Canteen System Assistance Notes

The electric donkeys of the future will not have the problem of fuel consumption, so the air conditioning in the car is turned on very high. The three of them drank very light tea and discussed their next plans.

However, even if Chamberlain were to do this, other countries would still share in the profits—for example, the Soviet Union. They could easily purchase bonds from us with rubles and then spend them through their European agents. The Russians, like us, are thirsty for foreign exchange. "Liu Helian chuckled, expressing disdain for the British attempt to control the profit-seeking nature of capital. "As for the United States, for every penny we spend in Canada, a Commonwealth country, the Americans earn half a penny in profit. The British can't control it; their own minions have become the Americans' lackeys."

Slandering Britain is good for one's physical and mental health. Zhou Bin also laughed: "After all, we can't delve too deeply into this point. If we do, what if we find out something?

This is indeed a huge sum of money.

Two million pounds, roughly $100 million at the current exchange rate. According to some local sources, the cost of building Britain's cutting-edge battleships during World War II, the Prince George V class, was $3 million. The exchange rate stabilization loan later provided by Britain to the Nationalist government was five million pounds, which successfully maintained the exchange rate of the French currency for two years, preventing it from depreciating too much.

In other words, the massive shopping card that would be delivered to Cynopac over the next few years would be enough to build about three Joe V-class battleships, or maintain the fiat currency's ridiculous exchange rate for eight years! But in other words, it wasn't a lot of money.

This is about one-three hundredth of the aid the United States provided to Britain during World War II, about one-tenth of the aid to the Chiang Kai-shek government, one-third of the Soviet Union's planned share of loans for 156 key projects in China after the war, and even just about one-fifth of the American funds that the Kong and Song families of the four major families of Chiang, Song, Kong and Chen received in 1949 when they were about to be defeated. This amount does not include the approximately US$5 million in gold, silver and foreign exchange that were looted to Frog Island on the order of Chang.

(This means we have lost almost three Project 156 units out of thin air...)

To build a foundation for the Eighth Route Army that could at least sustain itself with this small amount of money, one had to be frugal and thrifty. Furthermore, the Eighth Route Army urgently needed to expand its military due to the demands of the war against Japan, the puppet regime, and the reactionaries, and thus the purchase of expensive and expensive military equipment was a necessity. This meant that there were many areas for spending money: once 2000 million pounds was spread out, it would be like sprinkling pepper over a surface, with insufficient resources everywhere.

The key is that the money has to be spent within a deadline...it's really a happy trouble.

The three of them spent an entire afternoon discussing, sipping long-simmered tea and munching on the sweet cookies they'd bought. In the curtained carriage, this makeshift Party branch reached a consensus: Don't hold back on your money; buy quality goods, buy quality goods, buy early, use them early!

Chapter 162 A step-by-step plan

During World War II, the Allied camp's "leader" in industrial production was undoubtedly the United States. Known as the "Arsenal of Democracy," it produced nearly $503 billion worth of supplies throughout the war and continuously supplied them to various Allied countries through the "Lend-Lease Act."

However, from another perspective, many of the techniques and technologies that allow the United States to mass-produce materials originated from its "father" Britain. In the original history, these things were sold to the United States along with the "traitorous fleet" in September 1940, in exchange for a large amount of American aid materials for Britain, which was in imminent danger.

If only they could open the door of Britain like they did to the United States and shout, "I want it all." Well, after all, the Eighth Route Army is not the United States. The difference in status between the two is too great, and it is impossible to buy things for them as if they were their own sons. What's more, the entire shopping plan corresponding to the 2000 million shopping cards will continue throughout World War II. Many things that the Eighth Route Army thinks are valuable will not be available for sale until the middle and late stages of the war, so there are not so many things to buy now in 1933.

The first items to be purchased directly were large quantities of various supplies, known as "consumables" during World War II. The largest of these were trucks and their corresponding variants: the Commonwealth lacked many things during World War II, from food and clothing to aircraft and artillery, but trucks were one of the few things they could barely muster.

With the Albion Works, capable of producing heavy all-wheel drive trucks; Bedford, known for its medium-duty trucks; and Scammell, renowned for its semi-trailer and full-trailer production, along with Canada's Chevrolet Ford and numerous other truck factories, the British Commonwealth was able to produce a variety of truck models during World War II, including the Bulldog, Morris, and Austin. Relying on its chassis production capabilities, it also modified and produced outstanding products such as the Collis V crane and the "Sergeant Major" heavy armored recovery vehicle. Its production not only met the needs of its own army, but also provided assistance to the Soviet Union.

In any case, during World War II, trucks weren't durable goods meant to last for years; instead, they wore out quickly under intense use. Furthermore, Liu Helian had already, through Ford, introduced the first generation of radial tire technology—a technology that significantly improved tire endurance and, consequently, increased vehicle load capacity—and had been pre-researched in France before World War II. "Stealing" their patents was a no-brainer for Comrade Liu.

It's just that... the British are never as good at making cars as the Americans who "correct their mistakes as soon as they realize them." After being complained by frontline drivers, the Americans knew to add power steering to their heavy trucks. However, most of the trucks produced by the British throughout World War II, from half-ton trucks to 6-ton trailers, did not have power steering, forcing drivers to develop strong steering skills.

While arranging his subordinates to receive representatives from major automobile dealers who had come to the store for marketing, Xiao Liu was secretly thinking that he should at least find a way to equip heavy trucks with power boosters in the future.

Secondly, the main purchases are concentrated on various technology licenses and program authorizations.

From the perspective of technological development, although Britain did not have the same production scale as the United States during World War II, it had unique skills in many areas.

Beyond the familiar radar technology and liquid-cooled piston engines, Britain also boasts strengths in metallurgy, steel, and chemicals, with unique advantages in gas turbines, industrial metrology, and precision machining. For example, the locomotive technology of the National Railway Engineering Company, the advanced metrology of Renishaw, and the precision manufacturing machine tools of the Cranfield Precision Institute—all of these are areas where the Eighth Route Army profited from whatever they took.

The procurement plan for this line of business had an extremely long timeline, even extending beyond five years. It was something that required careful negotiation and refinement. While technology and patents were undoubtedly more complex to negotiate than off-the-shelf products, the foresighted Eighth Route Army knew they could simply wait and see. Once the "greatest figure in history" rose to power, Britain, on the verge of collapse, would be happy to sell even seemingly insignificant technology to save its empire.

---------one

Of course, there are some arms purchased directly, but compared with other items purchased from outside, the total amount of these products is not large.

After all, the main source of weapons for the Eighth Route Army is the Soviet Union, and a large number of weapons remaining in the country are also German and Japanese-made weapons, plus the American aid that may come in the future. There are not many of the British stuff that still uses the annoying imperial and pound units.

In view of this, when Liu Helian drafted the proposal, he did not plan to purchase many British weapons. He was not interested in anything from the old Li in stock to the Lewis machine guns running around everywhere. Apart from some air force equipment, the only British weapon he mentioned in the proposal was the famous "Bren" reconnaissance vehicle in World War II.

As a small armored vehicle that saw practically every inch of combat throughout the war, the Bren, with its simple structure and easy maintenance, undertook almost all vehicle missions except for frontal assaults: infiltration and reconnaissance, artillery support, personnel transport, and supply replenishment... Although its weak armor could only withstand small and medium-caliber rifle ammunition, not everyone would, like the Australians, order a Bren to engage in a suicidal assault on the defense line.

As a large-scale armored vehicle, a universal carrier, the "Bren" and even the later improved "Windsor" and T-16" carriers are undoubtedly qualified.

Liu Helian hopes that these miniature vehicles can cooperate with Soviet and American tanks to transport Eighth Route Army soldiers to closely accompany the attacking vanguard, or use their light and flexible characteristics to carry highly mobile light infantry to launch attacks from unexpected places of the enemy.

However, just a few hours after the report was submitted, Liu Helian received feedback from the central government on his mobile phone.

The response was a simple, straightforward one: "Now that we have the American M1 mountain gun, Xiao Liu, can you get some military-grade guns from the UK as a transitional weapon?" "Hmm? Didn't we say we'd buy the guns from the Soviet Union?"

Liu Helian was very surprised. Ren Bulin was the current representative of the Eighth Route Army in the Soviet Union. How could a veteran Party member known for his meticulous work forget the planned purchase plan?

"Little kid, things are a little strange over there with the Russians—you say they're generous, but now that comrade from the Artillery General Administration who's in contact with us is hesitant and reluctant to give us the goods.

"But you're saying they're stingy, but that's not necessarily true. We asked for an artillery overhaul facility to build American mountain guns with the equipment you bought. And surprisingly, they directly sent us a state-of-the-art artillery production line, saying they'd build it together with the Soviet Union to produce their latest artillery."

This artillery factory has just been built, how can it be put into operation so quickly! According to Soviet experts, it will take at least two years before assembly and production can begin! So, little kid, you are in England, think of a way to get some to make the transition. It won't be a big deal.

Chapter 163 Comrade Steel's Test Paper

What was sent was a voice message. As soon as I heard the voice and the address, I basically knew that the person on the other end of the green software was General Zhu.

Liu Helian thought about it. Because the level of the Eighth Route Army's mule and horse and motorization could not be improved all at once, and the reality of the domestic war situation, the "division-level artillery" widely equipped by European countries, that is, artillery with a range of just over ten kilometers, could already be considered "military artillery" in China. What was more widely used in China was "mountain artillery" and "field artillery" with a range of less than 10 kilometers.

The Eighth Route Army began procuring and preparing to import American-made M1 mountain guns from production lines. These had a maximum range of 9 kilometers, sufficient for most domestic battles. Once personnel and training were in place, and the Eighth Route Army had sufficient trucks and horses, they would then supplement the force with heavy artillery. The entire Japanese invading army, including the Kwantung Army, possessed no more than 700 guns larger than 105mm, and most of these were dispersed in Northeast China and had not been deployed to the North China battlefield.

In other words, throughout the main battlefields of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, mountain artillery was the primary artillery force. Therefore, the initial procurement plan did not include large quantities of long-range military artillery. The central government's plan prioritized talent development, emulating the 10th Artillery Regiment of Guosu, with the goal of establishing three regiments, each with 36 guns, under the control of the Military Commission, responsible for providing operational support.

There are only about a hundred guns here, and there is no rush to use them. How about waiting for me to assemble something with Schneider's stuff? By then, we will have 105, 155, and even some Schneider 85mm heavy mountain guns available... Liu Helian was extremely puzzled. He sent his opinion back and waited for a reply from home.

"Ever since Jiangcheng was captured by the Japanese and the Wang Puppet regime betrayed the country and surrendered to the enemy, the domestic situation has entered a stalemate according to the information you provided, Baby.

However, our comrades in Hubei, Henan, and Anhui have sent us news that the Japanese are preparing for the next battle to consolidate the front, and are also drawing troops from the Central China Expeditionary Force, with the possibility of sending reinforcements to our side. Compared to your comrades, we are making a bigger splash in North China and are more proactive.

On the other end of the app, General Zhu sent two voice messages in quick succession. "They say we should fight according to the conditions and against the enemy. You, kid, can't apply that old historical experience to the changed reality! I came back from the front lines just to discuss this."

Ah, I see... The more proactive Eighth Route Army inflicted at least 20% more casualties on the Japanese troops in North China than ever before, and they were even more proactive in squeezing out nearby stubborn and puppet troops. The Japanese, attempting to reduce pressure on their forces and strengthen their control over the occupied territories with a large number of puppet troops, suffered disastrous losses on the outskirts of their base, making no progress.

Take Shanxi Province, for example. Historically, Japanese forces attempting to enter the Shangdang Basin by road were unable to successfully attack this valley in southern Shanxi, instead being blocked on the periphery by our army and the more actively resisting units within the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army. Currently, the Shangdang Basin is essentially entirely controlled by our army, save for a portion of the Sichuan Army stationed in Guosu.

In that case, Sugiyama Hajime, the then commander of the "North Z Expeditionary Army", would certainly be more proactive in carrying out the Emperor's order on maintaining public order... No wonder Zhu De always made the judgment that more technical equipment and even some long-range artillery were urgently needed.

"So what does the Soviet Union mean? Their existing equipment isn't suitable for this situation, so they want direct assistance with the latest equipment. Oh no, a production line? What kind?" Xiao Liu figured it out and asked General Zhu, "It's always good to get the equipment needed to produce a new type of artillery."

The Soviet Union's artillery during World War II was exceptional, but in 1939, it lacked options. The renowned Zis-A cannon hadn't yet been developed, while the advanced ML-2 cannon and MOO howitzer were still rolling off the production line. The M30 howitzer, a weapon only finalized in 38, was still undergoing finalization at the GAU.

Furthermore, the Soviet Union itself still possessed a number of old artillery pieces from the Tsarist era, large and heavy, making them even less suitable for domestic use. "It's the M30, the 12mm-caliber kind, and they've reportedly just been finalized. The GAU people said they're planning to have us build it in parallel with Arsenal No. 92 in Gorky."

hiss.....

Liu Helian gasped. What was Comrade Dalin thinking?

He had imagined that the Soviet Union would deliver some supplies, or be willing to sell weapons and equipment, or even directly provide weapons production lines. However, he had never prepared for the fact that a new type of Soviet equipment would be produced by the Eighth Route Army in parallel with the Soviet Union when the Soviets themselves did not have it!

According to the documents sent by General Zhu, the Soviet Union basically did not charge extra money, and all the equipment information was even lower than the international price. What a high specification this is. As far as he knows, it is probably only comparable to the 156 Project aid package after the founding of the People's Republic of China. With such a "temptation" to produce the M30 artillery in-house, it is no wonder that the central government is willing to purchase some awkward British guns as a transitional measure while waiting for the factory to go into production.

If we say that Stalin was purely supporting the Eastern fraternal party, and in a selfless manner, he unhesitatingly supported the country... ahem, it's not that Liu Helian didn't believe that the communist world was united in moving forward together. Comrade Gangtie has done a lot of things over the years to give priority to national interests - it can't even be said that he did anything wrong. It was purely a matter of different standpoints and perspectives.

What on earth was Dalinzi thinking? Liu Helian felt he couldn't figure it out even if he thought about it for three days and three nights. He could only put all these strategic considerations aside and sit down to study the specific technical issues, which was one of the most adept skills of a time traveler.

While the Soviet proposal was crude, it included key elements. Their plan was to add a series of equipment to the second phase of the Agricultural Iron Works project, already focused on improving product quality and variety, to produce the two main components of the artillery: the barrel and the carriage.

The gun carriage wasn't a major issue. Excluding the more sophisticated gun sights and mechanical calculators, the Huinong Iron Works, already well into its prime, could provide carbon steel with sufficient yield strength. Combined with rust-proof blueing and painting, they could produce the M30 gun's bipod and associated components at a reduced design capacity. The more difficult recoil mechanism could be temporarily outsourced to the Soviet Union, pending the arrival of precision machining equipment. Production could then be completed at the newly established pressure vessel plant and sent to the final assembly plant.

The gun barrel itself was a more challenging task for the subsequent processing of steel. Assuming the Soviets provided the steel mix, Soviet experts believed that a new 300-ton model forging machine would be needed during the second phase of construction at the Huinong Ironworks to produce the 23-caliber M30 gun blanks. This would then require drilling with a deep drill and boring with a broaching machine.

"For the rest, we basically refer to the opinions of the Soviet experts who assisted in the construction of the factory. Hey, even though there are some things they don't understand, they still seem to have high recognition of the overall level of our Huinong Iron Works." Liu Helian flipped through the details in the document. Among them, various parts of the gun carriage can basically be completed in production based on the plan of Huinong Phase II. It can be seen that the Soviet experts have fully considered the actual situation and made their judgment.

The only thing is this 300-ton die forging machine. I remember it was equipped with steel dies and was used to continuously process large forgings. It was a very specialized piece of equipment. In other words, until we have the corresponding steel dies, this large machine will only be able to produce 122mm gun barrels...

This equipment, seemingly designed to meet the needs of "large-scale production," was arguably the most challenging and crucial node in the entire plan. Future experience began to play a role, and Liu Helian keenly sensed the extremely abrupt anomaly in this seemingly ingenious plan.

"If you're really considering versatility, why not add a new set of open die forging machines? It would also make it easier to switch production. Yes, die forging machines are faster, but we don't need to produce tens of thousands of 122mm guns like the Soviet Union..."

Suddenly, a light bulb went off in his head, and a bold idea came to his mind:

"Mr. Steel, are you planning to use the independent production of this artillery as a test of the Eighth Route Army's capabilities?"

Chapter 164 What to Eat Today? (Part 1)

Regardless of whether this was a test deliberately arranged by Stalin to assess the Eighth Route Army's ability in social construction in addition to military construction, or whether it was simply part of the Soviet Union's double-bet aid plan, the Central Committee had already decided to take on this challenge.

After fully explaining his different opinions, Liu Helian arranged for relevant comrades to contact British arsenals such as Vickers, Armstrong, and Khabarovsk, and prepare to purchase a small number of transitional artillery to fill the vacuum period before the Ms0 artillery could be mass-produced.

He himself bid farewell to the temporary party branch on the overseas front and prepared to return home.

Since leaving the country at the end of 1937 and taking their first step in overseas work, Liu Helian, Zhou Bin, Cheng Enshu and other comrades have been working in the imperialist base camp for a year, and their achievements are extremely rich: they have successfully realized capital appreciation with their limited capital, cultivated a series of cash cows, generated stable income, and earned some "small goals" in the process.

Because of this, Liu Helian, as the leader, began to attract some malicious attention - mainly from overseas forces of several major fruit preserves families.

Fortunately, Zhou Bin and Cheng Enshu had extensive experience working in the White Areas, and Liu Helian himself had the added benefit of future work experience. He also had the added luster of being a member of the International Business Association, a shareholder in a foreign company, and a prominent Chinese businessman. He also had the support of Hammer and the Communist International. Those who, while abroad, were accustomed to keeping a low profile towards foreigners and cocking their tails towards their own people, were not yet daring to act too blatantly. However, considering his status and value, the Central Committee decided to allow Liu Helian to return home and stay out of the spotlight.

However, this guy who always stirs up trouble inadvertently was also a cause for concern on his way back to China. Liu Helian did not follow the classic route of Paris-Berlin-Minsk to return to the Soviet Union and then return to China. Instead, he made a big circle in the south along the Rome-Athens-Cairo line and passed through an "important" place - Mansourai in Yemen.

At that time, Yemen was not an independent country, but a British direct colony, directly responsible to London. It was considered a "private land" for the British to use for vacation, and surprisingly, it had a certain level of infrastructure construction.

Here, Liu He set up a point and opened a food factory specializing in the production of canned seafood. He also prepared several boats to utilize the rich fishery resources in the entire Somali waters to produce products such as canned prawns, sardines and mackerel.

However, this was not his purpose.

On the one hand, the passage through the Somali waters to the north and through Iran to the Soviet Caucasus region was an important channel for the Soviet Union to obtain Western military aid. Similarly, it was also an important channel for the Eighth Route Army to obtain foreign aid after the full outbreak of the war.

On the other hand, maintaining a fishing fleet here that nominally serves the cannery will most likely develop into a naval squadron in the later period, which will be beneficial for the Eighth Route Army to train its future navy and sailor teams.

The factory was named "Pandaria Canning Co., Ltd." and the canned goods it produced were called "Panda Cans." As one of Liu Helian's few holding companies, Pandaria has branches in many places around the world and owns many industries.

The first batch of products produced by the canning factory on Dingwanpan was canned prawns, which came in two flavors: sea salt and spicy.

Although there are various modern canned goods for sale in the border area due to the layout of the canteen, they are the fruits of the local production after all. The factory still sent a batch of goods to the country. According to the normal plan, they should be

Like the Caucasus route through which the Soviet Union later obtained foreign aid, it passed through Xinjiang Province and the Northwest Passage and finally arrived in Fushe. However, several months after the shipment, except for some canned spicy food, the border area did not receive anything.

Although there would be some loss along the way, it was too incredible that everything was completely "lost". Just as the Eighth Route Army's Discipline Inspection Commission was furious and ready to investigate whether someone had embezzled or suffered a disaster, a telegram from the Soviets came, asking

Asking about the can with the panda picture on it, and there was also a telegram.

The content of the document was very simple: Dear Davarish, your canned prawns are very good, baba baba baba, can you provide a stable supply? In addition, the money for the canned prawns will be recorded in the current account with you, and will automatically offset the purchase of goods from the Soviet Union.

Money.

Hmm? What's going on?

Liu Helian had been caught off guard. He had originally planned to sell his products to countries within Britain's "Imperial Chartered Economic Sphere" (he now had access to it), or to wealthy nations like the United States. While canned shrimp would primarily be a cat snack in the future, it was still a fairly expensive commodity. Honestly, he'd even considered losing money initially, hoping to profit from military purchases once the North African campaign began.

But there was no reason not to take advantage of a business that was delivered to his doorstep. After reporting to the central government, Liu Helian happily supplied the canned goods that had not yet found a market to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union also placed an order for continued supply to Pandaria through the state-owned shopping mall system.

Everything was normal, except for the strange letter from Soviet comrades suggesting that the factory should triple the amount of salt and oil in the canned food, or introduce a sour cream-flavored canned shrimp.

Since there was no suitable fishing sonar at the time, the whaling mothership purchased cheaply from the UK could only fish with its workboats offshore. Fortunately, the Gulf of Aden and the waters of British Somaliland were still producing abundant catches of tuna, bluefin tuna, and mackerel, so a single fishing team did not need to worry about depletion of fish stocks.

After developing special editions of the "Red Star Panda" heavy salt canned food and sour cream flavored canned seafood for the Soviet Union, which were well received, Pandaria gradually developed a series of products throughout World War II, including canned oil-soaked tuna, canned cooked mullet, packaged dried mullet, etc. Even some small fish and scraps that could not be canned were turned into canned saltwater fish tofu and fish balls.

These cans were initially processed on whaling mother ships, divided and canned on sardine ships, and cooked and produced in factories on shore. Besides traveling across the ocean to the Soviet Union, providing much-needed protein and vitamins for people at the front and in the rear, many were also purchased by the British and Americans, and a large portion of them were transported to North Africa and Europe on Allied supply ships.

On the battlefields of North Africa, American soldiers who knew how to enjoy life mostly chose to find a pot, put a can of fish in it, and fry the fish in the fat in the can.

Paired with fresh lemons and oranges provided by the logistics department (the American imperialists’ ghosts’ rear

The British soldiers, less adept at fine dining, preferred to heat canned food directly over a fire or leave it on the North African sands to warm, then eat it with canned American tomatoes.

On the Axis side, once German soldiers captured such cans, they would mostly cook them into a stew with their bread and eat them with a spoon; while the Italians seemed to prefer using these things as a condiment for risotto and pasta, to get some real "Italian cuisine".

Even British commander Montgomery munched on canned fish balls to show the media he was an Allied general who shared the joys and sorrows of his soldiers. In short, this seemingly idle move, the "M Panda Brand Canned Food," left a lasting mark on the North African battlefield and even in postwar Europe.

Even during Europe's difficult post-war recovery period, many people relied on canned food from this factory to get through those difficult years. Many years later, you can still find a similar dish in many places in Europe: canned fish soup. The method is nothing more than boiling canned fish with water and then adding different side dishes.

Group number of this book: 7751118:38 Group number of this book: 7751118:38

Chapter 165 What to Eat Today? (Part 2)

Although the "Panda" cannery later had a fishing fleet consisting of converted whaling mother ships, sardine boats and a fast refrigerated transport ship, as well as many commercial fishing vessels that cooperated in fishing, and its production capacity was strong, it was still very small compared to the huge demand of World War II; it could not even meet the needs of the domestic market, and could not even meet the meat needs of the border areas.

After all, the area around the Gulf of Aden was originally a British resort with beautiful scenery and abundant bananas and citrus fruits. It did not have the support of industrialized agriculture and animal husbandry like the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The main reason for it to win the logistics and military supply orders for the North African battlefield was its proximity advantage.

However, as a man of the future, Liu Helian had already made preparations, aiming to leverage the production capacity of these "unreliable allies." He used the gradually accrued US dollar earnings and British pound draft certificates to establish factories in several major agricultural producing countries, producing less conspicuous packaged foods and engaging in international bulk grain trade. For the Eighth Route Army, the real purpose of this foreign exchange wasn't simply to earn interest; rather, it was to be spent efficiently or invested for future use.

Among them, many products with the same "reputation" as "Panda Brand" canned food were born in this wave of investment activities.

Although he had set up a factory in the United States and produced meat products, luncheon meat and canned egg powder that all time travelers could not escape, Liu Helian was always in a bad mood to do something.

How to make the US military, one of its major future customers, smile

He thought of many ways to pay the money.

Because his partner, Hamer, had a strong livestock industry and a large-scale food production line, there was a huge demand for nutritional supplements. Thinking it was a waste of money not to make money, Liu Helian established a "Shanwei" brand food additive factory, breeding mealworms and grinding protein powder, intending to supply protein supplements to Hamer's factory.

As it turned out, due to a bizarre logistical error, the freshly produced product was delivered to a panel of tasters who had been trained on canned goods. After much agonizing, these discerning but uninformed tasters and chemistry geeks finally opened the unlabeled tin can and raved about the "delicious protein powder" inside. They reported to Hammer that it had a clean taste, rich aroma, and a surprisingly high protein content, making it an excellent functional food.

Hammer, a more qualified capitalist, immediately discovered the business opportunity. He found Liu Helian and learned in detail how these pure animal protein powders were produced. Finally, he made suggestions without hesitation.

"Liu, why don't you can this stuff into canned food for humans? It's such a great source of protein, but it's only fed to cows. What a shame!"

Mealworms are an insect rich in protein and various trace elements. They are known as a treasure trove of protein, truly proving Bear Grylls's saying that "you can eat everything except the head, and the protein content is three times that of beef." They are also known by another name that everyone is familiar with: mealworms.