 1956, it was mass produced and equipped across the army. The reason for the name of the Quad AA gun was due to its four connected rapid fire and precision aim system. The weapon was installed onto a four-wheeled, dual axle cart and driven around by being hooked behind vehicles. The precision aiming system was installed onto the weapon along with lighting, allowing for night shoots.
The second type was a Type 58 Dual AA Gun, Type 58 14.5mm Dual AA gun was an imitation of the Soviet Union’s ZPU-2 AA Gun, manufactured in 1958, it was also mass produced and equipped across armies, with two 56 14.5mm gun body, the Type 58 Dual AA gun also had precision aiming and was installed onto a two-wheeled cart.
The third type was the Type 75 14.5mm AA Gun, which was reinvented and improved from the Soviet Union’s BYB 14.5mm AA Gun by China. Designed and manufactured in 1981, it employed 1 Type 56 14.5mm barrel and gun base, along with a tripod stand. The sighting device composed of a high precision lens and sight-fire scope, for which the sight-fire scope was fixed onto the high precision lens. The high precision lens had miniature ring-shaped optics while the sight-fire scope allowed direct aiming.
(TN: I am not that good and proficient in terms of China gun parts, so forgive me if there are any errors.)
“Oh, China seems to have a few types of 14.5mm AA guns, there is also one type, redesigned in 1983, a Type 75-1, they mainly changed the tripod legs and installed wheels, axles and inflation device. It can be pulled with vehicles, but in the end, it is still a Type 75 14.5mm AA Gun.” Wang Le introduced the various 14.5mm weapons to Zhang Xiao Qiang.
Zhang Xiao Qiang asked: “Is the Type 75 14.5mm AA Gun a higher grade compared to the Type 58 and 56?”
Hearing Zhang Xiao Qiang’s question, Wang Le did not know how to answer. He stumbled with his words: “Erm, the Type 75 is slightly lighter, the range of fire are the same, they are all able to shoot 2km in a high angle and 1km in a straight fire.”
Zhang Xiao Qiang expressed his understanding, he thought about his recoil-operated HMG, regardless of its rate of fire or rate of heat, it could not compare to the Type 53 HMG. he then asked: “In terms of firing rate, is the Type 75 faster than the other two?”
Hearing his question, Wang Le’s face turned bitter. He looked at Zhang Xiao Qiang and gave a string of numbers: “Type 56 Quad AA Gun firing rate is 600 rounds/minute. Type 58 Dual AA Gun, in theory, 1100 – 1200 rounds/minute, actual firing rate is 300 rounds/minute. Type 75 14.5mm AA Gun, in theory, is able to fire at 550 – 600 rounds/minute, but actual firing rate is 80 rounds/minute.”
Zhang Xiao Qiang was speechless, the weapons made 30 years later had a firing rate twice as slow as weapons made 30 years before, even if it had one barrel, its single barrel was still slower than a barrel of the past.
Zhang Xiao Qiang looked at Wang Le and spoke cautiously: “The place that you know of, could it be that there are Type 75 14.5mm AA guns?”
Wang Le replied loudly: “Type 75 are active duty equipment but the factory that I was previously in will not have such weapons. Inside our factory’s defense branch warehouse, all the former rifles and light weapons have been taken away, but all the AA guns were left behind and I think there are quite a few of them. I remember that the factory actually pulled them out once for a practice shoot. At that time, they brought the weapons into my factory for repairs, and I even became addicted to them for a while.”
Wang Le’s factory had a controlled facility holding AA Guns, out of which they had 3 Type 56 Quad AA Guns, 6 Type 58 Dual AA Guns which were all preserved perfectly. The factory also had random checks made by their superiors on the upkeep and preservation of the guns, aside from having no bullets, their weapons were perfectly usable.
“For our factory, aside from those AA Guns, there are plenty of good things as well, our processing workshop has a few guns, the factory itself holds plenty of unique materials as well, as long as I have raw materials, I can even reinstate the Type 92 Battalion Gun….”
Wang Le’s incessant blabber about the good things in his factory had long captured Zhang Xiao Qiang’s mind and made him go on a mental journey. Zhang Xiao Qiang had already decided that Wang Le’s old factory was the next location for them.
Zhang Xiao Qiang looked at the fleet preparing to move out with satisfaction. All the fully cooked or half cooked rat meat were loaded up a vehicle, all the ammunition in the arsenals had been plundered by Zhang Xiao Qiang, even the empty ammunition shells were picked up and loaded up. Who knew that in the future, they had the capability of reinstating them back to usable bullets.
8 porcupines along with over 10 constantly twisting bags were loaded up a vehicle. Inside the 10 bags were young rats that Zhang Xiao Qiang found. He had the thought of rearing them in the base as a great undertaking.
The fleet slowly moved out of the prison. Old Frank had employed people to tear down and load up the 7-8m tall steel doors, and at the same time took the entire electrical machinery and components used to control the large door. Zhang Xiao Qiang sat in the Hummer and extended his hand out, gesturing for them to move out. All the large vehicles slowly followed behind the Hummer and moved in a straight convoy.
The fleet gradually moved towards the base in the spring. Everyone inside the vehicles had a clear view of the scaffolding and half-built brick wall in the distance. As the fleet slowly advanced, they noticed a large crowd standing at the car park outside the valley. Upon seeing the fleet, the crowd cheered out loud, filling the space with cheerful voice and sounds.
Zhang Xiao Qiang and his members had gone through two continuous days of battles and were extremely fatigued, but upon hearing the intense cheers from the crowd, their spirits were roused and became excited. They had arrived at their base, their home, and the people calling out for them were their families.
All the pain, sacrifice and fatigue were worth it. Zhang Xiao Qiang looked at Yuan Yi, who stood at the front of the crowd with her old injuries. Beside her stood He Wen Bin, while Zhang Huai An and Lu Ren Yi stood behind them.
When the fleet stopped, everyone moved in to unload the vehicles. The tired members dragged themselves and walked unsteadily back into the camp with nothing but the thought to have a great and long sleep.
Guo Fei was carried down the vehicle. He turned a deaf ear towards the cheers while lying on the stretcher. He looked at the sky and remained quiet as he laid down when a pain from the long sword wound came out from the jolt of the two persons carrying him. It started to bleed and stained the white bandages.
Guo Fei ignored the pain and quietly looked up at the sky. A girl walked to the stretcher, and she who had never spoken opened her mouth and pleaded for the two men to ease up on their pace.
Her words were heard by Guo Fei. From the corner of his eye, he glanced onto the little girl dressed in work clothes. Not seeing the familiar red, he closed his eyes and ignored the outside world.
Zhang Xiao Qiang brought 40 odd strong men and carried the 9 corpses, out of which three of were just bones. Wang Chong did not even have any bones left, and upon thinking about that, Zhang Xiao Qiang felt melancholy. “Are the injured brothers settled in?”
Zhang Xiao Qiang looked at He Wen Bin and asked, to which He Wen Bin nodded. He looked at the 8 corpses and asked: “Brother Cockroach, where should we bury these brothers? Outside the valley or…..”
“Tear down the tower on top of the hill, get Old Frank to build the best cemetery for me and install a monument, in the future, all of our brothers who die in battle will be buried there, so everyone can simply raise their heads and see them….”