Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

No matter how hard we try, we can only increase it by tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of tons.

Therefore, finding a new oil field, a large oil field with rich reserves, has become the most important task of the oil troops. That's why Yu Qiuli was so happy when he heard that the No. 1 well in Xinjiang had produced oil.

"What are the specific circumstances?"

"You'd be even happier if you heard this. Well No. 9 produced 7 tons of crude oil in just 13 hours of operation. But didn't the Soviet experts say before that even if there's oil here, it's very small? We saw this happen in four wells we drilled during our previous exploration. Although oil and gas were discovered, they quickly disappeared. But the next day, Well No. produced tons of crude oil. That's when they reported it."

"What about their analysis?"

"It's impossible to accurately determine the reserves, as there's only Well No. 1. However, frontline technicians say the reserves should be substantial. But these are all speculations, without definitive evidence. Therefore, the Xinjiang company hopes the central government can conduct large-scale exploration in the area to determine its oil reserves."

Discovering oil and gas is only the first step.

The next step is to explore how much oil there is here and whether it's worth extracting. If exploration reveals too little, there's no point in extracting it. PetroChina Xinjiang Company hopes the central government will prioritize this area and conduct large-scale exploration.

After reporting to Yu Qiuli, Yu Qiuli had no power to agree.

So Yu Qiuli looked at Wei Hongjun with great anticipation.

Because the decision of a small battle is not a small matter, and wanting to launch a large-scale battle is even more of a big matter.

Wei Hongjun must make the final decision.

Wei Hongjun suppressed his excitement. He knew the Karamay oilfield was finally within his grasp. However, he couldn't act blindly, so he said, "We can first have the Xinjiang Petroleum Company send personnel to conduct further exploration. I'll coordinate with the Military Commission to see if we can transfer a regiment from the Xinjiang Military Region to become the Xinjiang Petroleum Engineering Regiment."

Wei Hongjun was eager to organize the Karamay battle right away.

But no.

Wei Hongjun himself had just proposed at the Central Committee that all major oil campaigns should first be "demonstrated." Now Wei Hongjun is launching his own oil campaign, ignoring the necessary procedures and making his own decisions. How can that work?

Rules are established to be followed. Since Wei Hongjun was the one who proposed them, he was naturally the first to follow them.

Therefore, to decide on a major battle, there must be a complete "argumentation" process.

"What's next?"

"The Petroleum Industry Bureau and the Ministry of Geology will organize an expert team to conduct an on-site inspection. They'll then write a report to determine whether a major offensive is warranted."

"too slow."

Yu Qiuli is really anxious now.

Wei Hongjun smiled and said, "Old Yu, don't be impatient. We can't be blind. We must respect science. You and I are both military veterans, so we must respect the opinions of professionals. But the Xinjiang Petroleum Company can't just sit there and do nothing. We must verticalize the wells as quickly as possible. Well No. 2 and Well No. 3 must be verticalized. Only by knowing the size of this oil field can we determine whether it's worth mining."

"Ok."

Yu Qiuli nodded.

Wei Hongjun immediately reported the news of the discovery of oil and gas in Karamay to the central government.

This is really good news.

However, only oil and gas had been discovered so far; the exact amount of oil reserves in Karamay was still unknown. Regardless, everyone was excited. Those cadres who had originally expressed some dissatisfaction with Wei Hongjun's oil campaign now remained silent.

Because it has only been three months and we have already achieved results.

Every step Wei Hongjun took was very solid.

Even though it only took him a dozen years to rise from a company-level cadre in the Eighth Route Army to where he is today, Wei Hongjun's every promotion along the way was based on his hard-earned achievements.

Consider Wei Hongjun, who only returned to China in June. Yet, within less than six months, he commanded first the major rubber campaign and then the smaller oil campaign. And he's achieved results so quickly. Wei Hongjun truly commanded confidence in his work.

Wei Hongjun was about to send an expert working group to Karamay, and Yu Qiuli recommended Kang Shien to Wei Hongjun. Kang Shien was a student in the Department of Geology at Tsinghua University, but he did not graduate and joined the Eighth Route Army.

He had been with the 120th Division and the Jinsui Military Region, and was very familiar with Yu Qiuli. During the Liberation War, Kang Shien, a Type cadre, was already the divisional political commissar, working under Yu Qiuli.

When Yu Qiuli was in charge of the Yumen Oil Base construction, in addition to the reorganized First Petroleum Engineering Division, he also took Kang Shien with him. Because Kang Shien was good at military political work, he was later responsible for local affairs in the Jinsui base area and was a double-edged swordsman. After he resumed his responsibility for oil work, Kang Shien's academic advantage became apparent.

I originally studied geology.

I really feel like a fish in water at the Yumen Oil Base.

He is knowledgeable, principled, well-organized, and capable of propaganda. He has served in the military for many years and has a resolute and efficient work style. He is Yu Qiuli's most trusted cadre at the Yumen Oil Base.

This time he returned to Beijing, and Kang Shien followed him back.

He is currently serving as assistant to the director of the Petroleum Industry Bureau, which is actually Yu Qiuli's assistant.

Kang Shien's file came to Wei Hongjun, who immediately took a liking to him. He was the same age as Wei Hongjun, a talented graduate of the Geology Department at Tsinghua University. He had participated in the December 9th Movement, led troops in battles during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and built bases. His performance in the Yumen Oilfield over the past three years had also been very impressive.

Therefore, Wei Hongjun approved Yu Qiuli's recommendation and appointed Kang Shien as the head of the Karamay expert working group. Their purpose was to inspect the Karamay oilfield, discuss with frontline technical personnel, and determine whether the Karamay oilfield was suitable for a major offensive. Of course, the main purpose was to estimate the reserves of the Karamay oilfield.

After Kang Shien and others left, Wei Hongjun felt relieved.

This is a good sign.

It won’t take long for China to achieve oil independence.

But Wei Hongjun hadn't expected that good things would come in pairs. Twenty days after the Karamay No. 1 well produced oil, good news came again from the oil battle.

"where?"

"Panjin."

"Panjin?"

Wei Hongjun was very surprised when he heard the news.

Wei Hongjun had originally thought the Daqing oilfield would be discovered first. Surprisingly, the Liaohe oilfield was discovered first. Yu Qiuli now walked with a proud and confident air. The successive discoveries of oil had made the cadres on the oil front more elated than ever.

Yu Qiuli pointed to the map and said, "Didn't the Japanese discover oil sands in the Panjin coal mine? Comrade Huang Jiqing accompanied me to the Northeast. He was most optimistic about the oil fields in the Panjin area. According to his calculations, we set up Well No. 6 and Well No. 7 in Panjin. Who would have thought that Well No. 6 was the first to discover oil and gas, while no other places had found anything. Soon after, industrial oil and gas were discovered at Well No. 7. Comrade Huang Jiqing said that this was the oil field the Japanese were looking for. The oil sands the Japanese saw in the coal mine must have come from this oil field. It's just that those devils were looking in the wrong direction."

"Old Yu, how many people can be mobilized from the Yumen Oilfield? Especially the drilling team?"

“We can also mobilize four or five drilling teams.

"Transfer all of them over."

Wei Hongjun said, "This is the oil field the Japanese have been searching for for so long. We must confirm its oil reserves as soon as possible. Comrade Huang Jiqing is the chief technical officer. Ask him to quickly determine whether it is worthy of large-scale development. If it is confirmed that it can be developed on a large scale, then a major oil campaign will be launched. Comrade Huang Jiqing has a heavy task."

"it is good."

Yu Qiuli nodded.

He is full of energy now.

He wished he could go and extract oil himself. But Yu Qiuli was no fool and knew what he should do. So he said, "Old Wei, we have such good news in less than four months of our small oil campaign. Although we are revolutionaries and don't believe in gods and ghosts, this is a good sign. It shows that our small oil campaign will be a complete success. The three divisions of our Petroleum Industry Bureau are not enough. I think we should have at least five divisions of oil engineering troops under our Petroleum Industry Bureau. Also, if we want to launch a large-scale campaign and develop the oil fields, our machinery and equipment will also be seriously insufficient. Whether it is oil extraction or refining, we need to import machinery and equipment. What do you think?"

"Leave these matters to me."

Wei Hongjun nodded.

1952 will be an important year.

Because the Liaohe Oilfield and Karamay Oilfield are about to have major battles, Wei Hongjun is now in high spirits.

Developing the oil industry requires a lot of machinery and equipment.

Although a lot of oil industry machinery and equipment have been imported from countries such as the Soviet Union and Romania in the past three years, it is still far from enough. The Liaohe Oilfield and Karamay Oilfield are both large oilfields.

From mining to refining, imported equipment is required.

Wei Hongjun thought for a moment and decided that the next task must be properly divided, so he said, "Old Yu, in the Northeast, apart from a portion of the Third Petroleum Engineering Division being assigned to other drilling teams, the remaining troops will begin to enter Panjin to prepare for the next major development. Also, you must work with the Ministry of Geology to draw all the talent that can be drawn from universities nationwide. If there is any resistance, come back to me. Also, you must be prepared to draw personnel from the Yumen Oil Base. Who to draw and who to leave behind must be carefully planned, and they must be fully prepared. Before the order comes down, a good mobilization work must be done. As soon as the order comes, we must rush to the Northeast immediately."

"good. "

889 Negotiation Request

Good news continued to pour in from the oil campaigns, with the discovery of industrial oil and gas in Karamay and Panjin, exciting many central government officials. This proved that China was no longer an "oil-poor country," and that perhaps it would no longer need to spend tens of millions of rubles annually on oil purchases. These savings could potentially buy a ton of valuable machinery and equipment. Previously, many central government officials worried that China was truly an "oil-poor country."

If China really has no oil, how can China's industry develop? It cannot even meet the gasoline needs of cars.

But it's different now.

Although industrial oil and gas had just been discovered, and much work was needed to determine whether they could be extracted, many central government officials were already satisfied with the discovery alone.

Although the most important task of the central government now is to prepare for the Eighth National Congress.

But oil is an important energy source for industry after all.

After the Central Committee convened, it gave Wei Hongjun the green light. The oil campaign he had devised was now a resounding success, and no one questioned his approach to the oil industry. Therefore, the Central Committee hoped that Wei Hongjun would lead his colleagues on the oil front to continue their efforts and develop their own oil for the country.

With the approval of the Central Committee, Wei Hongjun no longer needed to report everything about his oil work to the Central Committee and had a lot of autonomy.

As a result, Wei Hongjun's work suddenly increased.

The upcoming oil campaign would be a major battle, like a war. It would involve oil technicians, oil workers, PLA troops, and faculty and students from major universities—a wide range of talent would be needed. The current Petroleum Industry Bureau was too low-level to organize such a major campaign. Therefore, Wei Hongjun was needed to coordinate all the forces.

The first thing Wei Hongjun had to do was to send someone to contact the Soviet Union.

To purchase the machinery and equipment needed to build the oil field.

There was also hope that the Soviet Union could send experts to help China build oil fields, especially large-scale refineries, which would be difficult for China to accomplish with its own technical capabilities.

The support of the Soviet Union is necessary.

Time is running out now.

Wei Hongjun asked the Soviet side to respond as soon as possible.

At the same time, the Petroleum Industry Bureau needed to be strengthened. Therefore, after consultation with the Military Commission, Wei Hongjun decided to transfer three divisions from the Southeast Military Region to form the 4th, 5th, and 6th Petroleum Engineering Divisions. Although the Southeast Military Region had already transferred two armies to participate in the Korean War, it still possessed the strongest military strength among all the major military regions in China.

当初第五野战军进军东南军区的时候，总共有三个兵团9个军。后来73军转为皖南军区，现在并入到了安徽军区。剩下8个军当中，65军和71军去了朝鲜。目前东南军区依旧拥有6个军的野战兵力。

The Southeast Military Region is responsible for the liberation of Taiwan, so its military strength has never been reduced.

The Southeast Military Region possessed more than just these troops. When they entered the Southeast Military Region, they reorganized a large number of Nationalist troops along the way and also took over the guerrillas operating there. While suppressing bandits, they also formed a public security force. Although the number of troops was much smaller than at its peak, the Southeast Military Region still had nearly 50 people.

Originally, in 1949, the entire army was supposed to begin disarmament.

However, the Southeast Military Region first transferred two armies north to form the Soviet-equipped Corps, and also had to take on the task of liberating Taiwan, so it continued to maintain a large force. Now that the Korean War had reached a stalemate, the central government was preparing to begin downsizing various troops.

The Chairman has just issued a document on behalf of the Central Committee.

That is, in order to support the development of industry and agriculture, each unit should take turns to receive training. After leaving the army, cadres will be sent to industry and agriculture.

The Southeast Military Region is also on the list.

After taking Kinmen, taking Taiwan at this stage would be no easy task. Therefore, the central government couldn't allow the Southeast Military Region to retain so many troops. Since they were all going to be disbanded, Wei Hongjun was willing to give these troops a way out.

Once the oil campaign begins, it will be a great exercise for the cadres and troops participating in it.

As for which troops to mobilize, Zhang Zihua and Wang Zhi of the Southeast Military Region would naturally make the selection. However, Wei Hongjun didn't give them much time, requiring them to complete mobilization within a month. They needed to understand that the transition from carrying weapons and fighting in the war to serving on the oil front was a shift in revolutionary work and a necessity for national development. They needed to do a good job of ideological work among the officers and soldiers, not letting them be reluctant but ensuring they fully committed to the new battlefield.

While Wei Hongjun was busy with these things, good news came again from Karamay.

The No. 2 well erected by China National Petroleum Corporation in Karamay once again produced industrial oil and gas. Kang Shien led an expert working group to Karamay and happened to catch the emergence of industrial oil and gas in the No. 2 well.