For a better deal.
The U.S. military-industrial interest groups also lobbied the military to give Doolittle and his team the establishment of the U.S. Special Joint Air Force stationed in North China, and promoted Doolittle's military rank to colonel.
In addition, a special order was issued for Doolittle and his party to continue to temporarily stay with the Eighth Route Army to assist the Eighth Route Army in developing its aviation industry.
Later, a US Air Force, Soviet Air Force, and British Air Force will arrive with prototype aircraft to help train Chinese pilots until the aircraft production line is officially completed.
In order not to be smashed by the Eighth Route Army, the countries of Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union were racking their brains.
Within the headquarters.
Kong Jie congratulated Doolittle, "Lao Du, congratulations! I should call you Colonel Du from now on!"
Doolittle grinned his thin, stubbled face and said, "Kong, actually, I'm more interested in becoming the father of China's aviation than you are in this colonel!"
Doolittle was more filled with emotion as he spoke.
Who would have thought that this Eighth Route Army unit, which was behind enemy lines and surrounded by powerful enemies, could develop its aviation industry in such a short period of time?
When Doolittle and his team were forced to land in the Zhejiang-Jiangxi region after an air raid over Tokyo, they were rescued by Duan Peng and his team of commandos back to the base of a detachment of the Eighth Route Army.
Although Doolittle and his party were amazed that such a large anti-Japanese armed force could be active in the Japanese-occupied areas and establish such a stable and vigorous base area.
But after all, they believed that the Eighth Route Army, which was behind enemy lines, was constrained by a powerful enemy and would be difficult to fully develop its military industry.
When Kong Jie made an invitation, he wanted Doolittle and his pilots to stay in a team and help the Eighth Route Army develop its own aviation industry. He even told Doolittle that he might be called the father of Chinese aviation. .
Doolittle was more amused.
He felt that the Eighth Route Army general had a wild imagination.
It's just a piece of specially bulldozed yellow land hidden in the mountains. Could such an empty place be used as an aviation base?
Not to mention the construction of a more advanced aviation base, Doolittle did not even see a single plane.
Then inquire.
The Eighth Route Army did not even have a single fighter plane.
At that time, if he had not considered that the Eighth Route Army was the savior of his party, Doolittle would have even been unable to resist making some sarcastic remarks.
When there are not even a single fighter plane, they are clamoring to build their own aviation force. Isn't this just an idiotic dream?
However, less than two months later.
Doolittle witnessed the miracle happen.
First, pilots with a large reserve of theoretical knowledge came from the so-called Yan'an headquarters of the Eighth Route Army to study with Doolittle.
Immediately afterwards, the aviation base secretly built by a team was further transformed and constructed. The whole team was in a lively atmosphere, and the construction of the secret aviation base was in full swing.
Kong Jie even built a special aviation research laboratory for Doolittle and his party, and provided a considerable amount of aviation research data of considerable quality.
But Doolittle still believed that all of this would be impossible to achieve without even a fighter plane.
Until that empty airport, a dozen fighter planes arrived inexplicably.
Then it got out of hand.
Wave after wave of fighters, bombers, and transport planes were driven to a team's secret airport.
After learning that these fighter planes were captured from the Japanese military airport, Doolittle was so stunned that he could almost swallow his fist.
Are there any other aviation forces built in this way?
Later, after owning the aircraft, the Eighth Route Army pilots who continued to pour in became very enthusiastic. They regarded the aircraft as almost everything to them and devoted all their passion to the research and study of aviation operations.
finally.
The air battle broke out in Licheng.
Kong Jie provided the most shining stage for a secretly built aviation force.
And on this shining stage, a team of pilots and soldiers indeed performed a wonderful air combat drama for the audience.
At this point, the prototype of the secret aviation force first established by the Eighth Route Army has been revealed.
As Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union and other countries reached cooperation agreements with the Eighth Route Army, they indicated that fighter planes and fighter aircraft production lines would gradually enter China to assist the Eighth Route Army in its anti-Japanese operations and the development of its aviation industry.
Doolittle was finally convinced that Kong Jie had achieved it and achieved the blueprint for developing the Eighth Route Army's aviation industry that they proposed when the Eighth Route Army did not have a single fighter plane.
With the current good foundation, given time, the aviation industry belonging to the Eighth Route Army will surely become one of the aviation powers as it continues to prosper.
...Thousands of words can only be combined into one emotion.
"Kong, you are truly the most incredible and magical general I have ever seen!"
"ah???"
Kong Jie scratched his head in a daze, wondering what was wrong with Lao Du when he suddenly said this.
However, Kong Jie was still very grateful to Doolittle and his team, especially Doolittle and the others for their help in the development of the aviation force.
"Lao Du, our aviation unit can't develop to what it is today without your help. Just for this, I'll buy you a drink!"
"You won't come home until you're drunk!" Doolittle laughed.
"You must, come to my place to drink, if you can climb out of the house, I will lose!" Kong Jie laughed.
…
…
After the airplane tour.
Under the reception of Kong Jie, the leaders took the lead in visiting the military production base of the first team.
In this battle, the troops moved back a lot of iron and steel-making equipment from Yangquan and Jingxing, especially in Jingxing. With the cooperation of several puppet troops who were instigated to rebel, the soldiers also found a five-ton and a three-ton equipment. Alloy steel smelting equipment.
The Japanese army originally planned to use these equipment to install and produce special steel on site in Jingxing for use in the SJZ's newly built military factory. In the end, it was directly used as a wedding dress for the Eighth Route Army. Before it could be installed, it was completely taken advantage of by the Eighth Route Army.
As well as the newly built thermal power plant equipment of the Jingxing Japs, all were seized by the soldiers.
These equipment were originally very bulky. If they had been left in the past, even if they could be captured, it would be difficult to transport them, not to mention the aerial firepower that the Japanese army might arrive at any time.
Fortunately, the team now has some tractor vehicles imported from various countries, which makes it much more convenient.
Lao Zhang and the others had an unexpected gain in the freight yard of the station outside Taiyuan City. They found a five-ton Krupp alloy steel smelting equipment in the freight yard. They combined with Lao Ding's troops and used heavy-duty tractors to pull it back to the Luliang Mountain base overnight.
Just wait for a team to succeed in trial production and send technicians and engineers over to help with trial production.
In addition, after the troops completely captured Licheng, they also successfully captured a small arsenal, a power plant, a steel mill, and two special steel smelting plants with five-ton smelting equipment.
Considering that the Licheng area is an important military location for the Japanese army, it will never sit idly by and remain in the hands of the Eighth Route Army. It will definitely face continuous retaliation and air raids by the Japanese army in the later period, making it impossible to build a stable production base.
The Eighth Route Army used a large number of mechanized vehicles, towing vehicles, and even transport aircraft for transportation. In the end, a large number of factories and equipment in Licheng were transferred to the Eighth Route Army's most stable Huangyadong Arsenal.
One of the five-ton smelting equipment was also transported to Li Yunlong's New Second Regiment Arsenal.
Li Yunlong has always wanted to make mortars, and now he finally has the raw material basis.
These are the gains of each unit during the May Day raids. They only barely have a foundation, and there are still many supporting facilities missing, so they have not been able to carry out trial operations.
And there is a serious shortage of technicians and engineers.
Therefore, Kong Jie's business with the British, American and Soviet countries this time about aircraft and production lines was also to introduce more talents from abroad and at the same time help cultivate domestic military production talents to make up for the huge gap in talent demand for the Eighth Route Army's military production.
When visiting a military production base, the first thing to visit is naturally the steel plant.
A team built the ironworks.
Including specialty steel smelters.
There are also rifle production lines, light machine gun production lines, heavy machine gun production lines, grenade launcher production lines, rocket production lines, submachine gun production lines, bullet production lines, and artillery shell production lines in new military factories.
Kong Jie said: "There are three of these iron smelting plants. One was built with captured Japanese equipment, one was built with the aid of the Soviet Union, and the other was built with the aid of the United States. Experts and technicians sent from all aspects of the Allied forces arrived one after another. , there are also domestic experts, Japanese experts, and overseas Chinese experts forming a joint debugging team, which is debugging day and night.
Immediately, the first one to visit was the first steel plant established by Yangquan Iron Works, Jingxing Iron and Steel Works, and Jingxing Special Steel Works. It was full of Japanese-made machinery and smelting equipment, and there were many originally purchased during the Republic of China. Equipment, even equipment from the Beiyang period, and some equipment plundered from the National Army in Shanghai, Wuhan and other places were transported and installed to form complete production lines.
Political Commissar Li Wenjie, who was walking at the front, introduced: "The Japanese plundered our iron ore in Yangquan and Jingxing areas, smelted the iron ore, made iron and steel, and then transported it to their rear areas or domestically for deep processing.
The five-ton and three-ton special steel smelting equipment was produced by the Manchuria Heavy Industry Co., Ltd., and it was only recently transported to the Jingxing Special Steel Factory for installation and trial production. During this anti-May Day raid, we occupied Jingxing and took over their complete set of equipment. We have moved back and today we invite everyone to visit and participate in the opening ceremony of these two special steel smelting production lines. "
The leader on the side asked: "We know something about making iron and steel. What is this special steel? Isn't it all steel?"
Kong Jie said: "This special steel is actually alloy steel. Five tons of it is smelted from the nickel-chromium-platinum series. During the smelting, vanadium, tungsten, manganese and other additives are added according to demand.
The emergence of alloy steel is a revolution in the steel industry, completely replacing ordinary carbon steel as the gun barrel material. The gun barrels they make are thinner and lighter, but are resistant to high temperatures and high pressures, and can greatly increase the range of the artillery. tube service life.
This three-ton smelting equipment smelts molybdenum-chromium steel, specifically for making gun barrels. "
The deputy commander-in-chief said: “It is this alloy steel revolution that instantly widened the gap between China’s military industry and foreign military industry.
Just like the artillery produced by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau of the former Qing Dynasty, which spent a lot of money to introduce military equipment, but it was directly behind an era!
Comrades, technology is a powerful weapon to improve productivity. We are too far behind! "
At this time, Commander Fu looked at the equipment and wondered: "I see that some of the equipment was originally from the Baojin Mining Period of the Republic of China. How come the nameplates were changed to the Beiyang Period? I remember seeing it when I visited!"
Kong Jie said with a smile: "Commander Fu, as the saying goes, see through but don't tell off. Except for alloy steel, this steel plant has been producing normally and the quality is pretty good. We deliberately changed the nameplate to say that the equipment is old and the quality is uneven. It's deceiving." Human!"
Xu Guoan added: “Actually, we have re-ordered and replaced many of the equipment here, but the nameplates are still the same, and the old equipment that cannot be used have been sealed and used as industrial museums.
We have been producing here for some time, and we are combining the technical standards of the Soviet Union and the United States to establish our own standards. After all, other people's things belong to others, and they must be absorbed and digested before they become our own.
This place is all established by our own steel industry workers and smelting experts. The foreign experts from the Allied Forces are not interested in the patchwork products here. They simply do not believe that we can independently produce steel and iron materials with qualified quality and stable technology. I don’t pay any attention to this place, it’s just a perfect match for us to put up a smoke screen. "
Kong Jie smiled and said: "For this reason, if you don't behave lagging behind, how can you make Western countries come to help willingly?"
Fu Yisheng:......
"The world says I am an old fox, Kong Jie, Kong Jie, I think you are more like that cunning fox!"
Everyone laughed.
…
After visiting the industrial production lines one by one, with Kong Jie's introduction, the leaders were so happy that they couldn't open their mouths from ear to ear.
The commander-in-chief who came from Yan'an even lamented: "At the beginning, our military production level was poor. Even the largest Huangyadong arsenal could not even produce one gun and one cannon.
Today's conditions are getting better and better, and we are finally able to produce our own guns. We no longer have to be choked by others. Even if we have some guns and ammunition, we can only look at others and ask for help! "
Who says it’s not!
Looking back on the bitter history of the Eighth Route Army fighting behind enemy lines over the years, it was in an environment behind enemy lines, isolated and helpless, and lacked a military-industrial foundation.
"There are no guns or cannons, the enemy made them for us!"
These words are exciting, but more importantly, they are sad and helpless.
As long as the Eighth Route Army has its own military production capacity and sufficient arsenal and military industry foundation, why bother to make huge sacrifices to seize equipment and materials from the Japanese with difficulty?
These older generation of selfless revolutionary leaders.
He never frowned even when he fought bloody battles on the battlefield.
At this moment, as they visited along the way, many people had secretly red eyes and secretly wiped away tears.
Those were tears of excitement!
That is the gratification and joy of watching your motherland grow from weak to strong step by step!
At this time, Kong Jie, who was accompanying the leaders, suddenly and mysteriously asked Xu Guoan beside him: "Old Xu, are our core production and industrial zones fully vigilant?"
How could Xu Guoan not understand what Kong Jie meant, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, the security is tight, especially the representatives from various countries and parties who are visiting our base area this time. They will never discover our secrets easily. !”
"That's good!"
"Hey, leaders, please move over, I'll show you something special!"
Later, Kong Jie led a group of leaders to the secret core industrial production area of a team.
The first person to visit was the penicillin processing plant at the first team’s pharmaceutical production base.
Kong Jie on the side said: "Compared with industrial powers such as Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union, we are far behind in the production of aircraft, cannons, tanks and other military industries, as well as in the production of civilian products.
But we are not without leading technologies and brands.
For example, what comrades have seen now is almost mass-produced penicillin, which is what we often call penicillin. "
"For a long time, especially after the war broke out, penicillin has been hard to find on the battlefield. Everyone knows that this stuff can be a life-saving medicine at critical times. However, due to low production volume, the supply has always been in short supply."
"Even the powerful Western countries may not have thoroughly researched the production technology for mass production of penicillin, but we are now able to achieve mass production, and can even supply the needs of our three armed forces!"
"This has already left Western countries far behind!"
A leader asked with concern: "Are all our troops issued with penicillin?"
Kong Jie said: "After we figured out the mass production technology of penicillin, we have been continuously producing it, and the corresponding drugs have been continuously distributed to various troops, especially the frontline combat troops, which are most prone to casualties, so we have a large amount of additional equipment. "
Speaking of this, Kong Jie smiled and gave an example:
"The amount of penicillin our team has now is even more than the number of bandages our team had before!"
"Okay, okay!"
Even Doolittle and his team were completely unaware of the secret mass production of penicillin.
Kong Jie even used penicillin to do business with Western countries and make money back from the West to reduce the trade deficit.
If we only buy Western products but don’t have our own products to sell, sooner or later all the real money in the country will be defrauded.
Then, Kong Jie took the leaders to continue the visit.
As for the next factory we entered, we had just entered it. Seeing the situation in the factory, many leaders couldn't help but blurt out:
"This is... a car processing plant???"
The leaders were stunned. China could produce its own cars. This had been a dream for many years. During the golden decade of the Republic of China, the production of national cars of Chinese brands had always been one of the slogans shouted.
But after all, it’s thunder but no rain.
In the end, they couldn't even produce a decent wheel.
While this is ridiculous, it is also sad and helpless.
Now, as for the Eighth Route Army, a team's secret factory can actually build and produce its own car brand?
Kong Jie explained with a smile: "In fact, it is not the full-performance fuel vehicles produced by Western industrial powers in a practical sense.
In fact, we still have a long way to go to get there.
At present, what you see are some more simplified military mechanical vehicles that we are trying to produce, mainly to ensure the performance of its engine, as well as the mobility and load capacity of the overall vehicle.
To put it bluntly, it actually means that I can run and pull things, mainly so that I can be more adaptable to our battle with the Japanese army.
As for other aspects of performance, as well as some precision accessories that require higher production technology, we do not have the ability to produce them yet.
But after all, it is a vehicle independently produced by our Eighth Route Army! "
The leaders suddenly realized it, and then they couldn't help but laugh. They felt that their thinking was too forward. They had to eat this meal one bite at a time, and they couldn't eat it and become a big fat man.
What if this detachment suddenly had the industrial capability to produce the most advanced mechanized vehicles.
That would be somewhat unrealistic.
Finally, until all the leaders walked out of the core industrial area of the first team, the sky was clear and the air was clear, feeling the gentle breeze, they all exclaimed happily.
This trip to visit the industrial area of the first team was really eye-opening for everyone.
