In an office on the third floor of a classical building in the center of Berlin, Guderian, the Director of Armored Forces and Commander of the Second Armored Division, was sitting on a chair looking at the latest confidential documents sent to him, examining the contents with the strictest eyes.

The reason for this is because this is an initial design plan for a "new thirty-five-ton tank" submitted by Krupp!

The entire initial design tank adopts a conventional layout, with a total weight of 35.5 tons and a crew of 5. The body armor is composed of vertical main side and rear armor. The thickness of the main armor is 80 mm, and the thickness of the side and rear armor is 29 mm and 25 mm. They are all Y-shaped.

Composite armor composed of armor steel + carburized hardened steel, the actual protection of the main side and rear armor reaches 110 mm, 40 mm, and 35 mm respectively.

The turret armor and the car body armor have the same design, both are vertical armor, with actual protection capabilities reaching 130 mm, 50 mm, and 35 mm respectively.

From the appearance, this tank looks like an enlarged version of the Panzer IV tank. It has nothing outstanding but is mature and reliable.

Guderian didn't care about Krupp's adoption of the Panzer IV tank's appearance design. In many cases, maturity and reliability are far more important than novelty.

The artillery system is developed by Rheinmetall, which is developing a new 48-caliber 75mm tank gun. According to Rheinmetall's report, this tank gun has the performance to penetrate 70mm of homogeneous armor at 1,000 meters and 97mm at 500 meters.

, enough to meet the firepower indicators proposed by Guderian.

The power system uses a Maybach gasoline engine with a total power of 580 hp and a unit power-to-weight ratio of 16.3 hp/ton. The power structure layout is a transmission in the front and an engine in the rear. The output power is connected through a transmission shaft.

The suspension system is required to be simple, reliable and easy to maintain. Krupp did not use the spring-balanced suspension of the Panzer IV tank, but chose the Christie suspension.

This is a suspension system designed by American engineers. It consists of an independent cylindrical coil spring connected to a large-diameter road wheel to achieve travel and buffering force. It is suitable for tanks to travel at high speeds.

Krupp Company made some improvements based on the original design. By arranging six pairs of road wheels, the driving wheels are placed in the front, the diameter of the road wheels is 850 mm, and the track width reaches 42 cm. This makes the acceleration and top speed not only meet the design specifications, but also the ground passes

The performance and off-road performance have also been greatly improved.

The key is that the overall structure is simple, reliable and easy to maintain, which meets the requirements of the armored force director.

Of course, nothing is perfect in the world. There are gains and losses. The disadvantage of the Christie suspension is that it takes up a larger space in the car body and reduces space utilization.

good.

Guderian nodded with satisfaction. Compared with the shortcomings of this suspension, it brought more advantages, which were enough to make up for these shortcomings.

"Overall, this tank is quite satisfactory and meets my design specifications. Unfortunately, due to the requirements of stability and reliability, it is a little conservative and not as radical as Henschel's." Guderian looked at this Krupp version of Thirty Years

The initial design plan of the five-ton tank is thoughtful and can be evaluated.

Henschel's initial design plan was submitted yesterday, and this is the plan that moved Guderian.

The firepower systems are all Rheinmetall's new 48x diameter 75mm tank guns. The power system uses Maybach 580 HP + torsion bar suspension. The most outstanding thing about Henschel is the use of the sloped armor used in the main armor belt of naval battleships.

Design concept.

Yes, sloped armor.

Henschel's plan has the 85 mm normal line of the upper front armor tilted at 60°, and the 75 mm normal line of the lower front armor tilts at 55°. According to the mathematical calculation results, the final protective power of the upper front armor and the lower front armor of this design is terrifying.

234.6mm and 181mm.

This is a full 234 mm of armor protection. Guderian racked his brains and couldn't find any tank gun that could pose a threat to it.

Can't find it at all!

Compared with Krupp's mediocre vertical armor plan, the actual protection power of only 110 mm is really far behind the 234.6 mm protection power of Henschel's plan.

The difference between the two is almost double.

There is no doubt that the engineers at Henschel Company are crazy and radical. When Guderian saw this sloped armor design yesterday, his heartbeat couldn't help but accelerate a bit, and he almost couldn't help but finalize the plan.

The concept of tilted armor design is actually not new. As early as the development process of naval warships, naval battleships of various countries have used this concept early to improve warship protection.

Of course, it is undeniable that Henschel brought sloped armor from battleships to tanks for the first time.

The review of Krupp's plan was completed, and now a question faced Guderian.

Who to choose?

Guderian had to choose one of Henschel's genius engineers who were like madmen and the steady and reliable King Krupp and give it to Mustache.

Henschel's radicalness can bring unprecedented terrifying protection to the new thirty-five-ton tank, but at the cost of potential risks and instability. Since there has never been a tank with a tilted armor design in history, Guderian did not

Anyone who dares to make a rash decision will be a sinner because it costs a lot of money and resources to produce a new type of tank. If the tank he builds is unreliable.

Krupp's stability allowed this thirty-five-ton tank to quickly move from drawings to production and enter military service. Although the 110 mm protection is far less exaggerated than the Henschel plan, it is also capable of resisting the firepower of tanks of the same period.

More than enough.

Guderian took out the Henschel plan from the drawer and stared at the initial designs of the two companies. He was quite troubled and kept thinking.

"It's hard to make a choice, it's really hard to make a choice... However, when it comes to Y-type armor steel, counting the time, it seems that the Titan freighter has arrived."

"Dong dong!" At this moment, a crisp knock on the door sounded.

Hearing the knock on the door, Guderian immediately came to his senses, put the two plans in the drawer, and then said: "Please come in."

Opening the door, a young officer quickly entered the office, came to the table, raised his hand and saluted: "General Guderian, top secret urgent message."

"Immediately arrange a car for me and go to the high command." Guderian took the message and read the contents. Suddenly, he stood up suddenly, with a trace of ecstasy in his eyes, and ordered to the young officer.

This top-secret message was none other than the Y-shaped armor steel he had in mind.

The scheduled transaction has been completed, and Military Attaché Boer is flying to Germany with the Y-type armor steel formula and technical information.

This news is really important.

"Yes!" The young officer left quickly without hesitation.

After the young officer left, Guderian put away the top-secret message, took a deep breath, and prepared to formulate his next words. Suddenly he remembered something, looked at the drawer, and then took out two initial design plans for a new type of tank.

Since he can't make the decision, let someone who can make the decision come.

…

In the morning, Yu Hua, who had been out all night, quietly returned to Tsinghua University where the blockade had been lifted again as the situation in Peiping eased. The Japanese's "not to expand the situation" and their retreat caused the tension in Peiping to drop suddenly. Many universities in Peiping basically lifted the previous blockade.

, quickly arrange things for students to go home during the holidays.

Due to the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, whether it was National Tsinghua University, which was the first to launch university admissions, or universities such as Peking University and Nankai University, the summer vacation for students has been postponed. This is why there are still many students in Tsinghua University, except for a few whose families are in Peking.

Students, most non-local students have not left school yet.

After returning to school, Yu Hua did not go to the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory to find Professor Zhuang for the time being. Instead, he went straight to the Nuclear Physics Laboratory. Today was the 11th and tomorrow was the day agreed to go to the base area. He had to arrange some things.

The introduction to military and civilian guidance and the German-made mechanical processing equipment need to be handed over to the organization through the identity of Ma Jia Zhang San.

"This should be the last time I use Zhang San's identity. If I continue to use it, I'm sure there will be an accident and I need to use a new vest." On the way back to the laboratory, Yu Hua silently thought about Zhang San's vest and continue to use it.

It is not appropriate and there is no need to put yourself in a dangerous situation in order to pursue some unrealistic sense of vanity.

It’s time to give up on Zhang San’s vest.

I haven't thought of a name for the new vest yet, but that's not important. Yu Hua shook his head gently, thinking about what to do next.

I have to go home later and make proper arrangements for Xu Rui, Xu Xue and Yuanyuan.

Yuanyuan is young, so it would be best to leave her to the care of the organization. As for Xu Xue, this girl has already learned medical skills from Mr. Tan. According to the future development, leaving Peking and going to the base area is the best choice. I have to ask Xu Xue what she thinks.

As for Xu Rui...

Life assistant, bodyguard, intelligence collector, and future steward-like figure. This is Yu Hua’s new positioning for Xu Rui. As his growth rate is getting faster and faster, Xu Rui’s original position as scientific research assistant has been abandoned by him. There is no way, Xu Rui

Rui couldn't keep up with him.

Of course, if Xu Rui is willing to join the army to fight against the Japanese invaders, he will not stop him.

In addition to family matters, Master can't be careless. If he has to go there, Professor Zhao has to quit his job as assistant.

Basically that's all, not much.

Back at the nuclear physics laboratory, Yu Hua walked in and was about to go upstairs when suddenly Zhao Zhongyao appeared.

"You kid, I've been looking for you everywhere, and I didn't see anyone in the cafeteria." Zhao Zhongyao, who was looking for someone when he saw Yu Hua, breathed a sigh of relief and said quickly.

"Uh... Professor, I went to the library to look up some information." Seeing this, Yu Hua scratched his head and responded, "What's the matter?"

"Professor Hua asked me to tell you that the school will issue an emergency notice soon. The examination for government-sponsored students studying in the United States with Geng Geng Scholarship in August will be postponed to November. It will not be held in Nanjing, but in Changsha." Zhao Zhongyao's face was serious, his eyes were wide.

Looking at Yu Hua, he announced the latest news in a serious voice.

November, Changsha.

"Thank you, Professor." Yu Hua was moved when he heard these words and quickly thanked him.

"Thank you. Also, I have a rumor that the school is planning to move to Changsha. This time the schools moving south include Peking University and Nankai University." Zhao Zhongyao lowered his voice and his words were particularly solemn.

Three schools moved south.

The historical Changsha Provisional University, the predecessor of Southwest Associated University, is here.

"Moving south?" Yu Hua understood that Zhao Zhongyao's rumor was by no means unfounded. The Southwest Associated University in history came from the three northern and southern universities of the Qing Dynasty that moved south to Changsha to form the Changsha Provisional University, but the time was slightly earlier.

It is understandable that the time point is advanced. After all, it is not unusual for him, the butterfly, to decipher the red secret and let Nanjing make the decision to move the three schools to the south earlier.

"After you hear this, please don't spread it to other people to avoid adverse effects. News of the southward migration should come out soon," Professor Zhao Zhongyao reminded.

"Student understands, professor, the student has something to say..." Yu Hua nodded to note it down, looked at Zhao Zhongyao, and said softly with a firm face.

When Zhao Zhongyao heard this, he asked doubtfully: "What's the matter?"

"The student may have to leave, and I can no longer serve as your assistant." Yu Hua bowed, bowed, and expressed his thoughts frankly.

Yu Hua couldn't do such a thing, speak sincerely, without any intention of deception, and do it without saying goodbye.
To be continued...