Canteen System Assistance Notes

If I must make an inappropriate analogy, in terms of industrial scale, this border region, spanning two or three provinces, has finally achieved the scale of a township enterprise cluster in the 80s. As for the technological level...

"I'd say, even though our area is small and our production is modest, we're not the best in China. I think our technology is among the best in Asia."

Sun Yingchuan, who had just arrived in the border region a year earlier, now proudly referred to the area as "we." He stepped off his horse-drawn carriage and pointed at the factories and chimneys dotted along the road. "Well, Brother Hou, was what I wrote you about correct?"

The "Brother Hou" beside him nodded repeatedly: "I am really a little scared now. If I had missed that letter, I would have been sulking in Germany.

If things go wrong, I’ll end up depressed!"

The person who could be on good terms with the famous chemist Sun Yingchuan was naturally Hou Qirong, who was also a famous chemist.

He had just returned to China from Germany on a Northern Air flight—not to Shancheng or Chengdu, of course, but to Huinong. At this premier industrial cluster in China, Huang Jingzhai (surname Wang), director of the Eighth Route Army Industrial Committee, warmly welcomed him and took him on a tour of the Huinong Air Separation Plant, the first phase of the Huinong Iron Works, and the first phase of the Huinong Synthetic Ammonia Plant. He then escorted him along the Huinong-Shizuishan-Border Area Highway.

Finally, Hou Qirong came to one of the core production areas of the Eighth Route Army Chemical Industry in Dingyan District.

"There are several large salt ponds here. Previously, this area mainly produced crude salt, but the salt tasted bitter and was often mixed with brine. Later, comrades from the Eighth Route Army established a salt field and a chemical plant here, relying on the salt pond resources to organize production." Sun Yingchuan pointed to the winch trucks moving back and forth beside the salt ponds in the distance, the railway within the field, and the reaction towers and chimneys further away.

"Ha, they're truly a workers' party. Their process is quite interesting. They first produce salt, then prepare saturated brine to produce caustic soda using mercury-grade electrolysis. The brine residue is recycled, and the byproduct chlorine is used to produce hydrochloric acid or for synthesis. Even the magnesium salts filtered out during the production process are used to produce magnesium-based refractory bricks for the Huinong factory."

"So, the Soxhlet process is used in the production of soda ash?"

That's right, Brother Hou, you've already seen the coal-based air separation ammonia synthesis at Huinong. You naturally know that there's both brine and ammonia here, and the thermal power plant there can also produce carbon gas—all together, all the elements of the Soxhlet process are complete. They can produce soda ash here, hundreds of tons a day, and also calcium chloride for drying food, smelting aluminum ore, and treating illnesses. It's quite reminiscent of the glory of Yongli back in the day.

The two men walked slowly along the edge of the factory, gazing at the tangled web of pipes. Sun Yingchuan, now director of the Dingyan District Chemical Development Zone, explained the factory's layout bit by bit. "It's thanks to your work, 'Soda Ash Manufacturing,' Brother Hou, that you broke the Solvay Association's monopoly on the Soxhlet process. Otherwise, our Communist Party brothers' overseas procurement wouldn't have been so smooth."

Hou Qirong smiled when he mentioned "Soda Ash Manufacturing." This was the culmination of decades of painstaking research into the soda ash industry. With a simple, popular science document, he overcame numerous challenges and deduced the Soxhlet process, a technique kept secret in Britain, Germany, and the United States. He then used this to refine the production process, propelling the Yongli Soda Ash Factory to a peak daily production of 180 tons and even boosting the local soda ash production industries in India and Brazil.

Hou Qirong suddenly changed the subject and asked, "Brother Sun, how did you get here?" "Me? Oh, me, I was invited here by the Eighth Route Army comrades."

Sun Yingchuan revealed a nostalgic expression. "It was probably last year. At that time, my comrades from the Yellow Sea Chemical Society and I were planning to set up a factory in Xingcheng to resume the previously interrupted aluminum smelting and alum production processes, as well as our research and development work. But the Japanese invaders gradually approached, and Xingcheng was no longer safe, so we had to continue evacuating."

"Large industrial equipment and fixed assets are particularly vulnerable to relocation. Once dismantled, resuming production is difficult without a strong organization. The Huanghai Chemical Society has just relocated inland, and we have no research space or research projects. Originally, I planned to have everyone start a distillery and brew some soju for sale. At least there's something to do to keep our skills from getting rusty."

"Then, Mr. Xu Maoxun from Changsha's Eighth Office came to us and said they needed a director for a chemical plant and a director for a chemical research station. He said we had aluminum smelting, alkali production, acid production, and ammonia synthesis, as well as a number of other chemical plants, which was enough for us to start work."

Speaking of this, Sun Yingchuan said self-deprecatingly, as if telling a joke, "Many of the undergraduates, masters, and doctorates in the Huanghai Society all graduated with chemistry degrees. Even if they use earthen kilns to brew wine, I think they should be able to make quite a bit of money, haha!"

"After all, I made the right choice to come here. There are so many chemistry projects to work on here at the Eighth Route Army: besides triacids and dibases, there's also non-ferrous and ferrous metal smelting, and even organic chemistry! There are other like-minded people and engineering teams here, making it easy to communicate with each other. I heard that the Eighth Route Army is planning to establish a scientific academy in Fushi. Maybe then you and I can even supervise some graduate students!"

At this time, Sun Yingchuan had enough capital to laugh at his previous predicament. As the director of the Chemical Development Zone of Dingyan District of Balu, he and the group of the Central Industrial Committee of the Party planned an expansion plan for the salt pond salt-pure knee, carbon-burning, and refractory hydrochloric acid joint production line for Balu. He solved many problems that many cadres in the committee had problems with, and put forward his own suggestions for improvement. He himself also learned a lot of ideas that could open his eyes.

"What about you, Brother Hou?"

“Me…Me…”

Hou Qirong shook his head helplessly and said with a hint of annoyance: "I was actually driven here by those foreigners!"

The two men found a rock by the roadside to sit down. Sun Yingchuan pulled two bottles of saltine soda from his bag, opened the lids of the bottles facing each other, and passed them to each other. Hou Qirong took the soda, glanced at the "Huigang Brand" on it, and took a few gulps without any courtesy.

He slowly told his story: "At the end of last year, I led a team abroad to Europe to purchase new equipment for Yongli. Unexpectedly, that German barbarian resented me for publishing the Soxhlet process. Not only did he mock us as a colony populated only by farmers, he also made fun of our sovereignty, which was quite insulting."

Speaking of this, Hou Qirong could hardly conceal his anger: "The Soxhlet process was already a bygone era in the 19th century, yet the Solvay process is monopolized by a few industrialized countries, who even set up industry associations to keep it secret. Humph, they previously claimed that for commercial gain, they wouldn't apply for a patent, allowing others to research it. And yet, after we successfully reverse engineered the Soxhlet process using publicly available data, they became furious and launched a barrage of attacks. What a despicable person!"

He had spoken very restrainedly, but his tightly clenched fists revealed the true thoughts of this national scientist.

"Brother Sun, please lend me some people."

"what?"

Hou Qirong's words caught him off guard, and Sun Yingchuan was unable to react for a moment. "Borrow someone? How do you mean?"

"The Soxhlet process here, as you said, has been running stably for at least two or three years, right? So there's at least a mature team—can you lend me half?" Hou Qirong turned his head to the northwest. "I'm going to write a proposal to the Eighth Route Army's general. I want to build a new alkali plant next to the Huinong synthetic ammonia plant—using our own Chinese alkali process, which is even better than the Soxhlet process!"

"I can provide the money and I can save up the equipment, but I need the cooperation of the second phase of ammonia synthesis over there—and I also need a skilled alkali worker from the factory! Three years, no, two years, a year and a half! I want to prove to those arrogant foreigners that we Chinese have our own alkali production technology!"

"Brother Hou, Brother Hou! Calm down!"

Sun Yingchuan raised his voice a half-degree and shook his good partner's hand firmly. "I understand your feelings very well. Serving the country through industry, there's really no better place to do it here. I fully support your idea of ​​building a new factory, but where are the people... ahem, I'm also preparing for the second phase of expansion of the alkali and acid plants here, setting up a new synthesis workshop, and half of the people... Huang Haishe can't help but be so busy...

"Then... one third?"

"One quarter, one quarter is the most! I'll go and report to the Working Committee!" Sun Yingchuan smiled bitterly. This old friend's enthusiasm rarely came up, and he was a little relentless.

"Brother Hou, don't keep staring at me! I'm telling you, now

Yongli is still relocating to the mountain city. I got the news that our General Manager Fan has been harassed by some people in the mountain city, and reconstruction is very difficult... Yongli factory's equipment was scattered all over the place during the relocation and is difficult to find. The staff has no income, and it seems that it is about to fall apart.

"Soon, just write a letter and ask Mr. Fan and his team to bring Yongli here directly. Together, we can rebuild a Yongli factory right here on the banks of the Yellow River!" (Xingcheng, the capital of Hunan Province; Shancheng, should be self-explanatory.)

Chapter 248: The Road Ahead (2) Vertical and Horizontal Connections

In addition to the chemical industry, the second phase of the Huinong Iron and Steel Plant project on the Eighth Route Army is also in full swing.

As one of the core elements of the two-core and one auxiliary layout of the Eighth Route Army's steel industry, the Saishang Coal Sea Huinong District has undertaken the Huinong Phase I Steel Plant, which was designed by the Eighth Route Army according to the standards of the steel joint enterprise in the 60s and innovatively integrated with existing technologies. This steel plant has a 200-cubic-meter small blast furnace, a double-bed oxygen-blown flat hearth, an alloy mixing furnace and a small acid converter. Together with the coking, air separation and sintering workshops, it can output cast iron, carbon steel, low-alloy steel, alloy steel and other materials, forming a basic product category, which provides a solid foundation for all the industrial construction of the Eighth Route Army.

Phase I of Huinong boasts a cast iron production capacity of 28 tons. Through the consumption of domestically produced cast iron, recycled scrap, and purchased additives, not accounting for product losses, it can output a further 14 tons of carbon steel and approximately 2 tons of alloy steel. This consortium's production capacity would make a true industrial nation laugh out loud internationally, but domestically, it could overwhelm the entire Kuomintang-controlled region. The most direct impact is the robust expansion potential of the twin-bed oxygen-blown open-hearth furnace, which has already expanded beyond Xingqing Prefecture, the capital of Ning Province, and into the entire northwest, aggressively absorbing the entire Kuomintang-controlled region's pig iron production capacity.

The Huinong Phase II project, which is currently under construction, is expected to directly exceed the "30 tons of steel" upper limit reserved in the original design of the Huinong Iron Plant due to the terrifying industrial self-proliferation effect, significantly increase the production capacity of cast iron, and further enrich the product categories of the steel plant, moving towards calm steel, high-strength steel and high-alloy steel.

Why? Guo Dongcai, who was in charge of the second phase of construction, once raised this question. However, after he took a look at the steel demand table sent by the working committee, all his questions immediately turned into sighs: Damn, how can this production capacity be enough?

140,000 tons of steel a year, accounting for the loss rate, has an annual production capacity of 110,000 to 20,000 tons. Why is it not enough? "That's it? How can it be enough!"

As the commander-in-chief of the newly established Eighth Route Army's Construction Engineering Corps, Xiao Wuyi held the most influence. He commanded the largest number of "troops" within the Eighth Route Army's structure—a massive contingent of over 3. This militarized group handled the majority of large-scale construction projects in the border region and had trained numerous professional construction workers and civil engineers, representing a hidden trump card for the region.

"That's not enough! I don't have any steel to share with you!"

If anyone pressed him further, he would stand up from his desk, point to the border region map on the wall, and trace a dotted black and white line along it. "That's just the level of production capacity! It's not even enough to build a railway! If you could just throw me into a blast furnace, I could get Huinong Phase II completed and operational immediately. I'd jump into a blast furnace right now!"

Then, like Xianglin Sao, he would drag over a transparent ruler, point at the map, and ask the person asking the question to measure it carefully.

"Look, our railway has to connect to the two industrial zones of Fushi and Huinong, right? And considering future plans, we also have to connect to the No. 2 coal and steel core in Yulin, right? Okay, look at the scale. If we draw an inverted T across these three places, how far apart would that be?"

"One hundred and nine? Ha, that's the straight-line distance on the map. We started surveying and mapping in 1937, and luckily the central government gave us the route map directly, so we just had to verify the survey. From Fushe to Yulin, we walked a full 240 kilometers—700 meters! And that doesn't even include the railway from Suide to Dingyan, which is over 390 kilometers!"

At this time, Xiao Wuyi would once again pull out a calculator from his pocket like a magic trick, press the buttons on it, and do the arithmetic in a meticulous manner:

"Standard railway, standard gauge, the track weight set by Mr. Sun, calculated per meter, 86 kilograms of steel rail, not a centimeter less. Let's calculate based on 240 kilometers plus 390 kilometers! Two rails per kilometer, each weighing 86,000 kilograms. 86,000, forty-three tons, two sections of track equal 86 tons... 630 kilometers of single track, that's over 54,000 tons of rail!" He counted on his fingers, explaining to the visitor as if he were listing his treasures: "And that doesn't even include the sidings for meeting trains, the rail fasteners, the railroad spikes, the safety rails, the marshalling yard... after all that, the steel used would be at least half as much!"

"The border region needs construction, we need to manufacture guns and cannons to fight the Japanese, and we need to build new factories. The Huinong Factory isn't run by just a construction soldier, so how can they give all the steel to me?"

——-—-—-—

There is a construction site outside the office. Just like when he was marching, Xiao Wuyi placed the headquarters of the infrastructure troops at the construction site, and worked directly and efficiently to solve problems that arose in the construction of several key projects.

At the construction site, tents stood in rows, and shouts filled the air. A one-and-a-half-ton American Combine Harvester chassis, fitted with a crane and pile tamping machine, was chugging away. On the makeshift railroad tracks, a small locomotive, repurposed from a pot-camel, hauled sand, gravel, and cement. And on the vast riverbank, a bustling workforce toiled, chanting slogans.

"Normally there are more people here, but we're going to harvest corn soon, so we organized a harvesting team and went back to the village to help. That's why it seems so few people now," Xiao Wuyi muttered to himself.

He murmured, "The experts from the Soviet Union said that even if we don't build railways,

They were in a hurry to build the railway, and they followed the standards of their wartime railways, completing the tamping, laying of sleepers and laying of rails. In fact, these roads would not take more than a year to build, starting from Huinong.

Fushi and Yulin are advancing in parallel, using flatbed trucks to pull rails and cranes.

"For a machine, just repair it and run it all the way - the difficult part is these bridges and tunnels."

"Oh, you're talking about this. This is the Wuding River Bridge, our number one control project."

He began to introduce this railway bridge with two piers and three spans, spanning more than 200 meters across the river, as if it were his own son. He talked about Mr. Zhi's new team, the reinforced concrete structure, the ship-shaped pier guard, the silicate cement produced in Fuxian, the slag waterproof cement produced in Huinong, and reinforced concrete... When Xiao Wuyi finally agreed, he would point to the 246-meter Yongding Bridge in the distance and feel deeply moved.

"Back then, when we built that stone arch bridge, we had no tools at all; it was built solely by manpower, and it was Tang Keqin who was in charge! Now, we Communists want to build our own bridge here, and not only that, but a railway bridge!"

"Some people tease me, Xiao Wuyi, saying I consume almost 60% of Huinong and Fu's steel production capacity and 40% to 50% of their cement production capacity each year. I'm like a Pilin, all about eating and no shit. Ha, he doesn't even consider how much we can create in the future!"

The newly appointed commander of the Infrastructure Engineering Corps put his hands on his hips and said proudly:

"Once we have completed these two railways, we will build new ones! Not only in the border areas, but also across the Yellow River, to Guanzhong, Saishang and Jiangnan!

"We, the construction soldiers, may not be as good as our comrades who carry guns and fight in battle, but we are also true heroes who can change the world!"

Chapter 249: The Road Ahead (3) The Best Strategy to Attack the Heart

Hezhuangping.

This is a small village north of Fushe, with few residents. The few flatlands along Hongzhuang Creek are mostly barren, and even the nominal landlords are too lazy to collect rent. However, a group of Red Army construction troops arrived. They first built a drainage canal along the creek and installed a small 2kW hydroelectric station. This area has become irrigated, generating electricity, and the motors can also power some small workshops.

Then the Red Army expelled the stubborn landlord who had appeared out of nowhere and tried to collect high rent from them, and this place became a public farm for the Eighth Route Army. However, now, a small group of Japanese lived here.

"Playing the role of Japanese troops, equality, no! When a soldier sees the sergeant, he must bow and nod, and he cannot fight back if he is beaten!" This is a group of people sitting on small stools, listening to another person on the playground imparting his experience.

The collar patch depicts cherry blossoms in full bloom, with strong winds blowing the flowers toward Yoshino. If you were born a Yamato man, you would dedicate your life to the skirmish line... This is another person leading another group in learning to sing Japanese songs.

"Come on! Gentlemen! Raise your bayonets! Kill!"

"kill!"

"No! Yours! It's boring!"

Meanwhile, Matsunoda, a Japanese soldier in dark green clothes and rattan armor, grabbed a soldier's wooden rifle and said, "You! Are weak! How can you kill the enemy who hurt your family!!!"

He tugged hard, but the soldier's strength was no match for the short fellow, and he immediately stumbled. "Which company's instructor are you from? So weak? You think this is Commander Zhu's tiger? I think you've only taught wild cats!"

"Come! Fight me!"

Matsuno shouted loudly, separating the people practicing around him and walking to one end of the training ground. "Imagine! Imagine that I am the Japanese devil! Devil! I am a bad guy who killed your relatives, stole your food, and burned your village!"

Then, the short guy raised his wooden rifle and struck a pose, "Now, attack me!!!"

"Ah--Ah! !!" Anger surged up like a flame, and the warrior who had not yet stood firm rushed forward like a madman. He used all his strength to

He thrust the wooden spear in his hand towards Matsuno, just like he was in a real battle.

Same on the field.

However, the Japanese serving as the "instructor's instructor" was clearly experienced. Matsuno quickly changed positions, seizing the advantageous position on the left. He deflected the warrior's overly excited thrust, and a wooden spear pierced his armor.

"If this were on the battlefield, you'd be dead! How could you avenge your loved ones? Get up! Try again!"

On the other side of the playground, next to a fenced chicken coop, Saburo Sakaki was pointing at the soldiers in training and said:

"Mr. Matsuno is his brigade's assassination instructor. If they can defeat him, then the Eighth Route Army soldiers will definitely have no problem defeating those Japanese soldiers in assassination."

Saburo Sakaki pulled a fountain pen and a bottle of ink from his pocket. He placed the ink on the grinding wheel beside him, dipped the pen, and made another mark on the notebook. He pointed out an entry and showed it to a man standing nearby: "Mr. Xuewen, they are cooperating with the training department of the garrison corps to train the assassination instructors who come here for retraining, and then have them return to teach the soldiers in various bases."

"According to current feedback, the results are very good. At one point, a warrior named Lü Fengxian appeared in Shandong Province. He combined his learned assassination techniques with local martial arts and single-handedly killed 27 enemies in hand-to-hand combat."

Ah!" Mr. Xuewen took Sakaki's notebook and took a look. There were many things densely written in Chinese on it, with only Japanese words marked next to some words. The information about Suginoda, who was teaching assassination techniques, was listed in a series of outlines, which was very clear. He nodded and praised: "Mr. Sakaki, you have done a good job. But I have a question for you.

"Mr. Xuewen, please tell me. I will do my best to answer you."

"Mr. Matsuno, if he's the assassination instructor in the battalion, he must be at least a sergeant, right? Someone like him, someone who attended the Army Junior School and the Army Infantry School before joining the army, must be very determined to serve the Imperial Japan. Why were you able to convince him to join us?"

"Ah, so that's it..."

Saburo Sakaki raised his head to look at the sky, and said a little embarrassedly, "This is not my credit, but the credit of the stupid Japanese imperialists, right? I did a lot of work on him, but the results were not significant. Recalling the bitter past and class education were far less effective for a professional soldier like him than for an ordinary soldier. His transformation actually happened after our troops captured Yushe City.

I went in with a working group from the Anti-War Alliance and discovered that, before retreating, the Japanese soldiers inside had murdered members of their headquarters' "comfort department"—the very people who forced women to serve the Japanese soldiers.

At this point, Sakaki gritted his teeth, forcing himself not to tremble as he recalled the tragic scene at that time. "We originally thought that the 36th Division had massacred the local people, but it turned out that the only one of these girls who was still alive was a Japanese girl.

"What a wonderful girl... She was only in her twenties... Before she died, she told us that all the victims were Japanese girls, mostly Japanese residents. She herself was forced to come here by the neighbors, hoping to find her husband who was serving in the army, but ended up being imprisoned in that place, forced to 'comfort' the soldiers fighting for the Empire, and in the end, she was stabbed to death with a bayonet..."

Mr. Xuewen waited quietly for Sakaki to continue, until he seemed to be choking and unable to speak, then he added: "Is that girl a family member of Mr. Matsunoda?" Well... she is his cousin. The medical staff rushed to rescue her, but ultimately failed. Sakaki turned the notebook to another page and pointed to the information on it.

"Matsuno-san rushed over, hugged her, and cried until his voice was hoarse. After learning the truth, he tore up his military certificate, bent down, and confessed all his crimes during the war in China, such as stabbing wounded soldiers in battle, robbing the last of the people's food, and setting fire to the village... He begged us to let him take up arms and fight before we shot him, to kill the commander of the 36th Division and avenge his cousin.

"Then I told him what you told me: revenge on one person is like blaming the sword for the murder; it's weak and powerless. A true samurai's revenge is to avenge the adults and the institutions that caused this tragedy, to create a world where tragedy doesn't happen."

As Saburo Sakaki spoke, he scattered some corn kernels into the chicken coop, inviting the flock of white, fast-growing chickens to come and peck at the food. On the other side, there were even a few geese. This was a basic skill in the Anti-War Alliance camp. Since all units in Fushi had their own vegetable gardens, they would take on some production tasks in their spare time.

To reduce the pressure on logistics.

Not only did they plant watermelons on the sand, they also applied to the central government for chicks and raised broilers and laying hens, and the surplus could be supplied to other places.

"Our common goal is to combine criticism with weapons, to use the weapon of criticism to divide and influence the enemy, to make them realize the evil nature of this war of aggression and the value of peace. Mr. Sakaki, we are all fighting for peace and for the happiness of the people of both countries."

Mr. Xuewen nodded sincerely, affirming Sakaki's work.

You're very dedicated in this area. I was originally thinking of asking if you needed any support. "Mr. Sakaki, is your pen damaged? Could you show it to me?"

Sakaki nodded and handed over the orange Parker pen in his pocket. This pen was the last memory of his family's prosperous days. It had been with him for a long time, and after being taken away by others, it returned to his hands. It was like his own destiny and had experienced many things: "It was taken away by Staff Officer Oda, who was then killed by a machine gun, and the tail of the pen was broken off - I really couldn't bear to throw it away.

I added a stopper to it, but the resin pen had a hidden scratch.

Ink leaks. I can only use it as a dip pen, haha."

"Oh... Look, here, Mr. Sakaki, this is for you."

Mr. Xuewen pulled out a bright red fountain pen from his pocket, took a look at it, and handed it to Sakaki. "We produce our own Century 100 fountain pen. The specifications are similar to your Tofu fountain pen, or should be the same. The accessories should be compatible.

"I hope it will not only serve as a vestige of memory, but also as hope for the future—we will ultimately strive for the liberation of our people throughout our lives.