October 16, 1940, Taiyuan, Japanese First Army Headquarters
"How is the inventory of the former Taiyuan Arsenal going?" Kazuki Yamamoto suddenly turned the topic to the issue of the Taiyuan Arsenal.
Not long ago, the Japanese army raided the base area and discovered the Eighth Route Army's arsenal in Lijiapo, and seized a large amount of buried equipment. Many of the equipment had the inscription of Taiyuan Arsenal on it. Obviously, these were all lost from the hands of the First Army. equipment.
After the fall of Taiyuan, the Japanese divided up the Taiyuan Arsenal and transported a large amount of equipment away. However, there was still a lot of old equipment that no one liked, so those equipment were sealed up, but privately there was no use of these equipment. Less was obtained by the Jinsui Army and the Eighth Route Army, and then used to build arsenals.
"There are still more than 10,000 pieces of various equipment left in the 18 branches of the original Taiyuan Arsenal, of which more than 4,000 are no longer usable due to improper maintenance. There are also more than 5,000 tons of semi-finished products and more than 3,000 tons of raw materials in stock. However, due to the original The records are lost and it is impossible to assess how much equipment and materials were lost." Ichiro Hirata replied with some embarrassment. It has been several years since Taiyuan was occupied. Although many branches of the Taiyuan Arsenal were bought by foreign businessmen, many factories are still abandoned. Although there are people guarding the factory, it cannot block the prying eyes of interested people. Most of the small and easy-to-carry equipment in the factory have been lost, and even many semi-finished products in the warehouse have been secretly sold by the gendarmerie.
"Baga, a bunch of scum, they are derelict in their duties! Back then, Chief Yan wanted to transport factory equipment to Sichuan, Shaanxi and other places in the rear, but until our imperial army occupied Taiyuan, only more than 1,000 small machine tools were transported away and more than 200 power motors, accounting for only 2% of the total assets of the 18 branches.
After the war, the Ministry of Finance and the Military Ministry only dismantled and shipped away more than 4,000 of the better equipment and the equipment for refining gasoline in the coking department of the Northwest Steel Plant. The equipment in the arsenal should be more than 20,000! "The anger on Yamamoto Kazuki's face grew stronger. The equipment must have been secretly sold to Japanese businessmen by the military police. As for the Eighth Route Army and Jinsui Army, they obtained part of the equipment through Japanese businessmen. Those stupid and greedy people Guy.
"Your Excellency, do we want to investigate this matter?" Hirata Ichiro asked in a low voice, but he was also unsure. From the Ministry of Finance to the North China Expeditionary Force, and then to the First Army, many people changed in the middle to handle the equipment and materials. , plus all the records have been lost, there is no way to find out, and most of the known buyers are the kind of forces that are not easy to provoke.
"Forget it, if the investigation continues, it is estimated that Mr. Shinozuka will be implicated by those bastards. This matter will end here. The subsequent arsenal will be taken over by our Yamamoto troops." Seeing Ichiro Hirata's face, Yamamoto Kazuki He also knows that this matter is a big trap. Although he can use many other methods, he must abide by the rules of the game. m.
"Your Excellency, don't waste your troops too much. If it doesn't work, just blow up all the equipment in the arsenal." Hirata Ichiro was a little surprised. The abandoned factories of Taiyuan Arsenal occupy a large area and will occupy a lot of troops, so they have always been This has given the Military Police a headache. Now it sounds like Mr. Yamamoto is going to take over this burden. How can that be done?
"Mr. Hirata, the Eighth Route Army Arsenal was very touched by this raid. Under such conditions, they are still producing. Not only can they produce bullets and grenades, but they can also produce rifles and mortar shells in small quantities. Since they all Yes, why can't we? "Yamamoto Kazuki's idea is to asset weapons. He is fed up with the uncertainty caused by the long supply line. Many times, the arms shipped from Shenyang will be inexplicably less. Here There must be some reasons for the guerrillas, but more of them were detained by the troops along the way. Not only the First Army, but the entire North China Expeditionary Army was in a state of lack of ammunition.
In order to maintain combat effectiveness, Japanese soldiers have daily training ammunition quotas. Just like rifle ammunition, recruits are given 150 rounds a month, and veterans are given 50 rounds a month. But in fact, the ordinary troops of the First Army have completely canceled daily target practice. Training, bullets are like this, artillery shells and the like are even more like this, and the continuation of this situation will have the consequences of a decline in the combat effectiveness of the troops. Compared with 1937, the combat effectiveness of the First Army units has dropped by a whole level.
"Your Excellency, we have no workers. At its peak, the Taiyuan Arsenal had more than 10,000 people. Some of them were taken to Guangyuan and Chenggu by the Jinsui Army. Many others went to the Eighth Route Army. In addition to those who left Taiyuan, the city is now It would be good to have more than 5,000 people left, but most of these 5,000 people are working in Japanese companies, and there are very few living in the market. "Ichiro Hirata looked embarrassed, Taiyuan Arsenal What is most precious? It's not equipment at all. As long as you have money, equipment can always be bought, but workers are different, especially skilled workers, who have not been immersed in it for many years.
"Send troops to join the police station to arrest people according to their household registration. No matter where they work now, they must serve the imperial army. If those so-called businessmen have any objections, let Qian Sang have a good talk with them. In addition, I also The trustee recruited a lot of old workers from the Osaka Arsenal, and then they can be allowed to work together with the original workers. "What Yamamoto Kazuki did not directly say is that those who are disobedient will be attacked by the "underground party armed workers team" , but whether he said it or not, Ichiro Hirata should understand.
"Your Excellency, I suggest that we can also recruit some apprentices from the Black Province, and only recruit children who are thirteen or fourteen years old. In addition, Qian Sang can also arrange for some of the soldiers' families to enter the factory, so that the personnel structure in the factory will be more stable." Ichiro Hirata added that the Taiyuan Arsenal is a large factory. It is definitely not enough to rely on the few people left in Taiyuan City, but it is not enough to recruit people casually. The Eighth Route Army has penetrated deeply into Jin Province. If you are not careful, there will be a large number of underground people. If the Party enters the factory, there will be more trouble.
"Hirata-kun, please continue to improve this idea. Let's build this arsenal together, resume production, and strive to make the First Army self-sufficient in weapons and equipment!" Kazuki Yamamoto has no doubt about the production capacity of Taiyuan Arsenal. As early as Ten years ago, this arsenal could support hundreds of thousands of people fighting. Although the arsenal now is definitely not comparable to before, doesn't the First Army still have the deployment of the military department? His main purpose in setting up the Taiyuan Arsenal was to prepare for the final step of holding on to Taiyuan.
"Your Excellency, how to solve the problem of raw materials? Although Taiyuan Arsenal can produce some raw materials by itself, it still needs to import a lot of chemical raw materials and special steel, especially in the early stage. If the supporting factories cannot produce in time, they will have to buy more raw materials." Ichiro Hirata reminded.
"How did the Eighth Route Army's arsenal work? We can also learn from it. Everything can be made simple and home-made. If there is no special steel, we will temporarily use steel rails. If there is no nitrocellulose, we will temporarily use black powder. The Eighth Route Army can do it, why can't we? "Yamamoto Kazuki was definitely eye-opening in Lijiapo. Bullets reloaded with black powder and nitrated starch, mortar shells loaded with chemical fertilizer and white sugar, grenades with pure black powder, yellow phosphorus glass powder and potassium permanganate Fire tubes, as well as using coal stoves to blacken the surface of weapons to prevent rust, using steel rails to make barrels, hand-pulled rifles, and tower cylinders to make sulfuric acid, are they like a magical world?
"Your Excellency, in that case, the quality of the weapons cannot be guaranteed. It is said that the rifles made by the Eighth Route Army only fired two hundred rounds of ammunition during the extreme test." Ichiro Hirata frowned. The weapons of the Eighth Route Army can only guarantee lethality at best. It’s just power, accuracy, power, durability, and versatility cannot be guaranteed at all. It’s like reloading bullets. Bullets of the same caliber have different charges and warhead weights. Basically, the same shooter will shoot each time. The bullets fired are all too the same, even for experienced shooters, they will not work. Moreover, the bullets cause great damage to the barrel of the gun. If they cannot be cleaned and maintained in time, there is a high chance that the barrel will explode the next time they are used. .
"If we don't use it ourselves, we can sell it. As far as I know, there are people in the Taiyuan Military Police who are doing this kind of business. The weapons are sold to the grasslands and Sichuan Province. Mr. Hirata, you have to master this channel. From now on we All the used weapons can be dispersed." Yamamoto Kazuki smiled. In fact, he did not say everything. In fact, they themselves can also use this kind of weapon, the overseas volunteer team, and the family members of the puppet army and traitors. For these From a human perspective, the problem Ichiro Hirata was worried about was nothing at all. Two hundred rounds, and the vast majority of the members of the Expatriate Volunteer Team would not live to get to 200 rounds.
"In that case, weapons may flow into the hands of the Chinese army." "Ichiro Hirata obviously didn't understand Kazuki Yamamoto's other thoughts.
"Mr. Hirata, do you think the current Eighth Route Army will still use those messy weapons? If they had not relied less on the Lijiapo Military Factory, our gains would not have been so great. The more our weapons are leaked, the more harmful they will be to them. "The more troubles there are, the more troubles there will be." Yamamoto Kazuki smiled bitterly. The Eighth Route Army has a lot of standard weapons. It is said that even Hanyang Zhongzhong has officially withdrawn from their equipment sequence, not to mention Sichuan single one, Jinzhong six. Fifth, the profits made in Shanghai are fast.
"Indeed, today, the Eighth Route Army is no longer the Eighth Route Army before." The latest information obtained by the Special High School flashed in Hirata's mind. Not long ago, the Eighth Route Army obtained 500,000 Russian rifles at one time.
"Mr. Hirata, don't be so pessimistic. Although the Eighth Route Army has become stronger, we still have a lot of bargaining chips in our hands. As long as we work together, it is still possible to maintain the current situation. As long as we can persist until our allies gain With final victory, all enemies will be no problem!" Kazuki Yamamoto seemed to be encouraging Ichiro Hirata, but how could he not be encouraging himself?
Some people died, but not completely...
