January 1, 1941, mountainous area of Li County, Shanxi Province
"Old Zhang, you are a bitch, don't think I don't know, you have been secretly collecting old things in the past six months." Brigadier Chen said with a smile, an army of 500,000 people can do things the same way as an army of 500,000 people. One million troops have one million troops. In the order of battle of the national army, a division can have 5,000 troops, 10,000 troops, 2,000 guns, or 7,800 troops. gun.
"Old Chen, I won't lie to you. Our weapons, equipment and food reserves can be fooled at present. But the problem is that the harvest in North China has not been good in the past two years. Once the army expands too much, it will easily It affects the agricultural production in North China, and our military expansion is for war. It will definitely not work without sufficient supplies and ammunition reserves. According to the current minimum requirements of the headquarters, a soldier can fire ten rounds of ammunition a month, and an army of one million will not be enough. Ten million rounds of bullets are needed to meet the minimum shooting training requirements." Zhang Wanhe said worriedly. The problem is that this is only the need for bullets in the absence of high-intensity combat, food, clothing, housing, transportation, needles, threads, brains, etc. As long as something is related to one million, it is an incredible number.
"My Minister Zhang Da, you don't want to equip the troops with weapons that have been replaced by the troops, do you?" Brigadier Chen got a headache when he thought of the days when he needed to prepare dozens of caliber bullets for the troops. , I am either looking for bullets or on the way to find bullets every day. I really don’t dare to take the initiative. It is very likely that after you take the initiative once, the troops will not even have the ammunition to deal with emergencies for a long time.
"Some parts will be retained appropriately. In addition to the weapons provided by Mr. Wang, the rifles are mainly made in Hanyang, Type 38, Jin 65, etc., such as Zhongformal, Sichuan 79, and Shanghai Kuali, which will definitely be eliminated. ." Zhang Wanhe said hurriedly.
Here is a typical example, that is, a mid-level rifle, said to be a replica of the latest Mauser rifle, but the drawings I asked Hans for several times were actually different, and the mold fixtures they provided were also different. Different, coupled with the self-righteous simplification of the Ordnance Industry Administration, the performance of this rifle is completely different from the original rifle. The accuracy is poor, there are many faults, and the parts are not universal. If it didn't have a good name, it would probably have been released sooner. It was discontinued.
It was not until the end of the Anti-Japanese War that Hanyang completely ceased production. Only with the help of some technical experts did the final version come out. Only then did China have a mature version. Therefore, during the entire Anti-Japanese War, the backbone weapon of the national army was actually Hanyang. Zao is not a formal one at all. As for why Hanyang Manufacturing finally ceased production, technological backwardness was only one aspect. The more important factor was the change in the war situation, which made the national army's need for weapons less urgent.
As for after the war, a large number of captured weapons will not be used up, so there is no need for large-scale manufacturing in Hanyang. Moreover, in the international arms market after the war, rifles are sold by the ton, with the same price as scrap metal, so who will spend a lot of money? Making a gun?
"Then why did I hear that those firearms are still being repaired at the arsenal?" Brigadier Chen asked in confusion.
"Mr. Wang wants to exchange the repaired old guns for new ones. An old gun that can fire, and ten rounds of black powder reloading bullets can be used to offset the price of a new gun. The deputy commander is still counting on using these old guns. I have to pay off my previous debt." Minister Zhang explained in a low voice.
"What does Mr. Wang want with so many old guns?" Brigadier Chen asked. As for the tattered old guns of the Eighth Route Army, they were not safe for hunting. He really couldn't figure out what Wang Yue could do with these old guns. ?
"According to information obtained by the Ministry of Social Affairs, in recent times, someone has spread weapons on a large scale in the four northeastern provinces, numbering in the millions. The number of anti-Japanese armed forces in the four northeastern provinces is now greater than at its peak. The Japanese army has to move The divisions that originally supported North China were transferred to the Kwantung Army. Yoshio Shinozuka's plan to reorganize the North China Expeditionary Force has been revised several times, and it is estimated that it will have to be revised in the future." Zhang Wanhe said with a smile, arming the masses, the Eighth Route Army has been doing this They are all doing it, but they can transport weapons to the four northeastern provinces and then distribute them to the people. They are determined not to be able to handle this.
"It's really a big deal. This is to dig out the roots of the Japanese. But even if we gather all the weapons, it won't be much." Brigadier Chen nodded with a smile.
"There isn't much, but we can make it ourselves. The small repair shops in the base area are being reorganized and expanded, but production has not stopped. Du Yi Tie, the Eighty-one Horse Rifle is being produced, all for Mr. Wang Customized." Zhang Wanhe's face was filled with a smile. We can't make regular firearms, but it's really not difficult for them to make those messy weapons. Using the junk they made to trade in the price of good guns, the world Is there such a good thing happening in the world?
"There's another issue. The troops haven't scraped the rails for a long time. How do you get the raw materials?" Brigadier Chen asked. The Eighth Route Army did not have high-quality steel. The only source of steel was the Japanese railway, but now is the armistice period. , The Eighth Route Army also wanted to develop, so naturally it would not take the initiative to attack Kazuki Yamamoto.
"Bought it. The Japanese have a batch of small steel rails, the kind that have never seen the light of day. Let's take them back at a low price. They can be used to make gun barrels." Zhang Wanhe said mysteriously. Yamamoto Kazuki said some time ago He was going crazy and wanted to kill his own people. Naturally, he had a lot of things in his hands. These small rails were all from the Hubei Bureau and were of average quality. Kuroshima Morita got them from the base after a few operations and used them directly. Nowadays, in the occupied areas, border tickets are more popular than military tickets and central bank tickets. Yamamoto Kazuki has to match them when he pays wages to the Japanese army. Without border tickets, the Japanese can't buy them on the streets. to something.
"Old Zhang, I really have yours. I heard that you are growing mushrooms and raising rabbits. You have a lot of good things. How about you give me some of them? I don't want your rabbits either. , just give me a hundred carts of dried mushrooms first." Brigadier Chen took Zhang Wanhe and said enthusiastically, before, the production activities in the winter must have stagnated, but this year is different, Wang Yue Zhang Wanhe was given mushroom farming technology and allowed Zhang Wanhe to set up tens of thousands of mushroom farms in the base area, which can produce more than one million kilograms of fresh mushrooms every day.
"Old Chen, don't be dissatisfied. I haven't run out of supplies for you during this period. Canned food from the Noodle Country, individual soldier rations, and food for the soldiers have never been out of oil and water. What's so good about dried mushrooms and radishes? Isn’t it the same as canned meat stewed with cabbage?” Zhang Wanhe curled his lips and said with disdain.
"Old Chen, you know how much of the canned food we rationed. After you throw it into the big pot and cook it, you will get a little more starch and radish and cabbage. There was a severe drought last year, the grain harvest was poor, and the vegetables didn't grow well. There was nothing we could do. The supply has been opened, and the soldiers are suffering." Brigadier Chen said helplessly. The current situation is that the material reserves in the base area are too short, and there are many outstanding debts that need to be paid. The troops naturally need to be patient when they have no combat missions. of.
"Old Chen, you don't have to worry too much. The deputy commander-in-chief has contacted Mr. Wang and will use Changle Sapphire to purchase 200 million cans of 'Roma' luncheon meat. The food shortage should be alleviated." Zhang Wanhe said. vocal channel.
"Two hundred million? Lao Zhang, now the population of the base area in North China alone is more than 48 million. Two hundred million cans may seem like a lot, but in fact it's really nothing. Our Eighth Route Army can't just care about ourselves at any time. Especially when agricultural production has failed." Brigadier Chen is very pessimistic. In fact, the Eighth Route Army's material supply should be sufficient, but in the face of the suffering of the people, our army will never turn a blind eye. , time and time again, the supplies that were enough for the troops to last for several years were consumed to a great extent. Without Wang Yue's continuous blood transfusions every now and then, they would really starve.
"Old Chen, we have all been here since the Civil Revolutionary War. This is the tradition of our army and cannot be changed. You just said you wanted some mushrooms, but what you don't know is that there are a hundred thousand kilograms of mushrooms every day. The dried mushrooms will be transported to Henan Province and then sold to the people in the base area at low prices." Zhang Wanhe continued, it is hard to imagine that as the logistics minister, he only ate the first batch of mushrooms when they were harvested.
In order to deal with the possible famine in North China, the Eighth Route Army had already tried its best. If Wang Yue hadn't repeatedly told him, Zhang Wanhe would have wanted to use the refined rice and noodles that Wang Yue sold to Kuroshima Morita, which was more than enough in history. Lack of power is different. Although the current Eighth Route Army is also in a difficult situation, it is really capable of changing this situation. It is definitely impossible to have no impact at all, but it can still be done with as few deaths as possible.
Wang Yue once thought that people would not die if he intervened, but later he realized that this was just wishful thinking on his part. Not to mention the Great Famine, even in a good year, this damn person would still starve to death. , simply cannot be avoided.
"Old Zhang, I don't want you to supply me with supplies. In this case, you can support my head office with a few workers who know how to grow mushrooms. I've heard that it's really not that difficult." Brigadier Chen I also know that I can't get any benefits from Zhang Wanhe. The entire Eighth Route Army has changed into new military uniforms, but Lao Zhang and his colleagues are still wearing last year's cotton-padded clothes.
"Okay! That's no problem. I'll share some of the strains, fertilizers, and pesticides with you, so that the soldiers can eat the mushrooms we grow before the Spring Festival. We also have a new experimental mealworm breeding for you. By the time It's good to fry some bugs for the soldiers." As he spoke, Zhang Wanhe took out a handful of fried mealworms from his pocket as if offering a treasure.
Okay, stop pretending. Inspired by the "Roma brand" egg powder, Wang Yue helped the Eighth Route Army start the cultivation of mealworms. According to Wang Yue's intention, he used mealworms as raw materials to help the Eighth Route Army develop the breeding industry. As a result, Zhang Wan and directly simplified.
