Thunder Horse Military Factory was as lively as ever inside. The interview and visit was only one part of this celebration. The first cannon firing test was the real important part of this celebration.
A large group of people left Thunder Horse Military Factory with Xia Lei in the lead. They arrived at a vacant plot of land, outside of the new workshop area.
A small bare hilltop sat at the end of the vacant land. On the top was a bullseye that had been made with a mix of clay and a steel plate. It wasn't that big; the same size as an average war tank.
A stone platform was temporarily set up on the empty land. It was covered with a very big military canvas. Just from the outline when the canvas, something big seemed to be hidden underneath. However, the canvas was opaque, and the people present couldn't see what was underneath the canvas at all.
"It looks like self-propelled artillery," said a cannon expert next to Mu Jianfeng.
Mu Jianfeng had purposely brought a cannon expert from Shenzhou Industrial Group to judge the standard of Thunder Horse Military Factory's current artillery technology this time, on his visit to the Thunder Horse Military Factory's newly constructed cannon workshop. This was very important to the heavy weaponry China Industrial Group.
Mu Jianfeng carefully observed the silhouette covered by the canvas and said, "It does seem like a big self-propelled artillery but that's not possible because Thunder Horse Military Factory's artillery assembly line was completed not too long ago. Would it be possible for it to produce heavy weaponry like this self-propelled artillery?"
"That's right. Producing artillery is easy but producing a self-propelled artillery is not that easy. That would require armored vehicles technology and the relevant fire control system technology, and so on. How could Thunder Horse Military Factory create a self-propelled gun in such a short time?" said the cannon expert from China Industrial Group.
Ye Kun got closer. "Don't forget that that rascal is best at defeating his opponents with a surprise move. The more we feel it's impossible, the more likely it'll be."
Mu Jianfeng frowned. "Kun, do you think Xia Lei has already produced a self-propelled gun as well?"
Ye Kun nodded with a grave expression on his face.
On a certain level, the self-propelled gun was basically a tank. Other than the difference in shooting angles, its plate armor was weaker than a tank but its power was much greater. Thus, constructing a heavy duty weapon like the self-propelled gun required cannon technology but also a good grasp of armored vehicles technology. This was precisely what Thunder Horse Military Factory did not have. If a self-propelled gun really was underneath there, that would mean Thunder Horse Military Factory had already grasped this type of technology and applied it to real manufacturing. This would be bad for China Industrial Group and Hanwu Weapons.
The same discussion appeared elsewhere. Many people thought a self-propelled gun equivalent to a tank was hidden underneath the military canvas but based on Thunder Horse Military Factory's current abilities, no one could believe that it could already produce heavy duty weaponry like that.
Turn back the clock to that night two months ago.
Long Bing suddenly flipped atop Xia Lei, pressing him down and saying to him in a commanding voice, “Get inside me!”
However, Xia Lei suddenly thought of something. "Bing, Thunder Horse Military Factory is doing an all-round upgrade now. The artillery workshop was the first to be established and it’s also the easiest to produce and put into the marketplace. What do you think the first cannon I make should be?"
Long Bing suddenly fell onto Xia Lei's chest like a deflated balloon. "You're discussing artillery with me right now?"
However, Xia Lei was very serious. "I just had some inspiration."
"All right, I'll give in. What inspiration?"
"I don't know what happened. It was too fast. I don't know what inspiration it was but I'm sure that you definitely triggered it."
"Me?" Long Bing looked extremely confused. She couldn't think of anything she had done to inspire Xia Lei.
"Yes, you. I have a feeling that it’s awesome. If I manage to grasp it, it will definitely be something that will shock everyone in the artillery field." Xia Lei was very excited.
"Are you sure you want to talk about artillery with me right now?"
"How about you do everything you just did again? Maybe I'll be able to grasp the inspiration I just felt." Xia Lei was impatient. "Hurry up, hurry up."
Long Bing gloomily nodded. Then, she got off Xia Lei's body and got back into his embrace, sliding one hand down his lower abdomen.
"What are you doing?" Xia Lei suddenly got nervous.
"Didn't you tell me to repeat what I just did?" Long Bing was not bothered by Xia Lei.
Xia Lei frowned. "Then, then continue."
"What are you thinking about?"
"What else could I be thinking about?"
"This is really funny."
"Yeah, this is so funny."
"Can we not be funny like this anymore?"
"Then what should we do?"
"Get inside me!"
"Wait… Say that again!" shouted Xia Lei suddenly.
"Say what?"
"What you just said!"
"Get…"
"Say it." Xia Lei's eyes were filled with desire.
"Get inside me!" said Long Bing fiercely.
Xia Lei paused and suddenly burst into hearty laughter. "That's it, that's it… I got it! This is great!"
"Great, yeah right!" Long Bing threw the pillow next to her at Xia Lei’s head...
Time returned to the present.
In the crowd, Long Bing watched the military canvas, with a faint smile on her face. She had never thought that she could have helped Xia Lei with his work but she had actually contributed to the first cannon that Thunder Horse Military Factory created. Every time she thought of this, she would have a little sense of achievement and couldn't help feeling happy.
"What are you smiling about?" Tang Yuyan came over.
"Do I have to tell you what I'm smiling about?" Long Bing's head was filled with the romantic story of that night. Her happy feeling disappeared immediately after Tang Yuyan interrupted her.
"It's rare to see you smiling. You only smile a few times in a year. Something must be up if you’re smiling," said Tang Yuyan.
Long Bing just ignored Tang Yuyan.
"Forget it, if you're not going to talk about it, I don't want to know." Tang Yuyan pointed at the military canvas on the stone platform. "A lot of people are guessing a self-propelled cannon is underneath, what do you think?"
"Xia Lei's gun is definitely the best gun." Long Bing seemed to have imagined something, and her expression was a little strange.
"What gun are you talking about?" Tang Yuyan's sixth sense was tingling.
"Ahem." Long Bing coughed dryly. "Of course I'm talking about artillery, what did you think it was?"
"I'm asking about what the cannon underneath the military canvas is. What are you talking about?"
"Of course I'm talking about the cannon underneath the canvas."
"What is that?"
"Cannon, your ass. If you talk more nonsense, I'll give you a cannon." Long Bing was feeling a little irritable.
"Have you eaten the wrong medicine? Do you even have a cannon?" After a pause, she probingly asked, "Have you seen Xia Lei's cannon?"
Long Bing was speechless.
While the two women were having a questionable verbal quarrel, Xia Lei stood on the temporarily set up stone platform, accompanied by Liu Zhengnan. All eyes were on Xia Lei.
"Director Xia, you uncover it," said Liu Zhengnan.
Xia Lei nodded and reached his hand out to grasp a corner of the military canvas. Then, he pulled at it.
The military canvas left the ground and was swept by the wind. A rectangular wooden platform was revealed on the stone platform with a velvet carpet on top. A strangely shaped 1.5 meter long cannon was revealed. It had around 60 mm in calibre, equivalent to a light mortar.
But it wasn't a mortar.
The main part of the cannon was longer than a mortar. What's stranger was that its gun mount wasn't triangular. Instead, it was made up of two parts. One part was a single long and thin straight alloy stand. The other part was a tail-like part combination type stand, in the shape of a clamshell but with a very complicated machinery structure.
"Shit, what's this?" The expert in the crowd, from China Industrial Group, opened his eyes wide, but he was still flummoxed. He couldn't even tell what it was.
"So it's not a self-propelled cannon. What cannon is it?"
"Can this thing open fire?"
"Of course it'll probably be able to fire but I bet it'll only be able to shoot a hundred meters haha. Thunder Horse Military Factory is going to turn into a joke this time."
"He doesn't even produce the good XL2500 sniper and Gust assault rifle, but he’s producing cannons like other people instead. Isn’t he just bringing shame upon himself?”
“I really don’t understand what Director Xia is thinking.”
“Right now, young people just love being in the limelight. They’re just taking all sorts of weird things out.”
These discussions were everywhere. Practically no one had a good opinion of this type of a miniature cannon.
Only Long Bing smiled even more upon seeing the strange miniature cannon.
In the midst of doubts, Xia Lei carried the strangely shaped miniature cannon and opened the tail part of the clamshell structure’s stand. Something happened that shocked everyone; the extremely strange rear part automatically opened, wrapping his shoulder. In the blink of an eye, the rear support had combined with his body, as both man and cannon became one!
“It’s actually this design?” Someone was very surprised.
“This design is just full of tricks,” said a cannon expert.
“Yes, the power of the cannon is very strong and its recoil is very astonishing. He combined the cannon with the body. The recoil from the cannon firing could break his shoulder!”
“How is this a cannon? It’s practically a suicidal device. Designing it like this... What other use can it have other than hurting people?” asked another cannon expert.
Indeed, the recoil of the cannon was unlike that of a gun. The moment it fired, its gunpowder energy was a hundredfold and even a thousandfold than that of a gun’s. An average person’s body would be unable to tolerate the firing recoil, much less that of the cannon. From this angle, the cannon Xia Lei designed was really a suicidal design.
But was it really the case?