War of Resistance: Glory of the Beasts

Chapter 316 Xu Chaoyang is so loyal! (Thanks to '沪言乱语' for the 5000 reward!)

1927年至1935年，一直被吹嘘为‘黄金十年’的华夏发展中，1927年全国钢产量为3万吨，到了1935年也不过5万吨。

Not to mention America at that time, India's steel production had already reached 88 tons.

This was even after the Northwest Steel Plant and Chongqing Special Steel Company were built in 1934.

At that time, the largest steel production site was the Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant. However, the Japanese invaders, who had not yet invaded, had monopolized the iron ore in advance. Before the war, they not only bought up the iron ore stocks in various places, but also reserved the iron ore production in many places that year. For the mine owners, seeing the Japanese waving money was like seeing foreigners who had been slaughtered by them. They were very happy. The question was, what happened after the war broke out?

Almost none of these mine owners dared to speak out, whether they were the National Government or the local warlords!

Because the iron sand that was not transported to Hanyang was sold by the National Government!

These things were smelted into pig iron before being transported to that small broken island, and eventually turned into countless Type 38 and Type 92 rifles!

What’s even more infuriating is that before the fall of Wuhan in 1938, when the country’s first strategic retreat was underway, the personnel responsible for evacuating Wuhan only dismantled two 30-ton Martin furnaces and two ingot casting mold equipment from the Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant and transported them to Sichuan. The other equipment was not transferred… Putting aside the issue of whether the Nationalist government had transferred the equipment or not, was it possible to support the national war with such a small amount of equipment?

As for the Northwest Steel Plant, does it have anything to do with you if Yan Laoxi doesn’t nod his head?
Before the Sichuan Army left Sichuan, could your government get involved in Chongqing Special Steel?
The combat effectiveness issue that everyone is talking about, could it be that it has nothing to do with these things?
During the Beiyang era, the Songhu Arsenal was able to produce alloy steel gun barrels, but what happened? When the Anti-Japanese War broke out, the Arsenal asked, "Why can't iron sand be transported?" The officials who had sold out the iron sand in advance colluded with each other and finally the government became angry and felt that the matter had to be dealt with. With a wave of the hand, the Songhu Arsenal was shut down...

If you can’t solve the problem, solve the person who raised the problem - awesome!
If the Northeast is lost, delaying more than 40% of the country's weapons production and 70% of ammunition production, then who should be held responsible for these two places?

How did you handle the question that Han Fengzi asked back then: "If Shandong is lost, I should be responsible. Then who should be responsible if Jinling is lost?"

Xu Chaoyang didn't know these details before he came to the Arsenal, but after arriving at the Arsenal, he realized that the suffering in the early days of the War of Resistance was not just due to the Kuomintang's reckless command. It was the result of using a makeshift team to deal with modern warfare.

Under such production, the production capacity of important modern military minerals such as steel, iron, and copper was fully allocated to military supplies. Dagu Shipyard could not get enough allocation, which was also related to the need for sharing and cooperation with other industries. This resulted in the only weapon handed over by Dagu Shipyard was the Liao 13-type rifle. It also wanted to build mountain guns, field guns, and even naval guns and warships. What could it use to build them? What would it use to replenish the ammunition consumed after it was built? At least a single-shot rifle like the Liao 13-type does not require such a large amount of ammunition consumption!
In this era, who among the military workers doesn't want soldiers to use better weapons? But if you produce weapons and the ammunition production can't keep up, who will be responsible? If the price of producing better guns for you is to become a sinner, then what's the point of talking about it? You can use whatever you want, anyway, they are not going to the battlefield.

Especially when these reports, which were very important in the Republic of China, were handed over, He Yingqin, who was anxious to balance the forces of all parties and consolidate his position, had no time to read them. Wouldn't it be more comfortable to dance at the party and use strategies to stop the forces from making trouble than to look at the dense numbers? Which senior official who can casually say "conquer the enemy without fighting" by attending one or two party meetings and organizing blind dates would be willing to compete with these numbers in the office? If you are not careful, you will be retaliated by corrupt officials. Isn't this a thankless task?
Xu Chaoyang, who was working on these piles of documents for the first time in the office, realized how ridiculous those books that always mentioned all kinds of advanced weapons were. Even if you equipped your entire army with M249s and gave you firepower so strong that you could fire 24 hours a day as long as you had enough resources, what would happen? Where would you find bullets?
"Chaoyang!"

"Chaoyang!"

When Yang Jingyu walked into the office, the excitement on his face was indescribable!

He looked at Xu Chaoyang excitedly and said, "There is a 30-stew Martin furnace in the Dagu Smelting Plant. 30-stew!"

But there was no smile on Xu Chaoyang's face.

Yang Jingyu asked in confusion: "What happened?"

"This piece of land is not as easy to develop as we imagined." After saying that, Xu Chaoyang patted the mountain of information on the desk and reported the data.

After listening to this, Yang Jingyu stood in the office and muttered, "Why is there still a debt?"

Yes, according to Dagu’s account book, the National Government still owed Dagu Shipyard nearly 4 tons of steel, copper and other resources. The reason was that after Xiao Liuzi arrived, he completely emptied all the inventory of Dagu Shipyard, which was the wealth accumulated during the Beiyang period.

"You mean..."

"That's right. What I mean is that Dagu Shipyard has all the machines, productivity, skilled workers, and refining capabilities, but we can't expect to get even a little bit of resources from the National Government or even the various warlords in the country."

The war of resistance was called a nationwide war, but in reality, everyone was acting independently, busy accumulating their own wealth. If anyone dared to look into their pockets, they would bar their teeth and yell, fearing that you would touch their dog food bowl. Yang Jingyu stopped talking.

If you ask him to unify the soldiers' thoughts, there is no problem. If you ask him to lead the troops to fight, there is no problem. But if you ask him what to do with the current situation, he really can't give any advice.

Because the word "management" only exists in the minds of a few people in this era.

"We can't break up with the 29th Army just yet."

Xu Chaoyang thought for a moment and said, "Well, first you draft a nice document and write a report to the higher-ups, saying that the Dagu Shipyard still has some broken guns, and our 217th Regiment hopes to get permission from the higher-ups to dismantle and smelt these broken guns to produce spare parts for the 217th Regiment's existing equipment. As for the quantity, you can just write whatever you want, and just write Liao 13 as the gun model."

"Also, send someone to Xifengkou to inform the 29th Army that I, Xu Chaoyang, have successfully taken over the Dagu Shipyard. Please ask Song Laoding to send someone to Dagu to properly transport the weapons provided by my 217th Regiment to the 29th Army for use in the fight against the Japanese."

Yang Jingyu immediately quit when he heard this: "Are you planning to give all the new guns in the workshop to Song Zheyuan?"

"Chaoyang, you are confused!"

"The Soviet area is short of everything right now. This batch of guns is a timely help...Give them to Song Zheyuan. No one is fighting at Xifengkou anymore..."

When, when, when.

Xu Chaoyang tapped the table with his fingers and asked, "Have you heard of the Longyan Mine?"

"I've heard of it..." Yang Jingyu was among the first group of people assembled in the mine when he first arrived in Northeast China. How could he not have heard of the largest iron ore center during the Beiyang period!

"Where?"

"Zhangjiakou."

“Who owns Zhangjiakou?”

Yang Jingyu's eyes suddenly lit up!

As long as they were still members of the 29th Army, then the Dagu Shipyard was the arsenal of the 29th Army. Then, where would the iron ore from the Longyang Mine be transported? He couldn't just sell it all, could he?
Besides, the Japanese tried their best to win over and corrupt Song Zheyuan and his subordinates a few years later, with the ultimate goal of plundering the Longyan Mine. What can Xu Chaoyang do? He would rather continue to bear the stigma of being a slave of three surnames and empty the Longyan Mine in advance!
Also, there are some things he can't tell anyone now, that is, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, we discovered a large amount of copper mines in the former territory of Yan Xishan!

Its location is in the area of ​​Hujiayu and Tongmugou, but the copper mines in this location were not discovered during the war years;

In addition, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, a large number of copper mines were discovered in Yuanyuan County, Hebei Province. The location was in Baoding, close to Peking. When the entire North China was controlled by Song Zheyuan, the minerals available to Xu Chaoyang could almost completely meet Dagu's needs across the ages. Not only that, but it could also be expanded. Just for this reason, he could not break up with Song Zheyuan!
"Clean up the Dagu warehouse as well. Send all the grenades and bullets inside that we don't need to the Northwest Army..."

"Old Yang, I have to let Song Zheyuan see how loyal I, Xu Chaoyang, am. You have to understand me."

Yang Jingyu looked at Xu Chaoyang...not quite sure what to say.

　Thank you brother '沪言乱语' for the reward of 5000. Thank you. I appreciate your kindness. I am grateful for your existence. I am especially grateful.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)