Since human warfare entered the era of hot weapons, the development of firearms can be described as changing with each passing day, from arquebusiers to flintlock guns to bolt-action rifles, known as the main weapons and equipment of infantry before the birth of automatic rifles.
Although the rate of fire of the bolt-action rifle is greatly improved compared to the previous flintlock gun, in the face of large-scale cluster charge, the rate of fire of the bolt-action rifle is still far from meeting the needs of fire suppression, in this case, the machine gun came into being.
The world's first machine gun for actual combat is the Gatling machine gun that we are now incomparably familiar with, but what does not work with the current electric Gatling machine gun is that the Gatling machine gun Su Anran at that time was also the style of rotating multi-barrel today, but it relied on hand crank to fire.
This exposes a fatal shortcoming, under the high mental pressure of the soldier, it is very likely that the faster and faster it shakes, eventually leading to the explosion of the gun.
In 1983, the talented gun designer Makqin took inspiration from the recoil of the gun and developed the world's first real heavy machine gun, that is, the Maxim heavy machine gun.
The Maxim heavy machine gun is fueled by gunpowder gas when ammunition is fired, the barrel is short recoil (19 mm) automatic mode, the water-cooled barrel, the canvas bullet chain is supplied, the theoretical rate of fire is 600 rounds / min, the slow rate of fire is 100 rounds / min, there are two ways of single shot and continuous fire, the gun weighs 27.2 kg, and the structure is more complex.
The Maxim heavy machine gun showed its immense power as soon as it was introduced.
In the 1893-1894 Rhodesian War between the British Army in Rhodesia, South Central Africa, and the local Wheatabili-Sulus, the Maxim heavy machine gun ushered in its first actual battle, when a 50-man British army unit repelled dozens of charges by more than 5,000 Matabilis with only 4 Maxim heavy machine guns, killing more than 3,000 people.
What really shocked the world with the Maxim heavy machine gun was during World War I.
At that time, the mode of warfare was typical trench warfare plus large-scale cluster charge, and in the brutal Battle of the Somme, known as the "Hell of the Somme", the Germans used the Maxim heavy machine gun to shoot 60,000 British soldiers in one day, so the Maxim heavy machine gun was also known as the "widow maker".
In fact, when the Makqin heavy machine gun was still in the trial production stage, it attracted the attention of Li Hongzhang, a major minister of the Qing Dynasty at that time.
At that time, Li Hongzhang was one of the few people in China who could open his eyes to the world. At that time, it was the end of the foreign affairs movement that Li Hongzhang and others had arisen, and the poor and weak Qing government hoped to change the fate of the Qing Dynasty by "mastering yi and mastering the art of mastering yi to control Yi".
Therefore, Li Hongzhang and others tried everything to set up industry and hoped to build a powerful modern army.
To build an army, it is necessary to have advanced weapons, and Li Hongzhang discovered the huge military potential behind it when he first saw the Maqin heavy machine gun. However, although Li Hongzhang had great affection for the Maxim heavy machine gun, he finally made him retreat for a reason.
That's the rate of fire of the Maxim heavy machine gun.
It is said that at that time, after Li Hongzhang learned of the rate of fire of the Maqin heavy machine gun, he did not ask about the price of the gun, but said something like this: "Too fast, too fast, Daqing can not bear this kind of bullet consumption." ”
At that time, the construction of the new army of the Qing Dynasty was mainly concentrated in the navy, which was the most important aspect of money, and the navy's funds were already stretched under the layers of exploitation, how could it withstand the huge ammunition consumption of the Maqin heavy machine gun?
In desperation, Li Hongzhang at that time had to give up the idea of introducing a Maqin heavy machine gun.
However, just five years later, the Qing government still decided to introduce and imitate the Maqin heavy machine gun by the Jinling Manufacturing Bureau, but we know that the demise of the backward and decadent feudal dynasty is definitely not saved by one or two advanced weapons, even if the power of the Maqin machine gun is greater, and the gushing tongue of fire is fierce, it cannot stop the rolling wheel of history.