Canteen System Assistance Notes

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Liu Helian perked up and read the feedback about weapons in the battle report. Strategically, he basically made judgments based on historical experience, but when it came to specific weapons, he still had a lot of opinions.

The 115th Division highly praised Liu Helian's invention, the "Iron Fist," or "Turtle Fist," considering it the first serious "big gun" capable of being carried around by infantry. The 115th Division primarily employed high-explosive rounds, based on the German Panzerfaust 150 round from Liu Helian's original time period. These rounds featured a 105mm caliber super-caliber warhead, a half-kilogram warhead and a metal-chip shrapnel shield. They were even more powerful than 82mm mortars. The 115th Division commented that with the advent of this weapon, the explosive pack had practically become obsolete.

"'We hope to further reduce the weight and increase the power.' Ugh, General Lin, if we increase the power even further, the range will be truly pathetic." Liu Helian knew that the German basic version, the Panzerfaust 30, had a warhead containing 800g of high-energy explosives, but, as its name suggested, its effective range was only 30 meters. "'Also, it is recommended to continue using the recoilless principle and try to enlarge the gun to fire larger projectiles.' Uh, wouldn't that make it a Type 82 rifle?"

"What's the 82 recoilless rifle?" Staff Officer Zuo was very interested in this new term. "Recoilless rifle? Can we make one?"

"Not yet, but maybe I can try it later."

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Liu Helian changed the subject and continued reading. All units of the 115th Division had high praise for the MP28 submachine guns, both trial-produced and purchased in the border region. Aside from being slightly heavy, the large 32-round magazine was a delight for the veteran Red Army soldiers. Of course, some criticisms were inevitable: with the increased availability of equipment, many soldiers who hadn't previously used automatic weapons began using them, and the resulting "holding the trigger" habit developed. The MP28's rate of fire was relatively slow, but it couldn't withstand continuous fire. Several regimental commanders called for enhanced training, advocating that "burst fire is better than burst fire, and that submachine guns should be fired like machine guns."

In fact, I strongly suspect that it is because the consumption of bullets is too high... Liu Helian thought that the current MP28 uses 9mm bullets, which are straight-barreled bullets and easy to process. Once several other assembly lines are put into production and the lead smelting progress is improved, it should be able to be supplied.

Reviews of other weapons, such as the DP machine gun and the Maxim, were generally average; after all, they weren't particularly innovative. However, the grassroots soldiers of the 115th Division gave high praise to the gray-mouthed grooved hand grenades produced in the border region. They felt that, despite the lack of a wooden handle, they were lighter than the Gong-style grenade (nearly half the weight), more powerful (the charge was increased from 50g on some Gong-style models to 80g), and easier to carry. While the lack of a wooden handle meant they could be thrown closer, the addition of the Turtle Fist reduced the need for long-range grenades, so it wasn't a major issue.

"Huh? To throw grenades from a distance, don't we have a grenade launcher?"

Liu Helian was referring to the rifle-mounted, blank-fired grenade. Technically, it was a grenade launcher that fired a "rifle grenade" with a gray-mouthed slotted mine as its warhead. A closer look revealed that the soldiers at the grassroots level had a low opinion of this gadget, which required carrying a separate fin kit, had no impact fuse, and relied solely on a time delay. They thought it lacked sights, flew crookedly, and was difficult to accurately detonate.

"This thing is the ecological niche of the grenade launcher... Indeed, the 115th Division has only been exposed to it for a short time and is not familiar with its use. It's normal that they don't like it."

Liu Helian recalled that, after all, in his time, while grenade launchers were simple, the grenades they fired were industrial products with considerable manufacturing difficulty. That tiny grenade, however, integrated a prefabricated shrapnel, a trigger fuse, a primer, and a propellant, truly being a device that "though small, possesses all the necessary components."

When you are dealing with logistics, you should still consider the actual situation of this era. You cannot blindly apply historical experience just because you are a time traveler.

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"Well, Staff Officer Zuo."

Liu Helian pondered for a moment, then said, "Regarding the canteen system and our Central Logistics Committee, I have an idea."

"what idea?"

"That's right, I want to apply to the central government to go to the UK and the US."

Chapter 46 Old Stories

Canteen System Assistance

By Forgotten Maple X

2410 words

2020-10-26 12: 00: 00

In September 1937, there was already a sense of panic in Jinyang City. Although the Japanese were blocked by the overlapping mountains of Xinkou, as the capital of Shanxi Province, Jinyang City was always subject to siege by the Japanese army.

So, logically speaking, as a leader of Shanxi Province who "started his career in industry", what should Yan Laoxi do with his industrial equipment now?

A common sense would have it that, as a warlord well aware of the importance of industry and self-sufficiency, preemptively dismantling equipment, relocating factories, and relocating workers, and then demolishing assets that couldn't be moved to prevent them from becoming available to the enemy, would have been his primary mission. If this were the case, Jinyang City would have been under strict martial law and curfew, with the warlord's loyal troops leading the workers and forced labor in a massive relocation operation.

So what is Yan Laoxi actually doing?

The conclusion is: nothing was done.

On the one hand, Yan Laoxi harbored illusions about Taiyuan's defenses, believing that with his numerous troops and generals, a densely packed defense, and the support of munitions factories, the Japanese would inevitably suffer heavy losses. Knowing they were no match for the enemy, he withdrew. On the other hand, taking advantage of Shanxi's attack, Guofu (preserved food) took advantage, sending troops to infiltrate and establish positions, and sending the Ordnance Department to "take over assets," intending to nationalize Laoxi's many industrial factories. Seizing someone's financial resources was like killing their parents, and this wasn't just a source of wealth; it was also the guarantee of Yan Laoxi's military strength. Therefore, he was extremely uncooperative with Guofu's recruitment and even resorted to internal strife and internal consumption, intending to squeeze Guofu out of Shanxi.

Therefore, more than 3 workers in the entire Jinyang city became victims of this internal conflict.

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Du Youlin staggered back to his friend's house. He had a bruise on his face from a fight he'd had with someone while buying rice. He'd just pawned his watch to buy some rice, but the rice shop had simply removed the sign and replaced it with a higher price.

"In troubled times, in troubled times, people are worse than dogs."

Du Youlin is a section chief in the Jinyang Iron Works team. On weekdays, he is a small foreman who commands a dozen workers. His salary is much higher than that of ordinary workers. He is a professional "technician", but now, he has not received a penny of salary for almost three months.

Today the workers organized another walk, but faced with the soldiers lined up in rows with guns in hand, the hungry workers finally did not have the courage to continue the struggle - perhaps, it was not that they did not want to fight, but that they could not give up anything. The last walk forced the person in charge of the factory to write a letter of guarantee to pay everyone, but until now, nothing has happened.

The slogans of this walk were not demands for political rights, not fights for fairness, or even demands for full payment of wages - they hoped that the factory could start operations as soon as possible, and that the factory could provide them with food so that they could continue to produce guns and ammunition to fight the Japanese for the army on the front line.

Everyone still knows the big picture.

But the reality is that Lao Xi has no time to care, let alone take care of a group of hungry workers. After a while, the workers finally dispersed.

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As a result, he could only drink thinner porridge tonight.

His little boy had already drunk three bowls but was still hungry. When he was about to scoop the fourth bowl, the wooden spoon hit the bottom of the wooden barrel with clear soup, making a scraping sound.

Du Youlin slapped him hard: "Does anyone else want to eat? You've eaten enough by yourself."

"But... Dad, I'm hungry!"

The wife of the stoker's friend glanced at the noisy boy and the other one with a big belly who couldn't work, clicked her tongue, and said nothing. She picked up her own child and went to the kitchen, leaving the family of three here in an awkward position.

Du Youlin saw all of this.

"Hungry, hungry, hungry! Everyone's hungry, but you're the only one starving!" He scolded his son, but he had no confidence. His own stomach was also protesting the watery porridge, but what else could he do? He thought numbly that the factory couldn't resume work, and he had no income. "You disrespectful son, shut up! Go read a book!"

"Dad, I want to go home!" The child plopped down on the stool. "My books are all at home!"

"Look back, if it weren't for them, we would all be sleeping on the street now!"

The house belonged to a train fireman on Zhengtai Road, a friend of Du Youlin. Some time ago, Japanese planes bombed the arsenal, and Du Youlin's home was reduced to rubble. Fortunately, their only child and pregnant wife were out shopping and escaped the disaster.

The stoker friend was kind-hearted and cleaned out a small empty room in his home to provide a temporary shelter for the homeless family.

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But he couldn't always live under someone else's roof. His friend had a wife and children, and his family wasn't well off. Du Youlin didn't want to stay in someone else's house all the time. What's more, it was really crowded here, and he definitely couldn't live there for long.

"Boss, did you pawn your watch today?"

His wife sat aside to rest. Du Youlin looked at his empty left hand and nodded.

"If it really doesn't work, let's..." His wife gritted her teeth and said, "Take out the small bag from my bag tomorrow. There's a..." She lowered her voice, "a gold lock inside. Take it and exchange it for money. Then, we can find another place."

"How can that be? That's your dowry. I'm not that cowardly." Du Youlin raised his voice a little, as if he had gained courage. "You woman, what nonsense are you talking about? Go away!"

The woman frowned, pursed her lips, and was about to say something, but in the end, she remained silent.

Oh shit!

Du Youlin felt an inexplicable surge of anger. He looked at the thin soup in the bowl, which was so thin that it could reflect a person's reflection, and the sticky bowl of vegetables in front of him. He felt inexplicably furious. He wanted to throw the broken porcelain bowl to the ground, then roar, rush out, put a gun to the factory owner's head, and order him to hand over the money!

But this is impossible. The next second, this courage or resentment slipped away and shrank back, leaving only empty confusion.

what should I do?

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At this moment, with a bang, the door was suddenly pushed open without any warning.

Du Youlin's friend, the stoker, suddenly returned without any warning. "Old Du! I'm back! Where's my wife?"

He shouted at the top of his lungs, making the room buzz. The stoker's work environment was very noisy, so his voice was also quite loud. As he spoke, he pulled a large paper bag from his pocket. The smell of grease and sweet noodles emanated, and there was the crisp sound of fried dough rubbing against each other.

What’s in here is fried cake!

The brat from Du Youlin's family straightened up suddenly, and was then grabbed by Du Youlin.

"Hey, Lao Wang." He pointed to the kitchen, "It's in the back!"

"Oh! Bitch! Bitch!"

The woman who had just walked into the kitchen came out again with her child in her arms, smiled, and came forward to take the package.

"Here, go get a plate." Wang Silu loudly gave orders, as if everything was a matter of course. "Come on, everyone is hungry, come and eat this fried cake! You must have been hungry these past few days, right?"

"Good! Good!" The hostess of the house beamed with joy upon seeing the bag of fried cakes, but her joy immediately faltered. She lowered her voice, glanced at Du Youlin and the others sitting nearby, and whispered to her husband, "They... give it too?"

"Why not?"

Wang Silu's eyes widened as he said bluntly, "Don't worry, this thing will be delicious later!"

Chapter 47 New Choice

Canteen System Assistance

By Forgotten Maple X

2217 words

2020-10-27 12: 00: 00

Oil cake is a kind of snack that Jinyang people like very much. Here it is often served as the last dish at weddings and funerals, roughly meaning "it's time to go."

But whatever this dish is, it's a calorie bomb made up of solid flour, sugar, and sesame oil. For a room full of four adults and a bunch of kids, it's a rare delicacy.

"Old Wang, where did you get this?" Du Youlin knew that his friend's financial situation was also very modest. After the war began, railway transportation around Jinyang had been intermittent due to the Japanese offensive. "Has your railway resumed operations?"

"Well, the road crews have all gathered in the past few days, and we have a lot of cars to run next." Wang Silu spoke directly without thinking too much. He turned around and instructed his wife, "Wife, let's pack up and get ready. We have to go south in a few days."

"What's going on?"

"It's time to work! Mr. Ba and the Sacrifice Alliance have negotiated a railway line to Fengling. They have the approval from Vice President Zhao and Governor Sun!" Wang Silu happily pinched another fried cake and dipped it in the sugar at the bottom of the paper bag. "We're hiring these days!"

"what?"

"Old Wang, you are actually a Communist?" Du Youlin was so surprised that he leaned back and almost fell down.

"How can I become a Communist? Don't tell me, if I became a Communist I could eat white flour. I'd like to join, but I'm afraid they won't want me."

Wang Silu smiled. "Eighth Master set up a porridge stall near the railway. He cooked porridge with salt and distributed it to the poor. I also went to line up. Then Eighth Master asked me what I did. I said I shoveled coal for the trains on the railway. Eighth Master took note of my things and gave me this."

"Then, the soldiers in the Second War Zone...don't do anything reckless?" Du Youlin asked cautiously. During the war, he had been robbed by defeated soldiers or bandits so many times that he became a little neurotic.

"Nonsense! Master Ba must have made a deal with them! There are soldiers with guns standing next to the soup kitchen! Otherwise, with so many hungry people, wouldn't the scene be a complete mess?"

He couldn't help but feel a bit sad. Vice President Zhao was the second most powerful person in Shanxi Province, so how could he be worse than the Eighth Route Army in causing trouble? You know, if the Eighth Route Army recruited people like this, wouldn't all the hungry workers run there? How would the factory resume work?

"I think this Zhao guy is the one who promised this. He's leaving us all to the Eighth Route Army. He's actually taking the worry out of Governor Yan's life. If no one takes to the streets, Governor Yan might even give him a promotion."

Wang Silu shouted loudly, turning the paper bag upside down so that the last bit of sugar fell into the bowl, and then pushed it to Du Youlin's child, "Eighth Master is really generous. Here, sugar! If you know how to cook, go and sign up, and Eighth Master will give you a whole bag of this sugar on the spot!"

"what!"

They actually gave me sugar and fried cakes directly. Could this Communist Party member be a local tycoon? Du Youlin opened his mouth wide, "You agreed?"

"No, I have children and a wife at home, so I have to come back to discuss it. Look, you guys are here too. If I just leave, I won't abandon your family. This is not okay."

Du Youlin listened to his old friend's story and roughly understood the whole story: the Communist Party in Hexi sent a work team, established contact with the Sacrifice Alliance in Shanxi Province, and also received assistance from the second-in-command, Governor Sun; no matter who it was, as long as they went to the scene to show their support, they would have white porridge to eat; if those with skills signed up to work for the Eighth Route Army, they would get something, and the Eighth Route Army would be responsible for providing them with work and accommodation for their families.

This skill - mainly refers to production skills, the Eighth Route Army obviously favored railway workers like Wang Silu, and they also gave him a paper bag of oil cakes when he asked to "go home and think about it."

Then can a technician like me in the ironworks workshop do the job?

"Of course! Why, you want to go too, brother?" Wang Silu directed the others to put away the tables. His flag dragged out a wooden box and he began sorting through it, preparing to pack up some necessary clothing. Clearly, despite the "think about it and discuss it," his old friend had already made his decision. "Do you want me to talk to them tomorrow? You can go and see what's going on, too."

"Old Wang, how many people are going there?"

"Too many! If they weren't soldiers, there would have been chaos long ago."

Wang Silu was clearly feeling rather proud. He now had firsthand information and the advantage of experience. "The Eighth Route Army is right there at the street corner, setting up a huge pot! It's filled with oil, and a row of cooks are kneading and mixing dough nearby. Dough balls, one by one, are jumping into the oil pot like rabbits digging holes. The smell wafts across several blocks. Over on the other side, they're cooking porridge, pouring white rice into the pot, making a clattering sound."

"There were some idlers who came to ask for porridge, and they gave it to them, one bowl per person, no more, no less. If they wanted more, they had to queue up again. No matter what, if you took someone's food, you had to say something auspicious. As a result, more and more people came. It was my turn to eat porridge, but it was almost half an hour later."

He spoke with great enthusiasm and vigor.

"Let me tell you, the people lining up stretch a mile. The Eighth Route Army said they were building a new factory and were short of skilled workers, foremen, and laborers. If you work there, your salary is paid monthly, but the foreman will pay it directly to you. If you get sick, the Eighth Route Army will treat you. If your family wants to do something, they'll arrange it for you, too.

"It's said that their new factory is no worse than the one in Jinyang. The Baojin Ironworks is about to move there." Wang Silu thought for a moment and said affirmatively, "Didn't we elect Kang Youde as our representative during our previous walk? He's the one from the woolen mill, the general secretary of our union. He said it was true and he could guarantee it."

"With him as a guarantor, many people signed on the spot and received candy and fried cakes. The Eighth Route Army said that if you bring your family, you will be given resettlement funds. Their horse-drawn carts were parked outside the city gate, and when there were enough people, they would leave in batches. Some people even came in groups, dismantling their own food supplies. The Eighth Route Army loaded these people and their supplies onto the train and took them to Fengling - look, my body can be put to good use."

Du Youlin was silent. Such conditions were indeed very good. To be honest, he didn't need his family to go out to work, nor did he expect the factory to pay for his medical treatment. The Eighth Route Army allocated him accommodation and was willing to pay him monthly wages without being deducted by the foreman. These were already very good conditions.

However, he was a little hesitant about leaving the Jinyang factory he was familiar with and going to an almost unfamiliar place, which meant saying goodbye to almost everything in the past and starting over.

However, seeing his young boy who had just eaten and became lively again, and his pregnant wife, he felt that he did not have many choices - and the Eighth Route Army might allow him to pick up the steel drill again and deal with the deadly and great molten iron furnace.

No matter what, it's always okay to go and have a look. Du Youlin thought, it's always okay to take a look, and after eating the porridge, it's always okay to take a bag of sweet oil cakes.

The Eighth Route Army is so rich, they can at least give me something to eat, right?

Although his original idea was not so noble and selfless, Du Youlin finally made up his mind.