Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 198 Is this what it feels like to be kept?

Penang is probably one of the earliest regions in Southeast Asia, and even in the world, to prepare for war, so it is actually very well prepared.

"Marshal Mai, please look, this is the military hangar we in Penang have been preparing for three years."

Marshal Mai was very surprised when he saw this: "Hangar? In the mountain?"

"Yes, it's inside the mountain. It's not just the mountain itself. The tunnel underneath is our underground airport in Penang. Planes can come up from that slope and take off from this offshore runway."

"The combined underground and above-ground parking areas should be able to accommodate over 3,000 combat aircraft. There are three underground levels and one level inside the mountain."

“Of course, there is an airport in Nanjiao. In addition, Penang itself has the most advanced radar in the world. We will be on guard in advance when Japanese aircraft approach.”

"It can be basically guaranteed that we can gain an advantage in terms of quantity when engaging in air combat with the Japanese. Of course, the quality is hard to say."

Marshal Mai sighed upon seeing this and said, "Seeing how well prepared Penang is, I can finally put my mind at ease. Speaking of which, Mr. Zheng, you warned us many years ago that Japan might attack Southeast Asia and declare war on us, Britain, the United States, the Netherlands, and France."

"Now it seems that Mr. Zheng truly had a profound insight. It's a pity that we were foolish and failed to pay sufficient attention to your warning. Now it seems that we were indeed too arrogant."

As he spoke, he toured Zheng Yi's huge underground airport.

This is part of Penang's entire underground defense system. Because of the tunnels dug over several years, the underground space in Penang is now very vast, which naturally includes the underground airport built by Zheng Yi based on the underground parking lot in his previous life.

In fact, this thing can mainly be used to park passenger planes and transport planes.

Zheng Yi estimated that they would lose control of the sea in the South Seas for about a year, so air transportation would naturally become extremely important during this year.

With such an underground hangar, the protection of transport aircraft and even fighter jets will naturally be almost guaranteed.

Those fighter planes were parked at the airport in the south of the city to ensure that they could take off at any time to meet the enemy when the Japanese army attacked.

"By the way, Marshal Mai, let me show you one of our Penang secret weapons."

"Secret weapon?"

Zheng Yi kept him in suspense for a while and drove to the shooting range.

Nowadays, although Penang’s urban area is becoming more and more crowded and the shooting range takes up a lot of space, everyone is very conscious and no one occupies the space here.

Moreover, the shooting range is now really crowded, with citizens coming to practice shooting shoulder to shoulder.

Seeing that it was Zheng Yi leading Marshal Mai, the staff quickly cleared the area and made room for them in a private area.

Zheng Yi gave a few instructions, and soon a guard came with a very strange box. When he opened it, he saw a very strange-looking cylindrical object inside.

"what is this?"

"The bazooka is... a little invention of mine."

After saying that, Zheng Yi loaded the shell into the tube, opened the sight, pulled the trigger, aimed and fired. After a burst of fire, the rocket accurately hit the target made of a scrap car two hundred meters away, blowing a big hole in it.

It even seemed as if something was burning inside.

Marshal Mai was stunned when he saw this: "This, this, a new invention? This thing can destroy tanks?"

Zheng Yi: "At least it's more than enough to fight against Japanese tanks. If it's used against mortars, one shot would be enough to destroy a cannon."

"It's not quite right to say it was my invention. It should be... a joint invention between me and the Soviets."

The Soviet Central Bureau's Second Bureau has been in Penang for some time. As for the Soviet Union, it already has a certain foundation in rockets and its technical strength is online. After brainstorming with Zheng Yi and Zheng Yi providing them with design ideas, some basic and simple weapons derived from rockets have now been successfully developed one after another.

The individual rocket launcher is one of them.

Others such as fixed six-barrel rocket launchers and Katyusha rocket launchers have also entered trial production.

"This tube consists of a fire barrier, exhaust port, firing mechanism, and barrel. It's lightweight, simple, and easy to make. On the other hand, the rocket itself is quite difficult to make."

"It consists of a rear propelling charge, a front grenade head, and tail rotor blades. It can hit whatever you point it at within 300 meters. I think this should be the weapon you need, Marshal."

Marshal Mai naturally nodded repeatedly. "What a good thing! What a good thing! With this in mountain warfare, even against heavy mechanized equipment, I'm afraid it will give us a certain advantage. Mr. Zheng, you have really invented something amazing again. How many of these do you have?"

Zheng Yi: "More than 300 cannons and about 500 shells. I have to keep some for myself. The defense pressure in Alor Setar and Yangon is probably much greater than that in the Bataan Peninsula."

"So little...Mr. Zheng, are you willing to share your technology with us Americans?"

Zheng Yi: "Of course, but at the moment, I think the fastest way to achieve mass production is in Penang."

"Although the principle of this thing looks simple, the actual processing precision is not low. Although Penang has a certain industrial base, the number of industrial machine tools, especially high-precision machine tools, is still insufficient. There is also a lack of a large number of mature and highly skilled workers."

"There's just too much work for every skilled worker in Penang. Even if the whole city has switched to showroom mode, there still won't be enough skilled workers and advanced machine tools."

"And then there's this optical sight. Previously, Penang's technical reserves in the optical field were still limited. Currently, this sight is mainly produced by Kodak. But as you know, every profession has its own specializations. There's still a gap between those who make cameras and those who make sights, so production efficiency isn't particularly ideal."

Marshal Mai said, "I understand what you mean. I'll have them ship you as many high-end precision machine tools as possible. As for skilled workers, we should have quite a few in the United States."

"Within a month, I'll provide you with over 10,000 high-end machine tools and at least 3,000 high-level machining engineers. Regarding optical sights, I'll have them send experts and engineers to help you build them. You have a Kodak factory in Penang, so you have a solid foundation in the optical industry. Modifying the sights shouldn't be a problem. Are there any material shortages?"

Zheng Yi: "Not yet. The raw material is iron. We still have some in Penang. If that doesn't work, we can melt down the civilian ironware and convert it for military use."

In wartime, everything needs to be done quickly. If you need anything, just let us know. If it had happened before the war, it would have been very difficult for Zheng Yi to get so many machine tools and senior engineers.

And now, Zheng Yi didn't even say the quantity, so the United States must have sent him as many as it could.

The machine tools on the car production line could be dismantled and sent to him without him having to spend any money.

After all, the main part of the rocket launcher produced was indeed for Marshal Mai to use.

Penang has basic industrial capabilities, which is very good. The efficiency of support can be much higher. Aiding in building factories will always have greater economies of scale than aiding in building products.

"What else do you need? Is there anything we in the United States can help with?"

Zheng Yi: "Apart from precision machine tools, the next thing is engines. Penang doesn't have the ability to produce engines on its own. If we had enough engines, we could produce mountain bikes and powered trikes."

"The terrain in Malaya and the Bataan Peninsula isn't suitable for tanks. Motorcycles, combined with rocket launchers, are probably much more practical than tanks and armored vehicles. When air routes are restored, we can also ship motorcycles to your area."

Marshal Mai: "A motorcycle engine? No problem, what else do you need?"

Zheng Yi: "I'm currently researching and designing an automatic rifle suitable for mountain warfare. If possible, could you bring some experts in weapons and shooting to discuss this with me?"

Marshal Mai: "Of course, this is absolutely not a problem."

"Aircraft, engines, precision machine tools, experienced senior machining engineers, weapons shooting experts, anything else? Mr. Zheng, you're welcome. As long as it's anything you need and we have it, we won't be stingy."

"Well... for now, it seems to be gone."

Is this what it feels like to be kept?

It feels so fucking good.

Penang has always been short of truly senior mechanical engineers. The Chinese have a weak foundation, and most of the senior workers currently available are Japanese, especially those from Japan Precision.

To put it bluntly, this is not something that can be learned by just following a master for two or three years.

Industrialization is a slow and steady process. Zheng Yi's time in Nanyang was too short, far from enough for the industrialization in Nanyang to mature. The imbalance in certain subjects can be said to be extremely serious.

And now, the Americans have vividly demonstrated to Zheng Yi what it means to sacrifice one's own property to help others in need.

Aren’t they just high-end machine tools? The Americans simply dismantled their own factory and used an aircraft carrier to carry transport planes to transport them to Penang.

The Japanese army was now engaged in multiple fronts, using its limited naval power in the Dutch East Indies, the Bataan Peninsula, and Singapore.

From Australia to Penang, from India to Rangoon, these two most important transport routes for Zheng Yi were almost not blocked by the Japanese army.

The US and British navies were not completely wiped out. They were also serving as part-time transport ships, constantly bringing things over.

The master craftsman from the machine tool factory came over carrying a full set of industrial equipment.

In addition, countless engineering experts and mechanical experts came to Penang to provide guidance to various factories, quickly filling one industrial gap after another in Penang. In less than a month, Penang had the ability to produce machine tools on an assembly line, and only needed to import some cutting tools from the United States.

After the patriotic enthusiasm of the whole society was ignited, the whole nation of the United States was being mobilized at an unimaginable speed.

Through media publicity, everyone knew that aiding Penang was equivalent to rescuing the US troops in Bataan.

Only after rescuing the American troops in Bataan could they fight back and take revenge.

Of course, the same thing happened in Penang. The citizens melted down all their bicycles to the factory to produce mountain motorcycles. Unemployed people with nothing to do all went to work in the military industry. The factory was expanded again and again, and some machine tool production was even moved to the yard. On the street, women and children did whatever they could to help.

In just one month, the US and British coalition forces have assembled about 50 troops in Australia, and the number is still increasing.

Because Penang needed it urgently, Australia even dismantled its own generators and power transmission and distribution equipment and shipped them to Penang.

Penang naturally would not ignore the assistance from its Australian friends, and urgently produced five million emulsified high-end condoms to support Australia.

This will at least make the American soldiers in Australia restrain themselves when having beyond-friendly relationships with local Australian women, and make the Australian soldiers who are building fortifications on various islands on the front line to resist the Japanese army feel more at ease.

At least you don’t have to be happy to be a father.

The condoms produced in Penang are unique in the world and are currently the most popular and satisfying best-selling product of the US military. According to Tan Lark Sye, he recently received an order for 3 million condoms.

Of course, for Penang, the biggest change undoubtedly comes from the expansion of the air force.

The plane that just came off the production line took off directly from Australia with aid supplies, landed in Penang, and once it arrived, it belonged to Penang.

The production lines in the United States were fully operational, and all kinds of new and old aircraft were truly transported directly from the production lines to Penang. In more than a month, the number of various aircraft in Penang increased by more than a thousand.

And the number is increasing by 20 to 30 planes every day.

There are even more and more new aircraft.

The United States, where the entire nation has turned to military industry, really gave Zheng Yi a great shock in terms of aircraft production.

All the second-line and obsolete aircraft were given to him, as were all the new aircraft.

The legendary pilot Dr. Jimmy Doolittle took most of the American pilots to fly between Australia and Penang, between Penang and Pakistan, or to train Chinese pilots in Penang.

By the way, we also helped build an aircraft maintenance and repair factory in Penang.

None of the latest model of B-25 bombers were left in the United States. The first batch of 18 were all sent to Penang, where bombing formation exercises were carried out.

Penang has made great strides forward.

Thousands of rapidly growing pilots, whether from the United States or trained in Penang, are gathering their strength and preparing to give the Japanese a big blow.

(End of this chapter)