I am an industrial worker during the War of Resistance

Chapter 23 The entire army supports the steel mill

Just as the sky began to lighten with the first hint of dawn.

Chen Changzai and Political Commissar He had already gotten up.

After only four hours of sleep, Chen Changzai regained his energy after washing his face.

Looking at the reflection of that young but confused face in the water in the basin.

Chen Chang silently thought to himself, "It's so good to be young."

Breakfast consisted of cornmeal porridge, steamed corn bread, and salted radish mixed with chili oil.

Sister-in-law He and Wang Ling got up very early; they even made breakfast.

During breakfast, Political Commissar He asked, "Changzai, where are your blueprints, material list, and project plan?"

Give it to me, and I'll deliver it to headquarters.

I believe headquarters will approve your steel mill plan.

After taking a sip of the porridge, Chen Changzai said, "Political Commissar Liu has already sent those things to headquarters."

He didn't come back all day yesterday.

I imagine headquarters is also holding a meeting to discuss this. If nothing unexpected happens, Political Commissar Liu should be able to bring back concrete information today.

"Oh, I see. That's fine then."

This is no small matter.

Building this steel plant will require a considerable amount of money and supplies; I remember your proposal included an overall budget.

With such a large expenditure, headquarters will definitely hold a meeting to weigh the pros and cons.

But I feel that headquarters is more likely to agree.

"Yeah, that's how I feel too."

As the group was eating, the sound of horses' hooves and the neighing of warhorses as they reined in their horses came from outside the courtyard.

"Salute!" That was the salute from the sentry at the gate.

"It seems Political Commissar Liu has returned," Chen Changzai said. "You all sit down, I'll go greet him."

After saying this, Chen Changzai got off the kang (a heated brick bed), put on his shoes, and walked outside.

The other three couldn't really stay still on the kang (heated brick bed), so they got off, put on their shoes, and went outside.

"Good morning, leaders. Good morning, Political Commissar Liu. Why did you come so early? Have you eaten yet? We're eating right now. Come and have a bite with us."

"Hello Changzai, we really haven't eaten yet, so we came here to mooch a meal."

The leader from headquarters said with a smile.

"That's quite a coincidence. Wang Ling and the others made a lot this morning. It seems this was prepared to welcome you, leaders."

After Chen Changzai finished speaking, Political Commissar Liu laughed and pointed at Chen Changzai, saying, "Changzai, you really know how to talk. It seems that you can't avoid getting a free meal from the leader even if you want to, hahaha."

As they were talking, Political Commissar He, his sister-in-law, and Wang Ling also came out.

After exchanging greetings, everyone went inside.

At this moment, Sister-in-law He led the guards who had come with the leaders and Political Commissar Liu to the canteen of the special agent squad responsible for security.

The soldiers are eating here now.

Although they ate separately, they ate the same things.

After the group entered the room, the leader and Political Commissar Liu were led to the kang (a heated brick bed).

After sitting down, before the leader could say anything else, he began to criticize Political Commissar He.

"Hey Lao He, when we're doing our job, we should give it our all."

But we also need to pay attention to the methods and approaches.

Think about it, if you really collapse from exhaustion, what will happen next?

This is such a big business, and you and Chang Yi have built it up hand in hand.

If you fall down.

That means one person has to hold on all the time.

You know how demanding his job is.

Even if headquarters sends someone else to replace you.

But this job is incredibly complex and multifaceted; it's not something you can just pick up and do easily.

If something really goes wrong, do you think you, Lao He, can live with yourself?
So I'm here today, partly to discuss work-related matters.

The most important thing is that I have to come over and give you a few words of criticism in person.

You must remember that now that we have joined the team, our bodies no longer belong solely to ourselves.

It still belongs to the team.

So whether it's for your future work or for the team, you need to take care of your health.

Don't overwork yourself.

And you, Changzai, you too, don't think that just because you're young you don't need to rest.

We have a long road ahead of us.

You all need to take good care of yourselves.

Did you hear me?

As soon as the leader finished speaking, Chen Changzai and Political Commissar He immediately nodded and said, "Yes, we will resolutely carry out the order."

"Alright, that's enough criticism. Let's eat. There are still many things I need to know after dinner," the leader said.

Everyone ate very quickly.

They took a bite of the cornbread, followed by a mouthful of spicy radish oil, and then slurped up a mouthful of cornmeal porridge. Before long, everyone was sweating profusely.

After finishing their meal, Wang Ling and her sister-in-law cleaned up the table and went to work.

Political Commissar Liu laid out all the blueprints, material lists, and plans he had brought back on the kang table.

The group then listened as Chen Changzai explained the entire construction plan for the steel plant.

After opening the blueprints, Chen Chang said to the leader and the two political commissars, "Leader, political commissars."

I won't repeat the importance of our need to build a steel plant.

Now I'll talk about the site selection requirements for building a steel plant.

Steel mills themselves are fed by iron ore and coal.

Moreover, a large amount of water is required in the process of smelting steel.

In our current situation, we also need to pay attention to the safety issues of steel mills.

We need to consider both air defense and sabotage prevention.

Because I haven't been to other places yet, and I don't know much about other places either.

However, from my personal perspective, Wujiabao is still a suitable location for building this steel plant.

Whether it's iron ore powder collected from the banks of the Yellow River or iron ore mined from the mines we are currently operating in.

And the places where our coal is produced.

Let's look at that river to our north, the one that flows year-round.

The distance is just right.

Wujiabao is indeed a very suitable place to build a steel plant.

One more thing is.

Now our Wujiabao Arsenal has all the technical and processing conditions to manufacture and produce a complete set of steel plant equipment entirely on its own.

Moreover, the Third Independent Regiment is stationed here, so security can be guaranteed.

This is my personal opinion.

If the leadership or headquarters deems there to be a more suitable location, then setting it elsewhere is also acceptable.

After listening to Chen Changzai's words, the leader did not offer any opinions, but instead said directly, "Changzai is right, and his considerations are very thorough."

Aside from the frequently mentioned resource issues, the most important factor is the technological strength of Wujiabao.

If we were to build a steel plant elsewhere...

It will either divert the technical resources here, or cause various problems in transportation.

Therefore, the headquarters also suggested building the steel plant in Wujiabao.

This will allow us to complete the construction of the steel plant more quickly and put it into production in the shortest possible time.

this point is very important.

Moreover, the headquarters' opinion is...

While maintaining the operation of the existing blast furnaces and steel mills.

All regions of the military will draw upon their largest and strongest technical resources to assist in the construction of the steel plant.

Chang Zai's plan stated that during the construction of the steel plant, all efforts would be made to train the workers and technicians of the new steel plant.

We also believe this is important and very feasible.

So, you'll have to work hard, just like in a dynamite factory, chemical plant, or machinery factory.

A work manual and safety guidelines for factory operations were developed and used for training all new steel plants.

Chen Changzai nodded and said, "Okay, leader. But leader, I have another request. I would like to ask headquarters for help."

"Oh, feel free to make any requests you may have."

Whether it's money, food, or supplies, we will fully support you here.

"Not these."

Yes, as you can see, Political Commissar He's workload is now enormous.

My current work focuses more on the technical aspects.

Now there's another steel plant.

We don't have enough manpower to allocate to everyone right now.

Therefore, we would like to ask headquarters to send someone over to serve as the factory manager of the steel plant.

I can serve as the chief technical consultant or chief engineer to assist the factory manager.

What do you think, sir?

After listening to Chen Chang's request, the leader pondered for a moment and then said, "Headquarters can send someone."

However, once the person arrived, he could only serve as the deputy factory director in charge of management.

You, Chen Changzai, will remain the factory director, and Lao He will serve as the steel plant's political commissar.
The daily management of the steel plant is handled by the deputy plant manager.

But the specific, decisive decisions will still be made by you and Lao He.

If you are not comfortable making decisions, then you should chair the team meetings and make the final decisions.
That's settled then.

After exchanging a glance with Political Commissar He, Chen Changzai said, "Alright then, we'll follow the leader's arrangements."

Then I will continue to explain to you, leader, the overall design concept and construction process of the steel plant.

　Thank you to all my friends for your support and encouragement. Thank you everyone.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)