The pack saddles and racks used by mules and horses are generally very heavy. At that time, the Swedish Bofors Mountain Cannon, which was considered the most advanced in the country, had various pack saddles equipped with pack racks, which could weigh up to 40 kilograms. If you lead a donkey to carry a cannon, the donkey will fall to the ground just by getting on the saddle. It is estimated that the weight of the various iron racks on the Mount Bofus gun saddle is about 20 to 30 kilograms. However, SEL's 12 types of human-powered racks all weigh about 5 kilograms.
So, believe it or not, the 12 gun parts of SEL were put on human racks and buckled with belts. The gross weight of each single piece including the rack is only about 40 kilograms!
As a result, the SEL became the most humane infantry gun on the battlefield. On the battlefield, SEL's humane design makes this extremely light gun the most lethal infantry gun. Because wherever the infantry can walk, the SEL can be placed. Whether it is mountains, jungles, swamps, or any terrain where artillery was originally thought to be impossible, as long as the infantry can walk, the SEL can set up the artillery.
Schneider's 1928-style 75mm SEL "Light Mountain Cannon" is simply tailor-made for the mountain artillery in Zhou Wen's mind. What's more, according to Chinese custom, if you can't carry it anymore, two people can carry it on a pole. In front of those hunters and mountain people who are accustomed to mountain roads, as long as they undergo rigorous training for a period of time and ensure the quality of food, 40 kilograms of weight is really not a problem.
An artillery company equipped with six to eight SELs encountered two 92 infantry guns equipped by a Japanese brigade with a measly range of only 2.7 kilometers... Hehe! The scene shouldn't be too beautiful.
If you encounter a Japs tank, don't replace the gun barrel in two minutes, and then aim and shoot from a thousand meters away. Originally, according to the concept of anti-tank guns, the closer the distance, the stronger the armor-piercing ability. But are Little Japan’s Doudin tanks armored? The armor of only fifteen millimeters is as fragile as a piece of paper in front of SEL armor-piercing bullets. It can penetrate you casually from a thousand meters away without any negotiation.
As for the mortar, of course it is the French 81 mm Brandt MLE 27 mortar. It is currently the best battalion and company level support artillery in the world. Its heavy shells are even as powerful as the later 105 mm caliber. Artillery comparable. In the future, we can prepare some more portable 60mm mortars, but not now. The excellent 60mm mortars in Zhou Wen's mind have not yet been born.
As for the heavy machine gun, it must be the German MG34 general machine gun. That is Zhou Wen's favorite.
However, Zhou Wen can only put the above equipment into his future plans for the time being. It is impossible to equip it immediately. One is because I don’t have that much money to buy. These equipment, coupled with matching ammunition and reasonable inventory, will cost an astronomical amount of money. Even though Zhou Wenhuai has millions of dollars in his pocket now, there are more places where he needs to spend money.
Second, it is unnecessary. The training time of the security team and the guard team is still very long, and there will be no combat missions for a long time. It is a waste to have such good equipment, and it will easily attract the attention of interested people.
The Guard and Security Forces are currently limited to using whatever equipment they can get. hey-hey! Preferably free equipment. Zhou Wen knew that the Taiyuan Arsenal was a treasure house. After the factory stopped production, many of the weapons and equipment previously produced had not yet had time to be put into storage. This is the news Zhou Wen got through his uncle. This is one of the reasons why Zhou Wen is eager to go back. He is now going to take advantage of the sensitive period when the National Government and the left-behind forces in Shanxi are cautiously testing each other and are unwilling to cause more troubles, and play a side game.
The top priority now is to use limited funds to upgrade the equipment of the mercenary group. This is our foundation. Then quickly invest in some industries, and when sufficient funds are accumulated, other equipment will naturally be available.
Therefore, the development of Lishi County's commercial economy in Zhou Wen's plan is the top priority.
To get rich, build roads first. This is the experience Zhou Wen gained from later generations. Use infrastructure construction to drive economic growth. How to get start-up capital? Issue bonds to crowdfund from bosses.
Lishi County's unique geographical location has enabled rapid commercial development over the years. Now Lishi County and the towns under its jurisdiction, Liulin Town and Jundu Town, are full of business houses, and there are many wealthy businessmen and bosses. However, many years of commercial development have now entered a bottleneck period. The biggest reason is that transportation in mountainous areas is really inconvenient, and a large amount of mountain goods cannot be circulated quickly due to transportation problems. Traffic limits the development of commercial scale.
Zhou Wen wanted to give full play to the role of the Chamber of Commerce and let the bosses take out all the funds that were piled up at home and let the money flow. At the same time, migrant workers for road construction are recruited from those impoverished mountainous areas to ensure that the wages of the migrant workers can basically keep their families from going hungry. In this way, not only the financial problem is solved, but also the living problems of some poor people are solved.
It is necessary to basically ensure that large towns and villages can pass cars. Of course, those who need tunnels and bridges can only give up temporarily, because Lishi County does not yet have the technology and strength.
There are large-scale open-pit coal mines within the jurisdiction of Lishi County, plus the iron mine in Zhongyang County, which is 20 kilometers away. Several iron mines owned by the Li family have all been transferred to Fuyuan Company by Li Yifu. (If you don't transfer, it won't work. If you transfer, just a few of the culprits will die. If you don't transfer, the whole family will die. How do you choose?)
When most of the roads are completed in a year, a base will be selected in the Luliang Mountains to build thermal power plants and steel plants. Build a small ammunition factory when the time comes. After all, the mercenary regiment and its affiliated troops will advocate firepower first and long-distance intensive strikes in the future war of resistance. The ammunition consumed will be huge, and neither buying nor capturing it is reliable.
The first road to be built first is to reconstruct the mountain road from Lishi County to Zhongyang County. It is not too difficult to build a road that can pass horse-drawn carriages, and it will not cost too much. After the connection is completed, various minerals and specialties from Zhongyang will be continuously shipped out. No matter where it is shipped, as long as it passes through Lishi County, it will bring business opportunities to the surrounding areas of Lishi County. What's more, Zhou Wen's own iron mine (hehe! The former Li family's iron mine) also requires a large amount of takeout.
Thinking about it, the Li family used to rely on horse-drawn carriages for transportation, and the little iron ore they sold could support their position as the boss of Lishi County. If we switch to truck transportation, the efficiency and quantity will be beautiful just thinking about it.
Buyer Zhou Wen is not worried. Now is the golden decade of economic development in the Republic of China. There are so many new projects and factories across the country. Consider that China's steel output at this time was less than 30,000 tons. If you build a steel plant yourself, even if it's not particularly high-quality steel, you can just sell it. What's more, a large amount of concentrated iron ore can be sold to the Germans. During this period, other European countries blocked Germany's resources and were unwilling to see Germany rise again. Part of the reason why Germany now has a warm relationship with China is that Germany takes a fancy to China's rich mineral resources.
